Kommentar zu Bereschit 49:23

וימררהו ורבו AND THEY EMBITTERED HIM — His brothers dealt bitterly with him; Potiphar and his wife dealt bitterly with him, putting him into the dungeon. וימררהו is the same metaphor as וימררו 'וגו in (Exodus 1:14) “They made their lives bitter (וימררו )” (Genesis Rabbah 98:19).

וימררוהו ורבו, they threw him into jail,

49,23. וישטמוהו בעלי חצים, The expression בעלי חצים means: “the slanderers.” The word חץ, usually meaning “arrow,” is used as a simile for slander in Jeremiah 9,7חץ שחוט לשונם, “their tongues are like a sharp arrow.” One of these slanderers was the chief of the cup bearers when he referred to Joseph as נער עברי עבד, three words which are each a derogatory term. (41,12). Also some of Pharaoh’s servants are included in the list of those who slandered Joseph. They are reported as commenting with disdain that “Pharaoh has appointed a slave who had been sold for 20 pieces of silver as our ruler.” (Sotah 36).

וימררהו ורבו וישטמהו בעלי חצים. "They made life bitter for him, they quarrelled, and arrow-tongued men hated him." This is a reference to the time when the brothers first planned to kill Joseph (37,20). It is also possible that Jacob describes what we find in the Sefer Hayashar that the brothers wounded Joseph in many parts of his body before they threw him into the pit. The torture they subjected him to is described by וימררהו. Afterwards, when the brothers took counsel and discussed throwing him into the pit and then to sell him as a slave, they had differences of opinions, i.e. ורבו, they quarrelled.

וימררו ורובו, if Yaakov spoke of the past in this verse we must understand his remarks as pertaining to Potiphar and his wife, as well as to the members of his household, but not to Joseph’s brothers. It is quite impossible to conceive of our patriarch Yaakov speaking of the brothers’ shame at the same as he was blessing them. Even though Yaakov had spoken of Reuven’s having disgraced himself, Yaakov had to do this in order to justify why he had deprived him of the privileges of the birthright. The same reasoning applies to his having recalled Shimon and Levi’s acts of violence, for which Yaakov made appropriate precautions for the future by dividing them up so that they could not pose a threat again.

וימררוהו ורובו, “they made life bitter for him and became his adversaries.” Compare Job 16,13 יסבו עליו רביו, “his adversaries ganged up on him with their arrows.” Yaakov employs the brothers’ conduct versus Joseph as similar to that described in the verse we quoted from Job, so that the simile of בעלי חצים, and ותשב באיתן קשתו, that Joseph when he had the opportunity to exact retribution from his brothers when he had many arrows at his disposal, refrained from doing so by keeping his arrows safely tucked in his quiver and his bow inactive, is most appropriate.

His brothers made him bitter. [Rashi knows it means his brothers] because at the end of the verse it is written בעלי חצים, similar to ותהי המחצה (Bamidbar 31:36), referring to those who are fit to share the inheritance with him, [as Rashi explains].

(23-24) וימררוהו, wie וימררו את חייהם (zw. B. M. 1, 14). רבו eine grammatisch schwierige Form. Eine Ableitung von רבה in der Bedeutung von Bogenschützen ist der Form nach nicht zulässig, und ja auch die Bedeutung Schütze in רבה קַשָת keineswegs begründet, da קַשָת selbst Schütze heißt, und רבה קשת vielmehr ein Heranbilden von Schützen bedeuten dürfte. Von רבב, vermehren, wäre es eine Imperativform, die hier ganz ungehörig wäre, und passt auch der Begriff Vermehren nicht in den Zusammenhang. Nach Raschi wäre es als Pualform von רוב, streiten, aufzufassen, wie רומו von רום, und hieße es dann, da רוב, streiten, intransitiv ist: sie haben sich in den Hader hineingelebt. Es war ihnen von außen keine gerechte Veranlassung gegeben, sie haben sich vielmehr selbst durch irrige Voraussetzungen über Josefs Absichten und Pläne in eine solche Feindseligkeit gegen ihn hineingebracht. שטם, verwandt mit סתם, zustopfen, sperren, daher שטם: einen heimlichen Groll, einen tiefversteckten Hass hegen, wie נטר: bewahren und Groll nachtragen. Es ist jedoch von נטר — und daher auch von שטם — nicht das erlittene Unrecht das Objekt, sondern die beleidigende Person, לא תטור את בני עמיך. Ist ja auch מטרה, von נטר, das Ziel, das Augenmerk, der ferne Zielpunkt, nach dem man seine Pfeile schießt. לא תטור את heißt daher, du sollst nicht im Stillen auf deinen Nächsten zielen, ihn nicht still im Herzen mit herumtragen, um ihn gelegentlich mit dem Pfeil der Rache zu treffen. שטם ist der noch verstecktere Hass. בעלי חצים wird gewöhnlich für Umschreibung von Schützen genommen, und werden die Brüder also genannt, weil sie ihn mit den Pfeilen ihres Verrates getroffen hatten. Wir möchten es anders verstehen. Zu diesen Pfeilen bekommen wir sofort einen Bogen: ותשב באיתן קשתו — und der befindet sich in Josefs Hand. Wir finden auch sonst nirgends בעל also mit einer Waffe verbunden, etwa בעל חרב. usw., dass es den mit der Waffe Gerüsteten bedeuten würde. Vielmehr wären בעלי חצים diejenigen, die die Pfeile haben, zu welchen der Bogen sich in der Hand Josefs befindet. Josef hat den Bogen, und aus ihren Händen selbst hätte er die Pfeile erhalten, die er, wenn er es gewollt, auf sie losgedrückt hätte. —

וימררוהו ורבו, “they embittered him and they quarreled. This was the result of the arrow tongued brothers hating him already.

