Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph, in the
Hebrew Bible (
Old Testament), appears in the
Book of Genesis (his name
Yosef,
Hebrew: יוֹסֵף means "
The Lord increases", (
Tiberian Hebrew ), later called
Zaphnath-paaneah or
Tzáfnat panéach צפנת פענח, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew :
Egyptian origin "Discoverer of hidden things"), the eleventh son of
Jacob, born of
Rachel.
Joseph is one of the best-known figures in the
Hebrew Bible, famous for his coat of many colours and his God-given ability to
interpret dreams. Owing to jealousy from his brothers, he was sold as a
slave, eventually working under the Egyptian
Potiphar, but was later freed, and became the chief adviser (
vizier) to the
Egyptian
Pharaoh around
1402 BC.
According to
Genesis, Joseph was the elder of the two sons of
Jacob by
Rachel, his favorite wife (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of his birth, said, "The Lord shall add [Heb.
yoseph] to me another son" (Gen. 30:24). He was born in
Padan-aram when Jacob was about ninety years old. He was probably six years old when his father returned from
Haran to
Canaan and took up his residence in the town of
Hebron.
Joseph was a favorite son of his father's, who made him a multi-colored coat. As a result, he was envied by his half-brothers, who saw the special coat as indicating that Joseph would assume family leadership. (Thanks to the musical,
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and countless children's books, Joseph is perhaps best known for his "
coat of many colors.") His brothers' suspicion grew when Joseph told them of his two dreams (Gen. 37:11) in which all the brothers bowed down to him.
The narrative tells that his brothers plotted against him one day when he was seventeen, and would have killed him had not
Reuben interposed. He persuaded them instead to throw Joseph into a pit and secretly planned to rescue him later. However, while Reuben was absent, the others planned to sell him to a company of
Ishmaelite merchants.
He was stolen from the pit by passing
Midianites who sold him to the merchants for twenty
shekels of silver. The brothers then dipped Joseph's colored coat in goat's blood and showed it to their father, saying that Joseph had been torn apart in the field.
These merchants brought Joseph to Egypt where
Medanite slave dealers in turn sold him to Potiphar, an "officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" (Gen. 37:36). Joseph prospered in Potiphar's household and was eventually made head of the servants.
After Joseph rejected the attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce him, she accused Joseph of attempted
rape, and he was cast into the state prison (Gen. 39:40), where he remained for at least two years. The story tells of two servants of Pharaoh's household who were in jail with Joseph and asked him to interpret their dreams. Joseph correctly predicted the future based on their dreams: one would be reinstated in his post while the other would be executed. Joseph urged the first, a royal cupbearer, to get him out of prison once he was reinstated, but the cupbearer forgot about him and left him in prison for two more years.
At the end of that period, Pharaoh had a strange dream. The chief cupbearer remembered Joseph and recommended his services to Pharaoh; at his suggestion, Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the king's dreams. Joseph predicted seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of
famine and advised the Pharaoh to appoint someone to store up surplus grain. Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's interpretation and advice, and gave him authority over all the land of Egypt (Gen. 41:46).
At age 30, Joseph then married
Asenath whose name means "holy to
Anath", the daughter of the priest of
On, and thus became a member of the priestly class.
As Joseph had foreseen, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up a great abundance of grain in granaries built for the purpose. These years were followed by seven years of famine "over all the face of the earth", when "all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain" (Gen. 41:56, 57; 47:13,14). Thus, "Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought." Afterwards all the cattle and all the land, and at last the Egyptians themselves, became the property of Pharaoh.
During this period of famine, Joseph's brothers, except for
Benjamin, also came down to Egypt to buy grain. On reaching Egypt, Joseph's brothers, not recognizing him, "bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground" (Gen. 42:7), thus fulfilling in part his earlier dream. However, in order to fulfill the dream completely, Joseph needed Benjamin to come to Egypt as well, so he disguised his identity from his brothers and devised a plot: he accused them of being spies and imprisoned them for three days. He then sent them away with grain, retaining
Simeon as a hostage (Gen. 42:1-25), while ordering them not to return without Benjamin.
