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practically his all, as may be seen by consulting Exod. 22: 26, 27: "If thou at all take
thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth
down: for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he
sleep?"
The type.
While some features of suretyship enter into practically every typical sacrifice of the
law, and while it is set forth by the laying of the offerer's hand upon the head of the
offering, the fullest type of the surety is found before the law was given in the story of
Judah and Benjamin (Gen. 42:-44:). It is necessary that these three chapters in Genesis
be read so that the scriptural setting of this type may be seen, and we trust that every
reader, who has any appreciation of the Berean spirit, will not read a word further until
these chapters have been read as before the Lord. We will now point out the steps in the
narrative that illuminate the type.
The Cause.--This is found in the famine that was in all lands, against which Joseph
had been divinely guided to provide (Gen. 41: 54).
"Now when Jacob saw there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do
you look one upon another? And he said behold, I have heard there is corn in Egypt: get
you down thither, and buy for us from thence: that we may live, and not die" (Gen.
42: 1, 2).
Joseph's ten brethren, therefore, proceed to Egypt, leaving Benjamin behind, for Jacob
feared lest his youngest son might be lost to him, even as was Joseph. Upon arrival in
Egypt, Joseph's brethren bow before him, and although Joseph recognizes them, they
know him not. In order to bring them to repentance for their sin, and to make them to
confess concerning Benjamin and his father, Joseph accuses them of being spies, to
which they reply: "We are all one man's sons . . . . . thy servants are twelve brethren, the
sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with his
father, and one is not" (Gen. 42: 11-13). Joseph then says to them: "Ye are spies . . . . .
by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come
hither" (Gen. 42: 14, 15).
The brethren were then put into ward for three days, during which time the sin against
Joseph their brother came to the surface: "We are verily guilty concerning our brother"
(Gen. 42: 21). The result was that Simeon was taken and put into prison as a hostage,
the remaining brethren being sent back home with corn. To their surprise, each man
found his money, with which he had paid for the corn, in the sack's mouth, and realized
that this portended further trouble for them: "And when both they and their father saw
the bundles of money, they were afraid; and Jacob their father said unto them, Me have
ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin
away: all these things are against me" (Gen. 42: 35, 36).
The Remedy.--There are three remedies suggested in this narrative:--