Genesis: 1a 1b 1c 1d 2a 2b 2c 2d 3 4a 4b 4c/5 6a 6b 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25a 25b 26a 26b 27 28a 28b 29 30a 30b 31a 31b/32a 32b 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44a 44b 45 46 47a 47b 48 49 50
45:1 VE LO YACHOL YOSEPH LEHIT'APEK LE CHOL HA NITSAVIM ALAV VA YIKRA HOTSIY'U CHOL ISH ME ALAI VE LO AMAD ISH ITO BE HITVADA YOSEPH EL ECHAV
וְלֹא יָכֹל יוֹסֵף לְהִתְאַפֵּק לְכֹל הַנִּצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיִּקְרָא הוֹצִיאוּ כָל אִישׁ מֵעָלָי וְלֹא עָמַד אִישׁ אִתּוֹ בְּהִתְוַדַּע יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו
KJ (King James translation): Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
BN (BibleNet translation): Then Yoseph could no longer refrain himself before all those who were standing in front of him, and he cried, "Get everybody out of here." And no one stood with him, while Yoseph made himself known to his brothers.
At one level, they may not have been terribly pleased to see him; nor to realise how they have been avenged.
45:2 VA YITEN ET KOLO BI VECHI VA YISHME'U MITSRAYIM VA YISHMA BEIT PAR'OH
וַיִּתֵּן אֶת קֹלוֹ בִּבְכִי וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ מִצְרַיִם וַיִּשְׁמַע בֵּית פַּרְעֹה
KJ: And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
BN: And he wept aloud; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
Of course, the Egyptians all knew he was a Habiru from his prison days; so why would they be surprised to find some other Habiru were related to him? On the other hand: so you're his brothers, who sold him into slavery, and tricked his father into believing he was dead; how nice to meet you.
45:3 VA YOMER YOSEPH EL ECHAV ANI YOSEPH HA OD AVI CHAI VE LO YACHLU ECHAV LA'ANOT OTO KI NIVHALU MI PANAV
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו אֲנִי יוֹסֵף הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי וְלֹא יָכְלוּ אֶחָיו לַעֲנוֹת אֹתוֹ כִּי נִבְהֲלוּ מִפָּנָיו
KJ: And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
BN: And Yoseph said to his brothers, "I am Yoseph. Is my father really still alive?" And his brothers could not answer him: for they were frightened at his presence.
To judge from the next sentence, they literally don't believe him; presumably they think it's another of his devining tricks, or some such. But we are back in the realm of deep psychology, so it looks like we must have gone back to the first version again.
45:4 VA YOMER YOSEPH EL ECHAV GESHU NA ELAI VA YIGASHU VA YOMER ANI YOSEPH ACHIYCHEM ASHER MECHARTEM OTI MITSRAYIMAH
וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו גְּשׁוּ נָא אֵלַי וַיִּגָּשׁוּ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי יוֹסֵף אֲחִיכֶם אֲשֶׁר מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי מִצְרָיְמָה
KJ: And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
BN: And Yoseph said to his brothers, "Approach me, please." And they approached him. And he said, "I am Yoseph, your brother, who you sold into Mitsrayim...
There is a definitely an edge, a tone, to that remark!
45:5 VE ATA AL TE'ATSVU VE AL YICHAR BE EYNEYCHEM KI MECHARTEM OTI HENAH KI LE MICHEYAH SHELACHANI ELOHIM LIPHNEYCHEM
וְעַתָּה אַל תֵּעָצְבוּ וְאַל יִחַר בְּעֵינֵיכֶם כִּי מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה כִּי לְמִחְיָה שְׁלָחַנִי אֱלֹהִים לִפְנֵיכֶם
KJ: Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
BN: "And now do not grieve, nor be angry with yourselves, that you sold me to this place; Elohim sent me before you, to preserve life...
MICHEYAH (מחיה): presumably this is the origin of the Yiddish "mechayah". Properly it does not mean "preserve" life, but is a variant on the idea of "resurrection", and occurs as such in the orthodox daily Amidah.
SHELACHANI (שלחני): this notion of being "sent" by a god for a specific purpose has never previously occurred in the cult of the Beney Yisra-El, and does not occur again. At least, not until Jesus. And it isn't reallt a Yisra-Eli concept, even here. "To preserve life", you will recall, is the meaning of his Egyptian name, Tsaphnat Pa'ne'ach (צפנת פענח) – cf Genesis 41:45.
Ancient understanding of human psychology does slightly fall down here, however; why on Earth would he think they would grieve or be angry with themselves; they were glad to be rid of him; they are not the slightest bit glad to have found him again; except in so far as it rescues them from the wrath of Ya'akov, precludes the loss of Bin-Yamin, and spares them from any responsibility from that, and now gives them completely unmerited access to wealth and power by default. But grief and self-anger!
