Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 43/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 43

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Overview

This index is meant to help the reader explore Biblical parallels, be they two accounts of the same event, stories with similar motifs and themes, or units of text which are linguistically similar and perhaps alluding one to the other. The page includes links to tools that aid in comparison, primary sources that touch upon the parallels, and summaries of and links to articles which analyze them in depth.

Yehuda’s Pledge

Yehuda’s offer of himself as a pledge for Binyamin calls to mind the pledge he offered to Tamar in place of payment in Bereshit 38, and underscores the significance of the episode of Yehuda and Tamar within the larger narrative of Yosef and his brothers.

Tools

• Concordance – The concordance shows that the root "ערב" appears in only one story in Torah, Yehuda's taking responsibility for Binyamin in Bereshit 43:9,¹ while the related noun "ערבון" appears also in but one story, that of Yehuda and Tamar in Bereshit 38.

Articles

• See ערבונו של יהודה, by Professor Yonatan Grossman, for analysis of the story of Yehuda and Tamar as background to Yehuda’s confrontation of Yosef.  In both, Yehuda takes responsibility through the act of offering a guarantee, but his dramatic offering of himself in the second story reflects the extreme moral strength he has developed over the course of his narrative.  The parallels between the two stories also reflect Yehuda’s growing identification with Yaakov through their shared experience of bereavement.  
• See Purpose of the Yehuda and Tamar Story for exploration of the idea that the story of Yehuda and Tamar begins Yehuda's process of change and repentance for the sale of Yosef, which culminates in his taking responsibility over Binyamin.

¹ See also Bereshit 44:32 where Yehuda tells Yosef that he has pledged himself for his brother.