Joseph's Brothers Are Put To The Test - Genesis 44:1-45:28

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

You know, it's very interesting. What is the purpose of family? It's an interesting question. What is the purpose of family? There, of course, people will have all sorts of answers. You know, haven in a heartless world and all sorts of things. I would argue that there are many, but one that I want to focus on here, at least insofar as the siblings are concerned, not parents, is that that is where you work out the ability to deal with the world. After all, that is your world when you're growing up. That is how you start to learn, for example, not to be selfish. Now, will you please share the toy with your little sister? You have 76 cookies, why are you eating all of them? Did you ever see little You know how kids hoard? It's incredible to watch. They will take all 22 cookies and they don't even eat them because the cookies weigh more than the kid does. But if one other kid wants a cookie, they run away with the entire batch. How do you ever learn to share? How do you learn you're not the center of the universe?

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. To hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com.

44.

All right.

It's the drama. The drama here is extraordinary with Joseph and his brothers, the brothers having been sent back now.

Whoops.

Sorry for the wind. As it were. Okay. The last thing I did, you will recall, is when Joseph is with his brothers and is served separately, you recall, and the Egyptian rule that you could not eat with non-Egyptians. And I spoke about how racism and, and a sense of superiority over the other is universal. It, uh, and is one of the most important things that people have to combat. Okay, then he instructed— this is 44:1— then he instructed— this is Joseph— his house steward as follows: Fill the men's bags with food, as much as they can carry, and put in each one's money in the mouth— each one's money in the mouth of his bag. Put my silver goblet in the mouth of the bag of the youngest one, together with his money for the rations. And he did as Joseph told him. So this is going to be another test of the brothers caused by Joseph here. The goblet is made out of silver. And Sarna points out one of the most interesting items I can imagine. It shows you the integrity of the text. You know, one thing I have avoided entirely, for those of you who know about the documentary hypothesis, which scholars— oh, I didn't put on my kippah. Thank you for reminding me. Scholars, scholars, generally secular scholars generally agree that there is a— that there are certain documents that compose the Torah, specifically Jehovah Elohim, Deuteronomy, JPD, and Priestly. At any rate, I have avoided that entirely because if it's true, it doesn't bear on the meaning that, that I care about. And if it's not true, it certainly doesn't matter. So that is not the sort of thing that interests me. But if you do believe it, if you do subscribe to the documentary hypothesis, one thing you do have to acknowledge is that whoever edited it, and they called him R, redactor, editor, was, was was a genius in being able to interweave different traditions into, uh, the, uh, Genesis text or the Torah text generally. And I am now gonna tell you something that Sarna points out, which shows this extraordinary ability between chapters 42 and 45. The word silver is mentioned 20 times.

Times.

The brothers sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. It cannot be a coincidence, obviously. And what is the point here? As the point is constantly made in the Book of Genesis, things come around. Isn't it incredible? They sold him for 20 pieces of silver. Now silver plays a role in their own enslavement. And in making them confront what they had done. 20 there, 20 here. It's, it's like almost a seamless web has been, has been made in the Torah story, whether it's the redactor, God, Moses, or whatever you wish to believe. I have not entered that particular issue. Now he puts the silver goblet. The silver goblet acts, has importance, and I'll tell you what it is. Verse 3. With the first light of morning, the men were sent off with their pack animals. That's the brothers. They had just left the city and had not gone far when Joseph said to his steward, up, go after the men. And when you overtake them, say to them, why did you repay good with evil? It is the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination. It was a wicked thing for you to do. Remember, they are now being blamed for stealing the silver goblet of Joseph. Now, this is a very interesting thing about the importance of the silver goblet. This is not just any goblet. And on this I have to, uh, read to you from another book yet, a book on Genesis by Bruce Vauter, who, uh, points out an interesting thing. This goblet was— is claimed here by Joseph to be used for his purposes of divination. To be able to divine things. Now, it's very interesting because the Torah later powerfully prohibits divination among Jews. It is considered a pagan practice that Jews may not do, specifically tell the future. You cannot, you cannot do that in Judaism. It is prohibited by the Torah. It is considered to be a pagan, one of the pagan rites that should not be done. Now let me read to you about the goblet and what they used to do with it in Egypt. From verses 5 and 15, we learned that Joseph was practiced in divination, cuz he mentions it again when he accuses the brothers about it. He mentions that this goblet was used for divination. The silver goblet was employed for this purpose in addition to its being apparently his favorite table cup. Perhaps divination was thought to go with the office which Joseph held. Or perhaps a talent of this kind was simply part of the common tradition by which he was remembered. Joseph is an interpreter of dreams, and dream reading is another form of divination. The goblet would indicate that what is in question here is water divination. This will just give you an insight, among other things, not only into ancient life, but how ancient the Torah text is, because we did not know of this stuff until modern archaeology. The only way the Torah could know of this is if the Torah story is contemporaneous with the event being described. That is how old our Torah story is. Water divination was widespread in the ancient Near East, where it assumed various forms. Water in the cup might be mixed with a few drops of oil, and the resulting configuration on its surface would be read for its significance. Or the shimmering surface itself might be read as one reads a crystal ball, or it might be the pattern of drops that fell from the goblet when it was upended or tilted in pouring that provided the means of augury, of fortune-telling. The biblical author records, he does not judge Joseph's capacity as a diviner despite the fact As I pointed out that Israelite law repudiated divination as a heathen superstition and a crime punishable by death. Leviticus 19:31, 26, and Deuteronomy 18:10-11. So in other words, the cup that, uh, he plants in one of the, uh, in, in Benjamin's, uh, pack is a cup of extreme significance and the silver is greatly, uh, valued. What verse are we up to? 5, actually. It is the very one. Oh, you're right. 6. He overtook them. This is the steward going at Joseph's orders, overtook the brothers and spoke those words to them. And they said to him, why does my lord say such things? These poor brothers by now, remember the first time they're accused, they're accused of being spies. They have to go back and leave a brother behind. I mean, they really are going through the gauntlet here. If anybody has paid for a sin, the brothers have definitely by now paid for their sin vis-à-vis Joseph. But it is all— if you don't take a cynical view, a cynical view would be that Joseph is playing with them like a cat plays with mice. That's the cynical view. By the way, I would not be surprised if there is a little of that. Joseph would not be human if in no way whatsoever he wanted to get back at his brothers. And show the power he had over them. It would've been a— think about it for a moment. Can you imagine if the brothers had come and the first time the brothers had come to Joseph, he'd go, oh, my darling brothers, I've missed you so much. I'm your brother. Nothing would've been learned by the brothers, and Joseph would've never assumed that they had done any penitence, that they had changed in any way. There would be no storing. There'd be no lesson learned and you wouldn't do it either. If you had been sold into slavery by your siblings, then became a king as it were, and they showed up the first time you saw them, you wouldn't go, ah, all's well, how you been? It could not have happened. So I don't have a problem in both that he had a brilliant scenario to figure out were they really new, new people, better people. And he was playing with them because of some degree of anger and working it out. Okay. Remember Prager's Law of the Conservation of Anger. It is, I have a law and it is this, when you get angry, you have to express it. And if you don't express it at those who made you angry, you'll express it at those who don't make you angry. And it is always best to express it at those who do make you angry cuz it's not fair to the others. If the boss mistreats you at work and you come home and kick the dog, It's not fair to the dog. The dog, if he could speak, would say, it's not fair. You should kick the boss. Then you'll be fired and we'll have no, uh, food for me. So you might as well kick me. I'm actually, now that I think of it, it's a very tough issue.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Many believers go through seasons when God feels distant or silent. If you've ever wondered why your prayers feel unanswered, You are not alone, and you're not without hope. Bible League International has created a free devotional called What to Do When God Seems Silent: A 7-Day Journey of Faith, Hope, and Healing. Through scripture, reflection, and encouragement, this devotional helps you understand how God is still working even in the quiet seasons of faith. It gently reminds us that God's presence isn't based on what we feel, but on the truth of his word. Bible League's mission is to equip the under-resourced church to make disciples, transforming lives through God's word. And today you can receive this devotional completely free. Just text STUDY to 94878. That's STUDY to 94878 to download What to Do When God Seems Silent.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Okay, uh, we are at verse, uh, let's see, why does my lord, uh, yes, okay, no, all, yeah, 7. And they said to him, that is the brother said to him, why does my lord say such things? How could we be accused of taking this most important goblet of this, of the vizier of Egypt? Of this, uh, of this man. Far be it from your servants to do anything of the kind. And now we may make a very good argument how it'd be impossible. They would be idiots to have stolen it. Here we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. Remember, they got away with that quote unquote theft, correct? Now, why would somebody be a thief, returns you money you didn't know he stole in order to steal less money? Right? I mean, it's absurd. It's an actual absurdity. Whereas the Talmud says, 'Eh kal v'chomer.' If I'm not gonna steal all that money, I'm certainly not going to steal less money. Okay? So that we found out, how then could we have stolen any silver or gold from your master's house? Which, now listen to this, whichever of your servants it is found with shall die. The rest of us moreover shall become slaves to my lord. The brothers were known for big promises in case they were caught lying, as you may know, right? From Reuben's earlier one, I'll kill my sons if I don't bring Benjamin back. Now you'll kill, we'll kill him and the rest of us will go into slavery. You know, it's, it's, that's very dramatic sorts of promises, but they had every right to do so. They hardly thought any of the brothers had stolen the silver goblet of Joseph. He replied, although what you are proposing is right, only the one with whom it is found. It's clearly a game that he was instructed by Joseph to play. Again, it's to isolate the question, what will you do with your youngest now?