Upon their return to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph received them kindly and threw a feast for them. Joseph then tested them further, by accusing Benjamin of theft. But
Judah pleaded for Benjamin, offering himself as a slave instead. Convinced of his brothers' repentance and overcome with emotion, Joseph finally revealed himself to them. He forgave them and sent for his father Jacob and all their families and possessions to come to Egypt. Joseph settled Jacob's families with Pharaoh's blessing in
Goshen (Gen. 47:29).
Joseph lived to the age of 110. Shortly before his death he made the Israelites take an oath that they would resettle his bones in Canaan. The oath was fulfilled during the
Exodus where his remains were eventually buried in
Shechem (Ex. 8:19; Josh. 24:32), however, this is said by
Ahmed Osman to be a later insertion.
Joseph occupies a very important place in
Rabbinical literature, and no patriarch was the subject of so many
Midrashic traditional narratives. As Rachel was visited by the Lord on
Rosh ha-Shanah (Talmud, Tractate Rosh Hashana. 10b), Joseph was born in due course on the 1st of
Tammuz, 2199 (
Book of Jubilees, xxviii. 32).
Joseph is represented as a perfectly righteous man (
tzadik gamur) and as the counterpart of his father; not only did Joseph resemble his father in appearance and in having been born
circumcised, but the main incidents of their lives were parallel. Both were born after their mothers had been barren for a long time; and both were hated by their brothers; both were met by
angels at various times (Gen. R. lxxxiv. 6; Num. R. xiv. 16). Joseph is extolled by the Rabbis for being well versed in the
Torah, for being a
prophet, and for supporting his brothers (Tan., Wayesheb, 20). According to R.
Phinehas, the
Holy Spirit dwelt in Joseph from his childhood until his death (Pirke R. El. xxxviii.).
Jacob's other children came into the world only for Joseph's sake; the
Red Sea and the
Jordan were passed dry-shod by the children of Israel through the virtue of Joseph (Gen. R. lxxxiv. 4; Le?a? ?ob to Gen. xxxvii. 2). When Joseph and his mother bowed to
Esau (Gen. xxxiii. 7), Joseph shielded his mother with his figure (Targ. pseudo-Jonathan, ad loc.), protecting her from the lascivious eyes of Esau, for which he was rewarded through the exemption of his descendants from the spell of the evil eye (Gen. R. lxxviii. 13; comp. Ber. 20a; So?ah 36b). When Joseph reported to his father the evil doings of his brothers (Gen. xxxvii. 2), his design was merely that his father might correct them (Le?a? ?ob, ad loc.).
The nature of the "evil report" is variously given by the Rabbis. According to Pirke R. El. xxxviii., Joseph spoke only against the sons of
Bilhah and
Zilpah, that they ate meat which they had not slaughtered in accordance with the Law (comp. Targ. pseudo-Jonathan, ad loc.). According to R. Judah, Joseph reported that the sons of
Leah slighted the sons of the concubines by calling them slaves. R. Simeon's opinion was that Joseph spoke against them all, accusing them of "looking at the daughters of the land" (Gen. R. lxxxiv. 7). The reason for Jacob's special love toward Joseph was, according to R. Judah, that Joseph resembled Jacob in appearance; but according to R. Nehemiah it was that he transmitted to Joseph all the
halakot he had studied in the school of
Shem and
Eber (ib. lxxxiv. 8).
Sent to brothers
Joseph is represented as an exemplar of filial respect, for when his father requested him to go and see how his brothers fared, he went promptly and with gladness of heart, although he knew that they hated him (Mek., Beshalla?, Wayehi, 1; Gen. R. lxxxiv. 12, 15). When he went to his brothers, he was accompanied to
Dothan by three angels (ib. lxxxiv. 13; comp. Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xxxvii. 15, and
Sefer ha-Yashar, section
Wayesheb). When the brothers saw Joseph approaching from a distance, they decided to set the dogs upon him (l.c.). After being beaten by his brethren, Joseph was thrown by Simeon into a pit, among serpents and scorpions; but Joseph prayed to God and the reptiles retired to their holes (ib. lxxxiv. 15; Targ. pseudo-Jonathan, ad loc.). Afterward, Simeon ordered stones thrown into the pit (Tan., Wayesheb, 13; Yal?., Gen. 142).
