After Joseph and his brothers return from burying their father Jacob, the brothers confront Joseph and claim that their father had given them a deathbed message that they should convey to Joseph requesting that he forgive them.
There is no account in the Torah that this exchange occurred.
Did the brothers invent this story? If so, why? Were they justified?
If the events happened just as the brothers said, why does the Torah not share the story with us?
אביך צוה THY FATHER DID COMMAND — They altered the facts (they stated something that was false) for the sake of peace, for Jacob had given them no such command because Joseph was not suspect in his sight (Yevamot 65b)).
According to Rashi, the brothers never had that conversation with their father. Why did they lie? Rashi suggests that it was OK to say something that wasn't true. Do you agree? Have you ever said something that was not true in order to protect someone's feelings or to make someone like you?
לאמר אביך צוה, he commanded that we should say what we have to say as something that originated with us and not with him, as he did not think for a moment that you might want to avenge yourselves on us. However, he consented that if we were worried, we could take the initiative and express our concerns to you.
According to Seforno there was a conversation between the brothers and Jacob but it was a conversation that the brothers started. Jacob did not think there was a need to give instructions to Joseph to forgive his brothers, but he gave the brothers permission to use his name.
לפני מותו באותו הפרק צוה ולא היה לנו פנאי לדבר אליך.
לפני מותו, so closely before his death that we could not speak to you about this at that time.
This comment of Seforno explains how Jacob could have told something to the brothers without Joseph knowing about it! Mystery solved!
אביך צוה לפני מותו. הוא תמוה שהרי יוסף לא זזה ידו מאביו בשעת מותו. ואיך צוה והוא לא ידע. ונראה שהשכילו להבינו אשר במה שאמר בברכת יוסף ויפזו זרועי ידיו ששבח אותו שלא ירה חצים וקשת להממררים לו בזה צוה להגיד כי כן מבוקשו:
This is surprising since Yosef did not leave his father's side at the time of his death. How could Yaakov have commanded something that Yosef did not know? And it seems that Yosef's brothers were clever in understanding that Yaakov's blessing to Yosef was praise that he did not respond in violence to those who rebelled against him and based on this his brother's intuited this request.
According to this comment, the brothers did not make up the story! They figured out what Jacob wanted based on Jacob's own words. Can you see how they interpreted Jacob's message? Do you ever interpret meaning in what someone says even when they don't say it clearly?