Right?

You were bad to your youngest before. How do you treat your youngest now? That's what all these tests are about. Will you go back for Benjamin to bring him here? And how will you treat him? Now I'm gonna see. So the assistant, the steward to Joseph, is part of the game and says, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want any of you. I don't want any of you to be dead. Notice he doesn't accept the death thing. He wants a replica of what happened to Joseph. Sold into slavery. You see, not death, but sold into slavery. Only the one with whom it is found shall be my slave. That way, They're all off the hook. And if they're the same as they were with Joseph, they might say, oh, big deal. So Benjamin will be a slave, but the rest of you shall go free. Verse 11. So each one hastened to lower his bag to the ground, and each one opened the bag. He searched beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the goblet turned up in Benjamin's bag. Can you imagine their feeling? I mean, they had to go, I give up, I can't take this anymore. I mean, right? I mean, they didn't take anything. The poor guys just went to Egypt to get food on trip one. They, and they keep finding valuables in their bags that they never took. I mean, you, I really, at this point, you have to start feeling bad for the brothers. So they go, you know, at, at this, they rent their clothes. Which is exactly what Jacob did upon, upon his, uh, learning about Joseph. Each reloaded his pack animal and they returned to the city. When Judah and his brothers reentered the house of Joseph, who was still there, they threw themselves on the ground before him. Joseph said to them, what is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me practices divination? In other words, you've taken my most important cup. And by the way, it's a very interesting thing. You do wonder from this— I have not seen a particular amount of commentary on this— how Egyptianized did Joseph become? I mean, this gives you an idea that the answer is he became somewhat Egyptianized. This is— I mean, this is— it's almost like, you know, he would've said to the brothers, let's see, what can I think of? You know, oh yeah, please join me in bowing down to some of our idols. I mean, that divination is, as I said, very proscribed, prohibited by the Torah. So by the way, this too, incidentally, it's, excuse me one second, this too is an interesting point on another account. I think this argues again for the authenticity of the text. If this was written by later Jews trying to make Joseph into a great Jew, after all, he is called in Jewish tradition, Yosef HaTzadik, the Joseph the, the righteous, then they never would've had him claim that he's a diviner. It's almost as if he'd say, did you take my pigs? That's my favorite food. You see? Now think about it. I mean, and this is much worse than that. Much worse than that. And so it's an interesting thing he is acknowledging. Is this directly to that? Yes.

What if that was a ruse though, just as a cover, not to give away that he was an Arab? Maybe he was just denying.

Might it have been a ruse in order to reconfirm to the brothers, I'm Egyptian? If there was the slightest reason to suspect that the brothers suspected he wasn't, I think your point would be well taken. We have no reason to assume they think the head of Egypt is their brother Joseph. I think it's the last thing that occurs to them. I think what we have here— you know what, I'm always afraid of this. Please write it down. I promise to stop after the chapter.

Okay.

But please do write it down, because a lot of times you folks forget the questions you want to ask. I think that this argues forcefully for the authenticity of the text not for later reconstruction to point out something. And it also shows you the battle of Judaism to Judaize Jews. If, if Joseph is this deeply affected by Egypt in a few years, how much more so will the Jews as slaves be in hundreds of years? You see, so the, the monotheizing, the elevating of the Jews to monotheism, is a very prolonged struggle As we know later from all the relapses of Jews into idol worship and other pagan practices, it is in fact, I mean, from my perspective, an, a, a daily battle in all people's lives, whether they will be the revert to paganism, which I think is much more natural than monotheism, which is a struggle. At any rate, twice he speaks to them as being a diviner. We are up to verse Thank you.

16.

Judah replied, what can we say to my lord? His very human reaction here of Judah. And very, you know, it's exact. If you wrote a play today, these are the words you would use. How can we plead? How can we prove our innocence? He's right. What are you going to do?

