The Lord my help me I turn your
prayerful attention to Genesis chapter 44 and reading verse
32 Genesis chapter 44 and reading for a text verse 32 For thy servant became surety
for the lad unto my father, saying, if I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Genesis chapter 44 and verse
32. I mentioned just before the reading
that in Genesis 49 we have the deathbed testimony and blessings
of Jacob to his sons. And if you turn to Genesis 49
and verse 8 that's where the blessing on Judah begins. Genesis 49 verse 8 The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And that word Shiloh there is
referring really to the Messiah, the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and so here we have a prophecy so early on in the word of God
of the coming of the Lord Jesus and that he would come from the
tribe of Judah and he did and that was the tribe that David
was from and that was the tribe that the Lord Jesus sprang from
but Judah in his early days made a very unpromising start really.
In his early days, the first thing we really read about Judah,
the first thing we read him saying is in Genesis 37. And in Genesis
37 we read, and Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is
it if we slay our brother? and conceal his blood. Judah
was the one that suggested that they sell his brother Joseph
rather than kill him. Reuben's plan was to give him
back to his father. But Judah had this idea to send
him away and sell him for money. and get the money and therefore
he felt that would be much better. And then if you read on in chapter
38 of Genesis the history, the immorality of Judah makes very
very sad reading. So in his early days Judah was
not a godly man. But by the time we come to the
chapters that we read in the end of Genesis, chapters 43 and
44, we are met with quite a different Judah. And no doubt the Lord must have
changed his heart and turned him round to change him from
being one that despised his father and despised his brethren to
one that honoured his father and one that truly cared for
his father and for his brethren. And so we see here this encouragement
of Judah being the one who would be the tribe which the Lord Jesus
would spring from. And we see this, you see, when
he steps up to be a surety for Benjamin. The situation was that
Jacob did not want to send Benjamin back, or Benjamin to Egypt. He was fearful of what would
happen to Benjamin, he'd already lost as far as he was concerned
Joseph he now knew that Simeon was bound in Egypt and he did
not want to lose Benjamin he was very sure that he would not
let him go And yet, the governor of Egypt, who was actually Joseph,
had specifically said that they would not be able to receive
corn, and they would not be able to see his face, except Benjamin
was there. And so they were in a very difficult
situation. They needed food to live. They
were without food. The famine was very sore. They needed food, and yet they
could not go to the only place where food was to be found, except
Benjamin was with them and so there was this difficult situation
and this is where Judah says in chapter 43 and verse 8 and
Judah said unto Israel, his father, send the lad with me. and we will arise and go that
we may live and not die it was a matter of life and death they
couldn't continue in Canaan without food both we and thou and also
our little ones I will be surety surety for him of my hand shalt
thou require him if I bring him not unto thee and set him before
thee then let me bear the blame forever. These words are repeated
in what I quoted for a text later on when Judah does indeed live
up to what he promised. He promised to be a surety for
Benjamin. And how you see that the Lord
Jesus, that is one of the names used of the Lord Jesus. If you
look in Hebrews chapter 7, first of all in chapter 7 verse 14
it says, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah.
But then in verse 22 of that chapter 7 in Hebrews, by so much
better, by so much was Jesus made a surety. of a better testament. So what is a surety? Well perhaps
today in our society perhaps the closest we would come to
that is perhaps you wanted to take out a mortgage or a big
loan and the person who was loaning it to you was not sure that you
might defect they thought that you may not pay it back or not
pay back what you should you might go to somebody who would
give you a guarantee or a surety to say that if you did defect
then this other person would pay. So you could have the loan
or you could have the mortgage and if there was any defect or
any lack of payment on your part or any inability to do so, then
the guarantor would agree to pay the cost. And you see this
is what Judah did. agreed to do on behalf of Benjamin. Benjamin was back in the land
with his father, they were in the relative safety of Canaan,
although they had no food there, but in this far off place in
Canaan, Judah agreed, made this solemn promise that he would
be the surety for Benjamin. So that meant that whatever happened
to Benjamin whatever difficulties he would run into, whatever problems
would come his way, that Judah would take those problems and
stand in the place where Benjamin should have stood. This is what
Judah agreed to do and he didn't defect on it. As we see later
on, he did keep his promise, he did indeed fulfill that which
he said he was going to do. He was going to stand in the
place of Benjamin when there was any problems. And you see
this is what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has done for his
church. He's done that for his people.
