Another Comment on Then Judah Drew Near Unto Him

Another interpretation: "And Judah drew near to him" (Genesis 44:18), for he drew near with rebukes. "By me, my lord": let not the attribute of strict justice pass over us. "Let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord": it should have said "before my lord," but rather this teaches that he was speaking one harsh word and one soft word. "For you are like Pharaoh": just as Pharaoh your master loves women and covets them, so you have seen that Benjamin is handsome in form, and you covet him to have him for yourself as a slave. Another interpretation: "For you are like Pharaoh": just as you and Pharaoh are great in your place, so we are great in our place. "My lord asked his servants" (Genesis 44:19): he said to him: From the outset you came against us with a false pretext. From how many provinces did people come down to Egypt to buy food, yet you asked none of them, "Have we come to take your daughter, or do you intend to marry our sister?" Even so, we hid nothing from you. Joseph said to him: Judah, why are you the spokesman more than all your brothers, when I see in the goblet that there are among your brothers those greater than you, yet you are the talker? He said to him: All of this that you see is because of the surety by which I pledged myself for him. He said to him: Why did you not pledge yourself for your brother when you sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and you distressed your aged father and said to him, "Joseph has surely been torn to pieces," when he had not sinned against you? But this one, who has sinned and stolen the goblet, say to your father: The rope has gone after the bucket. When Judah heard this, he cried out and wept with a loud voice and in bitterness of soul. He said: "For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, etc." (Genesis 44:34). Joseph said to him: Come, let the two of us argue it out; state your case and set forth your judgment. Immediately Judah said to Naphtali: Go and see how many marketplaces there are in Egypt. He leaped and returned, and said to him: Twelve. Judah said to his brothers: I will destroy three of them, and let each one of you take one, and we will not leave a single man among them. His brothers said to him: Judah, Egypt is not like Shechem. If you destroy Egypt, you will destroy the entire world. At that hour, "And Joseph could not restrain himself" (Genesis 45:1). Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: Joseph went down into great danger, for if his brothers had killed him, no creature in the world would have recognized him. And why did he say, "Send everyone away from me" (Genesis 45:1)? Rather, thus said Joseph in his heart: Better that I be killed and not shame my brothers before the Egyptians. Judah said to Joseph: Know that from the outset you came against us only with false pretexts. At first you said to us, "You are spies." Second, you said, "You came to see the nakedness of the land." Third, "You stole my goblet." I swear by the life of my father the righteous, while you have sworn by the life of Pharaoh the wicked. If I draw my sword from its sheath, I will fill all Egypt with the slain. Joseph said to him: If you draw a sword from its sheath, I will wind it around your neck. Judah said to him: If I open my mouth I will swallow you. Joseph said to him: If you open your mouth I will stop it with a stone. Judah said to Joseph: What shall we say to father? He said to him: Say to your father, The rope has gone after the bucket. Judah said to him: You judge us with a false judgment. Joseph said to him: You have no false judgment like the selling of your brother. Judah said to him: The fire of Shechem burns in my heart. Joseph said to him: The fire of Tamar your daughter-in-law I will extinguish. Judah said to him: I am in a rage, and there is none to restrain me. Joseph said to him: Your rage I will break. Judah said to him: Now I will go out and dye all the marketplaces of Egypt with blood. Joseph said to him: You have been dyers all your days, for you dyed your brother's tunic in blood and said to your father, "He has surely been torn to pieces." When Joseph saw that they had resolved to destroy Egypt, Joseph said in his heart: Better that I make myself known to them so that they will not destroy Egypt. Joseph said to them: Did you not say that this one's brother is dead? I bought him; I will call him, and he will come to you. He began calling: Joseph son of Jacob, come to me; Joseph son of Jacob, come to me and speak with your brothers who sold you. And they were casting their eyes into the four corners of the house. Joseph said to them: Why are you looking here and there? I am Joseph your brother. Immediately their souls flew from them and they could not answer him. Rabbi Yochanan said: Woe to us from the day of judgment, woe to us from the day of rebuke! If, when Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph," their souls flew from them, when the Holy One, blessed be He, arises for judgment, of whom it is written, "And who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?" (Malachi 3:2), of whom it is written, "For no man shall see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20), how much more so. And if these, his brothers, were terrified before him, when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to demand recompense for the slighting of the commandments and the transgression of the Torah, how much more so. The Holy One, blessed be He, performed a miracle for them and their souls returned. Joseph said to them: "And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you" (Genesis 45:12), that I speak in the holy tongue. And they did not believe him, until he uncovered himself and showed them the sign of the covenant. And why all this? Because he had departed from them without the growth of a beard, and now he stood as a king with the growth of a beard. When they recognized him, they sought to kill him. An angel came down and scattered them into the four corners of the house. At that hour Judah cried out with a loud voice, and all the walls in Egypt fell, and they cast down all the beasts in Egypt, and Joseph fell from his throne, and Pharaoh came down from his throne, and their teeth fell out. And all the mighty men who were standing before Joseph, their faces were turned backward and they did not return [to normal] until the day of their death, as it is said: "The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken" (Job 4:10). Therefore it says, "And the sound was heard in Pharaoh's house" (Genesis 45:16). And this sound is none other than the voice of Judah, as it is said: "Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah" (Deuteronomy 33:7). When Joseph saw that they were in great shame, he said to them: "Come near to me, please," and they came near. And each and every one he kissed and wept over him, as it is said: "And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them" (Genesis 45:15). And just as Joseph appeased his brothers only through weeping, so when the Holy One, blessed be He, redeems Israel, He redeems them through weeping, as it is said: "With weeping they shall come, and with supplications I will lead them; I will guide them to streams of water, by a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn" (Jeremiah 31:8).