The brothers encamped at a distance from the pit that they might not hear Joseph's cries, and while they were eating, a company of Midianites passed by the pit, heard Joseph calling for help, and drew him up. A struggle then ensued between the brothers and the Midianites. The former declared that Joseph was their rebellious slave; the latter regarded their statements with suspicion; but the difference was settled by the sale of Joseph to the Midianites (
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c.). The brothers then divided among themselves the purchase-money: twenty pieces of silver (Gen. xxxvii. 28), each taking two pieces, with which they bought shoes (Pirke R. El. xxxviii.).
As Joseph had been thrown naked into the pit, the Midianites would have compelled him to accompany them so, but God, not willing that so righteous a man should travel in an unseemly manner, sent
Gabriel to transform into a long garment the
amulet Joseph wore on his neck. The brothers, however, on seeing the garment, demanded it of the Midianites, saying that they had sold them a naked slave, but, after some altercation, consented to take four pairs of shoes in exchange. Joseph wore the same garment when he was Potiphar's slave, when he was in prison, and when he became the Father of Pharaoh of Egypt (Jellinek, "B. H." v. 157, vi. 120).
Joseph in captivity
When the Midianites noticed the nobility of Joseph's countenance, they understood he was not a slave and regretted having bought him. They would have taken him back to his father had not the distance been too great; but when they met, soon after, a company of Ishmaelites they sold Joseph to them. Passing his mother's grave, Joseph prostrated himself upon it, weeping bitterly and imploring her assistance; from her grave she answered that she was afflicted by his troubles, but that he must hope and await the intervention of God. The Ishmaelites violently dragged Joseph away, beat him cruelly, and continued their journey. They finally met four merchants, descendants of
Medan, to whom they sold Joseph; and the Medanites in turn sold Joseph to Potiphar for four hundred pieces of silver (
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c. ; comp. Gen. R. lxxxiv. 20.) Joseph was sold by his brothers on
Yom Kippur (
Book of Jubilees, xxxiv. 15).
In reward for his righteousness, the Ishmaelites, who generally dealt in ill-smelling articles, were on that occasion influenced by
Providence to carry fragrant spices in order that Joseph's journey to Egypt might be more agreeable (Gen. R. lxxxiv. 16). When Jacob's sons reached home, affirming that Joseph had been devoured by a wild beast (comp. Gen. xxxvii. 33), Jacob ordered them to arm themselves and capture the beast. They accordingly went forth and returned with a wolf; but when Jacob began to reproach the beast for its cruelty, the wolf answered, in human language, that it had not committed the crime of devouring Joseph, and that it was itself searching for its lost cub; Jacob therefore let the wolf go (
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c.).
Jacob did not wholly believe that Joseph was dead, because he could not forget him, while the dead are soon forgotten. He therefore hewed out twelve stones and placed them in a row, after writing on them the names of his twelve sons with their corresponding months and
zodiacal signs. Then he commanded them to bow to the stone of Reuben, but no stone moved; then he commanded them to bow to Simeon's stone, with the same result; but when he came to the stone of Joseph, all the other stones bowed to it. Even then Jacob was not sure that Joseph was alive, and repeated the same experiment with sheaves, getting the same result, without, however, reaching a conviction. He was finally convinced by a vision which he had of the future priestly organization, interpreting the names of
Eliashib, chief of a division of the sons of
Aaron (I Chron. xxiv. 12), and
Elkanah, a noted
Levite (I Sam. i. 1), as signifying respectively "God will bring him back" and "he was bought by Potiphar" (
Soferim xxi. 9).
Joseph's temptation
|
Joseph and the Wife of Potiphar, by Philipp Veit |
The prosperity of Joseph in Potiphar's house is described by the Rabbis as follows: "The wishes of Potiphar were executed in an instant; when he desired that the cup which Joseph handed him should be warm, it was warm; and if he desired that it should be cold, it was cold" (Tan., Wayesheb, 16; Gen. R. lxxxvi. 6). At first Potiphar was of the opinion that Joseph was a magician, and he wondered, saying, "Is there a lack of magicians in Egypt?" but afterward he saw that the
Shekinah dwelt in Joseph (Gen. R. l.c. ; Le?a? ?ob to Gen. xxxix. 3).
