Joseph Presents His Weakest Brothers to Pharaoh on Purpose

(Genesis 47:2) "And from among his brothers he took five men." This teaches that they were not the mighty ones among the tribes. Who were they? Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, and Benjamin. He acted in this matter with wisdom. He said: If I present the mighty ones among them before Pharaoh, he will at once make them his men of war. And how do we know they were not the mighty ones? You find it from the blessing of Moses our teacher: everyone whose name was repeated was mighty, as it is said, "And this for Judah; and he said, Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah" (Deuteronomy 33:7); "And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor" (Deuteronomy 33:23); "And of Asher he said, Blessed above sons be Asher" (Deuteronomy 33:24); "And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp" (Deuteronomy 33:22); "And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out" (Deuteronomy 33:18); "And of Gad he said, Blessed be He who enlarges Gad" (Deuteronomy 33:20). And some say the reverse. Since it says "and from among his brothers he took" and their names are not specified, he took those whose names were repeated. (Genesis 46:29) "And Joseph harnessed his chariot" (written in remez 96). Joseph heard that his father had come to the border of Egypt, and he took all the men who went with him and went out to meet his father. Now all the people go out to meet the king, and the king does not go out to meet any other person; rather this teaches you that a person's father is like his king. Rava said to Rabbah bar Mari: What is meant by "and from among his brothers he took five men"? Who were they? He said to him: These are the ones whose names are repeated. But Judah too is repeated! He said to him: Judah was repeated for his own particular matter, for Rabbi Yonatan said: What is meant by "Let Reuben live and not die" and so forth and "And this for Judah"? and so on.