THE FAVORITE SON
Jacob was not exempt from the lot that falls to the share
of all the pious. Whenever they expect to enjoy life in
tranquillity, Satan hinders them. He appears before God,
and says: "Is it not enough that the future world is set
apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this
world, besides?" After the many hardships and conflicts
that had beset the path of Jacob, he thought he would be at
rest at last, and then came the loss of Joseph and inflicted the
keenest suffering. Verily, few and evil had been the days
of the years of Jacob's pilgrimage, for the time spent outside
of the Holy Land had seemed joyless to him. Only the
portion of his life passed in the land of his fathers, during
which he was occupied with making proselytes, in accordance
with the example set him by Abraham and Isaac, did
he consider worth while having lived,[1] and this happy time
was of short duration. When Joseph was snatched away,
but eight years had elapsed since his return to his father's
house.[2]
And yet it was only for the sake of Joseph that Jacob had
been willing to undergo all the troubles and the adversity
connected with his sojourn in the house of Laban. Indeed,
Jacob's blessing in having his quiver full of children was due
to the merits of Joseph, and likewise the dividing of the
Red Sea and of the Jordan for the Israelites was the reward for
his son's piety. For among the sons of Jacob
Joseph was the one that resembled his father most closely in
appearance, and, also, he was the one to whom Jacob transmitted
the instruction and knowledge he had received from
his teachers Shem and Eber.[3] The whole course of the son's
life is but a repetition of the father's. As the mother of
Jacob remained childless for a long time after her marriage,
so also the mother of Joseph. As Rebekah had undergone
severe suffering in giving birth to Jacob, so Rachel in giving
birth to Joseph. As Jacob's mother bore two sons, so also
Joseph's mother. Like Jacob, Joseph was born circumcised.
As the father was a shepherd, so the son. As the father
served for the sake of a woman, so the son served under a
woman. Like the father, the son appropriated his older
brother's birthright. The father was hated by his brother,
and the son was hated by his brethren. The father was the
favorite son as compared with his brother, so was the son
as compared with his brethren. Both the father and the son
lived in the land of the stranger. The father became a servant
to a master, also the son. The master whom the father
served was blessed by God, so was the master whom the son
served. The father and the son were both accompanied by
angels, and both married their wives outside of the Holy
Land. The father and the son were both blessed with
wealth. Great things were announced to the father in a
dream, so also to the son. As the father went to Egypt and
put an end to famine, so the son. As the father exacted the
promise from his sons to bury him in the Holy Land, so
also the son. The father died in Egypt, there died also the
son. The body of the father was embalmed, also the body
of the son. As the father's remains were carried to the
Holy Land for interment, so also the remains of the son. Jacob the father provided for the sustenance of his son
Joseph during a period of seventeen years, so Joseph the
son provided for his father Jacob during a period of seventeen
years.[4]
Until he was seventeen years old, Joseph frequented the
Bet ha-Midrash,[5] and he became so learned that he could
impart to his brethren the Halakot he had heard from his
father, and in this way he may be regarded as their teacher.[6]
He did not stop at formal instruction, he also tried to give
them good counsel, and he became the favorite of the sons
of the handmaids, who would kiss and embrace him.[7]
In spite of his scholarship there was something boyish
about Joseph. He painted his eyes, dressed his hair carefully,
and walked with a mincing step. These foibles of
youth were not so deplorable as his habit of bringing evil
reports of his brethren to his father. He accused them of
treating the beasts under their care with cruelty--he said
that they ate flesh torn from a living animal--and he charged
them with casting their eyes upon the daughters of the
Canaanites, and giving contemptuous treatment to the sons
of the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah, whom they called
slaves.
For these groundless accusations Joseph had to pay
dearly. He was himself sold as a slave, because he had
charged his brethren with having called the sons of the
handmaids slaves, and Potiphar's wife cast her eyes upon
Joseph, because he threw the suspicion upon his brethren
that they had cast their eyes upon the Canaanitish women.
And how little it was true that they were guilty of cruelty
to animals, appears from the fact that at the very time when
they were contemplating their crime against Joseph, they
yet observed all the rules and prescriptions of the ritual in
slaughtering the kid of the goats with the blood of which
they besmeared his coat of many colors.[8]
JOSEPH HATED BY HIS BRETHREN
Joseph's talebearing against his brethren made them hate
him. Among all of them Gad was particularly wrathful,
and for good reason. Gad was a very brave man, and when
a beast of prey attacked the herd, over which he kept guard
at night, he would seize it by one of its legs, and whirl it
around until it was stunned, and then he would fling it away
to a distance of two stadia, and kill it thus. Once Jacob
sent Joseph to tend the flock, but he remained away only
thirty days, for he was a delicate lad and fell sick with the
heat, and he hastened back to his father. On his return he
told Jacob that the sons of the handmaids were in the habit
of slaughtering the choice cattle of the herd and eating it,
without obtaining permission from Judah and Reuben. But
his report was not accurate. What he had seen was Gad
slaughtering one lamb, which he had snatched from the very
jaws of a bear, and he killed it because it could not be kept
alive after its fright. Joseph's account sounded as though
the sons of the handmaids were habitually inconsiderate and
careless in wasting their father's substance.[9]
To the resentment of the brethren was added their envy
of Joseph, because their father loved him more than all of
them. Joseph's beauty of person was equal to that of his
mother Rachel, and Jacob had but to look at him to be consoled
for the death of his beloved wife. Reason enough for
distinguishing him among his children.[10] As a token of his
great love for him, Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors,
so light and delicate that it could be crushed and concealed
in the closed palm of one hand. The Hebrew name of the
garment, Passim, conveys the story of the sale of Joseph.
The first letter, Pe, stands for Potiphar, his Egyptian master;
Samek stands for Soharim, the merchantmen that
bought Joseph from the company of Ishmaelites to whom his
brethren had sold him; Yod stands for these same Ishmaelites;
and Mem, for the Midianites that obtained him from
the merchantmen, and then disposed of him to Potiphar.
But Passim. has yet another meaning, "clefts." His brethren
knew that the Red Sea would be cleft in twain in days to
come for Joseph's sake, and they were jealous of the glory
to be conferred upon him. Although they were filled with
hatred of him, it must be said in their favor that they were
not of a sullen, spiteful nature. They did not hide their
feelings,
they proclaimed their enmity openly.
Once Joseph dreamed a dream, and he could not refrain
from telling it to his brethren. He spoke, and said: "Hear,
I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed. Behold, you
gathered fruit, and so did I. Your fruit rotted, but mine
remained sound. Your seed will set up dumb images of
idols, but they will vanish at the appearance of my descendant,
the Messiah of Joseph. You will keep the truth as to
my fate from the knowledge of my father, but I will stand
fast as a reward for the self-denial of my mother, and you
will prostrate yourselves five times before me."[11]
The brethren refused at first to listen to the dream, but
when Joseph urged them again and again, they gave heed
to him, and they said, "Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or
shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?"[12] God put an
interpretation into their mouths that was to be verified in
the posterity of Joseph. Jeroboam and Jehu, two kings,
and Joshua and Gideon, two judges, have been among his
descendants, corresponding to the double and emphatic expressions
used by his brethren in interpreting the dream.[13]
Then Joseph dreamed another dream, how the sun, the
moon, and eleven stars bowed down before him, and Jacob,
to whom he told it first, was rejoiced over it, for he understood
its meaning properly.[14] He knew that he himself was
designated by the sun, the name by which God had called
him when he lodged overnight on the holy site of the
Temple. He had heard God say to the angels at that time,
"The sun has come."[15] The moon stood for Joseph's
mother, and the stars for his brethren, for the righteous are
as the stars.[16] Jacob was so convinced of the truth of
the dream that he was encouraged to believe that he
would live to see the resurrection of the dead, for Rachel
was dead, and her return to earth was clearly indicated by
the dream. He went astray there, for not Joseph's own
mother was referred to, but his foster-mother Bilhah, who
had raised him.
