Midras Kejadian 42:2: Midrash Tanchuma, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bamidbar Rabbah & Sefer HaYashar (midrash)

Jacob said unto his sons: “Why do ye look one upon another?” (Gen. 42:1). Jacob told his sons: Since you are strong and handsome, do not enter through one gate, nor stand together in one place, lest the evil eye prevail over you.⁶A belief that an envious glance may affect one’s destiny. Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither (ibid., v. 2). What is the meaning of the words get you down? He foresaw that they would go down and be enslaved there for two hundred and ten years, the numerical value of the letters of the word redu (“get you down”). The expression Get you down thither was employed because everyone who purchases grain in the marketplace degrades himself by doing so.⁷A sign of misfortune, since one’s own field should provide for one’s needs. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down (ibid., v. 3). Surely, the verse should read “Israel’s sons,” but it is written in this way because they did not treat him like a brother when they sold him. Later they began to regret their actions and promised each other: “When we descend to Egypt, we shall return our brother to our father.” When their father told them to go to Egypt, they all agreed to return with him.

(Gen. 42:2:) GO DOWN THERE. There is a going down for them. Go down and subdue the land before your children. {(Ibid., cont.:) GO DOWN THERE AND BUY FOR US FROM THERE} [(Gen. 44:25:) RETURN AND BUY US] A LITTLE FOOD. < Go down and subdue the land > before those about whom it is written (in Deut. 7:7:) INDEED YOU ARE THE LEAST OF ALL THE PEOPLES.

(Gen. 42:8:) SO JOSEPH RECOGNIZED HIS BROTHERS, when they fell into his hands. (Gen. 42:8, cont.:) BUT THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM,²⁹I.e., treat him like a brother. when he had fallen into their hands.³⁰Gen. R. 91:7. David said (in Ps. 80:2 [1]): GIVE EAR, O SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL, WHO LEADS JOSEPH LIKE A FLOCK.³¹Cf. Gen. R. 91:5; Tanh., Gen. 10:7; PR 29/30B:1 (= 29:6 in the Breslau edition); M. Pss. 80:2. Thus has R. Tanhuma expounded (on Gen. 42:2): GO DOWN THERE (RDW) < means > that he saw that they would go down and be enslaved in Egypt for two hundred and ten (i.e., the numerical value of RDW) years.³²Tanh., Gen. 10:8; Gen. R. 91:2. Another interpretation of GO DOWN. < These words are > to teach you that anyone who buys produce from the marketplace has a going down (in status).³³Gen. R. 91:6. It is assumed here that such trade signifies misfortune, since normally one’s own land provided for basic needs. See Men. 103b. (Gen. 42:3:) SO JOSEPH'S TEN BROTHERS WENT DOWN. "The children of Israel" is not written here but JOSEPH'S < TEN > BROTHERS. < It is so written > because at the beginning they had not treated him with brotherhood, in that they had sold him. Then they had finally repented and said: When shall we go down to Egypt and return Joseph to our father? So, when their father told them to go down to Egypt, they all went with one mind to return him. It is therefore written (in Gen. 42:3): SO JOSEPH'S < TEN > BROTHERS WENT DOWN. And why ten? Because it was up to them to end the divine punishment and annul the decree (of Gen. 15:13). You therefore find in the case of Sodom that Abraham went down from fifty < righteous > to ten.³⁴The midrash is alluding to Abraham bargaining with the Holy One over the fate of Sodom in Gen. 18:22-33. When he did not find ten, Abraham the Righteous was silent. Moreover, because there were not ten < righteous > in the generation of the flood, they were not saved. Indeed, there were none there except Noah, his three sons, and their wives, i.e., eight.