Verse
Gn39-03a
discussing
Joseph's success as an Egyptian slave
states
And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Rashi notes
The underlined words,
the LORD was with him
references
verses
Gn40-08,Gn41-16
which explicitly show that Joseph frequently mentioned
God's name (e.g. God will help). Hence we interpret The lord was with him
as meaning God's name was frequent in his mouth.
Text of Target Verse Gn39-03
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Text of Reference Verse Gn40-08,Gn41-16
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And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
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And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.' And Joseph said unto them: 'Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.'
...
And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying: 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
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Rashi comments:
The underlined words
the LORD was with him,
besides referring to Joseph being successful at the hand of God,
also referred to Joseph constantly mentioning God's name (e.g. God will help)
as indicated in the underlined phrases
'Do not interpretations belong to God?
'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
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Advanced Rashi: Rashi literally says God is with him: refers to
the fact that God's name was frequently in his conversation. This appears strange.
Isn't the natural interpretation of God is with him that he is successful. Why interpret
the phrase in terms of his lingual patterns?
We have approached this Rashi using the fundamental technique of seeing Rashi as
supplementing the meaning of the text vs. exhausting the meaning of the text.
In other words Rashi was not saying God is with him only means that God's name
was frequent on his mouth but rather Rashi is saying besides the obvious meaning
of the phrase God is with him indicating that he was successful, the phrase also
means that God's name was frequent with him. Such an interpretative approach - an emphasis that Rashi is supplementing the simple meaning of the text - is deep, mature,
and consistent with the simple meaning of the Biblical text.
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