Joseph Comforts His Brothers and the Ten Candles That Cannot Snuff One

"So shall you say to Joseph" (Genesis 50:17). Rabbi Yose bar Hanina said: whoever seeks pardon from his fellow should not ask of him more than three times, as it is said, "So shall you say to Joseph, Please forgive," and so on. Rabbi Ila'i said: it is permitted to alter the truth for the sake of peace, as it is said, "So shall you say to Joseph, Please forgive." Rabbi Nathan says: it is a commandment, as it is said, "And Samuel said, How shall I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the LORD" (1 Samuel 16:2). The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught: great is peace, for even the Holy One, blessed be He, altered the truth for it, for it is written, "And my lord is old" (Genesis 18:12), and at the end it is written, "and I am old" (Genesis 18:13). "And he comforted them and spoke to their hearts" (Genesis 50:21). This teaches that he spoke to them words that are acceptable to the heart: if ten candles could not put out one candle, how can one candle put out ten candles? "And he spoke to their hearts." Rabbi Simlai said: he said to them, you are the head and I am the body; if the head goes, what good is the body? Another interpretation: he said to them, you are likened to the dust of the earth and the sand of the seas and the stars of heaven; behold, if I go and wage war with them, if I could prevail over them, then I could prevail over you, and if I could not prevail over them, I cannot prevail over you. Another interpretation: he said to them, what shall I do? My father's opponent - my father begets and I bury. Another interpretation: he said to them, what shall I do? The opponent of the Holy One, blessed be He - the Holy One, blessed be He, blesses, and I would diminish. Another interpretation: he said to them, you are the custom of the order of the world: twelve hours in the day, twelve hours in the night, twelve months, twelve constellations, twelve tribes; can I nullify the custom of the order of the world? Another interpretation: he said to them, before you came down here the Egyptians treated me as a slave; once you came down here you made known my noble birth; and if I kill you, the Egyptians will say a band of young men he saw and said these are my brothers, but in the end he rose against them and killed them. Another interpretation: he said to them, if I kill you now the Egyptians will say, with his brothers he does not keep faith, how much more so with us. Therefore, "And he comforted them and spoke to their hearts." And is this not an argument from the lesser to the greater? If Joseph, who spoke to the hearts of his brothers good words and comforting words, comforted them, then when the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to comfort Jerusalem, as it is written, "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem" (Isaiah 40:2), how much more so. Thus, "Comfort, comfort My people" (Isaiah 40:1), and it is written, "For the LORD has comforted Zion, He has comforted all her waste places, and He has made her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of melody" (Isaiah 51:3).