Midras Kejadian 45:26: Bereshit Rabbati, Midrash Tanchuma, Midrash Tanchuma Buber & Midrash Tehillim

(Genesis 24:34): It was learned — there were 13 that never tasted the taste of death. These were them: The milcham [phoenix] bird and its [species], Enoch the son of Yered, Serah the daughter of Asher, Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, Jabez, Hiram the king of Tyre, Elijah, Ebed-melech the Kushite, the Messiah, the cohort of Jonadab the son of Rechab, Rabbi Judah the Prince's grandson, Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Levi, and Eliezer the servant of Abraham. Why the milcham bird? Because when Eve ate from the tree, and afterward they both gave [from it] to all the creatures to taste, when they gave [it] to the milcham bird, it did not want to eat [it]. The Holy One, blessed be He, [then] said, "I will make it stand forever as an example for all the generations. It and its species will testify about the merit of the Jewish people in the future." And it is still in that city that the angel of death built, and they are fruitful and multiply like the other creatures. But when they become a thousand years old, they become small like a chick and then grow to be like an eagle and never die. Why Enoch? Since everyone in his generation was completely wicked and he was completely righteous. Hence, he resembled the ministering angels. Serah the daughter of Asher, because she had always been righteous. And when the sons of Jacob went up from Egypt and found Joseph alive, the holy spirit disappeared from Jacob until the day he was told, Joseph is still alive (Genesis 45:26). At that time, he said to her, "You should likewise live forever." And it clung to her since she had always been righteous. So she is still sheltered in the Garden of Eden. Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, because she raised Moses and saved him from death. Jabez, because everyone in his generation was righteous, but he was the greatest of them all. And he was Othniel the son of Kenaz. Hiram the king of Tyre went into the Garden of Eden but left. He entered because he toiled [in building] the Temple. Hence they placed him in the Garden of Eden for 400 years. In the end, he became haughty-hearted and said: I am a god; I sit enthroned like a god (Ezekiel 28:2) — hence the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Ezekiel: say to the prince of Tyre, "Because you have been so haughty [... You have been] in Eden, the Garden of God, etc." (Ezekiel 28:2-13). So He therefore expelled him from the Garden of Eden and he is [now] in Geihinnom. And were it not that the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to punish Hiram, the Temple would still not be destroyed. As it were, the Temple would have been embarrassed to [take part in] hurting Hiram. Once the Temple was destroyed, He permitted the ministering angels to give him his full sentence for everything he said in front of the divine presence. Why Elijah? Because he was a righteous zealot, son of a zealot. Hence He gave him a covenant of peace to live forever. Ebed-melech the Kushite, because he had mercy upon the prophet Jeremiah, peace be upon him, and took him out from the pit. [So] Jeremiah prayed for him to the Holy One, blessed be He, and He gave Him eternal life. Why the Messiah? Because he was in a wicked generation and he saw his fathers, the kings of the House of David, worshipping idolatry; but he repudiated them and chose the Holy One, blessed be He, and sought mercy for the Jewish people, to fast and to pray for them, as it is stated: But he was wounded because of our sins, etc. and by his bruises we were healed (Isaiah 53:5). Hence he was hidden, so that he will redeem the Jewish people with the ingathering of the exiles and rejoice with them during the resurrection of the dead. Why Jonadab and his cohort? Because he was in a wicked generation, but when he heard the rebukes that Jeremiah was giving over to the Jewish people at the time of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, that the Temple would be destroyed in the future and the Jewish people exiled, he stood and made his children and all of his cohort take an oath that they would not build houses, etc. so that you may live long (Jeremiah 35:7). Because of this, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: There shall [never] cease to be a man of the line of Jonadab, etc. (Jeremiah 35:19). And they are still in the land of Eden and they will live forever. Rabbi Judah the Prince's grandson, due to his great humility and righteousness, he was of a lowly spirit. He never lifted his eyes even towards his wife, all the more so towards the wife of his fellow. And due to his great modesty and fear [of God], he merited to enter the Garden of Eden while living. Why Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Levi? Since he never asked [to annul] his oath, and [due to] that which happened with the angel of death. Eliezer, because he said, "I am a descendant of Cham who was cursed together with his descendants by Noah to be a servant to his brothers forever. It is better for me to serve a servant of God, may He be blessed, and not to serve a servant of idolatry." So he converted and stood with Abraham to learn humility, righteousness, and justice. Come and see his humility! For when they wanted to honor him greatly in Aram Neharaim, he belittled himself and said: I am the servant of Abraham (Genesis 24:34). And also [because] he was suspected of something that was not true about him.

