Joseph's Dreams and the Brothers Who Could Not Speak Peace

Rav said: a man should never single out one son among his sons, for on account of the weight of two selas of fine wool that Jacob added for Joseph beyond his other sons, his brothers grew jealous of him, and the matter rolled onward until our fathers went down to Egypt. "And they could not speak to him peaceably" (Genesis 37:4): for he would come and greet them in peace and they would not answer him. So too, once he entered into rulership, he asked after the welfare of his brothers, "And he asked them of their welfare" (Genesis 43:27). From the disgrace of the tribes you learn their praise: elsewhere, "And Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad" (2 Samuel 13:22), what was in the heart was in the heart; but here, "they could not speak to him peaceably," what was in the heart was on the lips. "And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream" (Genesis 37:5-6). He said to them: thus shall prophets rebuke you, "Hear now what the LORD says" (Micah 6:1). "And behold, we were binding sheaves" (Genesis 37:7): you gather produce and I gather produce; yours rots and mine stands. "And behold, my sheaf arose." Rabbi Levi said: you are destined to make mute idols before the calves of Jeroboam and to say, "These are your gods, O Israel" (Exodus 32:4). Rabbi Acha said: you are destined to bring charges against me before father, to say, "An evil beast has devoured him," and what will stand for me is mother's silence. "My sheaf arose and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves gathered round and bowed to my sheaf": corresponding to the five times they were destined to bow to him. "And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us?" (Genesis 37:8). Rabbi Levi said: because they answered him with the evil eye, therefore he raises up the wicked. Rabbi Simon said: because they answered him with a doubled expression, he raises up kings. "And his father rebuked him" (Genesis 37:10). So shall you rebuke your prophets, as it is said, "Why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth?" (Jeremiah 29:27). "And he said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?" Our father Jacob thought the resurrection of the dead would arrive in his days, as it is said, "Shall we indeed come, I and your mother?" Rachel had died, yet you say "I and your mother"? Our father Jacob did not know that the matter pertained to Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, who raised him as his mother. Rabbi Berekhiah said: a dream, even though none of it is fulfilled, part of it is fulfilled. From where? From Joseph, as it is said, "Shall we indeed come, I and your mother," and on that day his mother was no longer alive. Rabbi Levi said: a man should always await a good dream up to twenty-two years; from where? From Joseph, as it is said, "Joseph, being seventeen years old," and it is written, "And Joseph was thirty years old" (Genesis 41:46). From seventeen to thirty are thirteen, and seven of plenty and two of famine make twenty-two. The Rabbis taught: bowing of the face (kiddah) is upon the face, and so it says, "And Bathsheba bowed her face" (1 Kings 1:31). Bending (keriah) is upon the knees, and so it says, "from kneeling on his knees" (1 Kings 8:54). Prostration (hishtachavayah) is the spreading out of hands and feet, and so it says, "Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" (Genesis 37:10).