Nonetheless we have to admire his magnanimity. Plenty of us would have put them back in the hole for at least another month, and taken Bin-Yamin for a coral-diving vacation in the Red Sea in the meanwhile.
45:6 KI ZEH SHENATAYIM HA RA'AV BE KEREV HA ARETS VE OD CHAMESH SHANIM ASHER EYN CHARISH VE KATSIR
כִּי זֶה שְׁנָתַיִם הָרָעָב בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ וְעוֹד חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים אֲשֶׁר אֵין חָרִישׁ וְקָצִּיר
KJ: For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
BN: "For these two years has the famine been in the land; and there are still five more years in which there shall be neither ploughing nor harvest...
How does he know this? Yes – he knows because he interpreted the dream and read the auguries; but how does he know this? 7 years is a jubilee cycle, and a Fisher King cycle...
45:7 VA YISHLACHENI ELOHIM LIPHNEYCHEM LASUM LACHEM SHE'ERIT BA ARETS U LEHACHAYOT LACHEM LIPHLEYTAH GEDOLAH
וַיִּשְׁלָחֵנִי אֱלֹהִים לִפְנֵיכֶם לָשׂוּם לָכֶם שְׁאֵרִית בָּאָרֶץ וּלְהַחֲיוֹת לָכֶם לִפְלֵיטָה גְּדֹלָה
KJ: And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
BN: "And Elohim sent me before you to give you a remnant on the Earth, and to save you alive for a great deliverance...
The phrasing of this makes it sound terribly important, though it isn't obvious why. The divine role is self-evident, but why the remnant on Earth? Is another Tashmad in the planning (the Mosaic slavery even)? Are the brothers, or is the Earth, to be wiped out by the famine? Or perhaps 10 plagues are about to affect the kingdom, and all the indentured labourers will flee under cover of the plague of darkness? But Yoseph is the Saviour (the capital S here is deliberate); and what great deliverance, or are the later Rabbis thinking ahead to the Mosheh story and laying some groundwork?
"Sent before you" sounds like John the Baptist! Which adds weight to this being a prelude to the Mosheh story.
End of second fragment.
45:8 VE ATAH LO ATEM SHELACHTEM OTI HENAH KI HA ELOHIM VA YESIMENI LE AV LE PHAR'OH U LE ADON LE CHOL BEITO U MOSHEL BE CHOL ERETS MITSRAYIM
וְעַתָּה לֹא אַתֶּם שְׁלַחְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה כִּי הָאֱלֹהִים וַיְשִׂימֵנִי לְאָב לְפַרְעֹה וּלְאָדוֹן לְכָל בֵּיתוֹ וּמֹשֵׁל בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
KJ: So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
BN: "So now, it was not you who sent me here, but Ha Elohim; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt...
If all this was always intended, how come he didn't see it when he interpreted his dream? That he would rule them, he saw; but all the rest? For those today who continue to practice astrology, to follow horoscopes, to believe in angels, to regard the stars as messengers of fate and destiny, astronomy - which is the scientific study of the stars - has demonstrated that the light from even the closest star takes approximately 3 million light years to reach us here on Earth (one light-year is about 6 trillion miles), so whatever messages the fates or gods were trying to send at the time probably related to that moment of history, and may be a touch out-dated now. The ancients would not have known this.
AV (אב): father to Pharaoh? But surely only the god is father to Pharaoh! It was commented earlier that the constant Av (אב) references are significant. But this is important for other Av-names, because in Egyptian it was a state rank, equivalent of Vizier. The tribal chief is of course god's Vizier on Earth, and Yoseph's descrption of himself here as "father to Pharaoh" is intended metaphorically. Does this tell us anything new about the name Av-Ram? To help with understanding this, the English word "abbot", who was the "father" of the monks in any mediaeval monastery, comes from the Yehudit Av.
There is a staggering arrogance bordering on megalomania about Yoseph in this verse. Self-acknowledgement as the Messiah is not an attractive trait. But if his brothers needed convincing that he was genuine, this would have served as a perfect reminder, because this is the Yoseph who told them his dream thirty years ago.
45:9 MAHARU VA ALU EL AVI VA AMARTEM ELAV KOH AMAR BINCHA YOSEPH SAMANI ELOHIM LE ADON LE CHOL MITSRAYIM REDAH ELAI AL TA'AMOD
מַהֲרוּ וַעֲלוּ אֶל אָבִי וַאֲמַרְתֶּם אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר בִּנְךָ יוֹסֵף שָׂמַנִי אֱלֹהִים לְאָדוֹן לְכָל מִצְרָיִם רְדָה אֵלַי אַל תַּעֲמֹד
KJ: Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
BN: "Hurry back to my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Yoseph: Elohim has made me lord of all Mitsrayim. Come down to me. Do not delay'...
