Commentary for Genesis 45:27

.(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).

AND THEY TOLD HIM ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH. It is my opinion, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, that it was never told to Jacob throughout his entire lifetime that the brothers had sold Joseph. Rather he thought that Joseph had strayed in the field, and those who found him took him and sold him into Egypt. The brothers did not want to tell him of their sin, being afraid for their lives lest he be wroth and curse them as he did to Reuben, Simeon and Levi,⁷²Further, 49: 3-7. while Joseph in his good ethical conduct did not want to tell him. It is for this reason that it is said, And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: Thy father did command before he died, etc.⁷³Ibid., 50:16. And had Jacob known of this matter, it would have been proper for them to plead before their father at the time of his death to command Joseph by word of his mouth, for he would have granted his father’s request and not rebelled against his word, and they would not have been in danger, nor would they need to feign words out of their own hearts.⁷⁴See Nehemiah 6:8.

את כל דברי יוסף. All the other things Joseph had spoken to them about which have already been recorded in the Torah earlier, such as that he wept while embracing them so that they recognized beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was their brother. את העגלות אשר שלח יוסף, at the instigation of Pharaoh himself.