Kommentar zu Bereschit 42:9

אשר חלם להם WHICH HE HAD DREAMED OF THEM — להם means “about them”. He then knew that they (the dreams) were being fulfilled, for they (his brothers) had bowed down to him.

AND JOSEPH REMEMBERED THE DREAMS WHICH HE DREAMED OF THEM. [That is, he remembered the dreams which he dreamed] concerning them, and now knew that they had been fulfilled, for they had bowed down to him. This is the language of Rashi.
In my opinion, the matter is the reverse. Scripture states that when Joseph saw his brothers bowing down to him, he remembered all the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them and he knew that in this instance, not one of the dreams had been fulfilled. He knew that it was inherent in their interpretation that according to the first dream, at first all his brothers would bow down to him, as it says, And, behold, we were binding sheaves,¹³¹Above, 37:7. for “we” refers to all eleven of his brothers. The second time, in accordance with the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars¹³²Ibid., Verse 9. would bow down to him. Now since he did not see Benjamin with them, he conceived of the strategy of devising a charge against them so that they would also bring his brother Benjamin to him, in order to first fulfill the first dream. It is for this reason that he did not wish to tell them at this time, I am Joseph your brother,¹³³Further, 45:4. and to say, Hasten and go up to my father,¹³⁴Ibid., 45:9. and send wagons, as he did to them the second time,¹³⁵Ibid., Verse 19. for in that case his father would undoubtedly have come at once. It was only after fulfillment of the first dream that he told them, I am Joseph your brother,¹³³Further, 45:4. etc., in order to fulfill the second dream. Were it not for this consideration, Joseph would indeed be regarded as having committed a great sin: bringing anguish to his father, leaving him for many days in the position of being bereft and mourning for Simeon and him. Even if it was his intention to cause his brothers minor anguish, how did he not have compassion for his elderly father? But he assigned each to its proper time¹³⁶Ecclesiastes 3:11. in order to fulfill the dreams, knowing that they would truly be fulfilled. Also, the second matter, which he effected against them in connection with the goblet,¹³⁷In which he accused Benjamin of stealing the goblet. (Further, 44:17). is not to be interpreted as if his intention was to cause them anguish, but rather because he suspected that they might hate Benjamin as a result of their jealousy of him on account of his father’s love for him, just as they were jealous of Joseph. Perhaps Benjamin had sensed that they had harmed Joseph, thus causing a quarrel and hatred to erupt between him and his brothers. Therefore, Joseph did not wish Benjamin to travel with them until he had tested their love for him, lest they harm him.
It is to this matter that our Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah¹³⁸93:9. referred when they said: “Rabbi Chiya the son of Rabbi Abba said, ‘When you read the entire plea which Judah made in the presence of his brothers, until you reach the verse, Then Joseph could not refrain himself,¹³⁹Further, 45:1. [you can see that] there was in it an attempt to win the sympathy of Joseph, the sympathy of his brothers, and the sympathy of Benjamin. Joseph’s sympathy [would be gained since Joseph would think], ‘See how he is ready to give his life for Rachel’s children, etc.’”
Similarly I say that all these acts of Joseph are accounted for by his wisdom in the interpretation of the dreams. Otherwise, one should wonder: After Joseph stayed in Egypt for many years and became chief and overseer in the house of a great lord in Egypt, how was it possible that he did not send a single letter to his father to inform him of his whereabouts and comfort him, as Egypt is only about a six-day journey from Hebron? Even if it were a year’s journey, out of respect to his father, he should have notified him, in which case even if the ransom of his person would be ever so costly, he would have redeemed him. But it was because Joseph saw that the bowing down of his brothers, as well as his father and all his family, could not possibly be accomplished in their homeland, and he was hoping that it would be effected in Egypt when he saw his great success there. This was all the more so after he heard Pharaoh’s dream, from which it became clear to him that all of them were destined to come there, and all his dreams would be fulfilled.