In the previous verse he said Ha Elohim; here just Elohim.
There is another psychological fault in the story. If Yoseph feels so strongly about his family, and his father in particular, how come he did nothing about it before. Once appointed chief man in Egypt, it would have been easy enough to send a court messenger, or even pay some merchants to make a detour, but he actually did nothing until the brothers turned up, and even then it is he who causes the delays in bringing his father.
45:10 VA YASHAVTA VE ERETS GOSHEN VE HAYIYTA KAROV ELAI ATAH U VANEYCHA U VENEY VANEYCHA VE TSONCHA U VEKARCHA VE CHOL ASHER LACH
וְיָשַׁבְתָּ בְאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן וְהָיִיתָ קָרוֹב אֵלַי אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ וּבְנֵי בָנֶיךָ וְצֹאנְךָ וּבְקָרְךָ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר לָךְ
KJ: And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:
BN: "'And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you, and your children, and your children's children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have...
Only Ya'akov already has a covenant with his god for him to live in the Shechem region of Southern Kena'an. Is that covenant now rescinded, or set aside? As so often, the covenants must be read differently from what they seem.
Amongst the many objectives of the creators of this book was the need to explain certain known or believed historical "facts". One of these was: how did the Mosaic Beney Yisra-El come to be in Mitsrayim? Another seeks tribal roots in Goshen. So the story must be seen on several levels.
GOSHEN (גשן): Joshua 10:41, 11:16 and 15:51 all mention a Goshen in the mountains of Yehudah, but this is clearly not it. From this and other references in Genesis, plus Exodus 13:17 ff, we can take it as the region stretching from On (Heliopolis) to the Heroopolitan gulf, i.e. in Lower Egypt, east of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea - the green area at the top of the adacent map.
On is only a little north of Memphis, the ancient Egyptian capital before the Hyksos came; Avaris, the Hyksos capital, which is much further north, on the edge of the Delta, would be absolutely centrally in Goshen. What we can deduce from this is that the Beney Yisra-El were either given an area a very long way from the capital, practically outside Mitsrayim - in which case we would think of them as unwelcome Bedouin gypsies in an Egyptian kingdom; or else, if this was a Hyksos kingdom, the very best land in the centre of the realm - like being given the whole Weald of Kent, or the Sanoma or Monterey Valley. It isn't difficult to deduce from this which they must have been.
As we try to determine whether Yoseph was himself a Hyksos, or pre-, or post, and how the Beney Yisra-El fitted in, and where Mosheh, this provides us with a key piece of knowledge, because we know from their own documents that the Egyptians abhorred shepherding, and that the Hyksos were known as "the shepherd kings" precisely because it was central to their tribal traditions. Yoseph's people, as we have seen throughout Genesis, were shepherds, and now, as they become the ruling people, they reside in the best sheep-rearing country in Egypt.
There is one key qualifier to this however; the dates of the Hyksos being as they were, this moves the Yoseph story back at least four hundred years from traditional reckoning, to around 1700 BCE; dates which happen to work for the period of slavery described in Exodus, and for the Ach-Mousa or Achmose rebellion against the Hyksos which brought their reign to a conclusion. As we shall see when we get to Exodus, this actually makes much more sense of the text.
45:11 VE CHILKALTI OT'CHA SHAM KI OD CHAMESH SHANIM RA'AV PEN TIVARESH ATAH U VEITCHA VE CHOL ASHER LACH
KJ: And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.
BN: "And there I will look after you - for there are yet five years of famine to come - lest you come to poverty, and your household, and all that you have'...
This verse, like the previous, sound like the terms of a treaty, by which a group of people are being given permission to settle in a certain piece of land for a set period of time: a tenancy agreement. Such treaties or contracts were commonplace, as Egypt would always have been the main source of food in the regular famines; cf Ya'akov and Lavan's treaty at Gal-Ed.
Also note that he is making the treaty with Ya'akov, through Ya'akov's messengers. If Ya'akov is here a god, or at least a priest-king, then there is a logic that merits explaining.
45:12 VE HINEH EYNEYCHEM RO'OT VE EYNEY ACHI VIN-YAMIN KI PHI HA MEDABER ALEYCHEM
KJ: And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
BN: "And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Bin-Yamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
The words of an oath surely, not the detail of a semi-formal conversation? Giving legal weight to this treaty. But also recognising their doubts that he really is their lost brother.