It's—

we're caught with it. What am I going to tell you? God, now though, he says, there's only one explanation. Judah, in effect, says God has uncovered the crime of your servants. Now, what does he mean? The crime of stealing the goblet? How could he confess to a crime he never did? At this point, I think, are the first uttered words about, you know what? Or at least to Joseph, we are caught for our real crime, and that is the selling of our youngest brother, our previous youngest brother, to slavery. Or killing him, actually, because that they assumed they didn't know exactly what had happened to him. God has uncovered. God has uncovered the crime of your servants. Here we are then, slaves of my lord, the rest of us as much as he in whose possession the goblet was found. Now notice he could have gotten away and said, oh my God, it's terrible for our youngest Benjamin. No, because that what the steward said, he had promised that we'll all be slaves. And in fact, please write it down. And in fact, uh, he, uh, he says, no, we are all your slaves. Notice though that he didn't remind them of the bigger oath that that one will be killed. Notice that that one has gone into Orwellian memory hole. It is very interesting how that is not repeated by anybody. Oh, what killed? Who said anything about killed? But, uh, he replied, far be it from me to act thus. This is Joseph replying. Only he in whose possession the goblet was found shall be my slave. Isolating the whole issue. What will you guys do now to save your skin? Because of the, of, again, the favored child, the brothers. Remember, and all of this, remember the brothers had reason to resent Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob was not an egalitarian father. He was a poor parent emotionally. He clearly favored the two sons of Rachel. And so, uh, they— he is trying to see, have you guys risen above your envy of the sibling that is most favored? I'm isolating it to Benjamin. Only he in whose possession the goblet was found shall be my slave. The rest of you go back in peace to your father. Okay, then in what I must tell you, many commentators, non-Jewish, Jewish, consider one of the most eloquent pleas in literature now takes place.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Verse 18, in the beginning of the Hebrew portion of Vayigash. Then Judah went up to him and said, please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord and do not be impatient with your servant. He uses the word servant, which is the same in Hebrew as slave. In this plea 13 times to make his position clear to Joseph. He also speaks about the father, uses that word Jacob 14 times. He uses two basic things in repetition. We are your servants and please feel pity on our father. Father is mentioned 14 times. Slave or servant is mentioned 13 times in this appeal. My lord asked his servants, have you a father or another brother? You see, this is what he's building his part of his, part of his case on. We told my lord, that's you, Joseph, we have an old father and there is a child of his old age, the youngest. His full brother is dead. Although in Hebrew it, it just says his brother is dead. I don't know why they added the word full. At most, it should have been in parentheses. The Hebrew is v'yachiv me'et, and his brother is dead, so that he, he alone is left of his mother and his father dotes on him. Now, one second, because this is a touching thing. Well, actually, it'll get to 27 and you'll see. I want to repeat that his brother is dead. Who's the brother?

Right.

Okay, you're with me.

Great.

Joseph, his brother, parentheses, Joseph is dead. So he alone, that is Benjamin alone, is left of his mother Rachel, and his father dotes on him. It's— you see again how that thing comes up. This time, however, it is not done so much because we're angry, but to say, have pity on the father. He dotes on this one child that's left of that woman. Of that mother. Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me.

He—

Judah is recapitulating the events that brought them to this miserable spot here. Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me that I may set eyes on him. We said to my lord, the boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave him, his father would die. But you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, Don't let me see your faces. When we came back to your servant my father, we reported my lord's words to him. Later our father said, 'Go back and procure some food for us.' We answered, 'We can't go down; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go down, for we may not show our faces to the man unless our youngest brother is with us.' Your servant my father said to us, As you know, my wife bore me two sons now, but one is gone from me. And I said, alas, he will get to that in a moment. But one is gone from me. Listen to that sentence again. Look at the way he's recapitulating Judah. My father said to us, as you know, my wife bore me two sons, but one is gone from me. Now, folks, this is There's, first of all, this was never recounted in the Torah story. When Judah met, when, excuse me, when Jacob met with his sons on their return from the first trip to Egypt, this dialogue never took place. This is completely inserted here by Judah, and it is done again to evoke pity from Joseph for Jacob. It is also, though, when you think about it, it evokes pity for the brothers. I mean, who were they born to if not wives of this man? It's very sad that the brothers would walk around with that view of themselves. I mean, look at it again. My wife. What do you mean wife? What about wives? Right? Like Leah. It's a very sad thing that they had this self-image. There's a lot of pathos about the brothers here, and this is an example of it. Now, the question is, did Jacob really say this? We have no, obviously have no way of knowing. Did Jacob really say this or not? The fact is that whether he did or not, well, let me read to you what Nehama Leibovitch brings in about this. It's a very interesting Uh, verse. This is what she writes. Judah here reported a conversation between his father and his 10 children that we have no record of in the Torah. Moreover, it is inconceivable that Jacob should have uttered in the presence of his 10 sons, the children of Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah, such words as You know that my wife bore me two sons. Who are you? How could Jacob have described Rachel to the children of his other wives as his wife? Had he not been punished enough for showing favoritism to his son Joseph? Presumably, therefore, Jacob had not uttered these words. Judah had added them for effect in order to arouse the compassion of the Egyptian governor. He was taking the only son left by the only woman Jacob regarded as his wife. Even if Jacob had not uttered these words, Judah was giving a faithful picture of his father's feelings, which is very, very sad for the kids. I mean, it's not so sad about from which woman you came. It's sad that it mattered that much to the father. That's the point. I mean, a parent can love children who came from, you know, who knows from whom. The question, the point here is that Jacob didn't. The point is that Jacob loved the children of Rachel more than all the others. And so whether he said it or not, and it would be, I doubt if he would've said it. I mean, that degree of callousness is difficult to attribute to Jacob. It was inserted, as she points out, to evoke more compassion for him. And I might add, subconsciously for the brothers, it would be, it would you, and it had to have had an impact on Joseph. You know what? I never realized the favoritism. I mean, he's a grown man now, Joseph, and all of a sudden it's dawning on him. My God, you guys have been a real victim in a, in, in this family. Only my brother. Benjamin and I will really love. That's what they're saying to him. Not, of course, knowing in any possible way that this is Joseph. It had to have an effect on Joseph hearing this about his brothers at that age. When you're an adult, you understand very especially. He's now, he's now a father. You understand. Oh my God, you guys were pained. Not only I, I was obviously pained in a pit. But you were pained in a different way. So that's a very powerful statement, that verse, verse 27. Verse 28, verse 27. Your servant, my father, said to us, as you know, my wife bore me two sons, 28, but one is gone from me. And I said, alas, he was torn by a beast and I have not seen him since. According to, as Hertz puts it, This is the first time Joseph learns how he was reported to have died and what happened to him. He never knew. Why did the brothers report to dad when they came back without me? And now he's finding out what in fact was believed, or what at least was believed by Jacob, right? Because the brothers knew they had dipped in the coat into the, into the, uh, into the blood. If you take this one from me too, and he meets with disaster, this is still quoting Jacob to Joseph. You will send my white head down to Sheol. Remember the underworld in sorrow.

