Vayigash

(4) Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come forward to me.” And when they came forward, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt. (5) Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you. (6) It is now two years that there has been famine in the land, and there are still five years to come in which there shall be no yield from tilling. (7) God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.

(1) גשו נא אלי ויגשו, “step closer to me! They stepped closer.” When Joseph saw that the brothers were frightened and were trying to retreat he told them to come closer to him in order to calm their fear.

(1) גשו נא אלי, seeing his brothers in a state of shock, Joseph called to them and encouraged them to come closer and to stop being afraid of him.

(1) גשו נא אלי, ויגשו, “please come physically closer to me; they did so.” Seeing that prior to this Joseph had ordered everybody in the hall with them to leave the hall, (45,1) and the Egyptians outside now trying very hard to listen to what went on inside, Joseph now tried to put more physical distance between them and himself and the brothers. He did not mind them to hear him ask the brothers: “is my father still alive?” He did not want them to hear the words: “you have sold me,” however, in order not to embarrass them publicly, and because he intended to settle Yaakov’s whole family in Egypt. If his employees had heard him refer to this, they would have objected to such wicked people settling in Egypt. They would conclude that if these people had been capable of selling their own brother, how much worse would they deal with Egyptian neighbours that were not related to them by blood? This is why he asked them to step closer so that the balance of the conversation could be conducted in whispers ....

(1) גשו נא אלי, “please come closer to me.” He now changed his demeanour and spoke to them as an equal, in a friendly manner. It is also possible that he did not want to remind them aloud of the fact that they had sold him, and therefore he made them approach him closely so that he could whisper to them. He did not want the people in the courtyard to overhear this part of their conversation.