Families desperately needed heirs, and the dyadic social identity of a woman depended on her being not only a wife, but also a mother it simply didnt matter if your husband loved you best, if you had no children Rachel knew that (so did Sarah, Rebekah, Hannah and Elizabeth). The family prostrated before him hence the fulfilment of his dream aforetime.[52]. 1) Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. The word used by for echad in the LXX (Septuagint, the authorized Greek translation of the Tanach OT) and the NT (ie. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph ensured that the storehouses were full and that all produce was weighed. (Genesis 49:3350:14), After their father died, the brothers of Joseph feared retribution for being responsible for Joseph's deliverance into Egypt as a slave. Really Bilhahs and Zilpahs lives would have looked bleak but they would have accepted it as their lot in life in ancient times people firmly believed that their conditions and station in life were pre-determined by the gods and hardly worth complaining about or trying to get out of. 21-22; comp. She was no longer the mother of all of Jacobs children Rachel had a child now and she was the one who was truly regarded, by Jacob, as his wife. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, he is known as "Joseph the all-comely", a reference not only to his physical appearance, but more importantly to the beauty of his spiritual life. Joseph And His Brothers, The cultural impact of the Joseph story in early-modern times is discussed in, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 10:50. 13When they went the second time Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and Josephs origins were revealed to Pharaoh. (Acts 7:9-13). This would not be a true case of polygamy, because his intention was not to have two wives, but to provide for his sister-in-law it was considered a mitzvah towards the dead brother as well as to the woman to refuse to do this for her at her request would be to deprive her of her rights within the family. So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? 51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." 52 The name of the second he called E'phraim, "For God has . (Genesis 50:2226). Convinced of his brothers' repentance and overcome with emotion, Joseph finally revealed himself to them. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and he said; "Take Mary home as your wife.". Jacob with Ephraim and Manasseh. (Genesis 47:147:12) The family was then settled in Goshen. [46], In the Bible, Joseph discloses himself to his brethren before they return to their father the second time after buying grain. www.simplybible.com Copyright Ron Graham 2001 2018, "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh", "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, said confidently that the children of Israel would leave Egypt. The two halves of Manasseh were often treated as two separate units in the biblical account. Here, Potiphar's wife (called Zuleika in later tradition) tried to seduce Joseph, which he refused. However there are two separate lands related to the epithet Cush. Kusiteand Kusan are both used and they are spelled almost exactly the same the only difference being a tav vs a nun at the end of the word. Joseph is also extolled by the rabbis for being a prophet, and for supporting his brothers. The cup-bearer's dream was about a vine with three branches that was budding. What Leah knew was that her husband, although she had given him many sons, had no regard for her Jewish tradition even states that Jacob moved to Bilhahs tent after the death of Rachel (I dont think he ever got over that anger from the morning after the wedding). The text says that they are Jacobs wives, and yet wives would retain ownership over their own children, so how can they be actual wives?. These are the generations of Jacob. The cupbearer took this opportunity to inform the king of Joseph's gift and recommended his services. What is Jacob's new name? Full Bible Timeline - section on the life of Jacob. | Fact Sheet Index Simeon had six sons, all of whom migrated to Egypt (Gen. xlvi. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is about Joseph's story. Then they informed their father that the Vizier demanded that Benjamin be brought before him to demonstrate that they were honest men. 3. 119a; comp. After they had consumed all of the grain that they brought back from Egypt, Jacob told his sons to go back to Egypt for more grain. This was the legal world and social context of the time of the Patriarchs. When he regained control of himself, he returned and ordered a meal to be served. 