Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons: "Why do you look one upon another?"
verse value 3242
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "that" (כִּ֥י, 2 letters) and the longest is "in·Egypt" (בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 182: Jacob, Jacob. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "look·at·one·another" (תִּתְרָאֽוּ). The root ראה appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "to·his·sons" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "Jacob" (root יעקב, 180x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·Egypt', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיַּ֣רְא [and·saw] (217) + יַעֲקֹ֔ב [Jacob] (182) + כִּ֥י [that] (30) + יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר [rations] (812) + בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם [in·Egypt] (382) + וַיֹּ֤אמֶר [and·said] (257) + יַעֲקֹב֙ [Jacob] (182) + לְבָנָ֔יו [to·his·sons] (98) + לָ֖מָּה [why] (75) + תִּתְרָאֽוּ [look·at·one·another] (1007) = 3242.
Onkelos
Jacob saw that grain was being sold in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?"
Rashi
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). למה תתראו WHY DO YE LOOK UPON ONE ANOTHER? — Why do you show yourselves (pretend) before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as though you have plenty to eat (Taanit 10b). For at that time they still had some grain. I am of opinion that the real meaning of למה תתראו is: Why should every one gaze at you and wonder at you because you do not search for food before what you have in your possession comes to an end. From others I have heard that it has the meaning of leanness: why should you become lean through hunger? A similar use of the verb as that in the first explanation is (Proverbs 11:25) “And he that satisfieth abundantly shall be satisfied (יורא) also himself”.
Ramban
WHY ‘TITHRA’U’. (DO YOU LOOK TO YOURSELVES)? “Do not show yourselves before the children of Esau and Ishmael as having plenty to eat.” At that time they still had some grain. From others I have heard that the word tithra’u is an expression of leanness. Thus Jacob said to his sons, “Why should you become lean through hunger?” A similar [use of the word tithra’u, i.e., similar to the first explanation], is the verse: And he that satisfies (‘umarveh’) abundantly shall be satisfied (‘yoreh’). That is, he who is benevolent to others will himself be recompensed by the Divine bounty. Thus the language of Rashi. Now the comment of “others,” [namely, that the word tithra’u connotes leanness], has no validity whatsoever. And I did not understand that which Rashi says, “Do not show yourselves before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as having plenty to eat.” The children of Ishmael and of Esau were not then present in the land of Canaan, and why did Jacob not say that they should not show themselves before the children of Canaan as having plenty to eat? Perhaps the children of Ishmael and of Esau did come from their dwelling places to Joseph to buy food, and they came by way of the land of Canaan, thus passing by Jacob. He thus said to his children that they should not show themselves before them as having plenty to eat, for they would then suspect that Jacob has food, whereupon they would come to eat bread with him in his house. Accordingly, Jacob’s words, That we may live, and not die, here. constitute another reason for his command to them. He warned them to be careful with the little food yet left to them, and that they should go to buy food from Egypt so as not to die when all the bread in their possession is consumed. The correct interpretation is: “Why do you show yourselves in this place, for you should have immediately journeyed from here when you heard that there is grain in Egypt,” since they were already in a state of danger if they would not make haste in the matter. This is the meaning of the words, That we may live, and not die. here.
Ibn Ezra
"And Jacob saw" — Because the senses are interconnected in a single faculty, they may substitute for one another, as in: "See the fragrance of my son" (Gen. 27:27), and "Sweet is the light" (Eccl. 11:7). So too here, "And Jacob saw" — for immediately after it is written "Behold, I have heard." | "Why do you make yourselves seen" — Do not show that you have wealth. Alternatively: do not quarrel with one another, as in: "Let us look one another in the face" (II Kings 14:8).
Sforno
וירא... למה תתראו? Why are you looking at one another as if each one of you hopes that another one would go to buy food? Our sages (Eyruvin 3) have said קדרא דבי ששותפי לא חמימה ולא קררא, an ancient way of saying that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” The conjugation hitpael, i.e. the reflexive conjugation, occurs with the root ראה also in Kings II 14,8 נתראה פנים, “let us confront each other.”
Chizkuni
.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.?למה תתראו, “why should you stand out (as being different)?” Why do you wish to create the impression that only you have plenty to eat and do not need to buy grain in Egypt? It would make everyone else jealous of you! This is the way the Talmud in folio 10 interprets this phrase. Rashi adds that he heard from others that the meaning of the word תתראו is “to be weakened,” and that it appears in this sense in Proverbs 11,25: ומרוה הוא יורא, “and he who waters (others) will also be irrigated.” According to this, both the words מרוה and יורא in that verse ought to be understood as having been written with the letter א at the end. The idea is that Yaakov did not want his sons to create the impression (erroneous according to some) that they had ample supplies which they had not shared with their neighbours. This is supposed to be so, although the two explanations are contradictions in themselves, one suggesting abundance, and the other, weakness for lack of food. (As a result one of these interpretations would appear to be wrong. Ed.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw.” This is not something that Yaakov saw with his eyes but something he saw in his heart; proof that this the meaning of the word וירא in this instance is that he described what he had “seen” as הנה שמעתי, “here I have heard,” instead of saying: הנה ראיתי, “here I have seen.” כי יש שבר במצרים, “that there is grain for sale in Egypt.” The word שבר usually refers to something for sale as we know from Deut. 2,6 אוכל תשברו מאתם, “purchase food provisions from them.” It is noteworthy that Yaakov neither mentioned the word “food,” nor the word “grain,” The reason he referred to grain by saying שבר is because that word includes both “trading or selling” as well as “‘grain.” He continued using this word when he told his sons in Genesis 43,2: שובו שברו לנו מעט אוכל, “go back and secure for us some food (by buying grain).” In our verse (2) he said: שברו לנו משם, without the word אוכל. When Yaakov described the journey to Egypt he asked his sons to undertake as רדו שמה, “descend there,” instead of לכו שמה, “go there,” he also foreshadowed that any journey to Egypt would be but a prelude to the family’s eventual exile in Egypt. The number of years the Jewish people would be enslaved in Egypt corresponded to the numerical value of the letters in the word רדו, i.e. 210 years. When he used the expression ושברו משם, he meant that he foresaw both food supply as well as enslavement or exile as emanating from Egypt. ונחיה ולא נמות, “so we may live and not die.” He meant that even if in the more distant future his descendants would face great problems in Egypt, they would not succumb to them and die. They would survive thanks to the very grain they were going to purchase now. Our sages (Sotah 9) referred to this phenomenon when they said concerning Deut. 32,23 חצי אכלה בם “My arrows I will use up against them.” They said that half the Jews in exile may be exterminated by their Gentile enemies while the other half will survive. The meaning of the verse is that whereas G’d’s arrows will become exhausted the Jews will not all perish. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 91,6 had still another interpretation for the word שבר. They saw it as if it had been spelled with the dot on the left side of the letter ש, so that we would read it as סבר, “hope.” If we accept this interpretation we could read the verse as: “Yaakov saw in his mind’s eye that there was hope in Egypt for his descendants.” Although the ”hope” referred to the exalted position of Joseph in Egypt, Yaakov had lost the power to have clear visions ever since he had been parted from Joseph, so that this was only a very nebulous kind of vision. למה תתראו, “why do you make yourselves conspicuous?” The meaning may be: ”why do you want to risk weakening yourselves by hunger? If this is the correct meaning the word is related to Proverbs 11,25 גם הוא יורה, “he will also be irrigated. This is the way Rashi understands the word תתראו. Rabbeinu Chananel understand the word as an admonition by Yaakov to his sons “why are you confrontational with each other?” He quotes support from Kings II 14,8 לכה נתראה פנים, “let us confront each other!” Verse 11 in the same chapter of Kings also confirms the meaning of this word as being to confront each other when we read ויתראו פנים הוא ואמציה מלך יהודה, ”he and King Amatziah of Yehudah confronted each other.” Nachmanides understands the word as: “why are you looking at each other in this place instead of journeying to Egypt and getting supplies?” They should have traveled as soon as they were in danger of exhausting their food supplies as soon as they heard that there were supplies to be bought in Egypt. Midrash Tanchuma Miketz 8 suggests that Yaakov challenged the brothers’ physical strength and their courage suggesting they had nothing to fear by traveling to Egypt. This is why he added the words “we will live and not die.”
Tur HaArokh
וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw, etc.” Ibn Ezra writes that seeing that the origin of the 5 senses, hearing, seeing, smelling, etc., are all located next to one another, as we know from when Yitzchok spoke about ראה ריח בני, “Look, the smell of my son, etc.” (Genesis 27,27) [He referred to the pleasant sensation of light, a sensation as pleasant as a pleasant fragrance. Ed] seeing he himself was already blind at the time. The names of the senses themselves may on occasion be used interchangeably, so that in our verse the true meaning of the word וירא is: “he heard,” as we know from Yaakov’s own lips in the very next verse הנה שמעתי כי יש שבר במצרים, “here I have heard that there is food for sale in Egypt.” If he had already “seen” it in the literal sense of the word, why would he have to repeat: “I have heard,” a far less reliable source of information? למה תתראו?, “Why are you looking so irresolute?” According to Rashi, Yaakov rebuked his sons for giving the impression to the surrounding people that they had so much food stored up that they could afford to sit still without traveling to Egypt to try and supplement their supplies. Nachmanides writes that the words quoted here by the Torah as Yaakov having addressed to the brothers, were said to them in the presence of Ishmaelites and Edomites, make little sense, as why would Ishmaelites and Edomites be in the land of Canaan in the first place? Furthermore, if Rashi means that Yaakov admonished his sons in public (for show) why did Rashi not mention that he did so in front of the local inhabitants? He would certainly have had reason to do so in order not to arouse the jealousy of his neighbours! Had that impression been allowed to spread, all his neighbours would have invited themselves to eat at Yaakov’s table! He therefore instructed them to go down to Egypt in order to preserve the food supply they still had. Then he told them to buy additional supplies in order to forestall death through hunger after their supplies ran out. Alternately, the word תתראו, is short for למה תתראו במקום זה “why do you display such indecision by remaining here, instead of getting going to buy supplies?” “You should have started to move as soon as you heard that grain was for sale in Egypt.” Yaakov and family already found themselves in imminent danger of starvation. Some commentators understand the rebuke as “why do you quarrel as to who is to go to Egypt to buy food, I want all of you to go.” Yet another interpretation of the question למה תתראו, views it as a rebuke of their acting as if it were below their dignity to personally go to Egypt like the common people and to beg to be allowed to buy grain there. After all, they were the elite of “Canaanite” Society, akin to aristocracy! Their indecision was reinforced by their reluctance to send others on their behalf and to subject these others to the potential dangers of the journey.
And he said: "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down there, and buy for us from there; that we may live, and not die."
verse value 4508
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 55 letters. The shortest word is "that" (כִּ֥י, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·buy·grain·for·us" (וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ, 8 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "go·down·there" (רְדוּ־שָׁ֙מָּה֙), "and·buy·grain·for·us" (וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ). The root שבר appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "from·there" (root שם, 180x in Genesis); "that" (root כי, 167x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·Egypt', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֕אמֶר [and·said] (257) + הִנֵּ֣ה [behold] (60) + שָׁמַ֔עְתִּי [I·have·heard] (820) + כִּ֥י [that] (30) + יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר [rations] (812) + בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם [in·Egypt] (382) + רְדוּ־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ [go·down·there] (555) + וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ [and·buy·grain·for·us] (600) + מִשָּׁ֔ם [from·there] (380) + וְנִחְיֶ֖ה [that·we·may·live] (79) + וְלֹ֥א [and·not] (37) + נָמֽוּת [we·die] (496) = 4508.
Onkelos
He said, "Behold, I have heard that people are saying there is grain being sold in Egypt. Go down there and buy for us from there, that we may live and not die."
Rashi
רדו שמה GO DOWN THITHER — He did not say to them לכו “Go ye” but רדו an allusion to the 210 years during which Israel was to be enslaved in Egypt corresponding to the numerical value of (רד״ו (210 (Genesis Rabbah 91:2).
ונחיה, even if we cannot buy enough food to eat to our satisfaction, at least it will be enough not to die from the famine. This is why Yaakov added the words ולא נמות, “and we will not die.”
Or HaChaim
ונחיה ולא נמות. "so that we shall live and not die." The reason that Jacob repeated "so that we shall not die," was that negligence would be a capital sin for which an accounting would have to be given even in the Hereafter. On the other hand, if they made appropriate efforts to secure a supply of food, their lives in this world as well as in the Hereafter would be assured. The verse might also be read thus: ונחיה, "so that we may live comfortably," ולא נמות "or at least not die." It would all depend on the amount they were able to buy in Egypt.
And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy corn from Egypt.
verse value 2130
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 28 letters. The shortest word is "grain" (בָּ֖ר, 2 letters) and the longest is "brothers·of·Joseph" (אֲחֵֽי־יוֹסֵ֖ף, 7 letters). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "brothers·of·Joseph" (root יוסף, 156x in Genesis); "from·Egypt" (root מצרי, 81x in Genesis); "ten" (root עשר, 45x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'ten', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיֵּרְד֥וּ [and·went·down] (226) + אֲחֵֽי־יוֹסֵ֖ף [brothers·of·Joseph] (175) + עֲשָׂרָ֑ה [ten] (575) + לִשְׁבֹּ֥ר [to·buy·grain] (532) + בָּ֖ר [grain] (202) + מִמִּצְרָֽיִם [from·Egypt] (420) = 2130.
Onkelos
So the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt.
Rashi
וירדו אחי יוסף AND JOSEPH S BRETHREN WENT DOWN — It does not call them “the sons of Jacob” (as in 5:5), thus suggesting that they regretted having sold him and that they had made up their mind to behave towards him in a brotherly manner and to redeem him at whatever price people might fix for them to pay (Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8). עשרה TEN — What is the mention of this number intended to tell us? Is it not written (Genesis 42:4) “but Benjamin, Joseph’s brother did he not send” (and we therefore know that only ten brothers went to Egypt)? But it means to suggest that so far as their feeling of brotherhood towards Joseph was concerned they were divided into ten, because the love and hatred that all of them bore him were not alike, where as in regard to buying corn they were at one and united (Genesis Rabbah 91:2).
Sforno
וירדו אחי יוסף עשרה, the official selling grain in Egypt did not sell to more than one family per buyer. The reason for this restriction was intended to ensure that the buyers would not resell some or all of what they had bought, thus using what Joseph had stored as a source of enriching themselves.
Or HaChaim
אחי יוסף, Joseph's brothers. The reason they are described as Joseph's brothers instead of as Jacob's sons is that at that time they were determined to perform the brotherly act of redeeming him out of slavery. עשרה, ten. During famine, more than during any other time, people are extremely miserly and malevolent; they are apt to commit robbery and even murder to secure a piece of bread. This is why all the brothers went down to Egypt. If attacked, they could help one another. They also wanted to take Benjamin with them, but their father demurred. This is why the Torah makes a point of saying: "he did not send Benjamin." Had it not been for Jacob's concern that an accident would befall Benjamin he would have sent him along. Besides, it appears that Joseph was selling a fixed amount of grain to each purchaser. He had two objectives in mind, an obvious one and a secret one. The obvious objective was to prevent speculating in grain if someone were to purchase an amount larger than for his own needs. Joseph's method was of benefit both to him and to the purchasers. By refusing to sell large quantities at one time, Joseph could take advantage of any rise in price when it occurred. The customers benefited by what he did since Joseph did not raise prices unreasonably. Joseph's secret objective was to force each of the brothers to make a trip to Egypt to provision himself as he only sold rations for one family at a time.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וירדו אחי יוסף עשרה, “ten of Joseph’s brothers descended.” The Torah should have written: “ten sons of Yaakov descended.” The reason that the Torah refers to them as “Joseph’s brothers” indicates that they had repented the fact that they had sold him and had meanwhile resolved to relate to him as their brother and to buy his freedom at whatever cost. (Tanchuma Miketz 8). An alternative reason why the Torah describes the ten sons of Yaakov as ten brothers of Joseph may be that the Torah wanted to inform us of their good intention to pray for Joseph’s welfare by forming a quorum of 10 worshipers. We know that the minimum number of adult males required to form a holy congregation is 10. This is why the Torah refers to ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל, “I will be sanctified amongst the children of Israel” (Leviticus 22,32). Nachmanides writes that the brothers are described as such to alert us to the fact that at this point Joseph’s first dream, which involved 10 people binding sheaves was in the process of becoming true. In that dream Binyamin (only 11 years old) was not included as binding sheaves. As soon as the brothers paid their respects to the ruler of Egypt this dream had been fulfilled. (verse 6). The second dream in which eleven stars bowed down to Joseph could not be fulfilled until Binyamin too came to Egypt with his brothers as well as his father Yaakov. According to Bereshit Rabbah 91,6 the wording of the Torah in which the ten brothers of Joseph are described as traveling to Egypt is based on the fact that Joseph had issued instructions to his officials that the names of the persons coming to Egypt to buy grain as well as the names of such person’s father as well as his home town be recorded in a central register. He would scan the list of names every evening. As soon as the names of his brothers appeared on one of these lists, Joseph closed all the grain distributing points bar one to force his brothers to make their purchases at that point. He supplied his officials with the names of his brothers and waited for them to arrive at that distribution point in order to arrest them upon arrival. When three days passed and none of Joseph’s brothers was reported as having made any purchases, Joseph took men from Pharaoh’s palace guard to search for his brothers in the market-place. They were located in the red light district. When questioned by the palace guards why they had spent so much time in that location they told the guards that a handsome brother of theirs who had been missing for a long time might have been sold into prostitution and that they had come to buy his freedom.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brothers; for he said: "Lest perhaps harm befall him."
verse value 2606
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 48 letters. The shortest word is "for" (כִּ֣י, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·Benjamin" (וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִין֙, 9 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "did·not·send" (לֹא־שָׁלַ֥ח), "lest·befall·him" (פֶּן־יִקְרָאֶ֖נּוּ). The root אח appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "Jacob" (root יעקב, 180x in Genesis); "for" (root כי, 167x in Genesis). First appearance of the root אסון ("disaster") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'with·his·brothers', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִין֙ [and·Benjamin] (569) + אֲחִ֣י [brother·of] (19) + יוֹסֵ֔ף [Joseph] (156) + לֹא־שָׁלַ֥ח [did·not·send] (369) + יַעֲקֹ֖ב [Jacob] (182) + אֶת־אֶחָ֑יו [with·his·brothers] (426) + כִּ֣י [for] (30) + אָמַ֔ר [said] (241) + פֶּן־יִקְרָאֶ֖נּוּ [lest·befall·him] (497) + אָסֽוֹן [disaster] (117) = 2606.