He has been for them the surety. And you'll notice you see with
Judah that Judah became the surety
for Benjamin long before Benjamin got into trouble. It was not
when Joseph was standing in front of Benjamin and demanding that
he stay as a servant for the rest of his life in Egypt. It
was not then that Judah spoke up and said he would be surety.
No, he had agreed the surety ship. long before the problem
has arisen. And you see, if you think of
that with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, He did not step
in at the point when we were already lost and ruined in the
fall. No, He had already become maturity
long before the sinner fell. You think of these words in Ephesians
chapter 1. verse 4, according as he has
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. So just as Judah
became surety for Benjamin well before there was any problem
associated with Benjamin he was not in trouble at the point at
which Judah became shorty for him. But you see Judah agreed
to do this willingly. He wasn't coerced into doing
it. This was Judah's voluntary suggestion. And Judah said unto
Israel, His Father, send the lad with me, and we will arise
and go, and that we may live and not die, both we and thou,
and also our little ones. I will be surety for him, of
my hand shall thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. You see earlier, you might remember
in chapter 42, Reuben said something similar. He said, if I bring
him not that, slay my two sons. But that didn't convince Jacob. But you see, a surety is one
that would pay the price himself. He wouldn't get somebody else
to pay it. No, he would pay it himself.
And Judah here says, I will bear the blame forever. He wouldn't
pass the blame on to somebody else. And we think of what the
Lord Jesus did when he agreed to take on the great shortyship
of the Church of God. He didn't say, well you give
me this church and if they defect then I'll go and kill some angels
as an offering to make sacrifice for it. No, he was going to take
the blame himself. He was going to stand in the
breach. So we see in here, in this type,
in this precious type in the book of Genesis, how that Judah
was a type in that sense of the Lord Jesus who was going to be
a great surety for his people. He was a surety before the sinner
fell, before they were lost and ruined in the fall. He agreed
that he would pay. but you think of that on a natural
level when you became a guarantee or guarantor for somebody if
they defect to pay their mortgage probably mostly when you do that
you probably don't have to pay anything because if a person
doesn't defect on their payments then you don't need to pay anything
as a guarantor you've been there to support them in case but then
they didn't need it but you think and I don't know how much Judah
expected to have to be a surety for Benjamin whether he really
considered that there would really be a great problem that he would
have to step in on behalf of Benjamin or whether it was just
to reassure his father but you see our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ when he became surety for his church he knew that they
would defect He knew that they would come short. He knew that
they would need that surety to stand in their place and to take
the blame forever. So here we have this work of
Judah. But then if we turn to chapter
44 and in verse 14 we have Joseph has arranged so that the
silver cup is found in Benjamin's sack. They've all come back.
But Joseph then, when they come to him, Judah and the others
are trying very much to involve everybody with this blame of
the silver cup. That we'll all be the servants. But you see, Joseph points particularly You see, in verse 16, and Judah
said, What shall we sound to my Lord? What shall we speak?
How shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are all my Lord's
servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And
Joseph replies, and he said, God forbid that I should do so.
But the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
servant. As for you, get you up in peace. unto your father. So here Joseph
the governor of the land of Egypt there was giving a clear deal
of freedom to all the brothers except one and that was Benjamin. Benjamin only had to spay all
the rest could go back in peace and safety with their food to
their households back in Canaan. You see how much Joseph was testing his brothers
really, because they defected on him. They left him when he
needed them so much, so many years before. And yet, now he
is testing them and they do not leave Benjamin. They rally around
Benjamin. And so then Judah you see in
verse 18 he begins this such a precious plea that he speaks
to the governor of the land of Egypt having no idea how much
really the governor of the land of Egypt intimately understood
what he was speaking about. He had no idea that the governor
would be so interested in these family affairs of Judah and Jacob
and so on. But you see, so Joseph was going
to punish Benjamin and all the rest were going to go back. And
Judah here, you see, does not defect on being that surety. He does not now buckle. He does
not now pull out of this agreement that he had made to be the surety.
