They Did Not Recognize Him

The Alshich found it most surprising that Yosef’s brothers did not recognize him at all. They left him when he was seventeen, and now he was thirty-nine.

Rashi wrote that Yosef left with only a stubble of a beard, and now he had a full beard. Nevertheless, there still should have been certain mannerisms and appearances that should have at least made them suspicious that this was their brother.

We are told that they did look for Yosef. But they looked for him in the “red light” district, rather than the palace of the king. It never occurred to them that it was even a possibility that Yosef could have risen to such a high position of prominence. If they did, they might have figured things out.

For this reason, Yosef needed to shake them up. He spoke harshly to them, and accused them of being spies. He played the “silver goblet game” pretending that it gave him the power to know specific details about their family.

It was only then that they woke up and began realizing that their callous treatment of their brother, was so wrong and the cause of their current predicament. They verbalized in front of Yosef that they were guilty for not hearing the cries of their brother, when he pleaded with them for compassion.

Yosef had achieved his goal of bringing them to Teshuva for their horrible act. The stage was now set for the Divine plan to be carried out. He had to eliminate their arrogance, and open their eyes. Once this was done, they would realize that their missing brother was right in front of them all along.