ערות, places where the walls were breached, areas from which it would be relatively easy to invade the country. The word ערוה is used in this sense in Chabakuk 3,13 ערות יסוד, “revealing its very foundations.” Another verse in which the word ערוה appears in a similar sense as here is Psalms 137,7 ערו ערו עד היסוד, as well as Isaiah 19,7 ערות על היאור”whatever is by the side of the Nile will be blown away, will vanish.” The fact that all the brothers were of exceptional build, always went everywhere together, made them distinctly different from other travelers so that Joseph pointed to that fact as being suspicious and accused them of being spies.

ויזכור יוסף את החלמות אשר חלם להם. He remembered the part his brothers had played in his dreams, how they had bowed down to him in the dream showing the sheaves of corn. (37,7) He remembered that only his own sheaf had remained erect, and not fallen after first having arisen. This is why he wanted that they would all come when he would recognise them and the part in the dream speaking of the upright sheaf remaining upright would be fulfilled also. This detail of the dream was due to Joseph symbolising the redeemer of the Jewish people in the future as portrayed by the words ירה ויור, “shoot!, and he shot”. in Kings II 13,17. [this was an opportunity, though missed because of the king of Israel not complying completely with the prophet Elisha’s instructions, of reuniting the kingdoms of Yehudah and the Kingdom of Israel. i.e. that of Ephrayim, the descendant of Joseph. Ed.] There were several such opportunities foreseen by the prophets compare Hoseah 2,2 and Daniel 2,44. The author does not really elaborate. Ed.]

ויזכור יוסף את החלומות, Joseph remembered the dreams, etc. Inasmuch as he had really dreamt what he claimed to have dreamt and they had accused him of telling lies because he wanted to become superior to them, he now intended to let them atone for their sin by in turn accusing them of something they had not been guilty of. He accused them of coming to spy.

אשר חלם להם, for the dreams had really concerned the brothers, primarily. He realised now that they had hated him on account of his dreams; this is why when he remembered all that they had done to him instead of repaying them in kind, he only made them extremely uncomfortable for a while. [perhaps what the author means is that originally, Joseph had thought that the brothers resented his becoming a big shot in his dreams, whereas only now did he realise that what they really resented was the fact that they, the brothers, appeared as socially low ranking, slave like, in Joseph’s dreams. Ed.]

ויזכור יוסף החלומות אשר חלם להם, “Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamt concerning them.” According to Rashi, this means that he considered his dreams a having come true. Nachmanides not only does not agree, but, on the contrary, he feels that the Torah reports that Joseph’s dreams now revealed themselves to him as not having come true. When Joseph now saw his brothers he recalled all of his dreams and realized that not a single one had come true as yet. According to his interpretation of his dreams, all the brothers would bow down to him, whereas now only ten brothers had done so, something that had not been part of any of his dreams. In his second dream, not only his brothers were shown as bowing down to him. The main reason Joseph accused the brothers as being spies was because Binyamin had not come with them, and he wanted to devise a stratagem whereby at least the first of his dreams would come true henceforth. This is why he insisted on their bringing Binyamin down with them. If he had revealed himself to them already now, fulfillment of his dreams might never occur in accordance with what he had expected. Once the first dream of his had come true, Joseph manipulated things in such a way that the second dream could come true also, by instructing the brothers to move to Egypt, both they, their families and their aged father. If Joseph had not believed that his dreams were meant to be of a prophetic nature, and would come true, he would have been guilty of a grievous sin for not having revealed his whereabouts to his father who was grieving over him all these years. He had also caused Yaakov distress in not having allowed Shimon to return with the brothers on their first trip. Even allowing for the fact that Joseph thought that his brothers deserved some discomfort and worry in return for what they had subjected him to, how could he not have had pity on his father who had been so depressed for all these years, not knowing what had become of him! We can only justify his conduct throughout as an attempt not to preempt what had been decreed. [כל הדוחק את השעה, השעה דוחקת אותו “anyone who tries to pre-empt pre-ordained events= will experience that he himself will be pre-empted by other events to his detriment.” (Berachot 64.) Ed.] It is also possible that a major consideration in Joseph’s conduct was to examine whether the brothers’ hatred of him was based on his being a son of Rachel, jealousy of the sons of Leah on their mother’s behalf, or, whether it had been directed only at him, and he himself had brought it upon himself. To this end, he had them bring Binyamin to Egypt, planted the goblet in his sack to see if the sons of the other wives of Yaakov would now abandon their half brother, the remaining son of Rachel, or if they would all as one close ranks around the supposed “thief.” All of Joseph’s considerations were bound up with his exceptional gift of interpreting dreams. If it were not so, it would be most difficult to understand why, even after having attained high office, he still did not inform his father of his whereabouts, and the fact that he was alive. When he had interpreted the dream of Pharaoh successfully and been rewarded accordingly, why did he not at least send a letter to his father? By that time he had had every reason to believe that also his own dreams would come true, including the one in which his father bowed down to him?

