Joseph (son of Jacob)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Joseph (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף ‎, Standard Yosef Tiberian Yôsēp̄, Arabic: يوسف‎, Yūsuf ; "May Yahweh add"[1]) is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

The Book of Genesis tells how Joseph was the eleventh of Jacob's twelve sons and Rachel's firstborn.[2] Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, yet rose to become the most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh. When famine struck the land he brought the sons of Israel down to Egypt, where they were settled in the Land of Goshen.
Analysis of Yosef

"The name Joseph comes from the verb (yasap 876) meaning to add, increase, do again. This verb is the common word to use when something is simply added, such as a son for Rachel (Genesis 30:24; hence the name Joseph), or a fifth to a certain value (Leviticus 27:13), or fifteen years to a life (Isaiah 38:5). But it's also quite commonly used to mean repeat, such as marrying again (Genesis 25:1), or doing something on top of something else, "also," such as hardening one's heart on top of sinning again (Exodus 9:34), or praise some and then praise some more (Psalm 71:14).

According to the documentary hypothesis, the Bible is said to offer two explanations of name Yosef. In the Elohist source, it is compared to the word asaf[3] from the root /'sp/, "taken away":[4] "And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach". In the Jahwist source, Yosef is identified with the similar root /ysp/, meaning "add":[4]"And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son."
[edit] Joseph in Genesis
[edit] Family

Joseph, son of Israel (Jacob) and Rachel, lived in the land of Canaan with eleven brothers and one sister. He was Rachel's firstborn and Israel's eleventh son. Of all the sons, Joseph was loved by his father the most. Israel even arrayed Joseph with a "long coat of many colors".[5] Israel's favoritism toward Joseph caused his half brothers to hate him, and when Joseph was seventeen years old he had two dreams that made his brothers plot his demise. In the first dream, Joseph and his brothers gathered bundles of grain. Then, all of the grain bundles that had been prepared by the brothers gathered around Joseph's bundle and bowed down to it. In the second dream, the sun (father), the moon (mother) and eleven stars (brothers) bowed down to Joseph himself. When he told these two dreams to his brothers, they despised him for the implications that the family would be bowing down to Joseph. They became jealous that their father would even ponder over Joseph's words concerning these dreams. (Genesis 37:1-11

)
[edit] Plot against Joseph
See also: Jacob in Hebron
Joseph's Coat Brought to Jacob
by Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, c. 1640.

Joseph's half-brothers hated him so much, especially for his dreams, that they even called him this dreamer. While in Dothan, when they were feeding the flocks, the brothers saw Joseph from a distance and so they plotted to kill him. However, the eldest brother Reuben, did not want Joseph to die.[6][7] He suggested to have Joseph thrown into an empty water hole until they could figure out what to do with him. He was the only one, however, who intended to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. Unaware of their intent, when Joseph approached his brothers, they turned on him and stripped Joseph of the coat his father made for him. Then they threw him into the cistern that Reuben suggested to earlier.[8] As they pondered what to do with Joseph, the brothers saw a camel caravan of Ishmaelites coming out of Gilead, carrying spices and perfumes to Egypt, for trade. Judah, the strongest, thought twice about killing Joseph and proposed that he be sold. Joseph's sale of trade, before making it to Egypt, was twenty pieces of silver.[9] The brothers were responsible for their missing brother, and they had to answer to their father. So they put male goat's blood on Joseph's coat [10] and showed it to Jacob, who deeply mourned for his son, believing him dead. (Genesis 37:12-35

)
[edit] Potiphar's house

Due to various translations and views regarding Genesis 37:28

, there is some debate as to who sold Joseph into slavery. It is muttled between the brothers, Midianite traders, Ishmaelite traders or these traders as one in the same. See Midianites and Ishmaelites. What is clear, is that Joseph was sold to serve Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard.[11] While serving in Potiphar's household, Yahweh was with Joseph so that he prospered in everything he did. Joseph found favor in the sight of Potiphar and so he became his personal servant. Then Joseph was promoted to oversee Potiphar's entire household as a superintendent. After some time, Potiphar's wife began to desire Joseph and sought to have an affair with him. Despite her persistence, he refused to have sex with her for fear of sinning against God. After some days of begging for him, she grabbed him by his cloak, but he escaped from her leaving his garment behind. In contempt for running away from her, she took his garment and made a false claim against him by charging that he tried to "make sport" or sexually engage her. This resulted in Joseph being thrown into prison.[12] (Genesis 39:1-20