Onkelos
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, "Lest death befall him."
Rashi
פן יקראנו אסון LEST MISCHIEF BEFALL HIM — And at home could not mischief befall him?! Rabbi Eliezer the son of Jacob said: We may infer from this that Satan accuses a man at the time of danger (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayigash 1).
And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
verse value 2456
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "sons·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·they·came" (וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙, 5 letters). The root בוא appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "because·was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "in·the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "sons·of" (root בן, 248x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·ones·coming', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ [and·they·came] (25) + בְּנֵ֣י [sons·of] (62) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + לִשְׁבֹּ֖ר [to·buy·grain] (532) + בְּת֣וֹךְ [in·the·midst·of] (428) + הַבָּאִ֑ים [the·ones·coming] (58) + כִּֽי־הָיָ֥ה [because·was] (50) + הָרָעָ֖ב [the·famine] (277) + בְּאֶ֥רֶץ [in·the·land] (293) + כְּנָֽעַן [Canaan] (190) = 2456.
Onkelos
And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for there was famine in the land of Canaan.
Rashi
בתוך הבאים AMONG THOSE THAT CAME — They hid themselves in the crowd that people should not recognize them, for their father had bidden them not to show themselves all at one entrance to the city but that each should enter by a different gate in order that the evil eye should not have power over them (i.e. that they should not attract the envious attention of the people) for they were all handsome and stalwart men (Midrash Tanchuma 1.:10:6).
Sforno
בתוך הבאים, people traveled together in large groups to afford themselves protection against highway robbers. At that time there were more than the usual amount of these. They would rob both the money carried to buy food and the food itself.
Or HaChaim
ויבאו בני ישראל…כי היה רעב, The children of Israel arrived…for there was a famine in the land of Canaan. The fact that there was a famine had to be repeated. This is to explain why the Torah first wrote בתוך הבאים. You should not ask where these הבאים have been mentioned previously so that the Torah could describe the brothers as "being amongst them." Once we are told that there was a famine in Canaan it becomes obvious that many other people from Canaan must have been going to Egypt to buy grain there. The Torah also wanted to indicate that the brothers devised a clever scheme to disguise themselves "among the other travellers." They created the impression that they were in Egypt for the same purpose as all the other travellers from Canaan, whereas in reality they were searching for Joseph. In other words: the brothers' disguise was to appear as shoppers for grain. This ought to have been an easy way to camouflage their real purpose because of the famine in the land of Canaan.
Chizkuni
בתוך הבאים, “they intermingled with others going to Egypt for the same purpose, disguising themselves so as not to draw attention to themselves as they had been commanded to do by their father, when he had said: למה תתראו, “why do you draw attention to yourselves?”
And Joseph was the governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed down to him with their faces to the earth.
verse value 3378
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 66 letters. The shortest word is "he" (ה֚וּא, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·bowed·down·to·him" (וַיִּשְׁתַּֽחֲווּ־ל֥וֹ, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 296: the·earth, to·the·ground. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "the·vizier" (הַשַּׁלִּ֣יט), "the·one·who·rationed·grain" (הַמַּשְׁבִּ֖יר), "to·all·the·people·of" (לְכׇל־עַ֣ם). The root ארץ appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·the·earth" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "and·came" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "brothers·of" (root אח, 164x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·earth', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 6 words. Full calculation: וְיוֹסֵ֗ף [and·Joseph] (162) + ה֚וּא [he] (12) + הַשַּׁלִּ֣יט [the·vizier] (354) + עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ [upon·the·earth] (396) + ה֥וּא [he] (12) + הַמַּשְׁבִּ֖יר [the·one·who·rationed·grain] (557) + לְכׇל־עַ֣ם [to·all·the·people·of] (190) + הָאָ֑רֶץ [the·earth] (296) + וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ [and·came] (25) + אֲחֵ֣י [brothers·of] (19) + יוֹסֵ֔ף [Joseph] (156) + וַיִּשְׁתַּֽחֲווּ־ל֥וֹ [and·bowed·down·to·him] (772) + אַפַּ֖יִם [faces] (131) + אָֽרְצָה [to·the·ground] (296) = 3378.
Onkelos
Now Joseph was the one who held authority over the land; it was he who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
Rashi
וישתחוו לו אפים means THEY PROSTRATED THEMSELVES ON THEIR FACES— Similarly wherever various forms of this verb (שחה) in the Hithpael occur it implies stretching out the hands and feet when a person casts himself on the ground in the act of prostration (Megillah 22b).
Ramban
HE IT WAS THAT SOLD GRAIN TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND. Now it is not befitting a ruler of a land, second in rank to the king of Egypt, that he sell everyone a se’ah [a dry measure] or a half thereof of grain. It was for this reason that our Rabbis were impelled to say that Joseph had ordered at that time that all storehouses except one be closed so that he would be sure to meet his brothers. In line with the literal interpretation of the verse it is possible that the people from all lands came before him, and he would question and investigate them, and then command the officers, “Sell so much food of this — and that — kind to the people of that city.” Thus it was necessary for the children of Jacob to come before him among those who came from the land of Canaan, that he could issue an order concerning them, specifying how much grain should be sold to their land, since they were the first to come from the land of Canaan and they came before him for the sake of all.
Ibn Ezra
"The one who sold grain" (ha-mashbir) — derived from the root shever; its meaning is "seller," and it is a transitive verb taking two objects.
Sforno
He was the one who sold. He did not trust his servants with the task because the sums involved were too great. Yoseif’s brothers came. Because Yoseif sold the grain personally the brothers were forced to come before him.
Or HaChaim
הוא השליט על הארץ הוא המשביר לכל עם הארץ, he was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. Even though Joseph was the ruler, and it is not usual for the ruler to personally conduct the grain sales, especially when this involved so much effort, he did so himself in order to encounter his brothers eventually.
Chizkuni
ויוסף הוא השליט על הארץ, “and Joseph was the onewho was the sole ruler of the land.” In spite of having such a demanding position, [which one would expect would force him to delegate the task of presiding over grain sales, he was the one who presided personally over all these sales. Ed.] He collected the money from all the customers. The reason that he did this was so that when, as he expected, his brothers would show up, he would immediately be aware of this.
Tur HaArokh
הוא המשביר לכל עם הארץ. “He was the seller of grain to the entire population of Egypt.” It sounds extremely strange that the viceroy, and de facto ruler of such an empire, should personally engage in grain sales, and in retail quantities at that! This is why some commentators understand the expression as that Joseph gave the order to open his silos for public sales of grain. According to the plain meaning of the text, Joseph personally, checked out all the travelers from foreign countries who had come to the border in order to buy grain in the land of Egypt. He instructed his officials how much to sell to any city, etc. When the sons of Yaakov arrived at the boundary of Egypt, they represented a delegation empowered to buy on behalf of their whole region.
And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said to them: "Where do you come from?" And they said: "From the land of Canaan to buy food."
verse value 5560 — אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 80 letters. Notable word values: "to·them" (אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם) = 86, equal to Elohim. The shortest word is "with·them" (אִתָּ֣ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "to·buy·food" (לִשְׁבׇּר־אֹֽכֶל, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·recognized·them" (וַיַּכִּרֵ֑ם), "and·acted·as·a·stranger" (וַיִּתְנַכֵּ֨ר). The root נכר appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "from·the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·recognized·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 13 words.
Onkelos
Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, yet he deliberated what he would say to them, and spoke with them harshly. He said to them, "From where have you come?" They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy grain."
Rashi
ויתנכר אליהם HE MADE HIMSELF STRANGE UNTO THEM — He made himself like a נכרי a stranger to them in his conversation, speaking harshly (Genesis Rabbah 91:7).
Ramban
AND JOSEPH SAW HIS BRETHREN, AND HE RECOGNIZED THEM. Immediately as he saw them he recognized them, and he feared lest they recognize him. And he made himself strange (‘vayithnakeir’) unto them by putting a mitre upon his forehead and part of the face, thus disguising himself, just as it is said concerning the wife of Jeroboam, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam, Ramban explains the word vayithnakeir in a physical sense. Joseph disguised himself by placing his mitre over his face. Further on, Ramban mentions a second interpretation. See Note 126. and it further says, For it will be, when she cometh in, that she ‘mithnakeirah’ (will pretend to be another woman). It may be that the word vayithnakeir here means that he made himself strange by his words, speaking to them harshly and asking them in anger — as if it were not customary to come before him to purchase food — “From where do you come to appear before me?” And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. When they mentioned this to him, it then became clear to him that they were indeed his brothers. This is the meaning of the expression, And Joseph recognized his brethren, here. which is mentioned a second time to indicate an additional sense of recognition and knowledge of the truth with respect to them. Now Rashi wrote in explanation of the word vayithnakeir: “He made himself like a nochri (stranger) in conversation by speaking harshly to them.” According to Rashi’s opinion, the word vayithnakeir signifies that he spoke to them as a man who is a nochri (stranger). But this is not correct. Hence Rashi’s interpretation is incorrect. Ramban’s second interpretation mentioned above, however, is based upon the word vayithnakeir having the same root as heker (recognition), except that the word here changes its meaning so as to indicate its opposite. See Rashi on Exodus 27:3, where he says that there are many such words in the Hebrew language. In the case before us, the word vayithnakeir would thus mean that Joseph made himself unrecognizable by speaking harshly to them. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 232.
Ibn Ezra
"He made himself a stranger" (vayitnaker) — derived from the root nakhri (foreigner); he presented himself as a foreigner. | "Harshly" (kashot) — this is an adjective; the sense is harsh words. Similarly: "he answers insolently" (Prov. 18:23). | "And he recognized them" (vayakkirem) — at first he recognized that they were his brothers, and afterward he examined each one closely and identified him; this is the meaning of "Joseph recognized his brothers."
Sforno
ויכירם, he recognised them collectively as being his brothers, without being able to recognise who each brother was. ויתנכר אליהם, he adopted a manner totally uncharacteristic of him, by speaking arrogantly, masking his true voice, etc, apart from the fact that he spoke to them in Egyptian having everything he said translated into Hebrew by an interpreter. קשות, so that they would not recognise his voice.
Or HaChaim
וירא יוסף את אחיו, Joseph saw his brothers, etc. When he saw them he felt as their brother and displayed friendliness towards them. It was only from the brothers' side that he appeared as a stranger. The Torah emphasises that he acted like this because the brothers did not recognise him. Joseph could speak to them sternly without the brothers taking offence as brothers. After all, he was a stranger to them. Joseph's whole purpose was to devise a scheme whereby also Benjamin would come to Egypt. He also wanted to test them to see how they felt now about what had transpired between them many years ago. He then became aware that they were sorry for what they had done to him and considered themselves as having committed a sin against him.
Chizkuni
ויתנכר אליהם, “he acted like a stranger to them.” His reasoning was that if he would reveal his identity, they would say to him: “if you expect us not to reveal your true identity, you are also sworn not to reveal our true identity.” Alternately, his reasoning was that he would frighten them into trying to flee. As a result, he would cause his father untold additional anguish. It would therefore be better that they would appear before him because they had no choice not to do so, as they needed the supplies that only he could provide. This would provide him with the chance to force them to bring Binyamin down to Egypt and he would detain him there. As a result, the fact that he was Joseph would become known.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויתנכר אליהם, “and he pretended to be a stranger who did not know them.” Joseph recognised his brothers as soon as he set eyes upon them. He was afraid that they might recognise him also. This is why he pretended to not to know who they were. We find something parallel when the wife of King Jerobam who sought help from the prophet Achyah Hashiloni (who was blind to boot) for her sick son pretended to be someone else at the instruction of her husband (Kings I 14,2-6). Achiyah challenged her, calling her by her true name the moment she entered his room. The expression used by the prophet Jeremiah to describe this charade was also the same as here, i.e. מתנכר. It is possible that Joseph did not change his features in order to deceive his brothers but merely spoke to them in a tone and language which made it unlikely that they would associate his person with being remotely similar to their brother. Once the brothers had told him where they came from, Joseph became convinced they were indeed his brothers. This accounts for the Torah writing once more: ויכר יוסף את אחיו (verse 8). (Compare commentary by Nachmanides.) According to Tanchuma Miketz 8 the words ויתנכר להם mean that as far as the brothers were concerned he was a pagan seeing that he used his goblet to consult it as if it possessed magic powers. He said to them that the goblet had informed him that they were spies. They replied that they were upright people, had never been spies, but that they had merely complied with their father’s instructions not to enter Egypt by the same gate. Thereupon Joseph demanded to know what business they had had in the red light district? They answered that they had lost something precious and had hoped to locate the lost object in that area during the last three days. Thereupon Joseph told them that his goblet told him that two of their number had once destroyed an entire city by the name of Shechem. When they heard this they became frightened and told Joseph that they were actually twelve brothers. Thereupon Joseph demanded to know the whereabouts of the other two brothers. They told him that one of their number had disappeared and that the youngest one was at home with his father. Upon hearing this, Joseph told them that if they would bring the youngest brother to see him he would accept their claim that they were not spies.
Kli Yakar
He recognized them and acted as a stranger to them, etc. The reason why it repeats a second time Joseph recognized his brothers is because the first recognition refers to their facial features — that he recognized who they were, while the second recognition refers to matters of brotherhood and compassion, as Rashi explains. The Akeidah explains that initially he recognized them and acted as a stranger means he both recognized and didn’t recognize them, but after they said they came from the land of Canaan, then he recognized them completely as his brothers. Ibn Ezra explains that at first he was unsure who was Reuben and who was Simeon, but afterwards, when he focused on them more carefully, he recognized them completely — who each one was among those present. Regarding the matter of speaking harshly, any thinking person would be astonished at what motivated Joseph to needlessly cause anguish to his father and brothers. As for what the Ramban explained — that Joseph did all this to ensure the fulfillment of his dreams — if God desires their fulfillment, they would be fulfilled on their own, so what did Joseph accomplish? What appears [correct] to me in this matter is that the reason he had not yet revealed to his father that he was alive was because he reasoned: if the Holy One, blessed be He, did not reveal this to Jacob, then evidently God wanted him to suffer for 22 years as a measure-for-measure punishment. How then could he reveal what God had concealed? For he understood through his reasoning that it was decreed that his father should suffer exactly 22 years, day for day, corresponding to those 22 years during which Jacob did not fulfill the commandment of honoring his own father. And after these years were completed, only then did Joseph make himself known to his brothers. As for why he caused his brothers anguish — he did all this to cleanse them of their sin of selling their brother, for their sin was too great to bear and required purification through suffering, measure for measure. Similar to this explanation did Abarbanel explain, and I am adding to his words to explain all the details and events: The first accusation of you are spies was to rectify the sin of them considering Joseph a spy and gossiper who came to see their impropriety. For when he came to them at Dothan, it is written before he came close to them because they thought his intention was to get close to them and spy on what his brothers were doing in order to return and bring some negative reports about them to their father. And every gossiper causes bloodshed, as it is written There were men of gossip among you for the sake of shedding blood (Ezekiel 22:9). Therefore, before he would come close to them to kill them, they plotted to kill him, for they thought that if someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him before he approaches you. This is why it says he remembered the dreams before he said to them you are spies. Because he remembered that he had dreamed and behold, your sheaves surrounded, and it didn’t specify what kind of surrounding, but surely their end would be to be accused as spies, for every spy goes around and surrounds the entire city to see from where it is easiest to conquer. And proof of this is that they entered through 10 gates of the city, going around and around, and through this circling they would bow to Joseph’s sheaf, as they would come under the accusation of you are spies who have come to see the nakedness of the land. Through this, the sin was rectified — the sin of considering Joseph a spy who came to see their improper actions. And corresponding to their throwing Joseph into the pit, he gathered them into custody — Rashi explains this as a prison, meaning a pit, as it says regarding Joseph and they put him in the prison, and Joseph said for they placed me in the pit. Rashi was compelled to explain it this way because if the custody was in some room, it would not have been measure for measure. Therefore, he took Simeon from them because he was the one who threw him into the pit. And they said by way of confession, “Indeed, we are guilty, etc.” This was because they heard Joseph say I fear God, etc. and they saw that this was true, as he had shown them kindness by sending food for their households and only detained Simeon. Therefore, they could not attribute all these events to a harsh ruler making false accusations, since he was clearly God-fearing. Rather, it must certainly be that their sins had caused these things to happen. This is why they confessed only after he said I fear God and not before when he had put them all in prison, because afterwards they saw clearly that they were being measured with the same measure they had used [against Joseph]. The incident with the goblet was orchestrated so that through it, they would be under threat of slavery, as they themselves declared we are servants to my Lord. Through this, their sin of selling Joseph into slavery would be cleansed. When they recounted all these events to Jacob, he said If so, then [eifoa] do this. What is the significance of the word eifoa? Rather, he was saying: if this is the measure [eifah] being used to measure out to you — measure for measure — with measure, by sending them away, You contended with them (Isaiah 27:8), and this is not by chance but by Divine providence — do this: take of the land’s glory in your vessels, etc. This was to atone for having sold him to Ishmaelites who were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh. Thus, they would bring a gift of these same types of items so that through this ruler [Joseph], the entire sin would be cleansed. And although Jacob did not know about the sale, nevertheless, the spirit of God spoke through him to bring a gift of these specific items. And may El Shaddai grant you mercy — for through this the sin of not showing mercy to their brother when he pleaded with them would be cleansed.
