The Angel Who Guided and Warned Yosef
The angel Gavriel leads Yosef to his brothers as Hashem planned, yet hints that they want to kill him. Rav Henoch Leibowitz explains why he did both.
In Parshas VaYaishev, Yaakov Avinu sends Yosef HaTzaddik to check on his brothers. Yosef could not find them. Hashem sent an angel, Gavriel, to direct Yosef to their location. Yet, Rashi (37:17) says that in the angel’s words to Yosef, there was a hidden warning: your brothers are trying to kill you. At the very same time that Gavriel is directing Yosef to find his brothers as part of the Divine masterplan, Gavriel is warning him to stay away!?!
My rebbe, HaGaon Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, asked: isn’t that an obvious contradiction and dereliction of duty? Yet, we do not find that Gavriel was taken to task for this. Moreover, Chazal teach us what Gavriel did, so that we can learn from it. My rebbe opined that the explanation is the same as before. Gavriel had a job to fulfill. He needed to deliver a message, which he did. Yet, at the same time, he felt that Yosef needed saving. And so he managed to do both at the same time. If Yosef would have taken the hint, he would not have sought out his brothers. What about Hashem’s masterplan? Gavriel left that to Hashem.