Genesis 50

לחנט את אביו TO EMBALM HIS FATHER — Embalming is a matter of using a mixture of aromatic spices.

וימלאו לו [AND FORTY DAYS] WERE FULFILLED — They (the physicians) completed the days of embalming until forty days were completed for him.

ויבכו אתו מצרים שבעים יום AND THE EGYPTIANS WEPT FOR HIM THREESCORE AND TEN DAYS — viz., forty days during the period of embalming and thirty more days for mourning. They wept for him during so long a period because a blessing had come to them on his arrival in Egypt for the famine then ceased and the waters of the Nile again increased (Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 26).

אשר כריתי לי means according to its plain sense “[the grave] which I have digged” just as (Exodus 21:33) “If a man shall dig (יכרה)”. There is a Midrashic explanation (Sotah 13a) which fits in with a meaning of the word כריתי, viz., אשר כריתי means אשר קניתי “which I have bought”. For R. Akiba said, “when I went to the coast-towns I heard them use for what we term מכירה “trading” the term כירה (Rosh Hashanah 26a). Another Midrashic explanation takes כריתי to be connected with כרי a piled up heap of grain, for Jacob had taken all the silver and gold which he had brought from the house of Laban and made a pile of it and said to Esau, “Take this for your share in the cave” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 6).

כאשר השביעך ACCORDING AS HE ADJURED THEE — For except for that oath I would not permit you to do so. He did not dare, however, to say to Joseph, “Break the oath”, lest he might retort, “Then, I, too, may break the oath I made you that I will never reveal that secret about the Sacred Tongue, viz., that I possess a knowledge of it in addition to the seventy languages which you also understand but of which you have no knowledge at all — as it is related in Treatise Sotah 36b.

גרן האטד THE THRESHING FLOOR OF ATAD — It was so called because it was surrounded by a hedge of (אטדין) thorns (not because thorns were threshed there) Our Rabbis explained that it was so called in consequence of an incident that occurred there — that all the kings of Canaan and the princes of Ishmael came to wage war against them, but as soon as they saw Joseph’s crown hanging over Jacob’s coffin they all rose and hung their crowns on it and thus wreathed it with crowns like a threshing floor that is surrounded with a hedge of thorns (Sotah 13a).

כאשר צום AS HE COMMANDED THEM — What was it that he had commanded them? This you can gather from the next verse,

וישאו אותו בניו AND HIS SONS BORE HIM — His sons and not his grandsons. For thus, indeed, he had commanded them: “My bier shall not be borne by an Egyptian, nor by one of your sons because they are children of Canaanite women, but you alone shall bear it He likewise assigned them their positions, namely, three on the east-side and an equal number on the other three sides of the bier. In the same order in which later on the camps marched through the wilderness bearing their several banners they were arranged here. But the 12 tribes that formed these four divisions did not include Levi or Joseph, for Jacob had said, “Levi shall not carry my bier because he is destined to carry the holy Ark; Joseph shall not carry it because he is a king, but Manasseh and Ephraim shall take their places”. And, it is to this that Scripture refers when it says, (Numbers 2:2) “every man [shall pitch] by his own banner according to the signs” — meaning according to the sign (i.e. indication of position) which their father individually gave them with regard to carrying his bier (Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12).

הוא ואחיו וכל העלים אתו HE AND HIS BRETHREN AND ALL THAT WENT UP WITH HIM — here, speaking of their return to Egypt, it mentions his brothers before the Egyptians who went with him whereas when speaking of their journey to Canaan to bury their father it mentions the Egyptians before his brothers, as it is said, (Genesis 50:7) “and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh …” and afterwards it states (Genesis 50:8) “and all the house of Joseph and his brothers”. But the explanation is: because they (the Egyptians) saw how much respect the kings of Canaan paid to Jacob by hanging their crowns on his coffin they now treated them (the sons) with much respect and gave them precedence on the return journey (Sotah 13a).

ויראו אחי יוסף כי מת אביהם AND WHEN JOSEPH S BRETHREN SAW THAT THEIR FATHER WAS DEAD — What is the meaning of “and they saw”? They could perceive that he was dead through the conduct of Joseph. Previously they used to dine at Joseph’s table and he used to receive them with open arms out of respect to his father; after Jacob’s death, however, he no longer treated them in a friendly manner (Tanchuma Yashan 2:1:2; Genesis Rabbah 100:8).