Jacob wrote the dream in a book, recording all the circumstances,
the day, the hour, and the place, for the holy spirit
cautioned him, "Take heed, these things will surely come
to pass."[17] But when Joseph repeated his dream to his
brethren, in the presence of his father, Jacob rebuked him,
saying, "I and thy brethren, that has some sense, but I and
thy mother, that is inconceivable, for thy mother is dead."[18]
These words of Jacob called forth a reproof from God. He
said, "Thus thy descendants will in time to come seek to
hinder Jeremiah in delivering his prophecies."[19] Jacob may
be excused, he had spoken in this way only in order to avert
the envy and hate of his brethren from Joseph, but they
envied and hated him because they knew that the interpretation
put upon the dream by Jacob would be realized.[20]
JOSEPH CAST INTO THE PIT
Once the brethren of Joseph led their father's flocks to
the pastures of Shechem, and they intended to take their
ease and pleasure there.[21] They stayed away a long time, and
no tidings of them were heard. Jacob began to be anxious
about the fate of his sons. He feared that a war had broken
out between them and the people of Shechem, and he resolved
to send Joseph to them and have him bring word
again, whether it was well with his brethren.[22] Jacob desired
to know also about the flocks, for it is a duty to concern
oneself about the welfare of anything from which one derives
profit. Though he knew that the hatred of his brethren
might bring on unpleasant adventures, yet Joseph, in
filial reverence, declared himself ready to go on his father's
errand. Later, whenever Jacob remembered his dear son's
willing spirit, the recollection stabbed him to the heart. He
would say to himself, "Thou didst know the hatred of thy
brethren, and yet thou didst say, Here am I."[23]
Jacob dismissed Joseph, with the injunction that he journey
only by daylight,[24] saying furthermore, "Go now, see
whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flock;
and send me word"--an unconscious prophecy. He did not
say that he expected to see Joseph again, but only to have
word from him.[25] Since the covenant of the pieces, God
had resolved, on account of Abraham's doubting question,
that Jacob and his family should go down into Egypt to
dwell there. The preference shown to Joseph by his father,
and the envy it aroused, leading finally to the sale of Joseph
and his establishment in Egypt, were but disguised means
created by God, instead of executing His counsel directly
by carrying Jacob down into Egypt as a captive.[26]
Joseph reached Shechem, where he expected to find his
brethren. Shechem was always a place of ill omen for
Jacob and his seed--there Dinah was dishonored, there the
Ten Tribes of Israel rebelled against the house of David
while Rehoboam ruled in Jerusalem, and there Jeroboam
was installed as king.[27] Not finding his brethren and the
herd in Shechem, Joseph continued his journey in the direction
of the next pasturing place, not far from Shechem, but
he lost his way in the wilderness.[28] Gabriel in human shape
appeared before him, and asked him, saying, "What seekest
thou?"[29] And he answered, "I seek my brethren."
Whereto the angel replied, "Thy brethren have given up
the Divine qualities of love and mercy.[30] Through a prophetic
revelation they learned that the Hivites were preparing
to make war upon them, and therefore they departed
hence to go to Dothan. And they had to leave this place for
other reasons, too. I heard, while I was still standing behind
the curtain that veils the Divine throne, that this day
the Egyptian bondage would begin, and thou wouldst be
the first to be subjected to it."[31] Then Gabriel led Joseph to
Dothan.[32]
When his brethren saw him afar off, they conspired
against him, to slay him. Their first plan was to set dogs
on him. Simon then spoke to Levi, "Behold, the master of
dreams cometh with a new dream, he whose descendant
Jeroboam will introduce the worship of Baal. Come now,
therefore, and let us slay him, that we may see what will
become of his dreams." But God spoke: "Ye say, We shall
see what will become of his dreams, and I say likewise, We
shall see, and the future shall show whose word will stand,
yours or Mine."[33]
Simon and Gad set about slaying Joseph, and he fell upon
his face, and entreated them: "Have mercy with me, my
brethren, have pity on the heart of my father Jacob. Lay
not your hands upon me, to spill innocent blood, for I have
done no evil unto you. But if I have done evil unto you,
then chastise me with a chastisement, but your hands lay
not upon me, for the sake of our father Jacob." These
words touched Zebulon, and he began to lament and weep,
and the wailing of Joseph rose up together with his brother's,
and when Simon and Gad raised their hands against
him to execute their evil design, Joseph took refuge behind
Zebulon, and supplicated his other brethren to have mercy
upon him. Then Reuben arose, and he said, "Brethren, let
us not slay him, but let us cast him into one of the dry pits,
which our fathers dug without finding water." That was
due to the providence of God; He had hindered the water
from rising in them in order that Joseph's rescue might be
accomplished, and the pits remained dry until Joseph was
safe in the hands of the Ishmaelites.[34]
Reuben had several reasons for interceding in behalf of
Joseph. He knew that he as the oldest of the brethren would
be held responsible by their father, if any evil befell him.
Besides, Reuben was grateful to Joseph for having reckoned
him among the eleven sons of Jacob in narrating his
dream of the sun, moon, and stars. Since his disrespectful
bearing toward Jacob, he had not thought himself worthy
of being considered one of his sons.[35] First Reuben tried
to restrain his brethren from their purpose, and he addressed
them in words full of love and compassion. But when he
saw that neither words nor entreaties would change their
intention, he begged them, saying: "My brethren, at least
hearken unto me in respect of this, that ye be not so wicked
and cruel as to slay him. Lay no hand upon your brother,
shed no blood, cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness,
and let him perish thus.[36]
Then Reuben went away from his brethren, and he hid
in the mountains, so that he might be able to hasten back
in a favorable moment and draw Joseph forth from the pit
and restore him to his father. He hoped his reward would
be pardon for the transgression he had committed against
Jacob.[37] His good intention was frustrated, yet Reuben was
rewarded by God, for God gives a recompense not only for
good deeds, but for good intentions as well.[38] As he was
the first of the brethren of Joseph to make an attempt to
save him, so the city of Bezer in the tribe of Reuben was
the first of the cities of refuge appointed to safeguard the
life of the innocent that seek help.[39] Furthermore God
spake to Reuben, saying: "As thou wast the first to endeavor
to restore a child unto his father, so Hosea, one of
thy descendants, shall be the first to endeavor to lead Israel
back to his heavenly Father."[40]
The brethren accepted Reuben's proposition, and Simon
seized Joseph, and cast him into a pit swarming with snakes
and scorpions, beside which was another unused pit, filled
with offal.[41] As though this were not enough torture, Simon
bade his brethren fling great stones at Joseph. In his later
dealings with this brother Simon, Joseph showed all the
forgiving charitableness of his nature. When Simon was
held in durance in Egypt as a hostage, Joseph, so far from
bearing him a grudge, ordered crammed poultry to be set
before him at all his meals.[42]
Not satisfied with exposing Joseph to the snakes and
scorpions, his brethren had stripped him bare before they
flung him into the pit. They took off his coat of many
colors, his upper garment, his breeches, and his shirt.[43]
However, the reptiles could do him no harm. God heard
his cry of distress, and kept them in hiding in the clefts
and the holes, and they could not come near him. From the
depths of the pit Joseph appealed to his brethren, saying:
"O my brethren, what have I done unto you, and what is
my transgression? Why are you not afraid before God on
account of your treatment of me? Am I not flesh of your
flesh, and bone of your bone? Jacob your father, is he not
also my father? Why do you act thus toward me? And
how will you be able to lift up your countenance before
Jacob? O Judah, Reuben, Simon, Levi, my brethren, deliver
me, I pray you, from the dark place into which you
have cast me. Though I committed a trespass against you,
yet are ye children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were
compassionate with the orphan, gave food to the hungry,
and clothed the naked. How, then, can ye withhold your
pity from your own brother, your own flesh and bone? And
though I sinned against you, yet you will hearken unto my
petition for the sake of my father. O that my father knew
what my brethren are doing unto me, and what they spake
unto me!"
