Everyone Can Write History
Jewish history hinges on the Joseph story. Because of the jealousy and hatred between Joseph and his brothers they sell him into slavery in Egypt where he rises to prominence. Eventually his family follows him there. The Jewish people then build comfortable lives in Egypt until a new Pharaoh comes to power. As the Torah recounts, “A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” The people are enslaved. Their cries reach heaven and so God calls Moses to lead the people to freedom. The rest of the story is the tale we tell at our Passover seders.
It turns on Joseph. Jewish history depends on the moment Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. It also revolves around an unnamed stranger.
Jacob sent Joseph out to the fields to look for his brothers. He apparently had difficulty finding them. The Torah reports, “When Joseph reached Shechem, a man came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, ‘What are you looking for?’ He answered, ‘I am looking for my brothers. Could you tell me where they are pasturing?’ The man said, ‘They have gone from here, for I heard them say: Let us go to Dothan.’ So, Joseph followed his brothers and found them at Dothan.” (Genesis 37)
If not for this stranger Joseph might never have found his brothers. They might not have sold him into slavery. Then the Jewish people might never have arrived in Egypt and become enslaved there. And we might never have drawn so much inspiration from the Seders we continue to enjoy where we retell our going out from Egypt.
Moses Maimonides suggests that this stranger is an angel. How else could one explain that Jewish history turns on this stranger’s directions? For this medieval thinker it could only be a divine messenger who set Joseph on the proper course.
I would like to think that this stranger could be anyone.
Perhaps it is the unknown, unnamed people upon which history turns. Their names are never known. History books do not even record their deeds. Instead, they tell the stories of presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens, generals and strategists. And yet history could never be written without the guiding hand of the unnamed.
Far too many people aspire to fame. They wish to be the ones whose names are recorded in the history books. They worry about their legacy. They spend precious hours wondering if they will be remembered for good.
Yet it is often the unnamed stranger who points the direction and who moves the story forward. And it is upon their shoulders that history turns.
Perhaps it is the hidden, and unnamed person, upon which history revolves.
You never know where the directions you offer might lead. You never know how the advice you give might shape history.