“Jacob said to his sons: Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?” – he said to them: ‘Do not take out bread [perusa] perutot]> in your hands,5The midrash is based on the premise that there was no shortage of food in Jacob’s household. and do not enter all of you in one entrance, due to the evil eye.’6So as not to arouse envy. “He said: Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and acquire grain for us from there, and we will live and not die” (Genesis 42:2).
“He said: Behold, I have heard…Go down [redu]…and acquire…for us from there” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: He informed them that they were destined to spend two hundred and ten years there, the numerical value of redu.7Reish – 200 + dalet – 4 + vav – 6 = 210. “Ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to acquire grain from Egypt” (Genesis 42:3). “But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, as he said: Lest disaster befall him” (Genesis 42:4).
“Ten of Joseph’s brothers went down” – Rabbi Binyamin said: From the fact that it says “Joseph’s brothers,” do I not know that they are ten? Astonishing! It is, rather, nine parts were for fraternity, and one to acquire grain.8The primary motivation for the brothers in their journey to Egypt was to locate Joseph, rather than the purchase of grain. “But Benjamin, Joseph's brother…”9Since the verse specifies that Joseph’s brothers came with the exception of Benjamin, it was obvious that there were ten. This confirms the need for the previous statement of the midrash (Hamidrash HaMevoar).