And he [Yosef] turned away from them [the brothers] and wept, then returned to them and spoke to them; and he took Shimon from among them and imprisoned him before their eyes.” (Bereishis 42:24)
There is a fascinating Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma in Vayigash 4) that captures the conversation between Shimon and his brothers at the moment that Yosef, disguised as the Viceroy of Egypt, took Shimon away and imprisoned him. When seeing that his brothers had agreed to the demand of Yosef to imprison him, Shimon immediately said, “What you did to Yosef, is the same thing that you wish to do to me now!” The brothers responded, “What should we do? Our entire household will starve to death [from the famine, as we will not be permitted to buy food from him if we do not acquiesce to his demands]!”
The comparison that Shimon made to Yosef is that just like the brothers are acting upon feelings of hostility and ill-will towards him now by giving him up to Yosef, so they had done to Yosef when they threw him into the pit and sold him into slavery because of the hostility and ill-will they harbored towards him.
Shimon’s reaction is very puzzling. Shimon knew what had just transpired. He knew that the brothers’ hands were indeed tied, and that Yosef would refuse to sell them food unless the brothers allowed Yosef to take him as a captive. Nonetheless, Shimon still suspected them of these ulterior motives.
That being the case, how did the brothers’ response allay his concerns? All they said was that they had no choice but to acquiesce to Yosef’s demands or else they would not be sold any food and they would starve. Shimon knew that already and yet somehow, when the brothers stated what was plain for Shimon to see, his concerns were alleviated.
The answer is that it appears that the brothers were able to convince Shimon of the purity of their motives, not by the information contained in their response, but rather by the earnestness and the sincerity contained within their words. It was not “what” they said, but “how” they said it. We see from here, the power of sincerity and its ability to change a person’s perceptions about the motivations of someone whom he had previously suspected.
However, we all know too well that many dishonest people have the ability to trick others into believing that they are sincere. Shimon was not naïve and knew this as well. Why did he not suspect the brothers of faking their sincerity?
Shimon was convinced that the brothers were not faking their sincerity because of the brothers’ track record of honesty. In the past, when discussing the brothers’ aversion to Yosef, the Torah tells us (Bereishis 37:4), “They [the brothers] could not speak to him [Yosef] peacefully.” Rashi comments that from the negative, we see the positive – since they disliked Yosef, their honesty prevented them from pretending that they liked him - that is why, “They could not speak to him peacefully.”
It is important to realize the power of sincerity and how it has the ability to allay concerns and to persuade people to see things our way – as the brothers’ sincerity did with Shimon above. We also see the importance of having a track record of honesty and sincerity – a good reputation. If it was not for the brothers’ reputation of honesty, Shimon would not have believed in their sincerity. As King Soloman has said “Tov Shem MiShemen Tov” – a good name is far better than good oil. (Koheles 7:1)
