Given by: Judah, offering himself as surety for Benjamin before their father Jacob, in the book's retelling of Genesis dictated to Moses on Sinai. Given to: Jacob — and through the telling, to all who are asked to be responsible for another.

In the patriarchal household, a son's word of suretyship before his father was a solemn, binding pledge of his own honour; to offer to 'bear the blame all my days' was to stake his lifelong standing.

And he said unto him: 'He shall not go with thee.' And Judah came near and said: 'Send him with me, and if I do not bring him back to thee, let me bear the blame before thee all the days of my life.'

Judah pledges himself as surety for Benjamin — offering to bear the blame for life if he fails — modelling costly personal responsibility for a brother's safety.

Jubilees 42:19

Your Spirit

Loves God

Loves Neighbor

Your Body

Moral Behaviour