The Lost Gospel

JOSEPH AND ASENETH TRANSLATED FROM THE SYRIAC

What follows is the first-ever translation of Joseph and Aseneth from Syriac into English. In order to read deteriorated words and see words that may have been deliberately smudged or covered up, high-tech state-of-the-art digital imaging was employed.

We secured permission from the British Library to engage the services of one of the world’s leading digital-imaging specialists in ancient manuscripts: R. B. Toth Associates of Oakton, Virginia. The text was painstakingly scanned and analyzed by Dr. William A. Christens-Barry and the company’s president, Michael Toth. They used a variety of imaging techniques including infrared photography. Thirteen images were made of each page in order to see through the smudged and damaged portions of the manuscript to the underlying text. This CSI-like technological analysis allowed us to make some significant breakthrough discoveries.

Before we discuss the high-tech revelations, let’s revisit the facts surrounding the text that we present here for the first time. As we have seen, around 570 C.E., an individual whom scholars call Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor made a compilation of writings in an ancient language called Syriac. He titled his mini-library—his personal encyclopedia, if you will—A Volume of Records of Events that Have Shaped the World. In this all-important compilation, he included the Syriac document that we are presenting here for the first time in a modern translation.

Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor also included in his collection two letters that were in his possession. They served as a kind of preface, introduction, or cover letters to the document. Along with our translation, we are also providing the first-ever translations of these letters from the Syriac (Appendix II).

These letters demonstrate that Moses of Ingila—a scholar who lived over fourteen hundred years ago—translated the manuscript from Greek into Syriac. He had been asked to do so by an anonymous individual who had found a very ancient Greek copy of this work in a library in Resh’aina. It was a memorial library in that city for the bishops of the House of Beroea (modern-day Aleppo in northern Syria). So, the document we are presenting here is over fourteen hundred years old and is itself a translation of a much older text. Given that we believe that it is a lost gospel, it’s all-important that the text may reach back to the time of Jesus or shortly thereafter.

The Syriac translation is preserved as Manuscript 17,202 in the British Library, and it represents the oldest extant copy of this work in any language. According to William Wright, this manuscript was incorporated into the British Library collection in 1847.¹ It came from the library of the convent of St. Mary Deipara (St. Mary of the Syrians) in Egypt. A certain Moses the Nisibene from Baghdad had given many of the manuscripts in St. Mary Deipara to the convent in 932 C.E.

Manuscript 17,202 was transcribed by J. P. N. Land in 1870. He copied the document, letter by letter, from the Syriac manuscript in the British Library and published it in Anecdota Syriaca, vol. 3. Land’s transcription represents the basis for our translation. However, as a result of the digital imaging process to which the manuscript was subjected, we have reintroduced several words and a line mistakenly omitted by Land. We also have made some corrections suggested from the Latin translation of the Syriac made by Gustav Oppenheim in Fabula Josephi et Asenethae Apocrypha (1886) and from our own first-hand examination of the manuscript at the British Library.

There is an omission in the Syriac manuscript corresponding to Joseph and Aseneth, chapters 13:12–16:3. These have been translated from later Greek manuscripts edited by Marc Philonenko in Joseph et Aséneth: Introduction texte critique traduction et notes and reinserted in our text.

Dr. Tony Burke, Associate Professor, Humanities and Program Coordinator, Religious Studies, York University, Toronto made our translation. He was assisted by Slavomir Čéplö, Comenius University, Slovakia. So as not to bias the translation, Dr. Burke undertook this task without knowing the interpretation that we had arrived at.

Along with Land’s 1870 transcription, Dr. Burke used black-and-white photographs of the Syriac manuscript in the possession of the British Library. When these were made is not known. When we examined the original document in the British Library, while most of the original pages were relatively clear, there was evidence of manuscript deterioration, indistinct lettering, some smudges, and what appear as deliberate attempts to cover some words. In addition, there were missing pages. One particular page was suspicious. In the letter that immediately precedes Joseph and Aseneth, Moses of Ingila tells us that the text contains a “hidden meaning.” He says that he has to be careful when discussing it since the topic is dangerous. Then, just as he begins to reveal its secret, there is a cut line in the manuscript. The concluding portion of his letter is missing, as is the first chapter of Joseph and Aseneth, which had been on the reverse side of the deleted section of the letter.

Historical sleuthing has revealed that there were two types of censorship in the transmission of this text—omission and destruction. The first occurred in the 12th century, when a copy (British Library Manuscript #7190) was made of our 6th-century edition of Joseph and Aseneth (British Library Manuscript #17,202). Since the copy includes all the chapters of Joseph and Aseneth, we now know that the cut line had not occurred before the 12th century. And since the cover letters are not part of the copied text, we now also know that the 12th-century copyist chose to omit the two covering letters from his translation, likely not wanting to tip off his readers that the Joseph and Aseneth text contained a hidden meaning.

But did the 12th-century copyist decide to destroy the 6th-century cover letters? We can’t be sure. But the fact is that our earlier text is missing the first chapter. Meaning sometime after the 12th century, someone decided that the Moses of Ingila letter was too dangerous to ignore. Maybe it was the 12th-century copyist, or maybe someone who came after him. But whoever it was cut the bottom of the letter and with it the first chapter of the text in the 6th-century edition. Fortunately, we were able to retrieve the missing first chapter from the later edition.

The digital-imaging technology has now restored the original manuscript. For the first time in centuries, we can now see the writing as its author penned it. In particular, we can now discern portions of the manuscript that neither Land (in the mid-1860s) nor we could see with the naked eye.

All of this enables us to make sense of indistinct areas in the manuscript, simply worn down by time and handling over the centuries. Using these advanced techniques, we were also able to uncover the original lettering behind several smudges. More importantly, digital imaging revealed that a number of different inks and different colors were used in the smudged areas, as well as in other parts of the text. Overall, the most significant discovery was that the covering letter by Moses of Ingila was, as our visual inspection had suggested, deliberately cut. This cut line was subjected to intensive digital imaging and processing. By means of this technology, we could now discern that the cut line went right through a line of the text—right through the Syriac script—clearly indicating that this was an act of censorship. It was as if someone did not want readers of Joseph and Aseneth to think that it contained a hidden meaning and deleted the interpretive key. Put differently, some fourteen hundred years ago, Moses of Ingila was silenced and his secret history was censored. In a sense, our book is an attempt to restore Moses’ lost interpretation.

Besides the act of restoration—and we are certain that we now have the basis for an accurate reconstruction of the original Syriac text—it is not our purpose here to compare this oldest existing version of Joseph and Aseneth with later versions of the same story in Greek, Latin, and other languages. However, we cannot help but notice that this earliest account tells the story in a more straightforward manner than later versions reflected in Burchard and Cook’s translations. Our manuscript lacks many of the embellishments that a tale over the years would be expected to attract. The story likely grew over the centuries, just as the narrative about Jesus did. It is not our purpose here, however, to trace the possible evolution of the Joseph and Aseneth narrative.

In addition to the ecclesiastical circle in which it was preserved and transmitted, the language, symbolism, and events portrayed in this writing all point to a Christian context for making sense of the narrative. As the exchange of letters between Moses of Ingila and the anonymous individual who asked him for a Syriac translation from an ancient Greek manuscript reveals, and as our decoding above indicates, the story cannot be about the ancient Biblical figure Joseph and his little-known wife Aseneth. They represent stand-ins—surrogates or types—for two other figures of much greater interest to Christians. They are none other than Jesus and Mary the Magdalene.

Significantly, paralleling our text, Stephen Shoemaker notes that the “earliest extant Dormition [Mary’s death] narrative . . . first appears in several Syriac fragments that were copied near the end of the 5th century.”² Shoemaker says that it’s not clear which Mary is described in this earliest tradition (is it the Virgin Mary or Mary the Magdalene?). He quotes Deirdre Good, who has suggested that we are dealing with a “composite identity”: mother, sister, and companion. He goes on to say that, again, as with our text, it is “evident that the Syriac version has been translated from an earlier Greek narrative.” Finally, he says that the depictions of Mary in the Dormition narratives bear “classically ‘Gnostic’ themes.”³ In other words, Syriac traditions usually associated with the Virgin Mary may actually be Gnostic, like our text, and dealing with Mary the Magdalene. This provides a wider context for our manuscript.

In our ancient manuscript, the story does not focus on Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension or on Mother Mary’s death or ascension but, as we have seen, on Mary the Magdalene’s marriage to Jesus. From the perspective of the author of Joseph and Aseneth, it is this event which is most important, not any post-death ascension. Further, in our text Mary the Magdalene also represents the Church of the Gentiles. As a result, this writing takes on an overtly anti-Pauline stance. After all, Paul and his followers touted Paul as “the apostle to the Gentiles.” We now know that there were already several rival Gentile movements as early as the confrontation between Paul and Mary. This text represents one such rival group.

When correctly positioned and interpreted using early Christian methodology, Joseph and Aseneth is revealed as a work of disguised history. It is important to realize that in our decipherment of the text, we have not employed modern means of interpretation but rather made use of techniques actually used by early Christians. The latter saw parallels between people and events in what they called the “Old Testament” and people and events in the Christian narrative. While this may seem strange to us today, setting up typological parallels was commonplace within the early church. Our discussion in the preceding chapters provides us with the necessary tools to understand the manuscript as early Christians would have understood it.

According to our analysis, this neglected and misunderstood text constitutes the first written evidence that Jesus was married to Mary the Magdalene, that they engaged in sexual relations, that they had children together, and that there was a hitherto unknown plot against the family. It also provides us with an alternative Christianity that may be historically closer to Jesus, Mary, and their original followers.

Words missing from the Syriac that are needed to make sense in English are indicated with parentheses such as this: (and); errors in the manuscript are indicated with angle brackets like this: <and>. We provide commentary and footnotes to explain the text. There is no standard division of verses for the text. While we have retained the traditional chapter numbering, the verse divisions are our own.

Translation © Associated Producers Ltd.

[THE STORY] OF ASENETH

Commonly called the story of
Joseph the Just and Aseneth his Wife⁴

Episode 1: The Meeting

First impressions. Joseph’s prayer for Aseneth’s transformation.

1 In the first year of the seven years of plenty, on the fifth day of the second month, Pharaoh sent Joseph to go around the entire land of Egypt.⁵ 2 In the fourth month of the first year Joseph came to the borders of the region of On—called Heliopolis in Greek—where he was gathering wheat. He gathered the crops of that region like the sand of the sea. 3 In that city there was a man, one of the magistrates and nobles of the Pharaoh. This man was very wealthy, wise, and gentle. He was a counselor of Pharaoh. His name was Potiphar,⁶ a priest of the city of On.

4 He had a daughter who was lovely in appearance and a virgin. She was eighteen years old and her beauty (surpassed) that of all the virgins of the land, all the daughters of the people.

5 She was noble and glorious like Sarah, beautiful like Rebecca, and virtuous like Rachel.⁷ Her name was Aseneth.⁸

6 News of her beauty spread throughout the land. All the nobles, magistrates, sons⁹ of the king, and all the powerful youth wanted her. Thus war and disputes broke out among them because of her.

7 Pharaoh’s firstborn son heard about her,¹⁰ and he asked his father to give her to him from among the women.

8 He said (to his father), “Give me Aseneth, the daughter of Potiphar, the priest of On, as a wife.”

9 Pharaoh answered him, “Why do you, the king and ruler of all the land, seek a wife beneath you? Look, the daughter of the king of Moab is virtuous and fitting for you.”¹¹

1 Aseneth was proud, boastful, and treated all men with contempt. No man had ever known her. There was a <great>, very tall tower¹² attached to her father’s house. At the top of (the tower) was a large dwelling place¹³ and in it were ten bedchambers.¹⁴

2 The first chamber was splendid and beautifully adorned with a variety of precious stones. Its ceiling was overlaid with gold. On its walls were set up all the gods of the Egyptians in silver and gold. She worshipped all of them—Aseneth served them and prepared libations for them daily.¹⁵

3 In the second chamber were gold, silver, and valuable, precious stones, and all the ornaments of idols and the garments of Aseneth’s virginity.¹⁶ 4 There was a third chamber of her house. In it were all sorts of things, and all the good foods of the land. 5 In the remaining seven chambers lived individually seven virgins,¹⁷ who served Aseneth.¹⁸ They were born on the same day and year and they were beautiful in appearance. They appeared like the stars of heaven. No man had known them nor had any youth spoken to them.

6 There were three windows in the bedchamber of Aseneth in an atrium. One of them was large and faced a courtyard, looking to the east; a second turned to the south; and the third looked to the north to a street where you could watch passersby.¹⁹

7 Beneath the eastern window was placed a bed made entirely of gold. It was covered with Egyptian coverings spun of gold, along with purple, scarlet and fine white linen. 8 In this (bed) Aseneth slept; no man ever sat on it.²⁰

9 A great courtyard encircled this house. The wall encircling the courtyard was built of hewn stone.²¹ There were four gates overlaid with iron in the courtyard; and these were guarded by eighteen armed young men. 10 Clinging to (the walls of) the courtyard were a variety of trees of summer-ripened fruit. On the right side of the courtyard was a spring of fresh water and, underneath the spring, a pool for the fresh water. From this (pool) a river issued forth and flowed through the middle of the courtyard and watered all those trees.

1 In the first year of the seven years of plenty, on the eighteenth of the fourth month, Joseph arrived at the storehouse of the city of On. He was gathering and storing up the crops of the seven years of plenty. 2 As he drew near to the city of On, he sent twelve men ahead of him²² to Potiphar the priest and said, “I shall come to you at noon,²³ at meal-time, and I shall rest from the heat of noon in your home.”

3 Potiphar heard and was joyously happy, saying “Blessed is the God of Joseph, who considered my home worthy of my lord Joseph.”²⁴ 4 Potiphar called the manager of his home and said to him, “Be ready and prepare a great supper²⁵ in my house, because today Joseph, the Powerful One of God, will come to us.”²⁶

5 Aseneth heard that her father and mother had come from the village and she rejoiced and said, “Look, my father and mother have come from their estate.” 6 Aseneth quickly put on her garments of fine white linen and rubies, clothing woven of gold. She placed bracelets and anklets on her hands and feet, and <wreathed> necklaces on her neck that were (made) of valuable, precious stones and pearls of many colors. On them the names and images of the many gods of the Egyptians were written and engraved on all the sides. 7 She placed a crown on her head and covered herself with bridal veils.²⁷

1 Quickly, she descended from her bedchamber and came to her father and mother. She greeted and kissed them. Potiphar and his wife were joyously happy with their daughter. They saw her adorned like a Bride of God.²⁸ 2 They brought forth all the fruit and various things they had brought with them from the village and gave (them) to Aseneth their daughter. Their daughter rejoiced at these things and was delighted.

3 Potiphar called out to Aseneth, “My daughter.” And she replied, “Here I am, my lord.” 4 He said to her, “Sit near us and listen to what I shall say to you.” 5 Aseneth sat beside the two of them. Potiphar took his daughter Aseneth’s right hand, kissed it and said to her, “My daughter.” 6 And she answered, “Speak, my lord and father.”

7 He said, “Today Joseph, the Man of God, has come to us. He is the magistrate of all the land of Egypt, because king Pharaoh put him in charge over all the land. He is the Savior. He bestows life in crops and food to all the land so that it may not be destroyed in the coming famine. 8 Joseph worships God; he is noble and gentle and a virgin as you are today. Joseph is a man great in wisdom and much knowledge because the Holy Spirit of God is in him and the Lord’s grace is with him. 9 Therefore, come, my daughter, and I shall give you to him as a wife and you will be a bride to him. And he will be given to you as a bridegroom forever.”²⁹

10 When Aseneth heard her father’s words, she fell on her face in reverence.³⁰ In rage and indignation she quarreled with her father, saying, “Why does my lord and father say such words? Would you give me to a man who is a captive and a fugitive? Who was sold and is not one of my people? 11 Is he not the son of a shepherd³¹ from Canaan? He was arrested when he attempted adultery with his mistress, and his lord put him in a dark prison. Pharaoh brought him out of the prison to interpret a dream to him like the old women of Egypt. 12 No, my parents, I will not be joined in marriage to this man. Nor will I be denied the firstborn of Pharaoh because he is the ruler and king of all Egypt.”³²

13 Potiphar had a heavy spirit and was afraid about what he might say to Aseneth because of what she had said to him boastfully in impudence.

1 One of the young servants ran to Potiphar and said, “Behold, Joseph has come and he is approaching the entrance.” 2 When Aseneth heard about Joseph<’s arrival>, she fled, removing herself from her father and mother. She went up the tower, entered her bedchamber, and stood to the side of the large window facing east so she could look at Joseph as he entered her father’s house.³³

3 Potiphar, his wife, and his entire household went out to meet Joseph. 4 They opened the east gates of the courtyard. Joseph entered, borne on the chariot of Pharaoh’s second-in-command. The chariot was yoked with white horses and made entirely of pure gold.³⁴ 5 And Joseph was clothed in beautiful white linen and wrapped in a purple cloak woven with gold. On his head was a crown of gold with twelve seals and precious stones.³⁵ Above the twelve stones were twelve golden rays like the rays of the shining sun. 6 In his left hand he held a royal scepter. In his right hand was a blossoming plant like an olive branch that was rich with olives.³⁶

7 When Joseph entered the courtyard, the gates of the courtyard were closed because the guards of the gates diligently closed the gates to keep out strangers. 8 Potiphar, his wife, and their household—all except for Aseneth their daughter—approached and bowed upon the ground to Joseph. Joseph came down from the chariot and stretched out his right hand to them.

1 Aseneth looked at Joseph and lamented greatly, grieving to herself. Her knees shook, and the joints of her hips were loosened, and she became weak and listless. She was very afraid, groaned bitterly, and wept. She said in her heart,

2 “What shall I do, miserable and weak as I am? Because my foreign counselors³⁷ have deceived me, when they said to me that this Joseph, who has come, is the son of a shepherd of Canaan. Now I see the sun shining from his chariot that has come to us, and its radiance lights up our home. 3 But I, presumptuous and stupid, treated him with contempt and spoke of him foolishly because I did not know Joseph was the Son of God.³⁸

4 For who among humans shines with such beauty? It is surpassing the splendid appearances of the sons of the earth.³⁹ And what womb of (human) flesh gives birth to a radiance of light as splendid as this?⁴⁰

I am weak and foolish, and I spoke stupidly to my father. 5 And now where can I go? How can I hide myself from his presence so that Joseph, the Son of God, cannot see me?⁴¹ Where will I flee, since every place is uncovered and spread out visibly before him, because of the light that shines in him? 6 Now have pity on me, Lord God of Joseph,⁴² because, like a fool, I spoke in ignorance.

7 Indeed, now let my father give me to Joseph as a wife and I shall serve him forever.”⁴³

1 Joseph entered the house of Potiphar and sat upon the throne. They washed his feet and prepared before him his own table, for Joseph did not eat with the Egyptians because he abhorred this.⁴⁴

2 And Joseph looked at the tower and said, “Remove the young woman who is observing from the window.⁴⁵ She gazes impudently.” For Joseph was on guard and did not let any woman approach him or have sexual relations with him. 3 Many daughters of princes and rulers were eagerly sent to him. They spoke softly to him so that they might be intimate with him because of the godly beauty that shone splendidly in his appearance. 4 He rejected their envoys and messengers and cast them out angrily because, Joseph said, “I will not sin before the Lord God of my father Israel.” 5 He remembered again the teachings of his father Jacob who had commanded him and the rest of his sons: “keep yourselves from foreign women because sexual intercourse with them is destruction and ruin.”⁴⁶ 6 That is why Joseph said, “Let her leave this house. Send away the young woman who observes from the window of the tower.”

