Midrash su Genesi 42:2

(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.

‎ And Jacob, their father, commanded unto them, saying: When you come to the city do not ‎enter all of you by one gate, on account of the inhabitants of the land. And the sons of Jacob ‎went forth, and they went unto Egypt and they did according to all that their father, Jacob, had ‎commanded them. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brothers, for he ‎said: Lest, peradventure, mischief befall him on the way, like his brother. And ten only of ‎Jacob's sons went away. And while the ten sons of Jacob were going along on their way, they ‎repented of Joseph and of what they had done unto him, and they spoke unto each other ‎saying: Behold, we know that our brother Joseph went down into Egypt, and now let us search ‎for him wherever we go, and if we find him, we will take him away from his master for a ‎ransom; and if not, even by force, though we had to die on his account. And the sons of Jacob ‎agreed upon this matter, and they had decided to deliver Joseph from the hands of his ‎master. The sons of Jacob went down into Egypt. And when they approached Egypt they ‎separated from each other and they entered Egypt through ten gates. And the gatemen ‎registered their names on the same day and brought them unto Joseph in the evening. And ‎Joseph read the names handed him by the keepers of the gates, and he found that his ‎brothers had entered through ten different gates of the city. And Joseph commanded at once, ‎that it be pro claimed through all the land of Egypt, saying: All the guards of the storehouses go ‎ye forth and close up your corn stores so that only one be opened, where all the comers may ‎purchase. And all the officers of Joseph did so at that time, and they closed up all the stores ‎and only one they left open. And Joseph gave the names of his brothers in writing to the ‎officer placed over the open storehouse, and he said unto him: All those that come unto thee ‎to purchase corn ask for their names, and when men of those names come unto thee seize ‎them and send them unto me. And the sons of Jacob, when they came into the midst of the ‎city, they met again in the city to seek their brother before buying their food. And they went ‎to the walls of the harlots and they searched for Joseph in the public streets for three days. ‎For they thought Joseph might come thither, as he was of comely appearance and of fine ‎figure. And the sons of Jacob searched three days in those walls but they found him not. And ‎the man placed over the storehouse sought for the names which Joseph had given unto him, ‎but he found them not, and he sent unto Joseph saying: Three days have passed and yet the ‎men whose names thou hast given unto me did not come before me. And Joseph sent his ‎servants to search for the men in all Egypt and to bring them before Joseph. And Joseph’s ‎servants went and passed through all Egypt, but they found them not, and they went unto ‎Goshen, but they were not there. And they searched the city of Raamses, and yet they could ‎not find them.‎

(Devarim, Ibid. 24) "And of Asher he said": Why is this written? Because it is written (Bereshith 42:2, see above).