30.

Now if I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, since his own life is so bound up with his, when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. This is Judah continuing his plea. If you do not let this boy go, our father will die, and your servants will send the white head of your servant, our father— notice again how many times servant and father are used— down to Sheol in grief. Now your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father, saying, if I do not bring him back to you, I shall stand guilty before my father forever. Therefore, Please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father. Is that powerful or is that powerful? You have your choice. Now, a very interesting thing. Remember how many times now I have shown you where what happens, what comes around, what goes around comes around? What, what did Judah offer himself to be? Slave. Please turn to Genesis 37:26. It's, it's actually eerie how seamless the web is. Genesis 37:26. This is when Joseph is in the pit and the brothers are having a meal together. You will recall, 26, then Judah said to his brothers, what do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites. The brother who advocated selling Joseph as a slave now offers himself to be the slave of his brother.

Woo.

Incredible, isn't it? It, it's just, it's a sort, it's chilling to me, uh, how again the stuff comes around. Uh, let me read to you Sarna here. The one, uh, well, here he is. It's exactly what he says. Okay. Uh, Judah has learned the meaning of brotherhood. This is me. And of responsibility. Family responsibility does not come naturally. It too must be learned. Judah is the archetypical penitent and one who has learned from his errors and sins. Judah has changed. Judah understands now, I have responsibility to my brother. Favorite schmavorite. I have responsibility as an older brother to a younger brother. I have a responsibility to a brother, period. You know, it's very interesting. What is the purpose of family? It's an interesting question. What is the purpose of family? There, of course, people will have all sorts of answers, you know, haven in a heartless world and all sorts of things. I would argue that there are many, but one that I want to focus on here, at least insofar as the siblings are concerned, not parents, is that that is where you work out the ability to deal with the world. After all, that is your world when you're growing up. That is how you start to learn, for example, not to be selfish. Uh, will you please share the toy with your little sister? You have 76 cookies. Why are you eating all of them? Did you ever see little kids hoard? It's, it's, it's incredible to watch. They will take all 22 cookies.

Mm-hmm.

And they don't even eat 'em cuz the cookies weigh more than the kid does. But if one other kid wants a cookie, they, they, they run away with the entire batch. How do you ever learn to share? How do you learn you're not the center of the universe? One way in which you can, not everybody does, is by how you work out things with your siblings. That's one of the advantages, or at least so it is theoretically, of a large family, not for forgetting parents entirely, talking about just the children, just the siblings. That's the community you work things out. And the truth is, if you can work things out with siblings, you are ahead of everybody. Because it is much harder to work things out with siblings than it is with strangers. I mean, that, that's the joke of it. I've always found it one of the most bizarre things where you have close friends and they will say, let's say two guys are very close friends. Say, oh, I love him like a brother. Give me a break. How many brothers love each other like friends love each other? Are you kidding? What, one out of a hundred?

It is.

