Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Kawikaan 20:5

“I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again.” All these circumstances and events were designed to bring them down to Egypt in order to pay the debt of “your offspring shall be strangers.” This was the profound strategy of that righteous one buried in Hebron [Abraham], who counseled and chose the exiles, to descend to the lands of nations deeper than the land of Canaan, to a place as deep as the depths of Gehenna. The Yalkut brings a midrash that interprets regarding Joseph the verse Deep waters are the counsel in a man’s heart, but a man of understanding will draw it out (Proverbs 20:5). It appears to me that Joseph also intended this — to orchestrate their descent to Egypt, to a place of deep waters, tumultuous waters. This was the planned counsel in Joseph’s heart that no one could fathom, except for Judah, the man of understanding, who grasped his intention and drew it out, revealing his thought concerning the Jews to bring them down to the lands of the nations. Therefore, God appeared to Jacob in night visions, just as we find when He foretold to Abraham that your offspring shall be strangers, He appeared to him when the sun was setting and a deep sleep fell upon people, as it is written As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram (Genesis 15:12). Similarly, God appeared to Jacob in night visions. All of this alludes to the darkness of exile, and therefore Jacob was afraid to descend to a place of darkness, cloud, and fog, until the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, Do not fear going down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. This would happen through the affliction, as they [the Egyptians] said lest [pen] they multiply but the Holy One, blessed be He, said so [ken] shall they multiply. The affliction was the cause for making them into a great nation, as it is written But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied (Exodus 1:12).