To avoid hearing Joseph's weeping and cries of distress,
his brethren passed on from the pit, and stood at a bow-
shot's distance.[44] The only one among them that manifested
pity was Zebulon. For two days and two nights no food
passed his lips on account of his grief over the fate of
Joseph, who had to spend three days and three nights in the
pit before he was sold. During this period Zebulon was
charged by his brethren to keep watch at the pit. He was
chosen to stand guard because he took no part in the meals.
Part of the time Judah also refrained from eating with
the rest, and took turns at watching, because he feared
Simon and Gad might jump down into the pit and put an
end to Joseph's life.[45]
While Joseph was languishing thus, his brethren determined
to kill him. They would finish their meal first, they
said, and then they would fetch him forth and slay him.
When they had done eating, they attempted to say grace, but
Judah remonstrated with them: "We are about to take the
life of a human being, and yet would bless God? That is
not a blessing, that is contemning the Lord.[46] What profit
is it if we slay our brother? Rather will the punishment of
God descend upon us. I have good counsel to give you.
Yonder passeth by a travelling company of Ishmaelites on
their way to Egypt. Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,
and let not our hand be upon him. The Ishmaelites
will take him with them upon their journeyings, and he
will be lost among the peoples of the earth.[47] Let us follow
the custom of former days, for Canaan, too, the son of Ham,
was made a slave for his evil deeds, and so will we do with
our brother Joseph."[48]
THE SALE
While the brethren of Joseph were deliberating upon his
fate, seven Midianitish merchantmen passed near the pit
in which he lay. They noticed that many birds were circling
above it, whence they assumed that there must be water
therein, and, being thirsty, they made a halt in order to refresh
themselves. When they came close, they heard Joseph
screaming and wailing, and they looked down into the pit
and saw a youth of beautiful figure and comely appearance.
They called to him, saying: "Who art thou? Who brought
thee hither, and who cast thee into this pit in the wilderness?"
They all joined together and dragged him up, and
took him along with them when they continued on their
journey. They had to pass his brethren, who called out to
the Midianites: "Why have you done such a thing, to steal
our slave and carry him away with you? We threw the
lad into the pit, because he was disobedient. Now, then, return
our slave to us." The Midianites replied: "What,
this lad, you say, is your slave, your servant? More likely
is it that you all are slaves unto him, for in beauty of form,
in pleasant looks, and fair appearance, he excelleth you all.
Why, then, will you speak lies unto us? We will not give
ear unto your words, nor believe you, for we found the lad
in the wilderness, in a pit, and we took him out, and we will
carry him away with us on our journey." But the sons of
Jacob insisted, "Restore our slave to us, lest you meet death
at the edge of the sword."
Unaffrighted, the Midianites drew their weapons, and,
amid war whoops, they prepared to enter into a combat with
the sons of Jacob. Then Simon rose up, and with bared
sword he sprang upon the Midianites, at the same time
uttering a cry that made the earth reverberate. The Midianites
fell down in great consternation, and he said: "I am
Simon, the son of the Hebrew Jacob, who destroyed the city
of Shechem alone and unaided, and together with my brethren
I destroyed the cities of the Amorites. God do so and
more also, if it be not true that all the Midianites, your
brethren, united with all the Canaanite kings to fight with
me, cannot hold out against me. Now restore the boy you
took from us, else will I give your flesh unto the fowls of
the air and to the beasts of the field."
The Midianites were greatly afraid of Simon, and, terrified
and abashed, they spake to the sons of Jacob with little
courage: "Said ye not that ye cast this lad into the pit because
he was of a rebellious spirit? What, now, will ye do
with an insubordinate slave? Rather sell him to us, we are
ready to pay any price you desire." This speech was part
of the purpose of God. He had put it into the heart of
the Midianites to insist upon possessing Joseph, that he
might not remain with his brethren, and be slain by them.[49]
The brethren assented, and Joseph was sold as a slave while
they sat over their meal. God spake, saying: "Over a meal
did ye sell your brother, and thus shall Ahasuerus sell your
descendants to Haman over a meal, and because ye have
sold Joseph to be a slave, therefore shall ye say year after
year, Slaves were we unto Pharaoh in Egypt."[50]
The price paid for Joseph by the Midianites was twenty
pieces of silver, enough for a pair of shoes for each of his
brethren. Thus "they sold the righteous for silver, and the
needy for a pair of shoes." For so handsome a youth as
Joseph the sum paid was too low by far, but his appearance
had been greatly changed by the horrible anguish he bad
endured in the pit with the snakes and the scorpions. He
had lost his ruddy complexion, and he looked sallow and
sickly, and the Midianites were justified in paying a small
sum for him.[51]
The merchantmen had come upon Joseph naked in the
pit, for his brethren had stripped him of all his clothes.
That he might not appear before men in an unseemly condition,
God sent Gabriel down to him, and the angel enlarged
the amulet banging from Joseph's neck until it was
a garment that covered him entirely. Joseph's brethren
were looking after him as he departed with the Midianites,
and when they saw him with clothes upon him, they cried
after them, "Give us his raiment! We sold him naked,
without clothes." His owners refused to yield to their demand,
but they agreed to reimburse the brethren with four
pairs of shoes, and Joseph kept his garment, the same in
which he was arrayed when he arrived in Egypt and was
sold to Potiphar, the same in which he was locked up in
prison and appeared before Pharaoh, and the same he wore
when he was ruler over Egypt.[52]
As an atonement for the twenty pieces of silver taken by
his brethren in exchange for Joseph, God commanded that
every first-born son shall be redeemed by the priest with an
equal amount, and, also, every Israelite must pay annually
to the sanctuary as much as fell to each of the brethren as
his share of the price.[53]
The brethren of Joseph bought shoes for the money, for
they said: "We will not eat it, because it is the price for
the blood of our brother, but we will tread upon him, for
that he spake, he would have dominion over us, and we will
see what will become of his dreams." And for this reason
the ordinance has been commanded, that he who refuseth to
raise up a name in Israel unto his brother that hath died
without having a son, shall have his shoe loosed from off his
foot, and his face shall be spat upon. Joseph's brethren refused
to do aught to preserve his life, and therefore the Lord
loosed their shoes from off their feet, for, when they went
down to Egypt, the slaves of Joseph took their shoes off
their feet as they entered the gates, and they prostrated
themselves before Joseph as before a Pharaoh, and, as they
lay prostrate, they were spat upon, and put to shame before
the Egyptians.[54]
The Midianites pursued their journey to Gilead, but they
soon regretted the purchase they had made. They feared
that Joseph had been stolen in the land of the Hebrews,
though sold to them as a slave, and if his kinsmen should
find him with them, death would be inflicted upon them for
the abduction of a free man. The high-handed manner of
the sons of Jacob confirmed their suspicion, that they might
be capable of man theft. Their wicked deed would explain,
too, why they had accepted so small a sum in exchange for
Joseph. While discussing these points, they saw, coming
their way, the travelling company of Ishmaelites that had
been observed earlier by the sons of Jacob, and they determined
to dispose of Joseph to them, that they might at least
not lose the price they had paid, and might escape the danger
at the same time of being made captives for the crime of
kidnapping a man. And the Ishmaelites bought Joseph from
the Midianites, and they paid the same price as his former
owners had given for him.[55]
JOSEPH'S THREE MASTERS
As a rule the only merchandise with which the Ishmaelites
loaded their camels was pitch and the skins of beasts. By
a providential dispensation they carried bags of perfumery
this time, instead of their usual ill-smelling freight, that
sweet fragrance might be wafted to Joseph on his journey
to Egypt.[56] These aromatic substances were well suited to
Joseph, whose body emitted a pleasant smell, so agreeable
and pervasive that the road along which he travelled was
redolent thereof, and on his arrival in Egypt the perfume
from his body spread over the whole land, and the royal
princesses, following the sweet scent to trace its source,
reached the place in which Joseph was.[57] Even after his
death the same fragrance was spread abroad by his bones,
enabling Moses to distinguish Joseph's remains from all
others, and keep the oath of the children of Israel, to inter
them in the Holy Land.[58]
When Joseph learned that the Ishmaelites were carrying
him to Egypt, he began to weep bitterly at the thought of
being removed so far from Canaan and from his father.
