Commentaire sur La Genèse 40:7

AND HE ASKED PHARAOH’s OFFICERS THAT WERE WITH HIM IN THE WARD OF HIS MASTER’s HOUSE. It would be proper for Scripture to say; “And he asked them, saying.” Instead, Scripture speaks at length about it for its desire is to speak in praise of Joseph. Here is a servant lad who is enquiring of two great officers who are wards in the house of his master who hates him,²⁶⁰“Who hates him.” Ramban is here writing from the standpoint of the butler and the baker, who must have thought that Joseph’s master imprisoned him because he hated him, not being aware, as explained above, that he did so to protect his family’s reputation. and each of whom could command his hanging.²⁶¹If his interpretation of the dreams would turn out to be incorrect. Thus, as explained further on by Ramban, if the baker had been restored to his position, he would have seen to it that Joseph pay for his mistake with his life. Yet he was not afraid of them, and asked them their dreams and told them his opinion with respect to the interpretation because he trusted in his wisdom. Had the lord of the bakers been saved and restored to his position by the king, he would have hung him for his false interpretation.

סריסי פרעה אשר אתו במשמר בית אדוניו, seeing that his master had entrusted their well being to him, as we know from verse 4 “the official in charge appointed Joseph to be with them.” If it had not been for this, it would not have been appropriate for Joseph to enquire into the private affairs of these ministers awaiting their final sentence.

וישאל את סריסי פרעה, He enquired from Pharaoh's ministers, etc. Why did the Torah have to add the words: "who were with him in jail?" Also, why did the Torah add: "in the house of his master?"

וישאל, the Torah now adds the words סריסי פרעה, Pharaoh’s highly placed officials, although at the time אשר אתו, they were on a par with him, both in jail. When Joseph saw their pitiful state of mind, he felt he had to ask what caused such highly placed personages to be in such a depressed mood. After all, his superior, the warden had charged him with looking after the well being of these two special prisoners.

וישאל את סריסי פרעה אשר אתו במשמר, “he enquired from Pharaoh’s ministers, the ones in the same jail as he, etc.” We would have expected the Torah to write: “וישאל אותם,” he asked them.” The only reason why the Torah chose more cumbersome wording is to tell us of the praiseworthy conduct of Joseph who, although he found himself in the presence of two prisoners vastly superior to him in personal power even while in jail, and moreover, in the jail of his former master Potiphar, who by now hated him, i.e. people who could have ordered his execution without worrying about their being held accountable, nonetheless had the courage to interpret their dreams, although at least one of them would be frustrated with his interpretation. He had confidence in his wisdom, for if the chief of the bakers had been pardoned, he would surely have hung Joseph for having made him deathly afraid for a number of days.

וישאל את סריסי פרעה אשר אתו במשמר בית אדוניו לאמר, He asked the courtiers of Pharaoh who were with him in the custody of the house of his master to tell, etc.” What was the need for the Torah to write this cumbersome introduction? Did we not know that these courtiers were in jail together with Joseph? All the Torah had to write was that Joseph asked the courtiers why they were so glum. It is possible to understand the wording of the Torah here in light of what had been written before in verse four that Joseph was with these courtiers in the same jail and that he who was in jail with them performed personal valet service for them; these services were rendered to these prisoners only because they were of such an elevated stature. Now that the boot was on the other foot, the Torah wanted to mention that they were with him, i.e. that they depended upon him to enlighten them. The Torah wrote: “the courtiers of Pharaoh who were with him,” to draw our attention to the fact that they were now secondary to Joseph instead of Joseph being secondary to them.
Furthermore, the Torah wanted to explain why Joseph had the audacity to mix into the private affairs of such highly placed personages as the Chief of the butlers, etc. The Torah illustrates the point that when lowly prisoners, slaves, foreigners such as Joseph and highly placed personages such as these two courtiers find themselves in similar circumstances, i.e. in a dungeon, considerations such as their former status vanish and there is established a form of equality based on a common fate. This is what gave Joseph the courage to comment on the glum expressions of the Chief of the butlers and the Chief of the bakers. Joseph was concerned with their well-being although they were wicked people serving a wicked King.

Wie viele Worte sind in der ersten Hälfte dieses Satzes überflüssig! Fast so viel als er enthält. Nochmals wird der ganze Pass der beiden Mitgefangenen abgelesen, וישאל אותם hätte uns alles gesagt. Ihre Personalien sind uns ja bereits mehr als bekannt. Trügt uns jedoch nicht alles, so ist uns eben hier das geistige Genie, die חכמה Josefs gezeichnet. Er sah sie betrübt, wusste ja noch von nichts, da fragte er die Hofbedienten Pharaos usw. Der Unterschied der Anschauung, mit welcher ein ge- wohnlicher Mensch die Welt und die Dinge anschaut, von derjenigen, mit welcher ein Josef die Welt und die Dinge anschaute, ist eben der: ein gewöhnlicher Mensch sieht bloß generell, dem חכם erscheint in jeder Person und Sache die ganze Spezialität und Individualität. Jener spricht mit "Kaufleuten", "Gelehrten" usw. Diesem ist in jedem Augenblick die Person, mit der er spricht, in allen ihren Eigentümlichkeiten und Beziehungen zusammen gegenwärtig. Josef vergaß nie, was sie waren, zu welchem Zweck sie da waren, hatte stets ihre ganze Situation in scharf gezeichneten Zügen im Auge. Sie waren במשמר, (— und dadurch unterscheidet sich der ägyptische Pharao vorteilhaft von seinem späteren jovialen persischen Kollegen, dass er nicht sofort im Zorn endgültig dekretiert —) konnten also morgen wieder draußen sein. Waren endlich אתו — eine dunkle Ahnung mochte Josef von der Möglichkeit vorschweben, da sie nur erst in Untersuchungshaft waren, könnten sie einst auf sein Geschick einen günstigen Einfluss üben, und mochte er daher in ihrem Zusammensein eine göttliche Fügung ahnen. Und eben weil ihm die Personen immer in allen ihren Beziehungen gegenwärtig waren, darum sah und hörte er auch alle ihre Worte und Handlungen, und so auch ihre Träume, immer im Zusammenhange mit ihrer ganzen Individualität; und begriff und verstand es auch, aus .dieser Individualität heraus sie aufzufassen und zu würdigen

Perhaps the Torah provided us with the reason why Joseph enquired from the two ministers as to why they seemed so distressed. It was certainly unbecoming for people of inferior standing to enquire into the state of mind of their superiors. The Torah says: "Joseph enquired from Pharaoh's ministers," i.e. although Joseph was only a slave whereas they were ministers of the king he still decided to ask them. The reason was that as of then they were both in jail, normal distinctions between their standing in society did not apply. He may also have thought that their distress had something to do with him personally. The reason the Torah underlined: "in the house of his master," is that Joseph wondered if the distress of the ministers was directed against Joseph's superior, the chief warden. Joseph who was a loyal servant wanted to know if he could perhaps do a service to his master by finding out the reason for the ministers' distress.

Joseph added: היום, "this day," meaning that he did not refer to their general distress about being in jail which is something they had reason to be distressed about already yesterday and the day before, but about their special distress on that day.