Comentário sobre Gênesis 44:1

AS MUCH AS THEY CAN BEAR. I.e., more than they were entitled to for the money they had brought him.

ושים כסף איש בפי אמתחתו, and inform them about it, so that they will realise that I am trying to compensate them for the anguish to which I have subjected them.

אמתחת הקטון מלא את אמתחות האנשים אכל…ואת גביעי תשים בפי. "Fill up the pouches of these men with food and place my goblet in the pouch of the youngest." We need to understand Joseph's motivations in all this. We can hardly assume that he wanted to cause his brothers anguish after he had invited them to his palace and had wined and dined them. Perhaps Joseph had three separate motivations. 1) He wanted that they should be able to atone for having stolen him at the time. By accusing them of theft they would feel the embarassment a thief feels when he has been found out. Once they experienced this feeling they could atone for the sale of Joseph. 2) He wanted to find out if the brothers would risk their lives for the freedom of Benjamin. This would enable him to gauge the degree of brotherliness they felt towards Benjamin. This in turn would enable Joseph to forgive them their sin against him. 3) He sent them a signal that there was somebody in the viceroy's palace who was thoroughly familiar with their past history. He had already made them curious about this on the previous day when he had seated them according to their respective ages at lunch (43,33).

ויצו, all the matters described are quite clear to the reader. Joseph arranged this whole charade in order to discomfort the brothers and to make them feel afraid without actually causing them any harm, and not hurting them physically or even economically. He displayed great wisdom in what he did.

כאשר יוכלון שאת, “as much as they could carry.” This means that Joseph gave them more than the rations allowed other purchasers.

כאשר יוכלון שאת, “as much as they were able to carry.” According to Nachmanides this means that Joseph provided them with far more grain that they were entitled to for the amount of money they had brought with them.

(1-2) גביע, Becher. גבע, Hügel. Verwandt mit גבא: An sammlung von Flüssigkeiten, Pfütze. גבא: einkassieren, einsammeln. Ebenso wie eine Stoffansammlung in die Tiefe, so auch von festen Stoffen in die Höhe: Hügel. גביע scheint nicht der Becher zu sein, aus dem man trinkt, sondern ein großes Gefäß, in welchem der Wein gemischt wird. Auch bei Pharao finden wir nicht גביע, sondern כוס פרעה in der Hand des Mundschenks. גביע entspricht mehr unserer Flasche. Verstärkt ist es קֻבעת und erklärt sich daher die Zusammenstellung: את קבעת כוס חמתי (Jesaias 51, 22). — Josefs Hausmeister muss ein rechtlicher Mann gewesen sein. Oben, wo er den Leuten etwas Freundliches leisten sollte, war er sofort bereit, und heißt es daher einfach (Raw Hirsch on Genesis 44: 17.): ויעש האיש כאשר אמר יוסף. Hier aber, wo ihm der Auftrag wurde, einem unschuldigen Menschen die böseste Schikane zu bereiten, muß er wohl stutzig geworden sein, muss es kaum für Josefs Ernst gehalten haben; es gehörte Josefs gemessener Befehl dazu, dass er es ausführte; denn hier heißt es: ויעש כדבר יוסף אשר דבר.

AND PUT EVERY MAN’s MONEY IN HIS BAG’s MOUTH. That is, with their knowledge, for the house steward said to them, “My lord knows that he did you wrong, and he now wishes to make amends to you.” If he would do as he had done the first time, that is, [put the money in their bags] without their knowledge, they would have had a defense in the matter of the goblet, i.e., that the same thing happened to it as happened to the money. Instead, it was done with their knowledge, and they knew of the money just as they knew of the load, for they recognized that he had given them as much as they can bear. But if it were done without their knowledge, he might perhaps argue on their behalf that the money had come to them this time too on account of its having been hidden there,²¹²It was inadvertently placed in the grain which was collected during the years of plenty, and it happened to be hidden in the grain purchased by Joseph’s brothers. but such was not possible with the goblet. But, then, who can argue with one more powerful than himself?²¹⁷See Ecclesiastes 6:10.
Know that on account of the very many buyers from all over Egypt, and the great confusion in the midst of it, those who came to buy would give their sacks and money to the seller, and he would measure grain for them according to the amount of money he found in the sacks. They in turn took the grain given to them, forasmuch as the king’s word hath power,²¹⁸Ibid., 8:4. and moreover, for he did his work honestly.²¹⁹See II Kings 12:16. It is for this reason that they took their closed sacks the first time, and even the second time they knew not what was in them.

וישם כסף איש בפי אמתחתו, “he placed the money of each brother at the top of his travel bag;” in full view of each one of them. He explained to them that his master was aware that they had been dealt with unlawfully and violently, and as compensation, he was returning their purchase money. If he had just put it back as he had done the first time they would have been able to argue when the goblet was found that this was merely a replay of what had happened to them the first time. Now they were aware that the money had been replaced, just as they were aware that their donkeys had been loaded with much more grain each than the first time they had come to Egypt. Their suspicions had therefore been laid to rest completely, and they would be dumbfounded when the goblet would turn up in Binyamin’s travel bag. This could not be explained away as a treasure that was left behind by someone.