Genesis Chapter 45

ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים AND JOSEPH COULD NOT REFRAIN HIMSELF BEFORE ALL THEM THAT STOOD — He could not bear that the Egyptians should stand by him witnessing how his brothers would be put to shame when he made himself known to them.

וישמע בית פרעה AND THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH HEARD IT — The house of Pharaoh means his servants and the members of his household. בית here does not mean an actual house (so that the words would mean “and one heard it in the house of Pharaoh; cf. 5:16), but it is similar to (1 Kings 12:21) בית ישראל “the house of Israel”, or בית יהודה the house of Judah”, meaning the people of Judah. old French maisniede English all the inmates of a house.

נבהלו מפניו [FOR] THEY WERE AMAZED AT HIS PRESENCE — out of shame.

גשו נא אלי STEP NEAR TO ME, I PRAY YOU — He saw that they recoiled and he said to himself “Now my brothers feel ashamed”. He therefore called to them in mild and gentle language (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

למחיה FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE — i.e. that I may be to you for a preservation of life.

כי זה שנתים הרעב means FOR THESE TWO YEARS OF FAMINE have passed of the years of famine that are to come in the land.

לאב A FATHER — he made me his colleague and he bestowed on me the dignity of “Father of the king.”

ועלו אל אבי AND GO UP TO MY FATHER — he said “go up” because the land of Israel is situated higher than all the neighbouring countries (Kiddushin 69a).

פן תורש — The Targum renders this by דלמא תתמסכן LEST THOU BE IMPOVERISHED, for the verb is of the same root as we find in (1 Samuel 2:7) “The Lord maketh poor (מוריש) and maketh rich”.

והנה עיניכם ראות AND, BEHOLD, YOUR EYES SEE my glory, and that I am your brother, and further כי פי המדבר אליכם THAT IT IS MY MOUTH THAT SPEAKETH TO YOU in the Holy Language) (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

ועיני אחי בנימין [YOUR EYES] AND THE EYES OF MY BROTHER BENJAMIN — he mentions them separately and alike to imply: just as I harbour no hatred against Benjamin, my brother, for he was no party to selling me, so is my heart free from hatred against you (Megillah 16b).

ויפל על צוארי בנימן אחיו ויבך AND HE FELL UPON HIS BROTHER BENJAMIN’S NECK AND WEPT — for the Temples which were to be in Benjamin’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

ובנימין בכה על צואריו AND BENJAMIN WEPT ON HIS NECK — for the Tabernacle of Shiloh which was to be in Joseph’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

ואחרי כן AND AFTER THAT — after they saw that he wept and realized that he was peaceably inclined towards them, דברו אחיו אתו HIS BRETHREN SPAKE WITH HIM — For at first they felt abashed before him.

והקל נשמע בית פרעה AND THE FAME THEREOF WAS HEARD IN PHARAOH’S HOUSE — It is the same as בבית, in the house of Pharaoh and here it denotes the actual house (cp. 45:2).

טענו את בעירכם LADE YOUR BEASTS — with grain.

את טוב אוץ מצרים THE BEST OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — viz., the district of Goshen. He prophesied without knowing what he was prophesying when he said “I shall give you the best of the land of Egypt”, for ultimately they were to make it like the depths of the sea in which there are no fish (i.e. that they would carry away the best of the land when they would leave Egypt) (Berakhot 9b).

חלב הארץ THE FAT OF THE LAND — The word חלב always denotes the best part of a thing.

ואתה צויתה NOW THOU ART COMMANDED — supply the words by me (lit, by my mouth) to say unto them

זאת עשו THIS DO YE — Thus tell them: that it is done with my permission.

שלח כזאת HE SENT AFTER THIS MANNER — according to this amount. And what was the amount? עשרה חמרים וגו׳ ten asses etc (i.e. as much as ten asses could carry).

מטוב מצרים OF THE BEST THINGS OF EGYPT — We find it stated in the Talmud (Megillah 16b) that he sent him old wine which old people like very much. The Midrash states that he sent him split beans. (Genesis Rabbah 94:2).

בר ולחם CORN AND BREAD — understand this as the Targum renders it.

ומזון means things that are eaten together with bread.

אל תרגזו בדרך BE NOT AGITATED BY THE WAY — Do not busy yourselves with Halachic discussions lest the road become unsteady for you (i.e. lest you lose your way). Another explanation is: Do not take very long steps and enter the town where you will stay over night while the sun is still shining (Taanit 10b). According to the plain sense of the verse, however, it must be explained thus: Because they felt ashamed he feared that they might quarrel on the way about his having been sold, arguing one with another. One would say: “It was through you he was sold”. Another: “It was you who made slanderous statements about him and caused us to hate him”.

וכי הוא משל — the word וכי is used here in the sense of אשר “that”: AND THAT HE WAS RULER.

ויפג לבו AND JACOB’S HEART CONTINUED COLD — his heart passed away (נחלף) and ceased to believe — his heart took no notice of their words. The word ויפג has the same meaning as (Beitzah 14a) “all spices let their taste pass away (מפיגין)” (i.e. lose their taste) in Mishnaic Hebrew. Similar is (Lamentations 3:49) “without (הפגות) intermission”. The words (Jeremiah 48:11) “and his scent is not changed (נמר)” is rendered in the Targum by “and his scent has not את כל דברי יוסף.

.(פג ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH — As evidence that it was Joseph who was sending this message he had informed them of the religious subject he had been studying with his father at the time when he left him, viz., the section of the Heifer (עגלה) that had its neck broken (Deuteronomy 21:6). It is to this that Scripture refers in the words “And he saw (i.e comprehended the meaning of) the עגלות (here to be taken in sense of Heifer) which Joseph had sent — and it does not state “which Pharaoh had sent” (as one would expect if עגלות meant wagons) (Genesis Rabbah 94:3).

ותחי רוח יעקב THE SPIRIT OF JACOB [THEIR FATHER] REVIVED — The Shechinah that had departed from him, rested again upon him (cf. Onkelos).

רב ENOUGH or MUCH — Much joy and pleasure is still in store for me, since my son Joseph is yet alive.