No, he goes through with it and pleads on behalf of Benjamin. And he pleads and then comes
to those precious words that we've read for a text. And his
plea is, if Benjamin does not go back to his father, it will
kill his father. You see now that Judah has a
great respect for his father. Before, his father was weeping
over Joseph and it seemed that the brothers couldn't care less.
But now they care. You see, Judah had become shorty
for Benjamin out of love to Benjamin and out of love to his father. And we see that in the great
things that took place in eternity past. Christ in love to his father
and in love to his church became surety for them. And then when
it came to the place when they were in great need, he did not
defect. We read when he set his face
towards Jerusalem, he would go to Jerusalem, he wouldn't be
deviated. They ridiculed him. They said that he came unto his
own and his own received him not. They tried to discourage
him in so many ways. but he continued and he would
be that surety for his people and so Judah comes to this in
verse 33 of chapter 44 and it shall come to pass when he seeth
that the lad is not with us that he will die, that's talking about
Jacob and thy servant shall bring down the hairs of thy servant
my father with sorrow to the grave for thy servant became
surety for the lad You see, it was his younger brother. It was
his younger brother and on behalf of his father. And so the Lord
Jesus, you see, has the cares. He is the elder brother. He cares
for his people. He stands in the breach. And
you'll notice here that all these transactions are going on and
Benjamin is not saying a word. Benjamin doesn't say anything
in these transactions at all. Benjamin's the one that's guilty
before Joseph in this situation that they find themselves in.
He's the one that should be abondoned forever in the land of Egypt. But Benjamin's silent. It's the surety. It's Judah that
does all the speaking. And you see, if you think of
that when the Lord Jesus stood in the place of his people. You
think of Calvary. Where were his church? What were
they doing when those great transactions at Calvary were taking place?
Where were they? Where were you and I? But we had not yet been
born. And yet this great transaction
of the sin of the church being dealt with in that that certainty
and that great way of salvation it was Christ that was dealing
it was Judah's son in many generations that one, that lion of the tribe
of Judah who sprung out of Judah and who would have this great
surety ship for his people for thy servant became surety for
the lad unto my father saying if I bring him not unto thee
then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. You see what a strong commitment
it was. It was not weak. There was no
termination to the extent of the seriousness if he defected.
And you think of this, it's a precious thought when we think of it.
The love that Christ has for his church. If I bring him not
unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. If you think of what the Lord
Jesus said in John chapter 10, speaking of the safety of the
people of God. and I give unto them eternal
life, this is John 10 verse 28, I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my father's, out of my hand. My father which gave them
me is greater than I and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. You see there's a security. I
bear, if I bring them not unto thee again, I shall bear the
blame to my father forever." So Benjamin, this one in this
picture, in this type, was one that was in trouble, in difficulty. They were going to go into bondage
as bondmen to work in Egypt for the rest of his life. And yet
Judah was willing to lay down his life for Benjamin. And you see, this ruler of the
land of Egypt was a fearful man. They were very afraid of Joseph. They didn't know it was their
brother, but they knew he meant business. They were fearful of
him, but Judah was willing to sacrifice all his future heritage,
all his future life, on behalf of his younger brother Benjamin.