It, you should have it the other way. If brothers are close, they should go, I love him like a friend. That would make sense. I love her, you know, not like a sister. Sisters and sisters have it sometimes, at least, you know, like when they reach their seventies, then all of a sudden, eh, maybe we can work things out, darling. That, you know, I mean, but give me it. Certainly not as kids. That's my dress. I mean, that is, sisters are notorious. She's gonna wear my clothing again. Are you kidding? And, and so it's, it's, it's part of the process. Judah has learned, hey, wait a minute, I have to take care of younger brothers. The issue is not do I love Benjamin? It isn't do I resent Benjamin? It's what are my responsibilities? And it's true for parenting. The question isn't whether Jacob loves his kids equally. That's between him and his own heart. The question is, do you show it to your kids? That's wrong. I mean, it's an old age-old philosophical unspoken issue. Do parents love all their kids equally? Some do. Some don't, or at least some will love them all equally, but clearly like some more than others, which makes perfect sense. Some kids are more likable. Obviously, if your kid brings you a lot of joy and the other kid is in jail all the time, there's a very good chance the former is more likable. You are hardly bizarre. I mean, so it, there are responsibilities though that are inherent to family. And that apparently is what Judah has picked up here. He is also a penitent. I see God knows our crime. I deserve to be a slave is almost what he's saying. Not only do I owe my dad to get Benjamin back to him, I deserve to be a slave. I think that that is part of what Judah is even saying to himself. It's pretty clear to me now I'm paying the price. For what happened a while ago in what I advocated be done to our brother Joseph. So you have here a very impressive man. There is a statement in Judaism, bimakom she ba'al tshuva omed, ein tzaddik omed. In the spot on the level that a penitent stands, the most righteous person cannot stand. The highest level in Judaism, by this statement, the highest level of human achievement is by the one who has done bad and truly repented and become beautiful, rather than the one who is always beautiful. To have sunk and then to have risen is the highest madrega, the highest level that the human can reach. Judah is, as I wrote here, an archetype of that. Sells his brother into slavery and now reaches the point where he says, no, I will go into slavery rather than my brother. That's a big turnaround in life, and it's very impressive. By the way, it is Judah, after all, after whom Jews are named. We're not Benjaminites or Josephites. Or Reubenites were Judah's Jews. So it's a, you know, they're, they're, it's named after, as it were, this tribe started by this son who reached an extraordinary level.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Uh, chapter 45. The, uh, the drama is, uh, this plea of Judah is, uh, has to move, uh, Joseph on every level. He sees the suffering of his brothers. He sees that they have passed the test with flying colors. Nobody argues with Judah. Hey Judah, what are you talking about? Let Benjamin be a slave. Nothing. They have changed. He is their brothers. He has played with them enough. They too are in pain. And the truth is, you know, it's a sad, not totally sad, but sad fact of life that we are capable of Loving people much more when we know that they are, that they have pain too. The toughest people to love because they're the toughest to empathize with are those who seem to go through life painlessly. If somebody opens to you about their tsuris, their deep problems, don't you immediately feel closer to them? Unless it's on an airplane. See, When it happens on an airplane, I actually, you know, look for the, the escape door. That's the, then, then it's a bad, it's a, it's somewhat a sadistic thing, but outside of enclosed quarters that cannot be left, in all seriousness, you do immediately, we all do feel closer to someone when they open up. And that is, that is partially because every one of us has pain. And we resent almost the sense, how the hell didn't you get out of pain? I've been in it my whole life, and you walk through life, nothing bugs you. You've had everything for you. That's terrible. That was Joseph's view of his brothers, as it were. Now he goes, wait a minute. What an erroneous view of my brothers. They were in deep pain then. They're in deep pain now over the way they were raised and I was raised. These are people. And so that's one element that immediately moves him. The other is they're penitent. The other is the father. He can't— the father, the father, the father keeps being mentioned. And he's played with them enough. He has gotten the revenge out of his system. In fact, by now, with the plea from Judah, he's probably a little embarrassed at this point. He probably feels Oh, you know, I may have taken— I may have played a game too far. These people are in terrible pain. And indeed, that is what 45 implies, at least emotionally. Chapter 45. Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, have everyone withdraw from me. So there was no one else about. When Joseph made himself known to his brothers. His sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear, and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still well?" But his brothers couldn't answer him, so dumbfounded were they on account of him. And at this point, the brothers, I, my suspicion is, did not believe him. I mean, you know, uh, I got, there was no parallel in any of our lives that I could imagine, except someone you would assume dead a long time ago, who is not only that, but is in a totally different world as one of its heads, and then announces, I am your, I am the one you thought was dead and was your brother. It's, they, there's no possible reaction. So he speaks again. Then Joseph said to his brothers, come forward to me. Now notice, of course, adding some degree of veracity to his claim, there were no interpreters about. Remember, he had spoken through interpreters the whole time to act Egyptian. There was no Egyptian now around him. He's communicating to them in their language. Then Joseph said to his brothers, come forward to me. And when they came forward, he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. I am your brother Joseph is one of the most famous statements, of course, in Western literature, let alone, of course, the Torah. It was incidentally the name, the phrase that Pope John XXIII used when he greeted Jewish leaders. I think it was 1963 when they came to the Vatican and He was, of course, from certainly from a Jewish perspective, one of the giants of history, a man who wanted to atone for millennia of antisemitism that had taken place often at the, at the highest levels of his own church. And he greeted the Jewish leaders, I am your brother Joseph, because that was his baptismal name, Joseph. You can imagine the Jews' reaction. The Pope of the Catholic Church, after thousands of years, comes to a Jewish group and goes, I am your brother Joseph. I may look like a Catholic. I may look like the head, powerful head of another world, but I am really your brother Joseph. That's a very powerful statement. I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, do not be distressed. Can you imagine that? Nah, take it easy, guys. No problem. Or reproach yourselves. His first reaction here is a, is a, is a good one. He says, don't be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither. All right. Now that's very interesting. Don't feel guilty about having sold me here. It was to save life that God sent me ahead of you. I'm gonna talk about that in a moment, but he now explains what it means to save life. God sent me ahead of you. It is now 2 years that there has been famine in the land, and there are still 5 years to come in which there will be no yield from tilling. God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth. And to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. Somehow get into a home of somebody important. The only way was as a slave. How did he get to be a slave? And so on. God's hand is in all of it. Now, this is a very, a very difficult problem, and that for people who take God and religion seriously, if in fact God did it, what responsibility do the brothers have for having done it? Are they guilty at all? See, it's a difficult issue. And I don't, contrary to my general deep desire, I don't have a beautiful answer for you. I think it's a very real dilemma. Did God do it or did the brothers do it? Or is there some mélange of the two? Which is what obviously I would ultimately come to. God wanted him in Egypt. I never had a problem with the concept that God knows the future and free will. I don't have— and a lot of people say, how could there be free will and God know the future? If God knows the future, God knows what you'll do tomorrow, then how do you have free will tomorrow? Right? That's the way the question is posed. I have no problem with that because among other things, I believe God stands outside of time. We even know through Einstein, time is relative anyway. So God stands outside and you do have free will. I'll give it to you in a simplistic way. Not just simple, simplistic. I acknowledge it, but it may help. You are driving on the freeway. You know there's an accident in the other direction, so there's a huge backup of cars, right? You know, as you drive what the future of the drivers on that side is, they're gonna have to stop any moment. Because there is a, uh, an accident. Do they not have free will just because you know they'll stop? Of course they have free will. They could crash theoretically, right? But, but you know what they'll do. You are not God. Now, if you are not God and you know what people do when they still have free will, then clearly God, who is God, can know what you'll do when you still have free will. I don't have a problem with that.

Okay.

What I do have a problem is with this, because this is not where God knows what the brothers will do. The implication is God made the brothers do it. But if God made the brothers do it, then they didn't do something out of free will. Whatever would've happened. Indeed, by the way, in that regard, Christians had, had a similar thing. If I were in the, in the medieval Christian world as a Jew, and they were all yelling at me for being a Christ killer, I would have said— it wouldn't have helped, they would've just gotten angrier. But I would've said on purely logical grounds, if— all right, blame me all you like, but if the Jews didn't kill him, you would have no religion. No, because God sent his only son by classical Christian theology to be killed. I, I, I mean, no sacrilege at all. If he'd have died in a nursing home, this story would be very different. You don't die for people's sins in your sleep. You die for people's sins because you are killed by people doing bad things, sinning. So it's, we're hardly the only religion that has a problem of where do you place blame If God designed it in advance to be a certain way, but it is a problem. God wanted you to send me. God, he tells them, don't reproach yourself. God wanted me to come here. God, God had you do it, as it were. I, I don't have an answer except to say that at extraordinary moments in defining moments of history, perhaps indeed there isn't absolute freedom of will. Perhaps indeed God intervenes at certain times and just makes certain things happen. That's true. And that is probably what the text would want you to see. Not for you to learn that you don't have to act out your life, because if we are to all take this into our own lives as a lesson, then it justifies anything you'll do. Oh, I shot him. It was God's will. But that's absurd. It's a very difficult problem, the God intervening in human affairs issue. See, we all want it. We want God to help a loved one who is sick. And yet, if God does it, it presents a lot of problems to us, because then what does it make us? Are we just sophisticated robots?

This is—

I'll take a comment on this one.

Yes. Um, I don't know, I understand it perhaps that they have the free will whether or not to sell themselves. They chose to sell themselves in front of Pharaoh. If they had chosen not to, it was God's will that it was for them to be in Egypt anyway. If it had not that way, then they decided not to sell, they would have ended up another way, maybe even better way. And history would have been changed, obviously, maybe not was so changed. And that brings us to free will.

Fine.

I think that that is a— does anybody have a problem with his solution? His solution is God designed that Joseph would end up in Egypt to save them. Okay. But didn't design the manner. That's what you're saying in which he would end up in Egypt so that the brothers did have free will. And, but so that But then Joseph is being very generous in saying, don't reproach yourselves for selling me into slavery. Because if in fact you're right, he could have said, you know, God would've had a much more comfortable way for me to end up in Egypt.

He doesn't know. He doesn't, he does not know all the honor.

