{"id":39839,"date":"2018-09-12T13:32:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T10:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39839"},"modified":"2022-04-05T17:38:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T14:38:04","slug":"does-joseph-really-forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/does-joseph-really-forgive\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Joseph Really Forgive?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[459],"acf":{"old_id":"39839","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33859,"related_cahpter":"45","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A close reading suggests that he was interested in his brothers\u2019 welfare only as a means to his father\u2019s well-being","content":"

Contrary the title of my essay for Chapter 44, Joseph seems to allow the brothers the easy way out, absolving them completely of responsibility for his sale. But a careful reading of the chapter suggests that his relationship to the brothers remains complicated, and that the real transformation occurs in Joseph’s relationship with his father.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider this. After revealing himself, Joseph explains that the family must relocate to Egypt, because remaining in Canaan for another 5 years of famine means certain poverty. What was Joseph’s plan before Judah’s speech so moved him? Would his anger at his brothers cause him to abandon even his beloved father to such a fate? So it seems. Indeed, perhaps Joseph saw Benjamin as the only innocent party in this story. After all, it was Jacob who sent Joseph to his brothers. Joseph must have at least considered the possibility that his father knew about, or even planned his sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judah’s speech is the first testimony Joseph hears that Jacob was not part of the plan, that he was devastated by Joseph’s disappearance. This revelation, more than anything else, must have been what caused Joseph’s uncontrollable flood of tears. Understanding that Jacob had not rejected him allows Joseph to understand the events of the last 15 years in an entirely new light, to see his brothers as the means to the Divine ends of the fulfillment of his dreams, and the survival of the family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does this mean that the brothers are completely off the hook? No. Being reduced to the means to an end has its own price within a relationship, reflected in the subtle differences between the invitations extended by Joseph and Pharoah. As opposed to Pharaoh, who invites all the brothers, a careful reading reveals that Joseph’s invitation \u00a0is really concerned with Jacob’s fate. The brothers are included only insofar as they are Jacob’s sons. In Joseph’s eyes, the brothers are not actors significant in their own right, but merely the means to continue their father’s legacy. Their choice to be a means rather than an end unto themselves remains with them.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":103666,"id":103666,"title":"-624a7b42ec4a0--624a7b42ec4a2gen42-joseph brothers.jpg","filename":"624a7b42ec4a0-624a7b42ec4a2gen42-joseph-brothers.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/624a7b42ec4a0-624a7b42ec4a2gen42-joseph-brothers.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-revealing-and-revelation\/624a7b42ec4a0-624a7b42ec4a2gen42-joseph-brothers-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"624a7b42ec4a0-624a7b42ec4a2gen42-joseph-brothers-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":39679,"date":"2022-04-04 04:59:46","modified":"2022-04-05 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