84, xl. 15So Jacob moved down into Egypt, and lived there till he died, as did our fathers. J. M. Sel. Esau. Here, their lamentation was so great that it caught the attention of surrounding Canaanites who remarked "This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians." Isaac had one wife. Joseph is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, which commemorates him as a patriarch on March 31. In his father's house, Joseph is the favored son: "Israel (another name for Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his sons since he was a child of his old age" (Genesis 37:3). 17As the time of the promise drew near, the promise that God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. 16Their remains were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham, for a price in silver, purchased from the children of Hamor in Shechem. (Acts 7:14-16). There is much confusion about the word Cush in Scripture the first being that it does not actually refer to Ethiopia at all but instead a region more in the Sudan. Thank you. As for kings - marriages were largely about political alliances (especially with . Joseph would have been approximately six years old when his family returned from Haran to Canaan. When they were brought to Joseph's house, they were apprehensive about the returned money in their money sacks. It starts with the 12 tribes and ends with the 12 gates with 12 pearls representing the tribes and the 12 kinds of fruit. When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel commanded him to do. In the Qur'an a whole chapter (sura xii) is devoted to Joseph; and Islamic commentators add many details to this "best of stories.". According to the biblical account, Joseph was the son of Jacob by Rachel, the patriarch's favorite wife (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of Joseph's birth, said, "The Lord shall add [Heb. His death does not change the familys obligation towards her. The Wives of Jacob's Sons (xxxiv. He also equipped a considerable army, with which he marched to help the Ishmaelites against the Tarshishites (Gen. R. 90:5). It was because of his virtue that the children of Israel passed over the Red Sea and the Jordan dry-shod (Gen. R. 84). Some of those women were also married to friends of his.Nov 11, 2014 Joseph was born the 11 th of 12 sons to his father Jacob. People just cherry pick with the descriptions to determine prescriptives without studying out the matter. When Rachel had successfully provided Jacob with an heir, Leah felt her position was tenuous. Charles L. Zimmerman holds the B. Jacob became greatly distressed, feeling deprived of successive sons: Joseph, Simeon, and (prospectively) Benjamin. 36). 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. According to most rabbinical authorities, Joseph's coffin was sunk in the Nile (Targ. Joseph disguised his identity and devised a plot to bring the rest of the family to him: He accused them of being spies and imprisoned them for three days. In Canaan, Rachel gave birth to Jacob's final son, Benjamin, but, tragically, she died in childbirth. The words do not share the same lemma and so are unrelated. In the time of the Exodus, Serah, daughter of Asher, showed Moses where the coffin was sunk. Many of these amplifications have been borrowed by rabbinical tradition. The scene is a fitting resolution to Jacob's own drama, in which his father, Isaac, had been old and blind when Jacob himself deceived deceived him in order to obtain his blessing, meant for Esau. We think of it differently, because we simply cannot imagine a maidservant being willing or even eager to consent to such an arrangement but when we look at it in terms of the times you will see a poor woman who was a servant, probably sold by her impoverished father to Labans family because he had no money to get her married off not out of coldness but because if he died without seeing her provided for her only options were starvation or prostitution; she was resigned to perhaps never marrying, or if she did it would be to another servant, to give birth to servants. Loads of love from me my sister Wisdom Speaks. }. Both the term "Joseph" and the term "Ephraim" were also frequently used by the biblical writers to refer to the norther tribes generally or to the later northern kingdom, usually called Israel. He was the son of Leah, Jacob's first wife. Abraham then died at 175 years of age (25 . How many children did Mary have after Jesus? Joseph Born in the wilderness, he was the youngest son in the family. Joseph wept as they spoke and told them that what had happened was God's purpose to save lives and the lives of his family. Who is Dans mom? I asked. The younger daughter of Laban and wife of Jacob, Rachel is the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who become two of the twelve tribes of Israel ( Gen 35:24; Gen 46:15-18). He kept the sacred records after Nephi (see 1 Ne. The other polygamists in Scripture were Lamech (a descendant of Cain who killed a guy) and Esau (who well he was Esau, nuff said) we dont see any of the twelve sons of Jacob having mutliple wives, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, the Judges (not even Sampson) or the prophets. The story of Joseph