מקץ-Yosef's Dream Come True

In Parshat וישב Yaakov sent Yosef on a mission: make peace with your brothers. The brothers' hatred of Yosef was so intense that they wanted to kill him. And even though Yaakov recognized in his heart that Yosef's dreams were true and that Yosef would eventually rule his brothers (see Rashi's commentary on ואביו שמר את הדבר), he still wanted to dissolve the hatred in his household. Yosef was intent on fulfilling his mission. When he met the mystery man in שכם, his statement את אחי אנכי מבקש indicated his longing for brotherly love. His brothers, on the other hand, distanced themselves from his love (see Rashi's commentary on the mystery man's response: נסעו מזה).

But despite the plans made by Yaakov and Yosef, and despite those made by his brothers, the entire saga which unfolds in this and last week's Parshot were divined by Hashem in intricate detail. Rashi uses the seemingly erroneous Pasuk וישלחהו מעמק חברון in last week's Parsha to prove that the story actually started with Hashem's promise to Avraham in ברית בין הבתרים. The Ramban contends that the seemingly random meeting with the incognito mystery man Gabriel proves that all of man's plans are futile once Hashem has decided how things will end up.

But Yosef did not give up on his mission, even years later when he was the number 2 man in the Egyptian kingdom. That is why, according to many of the Mefarshim, he subjected his brothers to all of the travails described in this week's Parsha. By planting the cup in Benjamin's backpack and threatening his incarceration, Yosef was testing his brothers to see if they repented from their sin of selling Yosef. And by bringing his entire family to Egypt, including his own father, Yosef wanted to make sure that his dreams came true.