Genesis 44:18-44:34

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PARSHAH VA YIGASH (Genesis 44:18 - 47:27)

Sedra 1: Genesis 44:18-44:34

44:18 VA YIGASH ELAV YEHUDAH VA YOMER BI ADONI YEDABER NA AVDECHA DAVAR BE AZNEY ADONI VE AL YACHAR AP'CHA BE AVDECHA KI CHAMOCHA KE PHAR'OH

וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה וַיֹּאמֶר בִּי אֲדֹנִי יְדַבֶּר נָא עַבְדְּךָ דָבָר בְּאָזְנֵי אֲדֹנִי וְאַל יִחַר אַפְּךָ בְּעַבְדֶּךָ כִּי כָמוֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹה

KJ (King James translation): Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.

BN (BibleNet translation): Then Yehudah approached him and said, "O my lord, let your servant, I beseech you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh...

Yet again, why is Yehudah the spokesman? As previously - see my notes to Genesis 44:16. And why does Yehudah get up and approach him, which would likely have had one of the armed guards step forward and plant a spear in his way, because foreigners suspected of being spies and now arrested for theft cannot approach the Prime Minister without being invited, not even after enjoying the unexplained circumstance of having lunch in his house? Why is Yehudah not on his knees with the rest of them, begging for his brother's life, and his own as an accessory? And why, last of all, is he saying this: a family history is not what is needed: Sire, we are confused; we are not spies yet we are so accused, and our brother was in jail, and all our money was returned, and you, we, I mean, we were invited to banquet in your private home, and you, I mean we, no you, [splutter splutter] gave our youngest brother ridiculously large portions, and then...

44:19 ADONI SHA'AL ET AVADAV LEMOR HA YESH LACHEM AV O ACH

אֲדֹנִי שָׁאַל אֶת עֲבָדָיו לֵאמֹר הֲיֵשׁ לָכֶם אָב אוֹ אָח

KJ: My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

BN: "My lord asked his servants saying, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

44:20 VA NOMER EL ADONI YESH LANU AV ZAKEN VE YELED ZEKUNIM KATAN VE ACHIV MET VA YIVATER HU LEVADO LE IMO VE AVIV AHEVO

וַנֹּאמֶר אֶל אֲדֹנִי יֶשׁ לָנוּ אָב זָקֵן וְיֶלֶד זְקֻנִים קָטָן וְאָחִיו מֵת וַיִּוָּתֵר הוּא לְבַדּוֹ לְאִמּוֹ וְאָבִיו אֲהֵבוֹ

KJ: And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.

BN: "And we said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him'...

Actually they never said Yoseph was dead; they used the phrase EYNENO, as did Ya'akov later, which left the matter ambiguous. And as to Bin-Yamin being the "little one of his old age" - only if this is a completely different version of the tale, amalgamated but not properly syncretised. Bin-Yamin is around 35.

44:21 VA TOMER EL AVADEYCHA HORIDUHU ELAI VE ASIYMAH EYNI ALAV

וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל עֲבָדֶיךָ הוֹרִדֻהוּ אֵלָי וְאָשִׂימָה עֵינִי עָלָיו

KJ: And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.

BN: "And you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

They have now spent a lot of time very close to him, and heard him speak, and looked into his face. Is there not even a hint of recognition, a surprise that he looks, well, maybe, just a bit, he has Yoseph's nose, don't you think there's an uncanny likeness... the voice, especially the voice... or maybe Yehudah has begun to wonder, and that is why he is telling the family history in this manner.

44:22 VA NOMER EL ADONI LO YUCHAL HA NA'AR LA'AZOV ET AVIV VE AZAV ET AVIV VA MET

וַנֹּאמֶר אֶל אֲדֹנִי לֹא יוּכַל הַנַּעַר לַעֲזֹב אֶת אָבִיו וְעָזַב אֶת אָבִיו וָמֵת

KJ: And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

BN: "And we said to my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die'...

Just to confirm what we have already calculated in previous chapters. Bin-Yamin was already born before Yoseph was trafficked, and we were told that he was seventeen at that time. An unstated period working for Poti-Phar, two years in jail, the dreams in the third year, two more after that in which the butler forgot him, then Pharaoh's dream, and we were then told he was 30 when he became Vizier. After which seven years of plenty, and we are now well into the seven years of famine... it cannot be less than twenty years in total. And Bin-Yamin was born some while before he was trafficked. And if he is that old, what kind of a mollycoddle is his dad?

44:23 VA TOMER EL AVADEYCHA IM LO YERED ACHIYCHEM HA KATON IT'CHEM LO TOSIPHUN LIR'OT PANAI

וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל עֲבָדֶיךָ אִם לֹא יֵרֵד אֲחִיכֶם הַקָּטֹן אִתְּכֶם לֹא תֹסִפוּן לִרְאוֹת פָּנָי

KJ: And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.

BN: "And you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more'...

I can imagine Yoseph getting a little irritated by this narrative. He knows the story - he's in it. Get on with it, man! What is your point? (Again I am assuming that this is a different version: in the first version, we were shown the events; in this one we are being told them; and no need for both, unless different tribes required appeasing.)

