The Wagons of Revival

(27) But when they recounted all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

(1) .(פג ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH — As evidence that it was Joseph who was sending this message he had informed them of the religious subject he had been studying with his father at the time when he left him, viz., the section of the Heifer (עגלה) that had its neck broken (Deuteronomy 21:6). It is to this that Scripture refers in the words “And he saw (i.e comprehended the meaning of) the עגלות (here to be taken in sense of Heifer) which Joseph had sent — and it does not state “which Pharaoh had sent” (as one would expect if עגלות meant wagons) (Genesis Rabbah 94:3).

(2) וירא את העגלות....ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם, “when he saw the carriages, their father Yaakov’s spirits revived.” He was aware that previously the Egyptian ruler had absolutely forbidden that any carriages leave the boundaries of Egypt [in order not to enable horses to be exported from Egypt. Ed.] Now Pharaoh had relented and instructed Joseph to bring his family to Egypt by means of carriages. This turnaround convinced Yaakov that he and his family would be welcome in Egypt. He realised that such a command could only have been given by Pharaoh himself. [He had attributed antisemitic feeling in Egypt as dating back to when his grandmother had almost been raped there, had G–d not interfered. (Compare Genesis chapter 12 and the derogatory term used by Potiphar’s wife about the ‘Hebrew’ slave in Genesis 39,18. Ed.]

(1) וירא את העגלות, “he saw the carriages, etc.” then he believed the brothers as he told himself that no one else but a ruler would have been able to send these carriages out of Egypt, and all these precious gifts of food, etc. in the midst of a famine, except if it had been with the full consent of the government. Once he felt joy in his life once more, the holy spirit that had been absent since Joseph’s disappearance overcame him again

(6) Genesis 45,26. “when he saw the carriages that Joseph ‎had sent, etc.” Joseph had hinted to Yaakov that he should ‎not be concerned about his family going into exile, as what was ‎occurring now was a forerunner of the eventual redemption from ‎exile. Temporary hardship, such as their having to leave the Holy ‎Land now, would result in much greater good in the end. Both ‎the word ‎עגלה‎, carriage, which is a chair or couch on circular ‎wheels, i.e. ‎עיגול‎, circle, and the word ‎סיבה‎, the cause of Yaakov ‎been transported to Egypt on wheels into “exile” is related to this ‎revolving nature of fate, ‎סבב‎, spinning, revolving. Joseph wished ‎to indicate to his father that temporary residence of his family in ‎Egypt would result subsequently in his descendants inheriting ‎the whole land of Israel.‎

(2) .אשר שלח יוסף, “that Joseph had sent.” Yaakov reasoned that if the sender had not been my son, no one else would have gone to the trouble to send me carriages to be riding in on my journey ...

(1) וידברו אליו את כל דברי יוסף, .... It is more plausible that the hint had to do with the carriages used by the Jewish people to transport the parts of the Tabernacle that could not be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. (Compare Numbers 7,3)