The arrival of Bin-Yamin is significant, because his real name is Ben-Oni; and Yoseph is either living at On, or at the very least married to the daughter of that city's priest high priest; in a sense then this is Bin-Yamin's homecoming. But more importantly, the law of ultimo-geniture makes Bin-Yamin Ya'akov's heir and legal representative. He can make the treaty with Bin-Yamin and Bin-Yamin counts as Ya'akov. Bin-Yamin means "right hand man".
45:13 VE HIGADETEM LE AVI ET KOL KEVODI BE MITSRAYIM VE ET KOL ASHER RE'IYTEM U MIHARTEM VE HORADETEM ET AVI HENAH
KJ: And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
BN: "And you shall tell my father of all the honours I have received in Mitsrayim, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here."
All confirming the continuing nomadism of the Habiru at this time. Given the outstanding questions about who the Habiru were, can we infer that it means "nomadic merchants" in general, in the way that "gypsy" specifically means "Egyptian" but is applied to all manner of European wanderers, from the Roma to the Irish tinkers? Or "nomadic shepherds" more specifically?
KOL KEVODI: The translation is strictly correct, but grossly unfair. KAVOD can indeed mean "glory", but really, and normally, it means "honour", and the "honour that I have received in Egypt" is a rather more humble statement than "the glory I have achieved in Egypt"; the latter displays a level of arrogance even beyond the arrogance we have seen displayed by Yoseph previously, especially the younger Yoseph. And this is an important statement, because just as he has taught the brothers a lesson, so we can see the lessons that have been taught him through his triple experience of the pit.
In modern Ivrit, KOL HA KAVOD is an equivalent of "well done" or "congratulations"?
45:14 VA YIPOL AL TSAV'REY VIN-YAMIN ACHIV VA YEVCH U VIN-YAMIN BACHAH AL TSAVA'RAV
KJ: And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
BN: And he fell upon his brother Bin-Yamin's neck, and wept; and Bin-Yamin wept upon his neck.
45:15 VA YENASHEK LE CHOL ECHAV VA YEVCH AL'EYHEM VE ACHAREY CHEN DIBRU ECHAV ITO
KJ: Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
BN: And he embraced all his brothers, and wept on them, and after that his brothers talked with him.
45:16 VE HA KOL NISHMA BEIT PAR'OH LEMOR BA'U ACHEY YOSEPH VA YIYTAV BE EYNEY PHAR'OH U VE EYNEY AVADAV
KJ: And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
BN: And the gossip about this was heard in Pharaoh's house, with everyody saying, "Yoseph's brothers have come". And it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
45:17 VA YOMER PAROH EL YOSEPH EMOR EL ACHEYCHA ZOT ASU TA'ANU ET BE'IRCHEM U LECHU VO'U ARTSAH KENA'AN
KJ: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
BN: And Pharaoh said to Yoseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load up your animals, and go, and get you to the land of Kena'an...
Confirming, endorsing, by repetition, in the way that the President of the United States signs Congressional bills into law, or the Queen in England. So in theory it is always Pharaoh who makes the treaties, with Yoseph as his Vizier "fathering" them into being, acting as his "right-hand-man".
45:18 U KECHU ET AVIYCHEM VE ET BATEYCHEM U VO'U ELAI VE ETNAH LACHEM ET TUV ERETS MITSRAYIM VE ICHLU ET CHELEV HA ARETS
KJ: And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
BN: "And gather up your father, and your households, and come to me; and I will give you the best of the land of Mitsrayim, and you shall eat of the fat of the land...
Almost the identical form of words; the addition is BATEYCHEM (בתיכם). To move their houses tells us they were definitely still nomads.
Not that there was any fat of the land in the 2nd year of the great famine; but that isn't the significance of the phrase; what is significant is its link to the concept of "the land of milk and honey" to which Mosheh would later take them from Mitsrayim. Here the Yehudit is CHELEV = "fat"; there it will be CHALAV = "milk".
What Pharaoh does not say here is which bit of land they will get, but in fact Goshen was the fat of the land. It was not likely to have been "given" them however, as strangers, even if Yoseph was the Vizier - all land in Egypt remained the formal "possession" of the Pharaoh. There is also a moral question here, the nepotism, the Mugabe'esque generosity in handing out the land to fellow members of the hierarchy; if this was the arrival of the Hyksos, then the envy and anger of the native Egyptians will have been roused, and the century and a half of subjugation that followed...
End of third fragment.
45:19 VE ATAH TSUVEYTAH ZOT ASU KECHU LACHEM ME ERETS MITSRAYIM AGALOT LETAP'CHEM VE LINSHEYCHEM U NESA'TEM ET AVIYCHEM U VA'TEM
KJ: Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
BN: "Now you are commanded, so do it. Take your wagons out of the land of Mitsrayim, for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come...
Now all of a sudden they have wagons too; logical but previously unmentioned. Or is Pharaoh provided them with moving trucks? see verse 21.