One of the Ishmaelites noticed Joseph's weeping and crying,
and thinking that he found riding uncomfortable, he lifted
him from the back of the camel, and permitted him to
walk on foot. But Joseph continued to weep and sob,
crying incessantly, "O father, father!" Another one of the
caravan, tired of his lamentations, beat him, causing only
the more tears and wails, until the youth, exhausted by his
grief, was unable to move on. Now all the Ishmaelites in
the company dealt out blows to him. They treated him with
relentless cruelty, and tried to silence him by threats. God
saw Joseph's distress, and He sent darkness and terror upon
the Ishmaelites, and their hands grew rigid when they
raised them to inflict a blow. Astonished, they asked themselves
why God did thus unto them upon the road. They
did not know that it was for the sake of Joseph.
The journey was continued until they came to Ephrath,
the place of Rachel's sepulchre. Joseph hastened to his
mother's grave, and throwing himself across it, he groaned
and cried, saying: "O mother, mother, that didst bear me,
arise, come forth and see how thy son hath been sold into
slavery, with none to take pity upon him. Arise, see thy
son, and weep with me over my misfortune, and observe the
heartlessness of my brethren. Awake, O mother, rouse thyself
from thy sleep, rise up and prepare for the conflict with
my brethren, who stripped me even of my shirt, and sold me
as a slave to merchantmen, who in turn sold me to others,
and without mercy they tore me away from my father.
Arise, accuse my brethren before God, and see whom He
will justify in the judgment, and whom He will find guilty.
Arise, O mother, awake from thy sleep, see how my father
is with me in his soul and in his spirit, and comfort him and
ease his heavy heart."
Joseph wept and cried upon the grave of his mother, until,
weary from grief, he lay immovable as a stone. Then
he heard a voice heavy with tears speak to him from
the depths, saying: "My son Joseph, my son, I heard thy
complaints and thy groans, I saw thy tears, and I knew thy
misery, my son. I am grieved for thy sake, and thy affliction
is added to the burden of my affliction. But, my son
Joseph, put thy trust in God, and wait upon Him. Fear not,
for the Lord is with thee, and He will deliver thee from all
evil. Go down into Egypt with thy masters, my son; fear
naught, for the Lord is with thee, O my son." This and
much more like unto it did the voice utter, and then it was
silent. Joseph listened in great amazement at first, and then
he broke out in renewed tears. Angered thereby, one of
the Ishmaelites drove him from his mother's grave with
kicks and curses. Then Joseph entreated his masters to take
him back to his father, who would give them great riches as
a reward. But they said, "Why, thou art a slave! How
canst thou know where thy father is? If thou hadst had a
free man as father, thou wouldst not have been sold twice
for a petty sum." And then their fury against him increased,
they beat him and maltreated him, and he wept
bitter tears.
Now God looked upon the distress of Joseph, and He sent
darkness to enshroud the land once more. A storm raged,
the lightning flashed, and from the thunderbolts the whole
earth trembled, and the Ishmaelites lost their way in their
terror. The beasts and the camels stood still, and, beat them
as their drivers would, they refused to budge from the spot,
but crouched down upon the ground. Then the Ishmaelites
spake to one another, and said: "Why hath God brought
this upon us? What are our sins, what our trespasses, that
such things befall us?" One of them said to the others:
"Peradventure this hath come upon us by reason of the sin
which we have committed against this slave. Let us beg him
earnestly to grant us forgiveness, and if then God will take
pity, and let these storms pass away from us, we shall know
that we suffered harm on account of the injury we inflicted
upon this slave."
The Ishmaelites did according to these words, and they
said unto Joseph: "We have sinned against God and
against thee. Pray to thy God, and entreat Him to take
this death plague from us, for we acknowledge that we have
sinned against Him." Joseph fulfilled their wish, and God
hearkened to his petition, and the storm was assuaged. All
around became calm, the beasts arose from their recumbent
position, and the caravan could proceed upon its way. Now
the Ishmaelites saw plainly that all their trouble had come
upon them for the sake of Joseph, and they spoke one to
another, saying: "We know now that all this evil hath happened
to us on account of this poor fellow, and wherefore
should we bring death upon ourselves by our own doings?
Let us take counsel together, what is to be done with the
slave." One of them advised that Joseph's wish be fulfilled,
and he be taken back to his father. Then they would be
sure of receiving the money they had paid out for him.
This plan was rejected, because they had accomplished a
great part of their journey, and they were not inclined to
retrace their steps. They therefore resolved upon carrying
Joseph to Egypt and selling him there. They would rid
themselves of him in this way, and also receive a great price
for him.
They continued their journey as far as the borders of
Egypt, and there they met four men, descendants of Medan,
the son of Abraham, and to these they sold Joseph for
five shekels. The two companies, the Ishmaelites and the
Medanites, arrived in Egypt upon the same day. The latter,
hearing that Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of
the guard, was seeking a good slave, repaired to him at once,
to try to dispose of Joseph to him. Potiphar was willing to
pay as much as four hundred pieces of silver, for, high as
the price was, it did not seem too great for a slave that
pleased him as much as Joseph. However, he made a
condition. He said to the Medanites: "I will pay you the
price demanded, but you must bring me the person that
sold the slave to you, that I may be in a position to find out
all about him, for the youth seems to me to be neither a
slave nor the son of a slave. He appears to be of noble
blood. I must convince myself that he was not stolen." The
Medanites brought the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, and they
testified that Joseph was a slave, that they had owned him,
and had sold him to the Medanites. Potiphar rested satisfied
with this report, paid the price asked for Joseph, and the
Medanites and the Ishmaelites went their way.
JOSEPH'S COAT BROUGHT TO HIS FATHER
No sooner was the sale of Joseph an accomplished fact
than the sons of Jacob repented of their deed. They even
hastened after the Midianites to ransom Joseph, but their
efforts to overtake them were vain, and they had to accept
the inevitable. Meantime Reuben had rejoined his brethren.[59]
He had been so deeply absorbed in penances, in praying
and studying the Torah, in expiation of his sin against
his father, that he had not been able to remain with his
brethren and tend the flocks, and thus it happened that he
was not on the spot when Joseph was sold.[60] His first errand
was to go to the pit, in the hope of finding Joseph there. In
that case he would have carried him off and restored him
to his father clandestinely, without the knowledge of his
brethren. He stood at the opening and called again and
again, "Joseph, Joseph!" As he received no answer, he
concluded that Joseph had perished, either by reason of
terror or as the result of a snake bite, and he descended into
the pit, only to find that he was not there, either living or
dead. He mounted to the top again, and rent his clothes,
and cried out, "The lad is not there, and what answer shall
I give to my father, if he be dead?" Then Reuben returned
unto his brethren, and told them that Joseph bad vanished
from the pit, whereat he was deeply grieved, because he,
being the oldest of the sons, was responsible to their father
Jacob. The brethren made a clean breast of what they had
done with Joseph, and they related to him how they had
tried to make good their evil deed, and how their efforts had
been vain.