Joseph's character was antithetical to the characters of all the other slaves; the latter were rapacious, while Joseph never enjoyed anything that was not his (Zeb. 118b); the other slaves were given over to lust, while Joseph was chaste; the others ate the priestly portions because they were slaves of the priests (see Lev. xxii. 11), while Joseph, through his righteousness, caused the descendants of his master, who were his own descendants as well, to eat those portions; this (unlikelily) identifies Joseph with
Putiel,
Eleazar's father-in-law (Gen. R. lxxxvi. 3; comp. Mek., l.c. ;
Sotah 43a).
Like all other righteous men, Joseph was tried by God (Gen. R. lxxxvii. 3; comp. Test. Patr., Joseph, 2). He was one of the three men who successfully resisted temptation; for this he was rewarded by having the letter ? (one of the letters composing the Tetragrammaton) added to his name (Lev. R. xxiii. 10; comp. Ps. lxxxi. 6). The day on which Joseph "went into the house to do his work" (Gen. xxxix. 11-12) was the
Sabbath day, and the work consisted in repeating the
Torah, which he had learned from his father (
Midrash Abkir, quoted in Yal?., Gen. 146). Some rabbis, however, charged Joseph with vanity, saying that, even before being sold, he took too much pains with his personal appearance (Gen. R. lxxxiv. 7), and that he continued to do so as ruler over Potiphar's house, forgetting his father, who was mourning over his disappearance. God punished him, therefore, by setting against him Potiphar's wife (Gen. R. lxxxvii. 3).
Certain rabbis declared even that Joseph was ready to yield to his mistress, but that his father's image suddenly appeared to him and called him to his duty (
Sotah 36b; Gen. R. lxxxvii. 9; comp. Pirke R. El. xxxix.). The story of Joseph and Zelikah (
Zulaikha), the wife of Potiphar, is narrated in the
Sefer ha-Yashar (l.c., following
Arabic sources, as the very name "Zelikah" shows) as follows: Zelikah at first attempted to seduce Joseph by arraying him in fine garments, putting before him the most delicious viands, and speaking to him in amorous terms. These means failing, she used threats, but without effect, for Joseph remained inflexible (comp. Test. Patr., Joseph, 3). The vehemence of her unrequited passion soon impaired her health. On one occasion, when some noble ladies of Egypt had come to see her, she told her maid to give them oranges and sent Joseph in to wait upon them; the women, unable to turn their eyes from Joseph, cut their fingers while peeling the oranges, and when Zelikah asked them the cause, they answered that they could not help looking at Joseph. She then said: "What would you do if, like myself, you had him every day before your eyes?"
According to Gen. R. lxxxvii. 5 and Test. Patr., Joseph, 4-5, Zelikah told Joseph that she was ready to kill her husband so that he might marry her legally. But Joseph exclaimed: "After inducing me to commit adultery, thou desirest me to become a murderer!" Zelikah promised that, if he would yield to her, she would embrace his religion and induce all the Egyptians to do the same. Joseph answered that the God of the Hebrews does not desire unchaste worshipers. She next brought Joseph into her chamber in the inner part of the house and placed him on her bed, over which was the image of her Egyptian god. Then she covered her face with a veil, and Joseph said: "Thou art afraid of an idol; shall I not fear
YHWH, who sees all things?" (Gen. R. l.c.).
Joseph in prison
It happened that, at the
Nile festival, all the people of the house except Joseph and Zelikah had gone to see the ceremonies; Zelikah feigned illness as her reason for not attending the festival (comp.
Sotah 36b). With one hand she grasped a sword and with the other caught Joseph's garment, and when he attempted to release himself a rent was made in the garment. Afterward, when Joseph was brought before the priests for judgment, and while they were deliberating, Zelikah's child of eleven months suddenly began to speak, accusing its mother and declaring Joseph's innocence.