Onkelos translates it: בדקא דארעא as in בדק הבית... Meaning: breach in the [wall of the] town.

Wir müssen aus dem Gegebenen versuchen, uns Josefs Benehmen zu erklären. Wir hätten denken sollen, er habe schon um seines Vaters willen sich ihnen sofort zu erkennen geben müssen, umsomehr, da er ja bereits in allem die göttliche Fügung erkannt und all sein Unglück samt der Versündigung der Brüder gegen ihn als das göttliche Werkzeug seines höchsten Glückes verehren gelernt hatte. Ein gescheidter Mann wie Josef kann auch nicht geglaubt haben, sich in den Dienst seiner Träume stellen zu müssen. Bedeutet der Traum etwas, so überlässt man dessen Realisierung dem, der ihn geschickt. Es können ihn nur Erwägungen der zwingendsten Notwendigkeit zu einem Verfahren veranlasst haben, das sonst als eine völlig zwecklose Schikanierung erscheinen würde, die man, abgesehen von dem sittlichen Charakter Josefs, schon seiner doch gewiss unleugbaren Klugheit nicht zutrauen dürfte. Denken wir uns ganz in seine Lage, so dürfte sich uns folgendes ergeben: Würde Josef seinem Vater und seinen Brüdern gegenüber wirklich der Fürst und nichts als der Fürst haben bleiben wollen, hätte ihm nichts daran gelegen, wieder als Sohn und Bruder in den Kreis der Familie einzutreten, er hätte aller dieser Veranstaltungen nicht bedurft. Allein er, der auch als ägyptischer Fürst seine Kinder für das Haus Jakob erzogen und auch seine Gebeine einst in väterlichem Boden wollte ruhen lassen, er musste vorher ein Zwiefaches als notwendig erkennen: 2. dass er womöglich von seinen Brüdern, vor allem aber, b. dass seine Brüder von ihm eine andere Meinung erhielten. Ihre inneren Gesinnungen zu einander mussten zuvor völlig andere geworden sein, sonst wäre nie ein inniges Verhältnis wieder möglich gewesen, und wenn auch äußerlich der Familie wiedergegeben, wäre ihm die Familie und er für sie verloren geblieben. Dass Josefs Meinung von den Brüdern keine ungetrübte, dass ihm ihre heftige Rücksichtslosigkeit gegenwärtig geblieben, mit der sie seines Flehens in der Grube, mit der sie des Schmerzes des Vaters nicht geachtet, das ist durchaus natürlich und konnte nur durch den Erweis vollständiger änderung aus seinem Gemüte getilgt werden. Es war ihm daher eine Notwendigkeit, sie zu prüfen, ob sie wohl noch einmal im Stande wären — und zwar aus durchaus reellen Ursachen — einen Sohn dem Vater abzulocken. Vielleicht lebenslängliches Gefängnis, die zu Hause vielleicht verhungernde Familie waren ernstere Gründe, als eine imaginäre, von Josefs vermeintlicher Herrschsucht drohende Gefahr. Diese Prüfung war für Josefs Gemüt notwendig, um, wenn sie sie bestehen, den letzten bittern Tropfen aus seinem Innern zu tilgen. Das Zweite aber, und vielleicht das Wichtigere war: Josef gedachte seiner Träume, gedachte, wie diese Träume bei ihnen die Vorstellung von seiner Herrschsucht und der ihnen daraus drohenden Gefahr geweckt und zu einer solchen tiefen Überzeugung gesteigert, dass sie sich aus vermeintlicher Selbstverteidigung zu dem größten Verbrechen berechtigt halten konnten. War dies bereits der Fall, als er noch im verbrämten Rock zwischen ihnen umherlief, um wie viel mehr musste er jetzt von ihnen mit Angst und Schrecken gefürchtet werden, wo er "König" war und noch dazu Ursache hatte, sie zu hassen und nach Art gemeiner Seelen sich an ihnen zu rächen. Es war daher mehr als notwendig, dass sie ihn in seinem wahren Charakter kennen lernten, und dazu war es vor allem nötig, dass er sich ihnen in seiner wahren Stellung zeigte. Bisher kannten sie ihn nur als den משכיר, vielleicht den Kommis eines untergeordneten Beamten, er musste sich ihnen als den שליט zeigen, sie mussten erfahren, wie er jetzt alles mit ihnen machen konnte, was er wollte, und wenn er dann doch, statt allen dessen, nur ihr größter beglückender Wohltäter wurde, so durfte er hoffen, sie damit von allen ihren irrigen Vorstellungen geheilt zu haben. Kurz, in dem Momente, wo er sich ihnen als Josef zeigte, musste ihnen die Binde von den Augen fallen und beiderseits ein völliger Strich durch die ganze Vergangenheit möglich sein. Nur so durfte er hoffen, wieder als Sohn und Bruder dem Vater und seinen Kindern wiedergegeben zu werden. Irren wir nicht, so dürften eben solche Erwägungen es auch gewesen sein, die Josef davon zurückgehalten, in den Jahren seines Glückes seinem Vater Kunde von sich zu geben. Was hätte Jakobs Herz dabei gewonnen, gegen ein wiedergewonnenes Kind zehn Kinder zu verlieren und fortan seinen Kinderkreis nur in feindseligster Spannung gegen einander denken zu müssen?! Zu diesem großen Ziele waren aber alle diese Veranstaltungen unumgänglich und — wie uns scheint — der Weisheit eines Josef völlig würdig. —