44:24 VA YEHI KI ALIYNU EL AVDECHA AVI VA NAGED LO ET DIVREY ADONI

וַיְהִי כִּי עָלִינוּ אֶל עַבְדְּךָ אָבִי וַנַּגֶּד לוֹ אֵת דִּבְרֵי אֲדֹנִ

KJ: And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

BN: "And it came to pass when we came up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord...

44:25 VA YOMER AVIYNU SHUVU SHIVRU LANU ME'AT OCHEL

וַיֹּאמֶר אָבִינוּ שֻׁבוּ שִׁבְרוּ לָנוּ מְעַט אֹכֶל

KJ: And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food.

BN: "And our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food'...

44:26 VA NOMER LO NUCHAL LAREDET IM YESH ACHIYNU HA KATON ITANU VE YARADNU KI LO NUCHAL LIR'OT PENEY HA ISH VE ACHIYNU HA KATON EYNENU ITANU

וַנֹּאמֶר לֹא נוּכַל לָרֶדֶת אִם יֵשׁ אָחִינוּ הַקָּטֹן אִתָּנוּ וְיָרַדְנוּ כִּי לֹא נוּכַל לִרְאוֹת פְּנֵי הָאִישׁ וְאָחִינוּ הַקָּטֹן אֵינֶנּוּ אִתָּנוּ

KJ: And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us.

BN: "And we said, 'We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us'...

Tediously long-winded! Whoever wrote this has to have been a different author from the rest of the book (not including the Eli-Ezer story, which had the same problem). But again it is part of the apotheosising of Yehudah.

HA KATON: see also 44:2 and 12. Not a term that is used in modern Ivrit, which would say, somewhat long-windedly itself, either HA TSA'IR, or HA TSA'IR BA YOTER (הצעיר ביותר).

EYNENU: The sentence is somewhat convoluted; I wonder if this was because the writer was determined to use the word EYNENU here.

44:27 VA YOMER AVDECHA AVI ELEYNU ATEM YEDA'TEM KI SHENAYIM YALDAH LI ISHTI

וַיֹּאמֶר עַבְדְּךָ אָבִי אֵלֵינוּ אַתֶּם יְדַעְתֶּם כִּי שְׁנַיִם יָלְדָה לִּי אִשְׁתִּי

KJ: And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons:

BN: "And your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons...

Again the impression that Ya'akov only really had one wife.

44:28 VA YETS'E HA ECHAD ME ITI VA OMAR ACH TAROPH TORAPH VE LO RE'IYTIV AD HENAH

וַיֵּצֵא הָאֶחָד מֵאִתִּי וָאֹמַר אַךְ טָרֹף טֹרָף וְלֹא רְאִיתִיו עַד הֵנָּה

KJ: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:

BN: "'And one of them went out, away from me, and I said, 'Some wild animal must have devoured him'; and I have not seen him since...

ACH TAROPH TORAPH: "an evil beast hath devoured him", is how Ya'akov rendered it previously (Genesis 37:33), in the KJ translation. Yehudah of course knows that this isn't true, so it becomes doubly dramatic-ironic that he should be saying it, to Yoseph.

44:29 U LEKACHTEM GAM ET ZEH ME IM PANAI VE KARAHU ASON VE HORADETEM ET SEYVATI BE RA'AH SHE'OLAH

וּלְקַחְתֶּם גַּם אֶת זֶה מֵעִם פָּנַי וְקָרָהוּ אָסוֹן וְהוֹרַדְתֶּם אֶת שֵׂיבָתִי בְּרָעָה שְׁאֹלָה

KJ: And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

BN: "'And if you take this one from me as well, and harm befall him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave'...

What does he mean by "take away". The boys are going down to Egypt to buy some corn, and then come home again, a shopping expedition. Or does he assume that Bin-Yamin is to be taken like Yitschak as a sacrificial victim? This too might explain all the special pleading from Yehudah.

ME IM PANAY is an odd phrase to have chosen. Is it chosen because it allows a pun on the word EM = "mother"?

SHE'OLAH: Is not the grave as such, but the Underworld - the key metaphor in this tale, because in the ancient world the Underworld was where nature went to biodegrade and thereby providegood compost for the next cycle of Creation, which is why Osher the corn-god spent the winter down there, and was "resurrected" in the spring, at Ishtar (Easter-Oester) time.

44:30 VE ATAH KE VO'I EL AVDECHA AVI VE HA NA'AR EYNENU ITANU VE NAPHSHO KESHURAH VE NAPHSHO

וְעַתָּה כְּבֹאִי אֶל עַבְדְּךָ אָבִי וְהַנַּעַר אֵינֶנּוּ אִתָּנוּ וְנַפְשׁוֹ קְשׁוּרָה בְנַפְשׁוֹ

KJ: Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life;

BN: "Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and if the lad is not with us, seeing that his soul is bound up with the lad's soul...

EYNENU: Yet again that phrase.

NAPHSHO: The same phrase is used of David and Yehonatan (Jonathan) in 1 Samuel 18:1.

End of first fragment.