7 Potiphar said, “My Lord, the young woman you see in the tower is not a foreign woman but our daughter, a virgin who rejects all men and foreign husbands. No one has ever cleaved to her. No one has seen her except for you today. 8 If you wish she may come to bow and greet your nobility, because our daughter is your sister.”⁴⁷

9 Joseph rejoiced very much that Potiphar said she was a virgin. And Joseph thought, “If she is a virgin, she is holy.⁴⁸ She rejects all foreign men and will not harass me.” 10 Joseph said to Potiphar and his household, “If she is your daughter and a virgin on good evidence, let her come, because she is my kinswoman and I shall embrace her; from this day she is like a sister.”⁴⁹

1 Aseneth’s mother went up the tower, brought Aseneth (down) and stood her before Joseph. Potiphar said to his daughter Aseneth, “Come near, adore and kiss your brother, because he is a virgin like you today and he rejects foreign women just as you reject foreign men.”

2 Aseneth said to Joseph, “Blessed one of God Most High, peace to you.” 3 And Joseph said, “May the Lord, bringer of life to all things, bless you.”⁵⁰

4 Potiphar said to his daughter, “Approach and kiss your brother.”⁵¹ 5 But when Aseneth approached, Joseph extended his right hand and placed it on her chest between her two young breasts.⁵² 6 Joseph said, “It is not right for a man worshiping God, who blesses the living God and eats the blessed bread of life and drinks the blessed cup of immortality and incorruptibility and is anointed with the perfumed ointment of holiness, to have sexual relations and kiss a foreign woman, who blesses dead, empty idols, and eats foul strangled food and drinks the libation of deceit and is anointed with the ointment of corruption.⁵³ 7 But a man who worships God kisses the sister of his mother and a sister of the same tribe and family, and his wife. Intimacy is for those who, like him and his kin,⁵⁴ worship the living God.”

8 And Joseph added, “Nor is it right for a woman who worships God to kiss a foreign man because this is foul and rejected before the living God.”

9 Aseneth heard these words of Joseph and she lamented and grieved greatly. She groaned and gazed at Joseph. When she opened her eyes, she was astounded. And (her eyes) were so full of tears, they could not be seen.⁵⁵ 10 Joseph looked at her and saw her (crying) and had mercy on her. Joseph groaned also because he was gentle and innocent and merciful. 11 He worshipped God, lifted up his right hand, placed it upon her head and said,

12 “Lord God Most High of my father Israel,

The mighty one of Jacob

Who gave life to all (things),

The one who called (them) from darkness to light,

From error to truth,

From death to life,

Bless this virgin,

13 Renew her in spirit.

Create her again mysteriously⁵⁶ by your right hand.

Give her life,

Let her eat the eternal bread of life,

And drink the blessed cup.

14 Let her be counted among your people and your inheritance,

She, who you chose from the beginning.⁵⁷

Let her enter your holy rest

And live forever.”⁵⁸

Episode 2: The Rebirth

A strange dream-like sequence involving Aseneth in a tower.

After confessing her sins, she is visited by an angelic being who looks like Joseph.

She eats honey and is swarmed by bees.

1 Aseneth rejoiced greatly in the blessing of Joseph. Immediately, she returned to her tower bedchamber,⁵⁹ alone as she was accustomed to. She fell down on her bed, anxious in her spirit and in grief because she was seized by joy, grief, and great fear—trembling with the knowledge of all the words she had heard Joseph say in the name of God Most High. 2 She wept greatly, loud and bitter. She sat up and repented of the worship of the gods whom she had served. She despised and rejected all of them. She loathed and rebuked them. She waited for evening to come.

3 But Joseph ate, drank, and said to his servants along with those who attended to him, “Prepare the chariot and yoke the horses,” he said, “for I must leave immediately and go around the land.” 4 Potiphar said to Joseph, “Wait, stay with us and rest again.” 5 Joseph said, “I must go immediately because it is the first day on which God created everything on the face of the land. But after eight days I shall return to you here and rest.”⁶⁰

10.

1 Potiphar said <to> his household, “We, too, will go to our estate.”

2 Aseneth remained alone with the seven virgins of her own age. But she was sad and wept until the sun set, not eating bread or drinking water. Night came and everyone in her home fell asleep.⁶¹ In her solitude, she remained awake and attentive, thinking and weeping. She beat her breast and was in fear and trembling.⁶² 3 She rose from her bed and, grieving, went down the stairs. She came to the mill, and the grinders and their children were sleeping.⁶³ 4 She took down the curtain from the window and threw ashes on it. She <went back> up to her bedchamber and put (the curtain) on the floor.⁶⁴ 5 She shut the doors securely and also (fastened) the bolt.⁶⁵ She sighed greatly, groaning and weeping bitterly.

6 One of the virgins—her companion who was her foster sister and therefore, more than the others, was kin to her—heard the noise and woke up the six other companions. And they came together to the door. 7 They noticed her weeping and (heard) the sound of Aseneth’s groans and sighs. They called to her, “Why are you sad, my lady?⁶⁶ Open (the door) to us so we might come in and see.”⁶⁷

8 But Aseneth did not open to them, saying, “My head hurts and I am in my bed. It is better for me to be alone that I might be in silence with myself and not in conversation. Also, all my limbs are weak and I am not strong enough to rise <and> open. Return immediately to your bedchambers and go to sleep as usual and leave me.” They obeyed Aseneth and returned.

9 Afterwards, she rose quietly and entered her bedchamber where her things were lying. She opened a chest and brought out a black mourning garment which was hers from (the time) when her little brother died.⁶⁸ 10 She took the garment of mourning and closed the door securely.⁶⁹

11 Aseneth promptly took off the garments of her joy and her virginity⁷⁰ and removed the ornaments from her. She loosened the gold chain from her hips. The crown of gold she took from her head. She removed the bracelets and anklets. 12 She gathered them together and threw them out the window, which faced north.

13 All the gods, idols, engravings, and images she let fall from where she had them set up and threw them from her window.

14 And the sacrifice and the libation from their altar, and all the food for their preparation she also hurled from her window, throwing them down to the wild dogs to eat because, she said in her heart, “It is better not to give this unclean food to dogs of the house to eat, but to wild dogs.”⁷¹

15 Afterwards she lifted the ashes from the curtain and threw them on the floor of her bedchamber. She put sackcloth on her hips and loosened the braids in her hair. She sprinkled and spread out the ashes. 16 She beat her breasts with her hands and wept bitterly, throwing the ashes onto the floor of her home all night. 17 Morning appeared and behold, mud had formed from the multitude of tears from her eyes in the great weeping she had done. 18 And again she lay on the ashes until evening. 19 This Aseneth did for seven days. She ate no bread and drank no water those seven days of penance and suffering of the soul and her humiliation.

11.

1 At the dawn of the eighth day, she heard the sound of the birds of heaven and dogs barking at those passing by (on) the road. Aseneth raised her head from the ashes because she was weak and weary from her remorseful penance, fasting, and abstinence. 2 After (performing) the blessing on her knees, she rose and lifted her eyes up to heaven. She shook off the ashes from her hair, still crying and beating her chest. 3 She went to the window facing east and sat and lowered her head on to her knees. Her mouth was closed out of abstinence, having had little to eat in seven days of suffering.

With her mouth still closed after seven days, she said in her heart:⁷²

4 “What shall I do?

Where shall I go?

To whom shall I flee?

And what shall I say?

I, a virgin and an orphan, abandoned and desolate,

5 Everyone despises and hates me,

(even) my father and mother,⁷³

(because) now I hate the gods. I rejected, destroyed, and removed (them)

so that they might be trampled by the feet of man.

6 My mother, father, and my family said, ‘Aseneth is not our daughter,

for she destroyed the gods and rejected them.’⁷⁴

And the rest of men, the ones I rejected who desired me, hate me.⁷⁵

They will rejoice on account of my humiliation.

7 But the Lord God Most High and Powerful of the wise Joseph

hates those who worship empty idols

because He is a jealous and frightening God

to those who worship foreign gods made by the hands of man.

8 Because I too am defiled—I worshipped and poured libations to them,

and served and ate from their sacrifices,

I do not have the confidence, my Lord, to call on the Lord God Most High of Heaven.

9 But because I heard the God of the Hebrews is a true God,

merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, with great grace and truth,

10 and (because) He forgives sins and is incorruptible, and abundantly turns away His anger,

and does not awaken all of His rage in the time when people—humiliated—call to Him,⁷⁶

11 I venture to turn to Him

and take refuge with Him⁷⁷

and confess my sins and my transgressions to Him.

12 And in prayer I will approach Him

so perhaps, seeing the humiliation of His servant,

He will have mercy on me

13 because He is the father of orphans

and protector of the weak,

and savior of the poor.⁷⁸

14 I will speak and call out to Him.”

15 Aseneth rose to the eastern window and she lifted up her hands to Heaven. But she was afraid to open her mouth and speak to God Most High and remember His holy name and call out. Again she repented. She sat to the side of the east window, and was striking her face. Beating her chest with her hands, she said in her heart without opening her mouth:

16 “I am weak, an orphan and lonely.

My mouth is defiled from the sacrifices

and the emptiness of the gods of the Egyptians, my people.⁷⁹

17 And now in these tears of mine and in the ashes and dust of my own humiliation

on account of my sin offerings <and> the penance I made,

I venture to open my mouth and invoke the Holy Name of God the merciful.

18 And if the Lord becomes angry with me, He will chastise me today.

And He will take hold of me,

and if He strikes me, He will heal me again.”⁸⁰

12.

1 And she gazed up at Heaven and then, opening her mouth, she said,⁸¹

2 “Lord God of the ages and their Creator, and (the one who) gave life,

who shone light on and brought forth everything invisible⁸²

who created the entire world from nothing

3 who lifted up Heaven

and set again its foundations on the back of the wind

and founded the land upon the waters,

4 who set great stones on the abyss of water

and the stones did not sink

but they were carried like leaves.

5 They are living stones

and they obey you, Lord,

and keep your commandments

and do not transgress

because you spoke, Lord, and by your word⁸³ everything comes to life and exists.

6 With you I will take refuge

and, calling out wailing,⁸⁴

I will pour out <my prayer> before you

and confess my sins and transgressions.

7 Pity me, Lord,

who has sinned so much against you

and I have done evil things before you,

I have angered <you> and done wickedness

and spoke evil things that are not right to speak.

8 My mouth is unclean and <polluted> from the sacrifices to idols and the libations for the gods of the Egyptians

which I committed in my error.⁸⁵

And I served and worshipped them.

I am not worthy to open my mouth to you, Lord.

9 I, Aseneth, the daughter of Potiphar the priest,

who, for some time, has been honored as a virgin and queen,

proud and prosperous surpassing all women.⁸⁶

But now I am an orphan and desolated and abandoned by all the people.

10 I take refuge with you

and I call out to you.

Save me before I am captured by my persecutors;⁸⁷

11 like a little child who is terrified and flees to his father,

who stretches out his hands and receives him

and lifts him up from the ground

and embraces him at his breast.

And the child puts a hand on his father’s neck,

and takes hold of his strength and is relieved from his fear

and rests on him.

But his father rejoices at the impetuosity of his son’s childhood.⁸⁸

12 And therefore you, Lord, stretch out your hands

and lift me up from the ground

because, behold, a wild animal, an old lion, persecutes me

because he is the father of the gods of Egypt.⁸⁹

13 And now I hate the idols

because they are his children,

and I have thrown them all away and destroyed and removed them from me.

And indeed he is angry at me and persecutes me.

14 Save me from his hands, Lord.

And pull me from between his teeth.

And let him not snatch me again⁹⁰

and corrupt me

and cast me into the flame of fire,

where I will sink again into the flame and be shrouded in darkness.

15 And, hurled into Sheol,⁹¹

I will descend to the bottom of the pit

and the dragon⁹² of old will swallow me forever,

destroying me eternally.

16 No, save me, Lord

before all of this comes to me.

Save me, Lord,

the desolate one,

because my father and mother abandoned me⁹³

and renounced me for rejecting the gods.

17 Today I am an orphan and miserable.

You alone are my hope, Lord,

father of orphans,

comforter of the weak,

and savior of the persecuted.

18 Have mercy on me, Lord,

an orphan, miserable, and abandoned

because you are a good father and kind.

19 And, again, who is equal to you and approaches your mercy like you?

And indeed who in your image is long-suffering and merciful?

20 For, behold, all the gifts of my father, Potiphar,

given to me as an inheritance, are empty and transient;

for a gift of your inheritance, Lord, is eternal and incorruptible.”

13.

1 “I turn to you in my desolation, Lord.

Have mercy on me.

See my wickedness and naïveté, Lord,

<and> have pity on me,

because I departed from everything

and took refuge with you.

2 All earthly things I left

and fled to you.

And in sackcloth and ashes—

abandoned and stripped of royal power⁹⁴

as well as the beauty of my <colorful> and varied adornment—

I put on a black mourning garment

without my splendid, beautiful ornaments.

3 I prepared my bedchambers,⁹⁵

and the crown on my head and chain of gold on my hips

(I set) on the floor.

In the ashes I prostrated myself

and covered myself with sackcloth.

4 My mouth longed for delicacies and food

and yet I fasted, enduring seven days

and I refrained from the food.

5 And also the ashes became mud from my tears

like a broad street.

I gave my supper of all things to the wild dogs.⁹⁶

6 And behold, for seven days and seven nights

I did not eat bread nor drink water

until my tongue cleaved to my throat,

and my mouth smelled like a tomb,⁹⁷

and my lips dried up like a potsherd,

and the appearance of my face was changed,

and my eyes grew weak from crying,

and my strength withdrew from me.

7 And the gods for whom I labored before in ignorance,

I rejected and threw away,

allowing them to be trampled by men and snatched away.

And I left the objects of gold and silver

and removed them from before my face.

8 And to you, Lord my God, I have fled.

But you, save me,

because in error I sinned against you,

I, a virgin, a stray and a child,

9 who said evil, empty things against my lord Joseph

because I did not know he was your son.⁹⁸

My people told me

that he was the son of a shepherd from Canaan.

10 And I believed them

and fell into error

and treated him with contempt.

11 For who among humans will give birth to such grace,⁹⁹

wisdom, virtue, and strength?

Lord, I commit him to you, because I love him above myself.

12 Preserve him in the wisdom . . .¹⁰⁰

. . . of your grace

and entrust me to him for a slave-girl,

that I will wash his feet¹⁰¹

and I will serve him

and be a slave to him forever.”¹⁰²

14.

1 When Aseneth stopped confessing to the Lord, behold, the morning star rose out of heaven to the east.¹⁰³ 2 Aseneth saw it and rejoiced and said, “So the Lord God listened to me, because this star is a messenger and a herald of the light of the great day.”

3 And behold, near the morning star, heaven was torn apart¹⁰⁴ and an ineffable light shone. 4 Aseneth fell upon her face on the ashes.

A man from heaven¹⁰⁵ came to her and stood over her head. He called to her, “Aseneth.” 5 And she said, “Who calls me? Because the door of my chamber is shut and the tower is high. How is it possible for him to have come into my chamber?”¹⁰⁶

6 And the man called to her a second time and said, “Aseneth, Aseneth.” And she said, “Here I am, Lord. Tell me who you are.”¹⁰⁷ 7 The man said, “I am a commander of the house of the Lord and commander-in-chief of all the army of the Most High. Stand on your feet and I shall speak to you.”

8 She raised her eyes, looked and beheld a man alike in every respect to Joseph¹⁰⁸ in clothes and crown and royal scepter,¹⁰⁹ 9 but his face was like lightning, and his eyes like the splendor of the sun, and the hair of his head like a flame of fire, and his hands and feet like inflamed iron. 10 Aseneth saw and fell upon her face at his feet in great fear and trembling.

11 The (heavenly) man said to her, “Take courage, Aseneth, and do not fear, but stand upon your feet and I shall speak to you.” 12 Aseneth stood, and the man said to her, “Take off the black garment which you have put on, (remove) the sackcloth from your hips, shake off the ashes from your head, and wash your face with living water. 13 Put on a new, untouched robe and gird your hips with the splendid double belt of your virginity. 14 And again come to me and I shall speak to you the words that I have been sent to (tell) you.”

15 Aseneth went into her chamber¹¹⁰ where the chests (containing) her garments and accessories¹¹¹ were (located), and opened her box. She took out the fine new clothes, removed the black clothes, and put on new and splendid ones. 16 She loosened the rope and sackcloth from her waist and put on the splendid double belt of her virginity—one belt about her waist and one upon her breast. 17 And she shook off the ashes from her head and washed her face with pure water and covered her head with a beautiful and splendid veil.¹¹²

15.

1 And she came near the (heavenly) man.¹¹³ Seeing her, the man said to her, “Remove the veil from your head,¹¹⁴ for today you are a chaste virgin and your head is like that of a young man.”¹¹⁵ 2 And she removed it from her head. The man said to her, “Take courage, Aseneth. For behold, the Lord heard the words of your confession.

3 Take courage,¹¹⁶ Aseneth. Behold, your name¹¹⁷ was written in the Book of Life.¹¹⁸ You will be renewed, reformed, and revivified. You will eat the bread of life, drink the cup of immortality, and be anointed with the ointment of incorruptibility.¹¹⁹

4 Take courage, Aseneth. Behold, the Lord gave you to Joseph as a bride and he will be your bridegroom.¹²⁰ 5 No longer will you be called Aseneth, but your name will be ‘City of Refuge,’¹²¹ for with you all the nations will take refuge and many people will be sheltered under your wing, and in your wall will be kept safe the ones attached to God through repentance.¹²² 6 For Repentance is the Daughter of God Most High¹²³ and intercedes with the Most High on your behalf at all times and on behalf of all those who repent, for he is the father of Repentance. 7 She is the mother of the virgins¹²⁴ and beseeches him at all times about the ones who repent, for she has prepared a heavenly bridal chamber¹²⁵ for those who love her, and she will serve them forever. 8 And Repentance is very good—a chaste virgin, holy and gentle. God Most High¹²⁶ loves her and all the angels respect her.

9 And behold, I am going away to Joseph and I shall speak to him concerning you, and he will come to you today and see you and rejoice over you and he will be your bridegroom.

10 Finally, hear me, Aseneth, and put on the robe of marriage—the old, first robe you put away in your chamber—and put on all your choice adornment and adorn yourself like a bride and prepare for his meeting. 11 For behold, he is coming to you today; he will see you and rejoice.”¹²⁷

12 And when the man finished speaking to Aseneth, she was joyously happy and fell at his feet and said to him, 13 “Blessed be the Lord God, the one who sent you to rescue me from the darkness and lead me into the light, and blessed be his name forever. 14 I will speak now, Lord, if I have found favor before you. Sit a little upon the bed and I shall set a table¹²⁸ and you will eat bread and I shall bring you good wine,¹²⁹ the fragrance of which (goes) up to heaven, and you will drink and you will go your way.”¹³⁰

16.

1 The man said to her, “Bring me also a honeycomb.”¹³¹ 2 Aseneth answered, “Lord, let me send to my estate and I shall bring you a honeycomb.”¹³² 3 But the man said to her, “Go into your chamber and you will find a honeycomb.”¹³³

4 Aseneth entered her inner chamber and found a large honeycomb full of honey. It was white as snow and was lying on a table. Its honey was like small drops of dew from heaven and it smelled like the pleasant smell of the spirit of life.¹³⁴ 5 Aseneth wondered and said in her heart, “How did this honeycomb come from this man’s mouth? Its smell is like the pleasant smell of his mouth.”¹³⁵

6 Aseneth took the honeycomb and brought it to the man. She put it on the table set up in front of him. 7 The man said to her, “How is it that you said ‘the honeycomb is not in my bedchamber?’ Behold, you have brought a wonderful honeycomb.” 8 Aseneth was afraid and said, “Lord, there was never a honeycomb in my inner chamber¹³⁶ but you spoke and it happened. And it came from your mouth and it smelled like the smell of your mouth.” 9 The man rejoiced at the understanding of Aseneth.¹³⁷ And he called her to him.