or Yusuf as it is told in Arabic literature has the same general outlines as the Biblical narrative; but in the Arabic account there is a wealth of accessory detail and incident. Of all the sons, Joseph was preferred by his father, who gave him a "long coat of many colors". In the interim, Joseph's mother died giving birth to his brother, Benjamin. When the steward caught up with the brothers, he seized them and searched their sacks. Bilhah, they replied. As we progress through the stories about Jacob and his family, you will notice that his wives are respectfully addressed by name while Bilhah and Zilpah are repeatedly called, the maidservants. Culturally, they were never elevated to the level of either Leah or Rachel and they probably never expected to be. From the various midrashim, a wondrous story emerges: You see, when Shechem abducted Dinah, she became pregnant with his child. 13. Moses followed Joseph's pattern in rising from slavery to a position of royal favor in the court of the pharaohs, and would later lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. Later, Joseph became Potiphar's personal servant, and subsequently his household's superintendent. selling him to an Ishmaelite trade caravan. arose that night, and took his two wives, his two maidservants1 and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. There are numerous mentions of Joseph in Bah' writings. (Gen 50:7-9). Later we will learn a lot more about Joseph, because he became a very important person. In analyzing Genesis Chapter 37, there are five different Hebrew names used to describe five different groups of people involved in the transaction of selling Joseph, according to Rabbi Judah and Rav Huna. The first born of this union is still his firstborn even after he marries another woman, loves her, and has children with her. When they flee Laban in chapter thirty-two, verse twenty-two specifically mentions two wives and two female servants, and again in thirty-three verse one, Leah and Rachel are named, along with the two female servants. In chapter thirty-five, after Rachels death, Reuben is specifically stated to have had sexual relations with his fathers concubine. If Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons are added, then the total number is seventy (46:27). The merchants, meanwhile, brought Joseph to Egypt, where he was sold to Potiphar, an "officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" (Gen. 37:36). He admonished and forgave them, he sent also his garment which healed the patriarch's eyes as soon as it was cast unto his face. 14Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five souls, to come and live in Egypt. The shrine called Joseph's Tomb in Nablus/Shechem is traditionally considered to be his tomb. According to Legend of the Jews, the name of Potiphar's wife is Zuleikha and when she was enticing Joseph to give up to her sinful passion, God appeared unto him, holding the foundation of earth (Eben Shetiyah), that He would destroy the world if Joseph touched her. Paul even specifically said that male leadership within the Body was to be limited to those men who only had one wife (I Tim 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6). "All Pharaoh's officials accompanied himthe dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egyptbesides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. He was Rachel's firstborn and Jacob's eleventh son. At that time Moses was born (Acts 7:17-19). A fourth group in verse 36 is named in Hebrew as mdanm that is properly identified as Medanites. The brothers then dipped Joseph's coat in goat's blood and, returning home, showed it to their father, who concluded that Joseph had been torn apart by a wild beast. His brothers did not understand his spirituality and saw him as a threat. The sons by . When the Vizier (Joseph) appeared, they gave him gifts from their father. According to the Midrash, Joseph would have been immediately executed by the sexual assault charge against him by Potiphar's wife. Her name was Dinah. Manasseh, Ephraim are between 19 and 26. The first group identified, are Joseph's brothers when Judah brings up the idea of selling Joseph in verses 26 and 27. The reason that Joseph selected Simeon may have been that the latter was the eldest after Reuben, who was spared by Joseph in return for his interference on Joseph's behalf many years before (Gen. xxxvii. He interpreted the dream as seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine, and advised the Pharaoh to store surplus grain. Potiphar believed that Joseph was incapable of such an act and petitioned Pharaoh to spare his life. The word until speaks of a change to the first action . 2. He could not control himself any longer and so he sent the Egyptian men out of the house. Known for: Rachel was the younger daughter of Laban and Jacob's favored wife. The "seven lean years" has been taken to refer to a Middle Eastern famine documented at that time.