In blithe spirits the sons of Jacob journeyed up to the land of Canaan,
but when they reached the boundary line, they said to one another, "How
shall we do? If we appear before our father and tell him that Joseph is
alive, he will be greatly frightened, and he will not be inclined to
believe us." Besides, Joseph's last injunction to them had been to take
heed and not startle their father with the tidings of joy.
On coming close to their habitation, they caught sight of Serah, the
daughter of Asher, a very beautiful maiden, and very wise, who was
skilled in playing upon the harp. They summoned her unto them and gave
her a harp, and bade her play before Jacob and sing that which they
should tell her. She sat down before Jacob, and, with an agreeable
melody, she sang the following words, accompanying herself upon the
harp: "Joseph, my uncle, liveth, he ruleth over the whole of Egypt, he
is not dead!" She repeated these words several times, and Jacob grew
more and more pleasurably excited. His joy awakened the holy spirit in
him, and he knew that she spoke the truth.[293] The spirit of prophecy
never visits a seer when he is in a state of lassitude or in a state of
grief; it comes only together with joy. All the years of Joseph's
separation from him Jacob had had no prophetic visions, because he was
always sad, and only when Serah's words reawakened the feeling of
happiness in his heart, the prophetic spirit again took possession of
him.[294] Jacob rewarded her therefor with the words, "My daughter, may
death never have power over thee, for thou didst revive my spirit." And
so it was. Serah did not die, she entered Paradise alive. At his
bidding, she repeated the words she had sung again and again, and they
gave Jacob great joy and delight, so that the holy spirit waxed
stronger and stronger within him.
While he was sitting thus in converse with Serah, his sons appeared
arrayed in all their magnificence, and with all the presents that
Joseph had given them, and they spake to Jacob, saying: "Glad tidings!
Joseph our brother liveth! He is ruler over the whole land of Egypt,
and he sends thee a message of joy." At first Jacob would not believe
them, but when they opened their packs, and showed him the presents
Joseph had sent to all, he could not doubt the truth of their words any
longer.[295]
Joseph had had a premonition that his father would refuse to give his
brethren credence, because they had tried to deceive him before, and
"it is the punishment of the liar that his words are not believed even
when he speaks the truth." He had therefore said to them, "If my father
will not believe your words, tell him that when I took leave of him, to
see whether it was well with you, he had been teaching me the law of
the heifer whose neck is broken in the valley." When they repeated
this, every last vestige of Jacob's doubt disappeared, and he said:
"Great is the steadfastness of my son Joseph. In spite of all his
sufferings he has remained constant in his piety.[296] Yea, great are
the benefits that the Lord hath conferred upon me. He saved me from the
hands of Esau, and from the hands of Laban, and from the Canaanites who
pursued after me. I have tasted many joys, and I hope to see more, but
never did I hope to set eyes upon Joseph again, and now I shall go down
to him and behold him before my death."[297]
Then Jacob and the members of his family put on the clothes Joseph had
sent, among them a turban for Jacob, and they made all preparations to
journey down into Egypt and dwell there with Joseph and his family.
Hearing of his good fortune, the kings and the grandees of Canaan came
to wait upon Jacob and express sympathy with him in his joy, and he
prepared a three days' banquet for them.[298]
Jacob, however, would not go down into Egypt without first inquiring
whether it was the will of God that he should leave the Holy Land.[299]
He said, "How can I leave the land of my fathers, the land of my birth,
the land in which the Shekinah dwells, and go into an unclean land,
inhabited by slaves of the sons of Ham, a land wherein there is no fear
of God?"[300] Then he brought sacrifices in honor of God, in the
expectation that a Divine vision would descend upon him and instruct
him whether to go down into Egypt or have Joseph come up to Canaan. He
feared the sojourn in Egypt, for he remembered the vision he had had at
Beth-el on leaving his father's house,[301] and he said to God: "I
resemble my father. As he was greedy in filling his maw, so am I, and
therefore I would go down into Egypt in consequence of the famine. As
my father preferred one son to the other, so had I a favorite son, and
therefore I would go down into Egypt to see Joseph. But in this I do
not resemble my father, he had only himself to provide for, and my
house consists of seventy souls, and therefore am I compelled to go
down into Egypt. The blessing which my father gave me was not fulfilled
in me, but in my son Joseph, whom peoples serve, and before whom
nations bow down."[302]
Then the Shekinah addressed Jacob, calling his name twice in token of
love,[303] and bidding him not to fear the Egyptian slavery foretold
for the descendants of Abraham, for God would have pity upon the
suffering of his children and deliver them from bondage.[304] God
furthermore said, "I will go down into Egypt with thee," and the
Shekinah accompanied Jacob thither, bringing the number of the company
with which he entered Egypt up to seventy.[305] But as Jacob
entertained fears that his descendants would stay there forever, God
gave him the assurance that He would lead him forth together with all
the pious that were like unto him.[306] And God also told Jacob that
Joseph had remained steadfast in his piety even in Egypt, and he might
dismiss all doubts from his mind on this score, for it was his anxiety
on this account that had induced Jacob to consider going down into
Egypt; he wanted only to make sure of Joseph's faithfulness, and then
return home, but God commanded him to go thither and remain there.[307]
Before Jacob left Canaan, he went to Beer-sheba, to hew down the cedars
that Abraham had planted there, and take them with him to Egypt. For
centuries these cedar trees remained in the possession of his
descendants; they carried them with them when they left Egypt, and they
used them in building the Tabernacle.[308]
Although Joseph had put wagons at the disposal of his brethren for the
removal of his family from Canaan to Egypt, they yet carried Jacob upon
their arms, for which purpose they divided themselves into three
divisions, one division after the other assuming the burden. As a
reward for their filial devotion, God redeemed their descendants from
Egypt.[309]
Judah was sent on ahead by his father, to erect a dwelling in Goshen,
and also a Bet ha-Midrash, that Jacob might set about instructing his
sons at once after his arrival. He charged Judah with this honorable
task in order to compensate him for a wrong he had done him. All the
years of Joseph's absence he bad suspected Judah of having made away
with Rachel's son.[310] How little the suspicion was justified he
realized now when Judah in particular had been assiduous in securing
the safety of Benjamin, the other son of Rachel. Jacob therefore said
to Judah: "Thou hast done a pious, God-bidden deed, and hast shown
thyself to be a man capable of carrying on negotiations with Joseph.
Complete the work thou hast begun! Go to Goshen, and together with
Joseph prepare all things for our coming. Indeed," continued Jacob,
"thou wast the cause of our going down into Egypt, for it was at thy
suggestion that Joseph was sold as a slave, and, also, through thy
descendants Israel will be led forth out of Egypt."[311]
When Joseph was informed of the approach of his father, he rejoiced
exceedingly, chiefly because his coming would stop the talk of the
Egyptians, who were constantly referring to him as the slave that had
dominion over them. "Now," thought Joseph, "they will see my father and
my brethren, and they will be convinced that I am a free-born man, of
noble stock."
In his joy in anticipation of seeing his father, Joseph made ready his
chariot with his own hands, without waiting for his servants to
minister to him, and this loving action redounded later to the benefit
of the Israelites, for it rendered of none effect Pharaoh's zeal in
making ready his chariot himself, with his own hands, to pursue after
the Israelites.[312]