Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's interpretation and gave him authority to carry out the suggested policy (Gen. 41:46). Joseph was fully trusted by his master, Potiphars wife took a fancy to Joseph, but he refused to sin with her. The two principle sources are the Yahwist and the Elohist versions, with a few details included as well from the Priestly source. [54], This article is about the Joseph of the Book of Genesis. Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years after his arrival (Genesis 47:28). And as it was budding, its blossoms came out and they produced grapes. And Jo. "Give me children, or I shall die," she says to Jacob (Genesis 30:1). This would not be a true case of polygamy, because his intention was not to have two wives, but to provide for his sister-in-law it was considered a mitzvah towards the dead brother as well as to the woman to refuse to do this for her at her request would be to deprive her of her rights within the family. It simply was a rarity. The problem lies in the fact that the Hebrew word for wife, isha, is also the generic word for woman (we see this same phenomenon in Greek), and so Bilhah and Zilpah were given to Jacob as women who were there for the express purpose of bearing children otherwise known as concubines. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and this made Leah sad. | Alpha Index Josephus claims that Potiphar fell for his wife's, Josephus refers to Potipherah (or Petephres) as the priest of, Josephus has Joseph meeting his father Jacob in, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 10:50, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, "Strong's Hebrew Concordance - 622. asaph", "Strong's Hebrew Concordance - 3254. yasaph", "Strong's Hebrew Concordance - 6847. Really Bilhahs and Zilpahs lives would have looked bleak but they would have accepted it as their lot in life in ancient times people firmly believed that their conditions and station in life were pre-determined by the gods and hardly worth complaining about or trying to get out of. In Egypt, Joseph's character was antithetical to that of all the other slaves. Her name was Dinah. This mandate lasted until the days of Moses (Genesis 47:2031). Well, thats what I thought for many years as well and it was no wonder I was looking through a lens colored by modern movies, television shows, and ten years spent living in uber-Mormon southern Idaho. When they flee Laban in chapter thirty-two, verse twenty-two specifically mentions two wives and two female servants, and again in thirty-three verse one, Leah and Rachel are named, along with the two female servants. In chapter thirty-five, after Rachels death, Reuben is specifically stated to have had sexual relations with his fathers concubine. Thus, Israel was able to bless the Pharaoh. He kept the sacred records after Nephi (see 1 Ne. The baker's dream was about three baskets full of bread for the Pharaoh, and birds were eating the bread out of those baskets. In the ancient Near East, according to the laws of many of the surrounding nations, a woman had two years to bear a child to her husband and if she didnt, she could legally be divorced. Indeed the name Potiphar may even be a version of Merenptah's name (Poti = Ptah, Phar = Pharaoh). 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. Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, lived in the land of Canaan with ten half-brothers, one full brother, and at least one half-sister. How many wives did Joseph son of Jacob have? Because she was now barren (for whatever reason), she was in the legal position to give her own maidservant to Jacob as another woman, concubine. Convinced of his brothers' repentance and overcome with emotion, Joseph finally revealed himself to them. Yet, from this answer in Quora. Jacob's partiality to Rachel was the source of a great deal of hostility and scheming among Jacobs's wives and concubines (see Genesis 30). After identifying the Hebrew names, Rabbi Judah claims that Joseph was sold four times: First his brothers sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Yishma'elm), then the Ishmaelites sold him to the Midianite traders (shm midyanm srm), the Midianite traders to the Medanites (mdanm), and the Medanites into Egypt. The narrative also indicates that they went straight to Joseph or were directed to him, even by the Pharaoh himself (Genesis 41:3757). (Gen. 28:3, 4) This explains why Jacob when nearly 100 years old did everything in his power to obtain God's blessing; he even wrestled with a materialized angel. 21-22; comp. The final group, where a transaction is made, is among the Egyptians in the same verse. What about the Ethiopian woman that Moses took as a wife in Numbers 12:1? So they named this spot Abel Mizraim. His father then remarked, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive." She named him Joseph. So Joseph was reunited with his family, Stephen provided a brief summary of Josephs Story, Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter Half of Manasseh's tribe settled east of the Jordan, while the other half settled west of it. Our President, Mr . 51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." 52 The name of the second he called E'phraim, "For God has . 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. Joseph did very well with God's help. Your email address will not be published. 4) Judah was the next. 5. Here is the list lifted from my answer to Who was Joseph in the Bible? The time of the promises to Abraham spans the generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Pharaoh honored their stay and even proposed that if there were any qualified men in their house, then they may elect a chief herdsman to oversee Egyptian livestock. I put up the white board and I was marking out the family tree of the patriarchs. pseudo-Jonathan), protecting her from the lustful eyes of Esau (Gen. R. 78:13). The levirate marriage was for the purpose of providing a woman with offspring and so if a man was already married, he could still perform the levirate function and she would be provided for with her dead husbands share of the inheritance, which then belongs to her son (or daughter, because the Torah also says that if a man dies and has only daughters they can inherit so that his name and inheritance will not pass from Israel). 