ערות הארץ means THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND — from which side it might easily be conquered. Of similar meaning are, (Leviticus 20:18) “He hath made naked (הערה) her fountain”; (Ezekiel 16:7), “naked and עריה) bare”. Indeed all forms of this root ערה signify “uncovering”). Onkelos renders it by “the breach (בדקא) of the land”, similar to (2 Kings 12:6), “the breach (בדק) of the house”— the defective places in the house — but he was not particular to translate according to the wording of the text (i.e. literally).

AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, YE ARE SPIES. This accusation requires some reason or some plausible explanation, for what did they do that he should so accuse them? People from every country came to him to buy grain, and they were “among those who came,” just as it says, To buy grain among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.¹⁴⁰Verse 5 here. Perhaps [the reason for the accusation was that] they had the appearance of men of stature and prominence, all of them clothed most gorgeously,¹⁴¹Ezekiel 38:4. whereupon he said to them, “It is not customary for prominent people as you to come to buy food, having as you do many servants.”
It is possible that they were the first ones to come from the land of Canaan. This is the meaning of the verse, And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan,¹⁴⁰Verse 5 here. meaning that now they were the first who came from there. So Joseph said to them, “You are spies, since no one has come from the land of Canaan to buy food.” This is the intent of the question, “Where have you come from?”¹⁴²Verse 7 here. which he addressed to them at the outset.

לראות את ערות הארץ באתם, to find out if we have enough food supply for our own country. You did not really come here to buy. It is certainly not the custom of other buyers to arrive in groups of

מרגלים אתם!, “you are spies!” This was not a trumped up accusation, taken out of thin air. The arrival of Joseph’s brothers through ten different border checkpoints was certainly something suspicious, although the Torah did not bother to spell out this detail in its narrative. When they told Joseph that they were all the sons of one father but had not traveled together, as Joseph knew, this was an incriminating factor. We can reconstruct part of the dialogue between Joseph and his brothers. First they had been found entering through different gates, and then they suddenly claimed to all belong together. Such conduct begs further examination of their true intent. In addition, their garments revealed them to be people of prominence and wealth. Joseph was entitled to wonder why such people subjected themselves to a lengthy journey just to buy grain, instead of leaving this chore to one or more of their many servants. It is also possible that the brothers were among the first grain shoppers from the land of Canaan, and this prompted Joseph to question them more thoroughly than travelers arriving later.