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Pharaoh and Joseph
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You shall be in charge of my court, and by your command shall all my people be directed; only with respect to the throne shall I be superior to you.”
Genesis 41:40
ויסר פרעה את טבעתו AND PHARAOH TOOK OFF HIS RING — When the king gives his ring it is a sign that the person to whom he hands it is to be second to him in rank. בגדי שש FINE LINEN — this is a material much valued in Egypt (cf Rashi on Genesis 2:11).
Rashi on Genesis 41:42:1-2
AND PHARAOH TOOK OFF HIS RING FROM HIS HAND. The giving of the king’s ring is a sign that the person to whom he hands it is to be second to him in rank. Thus the language of Rashi.
The correct interpretation is that the king’s ring contains his seal, just as it is said,
And sealed with the king’s ring
. The king thus gave Joseph his seal so that he should be
a leader and commander
of the entire government, and seal with the king’s ring whatever he desires.
Ramban on Genesis 41:42:1
"Until the appointed time, his word had not yet come. Rabbi Chiya bar Abba and the rabbis disagreed. One said, 'Until Joseph's word comes to pass,' while the other said, 'Until the word of the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to pass, which Joseph said to the chief butler (Genesis 40:14), "But think of me when it is well with you." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "You spoke truthfully; you will live another two years," as it says (Genesis 41:1), "After two years of time." Therefore, "Until the appointed time, his word had not yet come…
Midrash Tehillim 105:6
ONLY IN THE THRONE WILL I BE GREATER THAN THOU. It is known that
egdal
(I will be greater) is an intransitive verb. The meaning of
rak ha-kisse egdal mi-mekka
is, I will not be greater than you except for the dignity of the throne. The word
gedelani
(he grew up with me) in
Nay from my youth he grew up with me
(gedelani)
as with a father
(Job 31:18) is not a transitive verb but an intransitive verb meaning he grew up with me. The juxtaposition of an intransitive verb (
egdal
) with the direct object (
kisse
) is found elsewhere in Scripture…
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 41:40:3
דברו נא באזני פרעה, “please intercede on my behalf with Pharaoh;” seeing that some nineteen years earlier Pharaoh had decreed that no one in Egypt could undertake anything new until it had been approved by Joseph, Pharaoh would not look kindly at the prolonged absence from Egypt of his general manager on whom he depended so much. (Compare Genesis 41,44). Moreover, Pharaoh might be afraid that Joseph would not even return to Egypt at all. Seeing that he was familiar with all the military and political secrets of Egypt, he would be a potentially dangerous adversary.
Chizkuni, Genesis 50:4:1
AND PHARAOH SENT AND
(he)
CALLED JOSEPH
. Instead of “and called” we should have expected “to call for”. The implied subject is, therefore, God, as in the verse “And he called to Moses” (Lev. 1, 1), and this harmonizes with the words of the Psalmist: “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him” (Ps. 105, 19).
AND HE CHANGED HIS RAIMENT
, out of respect for royalty, as explained elsewhere.
Zohar, Miketz 4:36
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: “I have dreamed a dream
(ibid.). As he was about to relate the dream to him, he decided to test Joseph by altering the dream slightly. He said: “Seven kine went up out of the Nile, fat and well-formed,” whereupon Joseph replied: “That is not so, you saw
fat and healthy
kine.” “And there were,” he said to him, “seven lean and ill-favored kine.” And Joseph replied: “You did not see this but rather
ugly-appearing and thin-fleshed
kine.” “And there were seven full and good ears of corn,” he continued…
Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 3:5-6
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says
that
Rabbi Yoḥanan says: When Pharaoh said to Joseph: “And without you no man shall lift up his hand
or his foot in all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:44),
Pharaoh’s astrologers said: You will appoint a slave whose master bought him for twenty silver
coins
to rule over us? He said to them: I perceive royal characteristics [
ginnunei malkhut
] in him
and see that he was not initially a slave.