The priests then ordered the garment to be brought in order that they might see on which side it had been rent; seeing that it was rent in the back, they declared Joseph innocent. Joseph was nevertheless thrown into prison by Potiphar, who was anxious thus to save his wife a public exposure (
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c. ; comp. Gen. R. lxxxvii. 10). According to
Midrash Abkir (Yal?., Gen. 146), Zelikah requested her female friends to testify that Joseph had assailed them also. Potiphar was going to kill him, but his wife prevailed on him to imprison him and then sell him, so as to recover the money he had paid for Joseph. According to the same Midrash, it was Asenath who told Potiphar of her mother's false accusation.
Joseph as ruler
Joseph's duties took him every day to his master's house, and this gave Zelikah opportunities to renew her entreaties and threats. As Joseph continued to look downward, she put an iron spear under his chin to force him to look at her, but still Joseph averted his gaze (Gen. R. lxxxvii. 11; comp.
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c.). There is a disagreement among rabbinical writers as to the length of time Joseph spent in Potiphar's house and in prison. According to
Seder 'Olam (Neubauer, "M. J. C." ii. 28) and Gen. R. (lxxxvi. 7, after the correction of
Mattenot Kehunnah), Joseph spent one year in Potiphar's house and twelve years in prison; according to
Pirke R. El. (l.c.), he was in prison ten years; according to the
Book of Jubilees (xlvi. 7), he spent ten years in the house and three years in prison. The last opinion seems to be supported by Gen. R. lxxxix. 2 and Tan., Mi??e?, 2, where it is said that Joseph remained two years longer in prison as a punishment for having trusted in the promises of man (comp. Gen. xl. 14-15).
When the chief butler told Pharaoh of Joseph's skill in interpreting dreams (Gen. xli. 12-13), he endeavored at the same time to discredit Joseph, but an angel baffled the chief butler's design (Gen. R. lxxxviii. 6, lxxxix. 9). According to
Sotah 36b, Gabriel taught Joseph the seventy languages which a ruler of Egypt was obliged to know, and it was then that he added the letter ? to Joseph's name (comp. Num. R. xiv. 16). Joseph was released from prison on
Rosh ha-Shanah (R. H. 10b). When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, the king asked him for a sign by which he might know that his interpretation was true. Joseph then told him that the queen, who was about to be delivered of a child, would give birth to a son, but that at the same time another son, two years of age, would die; and it so happened.
As the "Father to Pharaoh", Joseph built himself a magnificent palace, placing in it a great number of slaves. He equipped also a considerable army, with which he marched to help the Ishmaelites against the
Tarshishites, winning a great victory (
Sefer ha-Yashar, section "Mi??e?"). Joseph showed great discernment in preserving the grain which he gathered, by storing in each district only the amount which had grown there (Gen. R. xc. 5). Later, when the famine grew more intense and the Egyptians went to Joseph for grain, he compelled them to undergo
circumcision, refusing food to uncircumcised people (ib. xc. 6, xci. 5). He stored up in Egypt all the gold and silver of the world, and it was carried away by the Israelites when they left Egypt. According to another opinion, Joseph placed the gold and silver in three hidden treasuries, of which one was discovered by
Korah, one by
Antoninus, son of
Severus, and one is being kept for the righteous in the future world (Pes. 119a; comp.
Sefer ha-Yashar, section
Wayiggash).
Joseph and his brethren
|
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, by Peter von Cornelius |
Joseph always kept in mind his father and brothers, and during the twenty-two years he was away from home he drank no wine (Shab. 139a; Gen. R. xciv. 25; Test. Patr., Joseph, 3). It is said also that Joseph wore
sackcloth and fasted a great deal (Gen. R. lxxxv. 2; Test. Patr. l.c.). He is represented as very modest, so that though viceroy of Egypt he was not vain of his power (Ex. R. i. 7). Knowing that his brothers would come to buy grain, Joseph gave orders that nobody should be permitted to enter until he had given in writing his own and his father's names.
His brothers, fearing the
evil eye, entered the city at ten different gates, and in the evening the gatekeepers brought their names to Joseph. Three days passed, and the brothers had not appeared before Joseph; so Joseph sent seventy-strong men to search for them. The brothers were found in the street of the harlots, whither they had gone with the object of looking for Joseph. When they were brought into Joseph's house, Joseph, feigning divination through his goblet, enumerated all their deeds, how they had destroyed
Shechem, how they had sold their brother; and the fact of being found in the street of the harlots proved, he said, that they were spies.