10 He stretched out his right hand and drew her head near. Aseneth was afraid because sparks of fire were coming out of his hand like from inflamed iron. 11 The man rejoiced to see her afraid, and he said, “Blessed are you, Aseneth, for the secrets of the Lord have been revealed to you.¹³⁸ Blessed are those who attach themselves to the Lord God Most High in penance because, from this honeycomb, they will eat and live forever.¹³⁹ 12 Because this is the spirit of life, for it was made by swarms of bees from the paradise of the Living God of Eden, from the dew of the rose of life in paradise, from which the angels of God eat and from which all the elect of God and the sons of the Most High eat. For this is the honeycomb of life and those who eat from it will not die but live forever.”¹⁴⁰

13 The man stretched out his right hand and took a little piece from the honeycomb and ate; the rest he put in Aseneth’s mouth.¹⁴¹ 14 The man said to Aseneth, “So now you have eaten the bread of life and drunk the cup of life and have been anointed with the ointment of incorruptibility.¹⁴² From today and this time forward, your flesh¹⁴³ will spring up blossoms of life from the <ground> of the Most High and your bones will grow strong again like the cedars of paradise.¹⁴⁴ 15 Unwavering strength will strengthen you, and your youth will remain forever and not see old age,¹⁴⁵ and your beauty will not fail forever. 16 You will be a mother of cities¹⁴⁶—one with a strong city wall—with whom they will take refuge in the name of the Lord God, king of the ages.”

17 He stretched out his right hand, and the piece broken from the honeycomb was replenished and it became as it was before without him touching it.¹⁴⁷

18 And he turned again and stretched his right hand to the honeycomb and touched it with his finger deliberately on its eastern side. And he drew the part to him <and the path of the honey was now blood>. And he turned again and stretched his right hand and, with his finger, he touched the western side of the comb. And where he touched it, the path of the honey was now blood.

19 And again he stretched his hand and, with his finger, touched the northern part of the comb. And he drew it to himself, and again the path of the honey was now blood. And he stretched his hand again and, with his finger, he touched it on the southern side of the honeycomb. And again, the path of the honey was now blood.¹⁴⁸

20 Aseneth was standing on the left of the man, watching all that he was doing.

21 And the man said to the honeycomb, “Come, and see at once the great swarms of bees from the cells of the honeycomb.” 22 And the cells were innumerable, a great multitude, and from all the house they appeared and were alive—a multitude of multitudes, a thousand thousands of bees, white as snow and their wings like the color of purple and jacinth and scarlet and fine white linen spun in gold.¹⁴⁹ A crown of gold (was) on each of their heads. Their stings were sharp, though they were injuring no one. 23 They circled around and seized Aseneth and clung to her¹⁵⁰ from her feet to her head. <More> bees were chosen—great bees like queen (bees). They came from the fragments which the man had broken off from the honeycomb. 24 They took hold of Aseneth’s face and on her lips¹⁵¹ made an image of the honeycomb set before the man. And it was full of very much honey. They all gathered and ate from the honey of the honeycomb on Aseneth’s mouth.¹⁵²

25 And the man said to those bees, “Go to your places.” 26 The multitude of them rose and flew and went toward heaven.¹⁵³ Those who wished to injure Aseneth fell to the ground and died. 27 And the man stretched out the scepter in his hand to the dead bees and said to them, “Rise you also, and go to your places in the courtyard near Aseneth’s tower. Settle on and remain on the fruit trees.”¹⁵⁴

17.

1 The man said to Aseneth, “Do you see these (things), Aseneth?” And she replied, “I see, my Lord.” 2 The man said to her, “So it will be with all the words I spoke to you today.”¹⁵⁵

3 Again the man stretched out his hand and touched the fragment of the honeycomb and fire went up from the table and consumed the comb. It did not damage the table <nor did it catch fire>. The smell of burning from the honeycomb pleasantly blew throughout the entire house from the inner chamber of Aseneth.¹⁵⁶

4 Then Aseneth said to the man, “My Lord, with me are seven virgins who are the same age as I am with the same upbringing and I love them like my sisters. I shall call them to you and you will bless them as you did me.” 5 The man said, “Call them.” Aseneth called the seven virgins and stood (them) before him. The man said to them, “May the Lord God Most High bless you. You will be the seven pillars in the City of Refuge and all the daughters of the house of the Village of Refuge who you choose shall enter and upon you they shall rest forever.”¹⁵⁷

6 The man said to Aseneth, “Now take the table.” When Aseneth took the table, the man changed before her. And she looked and, behold, a chariot of four horses going toward heaven to the east.¹⁵⁸ The appearance of the chariot was shining and burning like fire, and the appearance of the horses was like lightning. And the man was standing on the chariot.¹⁵⁹

7 Aseneth said, “Truly I am foolish and presumptuous (because) I spoke these things and said a man came into my bedchamber. I did not know that God from heaven appeared in my bed.¹⁶⁰ Now, behold, he is returning to heaven.” Aseneth said, “Have pity on your handmaiden (because) I spoke my words in ignorance.”

Episode 3: The Marriage

The wedding, the consummation, and the children.

18.

1 As she was considering these things in her heart, a young man from Potiphar<’s staff> came and announced to the household, “Behold, the Man of God,¹⁶¹ Joseph, is coming. His herald is standing at the gate of the courtyard.”

2 Aseneth called her “foster father”¹⁶²—the manager of her father’s house—and said to him, “Make ready and prepare the house, and prepare a great dinner because Joseph, the Powerful One of God, is coming to us today.” 3 But her foster father looked at her. Her face was sad from the suffering of her seven-day penitence. He grieved over it and wept. He took her right hand, kissed it, and said to her, “My daughter, what is this sadness in your face?” 4 She said to him, “My head hurts very much and sleep has been taken from me.” And her foster father went immediately and made ready the house and dinner.

5 Aseneth remembered the (heavenly) man and his words. Immediately, she entered her second bedchamber, the place of her “chests of adornments” (that is, the one containing her garments and accessories). She opened them and brought out her first, glittering robe and put it on. 6 She girded herself with a chain of gold on her hips. 7 She placed bracelets on her hands, anklets on her feet, and on her neck she put a wreathed necklace (inlayed with) various abundant, precious stones, and on her head a crown of gold. All of her clothes were devoid of adornments. And on the front of her crown were rubies and six costly stones.

8 On her head (she placed) a bridal veil. She took a scepter in her hand.¹⁶³ Then she remembered the words her foster father said to her, that the appearance of her face had darkened and become sad. And she groaned and became very distraught. Aseneth said, “When Joseph sees me so, he will treat me with contempt.”¹⁶⁴ 9 She told one of her virgin companions to bring her clean water from the spring. And she put (it) in the basin. 10 As she lowered (herself) to wash, she saw her face was like rays of the sun,¹⁶⁵ and her eyes like the morning star rising,¹⁶⁶ and her cheeks like fields of the Most High, red like the blood of a son of man.¹⁶⁷ Her lips (were) like the rose of life plucked from its stalk;¹⁶⁸ her teeth like armed men prepared for battle; the hair of her head, like the vine of the paradise of God, abundant in fruit; her neck, like the islands of rest for the angels of heaven; and her breasts, like the mountains of love of the Most High.

11 Aseneth saw herself in the water and was amazed at her appearance.¹⁶⁹ Out of joy, she did not wash her face, saying, “Perhaps I will wash off this goodly beauty.” 12 Her foster father joined her again, to tell her that everything had been made ready. But when he saw her, he was terrified and could not find his speech. He was very afraid and fell before her feet. 13 Then at last he said, “My lady,¹⁷⁰ what is this appearance of virtue and marvelous beauty of the gods? The Lord God of heaven truly chose you to be the bride of his firstborn son.”¹⁷¹

19.

1 A young man came and said to Aseneth, “Behold, Joseph is at the entrance of the courtyard.” Running, Aseneth descended the steps with her seven virgin companions to meet Joseph and stood at the entrance of the house. Joseph entered the courtyard and they closed the gates and all the strangers remained outside.

2 Aseneth went out and rushed to meet Joseph. Joseph saw her and was amazed also at her beauty. He said to her, “Who are you? Quickly, tell me.”

3 She answered him, “I am your maidservant and handmaiden, Aseneth, who has cast from me the idols and treated the gods with contempt and rejected them. Today, a man came to me from heaven and he gave me the bread of life—and I ate—and a cup of blessing—and I drank. 4 (The heavenly man) said to me, ‘I shall give you to Joseph as a bride: he will be a bridegroom to you forever.’ He added, ‘You will no longer be called Aseneth but you will be called the “City of Refuge.”¹⁷² The people will flee and take refuge with you, and the families, tribes, and nations with God Most High.’¹⁷³ 5 He said to me, ‘I shall go also to Joseph and speak to him these words concerning you.’ Now you know, my Lord, whether a man has come to you and spoken to you concerning me.”

6 Joseph said to Aseneth, “Blessed are you by God Most High. Blessed be your name forever, because the Lord God set your walls on high, for your walls are of living diamond (i.e., impenetrable) because the sons of the living God will dwell in the City of Refuge where the Lord God will rule over them forever. 7 Because this man who came to you today said to me also these words concerning you. And now, come to me, chaste virgin.¹⁷⁴ Why do you stand so far (from me)?”

8 Joseph stretched out his hands and, by a wink of his eyes,¹⁷⁵ he called Aseneth. Aseneth also stretched out her hands, ran to Joseph, fell on his neck and embraced it. They came alive in the spirit <and> embraced each other. 9 Joseph kissed Aseneth and gave to her the spirit of life. He kissed her a second time and gave her the spirit of wisdom. And he kissed her a third time and gave her the spirit of truth.

20.

1 They squeezed each other’s hands and embraced each other.¹⁷⁶ Aseneth said to Joseph, “Come, my Lord, and enter our house. Because, my Lord, I have prepared a great dinner in our house.” They took each other by their hands, and she brought him to her house and sat him upon her father’s throne.¹⁷⁷

2 She brought water to wash his feet.¹⁷⁸ Joseph said, “Let one of the virgins come and wash my feet.” 3 But Aseneth replied, “No, my Lord. Why should one of these maidservants wash your feet, my Lord? Rather I, (your) maidservant and handmaiden, will wash the feet of my Lord because your feet are my feet, your hands my hands, and your soul my soul.”¹⁷⁹ And she urged him (to honor her request) and washed his feet. Joseph pondered her hands, which were like the hands of life, and her fingers, like the fingers of a skilled and esteemed scribe.

4 Afterwards, Joseph took hold of her right hand and kissed her on the head.¹⁸⁰ And she sat on his right side.

5 Her father, mother, and her family came from their estate. They saw Aseneth as if her appearance was of light and her beauty like the beauty of heaven. They saw her sitting with Joseph and dressed in a wedding garment. They were amazed at her beauty and gave glory to God who gives life and raises the dead.¹⁸¹ After this, they ate and drank.

6 Potiphar said to Joseph, “Tomorrow I shall call the noblemen and the magistrates of the land of Egypt and have a marriage feast and you will take Aseneth as a wife.” 7 Joseph replied,¹⁸² “Tomorrow I shall return to Pharaoh, the king, because he is like my father and has appointed me magistrate over the land. I shall speak to him concerning Aseneth. He will give her to me from (amongst) the women.” Potiphar said, “Go in peace.”

8 Joseph stayed that day with Potiphar but did not know Aseneth because, Joseph said, “It is not right for a man who worships God to know his bride before the wedding.”¹⁸³

21.

1 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Give me as a wife the daughter of Potiphar, priest of On.” 2 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, she was destined for you long ago and before God.” 3 Pharaoh summoned Potiphar who brought Aseneth. (Pharaoh) was amazed at her beauty. He said, “Blessed are you by the Lord God of Joseph, because he is the firstborn of God, and you will be called the Daughter of God Most High¹⁸⁴ and the bride of Joseph now and forever.”

4 Pharaoh approached Joseph and Aseneth and he placed on them crowns of gold that had been kept in his house from long ago. Pharaoh stood Aseneth on the right side of Joseph. 5 Putting his hand on their heads, he blessed them and said, “May the Lord God Most High bless you. May he bless and glorify you forever.” 6 Then Pharaoh turned them to each other and they kissed each other.

7 After this, Pharaoh gave a wedding feast—a great dinner and a great banquet—for seven days. 8 He called all the chiefs of Egypt and all the kings of the nations and proclaimed to the whole land of Egypt that every man who does work for the seven days of the wedding of Joseph and Aseneth shall die.¹⁸⁵

9 Afterwards Joseph had intercourse with Aseneth.¹⁸⁶ And Aseneth conceived from Joseph and gave birth to Manasseh and his brother Ephraim in Joseph’s house.¹⁸⁷

10 (This is the) hymn of thanksgiving of Aseneth to God, the Most High:¹⁸⁸

11 “I have sinned much before you, Lord,

I, Aseneth, daughter of Potiphar, priest of On, city of the sun,

who oversees everything.

12 I have sinned and done evil things before you.

I was resting in my father’s house,

but (was) proud and boastful.

13 I sinned before you, Lord.

I worshipped gods without number.

I ate their sacrifices and drank their libation.

14 I did not know the Lord God of Heaven,

and I did not believe in the Most High of life.

15 But I trusted in the glory of my riches and in my beauty.

I was proud and boastful.

16 I treated with contempt every man who was before me

and those who desired me.

17 I have sinned much before you, Lord.

And I spoke foolishly about you in vanity

and I said in my pride,

‘There is no ruler of the earth who has aroused me,

but I shall be the bride of the firstborn of the king of Egypt.’¹⁸⁹

18 Until Joseph, the Powerful One of God, came.

He pulled me down from my stronghold

and emptied me of my pride and weakened me of my strengths.

19 And by his beauty he caught me,¹⁹⁰

and by his wisdom he grasped me like a fish on a hook,¹⁹¹

and by his spirit he has made me a servant for life,

and by his strength he has strengthened me

and drawn me near to God,

the chief and Lord of the ages.

20 And in my hands, the chief of the hosts of the Most High

has <given> to me the bread of life

and the cup of wisdom.

And I became his bride forever and ever.”¹⁹²

Episode 4: The Murder Plot

The conspiracy to abduct Aseneth, kill Joseph, and murder their children is foiled.

22.

1 And it happened after this: the seven years of plenty passed and the seven years of famine approached the land. 2 Jacob heard about Joseph, his son. On the twenty-first day of the second month of the second year of the famine, Israel departed and came to Egypt with all those born in his home and they dwelled in the land of Goshen.¹⁹³

3 Aseneth said to Joseph, “I shall go and see your father Israel; he is like a god to me.”¹⁹⁴ 4 Joseph replied, “You will see my father with me.” 5 Joseph and Aseneth came to Goshen¹⁹⁵ and met the brothers of Joseph. They bowed to them with their faces upon the ground. 6 They went to Jacob, who was sitting on his bed, comfortable in his old age.¹⁹⁶

7 Aseneth saw him and was amazed because Jacob was beautiful in appearance. His old age was surpassing the beauty of handsome young men, his head was white as snow, his hair was thick like an Ethiopian’s, the end of his beard came down white upon his chest, his eyes were bright and flashing, his cheeks and shoulders and arms were firm like the appearance of an angel, and his thighs and his shins (were) like (those of) a mighty man. Jacob was like a man who had wrestled with God. 8 Aseneth saw him and was shocked. And she bowed with her face upon the ground. Jacob said to Joseph, “Is this my daughter-in-law, your wife? Blessed are you by God Most High.”¹⁹⁷

9 Jacob called her to him, blessed and kissed her. Aseneth stretched out her hands and embraced Jacob by the neck and hung herself from it off the ground, like someone who returns from war to his home after a long time. 10 After this they ate and drank. Then Joseph and Aseneth rose and went to their home.

11 They were accompanied only by the sons of Leah and the brothers of Joseph. But the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids of Leah and Rachel, did not accompany them because they were afraid as they remembered their earlier deceit.¹⁹⁸

12 Levi¹⁹⁹ was traveling on the right side of Aseneth, holding her hand, and Joseph (held) her left hand. 13 Aseneth loved Levi more than all the brothers of Joseph, because he was close to the Living God. 14 The man was a prophet and prudent—his eyes were open and he was familiar with the words written in the books of Heaven, written by the finger of God. He knew the secrets of God, which had been revealed to him. He made known to Aseneth the secrets his mind knew—her place of rest on high, her eternal, impenetrable walls, and her foundations planted firmly upon a rock of stone long ago in the seventh heaven.²⁰⁰

23.

1 And it happened at the time when Joseph and Aseneth were passing by, that Pharaoh’s firstborn saw Aseneth and Joseph from afar. Seeing Aseneth, he was jealous and desired her. He groaned and was troubled by her beauty, saying, “Why is this so?”²⁰¹

2 Pharaoh’s son²⁰² sent messengers and called Simeon and Levi to him.²⁰³ The men came together and stood before him. Pharaoh’s firstborn said to them, “I know you are powerful men surpassing all men on earth,²⁰⁴ and that by your hands you laid waste to the city of Shechem, and by these two spears you killed three thousand fighting men. 3 Behold, today I shall become entirely your companion and friend and I shall give you gold, silver, much wealth and great, valuable inheritances. But I ask one thing of you—which you may do for me, my friends, because Joseph your brother despises me and treats me with contempt because he took Aseneth, my wife, who was rightly due to me long ago. 4 Now, come swear an oath to me and I shall make war on Joseph your brother and slay him with my own spear. 5 And Aseneth will be a wife to me, and you will be brothers and faithful friends. But if you hesitate and delay and reject this thing, behold the point of my spear is drawn before you.”

6 When he said this, he flashed his spear and showed its point. When the men—Simeon and Levi—heard these insolent words spoken by Pharaoh’s firstborn, they were very shocked. 7 Simeon was daring and angry and considered drawing his blade quickly to strike the firstborn of Pharaoh because he spoke harshly and impudently. 8 Levi, perceiving the intention of the heart of Simeon (because he was a prophet and soothsayer, and his eyes were open), trod on the foot of Simeon, signaling him to be silent and to calm his anger. 9 He said to Simeon privately, “Why are you angry and raging at this man? We are worshippers of God; it is not right to us to return evil for evil.”²⁰⁵

10 Levi said to Pharaoh’s son openly and peacefully, not in rage, “Why do you speak, our Lord, these words to us men who worship God? Our father is near and beloved of the Most High. Our brother Joseph is like a son of God²⁰⁶ and the firstborn. 11 How could we do this evil thing and <sin> against God, and before our father Israel and our brother Joseph? 12 Now, hear my words: it is not right for any man who worships God to injure any man in any way. If a man harms a man who worships God, (with) the sword in his hand (the first man) will take vengeance on his rival. 13 Keep yourself from considering these things about our brother Joseph, lest you fall on the blade of the spear in our hands.”

14 And they showed their blades and said, “Look at these sharp spears. By these two blades we avenged the shame of Dinah our sister from the sons of Shechem.”²⁰⁷ 15 Pharaoh’s son saw and was much afraid. He trembled and fell out of fear upon the ground before the feet of Simeon and Levi. 16 Levi stretched out his hand and raised him and said to him, “Rise and do not be afraid. But again, turn from your evils and do not plot²⁰⁸ against Joseph, our brother.”

And Simeon and Levi departed from the presence of Pharaoh’s son.

24.

1 (Pharaoh’s son) was troubled and in great anguish because of Aseneth’s beauty. 2 His servants said to him, “Behold, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah—the handmaidens of Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob—they are <jealous> and hate Joseph and Aseneth. They will listen to your counsel and do your will.”²⁰⁹

3 He again sent messengers to them²¹⁰ and summoned them to him—the son of Pharaoh—in the night. They came and stood before him and he said to them, “You are brave and powerful men.” 4 Dan and Gad, the oldest brothers, said to him, “Lord, speak because your servants will hear and do your will.” 5 Pharaoh’s son was joyously happy and he said to his servants, “Stand back a little, because I have a secret word²¹¹ (to say) to these men.” 6 And they all withdrew.

