## Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz

###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:1
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:1)

וישא עיניו וירא את בנימן אחיו בן אמו (בראשית מג כט), שמח שהיה דומה לאמו, שכך כתיב בן אמו, מיד ויצו את אשר על ביתו לאמר מלא את אמתחות האנשים אוכל וגו' (שם מד א) אמר למנשה, מלא את אמתחות, ואת גביעי גביע הכסף וגו' (שם שם ב), הבקר אור והאנשים שלחו (שם שם ג), למה לא שלחן בלילה, אמר יוסף אם אני שלח אותן בלילה, אין כל בריה יכולה להן, לפי שנמשלו לחיות, גור אריה יהודה (בראשית מט ט), דן גור אריה (דברים לג כב), יהי דן נחש (בראשית מט יז), נפתלי אילה שלוחה (שם שם כא) בנימן זאב יטרף (שם שם כז).

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 43:29:) THEN HE (Joseph) RAISED HIS EYES AND SAW HIS BROTHER BENJAMIN, THE SON OF HIS MOTHER. He was happy that he was like his mother, for it is so written: THE SON OF HIS MOTHER. Immediately (in Gen. 44:1): THEN HE COMMANDED THE ONE WHO WAS OVER HIS HOUSE, SAYING: FILL THE MEN'S SACKS WITH FOOD…. He said to Manasseh⁵¹ (in Gen. 44:1-3): FILL THE SACKS …. AND YOU SHALL PUT MY GOBLET, THE GOBLET OF SILVER, IN THE MOUTH OF THE SACK OF THE YOUNGEST …. AT MORNING LIGHT THE MEN WERE SENT OFF. Why did he not send them away at night? Joseph said: If I send them away at night, there is no creature who could cope with them because they are like wild beasts. (In Gen. 49:9:) JUDAH IS A LION'S WHELP, (in Deut. 33:22): DAN IS A LION'S WHELP, (in Gen. 49:17): DAN SHALL BE A SERPENT, (in Gen. 49:21): NAPHTALI IS A HIND LET LOOSE, (and in Gen. 49:27): BENJAMIN IS A RAVENOUS WOLF.

footnotes:
⁵¹ I.e., his son. So below, 10:17; see also Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Gen. 44:1, which names Manasseh as Joseph’s steward.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:2
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:2)

הם יצאו את העיר לא הרחיקו (שם מד ד), אמר יוסף אם ירחיקו אין כל בריה יכולה להחזירן.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 44:4:) THEY HAD LEFT THE CITY AND HAD NOT GONE FAR. Joseph said: If they go far, there is no creature able to return them.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:3
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:3)

קום רדוף אחרי האנשים (שם), כל זמן שאימת (ברך) [כרך] עליהן.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Ibid., cont.:) ARISE, GO AFTER THE MEN; for as long as the fear of a {knee} [city]⁵² is over them.

footnotes:
⁵² In the square Hebrew print, the difference between the two readings is slight. Buber is certainly correct in reading “city.” “Knee” must represent a scribal error.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:4
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:4)

והשגתם (שם). הוי שוגג אותם בדברים אחת קשה ואחת רכה.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Ibid., cont.:) AND, WHEN YOU OVERTAKE THEM. See, he is confounding them with words, now harshly and now gently.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:5
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:5)

הלוא זה אשר ישתה אדוני בו וגו' (בראשית מד ה), ויקרעו שמלותם וגו' (שם שם יג), אמר להן הקב"ה אתם הקרעתם בגדי אביכם בדבר של חנם, כך אתם תקרעו בדבר של חנם, ויעמוס איש על חמורו (שם), לא הוצרך אחד מהן לחמורו, והן עומדין ומחבטין לבנימין על כתפיו ואומרים לו, אי גנב ברה דגנבתא ביישתני בן אמך את, כך היא ביישה (אמך) את אבינו, ותגנוב רחל את התרפים (שם לא כ), בזכות אותן המכות שהכתוהו על כתפיו זכה ושרתה שכינה על כתפיו שנאמר ובין כתפיו שכן (דברים לג יב).