A struggle ensued between Joseph's men and his brothers, who were on the point of destroying Egypt, but they were subdued by
Manasseh, who imprisoned
Simeon (Gen. R. xci. 6; comp.
Sefer ha-Yashar, l.c.). Later, when, under the pretext of his having stolen the goblet, Benjamin was detained by Joseph (Gen. xliv.), another violent struggle ensued between Joseph and his brothers, who would have carried Benjamin off by force. Seeing that his brothers, especially Judah, were again becoming furious, Joseph, with his foot, struck a marble pillar on which he was sitting, shattering it into fragments (Gen. R. xciii. 7).
Why he died before his brothers
According to the
Sefer ha-Yashar (section
Wayiggash), where the whole struggle is narrated at great length,
Manasseh was the hero of that exploit (see Targ. Yer. to Gen. xliv. 19). Joseph allowed himself to be recognized by his brothers for fear they might destroy Egypt (Gen. R. l.c.). Certain rabbis underrated Joseph's merit by declaring that he died before his brothers because he had made them feel his authority (Ber. 55a; comp. Tan., Wayiggash, 3). According to other opinions, Joseph died before them because he embalmed his father's body instead of relying on God to keep the body from decay; or because he heard Judah say "thy servant my father" several times without correcting him (Pirke R. El. xxxix.; Gen. R. c. 4).
Joseph's solicitude on behalf of his brothers is pointed out by Pesi?. R. 3 (ed. Friedmann, p. 10b) as follows: Although he honored his father greatly, he always avoided meeting him, so that he would not have known that his father was sick had not a messenger been sent to him (Gen. xlviii. 1); Joseph apprehended, perhaps, that his father would ask him how he came to be sold by his brothers, and would curse them. When Jacob prepared himself to bless Joseph's two sons, the
Holy Spirit had left him, but it returned to him through Joseph's prayer (Pesi?. l.c. p. 12a). Joseph is said to have himself superintended his father's burial, although he had so many slaves; he was rewarded in that
Moses himself carried his bones (
Sotah 9b; comp. Ex. xiii. 19) after making his brothers and sons swear that their descendants would carry him out of Egypt, and in that his coffin was carried in the wilderness side by side with the
Ark of the Covenant (Mek., l.c.). However, this part of the
Exodus may be a later insertion, as in the
Talmud, one story tells us that Moses wanted to carry Joseph out of Egypt, but he could not find his coffin. Joseph could have actually been known in Egypt as
Yuya and never left Egypt after he died.
According to most rabbinical authorities, Joseph's coffin was sunk in the Nile (Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. 1. 26; Mek., Beshalla?, Wayyehi, 1; Ex. R. xx. 17); but according to R. Nathan, Joseph was buried in the royal palace. In the time of the
Exodus,
Serah, daughter of
Asher, showed Moses where the coffin was sunk. Moses threw a pebble into the water there and cried out: "Joseph! Joseph! the time has come for the Israelites to be rescued from their oppressors; come up and do not cause us any further delay!" The coffin thereupon floated up (Mek., l.c. ; Ex. R. l.c.). It may be added that the
piyyut beginning
Arze ha-Lebanon and recited on
Yom Kippur is based on the legend that Joseph was bartered for shoes (comp. Amos ii. 6).
Jacob before he died blessed all his sons and included blessings forJoseph's sons.
The narratives concerning Joseph (Gen. 37 and 39) are composed of two principal strata: a
Jahwist stratum and an
Elohist one, with a few details here and there from the compiler of the
Priestly Code (for details see J. E. Carpenter and G. Harford-Battersby,
Hexateuch, pp. 58-79). According to the Yahwistic narrative, Joseph is rescued by Judah when his brethren plot against him, and is afterward sold to Ishmaelites, who in turn sell him to an Egyptian of high position whose name is not given. The wife of this Egyptian brings an accusation against Joseph, and he is cast into prison; but the jailer makes him overseer of the other prisoners.
