“He dreamed yet another dream, and related it to his brothers, and he said: Behold, I dreamed another dream: and, behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars prostrated themselves to me” (Genesis 37:9). “He dreamed yet another dream…” – when Joseph said: “Behold, the sun, the moon,” Jacob said: Who revealed to him that my name is sun?34See Bereshit Rabba 68:10. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Joshua said to the sun: Wayward slave, were you not purchased with the money of my father?
Did my father not see you in the dream: “Behold, the sun, the moon…prostrated themselves to me”? You, too, stand still before me. Immediately, “the sun stood still, and the moon stopped” (Joshua 10:13). “He related it to his father and to his brothers, and his father scolded him and said to him: What is this dream that you dreamed?
Will we come, I, your mother, and your brothers, to prostrate ourselves to you to the ground?” (Genesis 37:10). “He related it to his father and to his brothers, and his father scolded him” – the Holy One blessed be He said: ‘So you will scold your prophets,’ as it is stated: “Now, why did you not scold Jeremiah of Anatot” (Jeremiah 29:27).35This quote, ascribed to the false prophet Shemaya the Neḥelamite, indicates that the Israelites were wont to scold their prophets.
“And said to him: What is this dream that you dreamed”? Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina: So, our patriarch Jacob believed that the revival of the dead would occur in his lifetime, as it is stated: “Will we come [havo navo]” – Will I and your brothers come? That is fine. “[Will we come,] I and your mother” – is your mother not dead; and you say: “I, your mother, and your brothers?36Nevertheless, the next verse states: “But his father kept the matter in mind” (Genesis 37:11).
However, Jacob our patriarch did not know that the matter related to Bilha, Rachel’s maidservant, who raised him as though she was his mother.