Well, right. But, Well, that's a separate issue whether he's a know-all or be-all or what. The fact of the matter is either he holds them responsible or he doesn't hold them responsible unless he's being super magnanimous, which he might be. That I, I acknowledge that he, he is saying you are not responsible. Now that I see what's happened, that I, the child of Israel, ended up here to save you, I clearly see the hand of God here. That's what he's really saying, I think. And in which case, the selling seems to have been a divine plan. I like your idea. It's just, no, I just don't think that's what Joseph is saying. Unless, which is really possible, he's just being magnanimous. Listen, I don't know how I would've ended up here, but I had to be here. That was God's plan. And, and it just worked out that this is the way it would be.

Yes. But he's known before this. And that he was there to save them, or that he's done that act, and he's still been treating them the way he has, and with some vindictiveness. Yeah. So therefore, maybe he is being magnanimous.

Yes, he might be magnanimous because of the vindictiveness, is what you're saying. Anyway, all I want to do is raise it. It's a tough issue. The rabbis in Judaism, by the way, make it even tougher in some way. They hold that the destruction, for example, of the two temples The greatest catastrophes in Jewish history, not just because theologically the temple was destroyed, massive amount of torture and rape and death among Jews. Massive. I mean, almost Holocaustian proportions, though not in numbers because there weren't that many Jews like in Europe, but in proportion. And they argue that, umi p'nei chata'enu galinu me'artzenu, because of our sins, we were exiled from our land. Well then, Were the Greek and Roman conquerors acting out God's will? In which case, do you blame them? See, these are problems. I mean, they may be solved. We would've been exiled anyway, but they still had freedom of choice into whether or not they'd do it. Maybe, maybe not. Did you have your hand up?

Yes. Yeah. I just, it seems that there's no one that probably made them evil enough to be capable of doing that again.

Like it seems that God would've, that It seemed—

had to make them evil enough—

that God had to make them evil enough in order to do it. No, I think that I don't see as a problem. I— well, you're right. Well, I see if in fact they would not have done it without God's plan, then God made them worse, which really, which really would make— would see it as a problem. All right. Resolve it as you will. I think your magnanimity idea is probably the best. That, look, I had to end up here, and whatever road would be taken would be taken, would probably be the best. But it is a problematic one, the hand of God. However, let me just tell you this. If you have problems with the contradictions of freedom of will in the Torah, please understand that secular life presents its own list of things that they, that are argued are against freedom of will. And I just made a little list. Genes, environment, parents, health. Are, are, you know, is our freedom of will not circumscribed? Folks, if I had wanted to be a track star, nothing would've done it. I could not have done it with all the work in the world. I was given the feet of a talk show host. That is the way. No, that is exactly what my podiatrist told me a couple of years ago. I am in the perfect profession for the feet that I have. Okay? I don't have the freedom to run as fast as others will run. You don't have the freedom to do a million things, and neither do I. Of course, our freedoms are circumscribed. It is a fact of life. But I want to tell you what is even more remarkable. And I wish this was my point, but it's not. I learned this from Lev Shestov and, and I forgot his book. Uh, and, uh, a Russian, I believe Russian Jewish philosopher. And he noted that the only possible way to believe that people have any freedom of choice is to believe in God. A purely secular view of humanity ultimately argues that you have no freedom. And he's right. Let me ask you a simple question. Assume that you have no soul, cuz the God issue implies a soul or something beyond the physical. Other than genes and environment, why do people do anything? If, I don't know, you signed up to take this course, why did you sign up to take this course? Because you wanted to learn, you wanted to study with me the book of Genesis. You wanted to study the book of me for Genesis because this is the reason, this is the reason. Until you go back and back, why you and not somebody else? Well, you were raised in such a way that you have intellectual curiosity about biblical stuff or whatever it might be. Ultimately, why do we do anything if there is nothing in us that's, that can transcend genes and environment? His argument is only a religious worldview, only a religious perspective on life actually posits that there is freedom. So I just want you to know, with all our problems of God's will and so on, the truth is one of the reasons that I did come to religion was this argument. I do believe we have some freedom. I don't believe that everything we do is the product of genes and environment, and we are only sophisticated computers. I do believe there is a Dennis that is more than the sum of its parts of genes and environment. Okay? And I suspect that most of you believe that about you, that you are more than just the inputs in you, the physical and the environmental inputs in you. But what is that? Who is the you? Who is Jerry? Is there a you that is beyond that? And, and, and if you hold that, it's a religious conviction because it's an act of faith. You can't show it, you can't measure it, you can't prove it, you can't demonstrate it, you can't put it in a test tube. So this whole thing is a difficult thing for whether you're secular, where I think it's impossible to hold we have ultimate freedom of choice. And by the way, that is why the more secular the society, the less the people are likely to blame criminals. Because if ultimately all we are is the product of genes and heredity, uh, heredity and environment, then it's really not right to blame a rapist. It's really not right to blame a serial murderer. And I, and I mean this with no putdown. I reject it, but I mean it I don't mean it. I'm not arguing here. I'm describing, not arguing. Unless you hold that in some way, there really is a freedom of choice in the individual, then how do you blame anybody? And indeed, we are living in a blame-free thing. That's in the final analysis. Our secularized Western world produced the jury that can't hold the Menendez boys guilty. If, if you have X input, you're gonna get Y output. That's the way the human is. You grow up with these parents, then you, then you murder them. It's just, that's the way it works. And that is why, by the way, I, well, we'll come to you in a moment. That is why it tends to be the more religious in society. Who are the most advocative of punish— punishing criminals. It's not a coincidence. It's probably never been explained to you this way because a lot of religious people themselves don't realize why they feel this way. And a lot of secular people don't realize why they feel the other way. But they're both acting out what in fact is the philosophy of their culture. A religious person in the Judeo-Christian culture holds that people tend to be responsible for their behavior. The more educated you are at a secular university, the more likely you are to believe that's not so. We are really the product of psychological, environmental, and hereditary forces, and therefore cannot be blamed for what we do. Of course, my big challenge, among my big challenges to people who say that is, if you don't blame people for the bad they do, then you cannot give them credit for the good they do. And then all of a sudden they get very upset. You see, if you don't blame the Menendez brothers for what they did, then you cannot give Mother Teresa credit for what she does. She is just a product of heredity and environment, just as the Menendez brothers are.

I know, but that—

she can't help herself. That is exactly right. That is exactly right. But there is something in you that argue, wait, wait, this is absurd. We're getting crazy here. You're not gonna give good people credit for what they do. When I was, when I directed a college institute, college students would constantly argue that you cannot give, you cannot say that anybody does anything for anything other than self-interest reasons. So there really aren't any good people. There were no good people and there were no bad people. Bad people are products of heredity and environment. Good people are also products of that, or at least of calculated self-interest. And that's a very dehumanizing idea in my opinion. Yes.