Now there remained nothing to do but invent a plausible
explanation for their brother's disappearance to give to
Jacob. First of all, however, they took an oath not to betray
to his father or any human being what they bad actually
done with Joseph. He who violated the oath would be put
to the sword by the rest. Then they took counsel together
about what to say to Jacob. It was Issachar's advice to tear
Joseph's coat of many colors, and dip it in the blood of a
little kid of the goats, to make Jacob believe that his son had
been torn by a wild beast.[61] The reason he suggested a kid
was because its blood looks like human blood. In expiation
of this act of deception, it was ordained that a kid be used
as an atonement sacrifice when the Tabernacle was
dedicated.[62]
Simon opposed this suggestion. He did not want to relinquish
Joseph's coat, and he threatened to hew down any
one that should attempt to wrest it from him by force. The
reason for his vehemence was that he was very much enraged
against his brethren for not having slain Joseph. But
they threatened him in turn, saying, "If thou wilt not give
up the coat, we shall say that thou didst execute the evil deed
thyself." At that Simon surrendered it,[63] and Naphtali
brought it to Jacob, handing it to him with the words:
"When we were driving our herds homeward, we found
this garment covered with blood and dust on the highway,
a little beyond Shechem. Know now whether it be thy son's
coat or not." Jacob recognized Joseph's coat, and, overwhelmed
by grief, he fell prostrate, and long lay on the
ground motionless, like a stone. Then he arose, and set up
a loud cry, and wept, saying, "It is my son's coat."
In great haste Jacob dispatched a slave to his sons, to bid
them come to him, that he might learn more about what had
happened. In the evening they all came, their garments
rent, and dust strewn upon their heads. When they confirmed
all that Naphtali had told him, Jacob broke out in
mourning and lamentation: "It is my son's coat; an evil
beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in
pieces. I sent him to you to see whether it was well with
you, and well with the flock. He went to do my errand, and
while I thought him to be with you, the misfortune befell."
Thereto the sons of Jacob made reply: "He came to us not
at all. Since we left thee, we have not set eyes on him."
After these words, Jacob could doubt no longer that
Joseph bad been torn by wild beasts, and he mourned for
his son, saying: "O my son Joseph, my son, I sent thee to
inquire after the welfare of thy brethren, and now thou art
torn by wild beasts. It is my fault that this evil chance
hath come upon thee. I am distressed for thee, my son, I
am sorely distressed. How sweet was thy life to me, and
how bitter is thy death! Would God I had died for thee, O
Joseph, my son, for now I am distressed on thy account.
O my son Joseph, where art thou, and where is thy soul?
Arise, arise from thy place, and look upon my grief for
thee. Come and count the tears that roll down my cheeks,
and bring the tale of them before God, that His wrath be
turned away from me. O Joseph, my son, how painful and
appalling was thy death! None hath died a death like thine
since the world doth stand. I know well that it came to
pass by reason of my sins. O that thou wouldst return and
see the bitter sorrow thy misfortune hath brought upon me!
But it is true, it was not I that created thee, and formed
thee. I gave thee neither spirit nor soul, but God created
thee. He formed thy bones, covered them with flesh,
breathed the breath of life into thy nostrils, and then gave
thee unto me. And God who gave thee unto me, He hath
taken thee from me, and from Him hath this dispensation
come upon me. What the Lord doeth is well done!" In
these words and many others like them Jacob mourned and
bewailed his son, until he fell to the ground prostrate and
immovable.
When the sons of Jacob saw the vehemence of their
father's grief, they repented of their deed, and wept bitterly.
Especially Judah was grief-stricken. He laid his father's
head upon his knees, and wiped his tears away as they
flowed from his eyes, while he himself broke out in violent
weeping. The sons of Jacob and their wives all sought to
comfort their father. They arranged a great memorial service,
and they wept and mourned over Joseph's death and
over their father's sorrow.[64] But Jacob refused to be
comforted.
The tidings of his son's death caused the loss of two
members of Jacob's family. Bilhah and Dinah could not
survive their grief. Bilhah passed away the very day
whereon the report reached Jacob, and Dinah died soon
after, and so he had three losses to mourn in one month.
He received the tidings of Joseph's death in the seventh
month, Tishri, and on the tenth day of the month, and therefore
the children of Israel are bidden to weep and afflict
their souls on this day. Furthermore, on this day the sin
offering of atonement shall be a kid of the goats, because the
sons of Jacob transgressed with a kid, in the blood of which
they dipped Joseph's coat, and thus they brought sorrow
upon Jacob.[65]
When he had recovered somewhat from the stunning blow
which the tidings of his favorite son's death had dealt him,
Jacob rose up from the ground and addressed his sons, tears
streaming down his cheeks all the while. "Up," he said,
"take your swords and your bows, go out in the field, and
make search, perhaps you will find the body of my son, and
you will bring it to me, so that I may bury it. Keep a lookout,
too, for beasts of prey, and catch the first you meet.
Seize it and bring it to me. It may be that God will have
pity upon my sorrow, and put the beast between your hands
that hath torn my child in pieces, and I will take my revenge
upon it."
The sons of Jacob set out on the morrow to do the bidding
of their father, while he remained at home and wept and
lamented for Joseph. In the wilderness they found a wolf,
which they caught and brought to Jacob alive, saying:
"Here is the first wild beast we encountered, and we have
brought it to thee. But of thy son's corpse we saw not a
trace." Jacob seized the wolf, and, amid loud weeping, he
addressed these words to him: "Why didst thou devour my
son Joseph, without any fear of the God of the earth, and
without taking any thought of the grief thou wouldst bring
down upon me? Thou didst devour my son without reason,
he was guilty of no manner of transgression, and thou didst
roll the responsibility for his death upon me. But God
avengeth him that is persecuted."
To grant consolation to Jacob, God opened the mouth of
the beast, and he spake: "As the Lord liveth, who hath
created me, and as thy soul liveth, my lord, I have not seen
thy son, and I did not rend him in pieces. From a land afar
off I came to seek mine own son, who suffered a like fate
with thine. He hath disappeared, and I know not whether
he be dead or alive, and therefore I came hither ten days ago
to find him. This day, while I was searching for him, thy
sons met me, and they seized me, and, adding more grief to
my grief over my lost son, they brought me hither to thee.
This is my story, and now, O son of man, I am in thy hands,
thou canst dispose of me this day as seemeth well in thy
sight, but I swear unto thee by the God that bath created me,
I have not seen thy son, nor have I torn him in pieces, never
hath the flesh of man come into my mouth." Astonished
at the speech of the wolf, Jacob let him go, unhindered,
whithersoever he would, but he mourned his son Joseph as
before.[66]
It is a law of nature that however much one may grieve
over the death of a dear one, at the end of a year consolation
finds its way to the heart of the mourner. But the disappearance
of a living man can never be wiped out of one's
memory. Therefore the fact that he was inconsolable made
Jacob suspect that Joseph was alive, and he did not give
entire credence to the report of his sons. His vague suspicion
was strengthened by something that happened to him.
He went up into the mountains, hewed twelve stones out of
the quarry, and wrote the names of his sons thereon, their
constellations, and the months corresponding to the
constellations,
a stone for a son, thus, "Reuben, Ram, Nisan," and
so for each of his twelve sons. Then he addressed the
stones and bade them bow down before the one marked with
Reuben's name, constellation, and month, and they did not
move. He gave the same order regarding the stone marked
for Simon, and again the stones stood still. And so he did
respecting all his sons, until he reached the stone for Joseph.
