Theologische Nuggets IV (Genesis 34 - 44:26)

Genesis 44:19-20

Mein Herr fragte seine Knechte und sprach: Habt ihr noch einen Vater oder Bruder?

Juda will Josef an die Faktenlage erinnern um in ihm Mitleid und Verständnis zu erwecken. Also fängt er mit der Anfangsfrage an mit der die ganze problematische Situation begonnen hat. Wie kamen sie überhaupt in diese Situation? War es nicht wegen der Anfrage des Josefs? 

Da antworteten wir: Wir haben einen Vater, der ist alt, und einen jungen Knaben, in seinem Alter geboren, und sein Bruder ist tot, und er ist allein übrig geblieben von seiner Mutter, und sein Vater hat ihn lieb.

Juda rezitiert nur das was in diesem besagten Gespräch gesagt wurde. Ein toter Bruder, ein Vater am Leben und einen jüngsten Lieblingssohn von einer anderen Mutter, welche auch gestorben ist genauso wie der leibliche Bruder des Jüngsten. Das war die Anfangssituation. 

Judah reviews the first visit in which Joseph learned through questioning the brothers about their aged father Jacob and youngest brother Benjamin. This recounting (vv. 19–23) is the fourth version of their first visit, indicating the centrality of that episode (cf. 42:9–20, 29–34; 43:2–14). In this account Judah reports that Joseph had initiated the questioning (cp. 43:7), but S 804 he delicately omits the charge of spying that had dominated that interview (42:9, 11, 14, 16; cp. also 42:30–34). Judah especially appeals to the sympathies of the master. "Aged father" (v. 20) is actually taken from Joseph's second inquiry (43:27), but "a young son born to him in his old age" is Judah's addition. The narrator describes Joseph's favored status similarly ("born to him in his old age," 37:3), but here Judah embellishes the youth of Benjamin by the construction "young son." Judah chooses the word yeled ("son," NIV), which may convey the tender sense of "child" (e.g., 21:8; 33:14; 37:20), thus "a little child of his old age" (NASB; "child," NRSV, HCSB, NAB, NLT; paidion, LXX). The construction also differs from the common expression "young son, youngest son," resulting in the translation "the son born to him in his old age is young." Both the feeble age of Jacob and the youth of Benjamin call attention to their vulnerability. Judah elaborates on the sorrowful condition of the father. His favorite son was dead, and Benjamin was the sole survivor of their mother. Moreover, Judah underscores the tragedy by adding, "and his father loves him" (cf. 37:3). That Judah admits Joseph "is dead" makes explicit what is only euphemistically said before ("one is no more," 42:13, 32). His candor here and his empathy for Jacob prove a remarkable change in the moral fiber of Judah and the brothers. Rather than resist the special love that Jacob has for Benjamin, he appeals to it as reason for mercy.
K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, Bd. 1B of The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 803–804.