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 44:5, 13:) IS NOT THIS THE ONE FROM WHICH MY LORD DRINKS … ? SO THEY RENT THEIR CLOTHES…. The Holy One said to them: You caused your father's clothes to be rent for nothing (in Gen. 37:34); so you are rending your clothes for nothing.⁵³ (Gen. 44:5, cont.:) THEN EACH ONE LOADED HIS ASS. Not one of them was required for his ass.⁵⁴., Gen. 10:10, probably has the correct reading: “Not one of them was required to assist his companion.” So they arose and, striking Benjamin on his shoulder, said to him: Oh you thief, you son of a thief, you have shamed me! You are your mother's son. Thus did she {your mother} shame our father (according to Gen. 31:19): AND RACHEL STOLE THE HOUSEHOLD GODS OF HER FATHER . By virtue of these blows with which they smote him on his shoulders, he was worthy of having the Divine Presence rest on his shoulders. It is so stated (of Benjamin in Deut. 33:12): AND HE (the Lord) DWELLS BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS.

footnotes:
⁵³ Gen. R. 84:20; 92:8.
⁵⁴ Tanh


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:6
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:6)

ויבא יהודה ואחיו ביתה יוסף (בראשית מד יד), מהו ביתה יוסף, והלא בכל יום ויום יוצא לדון בבימה, אלא אותו היום לא יצא, שלא לבייש את אחיו בפני המצריים.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 44:14:) WHEN JUDAH AND HIS BROTHERS CAME TO JOSEPH'S HOUSE. What is the meaning of TO JOSEPH'S HOUSE? Did not he not leave his house daily to hold court at the seat of judgment?⁵⁵ (“rostrum”). It is simply that on this day he did not leave home so as not to shame his brothers before the Egyptians.

footnotes:
⁵⁵ Gk.: bema


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:7
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:7)

ויפלו לפניו ארצה (שם), לקיים מה שנאמר הנה השמש והירח ואחד עשר כוכבים משתחוים לי (שם לז ט).

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Ibid., cont.:) THEY FELL TO THE GROUND BEFORE HIM to fulfill that which was stated (in Gen. 37:9): HERE WERE THE SUN, THE MOON, AND ELEVEN STARS BOWING DOWN TO ME.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:8
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:8)

ויאמר להם יוסף מה המעשה הזה אשר עשיתם (שם שם טו), אמר להם יוסף אני אומר לכם מפני מה גנבו הנער הזה לקסום בו ולידע היכן אחיו.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 44:15:) THEN JOSEPH SAID TO THEM: WHAT IS THIS DEED THAT YOU HAVE DONE? Joseph said to them: I am telling you for what reason this lad stole it. He did so to divine with it and to know where his brother was.


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:9
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:9)

ויאמר יהודה מה נאמר לאדני (שם שם טז), מה נאמר על כסף ראשון, ומה נדבר על כסף שני, מה נצטדק על הגביע.

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Gen. 44:16:) BUT JUDAH SAID: WHAT SHALL WE SAY TO MY LORD? What shall we say about the former money? And what shall we speak about the second money? How shall we justify ourselves over the goblet?


###### Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:10
[Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Miketz 13:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Midrash%20Tanchuma%20Buber/s/Miketz/r/13:10)

האלהים מצא את עון עבדיך (שם), אל תקרא מצא אלא מוציא, לעולם אין שני אחין נכנסין לבית המשתה ביחד מפני העין, ואנו נמצאינו כולנו בערוגה אחת בעון אחד שהיה בידינו, אמר להם אחיכם זה לא היה עמכם באותה שעה, אמרו לו כל הנמצא עם הגנב נתפש עמו, אמר להם ומה אחיכם הראשון שלא גנב ולא ציער אתכם, אמרתם טרוף טורף, זה שגנב וציער אתכם על אחת כמה וכמה, לכו אמרו לאביו טרוף טורף, והלא דברים ק"ו ומה תקלה שבאה על ידי צדיקים היתה מחיה לכל העולם, זכות שיביא הקב"ה על ידיהם על אחת כמה וכמה].

**Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension; trans. by John T. Townsend, 1989.:**
(Ibid., cont.:) GOD HAS FOUND OUT THE CRIME OF YOUR SERVANTS. Do not read: "He has found out" but: "He has caused others to find out." Two of us brothers never enter a banquet hall together because of the evil eye. Now all of us find ourselves in a single garden bed through a single offense which took place at our hands. He said to them: This brother of yours was not with you at that time. They said to him: Everything found with the thief is seized with him. He said to them: But, if in the case of your former brother, who neither stole nor caused you grief, you said (in Gen. 37:33 // 44:28): HE HAS BEEN TORN TO BITS; how much the more are these words applicable in the case of this one who has stolen and caused you grief! Go, say to his father: HE HAS BEEN TORN TO BITS. Now are not these words an argument a fortiori? And, if an unfortunate incident which came about through righteous ones (like Joseph) has been sustaining the whole world,⁵⁶., Gen. 10:10: “So if, in the case of an unfortunate incident which comes about through this righteous person, he has been sustaining all who come into the world…. ” In this version the reference is more clearly to Joseph’s misfortune which resulted in his feeding the world during the famine. how much the more so in the case of merit which the Holy One brings about through them!⁵⁷

footnotes:
⁵⁶ Cf. the parallel version in Tanh
⁵⁷ See above, note 35.