20-21). The cupbearer took this opportunity to inform the king of Joseph's gift and recommended his services. 34), and a whole chapter Yusuf (sura xii.) These were Jacob's sons who were born to him while he . As with Bilhahs offspring, Zilpahs children are claimed and named by Leah as her own. (note that the second wife is only permissibly taken in response to barrenness), [146] If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid-servant as wife and she bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants. Both women had a crisis of identity Rachel wasnt a mother and Leah wasnt really a wife in her own eyes. She gave birth to Joseph, one of the most important figures of the Old Testament, who saved the nation of Israel during a famine. The cup-bearer's dream was about a vine with three branches that was budding. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. Joseph was the favorite son of his father, who made him a richly ornamented coat. Old and nearly blind, Jacob is overwhelmed with joy, saying: "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too" (Gen 48:11). These dreams, implying his supremacy, angered his brothers (Genesis 37:111) and made the brothers plot his demise. (7-14) Genesis 29:17. However Jacob gave the greater blessing to the younger Ephraim, Moses, before he died, gave a similar blessing to the house of Joseph, which he called, Jospeh had great faith in God. Now why? He worked under the Egyptian official Potiphar but was freed and became the chief adviser (vizier) to the Egyptian Pharaoh. The merchants, meanwhile, brought Joseph to Egypt, where he was sold to Potiphar, an "officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" (Gen. 37:36). Later, Joseph became Potiphar's personal servant, and subsequently his household's superintendent. He even instructed them to take his bones with them. Both were met by angels at various times (Gen. R. 84:6; Num. Joseph was made a ruler over Egypt second to Pharoah. Loaded with knowledge and wisdom. . How many children did Mary have after Jesus? After Jacob's death, Joseph received the Pharaoh's permission to travel with a great caravan to Canaan in order to bury the patriarch. They may have been: (1) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph (the most natural inference); (2) sons of the Mary named in Mark 15:40 as "mother of James and Joses", whom Jerome identified with the wife of Clopas and sister of Mary the mother of Jesus; or (3) sons of Joseph by a former marriage. How many wives did Abraham have? Zilpah bore Jacob his seventh and eighth sons, Gad and Asher. According to the biblical account, Joseph was the son of Jacob by Rachel, the patriarch's favorite wife (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of Joseph's birth, said, "The Lord shall add [Heb. of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife, Jacob, before he died, gave his blessing to Josephs two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Matthew 1:25 says, "But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son" (emphasis added). Since in the Bible, unlike in later Jewish law, ethnic identity is determined by the father, the fact that their mother is not an Israelite does not affect their status . The Gadites would later be described as, "brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. He interpreted the dream as seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine, and advised the Pharaoh to store surplus grain. Jacob also had some daughters, but the Bible gives the name of only one of them. They were directed into the province of Goshen and Joseph readied his chariot to meet his father there. Moses followed Joseph's pattern in rising from slavery to a position of royal favor in the court of the pharaohs, and would later lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. Esau took a third wife to please his father Isaac (Genesis 28:6-9). How many years overall did he work for Laban? Your email address will not be published. After they had consumed all of the grain that they brought back from Egypt, Jacob told his sons to go back to Egypt for more grain. 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 of the king's sons, two years of age, would dieall of which came to pass exactly as Joseph predicted. But like everything else, modern context is not Biblical context we dont think the same way or have the same needs and therefore we dont live the same way; we certainly dont have the same expectations. Finally, after 20 years of marriage, they were blessed with twin boys, Jacob and Esau. 118b); they were given to lust, while Joseph was chaste and resisted temptation. They returned with a wolf, but when Jacob began to reproach the beast for its cruelty, the wolf answered, in human language, that she had not committed the crime, and that she herself was searching for her lost cub. It was during this return to Egypt that Joseph disclosed his real identity to his brothers. Home When they came to Egypt, they stood before the Vizier but did not recognize him as their brother Joseph, who was now in his late 30s; but Joseph did recognize them and did not speak at all to them in his native tongue of Hebrew. These were the 11 sons that were born to Jacob when he lived with Rachel's father Laban. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. The word used by for echad in the LXX (Septuagint, the authorized Greek translation of the Tanach OT) and the NT (ie. ", "The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had brought up from the land of Egypt, they buried at Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor". The scene is a fitting resolution to Jacob's own drama, in which his father, Isaac, had been old and blind when Jacob himself deceived deceived him in order to obtain his blessing, meant for Esau. The brothers were frozen and could not utter a word. Others consider the story a semi-independent novella, which has been independently added to the biblical record. Joseph was the first son of Rachel and Jacob, and the 11th of Jacobs 12sons, Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, Joseph became the slave of Potiphar a very high official in Egypt. [g] Then he had their donkeys prepared with grain and sent the other brothers back to Canaan. Rachel had the perfectly acceptable legal recourse in those days to provide her husband with a surrogate, and according to the laws of the surrounding nations, any child borne by the concubine would be counted as coming from her which is exactly why Rachel, and not Bilhah, named the boys. According to the Midrash, Joseph would have been immediately executed by the sexual assault charge against him by Potiphar's wife. Isaac had one wife. They stopped at Atad where they observed seven days of mourning. He received the same name as two great prophets, one past and one future: Joseph of Egypt and the Prophet Joseph Smith. It also includes the marvelous story and time of Jacob's son Joseph (Genesis 35-50). (Genesis 49:3350:14), After their father died, the brothers of Joseph feared retribution for being responsible for Joseph's deliverance into Egypt as a slave. M. degrees from Grace Theological Seminary. Joseph interpreted this dream as the baker being hanged within three days and having his flesh eaten by birds. Jacob, Hebrew Yaaqov, Arabic Yaqb, also called Israel, Hebrew Yisrael, Arabic Isrl, Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. Now we get to your verse if he sends her away and she has provided him with children despite the fact that he hates her he cannot treat her sons with contempt when it comes time to give the inheritance. Judah is the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob and his first wife, Leah: his full brothers are Reuben, Simeon and Levi (all older), and Issachar and Zebulun (younger), and he has one full sister, Dinah. Some rabbis, however, charged Joseph with vanity, saying that, even before being sold, he took too much pains with his personal appearance (Gen. R. 84:7), and that he continued to do so as ruler over Potiphar's house, forgetting his father, who was mourning over his disappearance. He then gave his blessing upon all of his sons, and the blessing he gave to Joseph was the greatest of all: Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh multiplied to become two separate tribes of Israel. Isaac, the son of Abraham , was married to Rebecca for many years before being blessed with children. So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? Seeing only the powerful minister who controlled their lives and fortunes, they "bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground" (Gen. 42:6), thus fulfilling in part his earlier prophetic dream. Zulaikha is the wife of Kitfir (the Biblical Potiphar), through whose accusations Yusuf is thrown into prison. during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, to a later time during the Hyksos Era (16481540 B.C.E. Confronting a Devastating Doctrine: Are Children Is Hand Washing Commanded? Gad and Asher: On the heels of Rachel's entry into the battle of the babies, Leah decided to give her maid, Zilpah to Jacob ( Genesis 30:9-12 ). [45] Joseph is thrown into a well, and was taken as a slave by a passing caravan. [NOTE: Jacob is listed by Stephen individually.] This family, with its sordid history of deceit, jealousy, and . Jacob therefore let the wolf go. Who was the wife of Joseph son of Jacob? This is great, Tyler. 14Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five souls, to come and live in Egypt. In analyzing Genesis Chapter 37, there are five different Hebrew names used to describe five different groups of people involved in the transaction of selling Joseph, according to Rabbi Judah and Rav Huna. 38). According to another tradition, Joseph placed the gold and silver in three hidden treasuries, of which one was discovered by the Israelite villain Korah; one by the Roman Antoninus, son of Severus; and one yet undiscovered, which is being kept for the righteous in the future world (Pes. In the interim, Joseph's mother died giving birth to his brother, Benjamin. 18A new Pharaoh arose in Egypt, who knew nothing of Joseph. Abraham had one wife, and then only took a concubine when she was still barren at 80; he took a second wife only after the death of his first. Bah' commentaries have described these as metaphors with the garment implying the recognition of a manifestation of God. In addition to honoring him, there was a strong tendency in the patristic period to view his life as a typological precursor to Christ. (Genesis 45:128), Thus, Jacob (also known as Israel) and his entire house of seventy[22] gathered up with all their livestock and began their journey to Egypt. One of the hardest things there is, is to contemplate the possibility that our point of view has been utterly contaminated after all, they never taught ancient Near Eastern context in any of the churches I attended. He brought them closer and relayed to them the events that had happened and told them not to fear, that what they had meant for evil, God had meant for good. Although Bilhahs and Zilpahs children ranked lower than Leahs biological children (as Joseph will prove with his behavior later on) and Rachels future children, they were officially counted as the sons of the wives, not as the sons of the concubines. Joseph had his father embalmed, a process that took forty days. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. In the Kitb-i-Aqdas, Bah'u'llh states that "from my laws, the sweet-smelling savour of my garment can be smelled" and, in the Four Valleys, states that "the fragrance of his garment blowing from the Egypt of Baha," referring to Joseph. Jacob had 12 sons, at Hebron. "-Genesis 41:45. Particularly galling is Jacob's reaction to Rachel the wife whom he loves deeply when she cannot become pregnant. In Genesis 29:31-30:24 the birth of twelve of Jacob's children is recorded. However, they agreed to be escorted back to Egypt. Joseph Born in the wilderness, he was the youngest son in the family. Elkannah had two women but again, one of them was barren so I suspect that Peninah was a concubine. I had no idea about what dyadic social identity was all about, or concubinage, and although I did understand the importance of political marriages (Solomon did NOT need that many alliances, just sayin) I was way too caught up in idea that black Mormons (not meaning color, but it was just what they were called in my neck of the woods) represented a sort of an ideal Biblical model for what was going on in ancient times. [49] When Jacob learned their story after their return, he wept in grief till he lost his eyesight because of sorrow. [18] After two more years, the Pharaoh dreamt of seven lean cows which devoured seven fat cows; and of seven withered ears of grain which devoured seven fat ears. Both were hated by their brothers. No, he had two (and not by his choosing) wives and two concubines four women to whom he was connected through children. But Judah pleaded for Benjamin, offering himself as a slave instead. Jacob, before he died, blessed each of his sons and two of his grandsons, the two sons of Joseph. More rabbinical literature has been generated concerning him than any of the other sons of Jacob, and he is also a significant figure in Islamic tradition. 14. Who was Jacob's first wife? [29] Maimonides comments that even the villager in Shechem, about whom Joseph inquired his brother's whereabouts, was a "divine messenger" working behind the scene.[30]. 'He shall add';[1] Standard: Ysef, Tiberian: Ysp; alternatively: ,[2][3] lit. The words do not share the same lemma and so are unrelated. [31] However, punishment could not have been avoided because of her class status and limited public knowledge of her scheme. The two halves of Manasseh were often treated as two separate units in the biblical account. And as for Jacob, he never intended to have any other wife but Rachel and only ended up in this polygamous situation because of trickery he chose to be a polygamist because it would seem that a man who was willing to work a grand total of fourteen years for a woman evidently could not imagine living without her. So if someone is pushing polygamy, know that according to Paul (an expert in the Law and in the Scriptures) they have disqualified themselves for leadership rendering their opinion merely an opinion. Cindy Crawford's son Presley Gerber, 23, opens up about 'mistakes' he made during his battle with depression: 'I feel like it should be talked about a lot more than it is' After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, 'Serve the food'" (Gen 43:30-32). These are the generations of Jacob. Deut 21:15 says that if a man has two wives, one loved and one unloved that he cannot disinherit the child of the unloved wife doesnt this say that men can have two wives? As the reputed ancestor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, he is regarded by some as altogether legendary or even mythical by some critics. He even forced them to throw out their babies to die. Joseph is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, which commemorates him as a patriarch on March 31. To add to the distinction within the family, in chapter thirty-seven, when Joseph goes tattling on his brothers, it specifically mentions that they are the sons of the neshe Bilhah and Zilpah. The motif of dreams/dream interpretation contributes to a strong story-like narrative. [50] He thus charged his sons to go and inquire about Joseph and his brother and despair not of God's mercy. . The word until speaks of a change to the first action . [5], In rabbinic tradition, he is considered the ancestor of a second Messiah called "Mashiach ben Yosef", who will wage war against the forces of evil alongside Mashiach ben David and die in combat with the enemies of God and Israel. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Judgment in Context: Honor, Shame, and the Command to Judge Not., Confessions of a Former Torah Terrorist Pt II. 'Yahweh shall add'; Standard: Yhsef, Tiberian: Yhsp;[4] Arabic: , romanized:Ysuf; Ancient Greek: , romanized:Isph) is an important figure in the Bible's Book of Genesis. When Rachel had successfully provided Jacob with an heir, Leah felt her position was tenuous. Legacy. Their relationship is first mentioned in Genesis 41:45. 17:1; 1 Ne. 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 shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. One tradition holds that Jacob's other children came into the world only for Joseph's sake. 8, 10). 25 Rachel's servant Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali. Later we read, "His . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please consider supporting this ministry, which is offered free of charge in order to help newcomers understand Biblical context and develop good spiritual fruit. He Was the Son of Isaac. The story of Joseph also inspired the popular autobiographical song "Coat of Many Colors," written and recorded early in the career of country icon. The story concludes by Joseph praying, "My lord you have indeed bestowed upon me of the sovereignty and taught me something of the interpretation of dreams- the (only) creator of heavens and the earth!

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