Yaakov sends his son Yosef to search for his brothers who have wandered off while tending the family sheep. Rashi has already pointed out (verse12 chapter 37) that the dot on the word et comes to remind us that the brothers did not only intend to graze the sheep, but that they actually went to indulge themselves. To eat and drink and make merry, away from the critical eyes of their father.

Given this situation it is not clear why Yaakov thought to send Yosef. Did he think that Yosef would somehow affect the behavior of his brothers? Didn't he remember that the brothers were at odds with Yosef about the dreams that he had. Why then did he send him.

In verse 14 the Torah adds: "He sent him from the valley of Hebron and he arrived at Shechem".

This verse, which describes the geography of Yosef's trip: from Hebron to Shechem, is problematic for Rashi. Isn't Hebron on a mountain? (We all know that it is). In other words, there is no "valley of Hebron", on the mountain on which the city was built. In order to solve this problem Rashi makes the following claim. The words "valley" and "Hebron" in this verse are written in a code, and in order to understand the verse you have to decipher the code. Since the words cannot mean what they say they can only mean what the code says that they mean. The coded message in turn becomes the pshat in the verse. The word valley (Hebrew emeq) means deep or profound council or advice. The word Hebron (Hebrew hevron) means "dear friend" (Hebrew haver neeman), The council or advice of the dear friend, naturally refers to the advice received by Avraham from Hashem when the covenant was established. That advice is (Rashi) "that your descendents shall be visitors in a foreign land" (Breishit 15:13).

Yaakov decided that the time had come to fulfill the prophecy to Avraham at the covenant, and he knew that the primary personality in the continuing history of the Jewish people would have to be Yosef. Even though he may have realized the danger to his beloved son, he understood that there was no other possibility but to send him to start the process.