And he sent Judah before him (Gen. 46:28). Jacob sent Judah before him to establish an academy wherein he might teach the Torah as he had previously done for the tribes. You know that he taught his sons earlier from the fact that Jacob remembered the chapter of the Torah that Joseph was studying with him at the time of his disappearance. When Joseph’s brothers returned and told him: “Joseph is yet alive” … his heart fainted, for he believed them not (Gen. 45:26). Jacob recalled the chapter of the Torah that Joseph was studying at the time of his departure, and he said to himself: “I know that he was studying the portion devoted to the beheaded heifer.”¹³See Deut. 21:1–9. Whereupon he turned to them and said: “If he gave you something to indicate the chapter he was studying when he departed from here, I will believe you.” Joseph had also remembered the chapter he was studying when he was separated from his father. What did Joseph do? He gave them wagons (ibid., v. 21). When Jacob saw the wagons (‘agalot), the spirit of their father revived forthwith.¹⁴Word-play relating ‘agalot (“wagons”) to kelayot (“kidneys”), stated in the next paragraph to be the organ through which Abraham learned and retained the law. This teaches us that wherever Joseph went, he devoted himself to the law, as his ancestors had done before him, even though the Torah itself had not yet been given. And thus it is written: Because that Abraham hearkened to My voice and kept My laws (Gen. 26:5).

(Gen. 46:28:) NOW HE HAD SENT JUDAH AHEAD OF HIM UNTO JOSEPH TO TEACH BEFORE HIM.³⁹This interpretation is assumed in the midrash. What is the meaning of < TO TEACH BEFORE HIM >? R. Nehemiah said: To establish an academy for him where he would teach Torah so that the tribes might study Torah.⁴⁰Gen. R. 95:3; Tanh., Gen. 11:11; also Gen. R. 94:3. You know that this is so; < for >, when Joseph had left him, Jacob knew at what chapter he had left him because he had taught him. When Joseph's brothers came and said to him (in Gen. 44:26): JOSEPH IS STILL ALIVE < … > HIS HEART GREW FAINT, because he did not believe it, as stated (ibid.): FOR HE DID NOT BELIEVE THEM. Jacob recalled at what chapter Joseph had left him. He said to them: Did he give you a sign⁴¹Gk.: semeion. < indicating > at what chapter Joseph left me? Jacob said in his heart: I know that he left me at the chapter on the heifer ('GLH, i.e., Deut. 21:1-9). He said to them: Say at what chapter he left me, and I will believe you. Joseph also recalled at what chapter he had left him. What did Joseph do? He gave them wagons ('GLH in the singular), as stated (in Gen. 45:21): SO JOSEPH GAVE THEM WAGONS. < This verse is > to teach you that in every place that he went he was busy at Torah, just as his ancestors had been, even though the Torah had not yet been given. Ergo, it is written of Abraham (in Gen. 26:5): AND HE KEPT MY CHARGE: MY COMMANDMENTS, MY STATUTES, AND MY TORAHS. From where did Abraham learn the Torah? R. Simeon ben Johay says: < His > two kidneys became like two full vessels which spouted forth Torah. And where is it shown? Where it says so (in Ps. 16:17): EVEN IN THE NIGHTS MY KIDNEYS ADMONISH ME. R. Samuel bar Nahman said in the name of R. Jonathan ben Eleazar Ish haBirah: Our father Abraham even knew the eruvim of cooked foods.⁴²See above, 3:14; also 3:1. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 26:5): BECAUSE ('QB 'ShR) ABRAHAM HEEDED MY VOICE, < AND KEPT MY CHARGE >…. Now at the age of three Abraham recognized his Creator, as stated (through the first word of this verse): 'QB (with a numerical value of 172). Since all the days of Abraham were one hundred and seventy-five, from here (Gen. 26:5) you learn (by simple subtraction) that at the age of three he had recognized him and that he was even keeping the fine points of Torah. He also taught his children, as stated (in Gen. 18:19): FOR I HAVE CHOSEN HIM SO THAT HE MAY CHARGE < HIS CHILDREN AND HIS HOUSEHOLD AFTER HIM TO KEEP THE WAY OF THE LORD, TO PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE >…. The Holy One said to him: You have taught your children Torah in this world, but in the world to come I in my glory will teach them the Torah, as stated (in Is. 54:13): AND ALL YOUR CHILDREN SHALL BE TAUGHT BY THE LORD, AND GREAT SHALL BE YOUR CHILDREN'S PROSPERITY.