להתאפק לכל הנצבים עליו, he did not have the patience at this stage to deal with the private concerns of all the people who were awaiting to receive an audience and were already lining up in that house.

העוד אבי חי?, “how could he have survived so many years of worry over my fate?”

גשו נא אלי, so that not all the people hearing me cry can see that it is I who is crying.

אשר מכרתם, the one whom you have sold! By mentioning this episode you will realise that I can be none other than your brother Joseph, for who else knows about this? The people who bought me as a slave had no idea that I was the sellers’ brother.

ועתה לא אתם שלחתם, now that you have seen G’d’s purpose a purpose that could not have been achieved without all the various stages preceding it, it is no more than reasonable to suppose that also the further distant causes which led up to all this were part of G’d’s plan.

לאב לפרעה, as an adviser to the king.

ולאדון לכל ביתו, in charge of the entire palace.

ומושל בכל ארץ מצרים, and absolute ruler in the whole land of Egypt concerning national and international affairs.

מהרו, so that he will not worry and agonise any longer.

פן תורש, on account of the dearth of grazing land in the land of Canaan. (compare 47,4 “there is no grazing land for our flocks.”)

ועיני אחי בנימין, who had been unaware that Joseph had been sold.

כי פי המדבר אליכם, without the need of an interpreter. At the time when I had been sold, no one spoke our language except our family. The buyers were Ishmaelites and Midianites, each with their own language

ומהרתם והורדתם את אבי הנה, in order to afford him the joy to see all this with his own eyes.

This was good in the eyes of Pharaoh. He reasoned that if Yoseif’s family settled there he would have more of a stake in the country’s welfare and would perform his duties more diligently.

אמור אל אחיך זאת עשו, this is what should be your purpose to take your father and your families, etc.

ואתה צויתה, tell them that you have actually been commanded to bring them here as residents.

קחו לכם מארץ מצרים עגלות, when your father will see carriages all prepared to transport him and his family to Egypt he will have fewer excuses to object to the journey and the upheaval involved in the journey. We know that this was a powerful argument as Yaakov, when seeing the carriages is reported as saying: “I will go down and see my son.” (verse 27-28).

ועיניכם אל תחוס על כליכם, do not delay as the resulting damage to your livestock will become greater. the longer you delay.

ולאביו שלח כזאת, similar to the gifts given to Binyamin. In addition he sent ten donkeys and ten she-asses. In the plural mode the letter ו indicating who else is included appears at the end [the last word in the sequence. Ed.} Examples of such constructions are: .Exodus 1,2 יששכר זבולון ובנימין.

וישלח את אחיו, he gave them permission to leave, as when the angel had said to Yaakov (after the wrestling match) שלחני כי עלה השחר, “let me go for dawn has risen.” (32,27) and שלחוני ואלכה לאדוני “let me go, that I may go back to my lord.” (24:56).

ויפג לבות, he passed out. His heart stopped beating briefly, something common when people have a fainting spell. This occurred at the moment Joseph’s name was mentioned by the brothers.

כי לא האמין להם. so that he had no chance to believe them. Therefore, ותחי רוח יעקב, once his spirit revived he never fainted again so that he was able to believe them. It had been the sudden joy that had been the cause of his fainting. Spirit has a habit of contracting when one suffers worry, etc., whereas it expands when one experiences joy, sometimes even beyond the boundaries of one’s body so that the body faints.

They told him all the words. They informed him that there would be another five years of famine in order that he would not faint from excessive joy.

ותחי רוח יעקב, he recovered from his fainting spell now that the joy had been tempered by a worrisome element.

רב...אלכה ואראנה, I will go and see him, but will not remain there as he has said.