Joseph in Egypt (39:1–45:28)

Where the king’s prisoners were confined (39:20). Jails were not common in the ancient world since imprisonment was not a standard punishment for crimes. If Potiphar truly believed that Joseph, his slave, was guilty of sexually assaulting his wife, execution would have been the swift and normal response. Instead, Joseph is confined where political prisoners were kept to await trial, judgment, or execution.574

Since Potiphar is referred to as the “captain of the guard” (39:1) and later Joseph meets Pharaoh’s other officials in the house of the captain of the guard (40:3), it appears that Joseph is detained under Potiphar’s supervision and is there again given authority. In other words, he is transferred to another part of Potiphar’s house. That does not mean that his imprisonment is a farce, but it suggests that Potiphar’s anger may well have been directed toward his wife and that after an adequate show of indignation, Joseph is gradually again moved into a position of authority.575

Chief cupbearer and chief baker (40:2). Though these titles may in part be ceremonial, these two men had overall responsibility for what was served to the king. The potential for assassination attempts through the king’s food was real and constant, so these officials not only needed to be incorruptible themselves, but also had to be able to hire people above reproach and to identify attempts at infiltration of the staff by enemies of the king. The text is silent concerning their offense, but since both were responsible for meals, it seems logical to speculate that the king may have gotten sick from a meal.

Butler’s toiletry chest from the tomb of the architect Kha includes small vases of glass, alabaster, and ceramics. Deir el-Medina, Egypt, eighteenth dynasty, New Kingdom.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY, courtesy of the Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy

Painting in the tomb of Qenamun, West Thebes shows bakers mixing and kneading dough and filling bread molds.

Werner Forman Archive/E. Strouhal

Each dream had a meaning of its own (40:5). Dreams were considered important vehicles of divine communication in the ancient world (see comments on 37:5).576 Trained specialists interpreted the dreams of important people and paying customers using “dream books,” compiled both in Egypt and Mesopotamia.577 These books were consulted for the meaning of symbols in dreams. The Egyptian books typically indicate that a particular element in the dream is good or bad. Mesopotamian dream books offer ritual remedies. The specialists depended on this literature because the gods did not reveal the interpretation of the dreams.

Joseph, however, has no knowledge of the “science” and no access to the literature; he relies on God for the interpretation of the dream. The interpretation he offers nevertheless uses principles well known from the literature. For instance, the idea that the number of items indicates the number of days/years has precedent in the literature.578 The symbols in these dreams are similar to some of those found in the dream books. A full goblet, for instance, is indicative of having a name and offspring. Carrying fruit on one’s head is indicative of sorrow.579

Egyptian dream book

Lenka Peacock, courtesy of the British Museum

Pharaoh’s birthday (40:20). Hoffmeier points out that no evidence for celebrations surrounding the birthday of Pharaoh are known until the first millennium B.C.580 He suggests alternatively that the day of birth may refer to the anniversary of his accession or coronation as king (cf. Ps. 2:7), for which there is evidence as early as the Sixth Dynasty.581

Hanged the chief baker (40:22). Hanging in the ancient world was generally not a means of execution, but an additional indignity in the treatment of a corpse. The corpse would be hung in some way (often impaled on a stick, cf. NIV note) to be devoured by insects, birds, and animals of prey. Here the execution was carried out by beheading (Gen. 40:19; cf. 1 Sam. 31:9–10) and then the body was hung out to be devoured.

Pharaoh (41:1). It is impossible (given the paucity of data) to identify the pharaoh of the Joseph story, who throughout is simply called “Pharaoh.” The term “Pharaoh” (= “great house”) originally referred to the palace and is not attested as a designation for the king of Egypt until the fifteenth century B.C. Even then, for the next five hundred years or so it was not used with the name of the king, but stood alone as here and in Exodus. It is not until the tenth century that it is used in combination with a personal name.582

The general chronology locates Joseph in the period known as the Middle Kingdom (first quarter of the second millennium) or the Second Intermediate period (second quarter of the second millennium). Those who feel that a precise chronology can be derived from the biblical record place Joseph in the reign of Amenemhet II or Senusret (Sesostris) II or III.583

Had a dream (41:1). A king’s dream is always of special import, and he customarily employed dream specialists to interpret the dream and offer advice as to how to proceed. It was of particular importance if a dream were repeated, and a number of examples are known from the literature.584

