Why Didn’t Yosef Let His Father Know

The question that is often asked about Yosef and his brothers, is why it took him nine years until he let his grieving father know that he was alive.

There are several attempts to make sense of this, and admittedly, the answers are also difficult to comprehend. There is even a Midrash that said that Yitzchak was alive when they told Yakov that Yosef was devoured by a wild beast. Yitzchak knew via prophecy that Yosef was alive, but he reasoned that if Hashem wanted him to know, He would have let Yakov know. Therefore, he felt he needed to stay out of it. Very difficult to understand.

Some say that when Yosef met up with his brothers in Egypt, he remembered his dreams before he was sold. He felt there was a Divine need for these dreams to be fulfilled.

Another explanation for not telling his father that he was alive, was to protect his brothers from shame and embarrassment for their evil plot. The way things transpired, they were able to save face.

The final explanation that might be the best of all, is that Hashem wanted to protect Yakov from having to come down to Egypt in chains. Avraham Avinu was told in a moment of prophecy that his children would be strangers in a strange land. They would leave with great wealth. Ultimately, Yakov was brought down to Egypt with great respect and dignity. It could have been different, in another scenario. We are not meant to understand all of the narrative of the Torah. We can try to make sense of things, if we can. If we still don’t understand, we must believe that everything is meant to be revealed at the appropriate time.