When he spoke concerning this one, "I command you to fall
down before Joseph," they all prostrated themselves. He
tried the same test with other things, with trees and sheaves,
and always the result was the same, and Jacob could not but
feel that his suspicion was true, Joseph was alive.[67]
There was a reason why God did not reveal the real fate
of Joseph to Jacob. When his brethren sold Joseph, their
fear that the report of their iniquity might reach the ears of
Jacob led them to pronounce the ban upon any that should
betray the truth without the consent of all the others. Judah
advanced the objection that a ban is invalid unless it is decreed
in the presence of ten persons, and there were but nine
of them, for Reuben and Benjamin were not there when the
sale of Joseph was concluded. To evade the difficulty, the
brothers counted God as the tenth person, and therefore God
felt bound to refrain from revealing the true state of things
to Jacob. He had regard, as it were, for the ban pronounced
by the brethren of Joseph.[68] And as God kept the truth a
secret from Jacob, Isaac did not feel justified in acquainting
him with his grandson's fate, which was well known to him,
for he was a prophet. Whenever he was in the company of
Jacob, he mourned with him, but as soon as he quitted him,
he left off from manifesting grief, because he knew that
Joseph lived.[69]
Jacob was thus the only one among Joseph's closest kinsmen
that remained in ignorance of his son's real fortunes,
and he was the one of them all that had the greatest reason
for regretting his death. He spoke: "The covenant that
God made with me regarding the twelve tribes is null and
void now. I did strive in vain to establish the twelve tribes,
seeing that now the death of Joseph hath destroyed the covenant.
All the works of God were made to correspond to the
number of the tribes--twelve are the signs of the zodiac,
twelve the months, twelve hours hath the day, twelve the
night, and twelve stones are set in Aaron's breastplate--and now
that Joseph hath departed, the covenant of the
tribes is set at naught."
He could not replace the lost son by entering into a new
marriage, for he had made the promise to his father-in-law
to take none beside his daughters to wife, and this promise,
as he interpreted it, held good after the death of Laban's
daughters as well as while they were alive.[70]
Beside grief over his loss and regret at the breaking of
the covenant of the tribes, Jacob had still another reason for
mourning the death of Joseph. God had said to Jacob, "If
none of thy sons dies during thy lifetime, thou mayest look
upon it as a token that thou wilt not be put in Gehenna after
thy death." Thinking Joseph to be dead, Jacob had his own
fate to bewail, too, for he now believed that he was doomed
to Gehenna.[71] His mourning lasted all of twenty-two years,
corresponding to the number of the years he had dwelt
apart from his parents, and had not fulfilled the duty of a
son toward them.[72]
In his mourning Jacob put sackcloth upon his loins, and
therein be became a model for the kings and princes in
Israel, for David, Ahab, Joram, and Mordecai did likewise
when a great misfortune befell the nation.[73]
JUDAH AND HIS SONS
When the sons of Jacob saw how inconsolable their father
was, they went to Judah, and said to him, "This great misfortune
is thy fault." Judah replied: "It was I that asked
you, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his
blood? and now you say the sin lies at my door." The
brethren continued to argue: "But it was thou that didst
say, Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and we followed
thy advice. Hadst thou said, Let us restore him to
his father, we had heeded these words of thine as well."
The brethren hereupon deprived Judah of his dignity, for
hitherto he had been their king, and they also excluded him
from their fellowship, and he had to seek his fortune alone.[74]
Through the mediation of his chief shepherd Hirah, he became
acquainted with the Canaanitish king of Adullam,
Barsan by name. Though he was well aware of the corruption
of the generations of Canaan, he permitted passion to
get the better of him, and took a Canaanite to wife. The
Adullamite king gave a banquet in his honor, at which his
daughter Bath-shua poured the wine, and intoxicated by
wine and passion Judah took her and married her.[75] Judah's
action may be compared to that of the lion who passes a carrion
and eats of it, though a cur preceding him on the way
had refused to touch it. Even Esau came in time to acknowledge
that the daughters of Canaan were wicked, and
the lion Judah must needs take one of them to wife.[76] The
holy spirit cried out against Judah when he married the
Canaanite woman of Adullam, saying, "The glory of Israel
went down in Adullam."[77]
The first-born son of Judah from this marriage was
named Er, "the childless," a suitable name for him that
died without begetting any issue.[78] At Judah's desire, Er
married Tamar, a daughter of Aram, the son of Shem, but
because she was not a Canaanitish woman, his mother used
artifices against her, and he did not know her, and an angel
of the Lord killed him on the third day after his wedding.
Then Judah gave Tamar to his second son Onan, the marriage
taking place before the week of the wedding festivities
for Er had elapsed. A whole year Onan lived with Tamar
without knowing her, and when, finally, Judah uttered
threats against him on that account, he did, indeed, have
intercourse with her, but, giving heed to the injunctions of
his mother, he took care not to beget any children with her.[79]
He, too, died on account of his iniquity, and his name Onan
"mourning," was well chosen, for very soon was his father
called upon to mourn for him.[80] Now Judah conceived the
plan of marrying Tamar to his youngest son Shelah, but his
wife would not permit it. She hated Tamar because she
was not of the daughters of Canaan like herself, and while
Judah was away from home, Bath-shua chose a wife for her
son Shelah from the daughters of Canaan. Judah was very
angry at Bath-shua for what she had done, and also God
poured out His wrath upon her, for on account of her wickedness
she had to die,[81] and her death happened a year after
that of her two sons.
Now that Bath-shua was dead, Judah might have carried
out his wish and married Tamar to his youngest son. But
he waited for Shelah to grow up, because he feared for his
life, seeing that Tamar had brought death to two husbands
before him. So she remained a widow in her father's house
for two years. Endowed with the gift of prophecy, Tamar
knew that she was appointed to be the ancestress of David
and of the Messiah, and she determined to venture upon an
extreme measure in order to make sure of fulfilling her
destiny.[82] Accordingly, when the holy spirit revealed to her
that Judah was going up to Timnah,[83] she put off from her
the garments of her widowhood, and sat in the gate of Abraham's
tent, and there she encountered Judah.[84] All the time
she lived in the house of her father-in-law, he had never
seen her face, for in her virtue and chastity she had always
kept it covered, and now when Judah met her, he did not
recognize her. It was as a reward for her modesty that God
made her to become the mother of the royal line of David,
and the ancestress of Isaiah, and his father Amoz as well,
both of whom were prophets and of royal blood.[85]
Judah passed Tamar by without paying any attention to
her, and she raised her eyes heavenward, and said, "O Lord
of the world, shall I go forth empty from the house of this
pious man?" Then God sent the angel that is appointed
over the passion of love, and he compelled Judah to turn
back.[86] With prophetic caution, Tamar demanded that, as a
pledge for the reward he promised her, he leave with her
his signet, his mantle, and his staff, the symbols of royalty,
judgeship, and Messiahship, the three distinctions of the
descendants of Tamar from her union with Judah. When
Judah sent her the promised reward, a kid of the goats, by
the hand of his friend, in order to receive the pledges from
her hand, Tamar could not be found, and he feared to make
further search for her, lest he be put to shame. But Tamar,
who soon discerned that she was with child, felt very happy
and proud, for she knew that she would be the mother of
kings and redeemers.[87]
When her state became known, she was forcibly dragged
before the court, in which Isaac, Jacob, and Judah sat as
judges. Judah, being the youngest of the judges and the
least considerable in dignity, was the first to give a decision,
for thus it is prescribed in criminal cases, that the prominent
judges overawe not the lesser and influence their decisions
unduly. It was the opinion of Judah that the woman was
liable to the penalty of death by burning, for she was the
daughter of the high priest Shem, and death by fire is the
punishment ordained by the law for a high priest's daughter
that leads an unchaste life.[88]
The preparations for her execution were begun. In vain
Tamar searched for the three pledges she had received from
Judah, she could not find them, and almost she lost hope
that she would be able to wring a confession from her
father-in-law. She raised her eyes to God, and prayed:
"I supplicate Thy grace, O God, Thou who givest ear to
the cry of the distressed in the hour of his need, answer me,
that I may be spared to bring forth the three holy children,
who will be ready to suffer death by fire, for the sake of the
glory of Thy Name." And God granted her petition, and
sent the angel Michael down to succor her. He put the
pledges in a place in which Tamar could not fail to see them,
and she took them, and threw them before the feet of the
judges, with the words: "By the man whose these are am
I with child, but though I perish in the flames, I will not
betray him. I hope in the Lord of the world, that He will
turn the heart of the man, so that he will make confession
thereof." Then Judah rose up, and said: "With your permission,
my brethren, and ye men of my father's house, I
make it known that with what measure a man metes, it shall
be measured unto him, be it for good or for evil, but happy
the man that acknowledgeth his sins. Because I took the
coat of Joseph, and colored it with the blood of a kid, and
then laid it at the feet of my father, saying, Know now
whether it be thy son's coat or not, therefore must I now
confess, before the court, unto whom belongeth this signet,
this mantle, and this staff. But it is better that I be put to
shame in this world than I should be put to shame in the
other world, before the face of my pious father. It is better
that I should perish in a fire that can be extinguished than
I should be cast into hell fire, which devoureth other fires.
