<b>Jacob said unto his sons: “Why do ye look one upon another?” (Gen. 42:1).</b> Jacob told his sons: Since you are strong and handsome, do not enter through one gate, nor stand together in one place, lest the evil eye prevail over you.<sup class="footnote-marker">6</sup><i class="footnote">A belief that an envious glance may affect one’s destiny.</i> <i>Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither</i> (ibid., v. 2). What is the meaning of the words <i>get you down?</i> He foresaw that they would go down and be enslaved there for two hundred and ten years, the numerical value of the letters of the word <i>redu</i> (“get you down”). The expression <i>Get you down thither</i> was employed because everyone who purchases grain in the marketplace degrades himself by doing so.<sup class="footnote-marker">7</sup><i class="footnote">A sign of misfortune, since one’s own field should provide for one’s needs.</i> <i>And Joseph’s ten brethren went down</i> (ibid., v. 3). Surely, the verse should read “Israel’s sons,” but it is written in this way because they did not treat him like a brother when they sold him. Later they began to regret their actions and promised each other: “When we descend to Egypt, we shall return our brother to our father.” When their father told them to go to Egypt, they all agreed to return with him.
R. Judah the son of Simeon held that Joseph was aware that his brothers were descending to Egypt to obtain corn. What did he do? He stationed guards at each gate and ordered them to examine every person who entered to purchase food. They were to record his name, and the name of his father, and then to bring the list to him. They did as directed. When Jacob’s sons entered through different gates, their names and the name of their father were written down. At night, they (the guards) brought their lists to Joseph. One of the guards read the name of Reuben the son of Jacob, another read Simeon the son of Jacob, and still another read Levi; and so each gatekeeper read the name that was on his list. Thereupon Joseph ordered them to close all but one of the storehouses. He gave their names to the official in charge of the open storehouse, and commanded: “When these men come to you, seize them and bring them to me.” Three days passed by but still they did not appear. Then Joseph selected seventy powerful men from the king’s guard and sent them to the marketplace to seek them out. They searched for them until they found them in the district in which the harlots resided. Why did the brothers go to the district in which the harlots lived? They had said to each other: “Our brother Joseph is extremely well built and handsome, perhaps he is in a brothel.”<sup class="footnote-marker">8</sup><i class="footnote">Not as a patron but as an inmate of a homosexual brothel.</i> Then the guards seized the brothers and brought them to Joseph.
<i>And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange</i> (Gen. 42:7). This verse tells us that he acted as a stranger toward them. He took his goblet, struck it, and said: “I see by this cup that <i>ye are spies</i>.” They replied: “<i>We are upright men</i> (ibid, v. 11), but our father advised us not to enter through one gate.” He retorted: “Then what business did you have in the street of harlots? Were you not afraid of being seen—did your father, then, command it?” “We have lost something,” they replied, “and we sought it there.” “What is this thing you have lost?” he demanded. “I see by this goblet that two of you destroyed the great city of Shechem.” “Which of us did so?” they asked. He smote the goblet once again and replied: “Their names were Simeon and Levi.” They began to tremble and to cry out: <i>We, thy servants, are twelve brothers</i> (ibid., v. 13). “Where are the other two?” he inquired. “The youngest is with our father, but we do not know the whereabouts of the other.” He said to them: “Bring the youngest to me so that your words may be confirmed.” He seized Simeon and bound him before their eyes, and then said to them: “This one will remain bound up until you bring your brother to me to prove your statements.” After they departed, he released him, fed him, and gave him drink.
<i>Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with corn</i> (Gen. 42:25). Upon their return to their father they related everything that had transpired. When their father asked: “Where is your brother Simeon?” They answered: “The man who rules that land is holding him captive until we bring our youngest brother to him.” Whereupon Jacob, their father, exclaimed: “<i>Me have ye bereaved …Joseph is not, and Simeon is not.” … And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: “Thou shalt slay my two sons”</i> (ibid., vv. 36–37). “Fool,” he retorted, “are not your children, my children?” Then Judah told his brothers: “Let us not disturb the old man until all the bread is gone,” as it is said: <i>And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn</i> (ibid. 43:2). Thereupon Judah said: “Father, if Benjamin accompanies us, it is not certain whether he will be held or not, but if he does not join us, we shall all surely perish. Is it better to avoid the doubtful than to succumb to the inevitable? <i>I will be surety for him; of my hand thou shalt require him</i> (ibid., v. 9).” He sent Benjamin with them and told them: <i>Take of the choice fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present</i> (ibid., v. 11). Hence it is written: <i>Now Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt</i>.