7 Pharaoh’s son said (to Dan and Gad): “Behold, life and death are before me. Choose life because you are powerful men and will not die like women. But you are brave and seek vengeance from your enemies. 8 Because I heard Joseph your brother say to Pharaoh, ‘The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah are my servants and, out of deceit and jealousy, they sold <me>. When the time comes to grieve for my father, I shall take vengeance on them and remove them from the earth, lest these sons of maidservants receive the inheritance with the freeborn sons.’ 9 Pharaoh praised him and said to him, ‘It is right to revenge this great, long-ago suffering. When the time comes, I shall help you in your revenge’.”²¹²

10 When the men heard these words they were shaken and much grieved. They said to Pharaoh’s son, “We beseech you, lord, help us.” 11 And he said to them “I shall help you provided that you obey me.” 12 The men replied, “Behold, we stand before you as your servants. Speak, and by us your will shall be done.” 13 Pharaoh’s son said, “Behold, today I shall kill my father Pharaoh because he loved Joseph like a father. Instead of him, I shall reign. And you will slay Joseph your brother. Then once more, as is my desire, Aseneth will be my wife.”

14 The men promised to do this and said, “We heard Joseph say to Aseneth, ‘Go tomorrow to our estate because it is vintage season.’ And he gave her six hundred men powerful in battle and fifty advance guards. 15 Now, we shall speak and our lord will listen and give us men in battle.” 16 He gave them two thousand men, five hundred men for each of the four (brothers).²¹³ And he appointed them as chiefs of the five hundred.

17 Dan and Gad said, “We shall go by night and hide in the thicket of reeds in the valley. You take fifty archers and go before us and we shall rise from the ambush of the thicket and kill the six hundred men who are with her. When she is fleeing on the chariot, come upon her and do to her as you will. And after, when Joseph is grieving on account of Aseneth, we shall kill him and we shall slay his two sons before his eyes.”²¹⁴

18 Pharaoh’s son rejoiced when he heard these words. He sent them from before him with two thousand armed men. 19 They came to the valley and laid in wait in the thicket of reeds. They were divided into five hundred men on one side and five hundred on the other,²¹⁵ leaving a passage in the middle.²¹⁶

25.

1 Pharaoh’s son rose in the night and went to his father to kill him with a blade, but his father’s guards²¹⁷ prevented him from entering (the room). They said to him, “What do you command, Lord?” 2 And he replied, “I wish to see my father because I am going to (harvest) the vintage of the planting of my vineyard.” 3 And the guards²¹⁸ said to him, “Your father is vexed with a pain in his head this night and desires quiet. He commanded that no man awaken him, not even his firstborn.”

4 Running, Pharaoh’s son returned and took with him fifty archers, according to the counsel of Dan and Gad, and going ahead, he hid in the place. 5 <Naphtali> and Asher, the younger brothers of Dan and Gad, said (to their brothers), “Why are you again intending evil to Israel your father and to Joseph your brother, whom, behold, the Lord is guarding like the pupil of his eye? Did you not sell²¹⁹ him earlier? Behold, he rules over the land—he is the magistrate—and he gave grain from the provisions, redeeming and saving many.²²⁰ 6 Now, if you should attempt to do evil to him, he will climb up to heaven and send fire at you²²¹ and it will consume you because the angels of God are fighting for him and they are helping him.”²²²

7 And Dan and Gad were angry and said to them, “If we don’t (fight), we will die like women.”

26.

1 Aseneth awoke at dawn and said to Joseph, “I will go to the vineyard in our estate, like you said, but I am afraid in my heart to part from you.”

2 Joseph said to her, “Take courage and do not be afraid. I will go quickly and the Lord is with you and will guard you like the pupil of his eye and from an act of evil. 3 I will go to prepare the gift of life-giving provisions and abundant food; otherwise many in the land will perish.” 4 Then Aseneth went on her way and Joseph turned back on his way.²²³

5 Aseneth and the six hundred men with her approached the valley. <Pharaoh’s> men rose from the ambush and they joined <in battle> with Aseneth’s men, killing them as well as her fifty advance guards. Aseneth fled on her chariot.

6 Levi made known the treachery to his brothers, the sons of Leah.²²⁴ They placed the blades of their swords on their thighs, picked up their shields, put them on their arms, took their spears in their right hand and immediately pursued. Hastening, they came up to Aseneth.

7 As she was fleeing, behold, Pharaoh’s son met her along with the fifty horsemen who were with him. 8 Aseneth saw him and was afraid and trembled greatly. She called on the name of the Lord God Most High.

27.

1 But Benjamin²²⁵ was with her in the chariot. Benjamin was a beautiful boy who worshipped God and was very courageous. 2 He came down from the chariot and gathered some smooth round stones from the valley and filled his hands. Not wavering, he courageously threw them at Pharaoh’s son. He struck him on his left temple and wounded him greatly. 3 Pharaoh’s son fell on the ground. 4 Then Benjamin ran and went up on a high rock and said to the driver of Aseneth’s chariot, “Pass me stones from the valley.” 5 And he gave him forty-eight stones.²²⁶ He killed each of the forty-eight men joining Pharaoh’s son.

6 The sons of Leah—Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun—pursued the men who had ambushed them in the thicket of reeds in the valley. (The sons of Leah) fell on them all of a sudden and killed them all.

7 Their brothers, Dan and Gad—the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah—fled from them saying, “We are dying by our brothers and Pharaoh’s son lives, afflicted with a deadly wound by Benjamin. 8 Now come, let us kill Aseneth and our brother Benjamin. Then we shall flee and take refuge in the thicket of reeds in the valley.” 9 They came, their swords drawn and wet with blood.

But Aseneth saw them and said, 10 “Lord, who has given me life from death and said ‘Your soul will live forever,’ rescue me and save me from the blade of these deceitful men.” 11 When they heard the prayer of Aseneth, the blades fell from their hands in dust upon the ground.

28.

1 When they saw this, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah were very afraid. They trembled and said, “Truly the Lord is fighting us on behalf of Aseneth.” 2 They fell on the ground, bowed, and said to Aseneth, “Have mercy on us and pardon us, your servants, because you are our lady,²²⁷ the queen.²²⁸ 3 We committed evil against you and the Lord repaid us according to our deeds. 4 Now we pray to you: have mercy on us and save us from the hands of <our> brothers because already those avengers of the insult (done to you) have prepared their blades against us.”

5 Aseneth said to them, “Take courage and do not fear from your brothers because they are worshippers of God and are respected by every man. Return to the thicket in the valley until I (can) calm their anger concerning you because you have increased your evils through boldness but the Lord will judge between me and you.” 6 Dan and his brother fled to the thicket.

7 Behold, the sons of Leah came running like young stags. 8 Aseneth got down to meet them. Weeping, she took them by the hand and they fell and prostrated themselves on the ground. They wept greatly and searched for the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, their brothers.

9 Aseneth said to them, “I pray you, leave them and do not return evil for evil. The Lord, who saved me from them and threw their blades on the ground and melted them like wax as if consumed before a fire, will treat me well on account of (how I treat) them. 10 It is enough that the Lord has fought against them. So spare them, because they are your brothers and sons of Israel your father.”²²⁹

11 Simeon²³⁰ said to her, “Why does our Lady²³¹ speak well concerning her enemies? Do not do so. Let us slay and destroy them by this blade because they were first to act deceitfully against us, against Israel our father and twice against Joseph our brother. And against you, our lady, who commands us today.”

12 Aseneth lifted up her hand, took hold of his beard, kissed him, and said to him, “No, our brother, do not return evil for evil. Give the Lord (the right) to punish our insult, for they are your brothers and kinsmen of your father. They have fled and withdrawn from your presence.”

13 Levi approached her, took her right hand, and kissed it. She knew that by this, he wished to spare his brothers. They were nearby, hiding in the thicket of reeds in the valley. Levi was aware of this but did not make it known to his brothers, for he was afraid that, in their anger, they might slay and destroy them.

29.

1 Pharaoh’s son rose from the ground and sat up. He spat blood from his mouth because the blood from the wound on his temple ran down to his mouth.²³² 2 Benjamin ran to him and drew Pharaoh’s son’s own blade because he did not have a sword. He wished to strike him in his chest.

3 Levi ran, took his hand, and said to him, “Do not do this, my <brother>, because we are men who worship the Most High. <It is not right> to return evil for evil <by> increasing the pain of (his enemy’s) death, spilling blood on the ground, and opposing (him) until he is dead. 4 Now return the sword to its sheath and come help me. We shall bind up and heal the man’s wound and he will live. Therefore, his father Pharaoh will be a friend to us like our father.”

5 Levi lifted the son of Pharaoh, wiped the blood from his face, bound up his wound, and put him on his horse. He brought him and stood him before his father, Pharaoh. He told him all these things. 6 Pharaoh rose from his throne and prostrated himself upon the ground before Levi.

7 On the third day, when the firstborn of Pharaoh died from the wound of the little boy Benjamin, Pharaoh mourned for him. He grew weak and died at 177 years old. He left the diadem to Joseph and (Joseph) ruled in Egypt forty-eight years. Joseph entrusted the diadem to the grandson of Pharaoh who was nursing when Pharaoh died. And Joseph was like a father of the boy in Egypt all the days of his life.²³³

(This is) the end of the story of Joseph and of Aseneth, the wife of Joseph, translated from Greek into Syriac.

1 William Wright, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired Since the Year 1838 (London: British Museum, 1870), i–xxxiv.

2 Shoemaker, in Jones, op. cit., 6.

3 Ibid., 7. See also Stephen J. Shoemaker, The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption (Oxford University Press, 2006).

4 This is the way the title has come down to us in various later editions and how it’s known in academia. Significantly, in our Syriac manuscript—the earliest available edition of this work—the title is simply Of Aseneth, i.e., The Story of Aseneth. Meaning, this is her story; Joseph/Jesus is not even mentioned in the title.

5 The story of Joseph can be found in the Book of Genesis, chapters 37–50. Few details in Joseph and Aseneth match those presented in the Biblical account. Its purpose is not to retell the Biblical story or to elaborate on its details. It’s the telling of another story under the guise of such figures as Joseph, Aseneth, and “Pharaoh’s son.” The date presented here may correspond to a specific date in Tiberius’ reign as Roman emperor.

6 The Book of Genesis calls Aseneth’s father “Potiphera” (Genesis 41:45, 50 and 46:20). The man called “Potiphar” is an official in Pharaoh’s court who buys Joseph from Midianite traders, to whom Joseph had been sold by his brothers. It is this Potiphar’s wife who unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Joseph, her Hebrew slave (Genesis 39:1–20). The Syriac text here calls Aseneth’s father Potiphar, as opposed to Potiphera. We could have corrected this, but we left it as is. In some traditions, the two are one and the same, creating irony that Joseph resisted the mother and married the daughter.

7 The Genesis story makes no point about Aseneth’s virginity or beauty. So while a Gentile (a non-Jew) and a daughter of Gentiles, this Aseneth possesses many of the traits associated with Israelite matriarchs. Later Greek manuscripts add that she was “quite unlike Egyptian girls but in every way like the daughters of the Hebrews.” There may have been good reasons for heightening Aseneth’s Jewish traits. If Aseneth is Mary the Magdalene and she is head of the Church of the Gentiles, she needed to be acceptable to both of Jesus’ original constituencies. Note also the title of “virgin” that surpasses all other virgins is associated with Mary the Magdalene, not Jesus’ mother.

8 Thus Aseneth, only briefly mentioned in the Book of Genesis (41:45, 50), achieves tremendous prominence in this story. Who she is, where she lives, what she thinks of Joseph, the transformative process she undergoes, the threat upon her life—all this assumes center stage in this document. It is very much her story.

In the Syriac text, Aseneth’s name is presented as Asyeth. We retain here the traditional spelling of the character’s name.

9 Remember, Tiberius had two sons: Drusus and Germanicus. So this line is consistent with “Pharaoh” being, typologically, Tiberius.

10 Note that, at this point, he merely “heard” of her. This is consistent with Germanicus being in the general area of Phoenicia but not, at first, in the Galilee.

11 Notice Pharaoh calls his son “king” of all the land, not the son of a king. This is consistent with Germanicus’ status upon being sent to the Middle East. The “King of Moab” here may refer to Aretas IV King of Nabataea, ancient Moab. He was, indeed, a regional player and he did marry off his daughter(s) for political purposes. But in later Greek additions to Joseph and Aseneth, this “King of Moab” is called by the Hebrew name “Joachim” and his daughter is referred to as “very beautiful” (1:13–14 in H. F. D. Sparks, ed., op cit., 473–503). So, given his Hebrew name, this “King of Moab” is not Nabataean, but Jewish. Perhaps he is both.

During the time of Jesus, was there a part-Jewish, part-Nabataean “King of Moab?” In fact, there was—Herod Antipas. He was a descendant of Nabataean converts to Judaism. By Roman decree, he ruled the area of Galilee and Peraea, the latter being ancient Amon and Moab. Since Jews at the time saw the Herods as usurpers, it would be a fitting dig to call him a “King of Moab.” It would suggest to the readers of Joseph and Aseneth that the Herods were foreigners from an area traditionally hostile to Israel. But by also calling him by his heretofore unknown Hebrew name “Joachim,” the Greek editor of Joseph and Aseneth is telling his readers that he is not referring to a proper Nabataean, but a Jew of Nabataean descent.

Did Herod Antipas have a beautiful daughter who might have been a fit for Germanicus? In fact, his stepdaughter, Salome, is one of the most infamous beauties of history; the seductress who is alleged to have danced a particularly erotic dance at Antipas’ birthday, and then asked for the head of John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin. According to the Gospels, she did this because John refused to respond to her advances. The problem with Salome being the daughter of the King of Moab of this text is that she’s assumed to have been born in 14 C.E. which would have made her only five years old at the time Germanicus arrived in the Middle East (19 C.E.). Did Antipas have other daughters? We don’t know. He was already in his mid-twenties when he came to power in 4 C.E., and we don’t know how many times he was wed. So by the time Germanicus came in 19 C.E., he may very well have had a biological daughter who was in her teens—an older half-sister to Salome. It seems that in our text, “Pharaoh” is recommending that Germanicus set his sights on this unknown daughter.

12 Notice the importance of the tower and its detailed description. This is Aseneth’s domain in her father’s magnificent estate. The Syriac word for tower in this oldest text is migdala. Aseneth is right away associated with the Hebrew cognate word migdal. She lives in a migdal. Like Mary the Magdalene, she is “Mary of the Tower.” Both are tower ladies. In fact, as late as the 13th century, in a collection of saints’ lives written by a Dominican called Jacobus de Voragine and titled The Golden Legend, Mary the Magdalene is still identified as an heiress who lives in a castle. See Joan Acocella, op. cit., 42.

13 For Aseneth’s “dwelling place,” the Syriac has the word one here, i.e., above this house there was one large, etc. Since this one has ten rooms in it, it could not itself be a room. The Greek has “upper room with ten bedchambers” but that creates rooms within a room. Some might translate this Syriac word as apartment, but that seems oddly modern and conjures up images of penthouse suites. Dwelling place, therefore, seems most accurate and most consistent with what comes after.

14 The reference to a dwelling place and bedchambers utilizes the language of Jewish mysticism of the 1st century, specifically what scholars call Merkavah and Hekhalot literature. As Schafer puts it, “there can be no doubt that ‘chambers’ (hadarim) frequently refer to the heavenly palaces so characteristic of Merkavah mysticism.” Peter Schafer, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism (Princeton University Press, 2009), 199. See especially footnote 114.

15 Clearly, this “Mary of the Tower” is a pagan priestess living in the upper apartments of some kind of temple.

16 As with Artemis, the virginity is not a matter of sexual preference or modesty, but part and parcel of her religious calling.

17 Kraemer says that this is clearly an allusion to Isaiah 4:1 that speaks of the arrival of the messiah and of “seven women” who will take “hold of one man.” In Kraemer’s words, “the seven companions whom the angel blesses at Aseneth’s behest may allude to the seven women [in Isaiah].” Meaning, it may be that just as Jesus surrounded himself with twelve men, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, Mary the Magdalene surrounded herself with seven virgins representing the seven women in Isaiah’s Prophecy of Time. (Kraemer, op. cit., 36.)

18 Seven rooms and seven virgins serving the priestess. They are all part and parcel of her pagan ministry. A 1st- to 2nd-century gold Roman ring, encasing a red jasper cameo, depicts a bee in the mouth of a lion surrounded by seven stars (see France Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra [Dover Publications, 1956], 185, fig. 42). This is reminiscent of Aseneth surrounded by her seven attendants. The ring clearly has magical purposes. It may be associated with Mithras, but the bee is more appropriate to Artemis. For example, in the 1st century B.C.E., Hyginus, a Latin author, says that The Pleiades constellation originated as seven daughters of Atlas who were companions to Artemis (Astronomica 2.21. See also The Pleiades in Mythology, Pleiade Associates [Bristol, United Kingdom, 2012].).

We think that the above is why the Gospels tell us that Jesus drove seven “daemons” out of Mary the Magdalene. The disappearance, later in the text, of these seven “guardians,” i.e., the virgins attending Aseneth, is reminiscent of the seven spirits who leave Mary the Magdalene (Luke 8:2). The word used in Luke 8:2 in relation to the spirit that leaves Mary the Magdalene is not “demon” but “daemon.” Daemon in Greek is a neutral word. It means a spiritual force, something like an angel, but much more limited in scope. It can mean a guardian spirit or a protector. In English Bibles, daemon is usually translated negatively as a demon, suggesting that Mary the Magdalene suffered from a serious medical condition. This is highly misleading. Luke 8:2 could simply mean that seven pagan attendants, or guardians, had left Mary the Magdalene because of Jesus. Interestingly, one of the Gnostic texts tells us that Jesus had seven women as well as twelve males among his disciples. This may be an echo of Mary the Magdalene’s seven “daemons,” before Jesus drove them out. On the latter point, see Joan Acocella, op. cit., 48.

19 The only known Phoenician tower—excavated in Carthage and currently in the British Museum—conforms perfectly with this description, including the three-window (as opposed to the four-window) design.

20 Clearly, this has to do with ritual purity. Not only is she a virgin, but no man ever sat on her bed. Male priests in the Jerusalem Temple, for example, could be defiled and rendered impure by nighttime emissions. Once they were so defiled, the process by which they regained purity was very complicated. Here we see that Aseneth is the subject of spiritual and ritual purity.

21 The temple in Jerusalem was built of hewn stones.

22 Twelve is a significant number, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, who in turn represented the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve months of the year. Jesus’ twelve disciples also represented the twelve tribes of Israel. In the messianic kingdom, with Jesus as ruler of the restored Israel, the twelve disciples expected to be princes of the twelve tribes. There is nothing like this detail in the Biblical account of Joseph, nor is there any narrative concerning Joseph coming to Potiphar’s estate and meeting Aseneth. Again, these details provide the careful reader with clues that more is intended than simply an elaboration on the Biblical Joseph story.

23 High noon is when the Sun god, Helios, is at his highest.

24 Potiphar, the pagan priest, is here blessing the God of Israel on account of my lord Joseph.

25 It seems Joseph/Jesus is willing to eat food prepared by a non-Jew. This is very significant in terms of Jesus’ stance toward the dietary laws.

26 This can also be translated as “the mighty one of God.” In any event, compare this to Jesus described as “the Holy one of God” in Mark 1:24.

27 This description foreshadows the marriage. Also, it clearly involves the garments of a priestess, and the “bridal veil” corresponds to Gnosticism generally and to Valentinian Gnosticism in particular.