Why Mr. Prager would accept the moral issue on Joseph Addison's side? And I guess I'm a little confused because you're saying they're not responsible or may not be if you take it off. That takes away their moral law, which no discipline—

Well, exactly. No. Well, you're recapitulating my original dilemma. Yes, I will repeat it. She's recapitulating. She said if God did it and not the brothers, then you're taking away their moral freedom. That's right. That's why I said Joseph's reaction, if taken literally, presents that problem. I think our best solution will be, the more I think about it, the magnanimity of Joseph, that I don't think he means it literally, because if he does mean it literally, they are not culpable, which I also explain may then be on rare occasions we are not culpable. God simply uses us as a vehicle. That is possible. Okay? If you're the children of Israel, literally, and the fate of, of the monotheistic idea rides on your family, God will intervene. That, and that is what the Torah is saying. It is not saying it's true for anybody else, otherwise it wouldn't punish criminals. It would just say, hey, they're doing God's will.

Is it possible that God's will is such as to find a vehicle, a weak character that coincides what is what God's will is?

Is it possible, this man asks, that God simply finds the weak character to, to utilize, to manifest or express the bad that God needs to be done? Well, it's possible, but everything's possible, you know, in that sense. It's a dilemma and I want you to just be aware of it. It's a dilemma that confronts truly religious people, but I want you to understand that truly secular people have a worse dilemma. That was really what this was all about. I resolve it with really this statement from Judaism, Hakobi de Shamayim, chutzmiyadat shamayim. Everything is in God's hands except one thing, whether or not you fear God. In other words, Everything is predetermined in some way. Genetic environment, God's hands, whatever, except one thing, good and evil. In the moral arena, there is choice. I actually predicate my whole life's work on that belief. Ladies and gentlemen, to be, to be personal for a moment, I wouldn't, I would never do the work I do, which in my belief at any rate, is to hope moral improvement of people. If I didn't think people had freedom of choice to choose it, it'd be, I would go into photography and live, you know, and live with penguins who, who would be less likely to hurt me. I mean, the, the whole belief that people can change, that people can be penitent for that matter, is that there is freedom of choice in the moral sphere, but there isn't much else. There isn't that much other freedom. That is true. And we need to be sobered by that. In, you are circumscribed in so many ways, physically, psychologically, and so on. Now, I think it's possible to make heroic efforts and even go beyond that. I think it's a very unwise idea to just see yourself. This is the way my parents made me and I am finished till I die. I think it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. One must liberate oneself from one's parents at a, at a given point, and better earlier than later. And I mean liberate in the best sense. Not that your parents were horrific, but that you have to become an independent human being. There is no parent in history that could not make errors. As I've often said, a perfect parent will certainly drive a child to a psychiatrist. So you are, you literally, the moment you become a parent, you are, you will do some hurt to your child. It cannot be otherwise. Because if you're perfect, would you like to be the child of a perfect parent? What a burden. Who wants that? I mean, that alone will send you for years into psychiatry. All right. So it's, it's, it's, it's a, the, the day your child is born, you have placed burdens on it as a result of who you are, the best parent on earth. All right. Anyway, I believe in moral freedom. That is what Judaism believes in. The rest is circumscribed. That, that is the one. If that is not there, all human endeavor is pointless. I mean, let's be honest, if Hitler is not responsible for what he did and Mother Teresa is not responsible for what she does, then we might as well punt. Then why try any self-improvement? The very notion of self-improvement, the very notion of penitence implies freedom of choice. I now choose to redeem my nature. Okay, I must finish this chapter, so hold your questions, please. What verse are we up to? Thank you. You're very good at that. I appreciate it.

I watch you like a hawk.

You do. I tell you, I can never read one verse twice.

That's your brother? My brother's keeper.

My brother's keeper. Now hurry back to my father. This is Joseph continuing his response to Judah and the brothers. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. You will dwell in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me, you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks and herds and all that is yours. There I will provide for you. For there are yet 5 years of famine to come, that you and your household and all that is yours may not suffer want. You can see for yourselves and my brother Benjamin for himself. Isn't that interesting how he isolates him as my brother again? It's, it's a problem. It's almost like Joseph and his siblings, you know, it shouldn't even be Joseph and his brothers. And my brother Benjamin for himself, that it is indeed I who am speaking to you. And you must tell my father everything about my high station in Egypt and all that you have seen. Bring my father nachetz. And bring my father here with all speed. With that, he embraced his brother Benjamin, see, around the neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. Only then were his brothers able to talk to him. The news reached Pharaoh's palace. Joseph's brothers have come. Pharaoh and his courtiers were pleased, and Pharaoh said to Joseph, just want to see the Hebrew. Uh, yes, it's a very pretty Hebrew. The Hebrew is And the voice went out that was heard in the house of Pharaoh, Lemoor, saying, 'The brothers of Joseph have come.' And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants. It's just the Hebrew is nicer than 'were pleased.' It was a good thing. And doesn't it touch you about Pharaoh and his servants? That's a very touching reaction, isn't it? Not like, hey, what is this? A lot of nepotism here. We're gonna get stuck with this whole group. No. What a lovely thing. This lonely guy here, 'cause he's not really fully Egyptian, has his family. What a nice thing. And it also contrasts powerfully with the Pharaoh later who enslaves the Jews. The great, great line, one of the great incredible lines of the Torah, vayakam el haChadash shalmitzrayim ashalo yadat Yosef. And a new Pharaoh arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. By the way, that is, again, these parallels in Jewish history are rather staggering. When Jews work in the, help establish a group, and then the next generation rejects them. Many Jews feel this, legitimately or not is not the issue. I just want to say that many Jews feel this with regard to some Black Americans where Jews had played, or some of the Black leadership where Jews had played an instrumental role in founding the NAACP. And then the NAACP finds it very difficult to feel positively about Jews and to feel very negatively about some antisemitic currents, legitimate or not as a perception. It is the sort of thing almost. And there arose a new leader of the NAACP who did not know Rabbi so-and-so. You see, it's almost that sort of thing. Not to say the Jews are completely, you know, wonderful or anything like that. Just that you have in history very interesting parallels in Jewish life. And this is— this, this Pharaoh is just a sweetie pie, obviously, at least with regard to Joseph and his brothers. 17. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, say to your brothers, do as follows. Load up your beasts and go at once to the land of Canaan. Take your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will live off the fat of the land. And you are bidden to add, do as follows: take from the land of Egypt wagons for your children and your wives, and bring your father here, and never mind your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt shall be yours. The sons of Israel did so. Joseph, uh, where am I? Yes, Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey. To each of them, moreover, he gave a change of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver. I'll tell you this, maybe the brothers learned, but Joseph didn't in this regard. It's really, it's sad, isn't it? And several changes of clothing. It really is a recurring pattern. It's painful, yes?

You say it's sad, but isn't it a mere reality that sometimes in families you find siblings that would choose his friends, where you find others who would not choose them?

