פרשת וישב תשי"ט - מכירת יוסף + הפטרה

And Reuben said unto them: ‘Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him’—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.

The pit was empty. If it had contained water they would not have cast him in, since they had already resolved not to kill him.

And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and ladanum, going to carry it down to Egypt.

..When they raised their eyes and saw from afar men coming from the road from Gilad, they recognized that they were an Ishmealite caravan on the camels and they knew that they were going to Egypt, since from Gilad comes <name of="" road="" #1=""> and <name of="" road="" #2="">, and this was the way people went to Egypt. <loose translation=""> Therefore, Yehuda said to them, 'These men are from a far land and going to a far land. We will sell him to them and the matter will not become known.' When they came closer, they found that they were merchants who travel those roads, Midianite merchants who leased the camels from the Ishmealites and they sold Yosef to the Midianites, who bought him in order to trade him, for the Ishmealites, the lessors of the camels, did not purchase merchandise for themselves. It says in 37:28, "They sold Yosef to the Ishmealites" because they gave him to them while they were carrying the merchandise to Egypt , and that is the meaning of the phrase "from the Ishmealites who brought him down there," because he had been in their hands (=in their custody) even though the Midianites were his owners and they traded him, like it says in 37:36, "The Midianites sold him to Egypt," for any action in the Chumash will once be told with [the name of] the one who commanded it and once will be told with [the name of] the one who carried it out. For example, in Devarim 11:7, it says "...all the actions of Hashem, the greatness that He did," and later it says in 34:12, "that Moshe did in from of all of Israel." And so it says in Melachim 1 7:51, "the work was completed that was done by the king Shlomo," but Hiram did it, like it says, "And he [Hiram] came to King Shlomo and did all the work for him." About Yosef himself it says in 39:22, "all that was done there [in the prison], he would do it. It gives [credit for] the action to the commander of it and to the doer of it. Rabbi Avraham [Ibn Ezra] says in 37:28 that the Midianites were called Ishmealites, (i.e., these two groups are really the same group) like it says in Shoftim 8:24 that the kings of Midian were Ishmealites. It is not like he thought, becaue the Torah says in Shoftim 8:24 "for they had gold nose-rings, for they were Ishmealites," this is hinting at 'Bnei Kedem', for this war was for them, like it says in Shoftim 6:33

לא נכנו נפש — supply the word מכת so that the meaning will be “Let us not smite him with a smiting of his life” — it means killing.

וישמעו AND THEY HEARKENED — The Targum renders this by “and they accepted it from him” (i.e., they agreed with him). Wherever the verb שמע means agreeing with a person’s statement — obeying — as here, and as (28:7) “and Jacob had hearkened (וישמע) to his father”, and (Exodus 24:7) “We will do and we will obey (ונשמע)” it is translated in the Targum by קבל “accepting”, but wherever it merely means hearing with the ear, as e. g. (3:8) “And they heard (וישמעו) the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden”, and (27:5) “and Rebecca heard (שומעת;”, and (31:1) “And Israel heard (וישמע)”, and (Exodus 16:12) “I have heard (שמעתי) the murmurings of the children of Israel”, — all such cases are rendered by various forms of ושמעו: שמע “and they heard“, ושמעת “and she heard”, ושמע “and he heard”,שמיע ,קדמי “there is heard before Me” (I have heard).

וישמעו AND THEY HEARKENED — The Targum renders this by “and they accepted it from him” (i.e., they agreed with him). Wherever the verb שמע means agreeing with a person’s statement — obeying — as here, and as (28:7) “and Jacob had hearkened (וישמע) to his father”, and (Exodus 24:7) “We will do and we will obey (ונשמע)” it is translated in the Targum by קבל “accepting”, but wherever it merely means hearing with the ear, as e. g. (3:8) “And they heard (וישמעו) the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden”, and (27:5) “and Rebecca heard (שומעת;”, and (31:1) “And Israel heard (וישמע)”, and (Exodus 16:12) “I have heard (שמעתי) the murmurings of the children of Israel”, — all such cases are rendered by various forms of ושמעו: שמע “and they heard“, ושמעת “and she heard”, ושמע “and he heard”,שמיע ,קדמי “there is heard before Me” (I have heard).

You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.