Commentary for Genesis 50:15

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 יוסף, "perhaps Joseph will hate us, etc." In this instance the word לו means "perhaps," though there is no other such instance in the Torah where the word לו is used in that sense. We need to understand why the Torah uses the word לו here in a sense which is the opposite of its regular meaning. Although it is quite impossible to mistake the meaning of this word in our context, why did the Torah not use such words as פן, or אולי if the intention was to describe the brothers as saying "perhaps?"

לו ישטמנו, “supposing Joseph were to turn hostile against us? They hoped that Joseph’s hostility against them would be restricted to his heart and would not manifest itself openly. [this interpretation assumes that the word לו is a wishful expression as it is elsewhere. Ed.]

Out of respect to his father. But once Yaakov died he no longer received them warmly. It says in Bereishis Rabbah: “R. Tanchuma said that Yoseif’s intent was for the sake of Heaven, for he reasoned, ‘In the past, my father would seat me above Yehudah who is the king, and above Reuvein who is the firstborn. Now, it is not right for me to sit above them...’” And he did not wish to sit below them, because it would be disrespectful to the royalty [of Egypt].

So lange Kinder um einen Vater, eine Mutter, leben, so lange finden sie in den Eltern den Halt der Einigung. Selbst unter den besten Kindern können kleine Differenzen sein; so lange aber die Eltern leben, schwindet aus Liebe und Anhänglichkeit zu den Eltern jeder Misston. Nach dem Tode lockert sich das Band, sie treffen sich nicht mehr so oft, werden sich fremder, wenn Vater und Mutter nicht mehr den Mittelpunkt bilden. Nun gar hier ist es etwas ganz Natürliches. Die Brüder "sahen", merkten, dass der Vater nicht mehr da sei. Es braucht ja nur einer dem andern ein Unrecht getan zu haben, so muss dieser andere ganz außerordentlich freundlich sein, wenn der Schuldbewusste nicht glauben soll, er sei ihm unfreundlich. — לו, von לוה: ein Heischesatz, angenommen, dass — wenn es nun doch so wäre, dass —.

ויאמרו לו ישטמנו יוסף, they said: “perhaps Joseph will hate us.” When the brothers had returned from burying their father in Canaan, Joseph passed the pit into which the brothers had thrown him and recited the blessing: “the G-d Who has performed a miracle for me at this place.” When the brothers heard this they became afraid that old animosities might flare up again.

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?”.)

But there is no other example of this in Scripture... Rashi is saying: although there is no other example in Scripture, still we can say that לו means שמא (lest). This is because לו sometimes means אולי, (perhaps), as Rashi proved from Scripture. And אולי sometimes means שמא. If so, לו can mean שמא, since לו and אולי are the same.

It seems that the Torah has the brothers express a subconscious desire for Joseph to pay them back for all they had done to him. If Joseph were to do that now and the brothers would experience a similar agony to that which they had subjected him to, they would no longer have to worry about paying for their sin against him at the end of the exile. Yalkut Mishley 929 describes that the 10 martyrs executed by Hadrian were in retribution for the failure to punish the brothers who had sold Joseph at the time. Shabbat 10 attributes the exile in Egypt to the coloured coat Jacob had made for Joseph and which resulted in the jealousy of his brothers.

Sometimes אולי denotes a wish... Rashi is saying there is another proof that לו and אולי are the same: לו often means בקשה (a wish), and אולי sometimes means בקשה. Thus we can say that לו sometimes means שמא just like אולי sometimes does. [Rashi adds:] “Sometimes אולי has the meaning of ‘if’,” [just like לו does] as Rashi said before. Therefore, לו and אולי are the same.