The story of Yosef and his brothers takes place over four parshiyot. It is the longest and most detailed narrative in the Torah. Nothing is there by accident; every detail counts. Let us look at one moment, which may seem unimportant, but in fact contains one of the most beautiful ideas in the Torah.
The scene is set. Yosef is envied and hated by his brothers. They cannot even talk to one another without arguing. Now the brothers have left home to tend to their sheep, and Yaakov tells Yosef to go and see how they are doing. This will ultimately lead to the dramatic incident where the brothers sell Yosef as a slave, and change everything. But it nearly didn’t happen. Yosef arrived at Shechem where he expected his brothers to be, but they were not there. He might well have wandered around for a while and then, failing to find them, gone home. None of the events that take up the rest of the Torah would have happened: no Yosef the slave, no Yosef the viceroy to Pharaoh, no storage of food during the years of plenty, no descent of Yosef’s family to Egypt, no exile, no slavery, no exodus. The entire story – already revealed to Abraham in a night vision – seemed about to be derailed. Then we read the following:
"A man found [Yosef] wandering around in the fields and asked him, 'What are you looking for?' He replied, 'I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?' 'They have moved on from here,' the man answered. 'I heard them say, "Let’s go to Dothan.”' So Yosef went after his brothers and found them near Dothan." (Bereishit 37:15-17)
There is no other moment like this in the rest of the Torah: three verses dedicated to an apparently unimportant, forgettable detail of someone having to ask directions from a stranger. Who was this unnamed man? And what message does the episode hold for future generations, for us? Rashi says he was the angel Gabriel. Ibn Ezra says he was a passer-by. Ramban however says that “the Holy One, blessed be He, sent him a guide without his knowledge.”
I am not sure whether Ramban meant without Yosef’s knowledge or without the guide’s knowledge. I prefer to think both. The anonymous man represents an act of Divine guidance to make sure that Yosef went to where he was supposed to be, so that the rest of the drama could unfold. He may not have known he had such a role. Yosef surely did not know. To put it as simply as I can: he was an angel who did not know he was an angel. He had a vital role in the story. Without him, it would not have happened. But he had no way of knowing, at the time, the importance of his role.