Now, then, I acknowledge that Tamar is innocent. By me
is she with child, not because she indulged in illicit passion,
but because I held back her marriage with my son Shelah."
Then a heavenly voice was heard to say: "Ye are both
innocent! It was the will of God that it should happen!"[89]
The open confession of Judah induced his oldest brother
Reuben to make public acknowledgment of the sin he had
committed against his father, for he had kept it a secret until
then.[90]
Tamar gave birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, both
resembling their father in bravery and piety.[91] She called
the first Perez, "mighty," because she said, "Thou didst
show thyself of great power, and it is meet and proper that
thou shouldst be strong, for thou art destined to possess the
kingdom."[92] The second son was called Zerah, because he
appeared from out of the womb before his brother, but he
was forced back again to make way for Perez.[93] These two,
Perez and Zerah. were sent out as spies by Joshua, and the
line that Rahab bound in the window of her house as a
token to the army of the Israelites, she received from Zerah.
It was the scarlet thread that the midwife had bound upon
his hand, to mark him as the child that appeared first and
withdrew.[94]
THE WIVES OF THE SONS OF JACOB
Judah was the first of the sons of Jacob to enter wedlock.
After the sale of Joseph to the Midianites, his brethren had
said to Judah, "If conditions were as before, our father
would provide wives for us now. As it is, he is entirely absorbed
by his grief for Joseph, and we must look about for
wives ourselves. Thou art our chief, and thou shouldst
marry first."
Judah's marriage with Alit the daughter of the noble
merchant Shua, which was consummated at Adullam, the
residence of his friend Hirah, or, as he was called later,
Hiram, king of Tyre, was not happy. His two oldest sons
died, and shortly thereafter his wife also. It was Judah's
punishment for having begun a good deed and left it unfinished,
for "he who begins a good deed, and does not execute
it to the end, brings down misfortune upon his own head."
Judah had rescued Joseph from death, but it was his suggestion
to sell him into slavery. Had he urged them to
restore the lad to his father, his brethren would have obeyed
his words. He was lacking in constancy to persist until he
had completed the work of Joseph's deliverance, which he
had begun.[95]
In the same year, the year of Joseph's misfortune, all his
other brethren married, too. Reuben's wife was named
Elyoram, the daughter of the Canaanite Uzzi of Timnah.
Simon married his sister Dinah first, and then a second wife.
When Simon and Levi massacred the men of Shechem, Dinah
refused to leave the city and follow her brethren, saying,
"Whither shall I carry my shame?" But Simon swore he
would marry her, as he did later, and when she died in
Egypt, he took her body to the Holy Land and buried it
there. Dinah bore her brother a son,[96] and from her union
with Shechem, the son of Hamor, sprang a daughter, Asenath
by name, afterward the wife of Joseph. When this daughter
was born to Dinah, her brethren, the sons of Jacob,
wanted to kill her, that the finger of men might not point at
the fruit of sin in their father's house. But Jacob took a
piece of tin, inscribed the Holy Name upon it, and bound it
about the neck of the girl, and he put her under a thornbush,
and abandoned her there. An angel carried the babe
down to Egypt, where Potiphar adopted her as his child,
for his wife was barren. Years thereafter, when Joseph
travelled through the land as viceroy, the maidens threw
gifts at him, to make him turn his eyes in their direction
and give them the opportunity of gazing upon his beauty.
Asenath possessed nothing that would do as a present, therefore
she took off the amulet suspended from her neck, and
gave it to him. Thus Joseph became acquainted with her
lineage, and he married her, seeing that she was not an
Egyptian, but one connected with the house of Jacob
through her mother.[97]
Beside the son of Dinah, Simon had another son, whose
name was Saul, by Bunah, the damsel he had taken captive
in the campaign against Shechem.
Levi and Issachar married two daughters of Jobab, the
grandson of Eber; the wife of the former was named
Adinah, the wife of the latter, Aridah. Dan's wife was
Elflalet, a daughter of the Moabite Hamudan. For a long
time their marriage remained childless, finally they had a
son, whom they called Hushim. Gad and Naphtali married
women from Haran, two sisters, daughters of Amoram, a
grandson of Nahor. Naphtali's wife, Merimit, was the
older of the two, and the younger, the wife of Gad, was
named Uzit.
Asher's first wife was Adon, the daughter of Ephlal, a
grandson of Ishmael. She died childless, and he married a
second wife, Hadorah, a daughter of Abimael, the grandson
of Shem. She had been married before, her first husband
having been Malchiel, also a grandson of Shem, and the
issue of this first marriage was a daughter, Serah by
name. When Asher brought his wife to Canaan, the three
year old orphan Serah came with them. She was raised in
the house of Jacob, and she walked in the way of pious
children, and God gave her beauty, wisdom, and sagacity.
Zebulon's wife was Maroshah, the daughter of Molad, a
grandson of Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah.
For Benjamin, when he was but ten years old, Jacob took
Mahlia to wife, the daughter of Aram, the grandson of
Terah, and she bore him five sons. At the age of eighteen
he married a second wife, Arbat, the daughter of Zimran,
a son of Abraham by Keturah, and by her also he had five
sons.[98]
JOSEPH THE SLAVE OF POTIPHAR
When Joseph was sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites, he
kept silent out of respect for his brethren, and did not tell
his masters that he was a son of Jacob, a great and powerful
man. Even when he came to the Midianites with the Ishmaelites,
and the former asked after his parentage, he still
said he was a slave, only in order not to put his brethren to
shame. But the most distinguished of the Midianites rebuked
Joseph, saying, "Thou art no slave, thy appearance
betrayeth thee," and he threatened him with death unless he
acknowledged the truth. Joseph, however, was steadfast,
he would not act treacherously toward his brethren.
Arrived in Egypt, the owners of Joseph could come to no
agreement regarding him. Each desired to have sole and
exclusive possession of him. They therefore decided to
leave him with a shopkeeper until they should come back to
Egypt again with their merchandise. And God let Joseph
find grace in the sight of the shopkeeper. All that he had,
his whole house, he put into Joseph's hand, and therefore
the Lord blessed him with much silver and gold, and Joseph
remained with him for three months and five days.
