Jacob Sought Tranquility and Joseph's Trouble Sprang On Him

It is written, "When you cry out, let your gathered ones save you; but the wind shall carry them all off, a breath shall take them; yet he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land and possess My holy mountain" (Isaiah 57:13). It was taught: his gathering and the gathering of his children saved him from the hand of Esau. "The wind shall carry them all off, a breath shall take them" refers to Esau. "He who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land and possess My holy mountain" refers to Jacob. "The wicked flee when none pursues, but the righteous are confident as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). The wicked one fled though none pursued him: this is Esau, "and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob" (Genesis 36:6). "But the righteous are confident as a lion": "And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings" (Genesis 37:1). "If the scourge slays suddenly, He mocks at the trial of the innocent" (Job 9:23). Antoninus asked our Rabbi: what is "if the scourge slays suddenly"? He said to him: Decree that someone receive a hundred lashes; they will give the officer beside him a hundred dinars, this one counting it off against that one and that against the other, and they extract nothing real from him. In the same way one mocks the beaten man: "He mocks at the trial of the innocent." When the righteous seek to dwell in tranquility in this world, and so too our father Jacob, because he sought to dwell in tranquility in this world, the adversary of Joseph sprang upon him. "And Jacob dwelt." "I had no ease, nor was I quiet, nor did I rest, yet trouble came" (Job 3:26). "I had no ease" from Esau; "nor was I quiet" from Laban; "nor did I rest" from Dinah; "yet trouble came": the trouble of Joseph came upon me. Rav Yochanan said: wherever "and he dwelt" (vayeshev) is stated, it is nothing but an expression of distress. "And Israel dwelt in Shittim" (Numbers 25:1); what is written? "And the people began to commit harlotry." "And Jacob dwelt": what happened there? The selling of Joseph. "And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt" (Genesis 47:27); what is written? "And the days of Israel drew near to die." "And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel" (Exodus 32:6). "And Judah and Israel dwelt securely" (1 Kings 5:5); and it is written, "And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon" (1 Kings 11:14).