Just as Pharaoh has a double dream here, Gudea king of Lagash (around 2000 B.C.) had a double dream concerning the building of a temple. In a Mari letter, the king is warned twice (given to someone else on consecutive nights) that he should not rebuild a temple in Terqa.585 In the Gilgamesh Epic at the end of tablet 1, Gilgamesh has a double dream about his upcoming encounter with Enkidu. In tablet 4, he has a sequence of five dreams concerning the upcoming encounter with the guardian, Huwawa.586 In the Babylonian Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (Ludlul bel Nemeqi), the sufferer receives three dreams informing him that he has been cleansed from his offense.587 In these examples, multiple dreams give warning (Mari), inform concerning the future (Gilgamesh), and offer absolution (Sufferer). Pharaoh’s dreams contain the first two of these.

Tablet recording Gilgamesh’s dreams

The Schøyen Collection MS 3025, Oslo and London

Magicians and wise men (41:8). “Magicians” (ḥarṭummim) refer to the specialists centered in the “House of Life,” where the dream interpretation manuals were stored and studied.588 This term is constructed from an Egyptian title referring to a chief lector priest (ḥry-tp hry-ḥb).589 This same term is used in late literature to describe the famous Egyptian architect from the Third Dynasty, Imhotep,590 who was also the high priest of Heliopolis. A stele on Sehel Island, purporting to be a decree by King Djoser but is actually a product of the Ptolemaic period (second century B.C.), is where the term is applied to Imhotep.591

Another famous Egyptian lector priest was the prophet Neferti, who rehearses the troubled times of the first intermediate period at the end of the third millennium B.C. Lector priests were those who recited spells and rituals. They were experts in the literature of ritual and were considered to have access to mysteries. They play a major role in the Tales of King Khufu and the Magicians, a cycle of five stories where they perform miracles and can see the future.592

Chief lector-priest

Werner Forman Archive/The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Shaved (41:14). As Egyptian monuments certify, male Egyptians were characteristically clean-shaven and at times shaved their heads as well (bald or close-cropped), though they would then at times wear wigs made of human hair.593 The text here is unclear concerning the extent to which Joseph was shaved.

Seven years of famine (41:27). The Famine Inscription on Sehel Island mentioned above (see comment on 41:8) is of interest also because the setting is a seven-year famine. The king consults Imhotep, who, after research, advises the king that the famine can be ended by acknowledging the role of Khnum (whose temple was at Elephantine) in controlling the inundation of the Nile. The only parallel here is the existence of a seven-year famine—nothing else shows similarity to the Joseph story; there is no reason to think of the two pieces as being related or referring to the same event. It only shows that extended famines were known in Egypt.

If the nineteenth century B.C. is the time period of Joseph, it may be of interest that there is evidence of massive irrigation projects in the Faiyum area designed to reclaim additional land for farming (probably during the reign of Senusret II).594 It might also be noted that during the reign of Amenemhet III around 1800 B.C., a number of years show record high levels of the Nile during the inundation (reaching as high as sixteen feet), but in succeeding years the Nile declined markedly so that ten years later it was only one and a half feet high.595 Either of these events could conceivably be related to the system suggested and administered by Joseph, though there is no evidence to support such a connection.

Famine inscription on Sehel Island

Markh/Wikimedia Commons

Appoint commissioners (41:34). In Egypt as well as in the rest of the ancient Near East, incantations were generally used to avoid the negative consequences portended by dreams. Here, in contrast, Joseph offers a strategy to counteract the effect of the dream. In the nineteenth century, Senusret III is known for reducing the power of the nomarchs (provincial governors) to restore a more centralized government.596 In the process a new “bureau of the vizier” and a new bureaucracy were established, involving new commissioners.

Two bureaus (waret) were created, one each for the northern and southern areas of Egypt, operated by a hierarchy of officials. Other departments, such as the “treasury,” the “bureau of the people’s giving,” and the “organization of labour,” were also inaugurated.597

Again, there is no evidence to associate this with Joseph, but it demonstrates that periodic modifications in the bureaucracy were not uncommon.