What a love that he had for Benjamin. What a difference in his behaviour
from that which he had earlier when he sold Joseph for those
20 pieces of silver to the merchant men something like 20 years before. So in this account here we have
a foreshadowing of the work of Christ, who was going to be that
great surety for his people. And the security of the church
is based in these precious words. If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame forever. You think of it, what that means
when it comes to the Father and the Son. The Son is saying, if
I bring not this bride into glory, then I The Lord Jesus Christ
will bear the blame forever. It will not be the bride, it
will not be Benjamin's fault, it will be Christ's fault. What a shortage ship. What a tremendous thing that
is to have somebody who is prepared to stand in our place like that
and to take all that was against us You see, when the Lord Jesus
came to this earth, we see shadows of this taking place with his
disciples. In the garden of Gethsemane,
when Jesus was being arrested by his enemies, first of all
in John chapter 18 and verse 8, Jesus had asked he asked whom seek ye and they
said Jesus of Nazareth and then they fell backwards but then
when Jesus went with them he said Jesus answered I have told
you that I am he if therefore ye seek me let these go their
way you see the disciples they were free the disciples could
be set free you think of Judah Judah was consigning himself
to to a bondman for the rest of his life. He wasn't going
to be able to leave Egypt. Of course, as we know in the
wonderful account, it never took place because Joseph showed who
he was and he showed nothing but love to all his brethren.
But in this time, Judah was in tithe, just like Abraham was
offering up his son Isaac, though he never actually finally had
to do it. But Judah was laying down his life, as he saw it,
on behalf of Benjamin. But you see, in John 10 we read
that the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He does. I lay down my life that they
might take it again. This is this great shortyship,
this one Judah. You see Judah became the greatest
of the tribes, the most numerous of the tribes. And already in
the account that we have before us, there's glimpses of the superiority
of Judah over his brethren, not in an unkind way, but if you
look in Genesis chapter 44 verse 14, and we have, and Judah and
his brethren came to Joseph's house as if he was the ringleader,
he was the leader. And when the children of Israel
marched through the wilderness. It was always Judah that started
out first, that biggest tribe. They were the ones that walked
out first in front of those that would oppose them. So Judah was
that one and of course Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, the
one that went to one of the ones with Joshua who spied out the
promised land. So we have those accounts in
the word of God. We see then in this prophecy
of the coming of the Messiah, how that in chapter 49 and verse
8, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. His name
means praise, he was the fourth son, born to Leah, Leah and Jacob and his name means
praise and it says here in prophecy, thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. You see Judah and his posterity
and the Lord Jesus Christ was going to rid them from their
enemies. He was going to bring them deliverance
from the captivity of Satan. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. He was going to be the leader.
Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey my son thou art
gone up. And then it speaks about him being as a crouched lion
and a lion's whelp, a young lion. And the scepter shall not depart
from Judah. Here it shows that there is a
kingliness. And of course the first king
that reigned in Jerusalem was David. And he was of the tribe
of Judah. And you might say, yes, the first
king was Saul, but he didn't reign in Jerusalem. It was David
that took the city of David and around that Jerusalem area. that he was the first one to
reign in Jerusalem. And of course then there was
his son Solomon, that glorious king that had such peaceful reign
for the most part. So the sceptre shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
cometh. Some have mentioned that if you
look in Luke's Gospel and chapter 2, there's those well-known accounts
where Caesar Augustus made that census that all the world should
be taxed. there was basically the Jews
had lost their sovereignty until Shiloh come and you see the Jews
and of course Judah what we know today as being the Jews is all
the tribes but they are called Jews and it really comes from
the contraction of the name Judah so Judah did became the The leader tribe and all the
Israel rallied round them as it were in the end and became
known as the Jews as we know them today. So Judah, this scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come, the Lord Jesus Christ. You might think,
oh Shiloh, that's a place where the temple was, but it's a different
word than that. In the original, it's the same
in our Bible. And it's a person, not a place. Until Shiloh come and unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. So, in Christ, you see, there
would be that coming together. The church of God. This one who
would be not just a surety for Benjamin, that would be a surety
for all his people, would bring them all safe to glory, those
that were lost and ruined in the fall, those that were far
off from God, they came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their
Lord, their God and their Saviour. if we look at that in, we mentioned
already in the book of Hebrews chapter 7 but we read that, that
by so much better was Jesus made a surety of a better testimony
and then in verse 25 of Hebrews 7, wherefore he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. So this suretyship
of Christ, it's why his people are justified. They're justified,
it's a work that was done on behalf of them. Their sanctification
they're actively involved with, but their justification is a
work that was done by Christ alone, it was finished. And we
see here in the time of Judah, it was a surety. Judah was pleading
on behalf and standing in the place of Benjamin. And Benjamin's
silent. Benjamin's not involved in that
sense. Judah was standing in his place
and taking all the responsibility. And we see that at Calvary. The
Lord Jesus stood in his people's place. So many of the ones he
was standing in the place of, They were at that very time criticising
him, ridiculing him, and yet he was standing in their place.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles that a great company of the priests
also believed. How many of those priests cried
out, crucify him, crucify him? How many of them jeered at him
when he was on the cross? They only saved others, himself
he cannot save. They weren't with him, they weren't
for him at all. but you see he was standing in
the place of his church he was shorting for them when they were
despising him but you see they came to know him as their God. And that's the vital thing. Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him. So we are to come with repentance.
