Shabbos Parashas Mikeitz - 5779

Shabbos Parashas Mikeitz - 5779

Rabbi Hal Miller

Pharaoh said to his servants, "Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the spirit of

God?" Then Pharaoh said to Yosef, "Since God has informed you of all this, there can be no one

so discerning and wise as you." [Bereishis 41:38-39]

Yosef all along told Pharaoh that he is unable to interpret dreams, but that God would give him the

answers that he could relay to Pharaoh. Once this happened, Pharaoh speaks what is covered by

our verses. This seems pretty clearly to indicate that Pharaoh accepts that God is in fact the

Master of the universe. Ramban and others say that Pharaoh is merely speaking as did Yosef,

since Yosef is present, and the conversation is in effect continuous. But this is the man who rules

the greatest nation in the world, with an iron fist. This is the man who has dozens of gods, and

considers himself to be a god, second only to what he calls Ra, the sun god. Would such a man

be convinced merely by Yosef interpreting a couple of dreams, that there is in fact a much greater

God than everything he thought he knew? Would such a man speak with such politeness and regard

for the words of a foreign slave rather than press his own dominance? Seems unlikely.

So, what is Pharaoh saying when he seemingly acknowledges the supremacy of Yosef's God of

Israel?

Pharaoh uses the word "elokim", as did Yosef. This refers, per Rav Soloveitchik, to God's

attributes of might, power, and authority (reference the Living God, the Creator, etc., in the

first chapter of Bereishis). The word is also used in some places to refer to "other

gods" (idols), to judges and to other various human roles, thus context is important. Malbim

makes the observation in Shemos [8:15] that the Egyptians were familiar with the word in this

latter context, and only referred to the God of Israel as Hashem, the four-letter tetragrammaton.

Thus, Pharaoh was not actually referring to the Creator here, rather to whatever idol he thought

Moshe must have consulted, thus Pharaoh "hardened his heart". The problem with applying this

view to our verses is that clearly the later Pharaoh ignored Moshe's warnings because of his

interpretation of elokim, whereas the Pharaoh in our verse acted based on Yosef's warnings in

exactly the same set of circumstances.

We see the same thing in the Book of Daniel [4:15]: "This dream I saw, I, King Nebuchadnezzar.

And you Belteshazzar (Daniel), tell its interpretation, because all the sages of my kingdom are

unable to make the interpretation known to me, but you can, for the spirit of the Holy God is in

you." Here again, God is referenced by a non-Jewish king by the term "elokim", and here again

the king acts in accordance with what the Jewish prophet said in God's Name.

Onkelos tries to get around the problem by interpreting our verse that Pharaoh recognized a

"spirit of prophecy" in Yosef. As the Brisker Rav comments, one does not have to attribute

Divine power in a case of prophecy, nor does one have to be a prophet to interpret a dream.

Pharaoh could have been comparing Yosef to those of his own staff in ability to predict the

future. But this does not answer why Pharaoh used the word 'elokim' and acted on it.

Rabbi Akiva Males asks what language Pharaoh was speaking. Translating from whatever

Egyptian dialect he used into Hebrew might be the source of our confusion. To be certain, there

is a Midrash that tells of a discussion between Yosef and Pharaoh in which Yosef proves the

more educated, as Pharaoh could speak every language of men except Hebrew, and Yosef

could speak even that. There is another Midrash, though, that tells of Pharaoh speaking to

Yosef in Hebrew when he did not want his advisors to understand, and also to Yaakov once

Yosef's family arrived. In addition, it is certainly common for people to throw words of one

language into the speech of another language. Pharaoh here was speaking about the God of

Yosef, and thus Israel, and could easily been referring to Him by the Hebrew word. To allay

the concern about translation error, recall who wrote the Torah--Moshe wrote God's words.

Nechama Leibowitz touches on our question. Repeatedly, Yosef tells Pharaoh that God is the

One Who will interpret the dream, who will bring about the future, etc. She says, "In the end,

even Pharaoh took the hint and answered" with our verse. She notes that Pharaoh's position

has changed, in that at the beginning of the conversation, he referred to Yosef as a supposed

expert in the jail, but now as a prophet of the Most High. She says, "Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

defers for the first time to the supreme King of kings." This also appears to be the view of

Akeidas Yitzchak.

I have difficulty accepting as complete answers the various comments with which most seem

to dismiss this question. While similar to Daniel, ours is not similar to the situation in Moshe's

time. While the word does have other meanings, those apply within context, and do not fit

here. Pharaoh is pretty clearly acknowledging God in His role as 'elokim', all-powerful, Master

over all, Creator. As Nechama notes, Pharaoh is in fact acknowledging God. This is why the

Torah goes to great lengths later to ensure we know that the Pharaoh in Moshe's time was a

completely different person, not only in body but in mindset.