ורבו means his brothers became his adversaries (literally, men of strife). This verb is not a Kal form meaning they strove (with him) for were it so it should have been punctuated וְרָבוּ (from the root ריב), as in (Numbers 20:13) “These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel strove (רָבוּ)”. And even if its meaning were “shooting arrows” (from the root רבה) it would have been punctuated in exactly the same way. It really has a passive force like (Jeremiah 2:12) שֹׁׁמּוּ שמים “Be astonished, O ye heavens” which is as much as הושמו; and likewise (Job 24:24) “They are exalted (רֹמּוּ) for a little while” which has the same meaning as הורמו except that הורמו and הושמו mean they are made to be exalted and astonished by others, whilst שמו and רמו and רבו denote that the actions arise out of the persons themselves: they make themselves to be astonished, they are exalted of their own accord, רבו means they became men of strife. A similar form is (Isaiah 23:2) “Be still (דֹּמּוּ) ye inhabitants of the isle” where דמו has the same meaning as the Nipal of נִדְמוּ ,דום. In this sense does Onkelos also translate it: ונקמהו “and they avenged themselves on him”.

ורובו, and they harassed him. The thought is repeated to lend it emphasis, as is the reference to the בעלי חצים, his enemies. We find the expression רביו and חציו used in Job 16,13 as almost interchangeable. The dagesh in the letter צ of the word חצים confirms that the whole word is used for emphasis, reinforcing the thought already expressed in the word ורבו which also has such a dagesh. If the word ורבו were derived from the root מריבה, quarrel, it would not have a dagesh¸ just as קמו from קום, or שבו from שוב do not have a dagesh. The word רב in the sense in which it is used here also occurs in Judges 11,25 as emphasised by means of repetition, i.e. הרב רב, when Yiphtach refers to the extreme hostility to the Jewish people displayed by the Moabites. There was no need for the dagesh on that occasion as the word has already been repeated to show the emphasis Yiphtach had in mind. The Torah, i.e. Yaakov, calls the evil fabrication that the wife of Potiphar used to indict Joseph חצים, arrows, a word used in the same sense by Jeremiah 9,7 when he says (of his own people, alas) חץ שחוט לשונם, מרמה דבר, בפיו שלום את רעהו ידבר וגו': “Their tongue is a sharpened arrow, they use their mouths to deceive; one speaks of his fellow peacefully, while laying an ambush for him, etc.”

וימררוהו, they embittered his life throwing him into jail for at least two years, as we know from Psalms 105,18 ענו בכבל רגלו ברזל באה נפשו, “his feet were subjected to fetters, an iron collar was put on his neck.”

Potiphar and his wife made him bitter... [Rashi knows] that it cannot refer to his brothers alone. For then it should say, “They quarreled with him and made him bitter” — as it cannot be that they first embittered his life and then became his antagonists. Perforce, it refers also to Potiphar and his wife.

The hatred of the "arrow tongued men" are a reference to the wife of Potiphar and her companions all of whom wanted to sleep with Joseph, i.e. they demanded "his arrows." [Our sages often refer to ejaculation of semen as equivalent to the shooting of an arrow. Ed.]

Allein: איתן .ותשב באיתן קשתו: dasjenige, was sich aus alter Zeit als kräftig bewährt hat, worauf die Gegenwart ruht. Verwandt ist אדן, Säulenfuß, der Träger, worauf etwas ruht. Daher auch אתון, die Eselin, das Tier, das vorzüglich zum Reiten gebraucht wurde, Tragetier, Reittier, während חמור, von חומר, die Last, mehr als Lasttier diente. Also: da blieb doch in seiner alten festen Ruhe, unerschütterlich, sein Bogen, er nahm nicht den Bogen von der Schulter, sie mit den von ihnen selbst gereichten Pfeilen zu verderben, selbst nicht in der Zeit, wo schon

בעלי חצים THE ARCHERS (literally, men who have arrows) — they were so called because their tongues were as arrows (Genesis Rabbah 98:19) (cf. Psalms 120:4). Onkelos translates it (חצים) by פלגותא taking it to be of the same root as המחצה in (Numbers 31:36) “And the half (המחצה) was” thus he takes בעלי חצים to mean “those who were destined to share with him the inheritance”.

