Rodzaju 42:1 Komentarz: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

וירא יעקב כי יש שבר כמצרים AND JACOB SAW THAT THERE WAS A SALE OF CORN IN EGYPT — How did he see it? Surely he did not see but he heard it, as it is said (v. 2) “Behold, I have heard ... What, then, is meant by “And Jacob saw”? He saw in a holy dim vision that there was שֶׂבֶר hope for him in Egypt, but it was not a true prophetic vision telling him plainly that it was Joseph in whom his hope lay (Genesis Rabbah 91:6).

.וירא יעקב שיש שבר במצרים , “Yaakov heard (not saw) that there was grain in Egypt;” (this was not a spiritual revelation, but he had heard from people returning from there.) When telling his sons about it, he therefore used the words: “I have heard that there is grain to be had in Egypt.” The word ראה meaning “hearing,” instead of “seeing,” is not unique; we find it for instance in Exodus 20,15, where the Torah writes: וכל העם ראו את הקולות, “ all the people saw the thunder,” when the meaning clearly is that all the people heard the thunder.

וירא יעקב כי יש שר ב מצרים, “Yaakov ‘saw’ that there was grain-trading in Egypt;” this is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 20,12: אוזן שומעת ועין רואה ה' עשה גם שניהם, “the ear that hears, and the eye that sees, the Lord has made them both.” What prompted Solomon to make such a banal sounding statement? Did G–d not make the whole body? Why did he single out the ear and the eye? The answer is that all parts of the body, in due course, will have to give an accounting for their activities while they were alive on earth, except the ear and the eye. What is the reason for this? The eye sees things which are not good for it to see, and so does the ear hear things which are not good for it to hear. [involuntary perceptions. Ed.] This is not true of the other organs or limbs. You choose what the mouth eats, etc., you choose where your legs are to take you, etc. Rabbi said that the words: וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw,” although he was an old man sitting hundreds of miles away, what his ten sons who were going in and out and meeting all kinds of people, did not see. All this was although both Yaakov and Joseph had been blessed with the spirit of prophecy. Joseph was only a distance of 4 or 5 days travel away from them, and when they searched for him they did not find him. Furthermore, why did Joseph not communicate with his father during all these years which would have spared his father a great deal of grief? The answer is that they all had sworn a sacred oath not to reveal to their father that he was in Egypt. They had made G–d a partner to their oath, so that He too could not reveal their secret to him. All this can be proved from Scripture, when before revealing himself to his brothers (Genesis 45,1) he commanded that all the people around him remove themselves before he would have that conversation with his brothers. He did not want that anyone would ever hear about that oath which had now expired. Other commentators offer a different reason for why Joseph had not communicated with his father for 22 years. As long as he had been a slave (13 years) he did not want to increase his father’s grief by informing him of his sorry condition. If he were to end a message that in the meantime he had become a king, his father would not believe him; he was right as his father did not even believe this when all his sons told that they had seen it with their own eyes. (Genesis 45,26) In addition, he was afraid that if his father were to leak his new found knowledge to someone, the brothers would each flee in all directions out of fear of his vengeance. As a result, his father would experience additional grief. This is why he waited until the time would be ripe for him to reveal himself, so that he would first reveal himself to his brothers before informing his father of his survival and the good fortune which had befallen him.