Reunion and Reconciliation of Joseph, Jacob, and the Brothers
THE HIGHLIGHT OF parashat Vayigash (“he approached”) is when Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers. This parashah starts with Judah’s emotional plea to let Benjamin return to Jacob in Canaan. The plea revolves around the effect on Jacob of the brothers’ returning without Benjamin. Unable to contain his feelings any longer, Joseph discloses his identity and sends his brothers home to bring his father to Egypt.
The brothers are both sorry and apprehensive about reprisal for what they did to Joseph long ago. But Jacob is happy to learn that Joseph, his elder son by his favorite wife Rachel, is still alive. He and the entire family move to Egypt. Family matters occupy center stage in parashat Vayigash as father and sons are reconciled with each other and forgive past behavior. The other brothers seem to set aside jealousies stemming from Jacob’s favoring Rachel and her children.
On a deeper level, this parashah explores the dynamics of human growth. Robert Alter sums up the issues beautifully:
What is it like, the biblical writers seek to know through their art, to be a human being with a divided consciousness—intermittently loving your brother but hating him even more; resentful or perhaps contemptuous of your father but also capable of the deepest filial regard; stumbling between disastrous ignorance and imperfect knowledge; fiercely asserting your own independence but caught in a tissue of events divinely contrived; outwardly a definite character and inwardly an unstable vortex of greed, ambition, jealousy, lust, piety, courage, compassion, and much more? (The Art of Biblical Narrative, 1981, p. 176)
The parashah, then, presents a study in the human capacity for lasting change. While not mentioned in this parashah, Tamar has been a pivotal figure in Judah’s own growth. Their encounter in Genesis 38 best accounts for Judah’s new capacity to sympathize with his father.
Women appear infrequently in this parashah. There are references to women in 44:20, 45:19, and among those who went to Egypt (46:5–27). The list of the descendants of Jacob who traveled to Egypt divides the entire family according to their mothers (46:8–27). Of the daughters of Jacob, only Dinah is mentioned by name (46:15). The total number of offspring of Jacob who traveled with him to Egypt does not count the wives of his sons (46:26).
—Naomi Steinberg
Outline—
I. JUDAH PLEADS FOR BENJAMIN’S RELEASE (44:18–34)
II. JOSEPH DISCLOSES HIS IDENTITY
Responses and Ramifications (45:1–28)
A. Joseph discloses his identity (vv. 1–3a)
B. Joseph and his brothers reunite (vv. 3b–15)
C. Pharaoh helps Joseph’s family (vv. 16–24)
D. Jacob learns that Joseph is alive (vv. 25–28)
III. JACOB/ISRAEL MEETS JOSEPH IN EGYPT (46:1–34)
A. Preparations (vv. 1–7)
B. The seventy members of Jacob’s family who come to Egypt (vv. 8–27)
C. Jacob and his sons reunite (vv. 28–34)
IV. JOSEPH AND JACOB MEET WITH PHARAOH (47:1–10)
V. FURTHER DETAILS REGARDING JOSEPH AND FAMILY (47:11–27)
A. A Joseph settles his father’s household in Egypt (vv. 11–12)
B. Joseph deals with the famine in Egypt (vv. 13–26)
C. Conclusion: Israel/Jacob prospers in Egypt (v. 27)