הכתב והקבלה — מה זאת עשה אלהים לנו

Q — When the brothers find their money in their sacks they cry 'מה זאת עשה אלהים לנו' — which Rashi and Targum read as a *complaint* against Hashem for entrapping innocents. But these are the same brothers who only verses earlier said 'אבל אשמים אנחנו על אחינו'! How can they suddenly forget their own confession?

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah rejects the complaint-reading on exactly that ground. The brothers were ירְאֵי אלהים who 'ידעו שכל מאורעות האדם מאת ה' המה.' 'מה זאת עשה אלהים לנו' is therefore not a protest but a *recognition* — an utterance of awe: 'What is this that *Hashem* has done to us?' i.e., we recognize this strange event as His doing, part of the unfolding accounting for our sin. The proverb 'אִוֶּלֶת אָדָם תְּסַלֵּף דַּרְכּוֹ וְעַל ה' יִזְעַף לִבּוֹ' (Mishlei 19:3) does NOT apply to them; they are not blaming Hashem but receiving Him.