But of course, put this back in the historical context of its writing, and here is a book to be presented, one presumes, to King Koresh (Cyrus), as a true and accurate record of the history of this people living in his new empire and of much interest to him religiously. An exiled people, living in a land where they are still very much strangers, being invited to pack up and move, carts provided by the king, hint hint… and how did Koresh respond, and then Artaxerxes seventy years later? By doing precisely this for their return to Yisra-El; see "The Book of the Return from Exile" for the full account.
45:20 VE EYNCHEM AL TACHOS AL KELEYCHEM KI TUV KOL ERETS MITSRAYIM LACHEM HU
KJ: Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
BN: "Also, don't worry about all your bits and pieces. The good things of all the land of Mitsrayim are yours.'"
Little doubt about their privileged status; these are not mere tolerated Bedou, but the family of the Vizier. If there's a problem packing the crockery, leave it behind; we'll provide better crockery when you get here.
45:21 VA YA'ASU CHEN BENEY YISRA-EL VA YITEN LAHEM YOSEPH AGALOT AL PI PHAR'OH VA YITEN LAHEM TSEDAH LA DARECH
KJ: And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
BN: And the Beney Yisra-El did so; and Yoseph gave them wagons, according to the instruction of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey.
They are again the Benei Yisra-El, not the Benei Ya'akov, nor indeed Ivrim.
DARECH: Why not DERECH, which is the more customary word?
45:22 LE CHULAM NATAN LA ISH CHALIPHOT SEMALOT U LE VIN-YAMIN NATAN SHELOSH ME'OT KESEPH VE CHAMESH CHALIPHOT SEMALOT
KJ: To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
BN: To each man he gave changes of clothing; but to Bin-Yamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver, and five changes of clothing.
Why so much to Bin-Yamin? To make a prince of him. The prince of On, indeed = Ben-Oni. Did he in fact become Prince of On and acquire his Rachelite name later on as a result of this. More likely neither Bin-Yamin nor Ben-Oni were his real name, but both were titles.
45:23 U LE AVIV SHALACH KE ZOT ASARAH CHAMORIM NOS'IM MI TUV MITSRAYIM VE ESER ATONOT NOS'OT BAR VA LECHEM U MAZON LE AVIV LA DARECH
KJ: And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
BN: And to his father he sent the following: ten asses laden with the good things of Mitsrayim, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread, and victual for his father for the journey.
Compare these gifts to the ones received by Av-Ram (Genesis 12:16 and 13:2), Av-Raham (Genesis 20:14) and Yitschak (Genesis 26:12) previously.
45:24 VA YESHALACH ET ECHAV VA YELECHU VA YOMER ALEYHEM AL TIRGEZU BA DARECH
KJ: So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
BN: So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, "Make sure you don't fall out along the way."
Why should he even contemplate such a thing happening? Or is this that rare Biblical event - irony? Affectionate sarcasm even.
45:25 VA YA'ALU MI MITSRAYIM VA YAVO'U ERETS KENA'AN EL YA'KOV AVIYHEM
KJ: And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
BN: And they went up out of Mitsrayim, and came into the land of Kena'an, to Ya'akov their father.
45:26 VA YAGIDU LO LEMOR OD YOSEPH CHAY VE CHI HU MOSHEL BE CHOL ERETS MITSRAYIM VA YAPHAG LIBO KI LO HE'EMIN LAHEM
KJ: And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.
BN: And they told him.saying, "Yoseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Mitsrayim." And his heart went faint, because he did not believe them.
I wonder if, at some point, Ya'akov gets to learn how Yoseph came to be in Egypt in the first place, and how he feels about his sons when he does eat that particular fruit of the Edenic tree. Does it impact on the blessings in the Hikavtsu that are about to follow?
45:27 VA YEDABRU ELAV ET KOL DIVREY YOSEPH ASHER DIBER AL'EHEM VA YAR ET HA AGALOT ASHER SHALACH YOSEPH LASET OTO VA TECHI RU'ACH YA'AKOV AVIYHEM
KJ: And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
BN: And they told him everything that Yoseph had said to them; and when he saw the wagons which Yoseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Ya'akov their father revived.
Not on this occasion using the word MECHAYEY (see verse 5).
45:28 VA YOMER YISRA-EL RAV OD YOSEPH BENI CHAI ELCHAH VE ER'ENU BETEREM AMUT
KJ: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
Note that, in verse 27, he is Ya'akov, as usual; in verse 28 he becomes, momentarily, Yisra-El.
45:11 VE CHILKALTI OT'CHA SHAM KI OD CHAMESH SHANIM RA'AV PEN TIVARESH ATAH U VEITCHA VE CHOL ASHER LACH
וְכִלְכַּלְתִּי אֹתְךָ שָׁם כִּי עוֹד חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים רָעָב פֶּן תִּוָּרֵשׁ אַתָּה וּבֵיתְךָ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר לָךְ
KJ: And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.
