Parasha: Vayigash · Aliyah: Third (Tiferet)

ועתה, לא אתם שלחתם אותי הנה, "Now, you did not send me here, etc." Joseph explained why he told the brothers not to worry that he still hated them for what they had done to him and how cruelly they had treated him. He implied that it was true that at the time he certainly had not understood why they could have harboured so much resentment against him; he had had reason to hate them for that; ועתה, now, things had become clear.

Having reflected on all that had transpired since the brothers had sold him, Joseph had realised that it had been part of an overall design orchestrated by G'd. The brothers had merely been G'd's agents, though they did not realise it at the time. It would not be appropriate for him to continue to feel hatred towards them.

Perhaps this consideration enabled the brothers to face their father who would now have to become aware that it was the brothers who had caused him to mourn the loss of Joseph all these years. In view of the outcome, the brothers did not even need to feel shame when they faced their father. It is quite unlikely that once Jacob had become aware that Joseph was the ruler in Egypt that he should not have made every effort to find out how Joseph came to be in Egypt and what happened to cause his striped coat to become blood-drenched at the time. The only argument that would reconcile Jacob and his sons with what had happened was that it had become evident that G'd's plan had been executed step by step. There was no point in second-guessing why and how G'd had brought all this about. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 86,1 have already said that Jacob had originally been meant to descend to Egypt in chains, but that the sale of Joseph enabled him to arrive in Egypt in style, i.e. riding in Pharaoh's chariot.

ויבך עליהם, He cried over them, etc. After the brothers observed Joseph crying over them they were able to respond to him and they said to him whatever was on their minds. After all, everything that Joseph had said to them up to that point might have been designed only to alleviate the brothers' feeling ashamed of their conduct. It was only after he kissed them and wept over the years they had been separate that the brothers recognised Joseph's truly good character and that he was a true brother that they were able to speak to him naturally. Whereas Joseph's original burst of weeping could have been attributed to his reunion with Benjamin, the latest burst of weeping definitely concerned his reunion with all of them.

והקול נשמע בית פרעה, the report reached Pharaoh's palace, etc. Inasmuch as the Torah (verse 2) had already reported Joseph as crying out aloud, the Torah now had to report that the reason for Joseph's strange behaviour had become clear. Pharaoh and his servants now realised that a great reunion had taken place.

וייטב בעיני פרעה ובעיני עבדיו, and both Pharaoh and his servants were pleased about this. Whereas up until now they had felt embarassed that a former slave ruled over them, the brothers' arrival made it clear that Joseph had never been a slave.

זאת עשו, "Do this, etc." Whereas you do not require permission for most of what you are about to do, you do need Pharaoh's permission to take the wagons for transporting your families. When the Torah describes Pharaoh as telling Joseph to present the wagons to be used as something Pharaoh had "commanded, etc." this is only a figure of speech for a courteous invitation by Pharaoh that the brothers' families should avail themselves of these facilities on their journey to Egypt.

The command עשו may also express something stronger than permission; Pharaoh had realised that what had been happening was Divinely decreed, that over and beyond the fact that Pharaoh was pleased to assist the migration of Jacob's family, he saw in all this a decree by G'd.