)
Joseph interpreting the dreams of the baker and the butler, by Benjamin Cuyp, ca. 1630.
[edit] Joseph in prison

The warden put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners,[13] and soon afterward Pharaoh's chief cup bearer and chief baker, who had offended the king, were thrown into the prison.[14] One morning they both told Joseph their dreams of the previous night, which they were unable to interpret, and Joseph told them that the chief cup bearer would be reinstated within three days but that the chief baker would be hanged.[15] Joseph requested the cup bearer to mention him to Pharaoh and secure his release from prison,[16] but the cup bearer, reinstalled in office, forgot Joseph.[17] After Joseph was in prison for two more years, Pharaoh had two dreams 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. Pharaoh's wise men were unable to interpret these dreams, but the chief cup bearer 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.
[edit] Vizier of Egypt
Joseph made ruler in Egypt, early 1900s Bible illustration

Pharaoh acknowledged that Joseph's proposal to store grain during the abundant period was very wise. So before Joseph was even 30 years old, Pharaoh released him from prison and put him in charge over "all the land of Egypt" as Vizier. The Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's hand, then clothed him in fine linen and put a gold necklace around his neck. He was then renamed Zaphnath-Paaneah [18] and was given Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah who was the priest of On,[19] to be his wife. During those seven years of abundance, Joseph ensured that the storehouses were full and that all produce was measured until there was so much that it became immeasurable. In the final year of abundance, Asenath bore two children to Joseph: Manasseh and Ephraim. When the famine came, it was so severe that people from surrounding nations "from all over the earth" came to Egypt to buy bread as this nation was the only Kingdom prepared for the seven year drought. The narrative also indicates that they went straight to Joseph or were directed to him, even by Pharaoh himself, so as to buy from him. (Genesis 41:37-57

)

The seven year famine became so severe that toward the later period, even Egypt was being strangled. Because the Egyptians had used up all of their money to buy grain in the previous years, there was no more money left. All they had was their livestock and even that dwindled down to nothing. As a last resort, all of the inhabitants of Egypt, less the Egyptian priestly class, sold all of their properties to Joseph for seed. These properties now became the property of the Pharaoh, or in another words, government property. Joseph also set a mandate that because they will be harvesting seed on government property, a fifth of the produce shall go to the Pharaoh. A fifth to the Pharaoh has continued down to at least the days of Moses. (Genesis 47:20-31

)
[edit] Brothers sent to Egypt
See also: Seven year famine
Joseph gave orders to his servants to fill their sacks with wheat: illuminated Bible by Raphaël de Mercatelli, Ghent, late 15th century

In the second year of famine,[20] Joseph's half brothers were sent to Egypt, by their father Israel, to buy goods. When they came to Egypt, they stood before the Vizier but did not recognize him to be their brother Joseph. However, Joseph did recognize them and did not receive them kindly, rather he disguised himself and spoke to them in the Egyptian language using an interpreter. He did not speak at all to them in his native tongue, Hebrew.[21] After questioning them as to where they come from, he accused them of being spies. They pleaded with him that their only purpose was to buy grain for their family in the land of Canaan. After they mentioned that they had a younger brother whom they left behind at home, the Vizier (Joseph) demanded that he be brought to Egypt before him so as to see if their words held true. This brother was Joseph's blood brother, Benjamin. He placed his brothers in prison for three days. On the third day, he brought them out of prison to reiterate that he wanted their youngest brother to come to Egypt so as to verify their words. The brothers conferred amongst themselves speaking in Hebrew, reflecting on what they had done to Joseph recognizing their guilt. Joseph understood what they were saying and removed himself from their presence because he was caught in emotion. When he returned, the Vizier took Simeon and bound him as a hostage.[22] Then he had their donkeys prepared with grain and sent the other brothers away back to Canaan. Unbeknownst to them, Joseph had also returned their money to their money sacks. (Genesis 42:1-28

)