פירוש על בראשית 43:23

אלהיכם YOUR GOD — your God because of your own merits: and if your own merits do not suffice, then ואלהי אביכם THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER — because of your father’s merits HE HAS GIVEN YOU A TREASURE (Genesis Rabbah 92:4).

HE HATH GIVEN YOU A HIDDEN TREASURE (‘MATMON’) IN YOUR BAGS. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that Joseph told them that “it is possible that some one had a hidden treasure in his house which he forgot,²¹²It was inadvertently placed in the grain which was collected during the years of plenty, and it happened to be hidden in the grain purchased by Joseph’s brothers. and it fell to your lot for your money came to me.”
Now these are but words of consolation, for how did it happen that each one of the brothers received the precise amount of money²¹³Above, Verse 21. which he paid for the grain! Rather, the correct interpretation is that all matter which is hidden is called matmon in Hebrew: The lazy man hides (‘taman’) his hand in the dish;²¹⁴Proverbs 19:24. We have stores hidden (‘matmonim’) in the field.²¹⁵Jeremiah 41:8. Thus Joseph told them that it is customary for ass-drivers who buy grain that each one put his money in his sack, and the attendant in charge of the sales took the sacks from those who came and filled ten sacks with grain, and the money remained hidden under the grain. Then the attendant’s master came and commanded him to pour these ten bags into the vessels of Jacob’s sons as he wanted to send them away in a hurry or because he was not in charge of taking money.²¹⁶The officer who commanded the sacks to be transferred to the brothers’ vessels in order to load them on the asses was not in charge of taking money from the buyers. Neither did he know that the attendant who was supposed to have received the money had not received it. Thus the mistake occurred. Thus it happened that each one found his exact amount of money at the opening of the sack, as each one had brought the amount of money for a donkey’s load worth of bread. This constantly occurs in market-places and store-houses where sales take place in a great confusion of people.

ואלוקי אביכם, it was public knowledge that the brothers were well trained in miracles, matters metaphysical.

שלום לכם, אל תיראו, "all is well with you, do not fear." Joseph's adjutant volunteered this statement without having consulted with his master first. According to Midrash Tanchuma on this verse Joseph's adjutant was his son Menashe, and we have an example here of the power of the son exceeding that of his father. Menashe was certain that his father would concur with his remarks. The reason Menashe added: "do not fear" was because he could see fear expressed on the brothers' faces. The Torah confirms this (verse 18) when it wrote: וייראו האנשים, "The men were afraid."

מטמון, if you found this money in your sacks it was a gift from heaven, comparable to if a human being had given you a treasure. But as far as the money you owed for your purchases is concerned, כספכם בא אלי, “I did receive your money.”

נתן לכם מטמון, “has given you a treasure;” possibly someone had hidden a treasure in the cushion of his sack, and he kept this in the cellar of his house with other sacks. When he left the house he forgot it so that you have become the beneficiaries. Nachmanides writes that Joseph’s official’s words, were intended only to reconcile the brothers to the fact that they had found their original money. Nobody in his right mind could ascribe the fact that all ten brothers had found precisely the same amount of money in each of their sacks to fate. Clearly, someone had deliberately placed those sums of money there. The truth is that anything hidden, concealed, unaccounted for, is called מטמון, the root of the word deriving from טמן, hide, secrete. All the grain buyers kept their money at the bottom of their sacks, and when the seller filled the sacks with grain he would first empty these sacks of the money at the bottom. This was an everyday occurrence at all the markets. Since the grain was sold in units of so many bushels per sack, every sack contained an equal amount of money at the bottom. The seller did not pour the grain into the sacks in the presence of the purchaser, every transaction being based on mutual trust. The queues of purchasers were long, the confusion and pressure considerable, so that the fastest most efficient way had to be devised to serve as many customers per day as was possible. Keeping all this in mind, what the official said to the brothers did not sound quite so implausible. When there were so many people to whom this money could have belonged, and there were no identifying marks on the money, the rule was: “finders keepers.”

Um sie ganz zu beruhigen, damit sie in Gemütsruhe speisen möchten, gab er ihnen sofort Simeon heraus.

Immediately after saying this, ויוצא, he gave instructions to have Shimon brought out to join them. He did this so promptly in order to allay their fears and suspicions and to comfort them.

נתן לכם מטמון. "He has given you a treasure." He meant that some person has hidden his money in your sacks and G'd has given it to you seeing the original owners have given up hope of retrieving it, and Gentiles are not required to make public announcements when they find something valuable. He led Shimon out to them in order to lift their spirits by proving his positive attitude towards them.