They said to him: If
that is
so
and he is a child of royalty…
Sotah 36b:19-20
Hence it is written:
AND PHARAOH SAID UNTO JOSEPH: FORASMUCH AS GOD HATH SHOWN THEE ALL THIS, THERE IS NONE SO DISCREET AND WISE AS THOU
. As if to say: You seem to have been there at the time I dreamt my dream and to have seen the dream together with its interpretation.”
Zohar, Miketz 5:59
“He sent and summoned…” – Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: They would interpret it, but their voices would not enter his ears. [They would say:] ‘The seven good cows [mean that] you will beget seven daughters. The seven bad cows – you will bury seven daughters.’ Likewise they said: ‘The seven good stalks [mean that] you will conquer seven kingdoms. The seven bad stalks – seven districts will rebel against you.’ That is what is written: “A scoffer seeks wisdom, and there is none” (Proverbs 14:6) – these are Pharaoh’s magicians and wise men…
Bereshit Rabbah 89:6
ויען יוסף את פרעה לאמור
, Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, etc.
The word "
לאמור
" here refers to Pharaoh's claim that Joseph claimed he only had to hear a dream and he already had its interpretation ready.
בלעדי
, "this does not depend on me."
Joseph corrects the impression Pharaoh entertained about him. He explains that G'd knows the interpretations of dreams and informs certain human beings of this. The same had taken place when Joseph had told the chief butler and the chief of the bakers that the…
Or HaChaim on Genesis 41:16:1
CAN WE FIND SUCH A ONE AS THIS? Because he was a Hebrew, the members of which race were repugnant to the Egyptians, who would not eat of the things the Hebrews touched, or have any contacts with them as they considered them unclean, Pharaoh did not want to appoint Joseph viceroy without their permission. Therefore he said to them that they would find no Egyptian comparable to him, as
the Spirit of G-d is in him
. After they admitted it, he said to Joseph,
Since G-d has made all this known unto thee
…
Ramban on Genesis 41:38:1
וייטב הדבר, Pharaoh approved of Joseph’s suggestion as did his ministers as they all understood that it was a wise and practical plan. They realised that it was very likely that Joseph’s interpretation of the dream was correct. They were furthermore very impressed by the chief of the cup-bearers who had told them how Joseph’s interpretation of both his and the chief baker’s dreams had come true. Moreover, Joseph had not claimed that the realisation of the dream would be in the distant future, but by seizing on the word והנה twice at the very beginning of Pharaoh’s dream and again in verse 29…
Radak on Genesis 41:37:1
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
"O
R
went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and the serpent bit him" (Amos 5:19). When Jacob went into his house in the land of Canaan the serpent bit him. || And who was the serpent? This was Shechem, the son of Chamor. Because the daughter of Jacob was abiding in the tents, and she did not go into the street; what did Shechem, the son of Chamor, do? He brought dancing girls who were (also) playing on pipes in the streets…
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38:1
The same was the case at first with Samson, of whom it is written: “And the spirit of the Lord began to move him in time beats (
I’pha’amo
)” (Jud. 13, 25). In connection with Nebuchadnezzar it is written
vatithpa’em
(and was troubled) (Dan. 2, 1), to indicate that the coming and going of the spirit was twice as rapid.
Zohar, Miketz 3:28
also “He hath set the world in their heart”, that is, the whole world and all its works depend only on the will of man. Happy are those righteous who by their good deeds draw benefits upon themselves and upon the world, and who know how to attach themselves to the grade called “time of peace”, and who in virtue of their righteousness in the lower world influence the grade called
Kol
(everything) to shine in its time (‘eth).
Zohar, Miketz 4:53
“Pharaoh said to Joseph: Since God has disclosed all this to you, there is no one as insightful and wise as you” (Genesis 41:39).
“You will be in charge of my house, and my entire people will be sustained at your directive; only the throne will I make greater than you” (Genesis 41:40).
“Pharaoh said to Joseph…You will be in charge of my house…” – there will be no person who will kiss me other than you. “And my entire people will be sustained [
yishak
] at your directive” – there will be promotions only through you…
Bereshit Rabbah 90:2
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