Parashat Miketz

The themes of this week’s parsha – the significance of dreams, the ability of humans to engage in deception and the Divine hand in the unfolding of history – have all been explored before. However, the themes are repeated as the story of Joseph is approaching its dramatic climax and the tension is building. Human choices have their repercussions and no-one can escape the consequences of their actions.

Joseph is able to interpret Pharoah’s dreams only because their meaning is revealed to him through Divine inspiration, as he acknowledges. Pharoah elevates Joseph to power because he recognizes that his wisdom is of a different quality than the ‘cleverness’ of his other advisers. Joseph’s brothers come face-to-face with the brother they had abandoned in a pit and whom they had come to believe had died, because Joseph is now the governor of prosperous Egypt while Canaan languishes in famine. Benjamin is with his brothers only because Joseph insists that he be brought and he now has the power to make demands.

Joseph hides a goblet in Benjamin’s saddle-bag and demands that the ‘thief’ be brought to justice. The brothers are genuine when they declare their innocence yet their words are tinged with irony. Why would they suggest the death penalty and servitude of the other brothers for the crime of robbery? Their guilt is not about a goblet – it is about their life of deception. When Judah declares ‘God has found out the iniquity of your servants’ his words resonate with Joseph, with the brothers themselves and with those who know their history.