Tur HaArokh
ויתנכר להם, “he misrepresented himself to them.” According to Rashi, the word is derived from נכרי, “stranger, alien.” Nachmanides explains that as soon as Joseph spotted his brothers and recognized them, he was afraid that they in turn might recognize him; this is why he disguised himself with a different type of turban, one which covered most of his forehead; or, he disguised his manner of speech including his stern demeanor, so that they would not be alerted to his true identity. This is why he subjected them to the third degree kind of interview, acting as if they had been the first people ever to come from Canaan to buy grain. From their answers he became progressively more certain that they were indeed, his brothers. This is the reason why the Torah repeats: ”he recognized them.” According to Ibn Ezra, the first statement “he recognized his brothers”, refers to them collectively, whereas after questioning them he recognized each one individually.
And Joseph knew his brothers, but they knew him not.
verse value 1136
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 24 letters. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֥א, 2 letters) and the longest is "his·brothers" (אֶת־אֶחָ֑יו, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 236: and·recognized, they·recognized·him. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "they·recognized·him" (הִכִּרֻֽהוּ). The root נכר appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "his·brothers" (root אח, 164x in Genesis); "Joseph" (root יוסף, 156x in Genesis); "not" (root לא, 127x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'his·brothers', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיַּכֵּ֥ר [and·recognized] (236) + יוֹסֵ֖ף [Joseph] (156) + אֶת־אֶחָ֑יו [his·brothers] (426) + וְהֵ֖ם [they] (51) + לֹ֥א [not] (31) + הִכִּרֻֽהוּ [they·recognized·him] (236) = 1136.
Onkelos
Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
Rashi
'ויכר יוסף וגו AND JOSEPH RECOGNISED HIS BRETHREN etc. — because, when he left them they were full-bearded (Yevamot 88a). והם לא הכירהו BUT THEY RECOGNISED HIM NOT — because when he left them he had no beard whereas now he had grown a beard. A Midrashic explanation is: ויכר יוסף את אחיו JOSEPH RECOGNISED HIS BRETHREN — Now that they were in his power he recognised them as his brothers and had pity on them, והם לא הכירהו but when he fell into their power, “they did not recognize him” as their brother, by acting towards him in brotherly manner (Genesis Rabbah 91:7).
Ramban
BUT THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. I.e., at all. And so he no longer needed to make himself appear strange to them. Now in this matter of recognition, our Rabbis have said that Joseph recognized his brothers because he had left them bearded, but they did not recognize him because when he left them he had no beard and now they found him with a beard. Now Issachar and Zebulun were but a little older than Joseph, Moreover, he recognized them because he knew they were bound to come, but they did not recognize him because it did not occur to them that a slave sold to the Ishmaelites should be the ruler of a land. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says: And he recognized them. here. That is, at first he recognized them to be his brothers, and following that, he looked at each one and recognized him individually.
Sforno
ויכר יוסף את אחיו, now he recognised them each individually.
Or HaChaim
ויכר יוסף את אחיו. Joseph recognised his brothers. Joseph had no trouble recognising his brothers since they all wore beards when he left them. Although it is normal for acquaintances who have not seen each other for a long time to recognise one another, i.e. that as soon as one person recognises the second person, he in turn suddenly is able to recognise the first person also, this was not the case here. Normally the heart communicates secrets as we know from Proverbs 27,19 "man's heart will be reflected by his counterpart;" the Torah reveals that in this instance this phenomenon did not work. The reason was that Joseph's exalted position stifled any glimmer of recognition there might have been on the part of the brothers.
Chizkuni
ויכר יוסף את אחיו, “Joseph recognised his brothers;” because they addressed each other with their names, and he understood both their names and the language in which they spoke. והם לא הכירוהו, “but they did not recognise him;” one reason was that he had grown a beard that he did not have when he was sold. Secondly, his name had been changed. Thirdly, he now spoke Egyptian and he used an interpreter, making believe that he did not understand Hebrew.
Tur HaArokh
והם לא הכירוהו, “but they did not recognize him.” Joseph had left his father’s house before he had grown a beard, and in the meantime his beard had materially changed his facial features. Although we must assume that Issachar and Zevulun who were hardly older than he had also not had a beard at the time when he left his father’s house, the fact that he had identified eight of the ten brothers who had had beards before he left home, made it easy for him to also recognize the other two. Furthermore, he enjoyed the advantage of having known with certainty that his brothers would come to Egypt to buy grain. He therefore kept a special watch for their arrival. The fact that Pharaoh had changed his name also made it more difficult for his brothers to suspect that someone by that name was their brother. In addition, Joseph now spoke Egyptian whereas they spoke Hebrew.
And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them: "You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you are come."
verse value 5493
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 63 letters. The shortest word is "which" (אֲשֶׁ֥ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·dreams" (אֵ֚ת הַחֲלֹמ֔וֹת, 8 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "the·dreams" (אֵ֚ת הַחֲלֹמ֔וֹת). 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 8 words. Full calculation: וַיִּזְכֹּ֣ר [and·remembered] (243) + יוֹסֵ֔ף [Joseph] (156) + אֵ֚ת הַחֲלֹמ֔וֹת [the·dreams] (890) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [which] (501) + חָלַ֖ם [he·had·dreamed] (78) + לָהֶ֑ם [to·them] (75) + וַיֹּ֤אמֶר [and·said] (257) + אֲלֵהֶם֙ [to·them] (76) + מְרַגְּלִ֣ים [spies] (323) + אַתֶּ֔ם [you] (441) + לִרְא֛וֹת [to·see] (637) + אֶת־עֶרְוַ֥ת [the·nakedness·of] (1077) + הָאָ֖רֶץ [the·land] (296) + בָּאתֶֽם [you·have·come] (443) = 5493.
Onkelos
Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies — to see the exposed places of the land you have come."
Rashi
אשר חלם להם WHICH HE HAD DREAMED OF THEM — להם means “about them”. He then knew that they (the dreams) were being fulfilled, for they (his brothers) had bowed down to him. ערות הארץ means THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND — from which side it might easily be conquered. Of similar meaning are, (Leviticus 20:18) “He hath made naked (הערה) her fountain”; (Ezekiel 16:7), “naked and עריה) bare”. Indeed all forms of this root ערה signify “uncovering”). Onkelos renders it by “the breach (בדקא) of the land”, similar to (2 Kings 12:6), “the breach (בדק) of the house”— the defective places in the house — but he was not particular to translate according to the wording of the text (i.e. literally).
Ramban
AND JOSEPH REMEMBERED THE DREAMS WHICH HE DREAMED OF THEM. [That is, he remembered the dreams which he dreamed] concerning them, and now knew that they had been fulfilled, for they had bowed down to him. This is the language of Rashi. In my opinion, the matter is the reverse. Scripture states that when Joseph saw his brothers bowing down to him, he remembered all the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them and he knew that in this instance, not one of the dreams had been fulfilled. He knew that it was inherent in their interpretation that according to the first dream, at first all his brothers would bow down to him, as it says, And, behold, we were binding sheaves, for “we” refers to all eleven of his brothers. The second time, in accordance with the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars would bow down to him. Now since he did not see Benjamin with them, he conceived of the strategy of devising a charge against them so that they would also bring his brother Benjamin to him, in order to first fulfill the first dream. It is for this reason that he did not wish to tell them at this time, I am Joseph your brother, and to say, Hasten and go up to my father, and send wagons, as he did to them the second time, for in that case his father would undoubtedly have come at once. It was only after fulfillment of the first dream that he told them, I am Joseph your brother, etc., in order to fulfill the second dream. Were it not for this consideration, Joseph would indeed be regarded as having committed a great sin: bringing anguish to his father, leaving him for many days in the position of being bereft and mourning for Simeon and him. Even if it was his intention to cause his brothers minor anguish, how did he not have compassion for his elderly father? But he assigned each to its proper time in order to fulfill the dreams, knowing that they would truly be fulfilled. Also, the second matter, which he effected against them in connection with the goblet, (Further, 44:17). is not to be interpreted as if his intention was to cause them anguish, but rather because he suspected that they might hate Benjamin as a result of their jealousy of him on account of his father’s love for him, just as they were jealous of Joseph. Perhaps Benjamin had sensed that they had harmed Joseph, thus causing a quarrel and hatred to erupt between him and his brothers. Therefore, Joseph did not wish Benjamin to travel with them until he had tested their love for him, lest they harm him. It is to this matter that our Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah 3:9. referred when they said: “Rabbi Chiya the son of Rabbi Abba said, ‘When you read the entire plea which Judah made in the presence of his brothers, until you reach the verse, Then Joseph could not refrain himself, [you can see that] there was in it an attempt to win the sympathy of Joseph, the sympathy of his brothers, and the sympathy of Benjamin. Joseph’s sympathy [would be gained since Joseph would think], ‘See how he is ready to give his life for Rachel’s children, etc.’”Similarly I say that all these acts of Joseph are accounted for by his wisdom in the interpretation of the dreams. Otherwise, one should wonder: After Joseph stayed in Egypt for many years and became chief and overseer in the house of a great lord in Egypt, how was it possible that he did not send a single letter to his father to inform him of his whereabouts and comfort him, as Egypt is only about a six-day journey from Hebron? Even if it were a year’s journey, out of respect to his father, he should have notified him, in which case even if the ransom of his person would be ever so costly, he would have redeemed him. But it was because Joseph saw that the bowing down of his brothers, as well as his father and all his family, could not possibly be accomplished in their homeland, and he was hoping that it would be effected in Egypt when he saw his great success there. This was all the more so after he heard Pharaoh’s dream, from which it became clear to him that all of them were destined to come there, and all his dreams would be fulfilled. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, YE ARE SPIES. This accusation requires some reason or some plausible explanation, for what did they do that he should so accuse them? People from every country came to him to buy grain, and they were “among those who came,” just as it says, To buy grain among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. here. Perhaps [the reason for the accusation was that] they had the appearance of men of stature and prominence, all of them clothed most gorgeously, whereupon he said to them, “It is not customary for prominent people as you to come to buy food, having as you do many servants.”It is possible that they were the first ones to come from the land of Canaan. This is the meaning of the verse, And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan, here. meaning that now they were the first who came from there. So Joseph said to them, “You are spies, since no one has come from the land of Canaan to buy food.” This is the intent of the question, “Where have you come from?” here. which he addressed to them at the outset.
Ibn Ezra
"The nakedness of the land" (ervat ha-aretz) — because it is customary to conceal nakedness, which is a shameful thing, he spoke metaphorically. Alternatively: because nakedness is something hidden, so too you have come to discover the secret of the land. This second interpretation seems correct to me.
Sforno
ויזכור יוסף את החלמות אשר חלם להם. He remembered the part his brothers had played in his dreams, how they had bowed down to him in the dream showing the sheaves of corn. (37,7) He remembered that only his own sheaf had remained erect, and not fallen after first having arisen. This is why he wanted that they would all come when he would recognise them and the part in the dream speaking of the upright sheaf remaining upright would be fulfilled also. This detail of the dream was due to Joseph symbolising the redeemer of the Jewish people in the future as portrayed by the words ירה ויור, “shoot!, and he shot”. in Kings II 13,17. [this was an opportunity, though missed because of the king of Israel not complying completely with the prophet Elisha’s instructions, of reuniting the kingdoms of Yehudah and the Kingdom of Israel. i.e. that of Ephrayim, the descendant of Joseph. Ed.] There were several such opportunities foreseen by the prophets compare Hoseah 2,2 and Daniel 2,44. The author does not really elaborate. Ed.] לראות את ערות הארץ באתם, to find out if we have enough food supply for our own country. You did not really come here to buy. It is certainly not the custom of other buyers to arrive in groups of.
Or HaChaim
ויזכור יוסף את החלומות, Joseph remembered the dreams, etc. Inasmuch as he had really dreamt what he claimed to have dreamt and they had accused him of telling lies because he wanted to become superior to them, he now intended to let them atone for their sin by in turn accusing them of something they had not been guilty of. He accused them of coming to spy.
Kli Yakar
And he said to them: You are spies, who have come to see the nakedness of the land. The commentators struggled [about how to understand] this argument and the variation in language, where sometimes he mentions both “spies” and “nakedness of the land” together, and sometimes only “spies,” and sometimes only mentions “nakedness of the land.” Surely this matter requires explanation. In the Akeidah [Arama] and Abarbanel, you will find one approach to all these questions, as is their custom, for they generally take the same approach. What seems correct to me is to say that there were two different accusations here, as explained in the Sefer Toldot Yitzchak, that there are two types of spies: One who spies on the military personnel, observing what they do, what they say, and where they go; and the second type who spies to determine which location and from where the city is vulnerable to conquest. Corresponding to the first type, he said you are spies, and corresponding to the second type, he said you have come to see the nakedness of the land. According to this approach, it appears we can resolve all the variations in these verses, because these two accusations each present their own difficulty, and Joseph needed to provide a reason and explanation for each allegation. Because he saw them hiding themselves among those who came, he said you are spies, as this was conclusive proof that they were hiding among people to hear what people were saying to each other, and therefore you are dispersing yourselves among many people — for this one will hear here and that one in another place, and this is strong evidence that cannot be refuted. And because he saw them entering through 10 different gates of the city, he suspected them of coming to see the nakedness [vulnerability] of the land. However, this is not as strong a proof as the first one, because you could excuse yourselves and say that you have no connection to each other and each came by a different route, and it happened by chance that you met up together in the city — for it is not far-fetched that 10 emissaries would meet up together to purchase grain. But the matter of being spies does not depend on this, because even if you say this is so, nevertheless the fact that each of you is hiding himself like a thief is proof that each of you is a spy. Therefore, I say that both accusations apply to you, and one serves as evidence for the other. Not only are you spies, but you are also suspected of coming to see the nakedness of the land, and although you might have an excuse for this, nevertheless since you are certainly spies, it is also near certain that you came to see the vulnerability of the land.
Tur HaArokh
ויזכור יוסף החלומות אשר חלם להם, “Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamt concerning them.” According to Rashi, this means that he considered his dreams a having come true. Nachmanides not only does not agree, but, on the contrary, he feels that the Torah reports that Joseph’s dreams now revealed themselves to him as not having come true. When Joseph now saw his brothers he recalled all of his dreams and realized that not a single one had come true as yet. According to his interpretation of his dreams, all the brothers would bow down to him, whereas now only ten brothers had done so, something that had not been part of any of his dreams. In his second dream, not only his brothers were shown as bowing down to him. The main reason Joseph accused the brothers as being spies was because Binyamin had not come with them, and he wanted to devise a stratagem whereby at least the first of his dreams would come true henceforth. This is why he insisted on their bringing Binyamin down with them. If he had revealed himself to them already now, fulfillment of his dreams might never occur in accordance with what he had expected. Once the first dream of his had come true, Joseph manipulated things in such a way that the second dream could come true also, by instructing the brothers to move to Egypt, both they, their families and their aged father. If Joseph had not believed that his dreams were meant to be of a prophetic nature, and would come true, he would have been guilty of a grievous sin for not having revealed his whereabouts to his father who was grieving over him all these years. He had also caused Yaakov distress in not having allowed Shimon to return with the brothers on their first trip. Even allowing for the fact that Joseph thought that his brothers deserved some discomfort and worry in return for what they had subjected him to, how could he not have had pity on his father who had been so depressed for all these years, not knowing what had become of him! We can only justify his conduct throughout as an attempt not to preempt what had been decreed. [כל הדוחק את השעה, השעה דוחקת אותו “anyone who tries to pre-empt pre-ordained events= will experience that he himself will be pre-empted by other events to his detriment.” (Berachot 64.) Ed.] It is also possible that a major consideration in Joseph’s conduct was to examine whether the brothers’ hatred of him was based on his being a son of Rachel, jealousy of the sons of Leah on their mother’s behalf, or, whether it had been directed only at him, and he himself had brought it upon himself. To this end, he had them bring Binyamin to Egypt, planted the goblet in his sack to see if the sons of the other wives of Yaakov would now abandon their half brother, the remaining son of Rachel, or if they would all as one close ranks around the supposed “thief.” All of Joseph’s considerations were bound up with his exceptional gift of interpreting dreams. If it were not so, it would be most difficult to understand why, even after having attained high office, he still did not inform his father of his whereabouts, and the fact that he was alive. When he had interpreted the dream of Pharaoh successfully and been rewarded accordingly, why did he not at least send a letter to his father? By that time he had had every reason to believe that also his own dreams would come true, including the one in which his father bowed down to him? מרגלים אתם!, “you are spies!” This was not a trumped up accusation, taken out of thin air. The arrival of Joseph’s brothers through ten different border checkpoints was certainly something suspicious, although the Torah did not bother to spell out this detail in its narrative. When they told Joseph that they were all the sons of one father but had not traveled together, as Joseph knew, this was an incriminating factor. We can reconstruct part of the dialogue between Joseph and his brothers. First they had been found entering through different gates, and then they suddenly claimed to all belong together. Such conduct begs further examination of their true intent. In addition, their garments revealed them to be people of prominence and wealth. Joseph was entitled to wonder why such people subjected themselves to a lengthy journey just to buy grain, instead of leaving this chore to one or more of their many servants. It is also possible that the brothers were among the first grain shoppers from the land of Canaan, and this prompted Joseph to question them more thoroughly than travelers arriving later.
