Portions were served them from his table; but Benjamin’s portion was five times that of anyone else. And they drank and they got drunk with him.
Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: "They hadn't tasted wine during the intervening period, due to their remorse, as it is written: 'And they drank and got drunk with him' (Genesis 43:34). By inference: Until now, they hadn't gotten drunk. there was no drunkenness."
And the other Sage, Rabbi Mallai, opines: They hadn't gotten drunk, but they had drank on the part of the brothers during the intervening years.
אָמַר רַבִּי לֵוִי כָּל עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁתַּיִם שָׁנָה שֶׁלֹא רָאָה אוֹתָן לֹא טָעַם טַעַם יַיִן, אַף הֵן לֹא טָעֲמוּ טַעַם יַיִן עַד שֶׁרָאוּ אוֹתוֹ, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: וַיִּשְׁתּוּ וַיִּשְׁכְּרוּ עִמּוֹ, עִמּוֹ שָׁתוּ חוּץ מִמֶּנּוּ לֹא שָׁתוּ.
“They drank, and became inebriated with him” – with him, they drank, but other than with him, they did not drink, as Rabbi Levi said: "All twenty-two years that he did not see them, he did not taste the taste of wine. They, too, did not taste the taste of wine until they saw him. That is what is written: 'They drank, and got drunk with him' – with him, they drank, but other than with him, they did not drink."
"They drank with him; aside from him, they hadn't drank" - Because he seemed foreign in front of them that Scripture recounts the shame of the tribes that they drank until they got drunk, because drunkenness is very indecent. Therefore, he (Rabbi Levi) explains that they hadn't drunk aside from him and were not used to [drinking] wine. And the manner of people who are not accustomed to [drinking] wine is to be drunk when they drink even a little bit of wine.
"And they got drunk with him" - They were being served the kind of wines drunk by royalty, something they were not used to, so that it made them drunk. They were careless in not leaving over some of the first kind of wine served them as was the custom for anyone invited to dine with royalty, as they say, "When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider well who is before you" (Prov. 23:1).
Setting-up for the Trickery of the Goblets
Rabbi Ya'akov ben Asher (1270-1340)
וישתו וישכרו עמו. שכיון להשכירם כדי שלא יחפשו באמתחותיהם כדי שלא יארע להם כבתחילה ועל זה מיהר לשולחם באור הבוקר שלא יחפשו:
וישתו וישכרו עמו, “they drank with him and became drunk.” Joseph had planned to make them drunk so that they would not examine their sacks and bags before leaving, as they would be bound to do so as not have anything planted on them as had happened the first time. When they awoke late in the morning, he urged them to make haste and leave.
Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865)
וישכרו עמו: אצלו (רמבמ"ן) והתחכם יוסף להשתדל שישתו וישכרו כדי שלא ירגישו בענין הגביע. ...
By him [Rabbi Moses Mendelsson], Yosef was wisened to get his brothers to drink and to get drunk in order so they were not aware of the matter of the goblet.