BN: "And there I will look after you - for there are yet five years of famine to come - lest you come to poverty, and your household, and all that you have'...
This verse, like the previous, sound like the terms of a treaty, by which a group of people are being given permission to settle in a certain piece of land for a set period of time: a tenancy agreement. Such treaties or contracts were commonplace, as Egypt would always have been the main source of food in the regular famines; cf Ya'akov and Lavan's treaty at Gal-Ed.
Also note that he is making the treaty with Ya'akov, through Ya'akov's messengers. If Ya'akov is here a god, or at least a priest-king, then there is a logic that merits explaining.
45:12 VE HINEH EYNEYCHEM RO'OT VE EYNEY ACHI VIN-YAMIN KI PHI HA MEDABER ALEYCHEM
וְהִנֵּה עֵינֵיכֶם רֹאוֹת וְעֵינֵי אָחִי בִנְיָמִין כִּי פִי הַמְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיכֶם
KJ: And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
BN: "And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Bin-Yamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
The words of an oath surely, not the detail of a semi-formal conversation? Giving legal weight to this treaty. But also recognising their doubts that he really is their lost brother.
The arrival of Bin-Yamin is significant, because his real name is Ben-Oni; and Yoseph is either living at On, or at the very least married to the daughter of that city's priest high priest; in a sense then this is Bin-Yamin's homecoming. But more importantly, the law of ultimo-geniture makes Bin-Yamin Ya'akov's heir and legal representative. He can make the treaty with Bin-Yamin and Bin-Yamin counts as Ya'akov. Bin-Yamin means "right hand man".
45:13 VE HIGADETEM LE AVI ET KOL KEVODI BE MITSRAYIM VE ET KOL ASHER RE'IYTEM U MIHARTEM VE HORADETEM ET AVI HENAH
וְהִגַּדְתֶּם לְאָבִי אֶת כָּל כְּבוֹדִי בְּמִצְרַיִם וְאֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר רְאִיתֶם וּמִהַרְתֶּם וְהוֹרַדְתֶּם אֶת אָבִי הֵנָּה
KJ: And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
BN: "And you shall tell my father of all the honours I have received in Mitsrayim, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here."
All confirming the continuing nomadism of the Habiru at this time. Given the outstanding questions about who the Habiru were, can we infer that it means "nomadic merchants" in general, in the way that "gypsy" specifically means "Egyptian" but is applied to all manner of European wanderers, from the Roma to the Irish tinkers? Or "nomadic shepherds" more specifically?
KOL KEVODI: The translation is strictly correct, but grossly unfair. KAVOD can indeed mean "glory", but really, and normally, it means "honour", and the "honour that I have received in Egypt" is a rather more humble statement than "the glory I have achieved in Egypt"; the latter displays a level of arrogance even beyond the arrogance we have seen displayed by Yoseph previously, especially the younger Yoseph. And this is an important statement, because just as he has taught the brothers a lesson, so we can see the lessons that have been taught him through his triple experience of the pit.
In modern Ivrit, KOL HA KAVOD is an equivalent of "well done" or "congratulations"?
45:14 VA YIPOL AL TSAV'REY VIN-YAMIN ACHIV VA YEVCH U VIN-YAMIN BACHAH AL TSAVA'RAV
וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוְּארֵי בִנְיָמִן אָחִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ וּבִנְיָמִן בָּכָה עַל צַוָּארָיו
KJ: And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
BN: And he fell upon his brother Bin-Yamin's neck, and wept; and Bin-Yamin wept upon his neck.
45:15 VA YENASHEK LE CHOL ECHAV VA YEVCH AL'EYHEM VE ACHAREY CHEN DIBRU ECHAV ITO
וַיְנַשֵּׁק לְכָל אֶחָיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עֲלֵיהֶם וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן דִּבְּרוּ אֶחָיו אִתּוֹ
KJ: Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
BN: And he embraced all his brothers, and wept on them, and after that his brothers talked with him.
45:16 VE HA KOL NISHMA BEIT PAR'OH LEMOR BA'U ACHEY YOSEPH VA YIYTAV BE EYNEY PHAR'OH U VE EYNEY AVADAV
וְהַקֹּל נִשְׁמַע בֵּית פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר בָּאוּ אֲחֵי יוֹסֵף וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינֵי פַרְעֹה וּבְעֵינֵי עֲבָדָיו
KJ: And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
BN: And the gossip about this was heard in Pharaoh's house, with everyody saying, "Yoseph's brothers have come". And it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
45:17 VA YOMER PAROH EL YOSEPH EMOR EL ACHEYCHA ZOT ASU TA'ANU ET BE'IRCHEM U LECHU VO'U ARTSAH KENA'AN
וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל יוֹסֵף אֱמֹר אֶל אַחֶיךָ זֹאת עֲשׂוּ טַעֲנוּ אֶת בְּעִירְכֶם וּלְכוּ בֹאוּ אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן
KJ: And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
BN: And Pharaoh said to Yoseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load up your animals, and go, and get you to the land of Kena'an...