We are to come to realise that he is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He is worthy to be praised and
his greatness is unsearchable. But if we move on into the book
of Revelation, we have again more of this typology coming
back, or more indications of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation
chapter 5 and verse 5. And one of the elders said unto
me, Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven
seals thereof. This one that nobody else, there
was weeping in heaven because nobody could do this great thing,
but the Lion of the tribe of Judah. This one that was strong,
this one that was prophesied back in Genesis 49, that this
one, this Lion of the tribe of Judah would be able to accomplish
of the purposes of God and bring about so great salvation and
come to this earth and to make a righteousness for his church. And then we have later on in
that same chapter 5 of Revelation another aspect and they sung
a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals for thou wast slain and has redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and then in verse 12 saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb
that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessings. So in this Revelation chapter
5 we have these two aspects of the lion of the tribe of Judah,
that great strength, that great power to overcome the enemies.
And yet also the other typology, him being a lamb that lay down
his life for he she. the lamb slain. Worthy is the
lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom. You see the meekness of a lamb,
the willingness to lay down its life is also a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was both a lion and a lamb. He was that one that was foretold
by Jacob more than a thousand years before his birth. there
was coming this one. Well, as we then turn back to
the text that we had before us, For thy servant became shorty
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. So we have
here Judah showing something of what his Offspring would be
the Lord Jesus Christ who would be a surety for his people. And
so we today, as we have our concerns, as we come short. You see, perhaps
it doesn't seem so important to have a surety. All the time
Benjamin didn't get into trouble. All the time Benjamin was not
really in a difficult situation, whether Judah was a surety or
not to him perhaps didn't seem so important. But when he got
in trouble, when he got arrested and told that he would have to
be a bondman forever, then the fact that he had a surety, then
the fact that there was somebody that was willing, in love to
himself and in love to his father, willing to stand in the breach,
then you see the value and the preciousness of such a surety
becomes real. And you see, perhaps today many
people do not realise and do not value the preciousness of
Christ. They see no charm, they see no
necessity for him, they see no need. But if the Lord opens our
eyes to realise, and the Lord shows us how far off we are,
how sinful, how we can never keep the law, that our best is
stained and died with sin, that the judgement after the wages
of sin is death, and that there is a judgement, and after death
a judgement. If God shows us these things,
we'll realise we need a surety. We need a surety. We need a surety
that's wise. We need a surety that's strong.
We need a surety that's full of love. We need a surety that
doesn't defect. We need a surety that's willing
to stand in the breach. And you see all of those things
are beautifully fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who loved his church, he gave himself for it, that they should
be set free from the bondage of Satan, and be delivered from
all the handwriting that was written against them. But as
sure as he took it all, and he gained the victory, so that indeed,
all the condemnation that was against the church, it could
be said of what was said by the Lord Jesus on the cross, it is
finished. It's complete. Judah stood in the place and
Benjamin was free. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. May we, by God's grace, be amongst
those who are in Christ, have a living interest in His work,
and that we may be found amongst those that sing His praise throughout
a never-ending eternity. May the Lord have His blessing
in them.