Or HaChaim on Genesis 45:5/אור החיים על בראשית מ״ה:ה׳

1 ועתה אל תעצבו, "and now do not be sad, etc." We must first understand what Joseph meant when he said: "and now;" what did he want to exclude? Why did he tell the brothers neither to be sad nor to be angry? Besides, psychologically speaking, the feeling of sadness is the opposite of the feeling of anger. A sad person is humble whereas an angry person is arrogant, selfrighteous. Why would Joseph ask the brothers to be neither?

2We must assume that Joseph meant that he was well aware that at present the brothers were saddened by the fact that they had sold him as they had indicated at the time they said to each other: "but we are guilty, etc." We also know from Bereshit Rabbah 91,3 that the brothers were prepared to pay a very substantial ransom to buy Joseph's freedom when they found him in Egypt. Taking this into consideration Joseph told the brothers: "do not be sad now seeing that you have located the subject of your search." He hinted that he was aware that they felt positive towards him and had been sincerely saddened by what they had done to him.

3He added that they should not become angry at themselves for having set in motion all the developments which had led to this reunion. He supported his argument by saying that actually what the brothers had done had resulted in their now being able to rely on him to see them through the famine, and not become impoverished, etc.