Yeah, he said, I said it's sad, but isn't it a reality that there will be siblings who will prefer some siblings to others? Yes, that is a reality. But circumstances have to dictate certain behavior. When you have a family get-together, it shouldn't be the one you hug alone and give a lot of money to. You know, maybe on the side, you know, let's have coffee after the family get-together. That's totally understandable.

Benjamin, Benjamin, why don't you name him Benjamin? He's a little boy.

I don't know how little Benjamin was actually. It's a good question. I don't know. I would love to figure out and say somebody, maybe that's homework assignment for June. Tell me how old Benjamin was. And to his father he sent the following: 10 he-asses. I like prefer he-donkeys laden with the best things of Egypt, and 10 she-donkeys laden with grain, bread, and provisions for his father on the journey. They also sent chicken soup and knedla. As he sent his brothers off on their way, he told them, he told them, and it says here, do not be quarrelsome on the way. Well, let's hear the, what other Do not be what on the way? What do you have in your other? Do not be agitated.

What else? What? Fall not out.

Fall not out? Fall not out.

Get that guy out. Don't cause any problems. Don't make trouble.

That's not what you have. You made that up. Yes. That has fall not out? Fall not out. And then they looked at Joseph and said, what? Uh, right. What do you have? Oh, no recriminations. Okay. The, uh, the Hebrew here, gezu, is, reges is anger, uh, tension. Do not have anger and tension.

Huh?

Yeah. I said it has quarrel here too. Yeah. This was, do not be quarrelsome. The point is, he's telling them to calm down, basically. Don't get on each other about anything. Don't yell at anybody. You sold Joseph. You did this. Look at what you did. Don't worry. Things will be calm. 25. They went from Egypt, up from Egypt, and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. I mean, can you imagine this scene now? I mean, this, I'm sure on the way they go, guys, how are we going to exactly tell this to Dad? It's really, it's an extraordinary— see, the story is just incredible. I don't know of anything like it in literature because you live it. You live it as it happens. That's why it's so powerful. And they told him, Joseph is still alive. Yes, he's the ruler over the whole land of Egypt. You can imagine they just blurted out, not only is he alive, he rules all of Egypt.

Sure.

His heart went numb for he did not believe them. Exactly. Of course he doesn't believe them. And there is a great line on this. I gotta find it for you. Oh God. Oh yeah, it's great. It's from the Midrash. This is a terrific line. Yeah, I'm not a big Midrash fan all the time, but this is a great one. When the brothers lied and told him Joseph was dead. He believed them when they spoke the truth and said that Joseph was alive. He didn't believe them. This is the punishment of liars. Even when they speak the truth, they are not believed. I get the chills with that because that is exactly the punishment that liars get. Don't have a clue as to when you're telling the truth. Such a great midrash. That is, that is the most fitting punishment. The Torah, the Torah is a book obsessed with justice. If I, I, I must say every culture, every religion has obsession. I would say it, if one were to say, what is Christianity obsessed with normatively? I would say love. Is that fair to Christians here that that would be a good summary? Okay. Is that right? I would say that if you'd say, what is Judaism at its core obsessed with? I, justice. The, the, what it wants is it wants a world of balance. If you lie, you should suffer the consequence, but not one iota more. And what is the perfect consequence for a liar? No one will believe you. That is the literally perfect That is why I can't get into this now. I always defended the notion, not the practice, but the notion of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I have not only— am I not embarrassed by it? I revel in it because among other things, it meant not two eyes for an eye. If you spray paint a car, you shouldn't have torture done to you. You see? You should be punished for spray painting graffiti on a car, but not stripped naked and whipped until you faint and have permanent scars on you. Just 6 times. Exactly. Grown men go into shock after the third. They have doctors to revive you. It is so awful. And I, and I don't have an inherent problem with corporal punishment. It's just for graffiti spray thing, which I can't stand graffiti. But it just doesn't strike me as tit for tat. I don't want that. That issue is not the issue. Obviously the issue is that our society has gone under eye for an eye, basically 10 cents for an eye. Other societies are give me 5 eyes for an eye. Judaism is intoxicated with justice, and that's what the Book of Genesis is about. You cheat, you get cheated. You lie, you don't get believed. You sell into slavery, you end up a slave. You see it now. This doesn't really happen all the time in life, but it is Judaism's dream, as it were. That's the way life— and it often does, by the way. It often does. There are evils for which, by the way, there cannot be. If you murder 5 people, you can't lose your life 5 times. But that is why the Torah is so passionate for capital punishment. As I taught, as I taught in the beginning, the first thing God asks after telling humanity to be fruitful and multiply is capital punishment for murder. It's almost never noted. You'll have to get one of my early tapes on Genesis. I'd love you to see that. People don't realize that as when God creates the world, he orders capital punishment. That is how deep the desire is that you would take a life and keep yours offends the Torah. I won't talk about the Talmud. It offends the Torah. Justice is the intoxicating thing. The prophets, the spokesmen of God said, Zion will be redeemed through what? Not love, not charity, not compassion. Justice. Justice is Judaism's Passion. It has many other passions. That's its biggest, its central one. And that is what goes on here. That's why the Midrash would write this. You lie, perfect punishment. You don't get believed. That's all. You're not getting jailed. You don't get killed. You just don't get believed. So they tell Jacob he's still alive. Not only that, Dad, not only is Joseph alive, but he rules Egypt. And so, you know, as I said to my wife when I read this, and he said, oh yeah, and I'm Napoleon. But it's not exactly what he said, 'cause Napoleon had not been born yet. Just his heart went numb, for he did not believe them. But when they recounted all that Joseph has said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had said to them, uh, and him, what transport? Yeah, this is a bad— when he saw the wagons that had sent— they have a bad translation in the Son of— not sent to them, sent to them.

But Joseph, right?

And him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Enough, said Israel. Now he's back to being Israel because it's now back to the epic of the children of Israel. My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die. One final comment. This is a parent talking. Your son can be emperor of the earth. He is still your kid. It don't matter. He doesn't want to go and get more provisions. He doesn't want to see the ruler of Egypt. My son's alive. I gotta see him. It's so touching. That's the whole story is recounted and the father has one reaction. My son's alive. I gotta see him. That's a parent. The rest of the stuff is very nice. Terrific. He's the head of Egypt, but he's my son. And that is the way it works. And it is a powerful chapter. And I will see you the first week of June. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you.

On tomorrow's Sunday Fireside Chat, Jessica, 28, Arizona.

Hello, Dennis Otto and PragerU staff. Otto, Jessica in Arizona says, hello, I have a quick question regarding relationships, which is this: do you believe in love at first sight, or is that— or that it's more gradual? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much, and I love everything you you guys do.

Thank you.

So you will find this rather interesting, and I, I am very open about my life, so here it goes. I always thought love at first sight was only in movies.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio audio programs and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

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