It makes perfect sense for Yaakov’s son, Yoseph to also encounter an angelic being in the physical form of a man. In this week’s parasha, Vayeishev, Yoseph is sent on the mission to check up on his brothers, who are pasturing sheep at Shechem. When Yoseph seems to be meandering, and perhaps straying from his intended course to fulfill the task given to him by his father, grooming him as the next leader of the family, he happens to meet a man.
According to Rashi, this is the angel Gabriel, who points him in the right direction towards Dothan where he will find his brothers. Ramban explains, that “the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him a guide without his knowledge in order to bring him into their hands” (commentary on Genesis 3:15, sefaria.org). The significance of sending an angel is elaborated upon: it was necessary, so that the counsel of HaShem would be carried out (Proverbs 19:21).
This occurs against the backdrop of jealousy, already being harbored by his brothers, because of his dreams of superiority that he shared with his family. When he arrives, they take the opportunity to prevent him from gaining leadership over them, by selling him to passerby on their way to Egypt. We know the rest of the story of how Yoseph suffers, accused wrongly, landing up in jail, until he is released and ushered into Pharoah’s court.
Had he missed the mark, by not being able to find his brothers in Dothan that fateful day, he would not have been able to procure the means for preserving his family’s lives during the famine that ensued twenty-two years later. The question is what can we learn from this occurrence, whereof almost going astray, divine intervention leads him back upon his designated path in order to accomplish his divine mission?
In life, there are times that are crucial, for some future reckoning that we are unable to see down the road, that something needs to happen to keep the present in sync with the prescribed future of an individual. And, we cannot predict how that singular meeting, event, or decision will impact others after it plays out in the aftermath. These may be understood as choice points in our lives, where hashgacha peratis (divine guidance) plays a role in the unfolding of a situation for the sake of posterity.
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