Rabbi Isaac Samuel Reggio (1784-1855)
וישתו וישכרו עמו, להיותם שמחים וטובי לב על דברי תנחומין שאמר להם האיש אשר על הבית ועל שהוציא אליהם את שמעון שתו עמו יותר מהמנהג בשאר הימים, וגם יוסף שתה הרבה כי היה שמח על שהיו כל אחיו אצלו ונתקרב הזמן להתודע אליהם, והנה כל הכבוד הזה וגם השתיה ברבוי היה בכוונה כדי לחשדם אח"כ בגניבת הגביע, כי אילו לא נכנסו בביתו ולא אכלו עמו ולא השתכרו, לא היה מקום להעליל עליהם כזאת, ולאחר הסעודה נתרחק יוסף מן החדר ההוא כדי לצוות את אשר על ביתו מה שיעשה ומתוך כך נשארו הם לבדם שם, ולכך נחשדו:
Being happy and kind-hearted because of the words of consolation that the man who was in charge of the house said to them and who brought Shimon out to them, they drank with him more than was customary on other days, and Joseph also drank a lot because he was happy that all his brothers were with him and the time had come close to make himself known to them. And, behold: here is all this honor and the drinking was plentiful on purpose, so that they would later suspect him of stealing the cup, because if they had not entered his house, eaten with him, or gotten drunk, there would have been no room for such accusations against them. And thus, they were suspected.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888)
With him" they got drunk, they certainly didn't drink excessively, they drank quite normally (וישתו), but they weren't used to the little either. Until then they hadn't felt any remorse, the pain hadn't left them, and they probably didn't drink any wine while Joseph was away. It is also conceivable that it was perhaps Joseph's intention to get them a little intoxicated, otherwise they would hardly have allowed their money to be put in their bags for the second time. - "They got drunk with him"
— וישתו וישכרו עמו, "bei ihm" haben sie sich berauscht, haben gewiss nicht unmäßig getrunken, tranken ganz gewöhnlich (וישתו), waren aber auch das Wenige nicht gewöhnt. Hatten sie sich auch bis dahin keine Gewissensbisse gemacht, der Schmerz hatte sie nicht verlassen, haben wohl, so lange Josef weg war, gar keinen Wein getrunken. Daß es vielleicht in Josefs Absicht lag, sie ein wenig zu berauschen, ist auch wohl denkbar, sonst hätten sie sich schwerlich zum zweitenmal ihr Geld in ihre Säcke legen lassen.
Rabbi Yehudah Loew ben Bezalel (1512-1609)
לא שתו הם יין והוא לא שתה יין. קשה דלמה שתו עכשיו – כיון שלא ידעו שיוסף הוא – למה שתו עכשיו יין, ודוחק לומר מפני כבוד המלכות של יוסף עשו זה, אם כן צריך אתה לומר כי לא שתו עם איש נכבד עד היום, ועוד – כי יותר כבוד היה להם כשיאמרו מתאבלים אנחנו על אחינו ואין אנו שותים יין, ויש לתרץ כי היו מתמיהים מה היה יוסף רוצה – שהוא שר וחשוב, אתמול החזיק אותנו כמרגלים – ועכשיו שותה עמנו, אלא עדיין אנחנו בעיניו מרגלים, ולפיכך הוא רוצה לשתות עמנו יין, כי נכנס יין יצא סוד (עירובין סה.), ויתפוס אותנו בדבור אחר, כך הוא כוונתו, ואמרו הם – אם לא נשתה יאמר לכך אין אתם רוצים לשתות שיראים אתם כי תגלו סוד שלכם, אדרבא – נשתה עמו יין ונשכר ולא ישמע מאתנו שום דבר ונצא מהחשד שלו, לפיכך שתו עמו ונשתכרו עמו:
And became intoxicated. The question that arises with this is why did they drink wine now, since they didn't know that this person was Joseph - why did so why do they drink wine now? And it's difficult to say that it was on account of providing honor to Joseph's royal station that they drank. If so, you would need to say that they had not drank with any important people until this day. And, furthermore, because more than the honor that they had was that they were mourning over their brother and they weren't drinking wine, so perhaps one could respond that they were baffled what Joseph wanted since he was a minister and important. Yesterday, he had seized them as spies and now they were drinking with him except now except they were still considered in their eyes as spies. And, therefore, if he wanted to drink wine with them on account secrets emerging when wine enters. And he seized them upon another matter which was his intention and they said, "If we don't drink, perhaps he will say that you don't want to drink lest out of fear that they would reveal secrets." It's actually quite the opposite: "We should drink wine with him and get drunk and he will not hear anything out of us, so that we may depart from being under his suspicion." Therefore, they drank and got drunk with him
Rabbi Shabbethai ben Yoseph Bass (1641–1718)