Why did it take the chief butler two years to mention Yosef? |
In Honor of Marigold Warmund’s Bat Mitzvah At the end of Parshat Vayeshev,
after Yosef interpreted the chief butler’s dream, he made a request (Breisheet
40:14-15) “Remember me when things go well with you. Please deal kindly with me
and mention me to Pharaoh and take me out of this house (jail). I was kidnapped
from the land of the Hebrews, and here I have also done nothing that they
should have put me in this dungeon.” In the last verse of Parshat Vayeshev
(Breisheet 40:23) we read: “However, the chief butler did not remember Yosef,
but forgot him.” Parshat Miketz begins two years
later with Pharaoh’s dreams which nobody is able to interpret. The chief butler
finally speaks up (Breisheet 41:9-14): “I recall my sins today: Pharaoh was
enraged at his servants, and he placed me under guard in the house of the chief
executioner; me and the chief baker. We had a dream on the same night, I and
he, each according to the interpretation of his dream, did we dream. With us
there was a young man, a Hebrew, a slave of the chief executioner. We told him
about our dreams, and he interpreted our dreams, he interpreted each man’s
dreams accordingly. It came to pass,
that as he interpreted for us, so did it occur; he restored me to my position,
and him he hanged.” Pharaoh sent and summoned Yosef. They hurried him out of
the dungeon, but Yosef first shaved and changed clothes and then came to
Pharaoh. Why did it take the chief butler two
years to mention Yosef? Why did it say both that he did not remember Yosef and
that he forgot him? From the plain reading of the text,
the chief butler listened to Yosef’s request to remember him and mention him,
but never committed himself to mention him to Pharaoh. From a logical point of
view, it makes sense that once he was released from prison he wanted to move on
with his life and not think about his experiences there. In addition, it would
have been awkward to approach Pharaoh and rehash the incident of why he was
thrown in jail and the fact that he was looking to help the other inmates. According to Rashbam, God
specifically wanted the chief butler to forget Yosef until the time that God
was ready to perform miracles for Yosef. Breisheet Raba 89:3 explains that it
was necessary for the chief butler to forget Yosef for two years so that Yosef
would rise to power due to Pharaoh’s dreams which Yosef interpreted to mean
that there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. In
this way Yosef was immediately chosen by Pharaoh as the best candidate to be
second in command. It is impossible for us to fully
understand God’s plans as to why certain things take place at designated times.
Once Yosef was released from prison, he understood that God was orchestrating
everything that was happening to him and he did not hold any grudges. Even when
Yosef reveals his true identity to his brothers, he doesn’t blame them for
selling him. Rather, he explains that it was all part of God’s greater plan to
save lives during the famine. |