26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
This is the kind of family you don’t need. Judah is totally hypocritical. He doesn’t care about Joseph at all. But look at how he says it. “After all…” says it all. He just wants some money from the sale, and he tries to throw in care and concern for his brother as an afterthought. He is upset with the dreams his brother has had. But even more, he is jealous of his father’s special attention that Joseph receives. Jealousy can be a very powerful negative influence in our lives. I hate care and concern as an afterthought, don’t you! They are, after all, going to sell their brother into slavery. How much do they really care about him! Judah is not a man of compassion or character. He visits a woman he believes is a prostitute and then wants to stone her when she is pregnant. Do we every talk out of both sides of our mouths? Do we say one thing and do another? Maybe we are more like Judah than we care to believe. We want to have the character of Joseph, but WE get in the way.
The Arnold Journey 