Joseph (Genesis): Difference between revisions

According to the book of Genesis, Joseph or Yosef (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף, Standard Yosef Tiberian Yôsēp̄, Arabic: يوسف, Yusuf ; "May Yahweh add"^[1]), was the eleventh of Jacob's twelve sons, and first son of Rachel.^[2] He was called Zaphnath-Paaneah by Pharaoh.^[3]

According to the biblical narrative, Joseph was at one time the second most powerful man in ancient Egypt, after the Pharaoh himself; and was instrumental in the children of Israel coming to live in Egypt, in the land of Goshen.

Joseph is one of the best-known figures in the Torah, famous for his coat of many colors. His story is told in Genesis 37–50, one of the longest continuous narratives in the Bible.

Joseph is also mentioned prominently in the Qur'an as a Prophet, most notably in the 12th chapter, named after him. The shrine called Joseph's Tomb in Nablus is traditionally considered to be his tomb.^[2]

Name

The Bible relates the birth of Joseph at Genesis 30:23–24:

God remembered Rachel: God heeded her and unclosed her womb. She conceived and bore a son, declaring, "God has removed my disgrace." She named him Joseph, meaning "May Yahweh add another son for me!"^[4]

Biblical textual scholars see in the verses two explanations of Joseph's name: the first, from the Elohist source, bases it on the root /'sp/, meaning "taken away," while the second, from the Jahwist, cites the similar root /ysp/, meaning "add."^[5]

Biblical narrative

Family

Joseph was the eleventh of the twelve sons of Jacob and the first of the two sons of Rachel.

The favorite son of his father Jacob, who arrayed him in a "coat of many colors." This is a possible mistranslation of the Hebrew phrase "kethoneth passim כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים", which could mean a "shirt with sleeves".^[6] However, his father's love and his dreams excited the envy of his older brothers, and Joseph increased their hatred by telling them of dreams which predicted that he would some day rule over them. (Genesis 37:2–11)

From slavery to viceroy

One day, when Joseph was seventeen,^[7] his brothers plotted to kill him. But Reuben, the eldest brother, advised them to throw Joseph into a pit, intending to rescue him later.^[8] And so the brothers stripped Joseph of the coat of many colours and threw him into the pit. A caravan of Ishmaelites passed by, and Judah, another of the brothers, suggested that they sell Joseph to the merchants. But some Midianites were passing by and took Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver; and the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.^[9] When Reuben came back to the pit he found Joseph gone. The brothers dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of a goat and showed it to Jacob, who mourned for Joseph, believing him dead.^[10] The Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, and the captain of the guard.^[11] (The confusion as to who brought Joseph to Egypt exists in the biblical text itself.) Potiphar appointed Joseph superintendent of his household.

But Potiphar's wife conceived a passion for Joseph, and, when her advances were repulsed, brought a false accusation against him before her husband, and Joseph was thrown into prison. But God was with Joseph, and he found favour in the eyes of the warden of the prison, who committed the other prisoners to his charge.^[12]

Soon afterward two of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker, having offended the king, were thrown into the prison. One morning both officers told Joseph their dreams of the previous night, which they were unable to interpret, and Joseph told them that the chief butler would be reinstated within three days but that the chief baker would be hanged. Joseph requested the butler to mention him to Pharaoh and secure his release from prison, but that officer, reinstalled in office, forgot Joseph.^[13]

After Joseph was in prison for two years, Pharaoh had several dream which disturbed him. He dreamt of seven lean cows which rose out of the river and devoured seven fat cows; and, of seven withered ears of grain which devoured seven fat ears of corn. Pharaoh's wise men were unable to interpret these dreams, but the chief butler remembered Joseph and spoke of his skill to Pharaoh.

Joseph was called for, and interpreted the dreams as foretelling that seven years of abundance would be followed by seven years of famine, and advised Pharaoh to store surplus grain during the years of abundance.

Before Joseph was 30 years old, Pharaoh made Joseph viceroy over Egypt, and married him to Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. (Genesis 41:44–46) Joseph had two sons with Asenath, Manasseh and Ephraim. (Genesis 41:50–52)

Egypt became prosperous under his care.

Family reunited

Famine hit all lands surrounding Egypt, but Egypt had a surplus of grain which Joseph had accumulated during the good years. People came from the surrounding lands to Egypt to buy grain. (Genesis 41:53–57) Among those who came were ten of Joseph's eleven brothers. (Genesis 42:1–5)

Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Joseph received them roughly and accused them of being spies, and sent them back to their father, demanding that they return with their brother Benjamin, the youngest, who was with their father in Canaan. And so the brothers returned to Jacob in Canaan, with Reuben lamenting that they had not listened to him and spared the life of their brother Joseph. (Genesis 42)

Jacob sent his sons again to Egypt for grain. As Joseph had commanded them not to appear before him again without Benjamin, Jacob was compelled to let Benjamin go with them. And they were amazed when this time the viceroy received them kindly, and took them to feast in his own house, inquiring after their father and their youngest brother Benjamin. (Genesis 43:47) But while they feasted, Joseph gave orders to his servants to fill their sacks with wheat and put his silver goblet in Benjamin's sack. On the following morning the brothers departed, but before they had gone far a messenger overtook them, accusing them of stealing the goblet. And when the messenger searched their sacks he found the goblet in Benjamin's sack, and ordered them to return. In front of Joseph, whom he still did not know, Judah pleaded that Benjamin be allowed to return to his father, and he himself kept in Benjamin's place.^[14]

Overcome by Judah's appeal, Joseph disclosed himself to his brothers, assuring them that in treating him as they did they had been carrying out the will of God. He then urged them to return home quickly and bring all their families to Egypt, to live in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh, when he heard of this, rejoiced, and gave to Joseph and his brothers the best that Egypt could offer.^[15]

So all of Israel came to Egypt, seventy persons, and Joseph met his father in the Land of Goshen.^[16] Then he presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh, and also his father Jacob, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and Joseph gave them the land of Ramesses. And as the famine continued in Egypt Joseph bought up all the land, which became Pharaoh's, and the people farmed it for Pharaoh, giving him one-fifth of the produce.