ורבו, from the root רבב, similar to the relationship between סבו and סבב, or רוני from רנן (compare Isaiah 12,6) צהלי ורוני יושבת ציון, “Oh shout for joy you who dwell in Zion.” The word רוני is a repetition of the thought expressed in the word צהלי, designed to reinforce that thought.

ורבו, they shot arrows at him. The root of the verb רבו is of the type in which two root letters appear רבב repeated. Yaakov repeats the thought expressed by the word וימררוהו, also a root with a double consonant. The word רומו in Job 24,24 is a parallel construction to our word here.

On the other hand, the word וימררהו may be an allusion to Satan, i.e. the evil urge, who seduces one to commit a sin. This may have been the cause of ויפזו זרעי ידיו, "that his virility was channelled through his hands." The power of the evil urge is illustrated by a story involving the pious Rabbi Amram in Kidushin 81. That story ends with the evil urge escaping from the body of Rabbi Amram in a fiery column after Rabbi Amram had almost succumbed.

פזז .ויפוו זרועי ידיו: einerseits מפַנֵן ומכרכר (Sam. II. 6, 16) eine außerordentliche Kraftäußerung, andererseits: כלי פז ,עטרת פז, sehr wertvolles Gold; die Verwandtschaft dieser Bedeutungen ist dunkel.

וישטמהו בעלי חצים, they hated him for no cause, slandering him to his employer. Yaakov summarises all these wicked words with the word חצים, arrows. We find the word חץ used in the same sense in Psalms 120,4 חצי גבור שנונים עם גחלי רתמים, “a warrior’s sharp arrows with hot coals, etc.” [the previous verse speaks of the deceitful tongue, so that this verse is a simile for such deceitful tongues. Ed.]

The forces of the קליפה may be termed מרה, bitter. This is perhaps what the Torah wanted to allude to when it described Joseph's life as having been made bitter. When we follow this approach the word ורבו describes the constantly increasing pressure of the evil urge, and the reference to the hatred expressed by the owners of the arrows are to the forces urging man to sin. Their promise to reward him with the pleasures of the flesh are expressions of their hatred for him. They hate every manifestation of holiness. In spite of all these temptations Joseph remained steadfast like a lion and did not "shoot his arrows."

זרוע יד: der Arm der Hand (זרה‎, זרע, streuen, werfen), das Organ, durch welches die Hand kräftig in Bewegung gesetzt wird, in welchem eigentlich die Stärke der Hand beruht; also: selbst nicht, als schon die Arme seiner Hände die höchste Kraft zu äußern im Stande, oder: schon fürstlich geschmückt waren, durch die allmächtige Gottesfügung etc.

When Jacob speaks about מידי אביר יעקב, this means that the same G'd who has proven Jacob's Mighty One also saved Joseph from succumbing.

Also: Sie hatten ihm das Bitterste bereitet, hatten sich gewaltsam in Feindseligkeit hineingelebt, hatten sich ihn versteckt zum Ziele ihres Verderben brütenden Hasses gesetzt, die Eigner der Pfeile, die ihm für seinen Bogen da lagen — sie hatten ihn selbst, um ihn zu verderben, nach Mizrajim verkauft, und dies von ihnen selbst bereitete Verhältnis hatte ihn zum Herrn ihres Geschickes gemacht und sie völlig in seine Hand gegeben. — Er aber nahm nicht den Bogen von der Schulter, die Brüder mit ihren eigenen Pfeilen zu verderben, selbst nicht, als er bereits durch Gottes Hand zu so fürstlicher Macht gelangt war — das ist sein Adel, der Gesinnungsadel, durch Geburt und mütterlichen Einfluss ihm eigen, der ihn zum פרת עלי עין gemacht, ihn von Geburt an so hoch über alle und alles hinaushob.

Jacob concludes: משם רעה אבן ישראל, a reference to Psalms 118,22 where we are told that "the stone that the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone." This appears to be an allusion to Joseph who had also been rejected at first by his brothers. Joseph's righteousness made him the chief cornerstone also known as the רעה אבן ישראל, the cornerstone who is Israel's shepherd Proverbs 10,25 that "the righteous is an enduring foundation" expresses the same idea.

Die göttliche Allmacht, die Josefs Geschick so wundervoll gestaltet, nennt Jakob אביר יעקב וגו׳. Er erkennt in Josefs Geschick die Wiederholung seines eigenen. Wie Jakob aus väterlichem Hause arm hinauswanderte und durch אביר יעקב zu dem reich gesegneten Familienleben gelangte, ganz so, und in noch erhöhtem Maße ergings Josef. "Dieselbe Schwungkraft, die mich aus der Armut auf der Haide zum gesegneten Familienvater gemacht, hat dich aus der Sklaverei, in die dich die eigenen Brüder verkauft, zur fürstlichen Macht erhoben", es ist dies derselbe Gott, "der von damals — von Bethel an — weidet, d. i. überwacht und weiterführt, den Stein, den Jakob in jener Nacht aufgestellt" — Von damals an waltet er und segnet das Unscheinbare, segnet nicht das Große, sondern das Kleine, zeigt seine Größe nicht an dem Verfolger, sondern an dem Verfolgten. —