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Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my
lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19
My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord,
‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead,
and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your
servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The
boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you
said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my
face again.’

24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And
when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our
youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless
our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my
wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I
have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you
will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us,
then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he
will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow
to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do
not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now
therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the
boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I
fear to see the evil that would find my father.” (Ge 44:18-34)

Some say this is the moment that Judah was awarded royal authority over the tribes.

Judah conquered “The Red One,” of the soul. He wants to feed others, not be fed. He’d overcome his jealousy of his brother, his murderous thoughts toward his brother, his lack of honor for the wishes of his father, and confessed his relationship with Tamar to ensure the righteous offspring of Judah
would live to fulfill the covenant promise of inheritance in the Land of Israel.

Esau (Edom) has never conquered his jealousy of Jacob, his murderous inclination toward Jacob, and his lack of honor for the wishes of the “father” in marriage. Esau spurned the birthright of protecting the offspring and sold it for food.

The Jewish sages say it was not then, nor when he was chosen to bring the first dedicatory gifts to the Tabernacle, nor when he was appointed to take the first step in the Camp movement to follow the Cloud and Ark. These foreshadowed. It was not until Israel entered the Land and Joshua died. After
that, Judah was given leadership when he was chosen to lead his brothers in war against the Canaanites. Others add Boaz when he was kind to Ruth. [Midrash Rabbah to Shir HaShirim 4§16]