44:31 VE HAYAH KI RE'OTO KI EYN HA NA'AR VA MET VA HORIYDU AVADEYCHA ET SEYVAT AVDECHA AVIYNU BE YAGON SHE'OLAH

וְהָיָה כִּרְאוֹתוֹ כִּי אֵין הַנַּעַר וָמֵת וְהוֹרִידוּ עֲבָדֶיךָ אֶת שֵׂיבַת עַבְדְּךָ אָבִינוּ בְּיָגוֹן שְׁאֹלָה

KJ: It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.

BN: "It will come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave...

Do these She'ol references, and all the "souls bound up in souls", give further clues to the original ritual?

And why should he not expect Yoseph to reply "so what" to all this tedious extenuation?

44:32 KI AVDECHA ARAV ET HA NA'AR ME IM AVI LEMOR IM LO AVIY'ENU ELEYCHA VE CHATA'TI LE AVI KOL HA YAMIM

כִּי עַבְדְּךָ עָרַב אֶת הַנַּעַר מֵעִם אָבִי לֵאמֹר אִם לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְחָטָאתִי לְאָבִי כָּל הַיָּמִים

KJ: For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.

BN: "For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame to my father for ever...

Why does Shim'on go to jail the first time and Yehudah the second? Are we seeing evidence of yet another tribal version, with Shim'on as the hero on that occasion? Remember that Be'er Sheva, where Yitschak had been based (cf Genesis 46:1), was in the later tribal territory of Shim'on, so it may well have been their tribal tale all along; and then absorbed into Yehudah, as its tale, when Shim'on became tribally absorbed (click here for more on this)

The key to all this is the NA'AR (נער), Bin-Yamin, who Yoseph wants to have but Ya'akov doesn't want to give up. Is it about a sacrifice of the last-born, and this a complex ritual that goes through the motions of not wanting to give him up, then giving him up, then his being resurrected symbolically. Bread and wine are central: the bread at the meal, the wine through the stolen goblet (they can't make a blessing, let alone devine, until it is restored). All the AVDECHAs (עבדך) and AVIs (אבי) and indeed the ADONIs (אדני) thus make more sense. Never forget, with any story that speaks of Bin-Yamin, that the eventual capital of Yisra-El, Yeru-Shala'im, was in his tribal territory, even though he too later became absorbed into Yehudah.

44:33 VE ATAH YESHEV NA AVDECHA TACHAT HA NA'AR EVED LA ADONI VE HA NA'AR YA'AL IM ECHAV

וְעַתָּה יֵשֶׁב נָא עַבְדְּךָ תַּחַת הַנַּעַר עֶבֶד לַאדֹנִי וְהַנַּעַר יַעַל עִם אֶחָיו

KJ: Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.

BN: "Now therefore let your servant, I beseech you, remain here as a bondsman to my lord, instead of the lad; and let the lad go up with his brothers.

Of course, the hostage-holding story has already been told a few verses earlier with Shim'on; literary weakness this - but it gives Yoseph the chance to really make his brothers sweat. Why would Yoseph want Yehudah in jail instead of Bin-Yamin anyway - even if he were not their brother and playing this game; in the reality that Yehudah presumes I mean? Punish the criminal not the elder brother: Yehudah's suggestion is ludicrous and must therefore mask some other ritual action. For what purpose a hostage anyway now? Or is it all simply that he would rather stay in Egypt than face his father? As ever, we must analyse on several levels at once: as literal story, as myth, as folklorised ritual etc.

44:34 KI EYCH E'ELEH EL AVI VE HA NA'AR EYNENO ITI PEN ER'EH VA RA ASHER YIMTSA ET AVI

כִּי אֵיךְ אֶעֱלֶה אֶל אָבִי וְהַנַּעַר אֵינֶנּוּ אִתִּי פֶּן אֶרְאֶה בָרָע אֲשֶׁר יִמְצָא אֶת אָבִי

KJ: For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.

BN: "For how shall I go back to my father, if the lad is not with me? Lest I look upon the evil that shall come on my father."

Especially as he has given his own children as hostages against such an eventuality.

This word "evil" needs thinking about, because it clearly doesn't mean evil in the modern sense; and if it doesn't mean it here, then perhaps it didn't before with No'ach and Sedom or the "evil beast" that tore Yoseph either. And we have seen the confirmation of this, with Tamar's husbands for example; what is really meant here is "the bad things that happen to people", which essentially means those "acts of god", as the insurance companies call them: dying of snake bite or cardiac arrest, being in the wrong place when the hurricane or the avalanche or the earthquake takes place. This is crucial to our understanding of the Beney Yisra-Eli god, whether Elohim or YHVH, and a fundamental difference from the Christian god; both the bad and the good are attributed to the deity, and the "justification of the judgement" as it is known, applies either way. The "evil" is not the rebellion against god of a demon in Hell, but simply the negative side of the balance that is Creation, and which requires death as much as it requires the creation of new life.

Interesting cultural differences too. If this were a "Noh" play from ancient Japan, Yehudah wouldn't try to talk his way out of it, but would take the honourable route and fall on his sword.

Note the use of the word EYNEYNO again.

End of chapter 44. Another cliff-hanger, in the Christian translations, though there is no break in the original Yehudit.

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