The Yahwistic account of his escape from prison has been omitted; and in the sequel nothing is said about Simeon's becoming a hostage. The brethren open their sacks at a halting-place and find their money; Judah offers to become surety to his father for Benjamin's return; the Israelites settle in the land of Goshen; and Jacob's life closes with his poetic blessing. In the Elohistic portions Joseph is rescued from his other brethren by Reuben and thrown into a pit, from which he is taken and sold to the Midianites; they in turn sell him to Potiphar, captain of the guard, who makes him ruler over the prisoners confined in his house. Afterward, when his brethren are accused of being spies, they volunteer the information about the younger brother. Simeon is left in Egypt as a hostage; the others open their sacks at the end of their homeward journey; Reuben offers to become security for Benjamin's return; and there is no mention of Goshen.
In other respects the narratives seem to have been closely parallel. The Priestly Code adds a few statistics and gives a list of the people who went down to Egypt. Modern critics have made various estimates of the historical worth of these narratives of Joseph. As the reputed ancestor of the tribes of
Ephraim and
Manasseh, he is regarded by some as altogether legendary or even mythical. Thus Winckler held the story of Joseph to be a sun-myth ("Gesch. Israels," part ii., pp. 73-77; see, however, his "Abraham der Babylonier, Joseph der Egypter," 1903); while the fact that "Jacob-el" and "Joseph-el" appear in a list of
Tutmoses III as the names of places in the
Land of Israel (W.
Max Müller,
Asien und Europa, pp. 163ff), lends to the legendary view some probability.
Still, even if these narratives should prove to be legendary, not every legend is a sun-myth. On the other hand, archeological evidence has been urged in favor of the historical character of Joseph. Two of the
Amarna tablets (Schrader, "K. B." v., Nos. 44, 45) show that a
Semite held a position in Egypt quite analogous to that attributed to Joseph. The Egyptian
Tale of Two Brothers shows that such situations as that in which Joseph found himself with the wife of his master were not unknown in Egypt (comp.
Archibald Sayce,
Verdict of the Monuments, pp. 209-211). The Egyptians attached great significance to
dreams, as they are said to have done in the Biblical narrative (comp. Brugsch,
History of Egypt, pp. 200, 314, 406);
famines of long duration were also not infrequent, being produced by the failure of the Nile overflow. One such drought (
1064-
1071), is attested by the Arabic historian
al-Makrizi (comp. Stanley, "Jewish Church," i. 79).
Such instances of the correctness of the portraiture from an Egyptian standpoint might be greatly multiplied. At the most, however, they do not prove the historical character of the narrative, but that, if it is fiction, it is very realistic fiction. In either case the narratives were not written till after the
ninth century BC (according to the
documentary hypothesis); for such names as
Potiphar (Gen. 39:1) and
Zaphenath-paneah (Gen. 41:45) do not occur in Egyptian before that century (comp. Brugsch in
Old Testament Student, xi. 481).
Those who regard the Joseph stories as historical generally hold that the Pharaoh by whom Joseph was made the practical ruler of Egypt was one of the
Hyksos kings. This result is reached partly by reckoning back from
Rameses II, who is regarded (stereotypically) as the Pharaoh of the oppression, and partly by assuming that the Hyksos were Semitic or
Asiatic, and that such a situation was more possible under them. The El-Amarna tablets cited above make it clear, however, that it would have been much more possible under the kings of the
eighteenth dynasty, such as
Tuthmosis IV,
Amenhotep III or
Amenhotep IV (about
1400 BC), to whom he was known as
Yuya, also disproving the theory that Ramesses II was the oppressor, and rather that it was
Horemheb (according to
Ahmed Osman, and that the Pharaoh of the
Exodus was
Ramesses I.
The story of Joseph or
Yusuf as it is told in
Arabic literature has the same general outlines as the Biblical narrative; but in the Arabic account there is a wealth of accessory detail and incident. Some of these amplifications have been borrowed by Jewish writers (as in the
Sefer ha-Yashar; see Grünbaum, "Zu 'Yussuf und Suleicha,'" in "Z. D. M. G." xliii. 1 et seq.). Joseph is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (
Qur'an, suras vi. 84, xl. 36). He is also a type of manly beauty; so that one often finds the expression "a second Joseph," meaning one extraordinarily beautiful. He is likewise called the "Moon of
Canaan." A great many public works in Egypt have been attributed to him. Some believe that he built the city of
Memphis, and that he was instrumental in building the
obelisks and
pyramids. He also instructed the Egyptians in science. In the
Qur'an a whole chapter (sura xii.) is devoted to Joseph; and the commentators add many details to this "best of stories" (sura xii. 3).
