אור החיים — ועתה לא אתם שלחתם אתי הנה כי האלהים

Q — When Yosef reveals himself, he tells his brothers 'it was not you who sent me here, but God.' What is the meaning and purpose of this statement?

A — Or HaChaim explains it as Yosef dispelling his brothers' fear that he hates them for their cruelty. Yosef concedes that at the time of the sale the act was genuinely abhorrent and they would rightly have deserved his enmity. But he adds one transforming word — 'ועתה,' now. Events should not be judged by the feelings they aroused at the moment, but by their outcomes as seen in the present. After 22 years, seeing what his descent to Egypt accomplished, Yosef recognized that they had unknowingly acted as agents of divine providence — leaving no room to harbor hatred.