לו ישטמנו means PERHAPS HE WILL HATE US — The word has many different meanings. There are examples of לו used to denote a petition, having the meaning of “Oh that!” as for instance: (Genesis 30:34) “Would (לו) it might be according to thy word”; (Genesis 23:13) “Oh that thou wouldst (לו) only hear me”; (Joshua 7:7) “Would that (לו) we had been content”; (Numbers 14:2) “Would that (לו) we had died”.,There are examples of לו used in the sense of “if” and “אולי” as, (Deuteronomy 32:29) “If (לו) they were wise [they would understand this]”; (Isaiah 48:18) “If (לוא) thou wouldst hearken to my commandments, [then would thy peace be as a river]”; (2 Samuel 18:12) “If (לו) I would receive [a thousand pieces of silver] in my hands, [yet would I not put forth my hand etc.]”. There is an example of לו used in the sense of “perhaps”, — in our verse — “Perhaps he will hate us”, but there is no other example of its usage in this sense in Scripture. Here it corresponds in sense with the word אולי, “perhaps”, as for example in (Genesis 24:5) “אולי the woman will not be willing to follow me” which means “perhaps she will not etc.” As a matter of fact אולי has all the meanings of לו, for there are examples of אולי denoting a petition as for instance (2 Samuel 16:12) “Perhaps (אולי) the Lord will look upon mine eye”, (where the context shows that this involves a kind of petition that God should do this); (Joshua 14:12) “Perhaps (אולי) the Lord will be with me [and I shall drive them out]”, (involving also a petition that God should do this), where אולי has a similar meaning to לו in (Genesis 30:34) “Would (לו) it might be according to thy word”. Then again the word אולי has the meaning of “if”; for example, (Genesis 18:24) “Perhaps (אולי) there are fifty righteous [wilt Thou destroy etc.]” (which is equivalent to “if there are fifty… wilt thou destroy?”.)

ויצוו אל יוסף AND THEY COMMANDED SOME TO GO TO JOSEPH — The words ויצוו אל have the same meaning as in (Exodus 6:13) “and He gave them a charge unto (ויצום אל) the children of Israel”, which signifies, “He commanded Moses and Aaron to act as messengers to the children of Israel”, and this verse, too, means they charged the man whom they sent that he should act as their messenger to Joseph to speak to him as follows (the words לומר לו כן correspond to לאמר in the Bible text here). And who was it that they so charged? The sons of Bilhah who had been accustomed to associate with him, as it is said (Genesis 37:12) “When a lad he used to be with the sons of Bilhah” (Tanchuma Yashan 2:1:2).

אביך צוה THY FATHER DID COMMAND — They altered the facts (they stated something that was false) for the sake of peace, for Jacob had given them no such command because Joseph was not suspect in his sight (Yevamot 65b)).

שא נא לפשע עבדי אלהי אביך NOW, PRAY, FORGIVE THE TRESSPASS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE GOD OF THY FATHER — After having repeated to Joseph the words which his brothers stated had been their fathers message, “forgive thy brothers’ sin” the messengers were to add as a petition of the brothers “Now, pray etc.”, meaning “If you will not forgive them although they are your brothers, forgive them because they are the servants of the God of thy father”, implying though your father be dead, his God still lives and they are his servants.

וילכו גם אחיו AND HIS BRETHREN ALSO WENT in addition to sending their messengers.

כי התחת אלהים אני FOR AM I INSTEAD OF GOD — Am I perhaps (do you think that I am) in His stead? The ה of התחת expresses a question. Even if I wished to do you harm would I at all be able to do so? For did you not all design evil against me, and you did not succeed because the Holy One, blessed be He, designed it for good. How, then, can I alone, without God’s consent, do evil to you.

וידבר אל לבם means HE SPOKE words that found ready entrance INTO THEIR HEART: Before you came down hither people spread rumours about me that I was born a slave; through you it became public that I am a free-man by birth. If I were to kill you what would people say? “He saw a party of fine young men and he prided himself on his relationship with them, saying “These are my brothers”, but afterwards he killed them. Have you ever heard of a man killing his brothers?!” (Genesis Rabbah 100:9) Another interpretation is: He said to them, “Ten lights could not extinguish one light; how, then, can one light extinguish ten lights?” (Megillah 16b).

על ברכי יוסף [WERE BORN] ON JOSEPH’S KNEES — The meaning is as the Targum gives it: He brought them up upon his knees.