Jacob Saw His Hope in Egypt Was Joseph

"And he said, behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there." He hinted to them that they were destined to spend there two hundred and ten years, the numerical value of the word redu ["go down"]. "And Joseph's ten brothers went down." Rabbi Benjamin ben Levi said: from the plain sense, when it says "Joseph's brothers," do I not already know that they were ten? Rather, nine parts went for brotherhood and one to buy grain. Another interpretation: "And Jacob saw that there was grain." But was our father Jacob in Egypt, that he saw produce in Egypt? Rather, from the time Joseph was stolen away, the holy spirit departed from him, and he would see and not truly see, hear and not truly hear. Why does it not say "there is corn in Egypt" or "there is food in Egypt," but rather Scripture says "there is grain [shever]"? Read not "there is shever" but "there is sever [hope]," for he saw in a vision his hope in Egypt. And who was this? Joseph. "And Jacob said to his sons, why do you show yourselves?" He said to them: my sons, you are all mighty, you are all handsome; do not all enter through one gate and do not all stand in one place, so that the evil eye not have power over you.