Bereshit 50:14,15 record that after the sons of Yaakov returned from Yaakov’s burial in the land of Canaan, they were scared that Yosef would take revenge for their behavior to Yosef thirty nine years earlier, 50:14,15. Accordingly, they told Yosef (apparently through a messenger) that Yaakov had told them to tell Yosef not to take revenge on them, 50:17. This verse would seem to imply that Yaakov learned the true reason how Yosef ended up in Egypt. Yet, it is generally assumed (see Yevamot 65b, N. Leibowitz, 1976, pp. 563-570) that Yosef’s brothers were lying.
Ramban (on 45:27) claims that Yaakov never learned that the brothers sold (or caused Yosef to be sold) into slavery since he claims that neither Yosef nor the brothers would have told Yaakov the truth. He suggests that Yaakov just assumed that Yosef got lost when he went to look for his brothers, and he was kidnapped. He discounts the evidence from 50:17 that Yaakov knew the truth since he points out that if Yaakov was really worried about Yosef taking revenge on the brothers, then Yaakov should have told Yosef in person not to take revenge and not leave such a message with Yosef’s brothers. Sarna (1989, p. 350) and Y. Leibowitz (2003, p. 187) agree with this idea. They argue that if Yaakov had known about the sale, then he would have mentioned it when he gave his “blessings” (chapter 49) to his children. In these “blessings” he criticized Reuven, Shimon and Levi so if he knew about the sale of Yosef, he should also have condemned it. On the other hand, Ibn Ezra (on 49:23, also see Or ha-Chayyim on 49:23) writes that in 49:23, when Yaakov was giving his blessing to Yosef, he hinted to the sale of Yosef by his brothers. Rashi in his comments on 49:5 also assumes that Yaakov knew that at least Shimon and Levi attempted to kill Yosef, also see his comments on 49:9 and 49:23.
It is incredible that Yaakov never learned the truth. Even before Yosef revealed himself, he probably was suspicious of the brothers, as we discussed on 42:36-38, “Hope and suspicion.” I agree that the brothers and Yosef might not have been too anxious to go over all the details with Yaakov, but Yaakov could have put the pieces together without directly asking his children what happened. Would he really have thought that Yosef lost his way and was kidnapped? This possibility does not accord with the fact that the brothers brought back Yosef’s clothing soaked in enough blood that it was immediately assumed that Yosef had been eaten by an animal, 37:31-33. Most likely, kidnappers would have taken Yosef’s coat since it was very fancy, and even if they discarded it how would it have ended up being so soaked in blood that it looked as if an animal had eaten Yosef? Furthermore, it would seem quite a coincidence that the brothers happened to find the coat if Yosef really got lost. Yaakov knew that the children hated Yosef, and, as he was clever, even without too much help he could have figured out the truth. In a personal conversation, Eric Sherby, added that surely Binyamin would have told Yaakov after he had heard Yosef say to the brothers, “I am Yosef who you sold to Egypt,” 45:4.
The fact that Yaakov did not explicitly mention the sale of Yosef in his “blessings” is not that surprising. First of all, this would have meant that he had to criticize all of the sons except Binyamin, as even Yosef had behaved inappropriately before he was sold. Furthermore, Yaakov was also partly to blame for the sale since his favoritism was one of the main causes of the animosity between the brothers. Finally, it is very likely that he would not have wanted to bring the subject up again, in order not to re-ignite old fights, see Radak on 49:23.
Even if Yaakov knew what really happened, this does not imply that brothers were telling the truth when they told Yosef that Yaakov had told them to tell Yosef not to take revenge, 50:17. Rashi (on 50:16) argues that Yaakov would never have made such a comment to the brothers since he would not have suspected Yosef of taking revenge. Yet, maybe the brothers were speaking the truth. Maybe Yaakov hoped that the issue of the sale would never come up, but he was worried that the brothers would fight after his death. Thus, he would not have wanted to speak to Yosef about the sale, and he only would have given this message to Yosef’s brothers to tell Yosef in case the question of the sale arose. However, the brothers were so scared of Yosef that they raised the matter of the sale without Yosef mentioning it immediately after Yaakov died.
Bibliography:
Leibowitz, Nehama (1905-1997), 1976, Studies in Bereshit, translated by Aryeh Newman, Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization.
Leibowitz, Yeshayahu, 2003, Seven years of discourses on the weekly Torah readings, Hemed: Israel.
Sarna, Nahum (1923-2005), 1989, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
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