28 Very quickly the theme of marriage is introduced. First, Aseneth gets dressed as if for a wedding. Then the text uses terminology that no commentary on the Hebrew Bible would use—“Bride of God.” This term would be repugnant to Jewish thought. God is one in the Hebrew tradition—he has no spouse, no female counterpart—as the Shema—the central tenet of Judaism—says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

But our text is moving away from Judaism. Here, Mary the Magdalene is front and center and we are already told a lot about her: she is a Gentile, beautiful, a virgin, a priestess, the daughter of a priest, and she’s about to become the Bride of God incarnate.

29 Notice what is said about Joseph. Clearly he is a stand-in for Jesus. He is called a “Man of God,” a “Savior” who “bestows life,” who is great in wisdom and in him the “Holy Spirit” resides. He is to be her bridegroom for time eternal. Aseneth, who clearly has a mind of her own, does not yet see the true identity of Joseph. As in Valentinian Gnosticism she—at first—rejects the aeon, or god, chosen for her. Also, in the gospels, Jesus refers to himself as the “bridegroom” in order to defend his disciples from the charge that they are disregarding Mosaic Law, by not fasting on a fast day: “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?” (Luke 5:34; see also Mark 2:19 and Matthew 9:15).

30 At this point, later Greek manuscripts have a very different description of events. Instead of Aseneth falling on her face in reverence, the sentence reads: “plenty of red sweat poured over her face” (C. Burchard, translation in James H. Charlesworth, op. cit., 207). This heightens the connection with Jesus, for in Luke 22:44, Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, before his arrest and trial, prays so intensely that “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” Here, Aseneth—like Jesus in the Gospels—sweats blood at the news that she is to become Joseph’s (Jesus’) bride. We are indebted to David Mirsch, who comments on this linkage in his book The Open Tomb: Why and How Jesus Faked His Death and Resurrection (Booklocker, 2011), 192.

31 So far Jesus has been called Savior, Man of God, etc., but not shepherd or the son of a shepherd. And yet the earliest depictions of Jesus are not on a cross but as the Good Shepherd with a sheep across his shoulders. The image is borrowed from the Phrygian (modern-day Turkey) Attis; the shepherd who fell in love with Cybele, a goddess. Attis’ marriage to Cybele ended in tragedy as Attis was emasculated at the wedding feast. And yet, after he dies, he is resurrected. Early Christian commentators called Attis worship a “devilish counterfeit” of Jesus, designed by Satan to confound Christian believers. See Maria Grazia Lancallotti, Attis: Between Myth and History: King, Priest and God (Brill, 2002), 142. Clearly, Jesus was associated with Attis in both Orthodox Christianity and here. This may also be a reference to a biological father, the Sidonian Pantera, mentioned in the Talmud and by Celsus (see discussion in chapter 12).

32 The suggestion is that Mary the Magdalene had an initial interest in Germanicus. The attraction was not one-way.

33 Aseneth is in the Migdal, in her bedroom, the inner sanctum, facing east in the direction of the rising sun.

34 Later Greek manuscripts say that there were four horses, but the Syriac here lacks that numerical detail. Later, four horses are specified when the angel, i.e., the Joseph look-alike, rides his chariot to heaven (17:6). In any event, the image is clearly Helios as depicted in numerous temples and mithraeums. After a time, this depiction becomes associated with Jesus and no one else.

35 The twelve stones clearly reflect the twelve tribes of Israel. It would make no sense for the Biblical Joseph to wear these stones in his crown, since the tribes had not yet been established during his tenure in Egypt. At that stage, Joseph was part of a family that had not yet grown into a tribal confederation. In contrast, the Messiah is prophesied to lead the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 37:16). In other words, the description of Joseph does not fit the Biblical Joseph but the messianic claimant, Jesus of Nazareth (see Revelation 7:7–9 where the “lamb,” i.e., Jesus, is at the head of the twelve tribes of Israel who have “seals” on them). For the same reason that the author of Joseph and Aseneth places twelve stones and twelve seals in the crown of Joseph, Jesus surrounds himself with twelve disciples, i.e., each representing a tribe of Israel.

36 Joseph enters Potiphar’s estate from the east, from the direction of the sun. Notice how he is described—he wears a garment of white and purple; light rays emanate from his crown; he holds a scepter in one hand and an olive branch rich in olives in the other. These important symbols—his garments, light rays, scepter, olive branch—details not found at all in the Biblical account—help us understand who Joseph really represents: he is both god and ruler.

In the Jewish tradition, there is only one prophecy related to the coming of the Messiah in the Torah. It appears in Numbers 24:17: “. . . there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel. . . .” Here Joseph is holding the scepter identifying himself as messiah.

37 Having “foreign counselors” is consistent with Mary the Magdalene’s status as a princess and a priestess of Artemis. There’s nothing to suggest that the Aseneth of Genesis had foreign counselors.

38 Again, notice the terminology. It can’t get more explicit. Joseph is described here as “the Son of God.”

39 Here Aseneth is suggesting that Joseph is more than human. He surpasses human beings. “Son of” phraseology simply denotes that what is being talked about is of the same kind as what follows, i.e., Sons of the earth is a Semitic expression that simply means humans, just as Son of man means a human being; Sons of Israel denotes Israelites; and Son of God signifies a divine being.

40 The implication here is that Joseph is so extraordinary that his birth had to have been something special, not the usual kind of human birth but, rather, one that would befit a divine being. Clearly, by the time of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in the late 1st century C.E. there were discussions as to the manner of Jesus’ birth. They are the first writings to contain a virginal conception and virgin birth narrative, something not mentioned by either Paul or Mark earlier. This holy “womb” discussion places the text just prior to the virgin-birth narrative.

41 Here is another Son of God reference. Joseph is described as all-seeing, as omniscient as God. “How can I hide?” Aseneth asks. She has now discerned that Joseph is no ordinary human being, not merely the son of a Canaanite—something the astute reader of this text would now begin to appreciate through the language and symbolism associated with Joseph. Every place is uncovered and spread out visibly before him, she says. The two main characters described here clearly represent surrogates for two other individuals. By this point, the reader has grasped who they really are and the significance of the wedding that is likely to transpire.

42 She now turns her back on her gods and addresses the “Lord God of Joseph” for the first time.

43 For the first time, she now wants to be his “wife.”

44 Joseph now seems to be observing the Jewish dietary laws, a strange detail since the Biblical Joseph predated the giving of Torah to Moses some centuries later. In the Book of Genesis, it’s the Egyptians who won’t eat with the Hebrews. This provides strong evidence both for the view that this narrative is not about the Biblical Joseph and also for how the community around this document understood Jesus and his Torah-observance. Unlike Paul, who rejected Torah observance (see Galatians 3), this group, like those clustered around the Gospel of Matthew and Jesus’ first followers under James in Jerusalem, seems to be ambivalent toward kosher laws. On the one hand, the food is prepared in an un-kosher kitchen; on the other hand, he is separating himself during the meal. This ambivalence parallels the ambiguity in the Gospels with respect to Jesus’ commitment to Jewish dietary laws.

45 The woman-in-the-window-motif is a Phoenician priestess/Canaanite motif having to do with Ba’al. See discussion in chapter 9.

46 Again, it is clear that Mary the Magdalene is a “foreign woman” and that, once the obstacles are overcome, “sexual intercourse” is the desired result.

47 Here Potiphar calls Aseneth Joseph’s “sister”; in 4:9 above he calls her Joseph’s “wife.” This is consistent with early Christianity, specifically the Valentinians. One of the earliest Christian funeral poems discovered in Rome, “the Flavia Sophe” inscription, records a husband referring to his wife as “sister, spouse, my Sophe anointed in the baths of Christ.” It seems this Sophe was baptized by having “entered the bridal chamber.” She then died, but her husband believed that on some level she continued to live: “She perished and she lives, she sees truly incorruptible light. She lives to those who are alive.” The inscription was discovered on mile three on the Via Latina, probably within a mile or so of the earliest Christian inscription discussed above. See Gregory Snyder, op. cit., 173–174. See also Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus (Fortress Press, 2003), 308. The “sister” description here is consistent with Gnostic texts where a love partner is called a “brother” or “sister,” i.e., where sex has risen above lust.

48 Notice how Aseneth is described. Not only is she eighteen years old and the daughter of a prominent priest, she is also a virgin, someone who has been sheltered by her parents from male contact, nothing less than a Bride-to-be of God and, moreover, she is said to be holy (a word missing from later Greek manuscripts). Joseph embraces her as a “kinswoman,” someone, as we find out in the next chapter, who will become worthy of intimacy, who is his kin and who worships the living God. Again, there is nothing like this in the Biblical account, where Joseph is clearly an Israelite and Aseneth an Egyptian. Here Joseph has been described in supernatural terms and Aseneth has been singled out as holy—both are fit for each other and both are more than human.

49 The mystai, i.e., the initiates of Dionysus—a dying and resurrecting son of god born on December 25—celebrated their mysteries, which involved sexual acts, as “brothers and sisters in spirit.” (Marvin W. Meyer, op cit., 9.)

50 Here, Joseph/Jesus is called both a “virgin” and a “brother” and, lest we forget, “blessed one of God Most High.”

51 In his letter to the Romans, Paul calls Christians “brothers” and encourages them to “greet one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16).

52 This is Gnostic sex at its most characteristic. On the one hand, Joseph/Jesus pushes Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene away. On the other hand, he does so in a highly erotic way by placing his hand “between her two young breasts.” The rabbis describe the same scene in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yebamot 2:4). While the Gnostics celebrated this kind of push-pull sexuality, the rabbis condemned it. They compare Jesus to a certain “Gehazi,” the prophet Elisha’s corrupt servant (2 Kings 5:27). They also describe Gehazi’s unsuccessful attempt to resurrect a woman’s dead child. Again, this seems to be a critique of Jesus. According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 90a, 107b), like Jesus, Gehazi forfeited his place in the world to come. (See Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud [Princeton University Press, 2009], 34.) Since the rabbis are describing a scene straight out of Joseph and Aseneth, they must have been aware of this text as early as the 4th century, i.e., some two hundred years before our Joseph and Aseneth manuscript was written.

53 Again, note the descriptors of Joseph—he is a person who eats the bread of life, drinks the cup of immortality, and is anointed with the oil of holiness. Aseneth is taken aback because she is not ready yet for intimacy with such a person. She must undergo a divine transformation. See also Lawrence M. Wills who translates the cup of immortality as the cup of resurrection. (Lawrence M. Wills, Ancient Jewish Novels, 130.)

54 Notice that when he rejects her he contrasts her to tribe, family, and kin. Meaning, she’s not of the tribe.

55 This connects Aseneth with Mary the Magdalene and the weeping-woman imagery. She is such a crier that you literally can’t see her eyes.

56 Note the emphasis on “mystery.” Also note that at the time there were several religions called mystery religions that involved secret initiations, rituals, and beliefs. They were especially prevalent in the Roman army.

57 In the Greek text, this line appears at 8:14. There, Joseph blesses Aseneth and calls her “she whom you chose before she was conceived” (emphasis added). Commenting on this line, Kraemer states, “the notion that Aseneth was chosen by God before her birth clearly puts her into an elite class that includes only male figures . . .” (Kraemer, op. cit., 25). These figures include prophets such as Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaac, and Samson. Once again it’s clear that the text cannot be referring to a minor Biblical character such as Aseneth. Clearly, the text is referring to a “daughter of God,” a “Bride of God”—an exceptional woman who was chosen in the womb in the way that male prophets such as Isaiah were chosen. Aseneth had no followers. Mary the Magdalene obviously did. Compare John 17:5 where Jesus says, “And now, O Father, glorify me with your own self, with the glory which I had with you before the world was” (emphasis added).

58 In this moving prayer, Joseph asks God to transform Aseneth; teach her, prepare her to receive the eternal bread of life and drink from the cup of immortality, to be counted as part of God’s people and to receive eternal life. She is to be fashioned by God into one with whom he can share intimacy. And then she will live forever.

59 The Tower, that is, the Migdal or the Magdalene, is the central image of Aseneth in the story and it is often directly connected to the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, that is, her tower bedroom.

60 In all sol-related—that is, sun-related—religions and cults, evening represents the victory of dark over light, while dawn represents Sol Invictus, the all-conquering sun, the victorious sun, the resurrected sun. The sun is always represented as riding on his horse-drawn chariot, often with rays protruding from his crown. Sunday is the day of the “sun.” In Judaism, it is the sixth day, the Sabbath that is celebrated as a holy day—the day on which God ceased from His creation. Here, paradoxically, a Torah reason is given for the shift from a Jewish to a pagan day of worship. Joseph/Jesus is portrayed as a Sun god. He leaves on a Sunday and he returns on a Sunday, but the reason he gives for all this is Judaic: “. . . because it is the first day in which God created everything. . . .” The text is literally written at the syncretistic moment when Judeo-Christianity is born.

61 Aseneth—Mary the Magdalene—is constantly associated with weeping, tower, bedroom, virginity, seven attending virgins, and now—as the drama progresses—with nightfall.

62 “Fear and trembling,” which is also the title of Sören Kierkegaard’s famous work of philosophy, came from Philippians 2:12. It is the hallmark of the Gentile God-fearers who have come to worship the God of the Torah without converting to Judaism.

63 The mill is an image not found in later Greek manuscripts, which refer to a structure near the gate, perhaps a gatehouse. There seems to be a reference here to the story of Ruth, a Moabite (and a princess, according to Jewish tradition) who rejected her gods and began to worship the God of Israel. According to the story, Ruth went to the threshing floor where grain was milled (Ruth 3). There, she met Boaz and, through him, helped establish the messianic line, her son (Obed) being the grandfather of King David. The suggestion may be that Aseneth is, like Ruth, an outsider who is essential to the messianic lineage.

64 Curtain imagery is very important in Christianity, especially early Christianity. Recall that in the canonical Gospels it is written that when Jesus was crucified, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). The curtain separated the people from the Holy of Holies. Taking it down and putting ashes on it is, essentially, an act of mourning for a religious phase that has passed. This may be a literary foreshadowing of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple predicted by Jesus (Mark 13:1–4). Meaning, the text may have been written after the destruction, but describing events that took place before it. These actions, i.e., taking the curtain down and throwing ashes on it, inaugurate a new stage in the spiritual life of the early Christians.

65 By bolting the door, she alerts the reader that any man who ends up in her bed—who succeeds in entering the bolted room—must be otherworldly. An echo of Jesus’ wall-passing prowess can be heard in John 20:26, where he shows himself to his disciples inside a bolted room after the crucifixion.

66 My lady or my mistress (in English) is Mara in the Syriac original, the female equivalent of my lord or my master. In this connection, it is interesting to note that in the so-called Jesus Family Tomb in Talpiot, Jerusalem, an ossuary was discovered (#80/500) which has inscribed on it, in Greek, “Mariamne [i.e., Mary] also known as Mara.” See The Jesus Family Tomb, 76, 102, and the photograph of the ossuary here. If Mariamne is to be identified with Mary the Magdalene, as the Acts of Philip explicitly does, then Mary the Magdalene was called Lord/Master, i.e., Lady/Mistress. See The Jesus Family Tomb, chapter 6. It is significant that this is the only time in the text that she is addressed by her attendants, i.e., followers, and they call her “Mara,” as on the ossuary. This represents quite a coincidence for those who would want to argue against the identification of the “Mara” in the tomb and the “Mara” in this text with Mary the Magdalene.

Also, there is a 5th-century Christian codex preserving “dormition” traditions, i.e., traditions that involve the death of the Virgin Mary, that uses the term Mara, i.e., the lady to describe Mary. As in Joseph and Aseneth, Jesus is represented as a Great Angel. As in Joseph and Aseneth, he is talking to someone called My Lady Mary. In this tradition the Mara is identified with Jesus’ mother, instead of his wife. By this point in the evolution of Christianity, the substitution is complete. See Stephen J. Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions, op. cit., 194.

Artemis too was called “lady.” Homer referred to her as Potniatheron, i.e., “lady” or “mistress.” See Homer, The Iliad, XXI.470.

67 It is significant that the seven priestesses want to be part of this process—“open the door to us so we might come in and see”—but Aseneth keeps the door closed. Somehow these seven would obstruct the transformation. Again, this seems strangely consistent with the seven “daemons” that Jesus reportedly drove out from Mary the Magdalene.

68 In the Latin tradition, Mary of Bethany is identified with Mary the Magdalene. She’s also identified with a woman in John 11:1–2 whose brother Lazarus dies and is raised by Jesus. Interestingly (another synchronicity), in our text too, Mary the Magdalene’s brother dies. Here he is not raised from the dead. In Secret Mark, Jesus spends the night with Lazarus teaching him “the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Smith, op. cit., 15–16). In Joseph and Aseneth, Jesus takes the dead boy’s sister for a wife.

69 Again, the door is closed securely. She must go through a process of mourning alone, prior to becoming the Bride of God.

70 She is setting aside her theologically based virginity. She is literally sacrificing it on the altar of her new god. Significantly, she does not set it aside for the God of Israel until, as the text says, she meets the “Son of God.” With respect to her virginity, Kraemer hints at possible allusions to Mary (op. cit., 296), but she does not say which Mary. Clearly, it cannot be the mom, given that later the text explicitly has Aseneth having intercourse with Joseph (21:10). Is Kraemer hinting at Mary the Magdalene?

71 Throwing the idols and all the equipment connected with idolatrous worship to the dogs is a clear reference to Jezebel. Jezebel, like Mary the Magdalene, is a Phoenician queen. She was married to Ahab, a King of Israel. Jezebel and her husband encouraged idol worship. In that story, he followed her in her idolatrous ways. Eventually, Hebrew monotheists threw her out the window of her tower to the dogs below. The story ends with the dogs consuming her (2 Kings 9:36). In the Book of Revelation, Jezebel is the personification of the church in Thyatira which engaged in fornication (often a metaphor for apostasy) and which permitted the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:19–29). At the Jerusalem Council, James banned the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29). Paul, however, permitted his followers to consume such food (1 Corinthians 8:1–13). Perhaps all this is alluded to here.

In our text, Aseneth explicitly puts away pagan practices. She is the anti-Jezebel. In 2 Kings, Jezebel is thrown out the window to the dogs; here it is the idols that go out the tower window to the dogs. In 2 Kings, Jezebel led a king of Israel into apostasy. Here, a king of the Jews leads Mary the Magdalene into monotheism.

72 This prayer takes us into Aseneth’s/Mary the Magdalene’s innermost thoughts as she sums up her situation and rejects the gods of idolatry. At first she does not have the courage to call upon the Lord Most High. But remembering that he is a forgiving, merciful God, she summons her strength and finally in verse 17 she “invokes the Holy Name of God the merciful.” The metaphors are many. For example, the dogs barking remind the reader of the day after the Biblical Exodus, since the Torah tells us that no dogs barked during the Exodus (Exodus 11:7). Furthermore, the praying on one’s knees establishes Christian worship in that position very early on, as is also evidenced in the kneeling altar in front of a cross found in Herculaneum, dated by its destruction in the eruption of Vesuvius no later than 79 C.E.

73 It’s interesting that Aseneth knows she risks parental rejection because of her abandonment of her deities; hence she is not only a virgin but also a possible orphan.

74 Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene is quoting an initial rejection by her parents that is not depicted here.

75 This may refer to Germanicus who seemed to covet her and to whose advances she was initially open. It may be that Germanicus became aware of Jesus only after Mary the Magdalene turned her attention to him.

76 This is reminiscent of the description of the attributes of God outlined in Exodus 34:6,7—“Lord, Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

77 God is her refuge and she is the “refuge” to the nations.

78 As in the Gospels, the message is initially directed to the outcasts: “orphans . . . weak . . . poor.”

79 This follows the Greek text. In the Syriac, sacrifices is singular and the blessings of the gods are called emptiness.