And they said to him: "Nay, my lord, but to buy food are your servants come.
verse value 1110
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 32 letters. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֣א, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·buy·food" (לִשְׁבׇּר־אֹֽכֶל, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·your·servants" (וַעֲבָדֶ֥יךָ). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "to·him" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "have·come" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'my·lord', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ [and·they·said] (263) + אֵלָ֖יו [to·him] (47) + לֹ֣א [not] (31) + אֲדֹנִ֑י [my·lord] (65) + וַעֲבָדֶ֥יךָ [and·your·servants] (112) + בָּ֖אוּ [have·come] (9) + לִשְׁבׇּר־אֹֽכֶל [to·buy·food] (583) = 1110.
Onkelos
They said to him, "No, my lord; your servants have come to buy grain."
Rashi
לא אדני NAY, MY LORD — do not say this, for behold ועבדיך באו לשבר אכל THY SERVANTS HAVE COME TO BUY FOOD.
Or HaChaim
ויאמרו אליו לא אדוני, They said to him: "No sir, etc." They said; 1) There is no reason to suspect us of spying even if we had come without a specific purpose. [I believe the author derives this from the tone-sign tipcha under the word באו; we would have expected the tone-sign mercha Ed.] 2) "In fact your servants have come to purchase food." They presented the purpose of their presence to buy food as the most natural explanantion for their journey to Egypt.
Kli Yakar
(Verses 10-11) “And they said to him: ‘No, my Lord,’ etc., ‘We are all sons of one man.’” Therefore, we were afraid of the evil eye, which has particular power when seeing multiple handsome brothers in one place, more than if each one was the son of a different man. This is also why our father commanded us [with the words] Why do you make yourselves conspicuous? From this we learned to conceal ourselves among those who came [to Egypt]. Therefore, your servants were not spies, for every person is presumed innocent, and whoever wishes to remove someone from this presumption of innocence must bring proof. Since you have no proof other than [the fact of] our concealment among those who came, we have already explained this [behavior]. You have no proof, and consequently, your words about you have come to see the nakedness of the land are also refuted. The brothers did not need to specifically address this accusation because Joseph himself acknowledged that the claim of you have come to see the nakedness of the land was dependent on the claim you are spies. Once the claim you are spies was rejected, the claim about seeing the nakedness of the land was automatically rejected as well.
We are all one man's sons; we are upright men, your servants are no spies."
verse value 1322
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 42 letters. The shortest word is "sons·of" (בְּנֵ֥י, 3 letters) and the longest is "man·one" (אִישׁ־אֶחָ֖ד, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 106: all·of·us, your·servants. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "all·of·us" (כֻּלָּ֕נוּ), "we" (נָ֑חְנוּ), "never·were" (לֹא־הָי֥וּ). The root נחנו appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "never·were" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "sons·of" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "man·one" (root איש, 153x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'we', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 5 words. Full calculation: כֻּלָּ֕נוּ [all·of·us] (106) + בְּנֵ֥י [sons·of] (62) + אִישׁ־אֶחָ֖ד [man·one] (324) + נָ֑חְנוּ [we] (114) + כֵּנִ֣ים [honest] (120) + אֲנַ֔חְנוּ [we] (115) + לֹא־הָי֥וּ [never·were] (52) + עֲבָדֶ֖יךָ [your·servants] (106) + מְרַגְּלִֽים [spies] (323) = 1322.
Onkelos
"We are all sons of one man; we are upright — your servants have not been spies."
Rashi
כלנו בני איש אחד נחנו WE ARE ALL ONE MAN’S SONS — The Holy Spirit was enkindled in them and they included him with themselves (by using the word “We”) that he, also, was the son of their father (Genesis Rabbah 91:7). כנים means TRUE MEN — Similar examples of כן in sense of true, right, are (Exodus 10:29) “Thou hast spoken right (כן)”; (Numbers 27:7) “The daughters of Zelophechad speak (כן) right”; (Isaiah 16:6) “and his wrath, his untruthful (לא־כן) boastings”.
Ramban
WE ARE ALL ONE MAN’s SONS. It is possible to explain this plea as follows: They said that “since we are brothers, one man’s sons, who do not separate from each other for such is our father’s will, we all came to buy food, and we did not send one of us with his servants.” This indeed was the truth, for why should Jacob have sent them all, except that it was not their wish to be separated from one another. It is also possible that they did so because of the extreme famine, lest the grain brought by their servants be robbed from them on the way. It is also possible that they said to him: “We are all one man’s sons. You can investigate him, for he is known in the gates by the vastness of his wealth and the multitude of his children. And if you will inquire and investigate, you will know that we are trustworthy, righteous men, sons of a righteous one, and not spies.” THY SERVANTS HAVE NOT BEEN SPIES. The meaning of this expression is: “We have been trustworthy in all our affairs from our youth on. Your servants have not been spies from then till now.” Similarly, We have not been spies, means: “We have never been spies.”Now our Rabbis have been aroused by the matter we have discussed, that they entered the city by ten different gates in the manner of spies, and it was for this reason that he accused them. Now this is plausible; however, Scripture does not mention it! Moreover, at the very outset, the brothers said to him in defense of themselves, We are all one man’s sons, and [if, as the Midrash has it, the basis of his accusation was that they entered by ten different gates], this itself indicates their guilt. Now it is possible to say in explanation of the Midrash that Joseph originally said to them, “you entered by ten gates, and now you are all gathering in one place and conspiring together. This is nothing other than the behavior of spies.” Thereupon they said to him, “It is because we are brothers that we are gathered together.” But he said, “Not so, but you have come to find out the condition of the land. here. If you were brothers you should have entered by one gate, just as you are now together.” Then they told him that one of them is gone, here. and that they had gone in search of him, [which was why they entered by different gates]. Scripture, however, does not care to prolong the discussion of the motivation of their arguments.
Ibn Ezra
"We" (nachnu) — written without an alef, and that is the correct form. | "Honest" (kenim) — trustworthy. It may be derived from the root of "So do, as you have said" (Gen. 18:5); or from the root of "the daughters of Zelophehad are right" (Num. 27:7), meaning: the truth.
Sforno
כלנו בני איש אחד יחנו, if we were spies we would have to be in the employ of some king. No king would select as his spies all members of the same family. The only reason why we arrived together is because we are all members of the same family. כנים אנחנו, not only are we 100% above board in all our dealings, but לא היו עבדיך מרגלים, we have never been spies in the past either, and there is no reason at all of suspecting us to be spies now.
Or HaChaim
כלנו בני איש אחד, "we are all the sons of one man." There is no reason to suspect us of being spies. Spies are always from different branches of a community. Moses sent out spies from all the twelve tribes; even the two spies Joshua despatched were not sons of the same man. It is in the nature of things that spies should be representative of the people on whose behalf they spy. It would not make sense to appoint ten members of the same family as spies. They added: כנים אנחנו, "we are honest men," meaning that after we have identified ourselves it should be obvious that we are honest. Spies would never identify themselves voluntarily. לא היו עבריך מרגלים, "your servants have never been spies." They chose the past tense to indicate that they had not even been spies before they had been identified. Naturally, now, that they were known, they could not be spies even if they wanted to.
Tur HaArokh
כלנו בני איש אחד, “we are all the sons of the same father.” They answered the question why all of them had come, saying that they were brothers, and that their father did not want them to separate from one another. It is also possible that they answered that the reason why they had all come was due to the severity of the famine, and their fear that Joseph would sell only to one family head at a time. Moreover, had they sent their servants, they could not be sure that these servants would not sell of part of the purchase at higher prices to people who had not taken the trouble to journey to Egypt. The brothers may even have assumed a provocative posture, telling Joseph that he could examine them minutely as they were so sure of being upright and that they were well known as such in their hometown, in Chevron.
And he said to them: "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land you are come."
verse value 2446
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 30 letters. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֕א, 2 letters) and the longest is "for·the·nakedness·of" (כִּֽי־עֶרְוַ֥ת, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "for·the·nakedness·of" (כִּֽי־עֶרְוַ֥ת). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 2 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֖אמֶר [and·said] (257) + אֲלֵהֶ֑ם [to·them] (76) + לֹ֕א [not] (31) + כִּֽי־עֶרְוַ֥ת [for·the·nakedness·of] (706) + הָאָ֖רֶץ [the·land] (296) + בָּאתֶ֥ם [you·have·come] (443) + לִרְאֽוֹת [to·see] (637) = 2446.
Onkelos
He said to them, "No — it is to see the exposed places of the land that you have come."
Rashi
כי ערות הארץ באתם לראות BUT TO SEE THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND YE ARE COME — I still insist that you are spies, for what you have just said bears this out for you have entered by ten different gates of the city; why did you not all enter by the same gate if you are really brothers and travelled together? (Genesis Rabbah 91:6).
Sforno
לא. It is simply not true that you are brothers. כי ערות הארץ באתם לראות, you have agreed among your selves to claim to be brothers so that this would provide you with a pretext to act as spies in the land and to find weak spots in our security system.
Or HaChaim
ויאמר אליהם לא. He said to them: "NO!" "Your words are not convincing since your actions contradict what you have said. You have demonstrated by your actions that you were searching for weak points in the land. I know this because you have each entered the country by a different border point (compare Bereshit Rabbah 91,6). The only reason for this is that you wanted to spy.
Chizkuni
כי ערות הארץ באתם לראות, “for you came to seek out the country’s nakedness.” Rashi comments on this that the brothers had used ten different border crossing points when entering Egypt. If you want to know how Joseph knew all this, Midrash Tanchumah explains that Joseph had issued 3 decrees. 1) No slave was to be allowed entry into Egypt in order to buy grain on behalf of his master. 2) No person was allowed to walk behind two donkeys; 3) no one was to be allowed entry unless he registered with his own name and that of his father and grandfather. Moses collected this information day after day, and examined if any of his brothers had registered. Seeing his brothers had entered at ten different border crossings, he had knowledge of this, and could challenge them, so that they would reveal in self defense that they were all brothers of one father. Their father had instructed them not to draw attention to themselves; when each one came to the border crossing and the border guard would ask about his name and the name of his father and grandfather, he would answer truthfully: Reuven son of Yaakov and grandfather Yitzchok.
Kli Yakar
And he said to them: No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land. Now I say that you have come to see the nakedness of the land is a separate argument and is not dependent on the claim that you are spies. For initially, I made this argument subsidiary to the claim that you are spies, because without it, I would have said that perhaps you have no connection to each other and you happened to meet together by chance in the city. But now that you have come to explain your concealment by saying that you are all brothers and you fear the evil eye, I therefore see that your meeting is not by chance. And if so, why did you enter through 10 different gates of the city? Certainly, it must be because you came to see the nakedness of the land.
And they said: "We your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not."
verse value 3284
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 73 letters. The shortest word is "ten" (עָשָׂר֩, 3 letters) and the longest is "with·our·father" (אֶת־אָבִ֙ינוּ֙, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·one" (וְהָאֶחָ֖ד). 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "in·the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "sons·of" (root בן, 248x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Canaan', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Onkelos
They said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more."
Rashi
'ויאמרו שנים עשר עבדיך וגו AND THEY SAID, THY SERVANTS WERE TWELVE BRETHREN — [AND ONE IS NO MORE], and it is on account of that one who is no more that we dispersed ourselves through the city in order that we might search for him (Genesis Rabbah 91:6).
Sforno
שנים עשר עבדיך אחים, בני איש אחד בארץ כנען, what we have said before can easily be proven. After all, our father is still alive in the land of Canaan. Both he and his neighbours will confirm what we have told you, i.e. that we used to be twelve brothers, that one went missing, and that the youngest remained to look after the affairs of our father’s household. You can confirm that we have spoken the truth by checking out all these details.
Or HaChaim
ויאמרו שנים עשר עבדיך אחים, They said: "Your servants are twelve brothers, etc." They explained that they had split up in order to locate the missing brother. They added that the youngest brother remained at home with his father. They volunteered this information as it was something that could be proved and would help establish their credibility.
Rabbeinu Bahya
שנים עשר עבדיך אחים אנחנו, “we, your servants, are actually twelve brothers.” Originally they had said that they were twelve men all the sons of a single father (verse 11). They had done so in order to explain why they were traveling together and keeping company all the time. They also explained that their traveling together reduced the chance of their being robbed of their food purchases. כנים אנחנו, “we are upright (honest).” The term is applied to righteous men who are descendants of righteous men. They invited Joseph to confirm this through independent inquiries he could make about them and their father. Joseph said to them: “you entered by twelve different gates only to be all together now. This suggests to me that you must be spies and have now come together to report to each other what you have found out.” Joseph indicated that their behaviour was typical of spies. Thereupon they enlarged on their family background in order to convince this ruler of Egypt that they had nothing to hide. Thereupon Joseph took them at their word saying that bringing down Binyamin to Egypt would provide proof to him if indeed they had spoken truthfully. The brothers had no response to this. חי פרעה, “by the life of Pharaoh!” We must not assume that Joseph invoked Pharaoh’s name to swear a vain oath, one that he would not honour. We will demonstrate that when Joseph used the language of an oath he always kept it. In this instance, he wanted to know what the brothers would have done if they had found the brother of whom they had said that he had disappeared. They answered that they would have bought his freedom using all the money at their disposal if need be. When Joseph countered that this was all well and good if the owner of their missing brother were willing to sell him. However, supposing that the owner would not be prepared to do that, what would they do then? They answered that their purpose in coming to Egypt was to settle the matter either one way or another. Either they would be killed in the process or they would have to kill to release their long lost brother. Upon hearing this Joseph exclaimed: “by the life of Pharaoh I was right! You are spies!” The words “by the life of Pharaoh” meant “I will certainly not release you now that you have admitted that you are prepared to kill in order to gain your objective.” Joseph kept his word by not allowing Shimon to return to Canaan at this stage. When the brothers said: “we are twelve, all the sons of one man,” they meant that all twelve of them including their father were alive. The Torah only shows that they were not aware of the truth of their statement that all twelve brothers were alive.
Kli Yakar
And they said: ‘Your twelve servants are brothers, etc.’ With this statement, they provided a defense against both accusations simultaneously. Regarding [Joseph’s] suspicion that they were spies because they had concealed themselves among those entering [the city], they said we are brothers, meaning they were afraid of the evil eye. And regarding his suspicion that they came to see the nakedness of the land, [which arose] because they had entered through 10 different gates of the city, they explained behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is gone, meaning that it was because of the one who was missing that they dispersed through all 10 gates to search for him.
And Joseph said to them: "That is it that I spoke to you, saying: You are spies.
verse value 2744
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 41 letters. The shortest word is "he" (ה֗וּא, 3 letters) and the longest is "spies" (מְרַגְּלִ֥ים, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "to·you" (אֲלֵכֶ֛ם). The root אמר appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Joseph', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֥אמֶר [and·said] (257) + אֲלֵהֶ֖ם [to·them] (76) + יוֹסֵ֑ף [Joseph] (156) + ה֗וּא [he] (12) + אֲשֶׁ֨ר [which] (501) + דִּבַּ֧רְתִּי [I·have·spoken] (616) + אֲלֵכֶ֛ם [to·you] (91) + לֵאמֹ֖ר [saying] (271) + מְרַגְּלִ֥ים [spies] (323) + אַתֶּֽם [you] (441) = 2744.
Onkelos
Joseph said to them, "It is as I spoke to you, saying: you are spies."
Rashi
הוא אשר דברתי THAT IS IT THAT I SPAKE UNTO YOU — The statement which I made — that you are spies — is true and certain. This is the meaning according to the literal sense of the words. A Midrashic explanation is: he said to them, “And if you find him (your brother) and they demand of YOU a large sum, would you redeem him?” They answered him, “Certainly!” He asked them, “If they tell you that they will not restore him to you for any sum of money, what would you do?” They replied, “That is what we have come for — to kill or to be killed”. Whereupon he retorted:הוא אשר דברתי אליכם THAT IS JUST WHAT I SAID TO YOU — you have come to kill the people of this city. I have divined by my goblet that two of you destroyed the great city of Shechem (Genesis Rabbah 91:7).
Sforno
הוא אשר דברתי אליכם, the very one of whom you have said that he is no longer, whereas you refused to be specific about what happened to him, is the one who went back to report all that you have seen here, or that you have decided to stay a while in order to engage in spying.
Or HaChaim
הוא אשר דברתי, "This is precisely what I have said (you came to spy)." Joseph meant: "I do not retract a single word from what I have said before." The word לאמור here means "I continue to say what I have said all along." It is also possible that Joseph meant: "When I accused you of spying this is exactly what I had in mind. You came to look for something you had lost. You yourselves have only confirmed it. The Midrash there describes the discussion about what the brothers were going to do if they located their brother and the owner would refuse to release him The word לאמור is an allusion to what the brothers had said they would do in such an event.