Confirming, endorsing, by repetition, in the way that the President of the United States signs Congressional bills into law, or the Queen in England. So in theory it is always Pharaoh who makes the treaties, with Yoseph as his Vizier "fathering" them into being, acting as his "right-hand-man".
45:18 U KECHU ET AVIYCHEM VE ET BATEYCHEM U VO'U ELAI VE ETNAH LACHEM ET TUV ERETS MITSRAYIM VE ICHLU ET CHELEV HA ARETS
וּקְחוּ אֶת אֲבִיכֶם וְאֶת בָּתֵּיכֶם וּבֹאוּ אֵלָי וְאֶתְּנָה לָכֶם אֶת טוּב אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וְאִכְלוּ אֶת חֵלֶב הָאָרֶץ
KJ: And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
BN: "And gather up your father, and your households, and come to me; and I will give you the best of the land of Mitsrayim, and you shall eat of the fat of the land...
Almost the identical form of words; the addition is BATEYCHEM (בתיכם). To move their houses tells us they were definitely still nomads.
Not that there was any fat of the land in the 2nd year of the great famine; but that isn't the significance of the phrase; what is significant is its link to the concept of "the land of milk and honey" to which Mosheh would later take them from Mitsrayim. Here the Yehudit is CHELEV = "fat"; there it will be CHALAV = "milk".
What Pharaoh does not say here is which bit of land they will get, but in fact Goshen was the fat of the land. It was not likely to have been "given" them however, as strangers, even if Yoseph was the Vizier - all land in Egypt remained the formal "possession" of the Pharaoh. There is also a moral question here, the nepotism, the Mugabe'esque generosity in handing out the land to fellow members of the hierarchy; if this was the arrival of the Hyksos, then the envy and anger of the native Egyptians will have been roused, and the century and a half of subjugation that followed...
End of third fragment.
45:19 VE ATAH TSUVEYTAH ZOT ASU KECHU LACHEM ME ERETS MITSRAYIM AGALOT LETAP'CHEM VE LINSHEYCHEM U NESA'TEM ET AVIYCHEM U VA'TEM
וְאַתָּה צֻוֵּיתָה זֹאת עֲשׂוּ קְחוּ לָכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם עֲגָלוֹת לְטַפְּכֶם וְלִנְשֵׁיכֶם וּנְשָׂאתֶם אֶת אֲבִיכֶם וּבָאתֶם
KJ: Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
BN: "Now you are commanded, so do it. Take your wagons out of the land of Mitsrayim, for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come...
Now all of a sudden they have wagons too; logical but previously unmentioned. Or is Pharaoh provided them with moving trucks? see verse 21.
But of course, put this back in the historical context of its writing, and here is a book to be presented, one presumes, to King Koresh (Cyrus), as a true and accurate record of the history of this people living in his new empire and of much interest to him religiously. An exiled people, living in a land where they are still very much strangers, being invited to pack up and move, carts provided by the king, hint hint… and how did Koresh respond, and then Artaxerxes seventy years later? By doing precisely this for their return to Yisra-El; see "The Book of the Return from Exile" for the full account.
45:20 VE EYNCHEM AL TACHOS AL KELEYCHEM KI TUV KOL ERETS MITSRAYIM LACHEM HU
וְעֵינְכֶם אַל תָּחֹס עַל כְּלֵיכֶם כִּי טוּב כָּל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לָכֶם הוּא
KJ: Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
BN: "Also, don't worry about all your bits and pieces. The good things of all the land of Mitsrayim are yours.'"
Little doubt about their privileged status; these are not mere tolerated Bedou, but the family of the Vizier. If there's a problem packing the crockery, leave it behind; we'll provide better crockery when you get here.
45:21 VA YA'ASU CHEN BENEY YISRA-EL VA YITEN LAHEM YOSEPH AGALOT AL PI PHAR'OH VA YITEN LAHEM TSEDAH LA DARECH
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ כֵן בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם יוֹסֵף עֲגָלוֹת עַל פִּי פַרְעֹה וַיִּתֵּן לָהֶם צֵדָה לַדָּרֶךְ
KJ: And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
BN: And the Beney Yisra-El did so; and Yoseph gave them wagons, according to the instruction of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey.
They are again the Benei Yisra-El, not the Benei Ya'akov, nor indeed Ivrim.