80 God is not only a forgiver, but also a healer.

81 Here Aseneth prays out loud. She asks for forgiveness for not knowing the true God and for thinking poorly of Joseph, not realizing that he was “God’s son.” She asks for protection from vengeful Egyptian deities. She thinks of God as a father who lovingly embraces his children. She concludes by beseeching God to grant her eternal life. There are no such prayers of Aseneth in the Biblical account.

82 The emphasis is on the hidden.

83 Cf. John 1:1 (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being.”). See also Genesis 1, where God speaks and what he says is brought into being.

84 According to the Exegesis on the Soul, another Nag Hammadi Gnostic document, the soul prostitutes herself with many lovers, experiences remorse, and “weeps before the Father.” At this point she repents and “is immediately cleansed of the external pollution which was pressed upon it . . . that is her baptism.” Having been so cleansed, she yearns for her true love: “from heaven the Father sent her [a] man who is her brother, the firstborn. Then the bridegroom came to the bride . . . she cleansed herself in the bridal chamber . . . she sat in waiting for the true bridegroom . . . but then the bridegroom, according to the Father’s will, came down into her bridal chamber, which was prepared.” (Exegesis on the Soul 131.27–132.26, quoted in Gregory Snyder, “A Second-Century Christian Inscription from the Via Latina,” Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 19, Number 2 [Summer 2011]: 182–183.) Clearly, this is a perfect parallel to Aseneth’s weeping, repentance, and preparation for her marriage with the heavenly “bridegroom.”

85 Luke describes Mary the Magdalene as a person “from whom seven demons had gone out” (Luke 8:2). Perhaps this represents an oblique reference to her putting away her worship of foreign gods and goddesses. For this she is forgiven—and healed—by God.

86 Again, notice the descriptions of Aseneth: virgin, queen, proud, prosperous. She is a wealthy, royal figure. Mary the Magdalene, too, was wealthy. She, along with several other women (the former daemons?) underwrote the mission of Jesus and his followers (the twelve disciples; the seventy ambassadors; and others) over a three-year period—not an inconsiderable sum (Luke 8:2,3).

87 A veiled reference to enemies; Germanicus’ allies? Her former Canaanite/Phoenician followers?

88 In Gnosticism, the enhanced female is “like a man” (spiritually that is). Here, the daughter is compared to “the boy,” i.e., to a son.

89 Who is this “old lion,” the one who represents “the father of the gods?” There are several possibilities. One possibility is that the lion is Satan. The devil—or adversary—is described in 1 Peter 5:8 as a roaring lion who roams the earth, seeking someone to devour. In this case, the lion represents the spiritual force of deception, the one who stands behind false religion. It is so used in Revelation 2:9–11 describing “the synagogue of Satan”—specifically citing those groups who say that they are Jews and are not. Note, however, that Satan is not described as an “old” lion.

Another possibility is that this phrase refers to an historical figure, an aging ruler or emperor. Given the references to “persecutors” above, it is unlikely that these are metaphors. They seem to be a cabal of people surrounding Germanicus. If that is the case, the “old lion” represents the Emperor Tiberius, under whose reign Jesus and Mary the Magdalene lived. As emperor, Tiberius represented the head of the Imperial Cult. He was literally “the father of the gods” of Rome, the sponsor of pagan religion in the empire. Also, Tiberius’ nickname was the lion. When he died, it was said that “the lion is dead” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 18, section 10).

90 Had Tiberius snatched and corrupted her before? Is that how Germanicus knew of her?

91 The Hebrew term for what Christians would later call “hell,” that is, the netherworld.

92 This is significant. The Book of Jonah states that Jonah was swallowed by “a large fish” (Jonah 1:17), usually identified with a whale. In the Gospels, Jesus talks of the “Sign of Jonah”—“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Early Christians in the catacombs of Rome depicted Jesus’ resurrection as Jonah emerging alive from the belly of a dragon, not a fish. In other words, here Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene is making an explicit early Christian analogy stating that if the lord rejects her, she will lose life-everlasting and the primordial “dragon” will swallow her “forever.”

93 In the Book of Genesis, Aseneth’s parents do not abandon her. Or, at least, no mention is made of such a thing. In Joseph and Aseneth, there is no mention of Aseneth being “abandoned” by her parents. Quite the contrary, they are very supportive. Here we seem to have a biographical insight into the reaction of Mary the Magdalene’s Phoenician parents when she abandoned her deities and followed Jesus.

94 Again, a hint that we are talking about someone—unlike the Biblical Aseneth—who is of royalty.

95 Once again, the Gnostic theme of sacrificed virginity in the bridal chamber.

96 She’s given up eating animals sacrificed to idols, as per James’ instruction in Acts 21:25.

97 Clearly this is a significant but ambiguous statement. Smelling like a tomb is an appropriate metaphor in 1st-century Jerusalem because that’s when secondary burial—the type described in the canonical Gospels involving the burial of Jesus—i.e., washing, shrouding, laying out in a tomb (rather than in the ground)—was in vogue in the city. This practice involved placing bodies in burial caves and reinterring them after the flesh had decomposed. Mary the Magdalene is the first to report the missing body of Jesus when she goes to the tomb he was buried in. People practicing this type of “secondary burial” would enter these tombs, where there were shrouded cadavers in various stages of decomposition. “My mouth smelled like a tomb,” therefore, is a very strong attack on her previous words and beliefs. It also shows her familiarity with secondary burial, a practice limited to Jerusalem and the Galilee between 30 B.C.E. and 70 C.E., when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. This, too, speaks to an early date for our manuscript.

98 As this passage makes very clear, she now recognizes that Joseph/Jesus is God’s “son,” not the son of a shepherd from Canaan. Along with her personal transformation, Aseneth has undergone a process of insight—what Gnostic Christians called gnosis. The reference to Joseph/Jesus as the son of a Canaanite is also very significant.

99 A reference to Jesus’ divine origin.

100 Pages corresponding to chapters 13:12 to 16:3 are missing from the Syriac manuscript. This section has been translated from later Greek manuscripts.

101 Echo of the famous Gospel scene where an unnamed woman, usually identified with Mary the Magdalene, washes Jesus’ feet and then dries them with her hair.

102 While Aseneth has turned away from the worship of pagan deities and embraced the worship of the one true God, she has not converted to any religion, e.g., to Judaism or, for that matter, to Christianity. There is no undertaking of Torah observance (Judaism) nor is there a Baptism (Christianity). Aseneth is like the God-fearers, a Gentile who worships God but who does not assume the obligations of Torah.

103 Likely a reference to the “Star prophecy” in Numbers—“a star shall come out of Jacob . . .” (Numbers 24:17), an event that heralds the advent or arrival of the Messiah. The star of Bethlehem narrative is based on this prophecy, i.e., according to the gospel of Matthew (2:9), a star heralded the birth of Jesus. In Matthew, the star is seen “in the east”; here too it is referred to as a “morning star,” i.e., it is seen in the east. This goes together with the references to the scepter that Joseph is carrying when he first appears on the scene (5:6), to the scepter that the angelic version of Joseph carries (14:8 and 16:27), and to the scepter that Aseneth takes in her hand prior to marrying Joseph. Altogether, they are meant to fulfill the prophecy of Numbers 24:17. See especially 18:8 where Mary the Magdalene is holding the scepter, i.e., she is a partner in messiahship.

104 The “heaven was torn apart” line that is here associated with Aseneth (Mary the Magdalene), seems to be echoing the same kind of event in the canonical Gospels. There it is associated with Jesus’ transformation when he is baptized by his cousin, John the Baptizer: “And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heaven torn apart . . .” (Mark 1:9). After the “heaven was torn apart,” both Jesus and Mary the Magdalene are ready to assume their metaphysical duties.

105 Compare this to Jesus’ appearances in the form of an angel to the Virgin Mary in the Gnostic texts, e.g., “One day sometime after the Savior’s ascension, a Great Angel, the Great Cherub of Light, appears to Mary and hands her a book of ‘mysteries,’ containing all the secrets of creation . . . the Great Angel discloses that he is in fact the Savior himself.” (Stephen J. Shoemaker, op. cit., in Jones, 5.) Shoemaker’s description is a summary from the Liber Requiei, an early account of Mary’s departure from this world. Originally, before she was replaced by Jesus’ mother, this idea might have referred to Mary the Magdalene.

Compare also with the Enoch tradition that gives rise to apocalyptic movements such as the Jesus movement. In the so-called Similitudes or Parables of Enoch (1 En. 37–71), dated by most scholars to the late 1st century B.C.E. or even to early 1st century C.E. Judaea, i.e., the time of Jesus’ “ministry,” Enoch has a vision of a Son of Man or Elect One whose “face was full of graciousness, like one of the angels.” The language in Joseph and Aseneth can be easily described as Enochite. This is one more indication that we are looking at one of the earliest—if not the earliest—gospels, one that still preserves its Enochite, pre-Gnostic origins.

106 Again, the emphasis is on shut or bolted rooms, as evidence that the man she is about to have sex with is the heavenly avatar of Joseph/Jesus. This man, like Jesus (John 20:19 and 20:26), is able to pass through locked doors.

107 Aseneth (Mary the Magdalene) is addressed like a prophet, most notably Abraham, i.e., the call of her name and her response. See Genesis 22:1 for a comparison.

108 This angel looks like Joseph (Jesus) in “every respect.” Historically speaking, let’s not forget that one of Jesus’ disciples was called Thomas, in Hebrew the twin. According to Islam, it was this man who looked like Jesus in every respect who was crucified instead of Jesus (Qur’an 4:157). Whoever Mary the Magdalene sees, the fact that she believes that he is an angelic version of Jesus is consistent with what we know of Jesus’ followers at the time. The pagan writer Celsus states that Jesus was ranked by his followers among the angels. (See Morton Smith, op. cit., 60 and 66.) Also, this was not unique to Jesus. The angelification of Enoch is reported in Jewish works of about Jesus’ time. In the pagan world, too, some began to regard their gods not as deities but as “angels” (ibid., 121). Interestingly, in the name of God, Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene gives up her pagan gods by throwing them out her tower’s window. Almost immediately, through the same window, the man from heaven appears. In other words, this former pagan priestess can only really relate to an invisible God via an all-too-visible man. What we see here is what Smith calls, in reference to the earliest layer of gospel material, a “combination of theoretical monotheism with practical polytheism” (op. cit., 126).

109 The heavenly man is a Joseph look-alike in terms of his clothing, crown, and royal scepter, but his face, eyes, hair, hands, and feet are resplendent in light. These are Messianic terms. The Star and Scepter prophecy in Numbers (24:17) references a scepter, right after the star—“a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”

110 After the Virgin Mary takes the place of Mary the Magdalene in the Christian tradition, this exact scene finds its way into the earliest Greek Dormition narrative by St. John the Theologian. In this text, as the Virgin Mary was about to die, she went “into her secret, inner room.” Here, she “undressed, she took water and washed and she put on different garments while blessing.” Clearly, this is not a woman who is preparing herself for death. Clearly, this is a perfect parallel to the above scene in Joseph and Aseneth. In the narrative of St. John the Theologian, after Mary washes and puts on her finery, she says to an “angel” who “became as light” and “ascended into the heavens,” “I bless you because you gave me a measure of virility for the parts of your body, and [because] I had been found worthy of the kiss of your bridal chamber” (Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions, op. cit., 356–357). Unless the Virgin was having sex with the angelic aspect of her son, this is referring to Mary the Magdalene speaking in Valentinian language to her bridegroom Jesus.

111 Literally, chests of her adornment. Interestingly, though she seems to be going into a different room, she doesn’t seem to be hiding from the heavenly man as she undresses and dresses.

112 Aseneth has now shed her old self, symbolized by her old clothing, and adorned herself with a new dress, symbolic of her new life. Being re-clothed is a common image in the latter chapters of the book of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, indicating the transformation of the people of Israel, e.g., “for he [God] has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). It is also prevalent in Gnostic Christianity as a symbol for personal transformation—new clothing represents “the garments of life,” as the Dialogue of the Savior puts it (19:11). Aseneth has repented and confessed her sins and is now ready for the next step: marriage. But here we encounter a surprise. As we are about to see in chapter 16, there is a heavenly marriage prior to the earthly one. And, being born again, so to speak, Aseneth is renamed “City of Refuge.”

113 Notice that she is not afraid of him. After she made herself beautiful, she “came near to the (heavenly) man.”

114 Removal of the veil implies both intimacy and marriage.

115 This line—“Like that of a young man”—is very revealing. Women becoming like men—that is, fully human—represents a common theme in Gnostic Christianity. In The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, for instance, Mary says to the grieving disciples that Jesus has prepared them all for their mission, i.e., to go among nonbelievers so as to announce the Gospel of the Kingdom. She adds that Jesus turned them all into men, that is, that Jesus has made all of them fully human. In fact, as chief of the apostles, Mary the Magdalene has herself become fully human and is no longer singularly gendered. In The Gospel of Thomas (saying 114), for example, Jesus responds to Peter, who was critical of Mary the Magdalene, saying, “I shall guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male, will enter Heaven’s Kingdom.”

116 Here, Kraemer points out the differences between the short and long Greek versions of the text. Sometimes these are subtle but quite significant. In the short version, Aseneth is described as a “holy virgin” at this point. This is absent in the Syriac text. It seems that the redactor of the Greek version knows that Aseneth is a stand-in for Mary the Magdalene and ascribes to her, not to the mother, the title of holy virgin. (See Kraemer, op. cit., 60.)

117 By stating that Aseneth’s (Mary the Magdalene’s) name is written in the Book of Life, a comparison is being made between Mary the Magdalene and God, whose name is unutterable. It seems that it was precisely this elevation of humans to divinity status—by using divine names to refer to humans—that upset the Jews of Judaea during the activism of Jesus and Mary the Magdalene. It seems that not only did Jesus heal in his own and/or God’s name, but that others healed by substituting Jesus’ name for God’s name (see Mark 9:38). Clearly, the people were not upset with the healing; they were scandalized by references to the Name.

118 This is reminiscent of the Apocalypse of Zephaniah which most probably dates to the end of the 1st century C.E. Like Joseph and Aseneth, it is a syncretic Jewish/Christian work. In it, in the afterlife, “a great angel” announces to Zephaniah, “you will now cross over the crossing place. For your name is written in the Book of the Living” (9:2). Quoted in Peter Schafer, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism (Princeton University Press, 2009), 102. Also, in the famous War Scroll from Qumran, the holy ones “are listed with God and his angels in the Book of Life” (Schafer, ibid., 120. See 1QM, XII, 1–5).

119 The Apocalypse of Peter, a Gnostic work, refers to “those companions” who achieve redemption by means of “the wedding of incorruptibility” (Apocalypse of Peter, 79.3–7). Also, this is reminiscent of the fact that some opponents of Jesus negatively compared his feeding of four or five thousand to Moses who fed all the Israelites in the wilderness. As a result, John (6:26–58) gave up on numerical superiority: “made the feeding a symbol of the Eucharist, and argued that Jesus was greater because the bread he gave was not corruptible, but was the bread of life, his own body” (Morton Smith, op. cit., 161). All this perfectly mirrors the language above.

It is interesting to note that John the Baptizer sustained himself on a diet of locusts and honey, the latter representing “incorruptibility” and “immortality,” i.e., the two terms employed above. There is a sepulchral inscription that talks about the deceased as being in a “sweet sleep” and “lying in honey,” i.e., honey is associated with incorruptibility. See Jane Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (New York: Meridian Books, 1960), 595. Finally, Kraemer states that the ointment referred to in the text may be “associated with sexuality and marriage” (Ibid., 74).

120 As this “annunciation” to Aseneth makes clear, this is a marriage made in heaven, not an earthly one arranged by her father and the Pharaoh. It is the Lord God who gives Aseneth to Joseph. There is no such episode in the Biblical account of Joseph and Aseneth, but it is clearly consistent with Jesus and Mary the Magdalene. Interestingly, using Joseph and Aseneth as a cipher, we can now see how echoes of this marriage have been preserved in various Christian texts. For example, in the Ethiopic Liber Requiei, the earliest surviving narrative of the Virgin Mary’s death, Peter says to the Virgin, as she lies on her deathbed, “. . . you will enter into marriage and moreover you will enter and rest with the bridegroom.” Clearly, this would be an odd thing to say to Jesus’ mother, i.e., that she’s about to marry her son. What we have here is language that perfectly mirrors the language of Joseph and Aseneth. It is a leftover fragment referring to the wife, not the mother. See Shoemaker, Ancient Traditions, op. cit., 321.

121 Migdals or towers, part of temple precincts, were places of refuge. Here we have a reference that can be understood as an allusion to Mary the Magdalene’s name. In other words, the text literally tells us that once its esoteric meaning is understood, Aseneth “will no longer . . . be called Aseneth,” but Magdala, i.e., City of Refuge. Kraemer also senses that behind this designation is a Jesus-related woman. The “female figure who comes to mind as efficacious intermediary between the heavenly and the divine is Mary, the mother of Jesus” (Kraemer, op. cit., 154). What this text makes clear, however, is that the designation “virgin” and the role of heavenly intermediary originally belonged to the bride, not the mother.

122 She is the refuge of a specific group of people—not Jews, nor Gentiles—they are “the ones attached to God through repentance,” namely, the Gentile God-fearers. More than this, here we have a key name change. Meaning, it is not just us who argue that behind the name “Aseneth” there is another person—the text itself argues this. As part of the renaming of Aseneth, the angel explains that she is now called a “City of Refuge,” whose walls shelter those attached to her through repentance. In a sense, he renames her Repentance. The angel (Jesus) in his aeonic/angelic form, calls “Repentance” the “Daughter of God the Most High.” This passage is key. According to Valentinian Gnosticism, Sophia is an “emanation” (an aeon) or a divine being that brings about the ruptured universe we live in when she breaks off with her partner “the Christ.” If Jesus is “the Christ” and Mary the Magdalene is “Sophia,” the only way, as we have stated, for the universe to be rectified is through their marriage. She must return to her bridal chamber in the immaterial world or Pleroma. She can only do this when she repents her original sin of going it alone without her divine partner. At this point in Aseneth’s (Mary the Magadalene’s) transformation, she is ready to become the Bride of God because she has repented. Through her repentance, the universe will be redeemed. Through her repentance, others will repent. She has literally become Sophia the repentant or Repentance itself. In this way, she has become the mother of all virgins and the daughter of God.

123 If anyone continues to think of the figure described here as the Biblical Aseneth, he/she has to contend with the fact that Aseneth is now elevated to nothing less than the Daughter of God. It couldn’t be any clearer. From the point of view of this gospel and the people who believed in it—the Son of God was wed to the Daughter of God. Mary the Magdalene is here put on a near equal footing—as the moon is to the sun, or Artemis to Apollo—with Jesus.

124 Here it is crystal clear that the original “Mother Mary” or “Virgin Mary” was the wife, not the mother. Mary the Magdalene is here called “the mother of the virgins.” In other words, “mother,” “virgin,” “lady,” “mistress,” i.e., all the designations later applied to Jesus’ mother, are used in this text to describe Jesus’ bride.

125 The major sacrament of Valentinian Gnostic Christianity in the early 2nd century was that of the bridal chamber. According to The Gospel of Philip, redemption takes place in the bridal chamber. The reference to “a heavenly bridal chamber” is very clear.

126 In the short Greek version, after “God the Most High” the word Father is added, i.e., God’s maleness is emphasized, his fatherhood. See Kraemer op. cit., 61. Insertions such as this provide us with a glimpse into the precise moments when texts that emphasized Mary the Magdalene morph into male-oriented narratives.

127 The text is explicit that she is about to become a bride. But before consummating the earthly marriage, like the Gnostics, she consummates the heavenly one. Namely, Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene invites the heavenly Joseph/Jesus to “sit a little upon the bed.” This is the same bed that no man had ever touched.

