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I'm reading Rash"i's explanation n Breishit 43:14 explaining the part of the verse:

"May he send you your other brother..."

Rash"i says that a holy spirit caused him to include Joseph in this request.

This seems to imply two ideas - that Joseph was alive (The Torah indicates that Jacob said "a bad animal ate him" and that he mourned over him. It's unclear if that implies that he believed that the animal killed him, though.) Did Jacob believe that Joseph was alive, and who / what convinced him?

The other question is that assuming that he believed he was alive, what made him think that he may be in Egypt?

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There are many times in the Torah where someone prophesies without realising, for example, when Avraham and Yitzchak are about to ascend the mountain where Avraham intends to serve him to Hashem as a korban, he says "we will come down" instead of 'I will come down' implying that he will not end up killing his son.

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  • Is this your own interpretation do you have a source? That could easily be explained as Avraham simply not wanting to reveal his plans to them or to Yitshak.
    – mevaqesh
    Feb 21, 2017 at 3:06
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Per Targum Yonasan 49:21 Naphtali was the one who convince him by tolding it:

נפתלי עזגד קליל דמי לאיילא דרהיט על שיני טורייא מבשר בשורן טבן הוא בשר דעד כדון יוסף קיים

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