Comentários de Citação sobre Gênesis 45:26

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.

I passed out Heb. נפוגתי, I passed out, an expression of (Gen. 45:26), “and his heart fainted (ויפג) .” (Lam. 3:49), “without respite (הפגת).”

It appears that Yitro was so overjoyed when he heard about the total liberation of the Jewish people that his skin broke out in goose-pimples. It is a well known fact that when a person experiences an unexpected overpowering feeling of joy he develops a physical reaction; sometimes he may pass out or even die from shock. Read what I have written on Genesis 45,26 about Jacob's reaction when told that Joseph was still alive. Although Yitro had previously heard part of the good news, the story Moses told him about the death of the guardian angel of Egypt made his skin crawl.

Respite. Letting up, tresalement in O.F. [let up], as in, “and his heart grew faint וַיָּפָג.”⁴³Bereishis 45:26.