128 See “the magical papyri anticipate that the god will come to the magician’s house and share his table and even his bed” (Morton Smith, op. cit., 124, emphasis added). The “magician” in this case visits the house of his bride-to-be. The emphasis on the “table” involves both magic and sacrifice. The table is a kind of altar.

129 Notice that she puts before the angel the two foods that Jesus will comment on during the Last Supper: bread and wine. The angel, however, takes the matter a step further; he introduces the honeycomb.

130 Setting the table with bread and wine represents the beginning of the Communion-like ceremony in the heavenly bridal chamber in which Aseneth partakes of the food of eternal life. The taking of bread and wine and placing them on a table along with the subsequent actions—giving thanks (the blessing over Aseneth), breaking (the honeycomb), and eating (the honeycomb)—mirror the central actions of the Christian Eucharist (Mass, Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion). There is no such incident involving a heavenly Joseph look-alike or a heavenly Communion rite in the Biblical account of Joseph and Aseneth. It is, once again, clear that it’s Jesus and Mary the Magdalene that we are speaking of here.

Also, in the early church, the Sacrament of Baptism was immediately followed by Communion. This custom is still observed today among the Christian Copts of Egypt. During those early Communions, the “newborn in Christ” drank a mixture of milk and honey. See Jones, op. cit., 67. See also Harrison, op. cit., 508–509.

Some magical papyri found in Egypt among a collection of magical texts dating from the 2nd century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. are of Christian origin. They instruct worshippers to “take the honey with the milk [and] drink it before the rising of the sun.” In this way, they will partake of “something that is divine” (Harrison, op. cit., 595). In light of this text, if we identify Joseph with Helios/Jesus, i.e., the rising sun, it makes perfect sense for Aseneth (Mary the Magdalene) to partake of the honey before Joseph’s/Jesus’ return. This way she partakes of the divine, even before his arrival.

131 Magical papyri found in Egypt and stories of magicians from the ancient world speak of daemons making food appear. Meaning, this scene is consistent with magical traditions.

132 Aseneth believes that there is no honeycomb in the tower. Interestingly, there would have been no honey in the Jerusalem Temple. It was forbidden (Leviticus 2:11). Yet, here, the angel allows it. He tells her where to look: not in the pantry, but in her bedroom. And there it is! In other words, the angel is overruling Biblical law. He is taking Aseneth into the inner sanctum of the tower, where the forbidden becomes permissible.

133 The Syriac text now resumes.

134 Notice the use of the sense of smell. Earlier, it was associated with the “smell of the tomb” (13:6). Here, the smell is associated with the “spirit of life.” The intent, it seems, is to contrast a version of Christianity that smells “like the pleasant smell of the spirit of life” and is consecrated in sacred sex, and Pauline Christianity that smells “like a tomb” and celebrates death and resurrection. In any event, what is being contrasted is a form of religiosity that celebrates life and a form that is associated with death.

135 His mouth is contrasted with her mouth cited above.

136 The “inner chamber” corresponds to the Gnostic Holy of Holies, that is, the bridal chamber.

137 Again, what is it that Aseneth has understood? At one point her mouth “smelled like a tomb” (13:6); now the honeycomb smells like the scent of the heavenly man’s mouth, the one who is “the spirit of life” (16:4). Thus, the contrast is between the religion of death represented by Aseneth’s worship of false deities and the religion of life into which she is entering. As stated above, the contrast in early Christianity is also between Gnosticism and Pauline Christianity.

138 The language used here with regard to Aseneth is classic Gnosticism with regard to Mary the Magdalene. In the Dialogue of the Savior, Mary the Magdalene is spoken of as the woman “who fully understood” (20:2), the one whom Jesus himself said has come “to reveal the greatness of the revealer” (24:2). She is the one on whom the other apostles rely for the teachings of Jesus that they had not heard (Gospel of Mary Magdalene 6:2). Implicit in this is the claim that Jesus conveyed to Mary the Magdalene—alone—teachings he did not communicate to other disciples. In other words, he conveyed the secrets encoded in our text.

139 Why honeycomb for this Communion rite? The manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness tasted like honey (Exodus 16:31) and is described as “the bread that the Lord has given you to eat” (Exodus 16:15). Jesus himself is said to be “the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever” (John 6:51). Meaning, Jesus is compared to manna, which in turn is compared to honey. Also, since honey had been used throughout the Middle East to prevent bodies from decaying, it came to be associated with immortality. In the Egyptian context, the body was preserved by the honey, and the soul took the form of a bee (see Allen H. Jones, op. cit., 69–71). On one level, therefore, Communion with Jesus and participation in eternal life is what is conveyed through the symbol of the honeycomb. On another level, if the protrusions from her body are queen cells, then Artemis is the honeycomb. The honeycomb, therefore, is the only symbol that stands for both the bridegroom and the bride, i.e., Jesus and Mary the Magdalene.

According to Luke (24:41) after the resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples, who give him two kinds of food to eat that are laden with symbolism: fish and a honeycomb. This is Luke’s description of a supper after the Last Supper, i.e., after Jesus’ death and resurrection. So here, too, the honeycomb represents immortality. Curiously, “honeycomb” is included in the King James version but omitted in most modern translations. There is no mention of a honeycomb in the Greek version of the New Testament, but the Latin includes it. Clearly, some of the ancient authorities were uncomfortable with this echo of Artemisian theology surviving in the canonical Gospels themselves. In other words, the “fish,” i.e., Jesus, survives the editorial process. The “honeycomb,” i.e., Mary the Magdalene, is made to disappear. See also Jones, op. cit., 111.

140 The bees, honeycomb, the tower, and the City of Refuge all indicate that Aseneth (Mary the Magdalene) is modeled on the goddess Artemis. See chapters above for a full deciphering of these rich symbols.

141 In the Acts of Philip (14.7), the earliest version of which is a 4th-century Gnostic manuscript found in a monastery on Mt. Athos, Mary the Magdalene is explicitly identified. There she is called by one of the Greek versions of her name, Mariamne. When her “brother” Philip wants to cure a man from blindness, he imitates Jesus and uses saliva (Mark 8:22–26). But Philip does not use his own saliva. In a move clearly paralleling our text, he dips his finger into Mariamne’s mouth, extracting her saliva for the healing. This episode was considered too shocking for the readers of the Acts of Philip. In François Bovon’s words, “like the Evangelists Matthew and Luke, who considered Mark’s episode too shocking to accept, a reader has torn away the folio between folios 87 and 88” and the end of the episode has been lost. See F. Bovon, “Mary Magdalene in the Acts of Philip,” in Jones, op. cit., 81.

Kraemer points out that this scene in Joseph and Aseneth is “an inversion of Genesis 2:3. There, of course, a woman eats the fruit of mortality and shares it with her husband. Here a masculine figure (a double of Aseneth’s future husband, Joseph) eats the food of immortality and then gives some to the woman” (Kraemer, op. cit., 65). More than this, the inversion returns sex to its original innocent form. By placing the honey in her mouth while sitting on her bed, the angelic Joseph (a.k.a. the Son of God), the new Adam, reverses the sin of the original Adam and returns man to a state before Eve was seduced by the snake.

Finally, through the erotic union of placing honey in her mouth, both the angel and Aseneth are elevated. There is an echo here of the episode whereby God makes the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:28–3:15) eat a scroll on which God has written all that He wants transmitted to the people of Israel. The scroll is put into Ezekiel’s mouth by a “hand that was sent forth toward me.” By placing the honey in Aseneth’s (Mary the Magdalene’s) mouth, Joseph (Jesus) elevates her to the level of prophecy and himself to the level of divinity.

142 Again, the emphasis is on the idea that this is a religion of life, not one that celebrates death—e.g., certain pagan cults and, as far as the author of this lost gospel is concerned, Pauline Christianity. The scene is highly erotic as he puts honey “in Aseneth’s mouth” while sitting on the bed that up to this point had represented her virginity.

143 In Gnostic fashion, her flesh now becomes spiritualized, instead of her spirit becoming incarnate.

144 Charlesworth points out that in the Odes and in the Songs of Solomon 14, the righteous are described as trees planted in the Garden of Eden. The angel now promises that Aseneth’s bones will one day grow like “cedars of paradise,” i.e., she will achieve immortality. Here we may have an insight into secondary burial, practiced in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, whereby bones were put into ossuaries after the flesh decomposed. Clearly, the ones performing the burial were expecting that the bones of the deceased will one day regenerate as cedars in the Garden of Eden.

145 The language here echoes Jesus’ promise that the messianic era will dawn before his generation dies out: “But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:27).

146 Here, Mary the Magdalene is again being called a holy mother, that is, a mother to all cities, in addition to a virgin—titles later applied to Mary, mother of Jesus.

147 Sacred sex can return the bride to the status of a virgin. Here, the honeycomb, possibly representing her hymen, gets miraculously “replenished . . . as it was before.” For a community that understood beekeeping, the miracle here is not that the honeycomb was “as before,” but that it happened without him touching it. The ability to heal or return to a virginal condition is, as far as we know, unique to bees and honeycombs. Meaning, if a beekeeper puts his finger into a honeycomb so as to partake of the honey, and then returns the honeycomb to the hive, the bees will “heal” the honeycomb, so to speak, and return it to its original state.

148 By moving from east to west (v.18) and from north to south (v.19) across the honeycomb, the heavenly man has made the sign of the cross—in blood—on the Communion honeycomb. There is clearly no parallel within either the Hebrew Bible or within Judaism for this. This is unmistakably Christian symbolism. During the Last Supper Jesus states “this is my body and this . . . my blood.” In the last clause, Mark and Matthew have “my blood of the covenant” (Mark 14:24 and Matthew 26:28). Paul and most manuscripts of Luke have “the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25). Meaning this is an explicit reference to the new covenant of Christianity. Furthermore, what is being changed into blood is the honey that has thus far represented the consummation of Mary the Magdalene’s marriage to the heavenly figure. If the honey is a metaphor for sex, the blood is a metaphor for menstruation—a state of impurity in Judaism. By having Mary the Magdalene eat it, the writer of this gospel is indicating that the Torah laws concerning impurity have been superseded by the heavenly figure, i.e., Jesus. In any event, the cross—in blood—could not be made clearer as a Christian symbol.

The sign of the cross on the honeycomb may also represent a later attempt by some redactor to convert Magdalene symbols into Pauline ones. As we have seen, the honey represents sexuality. In contrast, one of the pillars of Pauline theology is the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ (see James D. Tabor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity, 24). The statement that the “honey was now blood” may reflect a power struggle, i.e., a moment in time when the Church of the Gentiles was shifting from Magdalenism to Paulinism.

149 Gideon Bohak sees the colors of the bees as related to the colors of Jewish priestly garments (Bohak, op. cit., 11–12). He may be right. These colors may be related to Jesus and Mary the Magdalene’s role in establishing a new Jerusalem Temple, or they may be related to Mary the Magdalene’s standing as a priestess in the Temple of Artemis, or both.

150 Here we see Aseneth explicitly depicted as Artemis. If Jesus is Apollo/Helios, then his sister is none other than Apollo’s twin, Artemis. As we discussed above, for their followers, if Jesus was—so to speak—the real Apollo, his consort had to be the real Artemis. That is, if he is a god incarnate she, too, is no ordinary human being, but a goddess; in the words of our text a “daughter of the Lord” (21:3). This explains why the Pauline Christians had to get rid of her. Simply put, she couldn’t simply be a wife in the way, say, the disciples had wives. Once you have a god-man, either he stays celibate or you’re into a pantheon (see the theology of Osiris, for example): God the Father, God the Son, and God the Daughter/sister/wife.

151 In the cultural context of the Mediterranean, bees on lips symbolize wise words. Pausanias tells the story of how the poet Pindar became tired and lay down to rest. Bees swarmed him, plastering his lips with wax. This accounted for Pindar’s career as a poet. Cited in Jones, op. cit., 68.

152 Again, highly erotic and consistent with what the church fathers say about the Gnostics, namely, that they partake of sex including group sex. Notice that they all ate from the honey of “Aseneth’s mouth.”

153 Swarms of bees were associated with prophecy in the pagan world. For example, when the ancient Boeotians from central Greece went to the priestess at Delphi to instruct them, a swarm of bees appeared and one of the Boeotian envoys followed them in order to divine the future. See Jones, op. cit., 78.

154 Here, the Joseph/Jesus look-alike from heaven, holding the messianic scepter, performs a minor miracle of resurrection by raising the dead bees with the words “rise you also.” The good bees, so to speak, fly toward heaven. Those who wished to ignore Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene get a second chance on earth.

Kraemer points out that in the Greek text the raising of the bees employs “the same verb used in Christian texts to designate resurrection from the dead” (Kraemer, op. cit., 67). She also points out that so far “scholars have been singularly unsuccessful in their attempts to decode” this passage (ibid.). In Ephrem, as in Aseneth, bees appear as symbols of the raising of the dead (see Kraemer, op. cit., 70 and Robert Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition [Cambridge University Press, 1975], 292).

155 The raising of one set of bees to heaven and another from the dead is a kind of foreshadowing for what Christians now call the “Rapture” and the resurrection of the dead. “See this?” says the heavenly man; “I see, my Lord” says Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene. At which point he promises “so it will be with all the words I spoke to you today.”

156 Again, the consummation of marriage is a sacrifice accepted by heaven. The heavenly fire is reminiscent of the heavenly fire that consumes Elijah’s offering when confronting the priests of Ba’al (1 Kings 18:36–40). In that story, the Hebrew prophet Elijah confronts Jezebel’s priests. They are defeated when a heavenly fire consumes his offering but not theirs, at which point they are slaughtered. Here it is the anti-Jezebel’s offering that is accepted. Notice the sequence of this most sacred and mysterious rite: first, Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene repents; second, “the secrets of the lord [are] revealed” to her; third, she participates in a secret rite on her bed, in the innermost chamber of her tower/temple, that involves both marriage and resurrection; fourth, the fragrance from this activity “blew throughout” the entire house from the “inner chamber of Aseneth.” What we have here is the long-lost theology of the original Gnostic followers of the holy dyad, the aeons, Jesus and Mary the Magdalene. This is nothing less than their Kabbalah.

157 The seven pagan demons are now transformed into seven pillars of the New Church.

158 He rises heavenward like Helios or, in the Jewish tradition, like Elijah. Also, in Jewish mysticism, the secret rites are called the secrets of the Merkavah, i.e., the chariot. Mastering their meaning is akin to riding the chariot heavenward. Finally, angels participating in rituals that link heavenly and earthly worship is characteristic of Qumran literature, i.e., the Dead Sea Scrolls. Meaning early Christians have been linked to the Essenes and here we have an episode—angel/human contact—that is very reminiscent of the Essene paradigm. See Elior, op. cit., 59.

159 As we’ve seen, the image of a being standing in a chariot, drawn by four horses, complete with rays streaming from his head, appears in mosaics in places of worship in northern Israel. For a discussion of these synagogues/churches, see chapters 9 and especially 10 in this book.

160 This represents an explicit acknowledgement of the depth of the intimacy experienced by Aseneth in the heavenly bridal chamber. Simply put, it all comes down to “a man came into my bedroom . . . God from heaven appeared in my bed.” If it was not clear by now, this has nothing to do with Joseph and everything to do with Jesus. Not only that, here too we see how Pauline theology substituted the mother for the wife. In Orthodox Christianity, it is Mary, Jesus’ mother, who is the mother of all virgins, who is visited by God in her bedchamber and who remains a perpetual virgin even after conceiving and giving birth. Here it is the wife who shares “God’s bed.”

161 Interestingly, not everyone calls Joseph/Jesus “Son of God.” Sometime he is called “Man of God” or “Powerful One of God,” etc.

162 “Foster father” appears to be a Syriac term of endearment. Aseneth is speaking of the manager or trusted senior servant of her father’s estate who, in that capacity, would act in some ways like a father figure to her while running the household. She is not saying that the manager is her father or that her real father has somehow abandoned her.

163 She once again readies herself for a royal marriage, attiring herself as a queen. Her biological father is noticeable by his absence, as her “foster father” takes over. This seems to reflect a time when Mary the Magdalene’s biological father, priest, and king “abandoned” her, before becoming reconciled to the marriage. At this point, she’s about to become a Bride of God. She too holds a scepter in her hand. She’s about to be elevated to the status of a co-messiah.

164 For a spiritual man, Joseph/Jesus seems to be into a woman’s looks. This synchronizes with the Talmudic tradition that Jesus’ teacher, Rabbi Yehoshua b. Perahya, broke with Jesus over the latter’s comments concerning the narrowness of an innkeeper’s eyes. See Peter Schafer, op. cit., 35.

165 She is now described in Jesus/Helios imagery complete with rays emanating from her face.

166 She’s already holding her scepter and she is identified with the morning star. In other words, she is becoming co-regent in messiahship by fulfilling the star and scepter prophesy of Numbers 24:17.

167 Whereas in Pauline Christianity during Communion, wine is transformed into Jesus’ blood and is connected to his death and resurrection, here the reference to blood is both redemptive and sexual. This time it refers to her cheeks. This entire passage is a kind of Judeo-Christian Song of Songs referring to Mary the Magdalene’s cheeks, lips, teeth, hair, neck, and breasts. See Kraemer: “perhaps this [passage] constitutes an intentional further recasting of Aseneth in the person of the beloved bride . . . for an author for whom Song of Songs was, indeed, the description of God’s bride” (Kraemer, op. cit., 72).

168 The phrase “rose of life plucked from its stalk” seems to be the key to rosettes found all over Second Temple ossuaries in the Jerusalem area, including the so-called Jesus Family Tomb. It’s a symbol of death (plucked from its stalk) and immortality (rose of life). Here, again, it is sexualized, referring to Aseneth’s/Mary the Magdalene’s lips.

169 Compare the Gnostic Exegesis on the Soul where it states that after repentance the soul “becomes young again . . . praising the Father and her brother by whom she was rescued. Thus it is by being born again that the soul will be saved” (Exegesis on the Soul, 134.6–15 quoted in Gregory Snyder, op. cit., 183). In the footnote, Snyder states that “reflecting the androgyne myth, this ‘brother’ who rescues the soul is in fact the soul’s original partner” (p. 184). The androgyne theme is also in Joseph and Aseneth where Joseph/Jesus and Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene play the roles of both siblings and spouses.

170 The Syriac word is Mara, which is the female equivalent of Mar, lord, owner, Master, prince. So Mara is a term of utmost respect, denoting a woman of exalted stature, a lady, governess, princess or saint. In the Talpiot tomb associated with the Jesus Family Tomb, the woman called Mariamene is also called Mara. On ossuary #8 in the Rahmani catalogue of ossuaries, the word Mara is translated as master. On ossuary #327, Mara is translated as Lord, Master. And, on ossuary #560, Mari is translated as Masters. Recently, using a robotic camera, Simcha Jacobovici and his colleagues discovered the word Mara on an ossuary in an unexcavated tomb 60 meters from the Jesus Family Tomb. Close by, in this tomb, there is an ossuary with a cross on one side and the image of a big fish spewing out a stick figure on another side. Inscribed on the fish’s head is the Hebrew word Yonah (Jonah in English). The “Sign of Jonah” is the earliest Biblical symbol of emerging Christianity. It stands for Jesus. Can it be that the Jonah ossuary is celebrating the bridegroom, while the Mara ossuary is celebrating the bride? See James D. Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici, The Jesus Discovery, op. cit., 67–68, 73–103, and 112–116. For the inscription see http://jamestabor.com/2013/09/13/can-you-read-jonah-in-hebrew/.

171 Like her father, Aseneth’s foster father, i.e., the manager of Potiphar’s estate, knows that she is to be the “bride” of “God’s firstborn son.” The text simply cannot be clearer about the main characters of this story.

