Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more. He said to them, ‘Hear this dream which I have dreamt.’ (Genesis 37:5-6)

Rembrandt’s portrayal of this biblical scene artfully employs facial expressions to bring the text to life. Joseph, the central focus of the scene, is totally engrossed in recounting the dream; his far-off gaze suggests that he is visualizing anew what he dreamt the night before. The attentive listeners include his father Jacob, the girl with the pearl earring – presumably his sister Dinah, and (say some authorities) his mother Rachel, who is situated in the distance in her bedroom (though according to scripture she is no longer alive at this time). The expression on Jacob’s face indicates interest tempered with a modicum of skepticism. The brothers are closely gathered around Joseph. Has Rembrandt intentionally painted the brothers crowded around Joseph to implicitly verify the dream in which the sheaves of wheat encircle the central sheave? Their countenances reveal antagonism, disbelief, and mockery. This does not bode well for young Joseph, who is completely oblivious to the seeds of dissent he is sowing.

Professor Nahum Sarna points out that in the ancient world, it was taken for granted that dreams have a predictive nature, and were recognized as means of divine communication. In the dreams previously described in Genesis, the revelation is straightforward and the message is conveyed verbally. In the case of Joseph’s dreams, however, the language of communication is symbolic. God does not figure explicitly in the content of the dreams; yet it is taken for granted that He is the source of the message. His brothers immediately understood this message and rejected it out of hand.

In the first dream Joseph describes:

There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf. (Genesis 37:7)

The brothers immediately reacted, supplying the obvious interpretation of the dream:

Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to rule over us? And they hated him even more for his talk about his dreams. (37:8)

Similarly in the second round Joseph boasts:

‘Look, I have had another dream: And this time, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ And when he told it to his father and brothers, his father berated him. ‘What,’ he said to him, ‘is this dream you have dreamed? Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow low to you to the ground?’ So his brothers were wrought up at him, and his father kept the matter in mind. (37:9-11)

These dreams, and later Pharaoh’s, come in pairs. Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman explains the distinction between these two parallel dreams:

The two dreams hint to two different periods. In the first dream the brothers alone bow down to Joseph, which intimates the time when they came by themselves to Egypt and bowed down before the ruler of the land who was unknown to them (43:26). This bow was directed toward the omnipotent master of the granaries which is the interpretation of “and you shall bow down to my sheave of grain”. In contrast, the second dream hints at a time when they already identified Joseph and had achieved reconciliation since Jacob’s entire household, gave him recognition and acknowledged his greatness (47:31, 50:18).

And so, while it is clear that history acquits Joseph for his delusions of grandeur, at the time his brothers were convinced that (as the Rabbis put it), ‘A man is shown in a dream only what is suggested by his own thought.’ As far as they were concerned, dreams foretelling of Joseph’s ambition, starring the dreamer himself as the axis around whom the universe revolved, were an outgrowth of Joseph’s unmitigated arrogance. His brothers seethed with contempt.

But what about Joseph himself?  How did he understand his night visions? Initially these dreams seem to be an unconscious defense mechanism in reaction to the brothers’ enmity and their envy of his position as favorite son. Later, though, Joseph came to appreciate that, ‘The interpretations of dreams belong to God!’ (Genesis 40:8). Moreover, as the story unfolded, Joseph realized that he must proactively pursue these dreams – not for personal gain, but in order to actualize the divine plan which they conveyed.

After Jacob’s death, Joseph and his brothers carried out their father’s instructions that he be buried with his forefathers in Canaan. On the return trip to Egypt, the brothers were overcome by the fear that now that their father had departed, Joseph would seek just revenge for their having conspired against him and thrown him into the pit. They implored him in the name of their father to spare them:

Before his death your father left this instruction: So shall you say to Joseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ Therefore, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father. And Joseph was in tears as they spoke to him. (Genesis 50:16-17)

Midrash Tanhuma intensifies the tension in the story by introducing an additional scene:

And Joseph’s brothers saw that their father had died. What was it that they saw which caused them fear? On the way back from their father’s burial they saw that Joseph went to recite the blessing at the very pit into which they had cast him And he recited the blessing which one is obligated to recite at a place where a miracle happened to him: Blessed art Thou who performed a miracle for me at this place.

In this account, the brothers see Joseph returning to the scene of their crime, and fear that retribution will not be long in coming. But the Rabbis portray a Joseph who has matured. He no longer sees himself at the center of the universe; instead, he gives thanks to the source of his salvation.

Joseph listens to his brothers’ apprehensions, and cries. He is saddened that they still think him motivated by base considerations of vengeance, when he has long ago come to a God-centered view of all that has transpired:

Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God? Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result—survival of many people. (50:19-20)

In this cycle of stories, Joseph appears as both dreamer and interpreter of dreams. Ultimately, his dreams serve as the interpretation of reality for his family and the destiny of the people of Israel.

1. Nahum Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis 37:5-11, pp. 256-257.

2. Rabbi David Zevi Hoffman (1843-1921) was an eminent rabbi and talmudic scholar in Germany. He served as the rector of the Hildersheimer’s Seminary in Berlin. See his commentary, Genesis (Tel Aviv, 1971), Chapter 37:5-11, pp. 1164-1167.