Kli Yakar
And Joseph said, “It is as I told you, saying you are spies.” And now a second proof of this has become clear to me, for I find it difficult to understand why this younger brother is not with you. Rather, it must be that he was here with you and has gone away because he already heard some news in this place, and you sent him back to your handlers to report what he had already heard, while you remained here to continue spying. By this you shall be tested: bring your younger brother here, and I will investigate whether others have seen him in this place before or not. For if they have not seen him here, then your words are true. But if you do not bring him, by Pharaoh’s life, you are spies! For you fear that others will testify that they have already seen him in this city and that he went away alone. According to this interpretation, it is possible to explain that this was all one accusation supported by two proofs. Initially, he said you are spies because you hid yourselves among those who came, and then he gave a second proof that you have come to see the nakedness of the land, as evidenced by your entering through 10 different city gates. They responded, No, my Lord… we are all sons of one man. With this, they addressed the issue of hiding, explaining that they feared the evil eye. He replied to them, No, for you have come to see the nakedness of the land. The word for [ki] here serves as “because.” He told them: Even if you explain away the hiding, how can you claim you are not spies when you have clearly come to see the nakedness of the land — from where the city is vulnerable to conquest? Therefore, they returned to address both issues: We are all sons of one man — to explain the hiding, and one is no more — to explain their entry through 10 city gates. This is the matter of which I spoke, as explained in the first approach. This interpretation is more satisfactory than the explanations of the Akeidah [Arama] and Abarbanel in resolving all the questions and about the matter of the test through the younger brother. Some say that he accused them of being spies because he feared they would investigate who the ruler was and discover that he was Joseph.
Hereby you shall be proved, as Pharaoh lives, you shall not go forth from here, except your youngest brother come here.
verse value 2224 — חֵ֤י = 18 (chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 44 letters. Notable word values: "by·the·life·of" (חֵ֤י) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "by·the·life·of" (חֵ֤י, 2 letters) and the longest is "if·you·go·out" (אִם־תֵּצְא֣וּ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 52: from·here, unless·comes. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "you·shall·be·tested" (תִּבָּחֵ֑נוּ), "if·you·go·out" (אִם־תֵּצְא֣וּ), "unless·comes" (אִם־בְּב֛וֹא). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "unless·comes" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "that" (root כי, 167x in Genesis); "your·brother" (root אח, 164x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you·shall·be·tested', dividing the verse into phrases of 2 and 9 words. Full calculation: בְּזֹ֖את [by·this] (410) + תִּבָּחֵ֑נוּ [you·shall·be·tested] (466) + חֵ֤י [by·the·life·of] (18) + פַרְעֹה֙ [Pharaoh] (355) + אִם־תֵּצְא֣וּ [if·you·go·out] (538) + מִזֶּ֔ה [from·here] (52) + כִּ֧י [that] (30) + אִם־בְּב֛וֹא [unless·comes] (52) + אֲחִיכֶ֥ם [your·brother] (79) + הַקָּטֹ֖ן [the·youngest] (164) + הֵֽנָּה [here] (60) = 2224.
Onkelos
"By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave from here unless your youngest brother comes here."
Rashi
חי פרעה BY THE LIFE OF PHARAOH — If Pharaoh lives! Whenever he swore for the sake of appearance (literally, falsely) he swore by Pharaoh’s life (Genesis Rabbah 91:7). אם תצאו מזה YE SHALL NOT GO FORTH FROM THIS i.e. from this place.
Sforno
בזאת תבחנו, if he is not your brother, the youngest one of whom you spoke will not endanger his own life to come with you and to share your fate of the death penalty.
Or HaChaim
בזאת תבחנו, "You will be tested as follows:" Joseph expressed readiness to put their words to the test by the yardstick they themselves had provided, although this was not sufficient proof for their claim that they had come to Egypt to obtain the release of their brother. Alternatively, Joseph meant that if their younger brother would confirm that all his brothers had come to Egypt to locate and free their lost brother, he, Joseph, would believe all they had said.
Tur HaArokh
כי אם בבוא אחיכם הנה, “unless your other brother comes here.” The reason Joseph was not suspecting them of bringing some other individual, claiming that he was their brother, was that all ten of them had features which showed unmistakably that they were closely related to one another.
Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you; or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies."
verse value 4290 — אֶחָד֮ = 13 (echad/ahavah)
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 72 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָד֮) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). Verse gematria: 4290 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "by·the·life·of" (חֵ֣י, 2 letters) and the longest is "your·brother" (אֶת־אֲחִיכֶם֒, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "from·you" (מִכֶּ֣ם), "be·confined" (הֵאָ֣סְר֔וּ), "that·may·be·tested" (וְיִבָּֽחֲנוּ֙). 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root כי, 167x in Genesis); "your·brother" (root אח, 164x in Genesis); "and·take" (root לקח, 142x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'with·you', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 6 words.
Onkelos
"Send one of you and let him bring your brother, while you remain bound, so that your words may be tested — whether you are speaking truth; and if not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are indeed spies."
Rashi
האמת אתכם means WHETHER THERE BE TRUTH IN YOU — therefore the ה has the vowel Patach, because it is a kind of question. And if you do not (ואם לא) bring) him חי פרעה כי מרגלים אתם BY THE LIFE OF PHARAOH, SURELY YOU ARE SPIES.
Ibn Ezra
"Be bound" (he'asru) — you shall be bound; like "and die on the mountain" (Deut. 32:50).
Or HaChaim
שלחו מכם אחד, "Despatch one of you, etc." They did not do this as they were concerned that their father would worry needlessly about the fate of all the remaining brothers. Furthermore, they were convinced that if only one brother would arrive back in the land of Canaan their father would never allow Benjamin to travel. We only need to look at the strenuous efforts Yehudah had to make to obtain permission for Benjamin to travel even though all the brothers except Shimon had returned home. If all the brothers were in jail in Egypt there would be no chance at all of Jacob allowing the last of the brothers to risk his life also. It may also be that the brothers did not even consider being separated. The only reason that they eventually agreed to leave Shimon behind was that Joseph had made this a test of how they could establish their credibility. I shall explain this in greater detail in my commentary on verse 19.
Kli Yakar
“Send one from among you.” Later he changed and sent all of them except for one, because Joseph wanted them to feel [the weight of] their sin that they committed against their brother and confess their transgression. When they would send one from among them, he thought that surely Reuben, the eldest of the brothers, would go, as the right of the firstborn entitled him to go free from the place of confinement. Perhaps the brothers would attribute [Reuben’s release] to the fact that since Reuben had no part in the sale, therefore he was saved. For even Judah had a part in this, as evidenced by the fact that the brothers lowered him from his position of leadership because of it, as Rashi explains on the verse And Judah went down (Genesis 38:1). After they were imprisoned for three days, Joseph thought that this sin had already been atoned for, therefore he sent all of them except for Simeon, because he had a greater part in his sale than all the others. For regarding what is stated They said to one another, “Come, let us kill him”, it was Simeon who said this to Levi, as Rashi explains on the verse Simeon and Levi are brothers (Genesis 49:5). Certainly Simeon was the one who began speaking thus, for Levi would not have spoken before someone older than him. And so does Rashi explain here. And all this was done so that they would recognize their sin and confess.
And he put them all together into ward three days.
verse value 2339
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 22 letters. The shortest word is "them" (אֹתָ֛ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "in·custody" (אֶל־מִשְׁמָ֖ר, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "in·custody" (אֶל־מִשְׁמָ֖ר). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "days" (root ים, 55x in Genesis); "three" (root שלוש, 29x in Genesis). Full calculation: וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ף [and·gathered] (157) + אֹתָ֛ם [them] (441) + אֶל־מִשְׁמָ֖ר [in·custody] (611) + שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת [three] (1030) + יָמִֽים [days] (100) = 2339.
Onkelos
And he gathered them into custody for three days.
Rashi
משמר WARD — the prison-house.
Ramban
AND HE PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER INTO A WARD THREE DAYS. This he did in order to frighten them and to make them believe that it is G-d he fears, here. meaning that it is because of his fear of G-d that he is releasing them lest the people of their households perish from hunger. This is the meaning of his words, The rest of you, go and take grain home to your starving households. here. Besides, they would not have consented to leave the one [Simeon] behind except for the purpose of saving all their families.
Tur HaArokh
ויאסוף אותם אל משמר, “he put all of them together in jail.” This was intended to instill fear in them. He also wanted to demonstrate that he was a G’d-fearing individual so that when he eventually released all but one of them it was so that their families should not suffer hunger and deprivation merely because of a suspicion he had that they were spies. He also wanted to see if they would leave one of them as a hostage. Seeing that they would not agree to this voluntarily, he first jailed all of them.
And Joseph said to them the third day: "This do, and live; for I fear God:
verse value 2780
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 47 letters. The shortest word is "this" (זֹ֥את, 3 letters) and the longest is "God" (אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים, 8 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·live" (וִֽחְי֑וּ). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "Joseph" (root יוסף, 156x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·live', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֨אמֶר [and·said] (257) + אֲלֵהֶ֤ם [to·them] (76) + יוֹסֵף֙ [Joseph] (156) + בַּיּ֣וֹם [on·the·day] (58) + הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֔י [third] (655) + זֹ֥את [this] (408) + עֲשׂ֖וּ [do] (376) + וִֽחְי֑וּ [and·live] (30) + אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים [God] (492) + אֲנִ֥י [I] (61) + יָרֵֽא [fear] (211) = 2780.
Onkelos
Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live — I stand in awe before Hashem."
Sforno
את האלוקים אני ירא. Therefore, I will let you take home enough food for your families.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ביום השלישי זאת עשו “on the third day ‘do this!’” According to Bereshit Rabbah 91,9 the verse in Hoseah 6,2 יחיינו מיומים ביום השלישי יקימנו ונחיה לפניו, “In two days He will make us whole again; on the third day He will raise us up and we shall live in His presence,” are a reference to what happened to the brothers during the three days described in our verse. G’d does not subject the righteous to trials lasting more than three days. The merit of the fathers Yaakov, Yitzchak, and Avraham was instrumental in Joseph changing his mind. The third day was significant already ever since the day Avraham espied the mountain on which he prepared Yitzchak as a sacrifice (Genesis 22,4), and it became important again in Exodus 19,16 as the day G’d revealed Himself to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. This implies that the merit of their Torah learning also assisted the brothers when they confronted Joseph.
if you be upright men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison-house; but go you, carry corn for the famine of your houses;
verse value 3848 — אֶחָ֔ד = 13 (echad/ahavah)
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 56 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֔ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). Verse gematria: 3848 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "you" (אַתֶּ֔ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "if·correct" (אִם־כֵּנִ֣ים, 6 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "if·correct" (אִם־כֵּנִ֣ים), "shall·be·confined" (יֵאָסֵ֖ר), "your·detention" (מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם). The root בית appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "bring" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "your·brother" (root אח, 164x in Genesis); "in·the·house·of" (root בית, 121x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'your·detention', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 6 words. Full calculation: אִם־כֵּנִ֣ים [if·correct] (161) + אַתֶּ֔ם [you] (441) + אֲחִיכֶ֣ם [your·brother] (79) + אֶחָ֔ד [one] (13) + יֵאָסֵ֖ר [shall·be·confined] (271) + בְּבֵ֣ית [in·the·house·of] (414) + מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם [your·detention] (640) + וְאַתֶּם֙ [you] (447) + לְכ֣וּ [go] (56) + הָבִ֔יאוּ [bring] (24) + שֶׁ֖בֶר [grain] (502) + רַעֲב֥וֹן [the·hunger·of] (328) + בָּתֵּיכֶֽם [your·households] (472) = 3848.
Onkelos
"If you are upright, let one of your brothers be bound in your place of custody, while you go and bring grain that is lacking in your households."
Rashi
בבית משמרכם (literally, in the house of your ward) — the house in which you are at present imprisoned. ואתם לכו הביאו BUT YE, GO, CARRY to your father’s house. שבר רעבון בתיכם CORN FOR THE FAMINE OF YOUR HOUSES — what you have purchased for the hunger of the people in your houses.
Ibn Ezra
"The hunger of your households" (ra'avon bateikhem) — the need caused by the famine. The meaning is: bring [grain] to your households.
Or HaChaim
אם כנים אתם, "If you are really honest, etc." This verse may be understood with the help of our sages in Yerushalmi Terumot chapter 8. We read there as follows: "If a group of people travel together and they encounter Gentiles who demand that one of them be handed over to be killed, the alternative being that they would all be killed, it is forbidden to hand over anyone belonging to the group. The whole group must face death rather than make the decision whom to hand over. If, however, the person to be handed over had been named by the killers, the others may save their lives by handing over that person." When Joseph said: "if you are honest, etc.," he meant that the brothers knew full well if they were telling the truth; אחיכם אחד, your one brother will be imprisoned. There was no death threat to the brothers, hence they were allowed to choose whom to hand over for incarceration. Joseph implied that if, on the other hand, they were dishonest, i.e. spies, (which made all of them guilty of the death penalty) then, of course, they would not be allowed to hand over one of their number who had not been specified. Handing over their brother would then be tantamount to killing him. This would also be illegal as they would all have to be prepared to die. The brothers were agreeable, thus indicating that they had spoken truthfully all along. We may presume that the brothers themselves elected that Shimon be imprisoned; Joseph did not single him out. It is also possible that the brothers had agreed between themselves to leave one of their number behind as a guarantee but before they could agree on who it should be Joseph decided to keep Shimon as he considered Shimon and Levi together as very dangerous.
Rabbeinu Bahya
שבר רעבון בתיכם, “the provisions to still the hunger of your families.” This verse contains the veiled lesson that man must not use food and drink in order to indulge himself and his palate but merely in order to maintain the health of his body. Solomon phrases this principle thus in Proverbs 13,25: “the righteous eats to sustain his life-force.” This is the reason that Joseph used the term שבר רעבון when speaking of the provisions he let them purchase. The limitation (rationing) was particularly appropriate at a time of famine when there is not enough food available to gorge oneself. The principal manifestation of a person’s יראת ה', fear of the Lord, is the manner in which he makes minimal use of the creature comforts available to him in this world. This is the reason that Joseph commenced this sentence with the words את האלו-הים אני ירא, “I am a G’d-fearing person.”
and bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so.
verse value 2850
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 47 letters. Verse gematria: 2850 is divisible by 50, the years to the Jubilee (yovel). The shortest word is "to·me" (אֵלַ֔י, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·your·brother" (וְאֶת־אֲחִיכֶ֤ם, 8 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "bring" (תָּבִ֣יאוּ), "and·be·verified" (וְיֵאָמְנ֥וּ), "you·will·die" (תָמ֑וּתוּ). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·me" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "bring" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis); "and·your·brother" (root אח, 164x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you·will·die', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 1 words. Full calculation: וְאֶת־אֲחִיכֶ֤ם [and·your·brother] (486) + הַקָּטֹן֙ [the·youngest] (164) + תָּבִ֣יאוּ [bring] (419) + אֵלַ֔י [to·me] (41) + וְיֵאָמְנ֥וּ [and·be·verified] (113) + דִבְרֵיכֶ֖ם [your·words] (276) + וְלֹ֣א [and·not] (37) + תָמ֑וּתוּ [you·will·die] (852) + וַיַּעֲשׂוּ־כֵֽן [and·they·did·so] (462) = 2850.
Onkelos
"And your youngest brother you shall bring to me, so that your words may be confirmed and you will not die." And they did so.
Rashi
ויאמנו דבריכם— means so shall your words be verified and confirmed. Other examples are, (Numbers 5:22) “It is true, it is true (אמן אמן)”, and (1 Kings 8:26) “Let thy word, I pray thee, be verified (יאמן).”
Sforno
ולא תמותו, he meant that they would not die here, as he was able to have them killed also in the land of Canaan if they would not come back of their own free will.
Or HaChaim
ויאמנו דבריכם. "And your words will be verified." This means that if the brothers did not agree it would prove their guilt and that that was the reason they did not dare leave one brother behind. Moreover, it would be forbidden to hand over an unnamed individual if there was a likelihood he was guilty of the death penalty. Another possible meaning of these words is simply that by bringing Benjamin down to Egypt Joseph would make sure their families would not die of starvation. The brothers referred to this when they told their father in verse 34 that Joseph had offered ואת הארץ תסחרו, "you may travel freely in the land."
Chizkuni
.ויעשו כן, “they did so.” They agreed with Joseph’s conditions.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויעשו כן, “they did so.” This teaches that all the brothers willingly submitted to Joseph’s decision and said to him: “we are all at your disposal; take the one from amongst us whom you choose.”
And they said one to another: "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us."
verse value 5347
Insights
Verse structure: 20 words, 90 letters. The shortest word is "man" (אִ֣ישׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "on·account·of·our·brother" (עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 97: to·us, to·us. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "guilty" (אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים), "on·account·of·our·brother" (עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒), "the·distress·of" (צָרַ֥ת). The root אח appears 2 times in this verse. 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "to·us" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'we·heeded', dividing the verse into phrases of 15 and 5 words.
Onkelos
They said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us and we did not listen to him; therefore this distress has come upon us."
Rashi
אבל VERILY — It is to be understood as the Targum renders it: בקושטא “in truth”. I have seen a statement in (Genesis Rabbah 91:8) that in the Roman (Latin) language אבל means ברם (verum) truly, indeed. באה אלינו [THIS DISTRESS] HAS COME UPON US — The word באה has the accent upon the ב because it is the perfect tense — for it had already come upon them. The Targum therefore renders it by אתת which is a perfect tense in Aramaic — it has come.
