Or HaChaim on Genesis 49:23/אור החיים על בראשית מ״ט:כ״ג

1 וימררהו ורבו וישטמהו בעלי חצים. "They made life bitter for him, they quarrelled, and arrow-tongued men hated him." This is a reference to the time when the brothers first planned to kill Joseph (37,20). It is also possible that Jacob describes what we find in the Sefer Hayashar that the brothers wounded Joseph in many parts of his body before they threw him into the pit. The torture they subjected him to is described by וימררהו. Afterwards, when the brothers took counsel and discussed throwing him into the pit and then to sell him as a slave, they had differences of opinions, i.e. ורבו, they quarrelled.

2The hatred of the "arrow tongued men" are a reference to the wife of Potiphar and her companions all of whom wanted to sleep with Joseph, i.e. they demanded "his arrows." [Our sages often refer to ejaculation of semen as equivalent to the shooting of an arrow. Ed.]

3On the other hand, the word וימררהו may be an allusion to Satan, i.e. the evil urge, who seduces one to commit a sin. This may have been the cause of ויפזו זרעי ידיו, "that his virility was channelled through his hands." The power of the evil urge is illustrated by a story involving the pious Rabbi Amram in Kidushin 81. That story ends with the evil urge escaping from the body of Rabbi Amram in a fiery column after Rabbi Amram had almost succumbed.

4The forces of the קליפה may be termed מרה, bitter. This is perhaps what the Torah wanted to allude to when it described Joseph's life as having been made bitter. When we follow this approach the word ורבו describes the constantly increasing pressure of the evil urge, and the reference to the hatred expressed by the owners of the arrows are to the forces urging man to sin. Their promise to reward him with the pleasures of the flesh are expressions of their hatred for him. They hate every manifestation of holiness. In spite of all these temptations Joseph remained steadfast like a lion and did not "shoot his arrows."

5When Jacob speaks about מידי אביר יעקב, this means that the same G'd who has proven Jacob's Mighty One also saved Joseph from succumbing.

6Jacob concludes: משם רעה אבן ישראל, a reference to Psalms 118,22 where we are told that "the stone that the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone." This appears to be an allusion to Joseph who had also been rejected at first by his brothers. Joseph's righteousness made him the chief cornerstone also known as the רעה אבן ישראל, the cornerstone who is Israel's shepherd Proverbs 10,25 that "the righteous is an enduring foundation" expresses the same idea.