Joseph and Zulaikha
The story of Yusuf and
Zulaikha is a favorite love-song in the East, and the Persian poet
Firdowsi has written on the subject an epic which begins with Jacob's suit for Rachel. The narrative, however, among the Muslims is more than a simple love-tale. Their theologians use it to symbolize the spiritual love between God and the soul (D'Herbelot, "Bibliothèque Orientale," iii. 371). Zulaikha or
Ra'il is the wife of
Kitfir or
Itfir (the Biblical Potiphar), through whose accusations, although they are proved to be false, Yusuf is thrown into prison. After his phenomenal rise to power, as he is passing through the street one day his attention is attracted by a beggar woman whose bearing shows traces of former greatness. Upon stopping to speak to her he discovers Zulaikha, who has been left in misery at the death of her husband. Yusuf causes her to be taken to the house of a relative of the king, and soon obtains permission to marry her, she having lost none of her former beauty nor any of her first love for him.
Other features in the Arabic history of Yusuf which are lacking in the
Old Testament narrative, are the stories of Jacob and the wolf and of Joseph at his mother's tomb (contained in a manuscript at
Madrid). After Joseph's brothers had returned to their father with the coat dipped in blood, Jacob was so prostrated that for several days he was as one dead. Then he began to wonder that the garment had no rents or marks of claws and teeth, and suspicions of the truth arose in his mind. To allay his doubts the brothers scoured the country and caught in a net a wolf, which they brought alive to their father. Jacob, after reproaching the wolf for its cruelty, asked it to relate how it came to commit so wicked a deed; whereupon
Allah opened the mouth of the dumb beast and it talked, disclaiming any connection with the death of Yusuf. It even expressed sympathy for the grieving father, saying that it had itself lost its own dear child. The patriarch was much affected by this tale, and entertained the wolf hospitably before sending it on its way with his blessing.
The story of Yusuf at his mother's tomb shows the boy's piety and forgiving nature. As the caravan bearing him to Egypt passed near his mother's grave Yusuf slipped away unnoticed and fell upon the tomb in an agony of tears and prayer. For this he was severely abused, whereupon a storm suddenly arose, making further progress impossible. Only when Yusuf had forgiven the offender did the storm disappear. This
Poema de José was written in
Spanish with Arabic characters by a
Morisco, who had forgotten the language of his forefathers, but still remembered their traditions. These stories are found in the
Sefer ha-Yashar also; but their origin is certainly Arabic (see Grünbaum, l.c.).
There are certain minor points in which the Islamic story differs from the Biblical. In the Qur'an the brothers ask Jacob to let Joseph go with them. The pit into which Joseph is thrown is a well with water in it, and Joseph was taken as a slave by passing-by travellers (Qur'an 12:19). In the Bible, 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 they came back to claim him as their slave. 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.
In the Bible, Joseph discloses himself to his brethren before they return to their father the second time after buying corn. The same in the Islamic story but they are compelled to return to Jacob without Benjamin, and the former weeps himself blind. 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).
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. There is no mention of that in the Bible or the Qur'an.
The story of Joseph (
Arabic يوسف Yūsuf) is also told in chapter 12 of the
Qur'an. This is not believed (other than by
Muslims) to be an independent source. Yet it is the source of
Sefer ha-Yashar, which is considered to be an independent source.
The "Story of the Two Brothers," an Egyptian romance written for the son of a
12th century BC Pharaoh, contains an episode somewhat similar to the Biblical account of Joseph's treatment by Potiphar's wife. Scholars disagree as to whether the two stories shared a common source.
Thomas Mann retells the Genesis stories surrounding Joseph in his four novel omnibus,
Joseph and His Brothers.
Joseph figures prominently in
Anita Diamant's novel
The Red Tent, which retells the story of
Dinah, his sister.
The musical
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is about Joseph's story.