Jacob's last years

After 17 years in Egypt, when Jacob was 147 years old and felt his end was approaching, he called Joseph to him, and made Joseph swear to bury him not in Egypt, but with his fathers. (Genesis 47:28–31)

When Joseph came to Jacob with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Jacob blessed them and gave each of them equal inheritance with his own sons. However, despite protests by Joseph, Jacob blessed Ephraim the younger first above Manasseh. (Genesis 48:1–22) ^[17]

Jacob then gave his blessing upon all his sons. (Genesis 49) Though he blessed them in order by their age, the blessing he gave Joseph was greater than the others:

'Joseph is a fruitful tree by a spring, whose branches climb over the wall. The archers savagely attacked him, shooting and assailing him fiercely, but Joseph's bow remained unfailing and his arms were tireless by the power of the Strong One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd of Israel, by the God of your father-so may he help you! By God Almighty-so may he bless you with the blessings of heaven above, and the blessings of the deep that lies below! The blessings of breast and womb and the blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was prince among his brothers.'

When Jacob died, with Pharaoh's permission, Joseph had Jacob meticulously embalmed and led a huge state funeral back to Canaan, with the twelve sons carrying their father's coffin and many Egyptian officials accompanying them. (Genesis 50:1–14) Joseph carried Jacob's remains to the land of Canaan, where he buried them in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought, and in which Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rachel, and Jacob's first wife Leah were buried.

His brothers sent to implore his forgiveness for their past actions, but Joseph allayed their fears and promised that he would continue to provide for their wants. (Genesis 50:15–21)

Epilogue

Joseph lived to the age of 110, living to see his great-grandchildren. Before he died, he made the children of Israel swear that when they left the land of Egypt they would take his bones with them, and on his death his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:22–26)

The children of Israel remembered their oath, and when they left Egypt during the Exodus, Moses took Joseph's bones with him. (Exodus 13:19) The bones were buried at Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, (Joshua 24:32) before Jacob and all his family moved to Egypt. Shechem was in the land which was allocated by Joshua to the Tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of the House of Joseph, after the conquest of Canaan.

Later traditions

In one Talmudic story, Joseph was buried in the Nile, as there was some dispute as to which province should be honored by having his tomb within its boundaries. Moses, led there by an ancient holy woman named Serach, was able by a miracle to raise the sarcophagus and to take it with him at the time of the Exodus.

Joseph is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, he is known as "Joseph the all-comely", a reference not only to his physical appearance, but more importantly to the beauty of his spiritual life. They commemorate him on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before Christmas) and on Holy and Great Monday (Monday of Holy Week). In icons, he is sometimes depicted wearing the nemes headdress of an Egyptian vizier. The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod commemorates him as a patriarch on March 31.

Joseph ("Yusuf") is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Qur'an, suras vi. 84, xl. 36), and a whole chapter (sura xii.) is devoted to him. He is believed to have been very beautiful. Prophet Muhammad once said, "One half of all the beauty God apportioned for mankind went to Joseph; the other one half went to the rest of mankind." One significant departure in the Qur'an is the use of an unspecified King in place of the Biblical Pharaoh. The story has the same general outlines as the Biblical narrative, but with a wealth of additional detail and incident.^[18] In the Qur'an the brothers ask Jacob to let Joseph go with them.^[18] The pit into which Joseph is thrown is a well with water in it,^[18] and Joseph was taken as a slave by passing-by travellers (Qur'an 12:19). In one account, Joseph's face possessed such a peculiar brilliancy that his brothers noticed the different light in the sky as soon as he appeared above the edge of the well, and came back to claim him as their slave.^[18] This same peculiarity was noticeable when they went to Egypt: although it was evening when they entered the city, his face diffused such a light that the astonished inhabitants came out to see the cause of it.^[18]

In the Bible, Joseph discloses himself to his brethren before they return to their father the second time after buying corn.^[18] The same in the Islamic story but they are compelled to return to Jacob without Benjamin, and the former weeps himself blind.^[18] He remains so until the sons have returned from Egypt, bringing with them Joseph's garment healed the patriarch's eyes as soon as he put it to his face (Qur'an 12:96).^[18]

Literature and culture

Thomas Mann retells the Genesis stories surrounding Joseph in his four novel omnibus, Joseph and His Brothers, identifying Joseph with the figure of Osarseph known from Josephus, and the pharaoh with Akhenaten.

The long-running musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice is one of the few major British musical theatre shows with hardly any spoken dialogue, being sung-through almost completely

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph.

• Torah portions on Joseph: Vayeshev, Miketz, Vayigash, and Vayechi.
• Tribe of Joseph
• Islamic view of Joseph

References