Ramban
IN THAT WE SAW THE DISTRESS OF HIS SOUL, WHEN HE IMPLORED US. It is obvious that the brothers now considered their display of cruelty towards Joseph as deserving of a greater punishment than the sale itself since it was their blood-brother who was imploring and prostrating himself before them and they remained unmoved. Scripture, however, did not relate there [that Joseph implored them at the time of the sale], either because it is naturally understood that a person would implore his brothers when falling into their grip when their intention is to harm him, swearing by the life of his father, and doing all that is possible to save himself from death. It may be the desire of Scripture to speak only briefly of their sin, or it is possible that it is characteristic of Scripture to speak briefly about a matter in one place, and to elaborate on it in another place. Now Reuben answered them by saying: “Now I already told you at the time that the event took place that you should not sin against him for he is only a lad, and only on account of his youth did he sin against you, and it is therefore fitting for you to gloss over the sins of his youth. And now, his blood also, here. together with the display of cruelty which you mention, is required.” Perhaps the explanation of the phrase, his blood also, may be: “Even though you have not killed him, G-d will require his blood of you, and it will be accounted to you as if you spilled his blood since he was sold as a permanent slave, for it is possible that being a darling child, unused to work, he died.”Our Rabbis have expounded “The expression, ‘Also’ his blood, implies his blood and the blood of his aged father.”
Ibn Ezra
"Indeed" (aval) — like "But Sarah your wife" (Gen. 17:19); it has the sense of "surely" (akhen).
Sforno
בהתחננו אלינו ולא שמעבו. This made us guilty of being cruel against our brother, even though we considered him halachically in the category of a רודף, someone threatening us. We should have reacted with pity once he started pleading with us. Now, we are being punished by being treated cruelly ourselves by the ruler of this land.
Or HaChaim
ויאמרו….אבל אשמים אנחנו, They said:…"but we are guilty (of something else)." The word אבל, "but" does not appear to have any meaning here. Onkelos translates it as "truthfully;" I do not agree with this translation either. There was no need for the brothers to say: "truthfully," as if they had so far not spoken truthfully. Besides, why did the brothers have to add: "when we saw his anguish, etc? All they had to say was that they were guilty of having sold their brother into slavery. This was the essence of their guilt. Perhaps they still considered that Joseph had been guilty of the death penalty and if they had only sold him they had actually performed an act of kindness. As to the grief they had caused their father at the time, they were certain that at the present time G'd would not heap further grief upon their father as a result of their having sold Joseph at that time. The only thing they did feel guilty of was not displaying a sense of compassion when they saw Joseph's anguish when he pleaded for his life and they proved cruel. It is not becoming for people who consider themselves as righteous to conduct themselves in such a heartless manner. It is also possible that when the brothers saw that they were all being jailed, they began to think which one of them was the cause of the disaster that had befallen them. The common denominator up to that point had been the fact that they had sold Joseph. Since Reuben had been innocent of that crime, not having been present when both the suggestion and the implementation of selling Joseph had been made, they had to search for something that both they and Reuben were guilty of. They concluded therefore that it must have been their heartlessness. Reuben too had not responded to Joseph's pleas as he had suggested that the brothers throw him in the pit instead of killing him outright. No doubt Joseph had pleaded with all the brothers not to do that to him. In fact, slow death in the pit was a more frightening prospect to Joseph than a relatively swift death. The words על כן באה אלינו are an acknowledgement that they all, Reuben included, were guilty of a lack of compassion. Presumably, the brothers must have said these things as soon as they were being led to prison, whereas the Torah reports them as if they had been said after they had all been in prison for three days. Why does the Torah make it appear as if the brothers had only come to this realisation after three days in prison? Presumably, the Torah did not want to diminish the impact Joseph's words and deeds are to make upon the reader. Any diversion would detract us from the clever way Joseph set about creating the scenario he had planned. Besides, if we were to assume that the brothers acknowledged their guilt only after they had themselves agreed that Shimon would remain in prison as the hostage, why did it take them so long to acknowledge that Shimon had been more guilty than they? Perhaps up to the time when Joseph had said that one of their number had to remain in prison as hostage, they had not related their present experience to the sale of Joseph at all. They had thought that inasmuch as man is a free agent that whatever had happened to them was in retribution for freely committed wrongs. They had not considered what they had done to Joseph as a wrong at all. When Joseph pointedly said: "one of your brothers has to stay here," they suddenly realised that their situation was connected to what they had done to another one of their brothers. The words ויעשו כן then mean that they singled out Shimon. They suddenly realised that the painful experience they now underwent of leaving one of their brothers with a stranger was tit for tat for having abandoned Joseph to a fate with strangers at the time of the sale. I have frequently alluded to the fact that guilt somehow creates situations in which the retribution experienced reminds one of the nature of one's sin. David has mentioned this in Psalms 62,13: כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, "for You repay each man according to his deeds." The brothers saying אבל may therefore be understood thus: "If our present experience had been even slightly different we would not have realised why we are now being punished; but the very fact that our punishment corresponds to the nature of our sin convinces us of our guilt. Now we are absolutely certain that we are guilty of lack of compassion." The very fact that it was Shimon who was being detained convinced them; after all, according to Tanchuma Parshat Vayechi, it had been Shimon who had made the suggestion to kill Joseph; he and Levi were the subject of 37,19 "one said to his brother." Shimon the elder said to his brother Levi the younger. They had been a team already when they wiped out the men in the city of Shechem.
Rabbeinu Bahya
אבל אשמים אנחנו על אחינו, “but we are guilty concerning our brother, etc.” It is the customary thing for righteous people to acknowledge mistakes they have made and to acknowledge G’d’s justice when they feel they are being punished for some sin. This is the meaning of Leviticus 5,19 אשם הוא, אשום אשם לה', “it is a guilt offering; he has become guilty before the Lord.” [The Torah discusses a guilt-offering brought by a person who became aware of his error but had not been accused by man to have committed such an error. Ed.] By contrast, it is the norm for wicked people to deny that they committed any sins at all. This is the meaning of Zecharyah 11,5: “whose buyers will slaughter them with impunity.” They will not admit having committed a sin. אשר ראינו צרת נפשו בהתחננו אלינו, ”when we saw his soul in distress and he pleaded with us.” This verse seems to support the opinion of those who hold that it was not the brothers who actually sold Joseph. For if the brothers had been guilty of that crime they should have expressed their remorse for having sold him rather than for having remained deaf to his pleas. Their guilt had been to have thrown him into a pit and to have abandoned him to his fate. No doubt Joseph had pleaded with them not to throw him into the pit. על כן באה עלינו הצרה הזאת, “this is why this anguish has come upon us.” They meant: “we deserved this anguish as retribution for the anguish we caused Joseph.” The expression כן, describing the correctness of something also occurs in Numbers 27,7 when G’d told Moses that the daughters of Tzelofchod had been correct in their claim to share in the land of Canaan as the heirs of their father.
Tur HaArokh
אשר ראינו צרת נפשו בהתחננו אלינו, “when we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, etc.” Although the Torah had not written about this, it is impossible to imagine that Joseph did not plead for mercy with his brothers when they threw him into the pit. The Torah condensed the scene in order not to unnecessarily portray the brothers as heartless monsters. ולא שמענו, “and we did not listen.” They now realized that their cruelty deserved harsh punishment, much more so than the sale of him to the Ishmaelites. Reuven told them that he had already told them at the time not to become guilty of a sin against the “child.” Reuven had argued that Joseph’s conduct stemmed from youthful immaturity, and not from a thirst for power over his brothers. Now, they are being paid back by G’d not only for their cruelty, but also for his death, i.e. “his blood.” In G’d’s eyes, although they had not killed him with their hands, they had still been the cause of his death. He had probably not been able to perform the duties a slave has to perform just because he had been physically still a child.
And Reuben answered them, saying: "Did I not speak to you, saying: Do not sin against the child; and you would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required."
verse value 4273
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 66 letters. The shortest word is "them" (אֹתָ֜ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "do·not·sin" (אַל־תֶּחֶטְא֥וּ, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 271: saying, saying. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "do·not·sin" (אַל־תֶּחֶטְא֥וּ), "against·the·boy" (בַיֶּ֖לֶד), "you·heeded" (שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם). The root אמר appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "saying" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "to·you" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "against·the·boy" (root ילד, 193x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you·heeded', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 3 words.
Onkelos
Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not say to you, saying: do not sin against the lad, and you would not listen? And also his blood — behold, it is being demanded."
Rashi
וגם דמו ALSO HIS BLOOD [IS REQUIRED] — the particles את and גם extend the scope of the clause; here it implies “his blood and also the blood of his old father” (Genesis Rabbah 91:8).
Sforno
הלא אמרתי אליכם אל תחטאו בילד? He had never intended to cause your death when he had done what he did, as you had imagined. His actions were due to the fact that he was immature, was childish. וגם דמו הנה נדרש. The sin we are being punished for now is not only our cruelty, as you think, but also his blood, if your actions were the cause of his death, seeing that he was innocent. There can be little doubt that he died in the performance of his tasks as a slave, something he had not been equipped to cope with.
Or HaChaim
ויען ראובן אתם. Reuben answered them. How can the term "he answered" be justified in this context? Who had asked him anything? The repeated use of the word לאמור and the words וגם דמו also require justification. Reuben reacted to the brothers having said that they were being punished for not having displayed compassion when Joseph pleaded with them, something in which they had included him also. Reuben retorted that he did not consider himself included in that sin as he had warned: "do not commit a sin against the boy!" Even though at that time he had only warned them not to lay a hand upon Joseph and to throw him into the pit, his intention had been as if he had said: "do not commit a sin." The Torah itself exonerated Reuben independently by revealing Reuben's intention to restore Joseph to his father. You could ask what reason Reuben gave for the brothers to believe that this had been his intention, when on the contrary, selling Joseph at the time was more merciful than to let him die a slow death in the pit and therefore Reuben had no reason to complain? The fact is that Reuben's principal complaint against the brothers was that he told them not to lay a hand upon Joseph. "Selling him into slavery was certainly laying a hand upon him!" Reuben's argument was certainly valid; moreover, by selling Joseph to other human beings the brothers had made his fate dependent on people with a free will who could act arbitrarily. Reuben's intention had been not to allow Joseph's fate to be in the hands of people who could make arbitrary decisions. Selling Joseph did not reduce the danger to Joseph's life or wellbeing any more than throwing him into the pit. We only need to read the Bereshit Rabbah 86,3 according to which Potiphar bought Joseph to commit acts of sodomy with him. G'd Himself made Potiphar impotent to protect Joseph against such abuse. When Reuben had advised throwing Joseph into the pit he felt that if Joseph was not guilty nothing would happen to him. He had been most concerned to remove Joseph from the hands of people who could arbitrarily decide his fate. That is why he accused them ולא שמעתם, "you did not listen." He meant: "you did not understand my intention. When you think that you are being punished only for your cruelty and not for the deed itself, you are quite wrong. Also his blood is being demanded, i.e. you are also guilty of either killing him or putting his life in jeopardy." According to Reuben this was why they now had to face the charge of spying, a charge that was punishable by death. Reuben resented being considered a partner of that part of the brothers' crime. He was not willing to share their responsibility seeing he had not taken part in the sale. As of that moment Reuben only agreed to remain with them, but not to share their guilt. At the end of the examination it would become clear who was legally guilty and who was innocent. Our interpretation of the words אבל אשמים אנחנו as referring to the brothers waking up to their guilt only after Shimon alone was being held prisoner is completely compatible with everything else we have written.
Chizkuni
ויען ראובן, “Reuven replied to them;” originally Joseph had intended to keep Reuven, who was the oldest, as hostage pending Binyamin’s coming to Egypt. It is customary that when a number of people are guilty of a crime that the senior member of the group is punished first. When Joseph overheard their conversation and found out for the first time that it had been Reuven who had tried to save him, he changed his mind and kept Shimon as a hostage instead, as he was the second oldest.
Rabbeinu Bahya
הלא אמרתי לכם לאמור אל תחטאו בילד! ולא שמעתם, “did I not tell you saying: “do not incur a sin in the way you treat the child! But you did not listen.” Reuven meant that he had told the brothers at the time not to do anything to him seeing he was still a child, and his mistakes etc., were due to his youthful immaturity. וגם דמו, “and also his blood.” The cruelty you displayed at the time when you threw him into the pit is now being requited. Although you did not kill him with your own hands you are now being punished as if you had done so. G’d considers your deed as if you had spilled your brother’s blood. Perhaps he died before attaining maturity and due to his spoiled upbringing he was not able to cope with the physical demands of serfdom (based on Nachmanides).
Kli Yakar
“And his blood is now also being demanded.” The word also/gam appears to be explained as follows: The brothers thought that Joseph deserved the death penalty according to law, because evil speech kills three [people] and Joseph brought evil reports about them, similar to as if he had killed them. Furthermore, he came to spy on them when he came to Dothan. Therefore, they sought religious pretexts according to the Torah to kill him before he would approach and kill them, based on the principle “if someone comes to kill you, arise early to kill him first.” If so, from the perspective of their seeking to kill him, they have no guilt according to their reasoning. However, the main guilt lies in the cruelty they displayed by not listening to his pleading, as they said Indeed we are guilty concerning our brother, as we saw his soul’s distress when he pleaded with us and we did not listen; therefore this trouble has come upon us. They did not mention that they sought to kill him, because they thought that from the perspective of seeking to kill him, or selling him, or throwing him in the pit, they bore no guilt. Reuben answered them: Did I not tell you not to sin against the child? Since he was like a child and not yet punishable in the heavenly court, he therefore did not deserve the death penalty. Thus you have committed two transgressions, for the Holy One Blessed be He demands [an accounting] from you for your cruelty — which is why this ruler and master does not listen to our pleading, as we all speak supplications but he responds harshly. And in addition to this, his blood is now being demanded — for the ruler said your words will be verified and you shall not die, which implies that if our brother does not come, we are indeed worthy of death. And who knows if at such a time our youngest brother will reach him, for perhaps something will happen that prevents him from coming to him, and we will be sentenced to death. And truly we are innocent of his accusation — this is only because his blood is now being demanded, in addition to the demanding of [an accounting for] our cruelty from us.
And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for the interpreter was between them.
verse value 1475
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 30 letters. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֣א, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·interpreter" (הַמֵּלִ֖יץ, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 30: that, that. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "they·knew" (יָֽדְע֔וּ), "the·interpreter" (הַמֵּלִ֖יץ), "between·them" (בֵּינֹתָֽם). The root כי appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root כי, 167x in Genesis); "Joseph" (root יוסף, 156x in Genesis); "between·them" (root בין, 146x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Joseph', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְהֵם֙ [they] (51) + לֹ֣א [not] (31) + יָֽדְע֔וּ [they·knew] (90) + כִּ֥י [that] (30) + שֹׁמֵ֖עַ [understood] (410) + יוֹסֵ֑ף [Joseph] (156) + כִּ֥י [that] (30) + הַמֵּלִ֖יץ [the·interpreter] (175) + בֵּינֹתָֽם [between·them] (502) = 1475.
Onkelos
They did not know that Joseph heard, for there was an interpreter between them.
Rashi
והם לא ידעו כי שמע יוסף AND THEY KNEW NOT THAT JOSEPH שמע UNDERSTOOD their language, and they said this in his presence. כי המליץ בינתם FOR THE INTERPRETER WAS BETWEEN THEM — for when they had spoken to him there was an interpreter between them who knew both the Hebrew and the Egyptian languages. He interpreted their words to Joseph and Joseph’s words to them. Consequently they were under the impression that Joseph did not understand the Hebrew language. המליץ THE INTERPRETER — This was Manasseh (Genesis Rabbah 91:8).
Ibn Ezra
"The interpreter" (ha-melitz) — one who explains; derived from the root melitzah. | And he took Simeon — for when many have sinned, the eldest among them in years is punished more. And he released Reuben, because he had saved him.
Or HaChaim
והם לא ידעו…כי המליץ בינותם. They did not realise this….for the interpreter was between them. The brothers who had observed the interpreter all the time, assumed that Joseph did not understand Hebrew. Alternatively, they could not speak freely being afraid that the interpreter would overhear them.
Rashbam
כי שומע יוסף, he understands, [not only hears. Ed.] (2) WHEN ["KI"]. Up until now. כי המליץ בינותם, as if Joseph could not understand otherwise what they had been saying.
And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.
verse value 3374
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 61 letters. The shortest word is "him" (אֹת֖וֹ, 3 letters) and the longest is "Simeon" (אֶת־שִׁמְע֔וֹן, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 76: to·them, to·them. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·turned" (וַיִּסֹּ֥ב), "from·them" (מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶ֖ם), "from·among·them" (מֵֽאִתָּם֙). The root אל appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "and·took" (root לקח, 142x in Genesis); "and·spoke" (root דבר, 133x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·wept', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 10 words. Full calculation: וַיִּסֹּ֥ב [and·turned] (78) + מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶ֖ם [from·them] (195) + וַיֵּ֑בְךְּ [and·wept] (38) + וַיָּ֤שׇׁב [and·returned] (318) + אֲלֵהֶם֙ [to·them] (76) + וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר [and·spoke] (222) + אֲלֵהֶ֔ם [to·them] (76) + וַיִּקַּ֤ח [and·took] (124) + מֵֽאִתָּם֙ [from·among·them] (481) + אֶת־שִׁמְע֔וֹן [Simeon] (867) + וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ר [and·bound] (277) + אֹת֖וֹ [him] (407) + לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם [before·their·eyes] (215) = 3374.
Onkelos
He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke with them, and he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.