172 There is another possible allusion here that would have resonated with a Jewish or Judeo-Christian audience of the day. Specifically, there is a Jewish tradition that the Aseneth of Genesis is the product of the rape of Dinah (Gen. 34), daughter of Jacob, by Schechem, prince of the Canaanite city of Schechem, (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 38). At the same time, there is a Christian tradition calling Jesus a City of Refuge (Acts of Thomas, Act 1, Chapter 10). In Joseph and Aseneth the epitaph is used with reference to her, not him. Can it be that there is a transposition taking place here? Meaning, normally Jesus is associated with a City of Refuge, and Aseneth is associated with a rape. Can it be that the author of Joseph and Aseneth is switching the roles? By associating her with a City of Refuge, is he associating Jesus with a rape, as opposed to a virgin birth?

173 This is reminiscent of the promise of God to Abraham that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Similarly, through Aseneth, all the families of the earth will find shelter. Her future role is more than simply being the Bride of God, i.e., God’s son, Jesus. She will not simply bear and bring up children. Rather, while he is the Messiah of the Jewish people, she is the Savior of the Gentiles.

174 Originally, it was Mary the Magdalene who was called the virgin.

175 The author is literally winking at us when he calls Mary the Magdalene “Aseneth.” Here, understood in a Jewish context, they are not behaving in a chaste manner; she wraps herself around his neck, they embrace, he kisses her, and then he gives her “the spirit of life” between kisses. All this in front of an audience of seven virgins!

176 Joseph is no ordinary man. As they embrace in this act of betrothal, he imparts to Aseneth three great gifts: the spirit of life, the spirit of wisdom, and the spirit of truth.

177 He is explicitly enthroned, becoming literally the King of the Jews.

178 As per the famous scene in the gospels where a woman, alleged to be Mary the Magdalene, washes Jesus’ feet and then dries them with her hair. See Luke 7:38.

179 In Gnostic fashion, it is not spirit that becomes flesh, but vice versa. Namely, the sequence runs from feet (closest to ground) to hands (creativity) to soul.

180 Almost the exact wording as The Gospel of Philip (63:34) where it says that Jesus used to kiss Mary the Magdalene “often on her [mouth or head]”; the word is missing.

181 Aseneth’s fears of parental rejection—because of her abandonment of their religion—do not materialize or, at least, there is reconciliation after an initial rejection. Her parents come around to the view of God as giving life and raising the dead. While they acknowledge the power of God, there is no suggestion that they—or Aseneth for that matter—convert to Judaism or Christianity. They merely adopt the belief in one God who gives life, including eternal life. The model is that of the Gentile God-fearer. Note that resurrection of the dead has been added to the mix of ideas associated with Joseph/Jesus in this text—along with crosses of blood and titles such as Son of God.

182 If our typological understanding is correct, based on this text, Jesus seems to have a relationship with the Roman emperor Tiberius. If this sounds unlikely, remember that according to Jewish tradition, Onkelos, one of the greatest rabbis ever, was a Roman convert and nephew of the Emperor Nero. Furthermore, the redactor of the Talmud, Yehuda HaNasi—who, like Jesus, lived in the Galilee—is said to have been a close friend of the Emperor Antoninus Pius.

183 He doth protest too much.

184 Again, the titles clearly belong to a long-suppressed version of Christianity. Jesus is called “the firstborn of God” which is different from “Son of God” as an exclusive title. Meaning, we are all children of God but he is the favorite, the firstborn, the herald of a new step forward in the relationship between humanity and God. Mary the Magdalene is called “the daughter of the Lord.” Clearly, she has almost equal status with “the son.” See also Kraemer, who comments that in this passage “Aseneth becomes divinized and daughter of God. What Aseneth acquires [is] both immortality and infallible knowledge” (Kraemer, op. cit., 269).

185 “Pharaoh” here acts as Pontifex Maximus which, of course, was the title and role of a Roman emperor such as Tiberius; but he seems more intimately involved in blessing this union than Tiberius would have been—even if he was aware of it. More likely, it is Sejanus who is playing the de facto role of “Pharaoh” here, with Germanicus playing the role of “son of Pharaoh.”

186 In the Syriac, literally: “went into.”

187 After the wedding feast, Joseph and Aseneth engage in sexual intercourse and, in time, two sons are born: Ephraim and Manasseh. There is no such rich detail regarding the betrothal and wedding—nor any prayers by Aseneth—in the Biblical story of Joseph and Aseneth. With respect to Jesus and Mary the Magdalene, we can’t even be sure of what the real names of their progeny were—Ephraim and Manasseh are likely code names. What is clear, however, is that “Joseph went into Aseneth.” In other words, both Jesus and Mary the Magdalene lost their status of virgins and they sired at least two children. The Jesus Family Tomb in Talpiot has an ossuary in it marked with the name “Judah, son of Jesus.”

188 This title is written in red ink in the Syriac manuscript, suggesting that the hymn was of some importance, perhaps even that it may have once circulated independently of the text. Note also that it largely repeats material from chapters 11 and 12 and appears here in an unusual location (after the birth of Aseneth’s sons).

189 The firstborn of the ruler of the land, i.e., Germanicus, is contrasted with the firstborn of the ruler of the universe.

190 Her first reaction is physical. Here wisdom follows beauty, not the other way around.

191 Being grasped like a fish on a hook is reminiscent of Jesus calling Simon, Peter, and Andrew to the task of discipleship so as to become “fishers of people” (Matthew 4:19).

192 Mary the Magdalene is the “bride” of the “Son of God”—“forever and ever.” This line is not in a book of fiction. Here it appears in one of the earliest Christian texts ever discovered.

193 These numbers: 7 and 7; 21, 2 and 2 seem to signify something in Gnostic Kabbalism. They are not arbitrary, but we have not cracked their code.

194 Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene gives us a key to deciphering the text. Namely, from her point of view, there are people around us who are the incarnations of energies and attributes that pagans falsely deified and represented in gold and silver. Once the idols are jettisoned, however, one can understand how both Holy Scriptures as well as pagan philosophies and theologies anticipated these special individuals. Simply put, these individuals are like gods. Therefore, Father Israel is “like a god,” Jesus is the “firstborn of God” and “like the sun,” and Mary the Magdalene is “daughter of the Lord,” like Artemis, the holy virgin, sister and ultimately Bride of God. In other words, the reference to Jacob being like a god gives us an insight into early Christianity and its synchronicity with monotheistic paganism. Basically, they deified individuals while claiming that this deification did not detract from their monotheism.

195 Biblically speaking, there was no trip by Aseneth to Goshen. Joseph goes to his father with his two sons, without Aseneth (Genesis 47:28–50:26). Also, there is a Talmudic tradition that says Joseph allowed the mummification of Jacob/Israel because Israel was a tzadik (i.e., a righteous person or saint), and that the bodies of tzadikim are not corrupted after death. Fearing that the Egyptians would discover this and worship Israel as a god, Joseph allows them to mummify his father so as to avoid potential idolatry. Here, in opposition to Joseph’s wishes, Aseneth worships Israel “like a god.” Again, we are clearly in Gnostic territory.

196 In the Biblical story, he is not “comfortable.” He is on his death bed.

197 Again, the emphasis is on physical beauty and health being the product of spirit. In this text, the flesh can be made spirit.

198 In the Biblical account, the brothers generally—not just those whose mothers were Bilhah and Zilpah—were involved in the plot to sell Joseph to traders passing by (Genesis 37). This text reflects a different understanding, i.e., that only the sons of the handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah were involved. It seems to be referring not to the story of Genesis, but to differences among the disciples of Jesus.

199 Levi is here introduced as the “brother” for whom Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene has a “surpassing” love. Interestingly, in the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene, it is Levi who protects Mary the Magdalene from the other disciples, especially Peter. The canonical Gospels identify Levi with Matthew. In the Jesus Family Tomb, one of the inscribed ossuaries reads Matia, i.e., Matthew. Can it be that in the post-crucifixion period Levi took Jesus’ place as Mary the Magdalene’s husband? In the ancient Jewish context, a brother marrying his dead brother’s widow is normative.

200 Levi is Joseph’s brother to whom she is closest. She loves him, and later Greek manuscripts add that he, too, loved her very much. Levi knows the “secrets of God” and has revealed to Aseneth her true spiritual identity. She is not just an ordinary woman, but a central figure in the drama of redemption—ensconced for all eternity in the seventh or highest heaven, closest to God. In fact, she is the “rock,” probably Petros in the original Greek from which the Syriac is the oldest translation. She is literally the real Peter. In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Levi protects Mary the Magdalene from Andrew and Peter. Peter initially refuses to believe that what she teaches them are the authentic sayings of Jesus. There, Levi notes that Jesus loved Mary the Magdalene more than all the disciples and made her “worthy.”

201 Again, the beauty theme.

202 The identity of “Pharaoh’s son” is discussed in the previous chapters. Because we have located the context of this text in Roman times, specifically at the time of Jesus and Mary the Magdalene, “Pharaoh’s son” would have to be related to the Roman emperor Tiberius, the Pharaoh who reigned from 14 to 37 C.E. As stated, the candidate who best fits the bill is Germanicus.

203 According to the Biblical account, Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel. Simon and Levi were two of the seven children Jacob had with Leah. Joseph and Benjamin were the only two children Jacob had with Rachel. This seems to be a coded reference to the attempt by “Pharaoh’s son” to divide and conquer Jesus’ disciples by appealing to their diverse tribal loyalties.

204 The tradition of Simon and Levi having superhuman strength is Talmudic.

205 In the canonical Gospels, it is Peter who draws the sword, angrily cutting off the ear of one of the high priest’s men who had come to arrest Jesus. There, it is Jesus who calms Peter down, saying, “for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Peter is not the birth name of the disciple who draws the sword. It is a nickname given by Jesus to the disciple named Simon. As in the canonical Gospels, here too we have a conspiracy and a representative of authority. Here too it is Simon/Peter who wishes to draw his “blade.” Here, however, it is Levi, not Jesus, who calms Simon/Peter down by saying “it is not right for us to return evil for evil.” Not returning evil for evil represents an important ethical principle in this work. In the New Testament, parallels to this phrase can be found in Romans 12:17 (“Do not repay anyone evil for evil”) and 1 Peter 3:9 (“Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing”). Is Levi, not Jesus, the source for this material? Is the “Pharaoh’s son” conspiracy conflated in the canonical Gospels with the later Judas conspiracy?

206 Notice, Levi uses the like word. “Like a son of God,” not the son of God. This is a different theology from what emerges later as Pauline Christianity.

207 In Genesis, Dinah had been raped. Here, “Pharaoh’s son” threatens to do the same to Mary the Magdalene. Here, Simon/Peter and Matthew/Levi warn him that if he doesn’t back off he will end up dead. This provides us with the motivation for the alliance between the early Jesus movement and Sejanus against Germanicus.

208 Here the “plot” is explicitly mentioned.

209 According to the Biblical text, Jacob had children with Bilhah (Rachel’s handmaiden or servant) and with Zilpah (Leah’s handmaiden). Dan and Naphtali were the children Jacob had with Bilhah; Gad and Asher, with Zilpah. Thus, these four sons of Jacob were, in a sense, once removed from the core family grouping consisting of the children of Leah and Rachel. Our text chooses to stress these four sons and the fact that they were alienated from Joseph (Jesus). This is different from the story in Genesis, where all the brothers conspire against Joseph, not just four.

“Pharaoh’s son” knows of the complex loyalties in Jesus’ family. He seeks to take advantage of a rift amongst the brothers. With respect to Jesus, as above, the canonical Gospels write about four brothers (James/Jacob, Simon, Judah, Yose/Joseph). Various traditions of Christianity interpret these “brothers” in different ways. According to the Orthodox Church, they are half-siblings from a previous marriage of Joseph’s (mother Mary’s husband). According to Catholics, they are “cousins.” According to Protestants, they are full siblings born after the virgin birth. There is also some confusion in the Gospels with respect to mother Mary and Mary Clophas’ wife, who seems to have children with exactly the same names as Mary, mother of Jesus. All this has led James Tabor to suggest that after Joseph’s death, Mary, mother of Jesus married Joseph’s brother “Clophas,” also called “Alpheus.” That would mean that Mary was the mother of all Jesus’ siblings—by different fathers.

The picture that emerges from our deciphered text does not agree with Tabor’s hypothesis. The half brothers are half brothers by virtue of having different mothers, not different fathers. The family might have looked like this: Joseph/Clophas/Alpheus are all one and the same person. He had at least four male children and perhaps two female children with a woman named Mary. This Mary had a sister, also called Mary, who had originally been betrothed to Joseph but who became unavailable to him when she got pregnant with someone else’s child, allegedly, a Roman soldier’s child (see Shabbat 104b MS. Munich 95 in Schafer, op. cit., 16). Although Joseph raised all the children, he did not have relations with Mary, Jesus’ mother. In Joseph and Aseneth, Mary, Jesus’ mother, is compared to Rachel and Mary the mother of Jesus’ half brothers is compared to Leah. In effect, by pointing out that there may be different mothers involved with the brothers of Jesus, the confusion about Jesus’ family can now begin to be resolved.

210 As the text makes clear, the four brothers of the handmaidens appear before “Pharaoh’s son.” As stated above, Jesus also had four brothers, possibly half brothers. Christian tradition says that some of them had ambivalent feelings about Jesus. James, for example, only became a follower after the crucifixion. In the canonical Gospels, Jesus is sometimes hostile to his family (Mark 3:32–35). At one point, it seems that the family regards Jesus as mentally unstable (Mark 3:21).

211 The theme of secrecy continues in this text. Levi knew secret wisdom and he taught it to Mary the Magdalene. Here it is Germanicus—i.e., “Pharaoh’s son”—who has a “secret word” to impart. He puts everyone not in the know at arm’s length.

212 “Pharaoh’s son” claims that Joseph (i.e., Jesus) was planning revenge against his brothers and involving Pharaoh in the plot. This, of course, would violate the central ethical principle of this work, i.e., not to repay evil for evil. Basically, “Pharaoh’s son” must be lying about what Joseph and Pharaoh said to each other about seeking revenge. He is simply trying to divide and conquer.

213 There are four brothers of Joseph in the conspiracy. As stated, this corresponds to Jesus, not Joseph. Perhaps this refers to four of the twelve disciples.

214 The plot here is very specific. It has absolutely nothing to do with the text in Genesis, nor does it have anything to do with any Midrash or historical circumstances outside the Second Temple period. Furthermore, it serves absolutely no theological purpose. Clearly, what the text is telling us is that there was a plot against Jesus, his wife, and his family that involved the highest levels of the ruling regime in the Galilee. The plot involved a conspiracy, betrayal in the inner circle, an ambush, troops, and the deadly intent to kill the father and the children and abduct the wife. If this seems like fiction, remember that all four canonical Gospels describe a plot hatched at the highest levels of Judaean/Roman rule including the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas, the Roman Governor Pilate, and the local ruler Herod Antipas. There was also, according to the Gospels, a clear betrayal in the inner circle (Judas) and a partial betrayal (Peter). The plot ended with the crucifixion of Jesus and the temporary disbanding of his followers. According to the historian Josephus, a similar plot did James in, and another similar plot brought down the anonymous “Teacher of Righteousness” mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls as the leader of the group that produced some of those texts, possibly the Essenes. In other words, the plot described in Joseph and Aseneth is not far-fetched. It is consistent with similar events described in the New Testament and in other sources of the time.

215 The Syriac text only accounts for the location of half of the two thousand armed men, five hundred on each side of the road Aseneth will travel. Where the other two groups of five hundred are stationed is not mentioned.

216 So here’s the plan: “Pharaoh’s son” will kill his father. Then “Pharaoh’s son,” assisted by the conspirators, will ambush Aseneth’s retinue, killing the six hundred guards who are protecting her. Aseneth will be turned over to “Pharaoh’s son” to do to her whatever he wishes. The conspirators will then kill the two children—Ephraim and Manasseh—before Joseph’s eyes, and then kill him. There is nothing like this in the Biblical account of Joseph. However, in the Gnostic Gospel of Philip, there is a sense “of some sort of jealousy on the part of the other disciples” when it comes to Mary the Magdalene. See Ann Graham Brock, Mary Magdalene, the First Apostle: The Struggle for Authority (Harvard University Press, 2004), 90.

217 Since Sejanus was the head of the Praetorian Guard, the above is consistent with the idea that Sejanus’ murder of Germanicus was a well timed rescue of the emperor from the machinations of Germanicus.

218 Those who guarded Emperor Tiberius were the Praetorian Guards, who eventually came to be controlled by the real power in Rome, Sejanus.

219 The idea that Jesus was sold, like Joseph, comes up in the canonical Gospels with Judas and the thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 27:3).

220 “Redeeming and saving many” is clearly language associated with Jesus. For example, when John the Baptizer’s disciples come to Jesus, he sends them back, asking them to tell John that “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised” (Luke 7:22), i.e., he is redeeming and saving many.

221 Clearly this is not something that the Joseph of Genesis could do. Climbing up to heaven and sending fire is something that only a god incarnate could do.

222 It’s strange that these misgivings on the part of Naphtali and Asher should appear in the text at this point, since the negotiations have already concluded and the plan is already in progress. These caveats would make more sense during the negotiations between the conspirators and “Pharaoh’s son.” At any rate, nothing comes of these qualms and the plot proceeds with the four brothers in cahoots with “Pharaoh’s son” against Joseph/Jesus, Aseneth/Mary the Magdalene, and their two sons.

223 Our gospel does not record their reunion after the murder plot. This provides a textual terminus ad quem, i.e., a no-later-than date for the composition of the original manuscript. That is to say, if Germanicus is “Pharaoh’s son” and he died in October, 19 C.E., then the original Joseph and Aseneth text was written after Germanicus died and before Jesus was crucified in the spring of 32 C.E., making it the earliest account from the first followers of Jesus and Mary the Magdalene.

224 The loyal disciples intervene.

225 In Genesis, Benjamin is the son of Israel by Rachel, as was Joseph. Thus, he is Joseph’s full, younger brother, his closest sibling. Here he is entrusted with Aseneth’s (i.e., Mary the Magdalene’s) care. If Joseph is Jesus, then who is Benjamin? Benjamin is a somewhat mysterious figure here. In the Gospels, the mysterious figure is the unnamed “beloved disciple” who is entrusted with Mother Mary’s care (John 19:25). Perhaps Benjamin is the unnamed beloved disciple of the Gospels and he was caring for Jesus’ wife, not mother.

226 The number should be fifty (see 24:17; 25:4; 26:5).

227 Syriac Mara. This term lady is used in an early Christian context in the Shepherd of Hermas. Originally written in Greek, the text is the longest work to survive from the first hundred years of the Christian church. It was regarded by many Christians as canonical scripture. As in Joseph and Aseneth, Hermas’ love object is referred to as a sister, goddess, and lady. See Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament (Oxford University Press, 2005), 252–253. As in this text, there is also the idea of wife/sister: “. . . your wife, who is about to become your sister.” Ibid., 254.

228 Again, royal status.

229 Consistent with “love your enemy” and “turn the other cheek” theology.

230 Simeon here is very much in keeping with Simon Peter of the Gospels, who is quick with the blade at Gethsemane (John 18:10).

231 Syriac Mara.

232 The description is very graphic. Very real. There is nothing theological about this scene.

233 The text ends suddenly. The forty-eight years of rule is not consistent with Tiberius but more so with Herod Antipas, who ruled the area in his name from 4 B.C.E. to 39 C.E., a total of forty-three years. The death of “Pharaoh’s son” of his “wounds” after “three days” seems to awkwardly foreshadow or allude to another son of the ruler who died of his wounds but rose after three days. It seems that the story breaks off just after one plot is foiled and before the other succeeds. We are basically left with a gospel compiled between the rescue of Mary the Magdalene and the crucifixion of Jesus.