Question of the Lesson

Week Ending 27th June 2003

Shlomo Itzchak, Yoav,
Rivka and Nir Elchanan

for their discussion on:

Bereishit 41; 46

"Now Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Paroh, king of Egypt; Yosef left Paroh's presence and he passed through the entire land of Egypt."

On this pasuk we enjoyed a very lively discussion about how the Torah first refers to Paroh as "Paroh, king of Egypt" and then just as "Paroh".

Shlomo started the discussion by telling the class that he had asked his Rabbi about this pasuk.  "What is the Torah's reason," Shlomo had asked, "for referring to Paroh in two different ways in the same pasuk?"

Shlomo's Rabbi:  "The first time, when it says "Paroh, king of Egypt," the Torah is referring to a time when Paroh was not yet so great, so well known, so respected, perhaps, or so feared by his people.  At that time Paroh's full title was needed, to ensure he received the respect, the awe and the honour due to an Egyptian king.  The second time, when we see just "Paroh," refers to when Paroh had become a great, famous, powerful leader, no longer needing his full title."

Yoav thought the explanation should have been the other way around:

Yoav:  "Surely, when the Torah uses Paroh's full title, "Paroh, king of Egypt," it is giving Paroh great honour.  On the other hand, mentioning "Paroh" without his full title seems to be making less of his position, almost as if he was an ordinary citizen."

Rivka suggested a different explanation entirely:

Rivka:  "Perhaps, when the pasuk adds the words "king of Egypt," it is an important reminder for us, or perhaps even for Yosef, that Yosef was still second to Paroh and that only Paroh, himself, was the king of Egypt.

Nir explained the changes in the pasuk in terms of the chronological (time) order of the events.  We really had to get our thinking caps on for this one!

Nir:  
1. "The first part of the pasuk,
"Now Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Paroh, king of Egypt;" refers to the situation 'now';
2. "Yosef left Paroh's presence" refers to before Yosef had been appointed to his high office, or when he had just been appointed;
3. "and he passed through the entire land of Egypt," refers, again, to the situation 'now.' "

This was a very interesting explanation.  Furthermore, we added to Nir's ideas a little, and adapted them, in order to strengthen them:

We had discussed how, in pasuk 43, Paroh had let Yosef ride in his second chariot.  This had simply been in order to let people see and give honour to their new leader.  Later, in our pasuk, when Yosef "passed through the entire land of Egypt" he was  now exercising his new powers and actually doing his job of preparing the land for the years of famine:

"Whereas his earlier emergence was ceremonial, in the sense that he became known throughout the land as the new viceroy (Ibn Ezra), this was a 'working tour'.  He became acquainted with the populace, learned about the country, warned the people about the impending famine, and commissioned the construction of royal granaries in every city (Akeidah)."
                                                              'Stone Chumash' (Artscroll), p.229

***

Shlomo Itzchak, Yoav,
Rivka and Nir Elchanan!

...well done indeed!