Rashi
ויסב מעליהם AND HE TURNED AWAY FROM THEM — He moved some distance away from them so that they should not see him weeping. ויבך AND HE WEPT because he heard that they regretted their past conduct to him. את שמען SIMEON — he had cast him into the pit and it was he who had said to Levi “Behold, this dreamer cometh” (Tanchuma Yashan 1:10:17). Another explanation is: It was Joseph’s intention to separate him from Levi lest the two of them might conspire to kill him. ויאסור אתו לעיניהם AND HE BOUND HIM BEFORE THEIR EYES — He only kept him in bonds whilst he was before their eyes, but as soon as they departed he freed him and gave him food and drink (Genesis Rabbah 91:8).
Sforno
ויבך, when he noted their distress.
Or HaChaim
ויקה מאתם את שמעון, He took Shimon from them. The brothers had singled out Shimon, or Shimon had volunteered to be the hostage as I have explained on verse 19.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויקח מאתם את שמעון, “he took from amongst them Shimon.” He kept Shimon in jail longer than the other brothers in order to keep him apart from Levi. He remembered that when it came to killing the males of the town of Shechem, Shimon and Levi had acted as a team. Yaakov referred to the matter on his deathbed when he said (Genesis 49,5-6) “Shimon and Levi are brothers (comrades), violence is their stock-in trade.” When the Torah writes in 42, 27: “The one opened his sack,” the words “the one” are a reference to Levi the other half of that team of brothers. Seeing the brothers had not been prepared to select one of their number who should remain behind as a hostage that they would return with Binyamin, Joseph had to make the selection himself. From this incident our sages derived an important ruling, i.e. that when Gentiles demand from Israelites that they hand over one of their number without specifying which person they are to hand over, that the Israelites must not make such a selection but must rather all face death than to condemn someone in their midst. (If however, the Gentiles selected a particular individual from amongst the Israelites and they threaten to kill all the Israelites unless that individual is handed over, the Israelites (in order to save their lives) must hand over the individual demanded from them) (Jerusalem Talmud Terumot 5,4). There is a well known example in Samuel II 20, 1-22 when Sheva ben Bichri, a rebel against the regime of King David, happened to be trapped amongst other Jews and David had given orders to liquidate this Sheva ben Bichri as a dangerous rebel. His commander-in-chief Yoav and his brother Avishai had surrounded the town in which Sheva ben Bichri found himself. A woman in that town saved the other townsfolk by persuading them to hand over the rebel and thus to save the inhabitants of the town from becoming victims of Yoav’s army. [This was during the period of Avshalom’s uprising against his father. Ed.]
Tur HaArokh
ויקח מהם את שמעון, “he took Shimon away from them.” Actually, he should have taken Reuven, seeing that he was the oldest. Usually, the oldest is taken as hostage for the younger ones. Seeing that it had been Reuven who had saved him from imminent death at the time, Joseph kept Shimon as hostage.
Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way; and thus was it done to them.
verse value 4180
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 66 letters. The shortest word is "grain" (בָּר֒, 2 letters) and the longest is "their·bags" (אֶת־כְּלֵיהֶם֮, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 75: to·them, to·them. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "their·bags" (אֶת־כְּלֵיהֶם֮), "and·to·restore" (וּלְהָשִׁ֤יב), "into·his·sack" (אֶל־שַׂקּ֔וֹ). 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Joseph" (root יוסף, 156x in Genesis); "man" (root איש, 153x in Genesis); "and·made" (root עשה, 152x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'for·the·journey', dividing the verse into phrases of 13 and 3 words.
Onkelos
Joseph commanded, and they filled their sacks with grain, and to return each man's silver into his sack, and to give them provisions for the road — and so it was done for them.
Ramban
AND TO GIVE THEM PROVISION FOR THE WAY. The reason for saying this is so that they should not consume the food which they bought in the course of the journey. He informed them of this for he gave them the provisions for the journey in a kindly fashion so that they should be able to bring the brother [Benjamin] to him, for he said, “I have no intention of harming you if your words are verified.”
Ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen says that kesef (silver) and zahav (gold) are not found in the plural in [biblical] language. Yet he forgot [the instance of] "their silver" (kaspeihem) [found here].
Sforno
ולהשיב את כספיהם, and to restore their money. The plural mode in the word does not apply to the collective term כסף, money, but to the coins which together made up the money.
Or HaChaim
ולהשיב כספיהם, and to give back their money. The reason that this verse does not employ the syntax that is commensurate with the first half, i.e. וימלאו, or למלאות…ולהשיב, could be that the person who filled the sacks was unaware of the fact that someone else had returned the money. The person who put back the money was Joseph's most trusted servant. It is also possible that Joseph ordered that the filling of the brothers' sacks with grain was to be done publicly, whereas the return of their money was to be accomplished secretly after the sacks had already been filled with grain. The reason Joseph did not give both instructions simultaneously was so as not to arouse the envy of the person entrusted with filling the sacks with grain.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וימלאו את כליהם בר, “they filled their containers with grain.” They did not measure the quantity. ולהשיב את כספיהם איש אל שקו, “and to put back each man’s money into his sack.” so that the brothers would be unaware of this. This is why when one of them discovered his money in verse 28 they all became frightened. By contrast, when their money was replaced after their second trip to Egypt, Joseph informed them of that fact. As to the צידה, which the Torah says Joseph gave the brothers to be eaten on the journey, this was an act of kindness. He wanted to convince the brothers that he had no hostile intentions towards them provided they could prove that they had spoken the truth. He gave them these extra provisions in order to enable them to bring their youngest brother to Egypt.
And they laded their asses with their corn, and departed from there.
verse value 2121
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 27 letters. The shortest word is "from·there" (מִשָּֽׁם, 3 letters) and the longest is "on·their·donkeys" (עַל־חֲמֹרֵיהֶ֑ם, 8 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "their·rations" (אֶת־שִׁבְרָ֖ם), "on·their·donkeys" (עַל־חֲמֹרֵיהֶ֑ם). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "from·there" (root שם, 180x in Genesis); "and·they·went" (root הלך, 113x in Genesis); "and·lifted" (root נשא, 47x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'on·their·donkeys', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיִּשְׂא֥וּ [and·lifted] (323) + אֶת־שִׁבְרָ֖ם [their·rations] (943) + עַל־חֲמֹרֵיהֶ֑ם [on·their·donkeys] (403) + וַיֵּלְכ֖וּ [and·they·went] (72) + מִשָּֽׁם [from·there] (380) = 2121.
Onkelos
They loaded their grain upon their donkeys and departed from there.
Ibn Ezra
"And they carried their grain" (et shivram) — that which they had purchased.
Or HaChaim
וישאו…וילכו, They loaded…and went on their way. The Torah mentions this to show that they did not linger after their sacks had been filled. Unless the Torah wanted to make this point, the whole verse is unnecessary. We would all have assumed that the brothers carried their supplies with them.
And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the lodging-place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
verse value 4567 — הָאֶחָ֜ד = 18 (chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 58 letters. Notable word values: "one" (הָאֶחָ֜ד) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "give" (לָתֵ֥ת, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·behold·it" (וְהִנֵּה־ה֖וּא, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "his·sack" (אֶת־שַׂקּ֗וֹ), "to·his·donkey" (לַחֲמֹר֖וֹ), "at·the·lodging·place" (בַּמָּל֑וֹן). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "give" (root נתן, 150x in Genesis); "and·saw" (root ראה, 140x in Genesis); "and·behold·it" (root הוא, 133x in Genesis). First appearance of the root אמתחת ("sack") in Genesis. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'at·the·lodging·place', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיִּפְתַּ֨ח [and·opened] (504) + הָאֶחָ֜ד [one] (18) + אֶת־שַׂקּ֗וֹ [his·sack] (807) + לָתֵ֥ת [give] (830) + מִסְפּ֛וֹא [fodder] (187) + לַחֲמֹר֖וֹ [to·his·donkey] (284) + בַּמָּל֑וֹן [at·the·lodging·place] (128) + וַיַּרְא֙ [and·saw] (217) + אֶת־כַּסְפּ֔וֹ [his·silver] (567) + וְהִנֵּה־ה֖וּא [and·behold·it] (78) + בְּפִ֥י [in·the·mouth·of] (92) + אַמְתַּחְתּֽוֹ [sack] (855) = 4567.
Onkelos
One of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his silver — behold, it was in the mouth of his pack.
Rashi
ויפתח האחד literally, AND THE ONE OPENED HIS SACK — This was Levi who remained alone (one) being without Simeon his companion (cf Targum Jonathan). במלון means the place where they stayed over night — THE INN. אמתחתו is the sack (שק) just mentioned.
Ramban
AND AS ONE OF THEM OPENED HIS SACK. One of them opened his sack in the inn to give therefrom some fodder to his ass, while the others did not open their sacks until they were with their father, just as it says, And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, here. for perhaps the others took straw for their asses, lest they consume their entire loads on the way. But the one who opened the sack on the way had a weak ass, which required fodder, and he thus found the money in the mouth of his bag (‘amtachto’). Now Rashi writes that amtachath is the sack, but Onkelos translated it as “load.” It appears from Onkelos’ opinion that each one in order to equalize his load, had large sacks and small sacks, and the total load of each one is called amtachath. Thus it happened that one of them found his money at the mouth of the particular sack he opened, while it did not happen to the others until they emptied all their sacks. It seems plausible to me that amtachath is a large sack containing two sides, known in the language of the Talmud as matrata,) and the money of each one was put at the mouth of one of the sides. Now it so happened that one of them opened the side where the money lay, but it did not happen to the others. This kind of sack is called amtachath because it stretches (yimtach) at the sides.
Ibn Ezra
"One of them opened" (ha-echad) — one of them. It is possible that this was Reuben, since he was the firstborn — "one" in the sense of the first, as in counting.
Tur HaArokh
ויפתח האחד את שקו, “the one opened his sack;” Noachmanides writes that the emphasis on האחד, “the one,” means that the other brothers did not bother, at that stage, to open their sacks and to examine their contents. They waited till they had arrived back at their father’s house. Perhaps the reason why this one brother opened his sack (the one containing fodder) may have been that his donkey was relatively weak and needed something more than straw to keep up its strength. Onkelos who translated the word אמתחת as טוענא, a carrying bag, wants to tell us that the most commonly used container to carry and transport loads was called שק, sack, whereas containers containing personal effects, such as are carried in briefcases nowadays, were called אמתחת, travel bag. Well to do travelers frequently had several of the latter. Sometimes these travel bags were also used to balance the loads carried in sacks. It was therefore surprising to find one’s money in a sack intended to carry grain, rather than in one of the travel bags. In our example the אמתחת appears to have been carried inside the sack of grain, at the op of it, as a security precaution, maybe. The very term אמתחת may imply that this bag had compartments, and that different objects would be enclosed in different compartments. A simpler explanation is that the brother who opened his sack did so in order to give fodder to all their donkeys. My father, blessed be his memory, the רא'ש, says that the brother referred to as “the one,” was Levi, who though normally inseparable from Shimon, was now “alone,” seeing Shimon had been detained by Joseph in Egypt. Seeing that Levi was leading two donkeys, his own and that of his brother Shimon, as he already had occasion to dip more deeply into the sack of Shimon, he found the money at the bottom. The other brothers, each of whom had only one donkey to feed, had not yet had to dip so deeply into their sacks.
And he said to his brothers: "My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack." And their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying: "What is this that God has done to us?"
verse value 3817 — אֱלֹהִ֖ים = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 74 letters. Notable word values: "God" (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) = 86, equal to Elohim. The shortest word is "and·even" (וְגַ֖ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "in·my·bag" (בְאַמְתַּחְתִּ֑י, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 86: God, to·us. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "my·money" (כַּסְפִּ֔י), "in·my·bag" (בְאַמְתַּחְתִּ֑י), "their·heart" (לִבָּ֗ם). The root אמר appears 2 times in this verse. 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "God" (root אלה, 301x in Genesis); "to·his·brothers" (root אח, 164x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·my·bag', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 10 words.
Onkelos
He said to his brothers, "My silver has been returned, and indeed it is in my pack." Their hearts went out and they trembled, each man to his brother, saying, "What is this that Hashem has done to us?"
Rashi
וגם הנה באמתחתי AND, LO, IT IS EVEN IN MY SACK — the money also (גם) is in it together with the grain. מה זאת עשה אלהים לנו WHAT IS THIS THAT GOD HATH DONE UNTO US by bringing us into the danger of this accusation? For the money can only have been put back into our sacks in order to bring an accusation against us.
Sforno
מה זאת עשה אלוקים לנו? Why would G’d put such ideas in the heart of a person (the ruler) who described himself as “G’d-fearing?” This is also why later, after the goblet had been found in the sack of Binyamin, the brothers offered themselves as slaves to Joseph, feeling that this would be the appropriate punishment for their having sold Joseph into slavery. (43,18). Still, they felt that selling Joseph had not been intended to be detrimental to him; rather seeing they had considered themselves endangered by him as a רודף, they considered this at the time as mild compared to killing him, which they thought they were entitled to do. The very fact that they had not killed him at the time they had considered as proof of their brotherly love.
Chizkuni
מה זאת עשה אלוקים לנו, “what is the meaning of this that G-d has done to us?” They could understand that their brother had been incarcerated as punishment for what they had done to Joseph, when they had not responded to his pleas. They knew that it is the custom of G-d to match the punishment to the crime/sin. But they could not figure out how G-d could punish them by having their money returned to them. This would be the reverse of punishment, as the sinner goes rewarded instead of punished.
Rabbeinu Bahya
מה זאת עשה אלו-הים לנו, “What is this that G’d had done to us?” They felt that G’d had repaid them for their deception of their father by now making them the victim of deception.
"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
verse value 4109
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 44 letters. The shortest word is "spoke" (דִּ֠בֶּ֠ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "as·spies" (כִּֽמְרַגְּלִ֖ים, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 457: with·us, us. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "as·spies" (כִּֽמְרַגְּלִ֖ים). The root ארץ appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "the·man" (root איש, 153x in Genesis); "and·gave" (root נתן, 150x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'harshly', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: דִּ֠בֶּ֠ר [spoke] (206) + הָאִ֨ישׁ [the·man] (316) + אֲדֹנֵ֥י [lord·of] (65) + הָאָ֛רֶץ [the·land] (296) + אִתָּ֖נוּ [with·us] (457) + קָשׁ֑וֹת [harshly] (806) + וַיִּתֵּ֣ן [and·gave] (466) + אֹתָ֔נוּ [us] (457) + כִּֽמְרַגְּלִ֖ים [as·spies] (343) + אֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ [the·land] (697) = 4109.
Onkelos
"The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly with us and regarded us as spies of the land."
And we said to him: We are upright men; we are no spies.
verse value 1014
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 31 letters. Verse gematria: 1014 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "not" (לֹ֥א, 2 letters) and the longest is "spies" (מְרַגְּלִֽים, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "we·have·been" (הָיִ֖ינוּ). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "we·have·been" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "to·him" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'we', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַנֹּ֥אמֶר [and·said] (297) + אֵלָ֖יו [to·him] (47) + כֵּנִ֣ים [honest] (120) + אֲנָ֑חְנוּ [we] (115) + לֹ֥א [not] (31) + הָיִ֖ינוּ [we·have·been] (81) + מְרַגְּלִֽים [spies] (323) = 1014.
Onkelos
"We said to him, 'We are upright — we have not been spies.'"
We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
verse value 2594 — הָאֶחָ֣ד = 18 (chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 57 letters. Notable word values: "one" (הָאֶחָ֣ד) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "sons·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "twelve" (שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·the·youngest" (וְהַקָּטֹ֥ן). The root אב appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "in·the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "sons·of" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "our·father" (root אב, 196x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'our·father', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 7 words. Full calculation: שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר [twelve] (970) + אֲנַ֛חְנוּ [we] (115) + אַחִ֖ים [brothers] (59) + בְּנֵ֣י [sons·of] (62) + אָבִ֑ינוּ [our·father] (69) + הָאֶחָ֣ד [one] (18) + אֵינֶ֔נּוּ [is·not] (117) + וְהַקָּטֹ֥ן [and·the·youngest] (170) + הַיּ֛וֹם [the·day] (61) + אֶת־אָבִ֖ינוּ [with·our·father] (470) + בְּאֶ֥רֶץ [in·the·land] (293) + כְּנָֽעַן [Canaan] (190) = 2594.
Onkelos
"We are twelve brothers, sons of our one father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan."
Tur HaArokh
שנים עשר אנחנו בני אבינו, “we are altogether twelve sons of our father.” When repeating their conversation with Joseph to their father, they were careful to omit the word עבדיך, “your servants,” which they had used then, and which unwittingly included their father in their reference to their being his servants. Had they not omitted mentioning this, their father could have accused them of already having described Binyamin as Joseph’s servant, also, and thereby admitting that he had the right to demand Binyamin’s presence the next time they came to Egypt. האחד איננו, והקטן את אבינו היום, “the one is no longer, and the youngest is with his father at this time.” When addressing Joseph they had presented the situation in reverse order, i.e. הקטן את אבינו היום והאחד איננו. The reason why they did not repeat the conversation to their father verbatim, each word in its proper sequence, was because the very manner in which they presented the situation made Joseph ask, justifiably, “if the youngest is at home, where is the other brother who is unaccounted for at this time?” By slightly misrepresenting the conversation they had had with Joseph, they managed to portray him as overly inquisitive without their having given him any cause for this.
