Do You Really Expect to Rule Over Us, Joseph

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 37:8 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 6, 2025

The brothers heard the dream and exploded. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 37:8) preserves their two-edged outrage in a single tight sentence. They did not just laugh at Joseph. They said: Art thou thinking to reign over us, or dost thou expect to have rule over us?

Two questions, one intention. The Targumist is careful. The first is about Joseph's imagination — are you thinking this? The second is about his expectation — do you actually believe this will happen? The brothers are not only refusing the dream. They are refusing Joseph the right to even picture a world in which he stands above them.

Then the Targum notes: they added yet to keep enmity against him, for his dream and for his words. Two offenses. The dream itself. And then the speaking of it. Every telling was a new wound. Every repetition dug the hatred deeper.

There is a teaching in Pirkei Avot that warns against seeking authority (4:21). The brothers assumed Joseph was seeking it. But Joseph had not asked for the dream; it had come to him. The tragedy of the moment is that neither side understood the other. The brothers heard ambition. Joseph felt only astonishment. And between the two misreadings, the pit was already being dug.

Themes

Dreams & Visions Speech Patriarchs Ethics

Biblical References

Genesis 37:8

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