DARECH: Why not DERECH, which is the more customary word?
45:22 LE CHULAM NATAN LA ISH CHALIPHOT SEMALOT U LE VIN-YAMIN NATAN SHELOSH ME'OT KESEPH VE CHAMESH CHALIPHOT SEMALOT
לְכֻלָּם נָתַן לָאִישׁ חֲלִפוֹת שְׂמָלֹת וּלְבִנְיָמִן נָתַן שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת כֶּסֶף וְחָמֵשׁ חֲלִפֹת שְׂמָלֹת
KJ: To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
BN: To each man he gave changes of clothing; but to Bin-Yamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver, and five changes of clothing.
Why so much to Bin-Yamin? To make a prince of him. The prince of On, indeed = Ben-Oni. Did he in fact become Prince of On and acquire his Rachelite name later on as a result of this. More likely neither Bin-Yamin nor Ben-Oni were his real name, but both were titles.
45:23 U LE AVIV SHALACH KE ZOT ASARAH CHAMORIM NOS'IM MI TUV MITSRAYIM VE ESER ATONOT NOS'OT BAR VA LECHEM U MAZON LE AVIV LA DARECH
וּלְאָבִיו שָׁלַח כְּזֹאת עֲשָׂרָה חֲמֹרִים נֹשְׂאִים מִטּוּב מִצְרָיִם וְעֶשֶׂר אֲתֹנֹת נֹשְׂאֹת בָּר וָלֶחֶם וּמָזוֹן לְאָבִיו לַדָּרֶךְ
KJ: And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
BN: And to his father he sent the following: ten asses laden with the good things of Mitsrayim, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread, and victual for his father for the journey.
Compare these gifts to the ones received by Av-Ram (Genesis 12:16 and 13:2), Av-Raham (Genesis 20:14) and Yitschak (Genesis 26:12) previously.
45:24 VA YESHALACH ET ECHAV VA YELECHU VA YOMER ALEYHEM AL TIRGEZU BA DARECH
וַיְשַׁלַּח אֶת אֶחָיו וַיֵּלֵכוּ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אַל תִּרְגְּזוּ בַּדָּרֶךְ
KJ: So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
BN: So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, "Make sure you don't fall out along the way."
Why should he even contemplate such a thing happening? Or is this that rare Biblical event - irony? Affectionate sarcasm even.
45:25 VA YA'ALU MI MITSRAYIM VA YAVO'U ERETS KENA'AN EL YA'KOV AVIYHEM
וַיַּעֲלוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֶל יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם
KJ: And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
BN: And they went up out of Mitsrayim, and came into the land of Kena'an, to Ya'akov their father.
45:26 VA YAGIDU LO LEMOR OD YOSEPH CHAY VE CHI HU MOSHEL BE CHOL ERETS MITSRAYIM VA YAPHAG LIBO KI LO HE'EMIN LAHEM
וַיַּגִּדוּ לוֹ לֵאמֹר עוֹד יוֹסֵף חַי וְכִי הוּא מֹשֵׁל בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וַיָּפָג לִבּוֹ כִּי לֹא הֶאֱמִין לָהֶם
KJ: And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.
BN: And they told him.saying, "Yoseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Mitsrayim." And his heart went faint, because he did not believe them.
I wonder if, at some point, Ya'akov gets to learn how Yoseph came to be in Egypt in the first place, and how he feels about his sons when he does eat that particular fruit of the Edenic tree. Does it impact on the blessings in the Hikavtsu that are about to follow?
45:27 VA YEDABRU ELAV ET KOL DIVREY YOSEPH ASHER DIBER AL'EHEM VA YAR ET HA AGALOT ASHER SHALACH YOSEPH LASET OTO VA TECHI RU'ACH YA'AKOV AVIYHEM
וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו אֵת כָּל דִּבְרֵי יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵהֶם וַיַּרְא אֶת הָעֲגָלוֹת אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח יוֹסֵף לָשֵׂאת אֹתוֹ וַתְּחִי רוּחַ יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם
KJ: And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
BN: And they told him everything that Yoseph had said to them; and when he saw the wagons which Yoseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Ya'akov their father revived.
Not on this occasion using the word MECHAYEY (see verse 5).
45:28 VA YOMER YISRA-EL RAV OD YOSEPH BENI CHAI ELCHAH VE ER'ENU BETEREM AMUT
וַיֹּאמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵל רַב עוֹד יוֹסֵף בְּנִי חָי אֵלְכָה וְאֶרְאֶנּוּ בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת
KJ: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
BN: And Yisra-El said, "It is enough. Yoseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
Note that, in verse 27, he is Ya'akov, as usual; in verse 28 he becomes, momentarily, Yisra-El.
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