And the man, the lord of the land, said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are upright men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take corn for the famine of your houses, and go your way.
verse value 4077 — הָֽאֶחָד֙ = 18 (chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 75 letters. Notable word values: "one" (הָֽאֶחָד֙) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "that" (כִּ֥י, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·the·hunger·of" (וְאֶת־רַעֲב֥וֹן, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 79: your·brother, leave. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "leave" (הַנִּ֣יחוּ), "and·the·hunger·of" (וְאֶת־רַעֲב֥וֹן). 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "to·us" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 8 words.
Onkelos
"And the man, the lord of the land, said to us: 'By this I shall know that you are upright — leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain that is lacking in your households and go.'"
Ibn Ezra
"And the hunger of your households" (ra'avon bateikhem) — meaning need.
And bring your youngest brother to me; then shall I know that you are no spies, but that you are upright men; so will I deliver you your brother, and you shall traffic in the land."
verse value 4615 — וְאֵֽדְעָ֗ה = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 72 letters. Notable word values: "and·I·may·know" (וְאֵֽדְעָ֗ה) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 4615 is divisible by 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "that" (כִּ֣י, 2 letters) and the longest is "your·brother" (אֶת־אֲחִיכֶ֣ם, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 480: your·brother, your·brother. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "and·bring" (וְ֠הָבִ֠יאוּ), "and·I·may·know" (וְאֵֽדְעָ֗ה), "you·shall·move·about" (תִּסְחָֽרוּ). The root אח appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·the·land" (root ארץ, 305x in Genesis); "to·me" (root אל, 242x in Genesis); "and·bring" (root בוא, 213x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 5 words.
Onkelos
"'Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are upright; your brother I will give back to you, and you shall conduct trade in the land.'"
Rashi
ואת הארץ תסחרו AND YE SHALL TRAVEL IN THE LAND — It means literally, “ye may travel round the land”. All such words as סוחרים merchants, סחורה merchandise, are derived from this root סחר to go round, because the merchants travel round looking for merchandise.
Ramban
AND YOU SHALL BE FREE (‘TIS’CHARU’) TO TRADE IN THE LAND. They altered it for the sake of peace so that Jacob would consent to send Benjamin along with them. It had been their desire to return immediately were it not that Jacob had said, My son shall not go down with you. here. Similarly, for the sake of peace, they told him Joseph’s words, ‘Leave’ one of your brothers with me, here. and they did not tell their father of their imprisonment or of Simeon’s imprisonment. It is possible that Joseph did tell them, And you shall be free to trade in the land, but Scripture does not relate it. If so, the intent of the statement is that “you will be able to bring merchandise at your will for the purpose of purchasing grain, and I will not take it, as compensation for your embarassment.” Similarly, their saying, The man persisted in asking about ourselves, and our family, constitutes a motivating plea to their father, [but the event never actually took place]. It may be that when they told Joseph, We are all one man’s sons, here. he said to them, “Not so, but you have truly come to find out the condition of the land. here. Now tell me if your father is alive, and if you have another brother, for I will investigate you and know what you are.” Then they said, “We are twelve brethren, the sons of one man who is presently in the land of Canaan, for he is still alive, and the youngest one is with him, and one is gone.” This was what Judah said to Joseph: My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother? In a similar manner Scripture, in many places, is concise about an event or the recounting thereof, as I have mentioned. Now Rashi writes: “Tis’charu, you may travel round the land. All expressions of s’chorah (merchandise) and socharim (merchants) are derived from sochar, which means ‘going around,’ because the merchants go round looking for merchandise.”It would seem that the Rabbi [Rashi] aimed by this interpretation to guard himself against this difficulty. Therefore, Rashi explained the word tis’charu as giving them the right to travel around the land and buy grain always without hindrance. He therefore explained their words as reporting only that Joseph had said that they would be permitted to travel around the land and always buy grain at their pleasure. But above, in the story of Shechem, Rashi did not so interpret the same expressions: Settle down ‘us’charuah’ (and engage in trade); For there actual trade is referred to, while here only travelling around the land is meant. Therefore Rashi makes his comment here, and not there in the story of Schechem. ‘v’yis’charu othah’ (and engage in trade in it).
Chizkuni
ואת הארץ תסחרו, “and then you can carry on trade freely.” This is not what Joseph had said to them, but this is what they added in order to induce Jacob to send Binyamin back with them.
Tur HaArokh
ואת הארץ תסחרו, “and then you may freely wheel and deal in the land.” Although we cannot find that Joseph had said these words to them, they may be justifiably inferred from the tenor of their interview with, or interrogation by Joseph. Sometimes the Torah abbreviates its narrative of events. Alternately, the brothers may have misquoted Joseph for the sake of family harmony, in order to secure their father’s permission to let Binyamin go to Egypt with them on their next journey, as it was their intention to return to Egypt immediately in order to secure the release of their brother Shimon. At that point they did not spell out that Shimon had not been detained as an honoured guest but as a prisoner, as they were sure this would be an additional reason for Yaakov not to risk Binyamin by allowing them to take him along. [it is interesting to see how the Torah draws attention to the fact that at the beginning the brothers did not even tell their father that Shimon was imprisoned. In verse 29 the Torah had said that the brothers reported to their father all that had happened to them in Egypt. When detailing this, the imprisonment of Shimon is not mentioned, begging the question why the brothers did not include this in their report. Ed.]
And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.
verse value 4460
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 69 letters. The shortest word is "they" (הֵ֚ם, 2 letters) and the longest is "his·bundle·of·money" (צְרוֹר־כַּסְפּ֖וֹ, 8 letters). 7 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "emptying" (מְרִיקִ֣ים), "their·sacks" (שַׂקֵּיהֶ֔ם), "and·behold·each" (וְהִנֵּה־אִ֥ישׁ). The root הם appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "and·their·father" (root אב, 196x in Genesis); "and·saw" (root ראה, 140x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·his·sack', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַיְהִ֗י [and·it·was] (31) + הֵ֚ם [they] (45) + מְרִיקִ֣ים [emptying] (400) + שַׂקֵּיהֶ֔ם [their·sacks] (455) + וְהִנֵּה־אִ֥ישׁ [and·behold·each] (377) + צְרוֹר־כַּסְפּ֖וֹ [his·bundle·of·money] (662) + בְּשַׂקּ֑וֹ [in·his·sack] (408) + וַיִּרְא֞וּ [and·saw] (223) + אֶת־צְרֹר֧וֹת [the·bundles·of] (1297) + כַּסְפֵּיהֶ֛ם [their·money] (215) + הֵ֥מָּה [they] (50) + וַאֲבִיהֶ֖ם [and·their·father] (64) + וַיִּירָֽאוּ [and·feared] (233) = 4460.
Onkelos
As they were emptying their sacks, behold, each man's bundle of silver was in his sack. They saw their bundles of silver — they and their father — and they were afraid.
Rashi
צרור כספו means HIS BUNDLE OF MONEY.
Chizkuni
את צרורות כספיהם, “each man’s bundle of money;” this is the only time that either silver (money) or gold (coins) are described in the plural mode.
Rashbam
כספיהם, seeing that the letter ס in the word כספיהם “swallows” the otherwise necessary chataf patach under it, the letter פ, normally weak, without the dagesh, has been given a dagesh in this instance. A similar example of this construction is found in the relationship of נסך, nessech, and נסכיהם, nisskeyhem.
Targum Yonatan
And it was as they emptied their baggages, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his baggage; and they and their father saw the bundles of money, and they were afraid on account of Shimeon whom they had left there.
And Jacob their father said to them: "Me have you bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away; upon me are all these things come."
verse value 3945
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 68 letters. The shortest word is "me" (אֹתִ֖י, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Benjamin" (וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִ֣ן, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 117: is·not, is·not. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "you·have·bereaved" (שִׁכַּלְתֶּ֑ם), "all·of·them" (כֻלָּֽנָה). The root אין appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "have·been" (root היה, 313x in Genesis); "to·them" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'you·have·bereaved', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 9 words.
Onkelos
Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is not here, and Benjamin you would take — all these things are upon me."
Rashi
אתי שכלתם ME YE HAVE BEREAVED OF CHILDREN — The inference is that he suspected them of having slain or sold him (Simeon) as they had done to Joseph (Genesis Rabbah 91:9). שכלתם YE HAVE BEREAVED — any-one whose children are lost to him may be called (שכול) bereaved.
Ibn Ezra
"All these" (kullana) — all these troubles.
Sforno
עלי היו כלנה, none of these incidents has befallen you, whereas all of them have befallen me. It is therefore clear that the reason these tragedies have all befallen me must be your quarrels with one another. Therefore you are to blame for my being bereaved.
Tur HaArokh
ויאמר ראובן אל אביו, “Reuven then said to his father, etc.” The reason why Reuven spoke up first was because he had not had a part in the sale of Joseph. את שני בני תמית, “you may kill my two sons, etc.” some commentators who cannot believe that Reuven could make such a statement, [as it is commonly understood, Ed.] prefer to understand the word תמית as a feminine mode of the future tense, meaning “may be killed by a force which is feminine, i.e. מגפה, a plague.” Nachmanides understands what Reuven said as similar to when Yehudah said that if he would fail to bring Binyamin back alive and well that he would consider himself as remaining guilty of a sin against his father for the remainder of his life (both on earth and beyond) (43,9). Reuven chose different words to convey a similar meaning, i.e. “you would be morally entitled to kill two of my sons if I were to fail you so tragically as not to bring him back alive and well.” Even though Reuven had four sons, he meant to tell his father that the loss of one son, Binyamin, would be tantamount to he, Reuven, losing two of his sons. Yaakov did not reject Reuven’s offer because he considered him foolish and rash, but he placed more confidence in Yehudah’s ability and personality. Yehudah had waited with applying pressure to his father until their food supplies had almost run out, and his refusal would put the whole family at risk.
And Reuben spoke to his father, saying: "You shall slay my two sons, if I bring him not to you; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to you."
verse value 4196
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 71 letters. The shortest word is "my·sons" (בָנַי֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "to·his·father" (אֶל־אָבִ֣יו, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 61: to·you, to·you. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "you·may·kill" (תָּמִ֔ית), "I·will·return·him" (אֲשִׁיבֶ֥נּוּ). The root אמר appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "my·sons" (root בן, 248x in Genesis); "to·you" (root אל, 242x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·you', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Onkelos
Reuben said to his father, saying, "Put to death my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; give him into my hand and I will return him to you."
Ramban
MY TWO SONS ‘TAMITH’ (THOU SHALT SLAY). Under penalty of a curse, Instead, the word is to be understood in a general sense, i.e., that Reuben is willing to be punished, but not that Jacob slay Reuben’s sons. Reuben obligated himself to return Benjamin to his father, as he said to him, My two sons ‘tamith,’ meaning, “May thy punishment be upon me if I do not bring him back to you.” This is similar in intent to that which Judah said: Then I shall have sinned against thee all my days. Now Reuben said, My two sons, although he actually had four. His intent in saying “two” was to state that “in place of one of your sons, it should be visited doubly upon my sons.”Now Jacob did not rely upon Reuben as he did upon Judah, for Judah prevailed upon his brethren. Thus suggesting that Judah’s great influence upon his brothers would assure their cooperation in bringing back Benjamin under all circumstances. Moreover, Reuben had already sinned against his father, and therefore he would no longer rely upon him. Generally, Judah’s counsel was sound: i.e., to leave the patriarch alone until there was no bread in the house, for then he would listen. This — [Judah’s reference to the complete absence of food] — is indicated by Judah’s words to his father: That we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
Ibn Ezra
Some say the meaning of "you shall put to death" (tamit) is "you shall punish." Others say this is a prayer [uttered] before Hashem. In any case, had Reuben spoken properly, Jacob would not have remained silent.
Sforno
את שני בני תמית, he cursed (conditionally) now two of his sons that they should die if he would not bring back Binyamin safely. The matter is similar to an incident related in Shabbat 108 where Rav said to Shemuel “may it be G’d’s will …that your children will not live.” The curse came true. [The story is extremely enigmatic, seeing that Rav who had thought that Shemuel had treated him not only in a miserly fashion, but had caused him physical discomfort deliberately, had become aware in good time that Shemuel, an outstanding physician, had done what he did in order to relieve an ailment Rav had clearly been suffering from. In spite of this, the conditional curse was fulfilled, much as Yaakov who had cursed the thief who had stolen Lavan’s teraphim not knowing that it had been Rachel. Although the condition had been that if the thief would be found he should not live, Rachel died in spite of the thief (she herself) never having been found. Ed.]
Or HaChaim
לאמור את שני בני תמית, saying: "you may kill my two sons, etc." The reason the Torah inserts the expression לאמור at this point is that Reuben was not willing to utter such a sentence outright, seeing that even a conditional curse by a wise man may have fatal consequences (Makkot 11). He phrased his offer in such a way that the meaning was unmistakable though he did not actually speak about killing his sons. The reason he said ואת שני is that he referred to two of his four sons. The word תמית is to be understood as "you may punish." We find a similar punishment being inflicetd upon Aaron, when G'd killed two of his four sons as an expression of His anger at Aaron's share in the sin of the golden calf. Compare ובאהרון התאנף Deut. 9,20. Vayikra Rabbah 7,1 makes this point. Reuben made it clear that he did not want to risk losing more than two of his sons if he failed to honour his guarantee of Benjamin's safe return. His reason was that if he risked more he would nullify the merit of having fulfilled the commandment to be fruitful. He therefore risked only something that would not impair his standing in the Hereafter. Yehudah understood Reuben very well; this is why he undertook to risk even his life in the Hereafter in order to secure Jacob's consent to take Benjamin to Egypt and to secure their lives in the present world first (compare 43,9). תנה אותו על ידי, "Put him in my charge, etc." Perhaps Reuben's knowledge that he had no share in the guilt of selling Joseph gave him confidence that both he and Joseph would return unharmed. He alluded to the fact that only he was able to have such confidence seeing the other brothers bore the guilt of having sold Joseph, by twice emphasising "entrust him to my hands," and "I will return him."
Rabbeinu Bahya
את שני בני תמית, “you may kill two of my sons, etc.” Reuven had four sons. According to the plain meaning of the text he meant to say that his father could kill two of his sons for one of Yaakov’s sons whom he would fail to bring back safely. According to Bereshit Rabbah 91,9 Yaakov told him that he was a foolish firstborn seeing that he assumed that his sons were only his sons and not also the sons of their grandfather.
And he said: "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left; if harm befall him by the way in which you go, then will you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
verse value 5662 — וְה֧וּא = 18 (chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 84 letters. Notable word values: "and·he" (וְה֧וּא) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "died" (מֵ֜ת, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·you·will·bring·down" (וְהוֹרַדְתֶּ֧ם, 7 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Genesis. Unique to this verse in Genesis (hapax): "shall·not·go·down" (לֹֽא־יֵרֵ֥ד), "for·his·brother" (כִּֽי־אָחִ֨יו), "and·should·befall·him" (וּקְרָאָ֤הוּ). The root ירד appears 2 times in this verse. 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 604x in Genesis); "which" (root אשר, 313x in Genesis); "my·son" (root בן, 248x in Genesis). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'with·you', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 14 words.
Onkelos
He said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone remains; if death should befall him on the road on which you travel, you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to Sheol."
Rashi
לא ירד בני עמכם MY SON SHALL NOT GO DOWN WITH YOU — He did not accept Reuben’s offer. He said, “What a fool is this oldest son of mine! He suggests that I should kill his sons. Are they his only and not mine also?” (Genesis Rabbah 91:9)
Sforno
My son. Yaakov refers to Binyamin in this way because he was the only son left from his primary wife [Rochel].
Or HaChaim
כי אחיו מת והוא לבדו נשאר, "for his brother is dead, and he alone remains, etc. Jacob felt the need to explain how he evaluated the certain loss of Shimon who was presently a hostage in an Egyptian jail- if Benjamin were not to go to Egypt, compared to the possible loss of Benjamin if the latter were to go to Egypt. Jacob explained that if he were to lose Benjamin he would not have a son of Rachel left at all. If he were to lose Shimon, however, he would at least have other sons of Leah left to him. Besides, Jacob described an accident which would happen to Benjamin as practically certain; this is why he spoke about וקרהו אסון in the past tense instead of יקראהו אסון, something in the future. He added the words בדרך אשר תלכו בו, "on the journey you will undertake." He hinted that what happened to Joseph happened to him although he travelled on a route which he was familiar with and had travelled many times without encountering anything dangerous. Jacob was afraid that something similar could happen to the brothers even on a route they considered safe.
Chizkuni
וקרהו אסון, “and some mishap would befall him;” the letter ו in the word קרהו has the vowel shuruk, whereas the letter ק has the semivowel sh’va.
Rabbeinu Bahya
לא ירד בני עמכם, “my son will not go down (there) with you.” Yaakov did not say a word in response to Reuven’s offer of his sons as a guarantee. He had no confidence in Reuven seeing that he had previously sinned against his father in the matter with Bilhah’s couch. He did, however, have confidence in Yehudah, seeing Yehudah was the strongest and had displayed mastery over the other brothers (Chronicles I 5,2). Yehudah’s argument presented Yaakov with two choices. According to Bereshit Rabbah 91,10 Yehudah told his brothers not to argue with their aged father but to wait until their shortage of food would make a trip to Egypt an absolute necessity. When that point was reached he told his father that whereas it was not certain Binyamin would not be arrested in Egypt, it was certain that if they did not travel to Egypt they would all perish from the famine. It was better therefore to have at least a chance of all of them surviving by fulfilling Joseph’s conditions.
Onkelos
Rashi
Ramban
Ibn Ezra
Sforno
Chizkuni
Rabbeinu Bahya
Tur HaArokh