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May 30, 2005 Hardly anything can be more incomprehensible and offensive than the English versions of the Hebrew names of Biblical personages. Undoubtedly, these gross distortions are due to the fact that King James' scholars relied upon transliterations of Hebrew into Greek and Latin. It would have been preferable to take the names straight from Hebrew. Thus, we have Isaac instead of Yitzhak, Jacob instead of Yaakov, Jeremiah insead of Yirmyahu, Zedekiah instead of Tzidkiyahu, Rebekah instead of Rivkah and Joseph instead of Yosef. Anyway, I'm digressing from my subject, which is Joseph in Egypt. Let me hastily retell the the story of Joseph in Egypt: Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, had 12 sons, one of whom, born of Rachel, one of Jacob's wives, was named Joseph. Jacob, who loved Joseph more than he loved his 11 brothers, gave him a fine, colored coat, distinguishing him. Joseph had a dream shortly thereafter, in which his 11 brothers bowed down to him allegorically. Angry at his presumptuousness, his brothers decided to sell him to Ishmaelites journeying to Egypt. The Ishmaelites sold Joseph in Egypt to one Potiphar, who used him as a trusted servant in his household. Potiphar's wife tried unsuccessfully several times to seduce Joseph, who rebuffed her advances. Finally, getting one of his garments, Potiphar's wife accused Joseph of making advances upon her, using the garment as evidence, and Joseph was jailed. In jail, Joseph met the Pharaoh's butler and baker, who had been jailed by the Pharaoh. The butler and baker had dreams which Joseph interpreted correctly: the butler would be freed and the baker hanged. Later, when the Pharaoh had a dream that his wise men could not interpret, the butler, now freed, remembered Joseph, whom the Pharaoh summoned from jail. Joseph interpreted the Pharaoh's dream correctly, foretelling seven years of plenty succeeded by seven years of famine, and offered a plan for averting the disaster that would otherwise befall Egypt. So Joseph became a great one in Egypt. When the famine came, Joseph's 11 brothers, hearing grain was available, traveled to Egypt, where they dealt with Joseph himself, who recognized them without their recognizing him. Eventually, however, they were all reconciled, and Joseph's 11 brothers settled in Egypt too. Later the dreamy Pharaoh died and another Pharaoh, less favorably disposed towards Joseph and his brothers, ascended the throne, putting them in slavery, whereupon the 430-year servitude in Egypt commenced. This is one of the more credible stories in the collection of preposterous fantasies called the Book of Genesis. Of course any intelligent, mature adult understands that prophecy and prophetic dreams have no real existence, but in antiquity it cannot be doubted that many men and women pretended to be oracles, prophets and sybils. If they were clever enough, they could get away with it by speaking in riddles and puns, with rationalizations galore. So it was not entirely implausible that a man could get a reputation as an interpreter of dreams, rising to a position of authority. Therefore, if one takes the dreams with a grain of salt, there seems to be hardly any reason to discount the tale of Joseph in Egypt. In fact, if you asked the ordinary faithful Jew or Christian, he or she might explain that the story of Joseph in Egypt was merely an historical narrative. But there are a few problems with this view. Compare 3 passages from Genesis (37:18-20; 39-10-12; and 41: 8-12), reproduced in order below, with my capitalizations: "And when they saw him AFAR OFF, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams." "And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was NONE OF THE MEN OF THE HOUSE THERE within. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." "And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker: And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And THERE WAS WITH US A YOUNG MAN, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret." In the first passage, Joseph's 11 brothers are conspiring against Joseph before his deportation into Egypt. In the second, Potiphar's wife´s theft of Joseph's garment is related. In the third, Pharaoh's butler is telling Pharaoh and his wise men about the Joseph, still in jail. What one person could possibly have been present at these three scenes? In the second scene, only Joseph and Potiphar's wife are present. In the first and third scenes, Joseph is absent. So who was it who could have witneesed all this? Nobody. This is a mere invention. But suppose that Joseph's brothers, repenting, confessed the details of their conspiracy later, and suppose that Pharaoh's butler told Joseph all about his meeting with the Pharaoh and his wise men. In that case, Joseph could have written the story partly on hearsay. But the traditional view is that Moses wrote the Torah, including Genesis. Certainly, Moses, who lived 400 years later, was not present at any of the scenes. How then did he hear about them? Suppose Joseph left a written account that Moses incorporated in his own writings. How did the written account survive 430 years of Hebrew servitude in the brick pits? Perhaps it passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. This is hearsay evidence in the extreme. Why are neither of the Pharaohs named? This varies widely from the Book of Jeremiah, for example, which relates Nebuchadnezzar's reconquest of Judah. The name 'Nebuchadnezzar' appears dozens of times, as Jeremiah's account is largely historical. Jews and Christians are quick to point out that there is archeological evidence attesting the historicity of Nebuchadnezzar, but if you ask for evidence for the two Pharaohs of Joseph's day, evidence suddenly becomes an unimportant matter, for they maintain that the faithful need only the evidence of faith. You offend their sensibilities by being so mundane as to ask for something as inconsequential as mere evidence. A Messianic Christian minister recently sent me a number of 20th century rabbinical quotations expressing belief in Jesus as an historical figure at least, though rabbis usually doubt his divinity. Probably the same could be done for Joseph in Egypt, but no amount of "testimony" from 20th century rabbis can provide witness to the historicity of either figure. No amount of affirmation from people who live in places like Kuwait, Texas, Nebraska or Iowa can have any possible evidentiary value. To say that God "revealed" the story to the author(s) of Genesis, whoever he, she or they may be, is pure twaddle. Prove it! I'm not overly rigorous in what I'll accept as proof. Prophesy for me the high temperatures, as they will reported at Yahoo Weather on September 1, 2005, for Paris, London, Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Bombay, Beijing and New York! If you do that, I'll believe in prophecy. Otherwise, please get back to playthings till you grow up. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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