Chasidut su Genesi 43:13
וְאֶת־אֲחִיכֶ֖ם קָ֑חוּ וְק֖וּמוּ שׁ֥וּבוּ אֶל־הָאִֽישׁ׃
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 42,18. “on the third day Joseph said to them: ‘do this and live, seeing that I am G’d fearing. If you are truthful, one of your brothers will be kept captive, etc.” The position of the words: את האלוקים אני ירא in this verse is puzzling. We would have expected it at the beginning of the verse. Furthermore, the words: ויעשו כן, “the brothers did so,” is strange, as it gives the impression that the brothers immediately brought Binyamin to Egypt, something that is impossible. The brothers not only first had to return to their father’s house in Canaan, but, as the Torah testified they procrastinated until they ran short of food before their father agreed to let Binyamin travel with them. (Genesis 43,13) Perhaps the lesson Joseph wanted to teach the brothers was that if one determines to do G’d’s will, this will be accounted as if one had already done so, when the circumstances make immediate execution of the task at hand impossible. Joseph told the brothers that their lives would be secure once they had made up their minds to carry out his demand. The Torah confirms this by describing the brothers as if they had immediately brought Binyamin to Egypt. Joseph was at pains to demonstrate to the brothers that his insistence that Binyamin come to Egypt was not based on distrust or ill will toward them. When they found themselves in jail they realized this and did not blame Joseph for this but themselves, when they said: “but we are guilty, etc.”(Gen. 42,21). They accepted his statement that he was a G’d fearing individual, whereas they had brought their troubles upon themselves.
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