Infallible Pharoah?

Often, the memory of bad years outweighs the recollection of good years. Such was the case in Pharaoh’s Egypt.

In Pharaoh’s first dream about the years of plenty, we are told “Vehinei min haye’or olos sheva paros yefos mareh uberios basar – seven handsome, healthy-looking cows emerged from the Nile” (Bereishis 41:2). Here the word “olos” is written without the letter vav, representing a faded recollection.

In Pharaoh’s second dream about the years of famine, we are told “Vehinei sheva paros acheyros olos achareihen min haye’or, ra’os mareh vedakos basar – then another seven ugly lean cows emerged from Nile” (41:3). This time the word “olos” is written with the letter vav, representing a vivid recollection.

Yosef was meant to be freed from jail immediately after he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker. But he was kept in jail for another two years because he relied on the butler to plead his case to Pharaoh to release him from jail, when he should have relied on G-d alone (Rashi to 40:23).

What was Yosef’s sin that deserved this punishment? Is it not a rule that “Ein somchim al ha’nes,” one should not rely on miracles? Rather, one should try one’s best to solve the situation on one’s own and only when one has exhausted one’s human capacities will G-d take over?

The answer is that the rule of ein somchim al ha’nes applies only when there is no miracle already in progress at the time of danger. But where one can see that G-d is already busy working a miracle on one’s behalf, it is presumptuous to believe that G-d needs our help and cannot go it alone.

In this case, miracles were already unfolding before Yosef’s eyes. Although he was not a dream interpreter, he saw that G-d intervened and enabled him to correctly interpret the dreams of the butler and baker in a miraculous way. For logically, it was the butler, the Sar Hamashkim, who should have been hanged, not the baker, the Sar Ha’ofim. After all, the Sar Ha’ofim was not personally at fault for the pebble found in the bread. He had not baked it. It was prepared by his staff of bakers and the pebble was buried deep inside the loaf of bread, invisible to him when he served it to the king.

But the butler, he served the king a cup of wine with a fly visibly in it. So how come he was the one to be acquitted, while the baker was to be convicted? Clearly Yoesf’s interpretation was a miracle emanating from his own mouth. If one sees G-d’s hand already at work, one should step aside and let Him finish the job. Only later, after Yosef served out his two extra years in jail, did he unreservedly admit that he had no part in the miracle. “Vaya’an Yosef es Pharoah lemor, biladai, Elokim ya’aneh es shelom Pharoah – It is not by my own power. G-d will provide the interpretation” (41:16).

It was not only Yosef who made the mistake of not giving full recognition to this miracle. The butler was guilty of the same mistake. He knew that he, not the baker, was guilty and deserving of execution. He didn’t expect to receive Yosef’s favorable interpretation of his dream. Yet that is what Yosef gave him. And when it came to pass that Yosef’s interpretation turned out to be correct and he was saved, he should have acknowledged the miracle. He should have immediately told Pharaoh about Yosef and his divine interpretations rather than keep it secret until Pharoah’s magicians had finished with their disappointing interpretations. So, the butler was guilty of two sins. First, he was derelict in his duty of watching over the cup of wine. Second, he should have immediately alerted Pharoah to the existence of Yosef. That is why the butler says “es chata’ei ani mazkir hayom – I must recall my (two) crimes today” (41:9).

Pharaoh dreams that “vehineh omed al haye’or – he was standing on the river” (41:1). Before his dreams, Pharaoh considered himself to be a god who walked on water. He boasted that the Nile, the nerve center of Egypt’s economy, belonged to him and that he had created it (See Yechezkel 29:3). But he woke up from his dreams feeling vulnerable. Although his regular dream interpreters told him that the dreams meant that he would have seven daughters and would bury seven daughters, the Torah tells us that this interpretation that focused on his personal life did not satisfy him in his role as Pharaoh, the monarch of Egypt.

Pharaoh was preoccupied with affairs of state, not with personal matters. He was worried that if the economy of Egypt would fail, he would be ousted from power. So when he repeated his dream anxiously to Yosef, he spoke like a vulnerable human being, “hineni omed al sfas haye’or – I stood on the bank of the river,” (41:17). Now Pharaoh is standing on the edge like everyone else, in need and worried for his physical survival. He no longer walks on water.

When, two years later, the butler finally remembers Yosef, Pharaoh sends for him urgently and he is released from jail. Clearly, time is of the essence when Pharaoh is in distress. Yet, Yosef does not go to see him right away. He only does so after taking a haircut and changing his clothes (41:14) Why make the mighty king of Egypt wait when there is in an emergency?

Rashi tells us that Yosef did so out of respect for royalty. We are cautioned “Heve mispallel beshloma shel malchus she’ilmaleh mora’ah, ish es re’eihu chayim bole’o – pray for the welfare of the government because if people did not fear it, a person would swallow his fellow alive” (Avos 3:2). Although Yosef might be delayed for a while, it would be disrespectful to show up in prison clothes and with unkempt hair. Besides, that first impression would remain forever, and Yosef would never be taken seriously as the viceroy of Egypt.

During the years of famine Yosef’s wife Osnat bore him two children. Yosef calls the firstborn child Menashe, “ki nashani Elokim es kol amali ve’es beis avi – because G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house” (41:51).

We know Yosef never forgot his father. Even though he no longer lived next to him, his father was an ever-present influence wherever he went and whatever he did. Yosef was able to resist succumbing to the seductive overtures of Potiphar’s wife because the image if his father came between him and his desire.

So what is Yosef saying? He is not saying he forgot his father. He is saying he forgot his father’s household and the sibling jealousy that was part of it.

Yosef had a frenetic job to do. He was running from pillar to post trying to save the greatest world economy from imminent disaster. He simply did not have the time to dwell on petty sibling rivalry. In the end he was thankful to his brothers for selling him into slavery because it helped him save his entire family from hunger, “ki lemichyah shelachani elokim lifneichem – for G-d sent me before you to keep you alive” (45:5). It seems that many family disputes would be resolved if people just focused on making money themselves instead living off other people’s money.

Yaakov sees that there is famine in Canaan but there are stockpiles of food in Egypt. Even though Yaakov and his family had sufficient food at that time and did not require the assistance of Egypt, his non-Jewish neighbors did. And so, Yaakov ordered his sons to join the crowd that was going down to Egypt in search of food. He said to his sons “Lamah titrau” (42:1), why would you risk the envy of your neighbors by appearing to have enough food when they are starving. We know that ma’aseh avos siman lebonim, the purpose of many of the patriarch’s actions was to teach their future generation how to conduct themselves in the diaspora. If you are blessed with wealth, keep a low profile and don’t be conspicuous.

Yosef recognizes his brothers, but he hides his identity from them.

When he sees them, the first thing that comes to mind is the dreams he had about them. “Vayizkor Yosef et hachlomos asher chalam lahem” (42:9). He had dreamed that he was binding sheaves of corn with his brothers and his sheaves stood upright and his brothers sheaves stood around his and bowed down to his sheaves.

This dream had nothing to do with Yosef wanting to rule over his brothers. The Torah does not say “asher chalam aleihem,” that he was dreaming about ruling over them, but that his dreams were “lahem,” for his brothers’ benefit. He dreamed about providing food for his brothers in times of need. And now this dream had come true. So why did he not identify himself there and then? Why did continue to remain anonymous?

Because he also had another dream of eleven stars bowing down to him and this dream included Binyamin. He wanted that dream to come true as well and so he devised a strategy to bring Binyamin down to Egypt as well.