Senusret III

Werner Forman Archive/The Egyptian Museum, Berlin

In charge of my palace (41:40). Pharaoh’s initial appointment gives Joseph authority in the palace based on the recognition of the spirit of God in Joseph (41:38). The combination of insight (indicated by the dream interpretation) and wisdom (indicated by the proposed strategy) were sufficient to conclude that Joseph enjoyed divine favor—a good reason to keep him close to the throne.

In Egyptian documents, the administrative second-in-command over Egypt is the vizier, known as the “Overseer of the Royal Estates.” Joseph’s new role, however, may not be quite as lofty as that.598 There are other posts that could make the claim of being second-in-command in the area of their responsibility. This is similar to a company today that has a President and CEO, and a staff of vice presidents: Vice President of Production, Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of Legal, etc. Each of these individuals could legitimately claim to be second-in-command in his or her particular area and to be set in charge of the entire company in the area of his or her jurisdiction. Similarly, numerous Egyptian nobles could serve in offices and bear titles that identified them as second only to Pharaoh. Such titles include “Great Favorite of the Lord of the Two Lands” and “Foremost among his Courtiers.”

One of the most appropriate known titles that describes Joseph’s duties is “Overseer of the Granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt.”599 It is not unusual to find accounts of officials who were elevated from lowly status to high positions of authority.600

Investiture of Vizier Paser

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY, courtesy of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, The Netherlands

In charge of the whole land of Egypt (41:43). Joseph is given authority that is not regional or just in one city. The signet ring allows him to make decisions and authorize them in the name of Pharaoh. The clothing, jewelry, and transportation all designate his high station.601 His renaming and his marriage into a priestly family give him a new identity as an Egyptian noble. The city of On (reflecting Egyptian Iunu) is later known as Heliopolis and is one of the most revered of Egypt’s ancient cities (along with Memphis and Thebes). It is located just north of modern Cairo at the base of the Delta.

You are spies! (42:9). Semites/Asiatics were often distrusted by the Egyptians, so this is not an unusual charge. The Egyptians referred to them by various epithets such as “sand dwellers” and “throat slitters” and considered them wild and uncivilized.

But for what purpose would they be spying on Egypt? It is not likely that the Egyptians feared invasion from Canaan, though they may have been wary of limited raids (razzias). Since we use the word “spy” mostly for military intelligence, a better translation here might be “scouts.” Economic motives would be more logical than military ones. Fields and storehouses could be plundered. What might ostensibly be a request for grain could serve as a guise for discovering what supplies of grain existed and how they might be ransacked. Reflections on the First Intermediate period in works such as the Instructions of Merikare and the Prophecy of Neferti602 reveal the social unrest caused by unruly foreign elements infiltrating Egyptian society. The result was increased attention to fortification of the Delta during the Middle Kingdom period.603

Each man’s silver (42:25). The very fact that the brothers have both the grain and their silver potentially confirms the accusation that they are scouts intent on stealing grain. Frequently we might see trade in grain or herds, but Jacob’s family has no grain, and the herds are difficult to transport. It is no surprise, then, that they have brought silver with which to trade.

Cup … for divination (44:5). The idea that a cup was used for divination suggests that divination took place by observing liquids poured into the cup (either the shapes of oil on water or the ripples of the water, to name a few techniques known from Mesopotamia). Little is known of these techniques in Egyptian practice. Divination was a means of acquiring information. It is of interest that Joseph acquires information by means of the cup—not by pouring liquid into it, but by using it to test his brothers, thus using observation at a different level.

Fluted silver drinking vessel; one of a collection of silver objects presented by Amenemhat II to the temple at Tod, south of Luxor.

Werner Forman Archive/The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Father to Pharaoh (45:8). The Egyptian title it-ntr (“father of the god”) refers to a variety of officials and priests. Since the pharaoh was considered divine, it is likely that “father of Pharaoh” carries a similar connotation of “advisor.”

Region of Goshen (45:10). In Egyptian texts the heaviest concentrations of Semites occurs in the eastern Delta region closest to Canaan. This corresponds to the biblical texts in which the region of Goshen is equated to the district of Ramesses (47:11), which is certainly in the Delta region. In the early chapters of Exodus, this is the location of the Israelite labors and towns such as Pithom and Ramesses. The region is bounded by the branches of the Nile Delta on the west and the series of lakes from the Mediterranean down to the Red Sea on the east. Crossing east to west through the center of it is the Wadi Tumilat.

Tell ed-Dab’a Region