At that time there came from Memphis the wife of Potiphar,
and she cast her eyes upon Joseph, of whose comeliness
of person she had heard from the eunuchs. She
told her husband how that a certain shopkeeper had grown
rich through a young Hebrew, and she added: "But it is
said that the youth was stolen away out of the land of
Canaan. Go, therefore, and sit in judgment upon his owner,
and take the youth unto thy house, that the God of the
Hebrews may bless thee, for the grace of heaven rests upon
the youth."
Potiphar summoned the shopkeeper, and when he appeared
before him, he spoke harshly to him, saying: "What
is this I hear? that thou stealest souls from the land of
Canaan, and dost carry on traffic with them?" The shop-keeper
protested his innocence, and he could not be made to
recede from his assertion, that a company of Ishmaelites
had left Joseph in his charge temporarily, until they should
return. Potiphar had him stripped naked and beaten, but
he continued to reiterate the same statement.
Then Potiphar summoned Joseph. The youth prostrated
himself before this chief of the eunuchs, for he was third in
rank of the officers of Pharaoh. And he addressed Joseph,
and said, "Art thou a slave or a free-born man?" and Joseph
replied, "A slave." Potiphar continued to question
him, "Whose slave art thou?" Joseph: "I belong to the
Ishmaelites." Potiphar: "How wast thou made a slave?"
Joseph: "They bought me in the land of Canaan."
But Potiphar refused to give credence to what he said,
and he had also him stripped and beaten. The wife of Potiphar,
standing by the door, saw how Joseph was abused, and
she sent word to her husband, "Thy verdict is unjust, for
thou punishest the free-born youth that was stolen away
from his place as though he were the one that had committed
a crime." As Joseph held firmly to what he had said,
Potiphar ordered him to prison, until his masters should return.
In her sinful longing for him, his wife wanted to
have Joseph in her own house, and she remonstrated with
her husband in these words: "Wherefore dost thou keep
the captive, nobly-born slave a prisoner? Thou shouldst
rather set him at liberty and have him serve thee." He
answered, "The law of the Egyptians does not permit us to
take what belongs to another before all titles are made
clear," and Joseph stayed in prison for twenty-four days,
until the return of the Ishmaelites to Egypt.
Meanwhile they had heard somewhere that Joseph was
the son of Jacob, and they therefore said to him: "Why
didst thou pretend that thou wast a slave? See, we have
information that thou art the son of a powerful man in
Canaan, and thy father mourns for thee in sackcloth."
Joseph was on the point of divulging his secret, but he kept
a check upon himself for the sake of his brethren, and he
repeated that he was a slave.
Nevertheless the Ishmaelites decided to sell him, that he
be not found in their hands, for they feared the revenge of
Jacob, who, they knew, was in high favor with the Lord
and with men. The shopkeeper begged the Ishmaelites to
rescue him from the legal prosecution of Potiphar, and clear
him of the suspicion of man theft. The Ishmaelites in turn
had a conference with Joseph, and bade him testify before
Potiphar that they had bought him for money. He did so,
and then the chief of the eunuchs liberated him from prison,
and dismissed all parties concerned.
With the permission of her husband, Potiphar's wife sent
a eunuch to the Ishmaelites, bidding him to buy Joseph, but
he returned and reported that they demanded an exorbitant
price for the slave. She dispatched a second eunuch, charging
him to conclude the bargain, and though they asked
one mina of gold, or even two, he was not to be sparing of
money, he was to be sure to buy the slave and bring him to
her. The eunuch gave the Ishmaelites eighty pieces of gold
for Joseph, telling his mistress, however, that he had paid
out a hundred pieces. Joseph noticed the deception, but he
kept silent, that the eunuch might not be put to shame.[99]
Thus Joseph became the slave of the idolatrous priest
Potiphar, or Poti-phera, as he was sometimes called.[100] He
had secured possession of the handsome youth for a lewd
purpose, but the angel Gabriel mutilated him in such manner
that he could not accomplish it.[101] His master soon had
occasion to notice that Joseph was as pious as he was beautiful,
for whenever he was occupied with his ministrations,
he would whisper a prayer: "O Lord of the world, Thou
art my trust, Thou art my protection. Let me find grace
and favor in Thy sight and in the sight of all that see me,
and in the sight of my master Potiphar." When Potiphar
noticed the movement of his lips, he said to Joseph, "Dost
thou purpose to cast a spell upon me?" "Nay," replied
the youth, "I am beseeching God to let me find favor in
thine eyes."
His prayer was heard. Potiphar convinced himself that
God was with Joseph. Sometimes he would make a test of
Joseph's miraculous powers. If he brought him a glass of
hippocras, he would say, "I would rather have wine mixed
with absinthe," and straightway the spiced wine was
changed into bitter wine. Whatever he desired, he could be
sure to get from Joseph, and he saw clearly that God fulfilled
the wishes of his slave. Therefore he put all the keys of
his house into his hand, and he knew not aught that was
with him,[102] keeping back nothing from Joseph but his
wife.[103]
Seeing that the Shekinah rested upon him, Potiphar treated
Joseph not as a slave, but as a member of his family, for he
said, "This youth is not cut out for a slave's work, he is
worthy of a prince's place."[104] Accordingly, he provided
instruction for him in the arts, and ordered him to have
better fare than the other slaves.[105]
Joseph thanked God for his new and happy state. He
prayed, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, that Thou hast caused
me to forget my father's house." What made his present
fortunes so agreeable was that he was removed from the
envy and jealousy of his brethren. He said: "When I was
in my father's house, and he gave me something pretty, my
brethren begrudged me the present, and now, O Lord, I
thank Thee that I live amid plenty." Free from anxieties,
he turned his attention to his external appearance. He
painted his eyes, dressed his hair, and aimed to be elegant
in his walk. But God spake to him, saying, "Thy father
is mourning in sackcloth and ashes, while thou dost eat,
drink, and dress thy hair. Therefore I will stir up thy mistress
against thee, and thou shalt be embarrassed."[106] Thus
Joseph's secret wish was fulfilled, that he might be permitted
to prove his piety under temptation, as the piety of his
fathers had been tested.[107]
JOSEPH AND ZULEIKA
"Throw the stick up in the air, it will always return to its
original place." Like Rachel his mother, Joseph was of
ravishing beauty, and the wife of his master was filled with
invincible passion for him."[108] Her feeling was heightened by
the astrologic forecast that she was destined to have descendants
through Joseph. This was true, but not in the sense in
which she understood the prophecy. Joseph married her
daughter Asenath later on, and she bore him children, thus
fulfilling what had been read in the stars."[109]
In the beginning she did not confess her love to Joseph.
She tried first to seduce him by artifice. On the pretext of
visiting him, she would go to him at night, and, as she had
no sons, she would pretend a desire to adopt him. Joseph
then prayed to God in her behalf, and she bore a son. However,
she continued to embrace him as though he were her
own child, yet he did not notice her evil designs. Finally,
when he recognized her wanton trickery, he mourned many
days, and endeavored to turn her away from her sinful passion
by the word of God. She, on her side, often threatened
him with death, and surrendered him to castigations in order
to make him amenable to her will, and when these means
had no effect upon Joseph, she sought to seduce him with
enticements. She would say, "I promise thee, thou shalt rule
over me and all I have, if thou wilt but give thyself up to
me. and thou shalt be to me the same as my lawful husband."
But Joseph was mindful of the words of his fathers, and he
went into his chamber, and fasted, and prayed to God, that
He would deliver him from the toils of the Egyptian woman.
In spite of the mortifications he practiced, and though he
gave the poor and the sick the food apportioned to him, his
master thought he lived a luxurious life, for those that fast
for the glory of God are made beautiful of countenance.
The wife of Potiphar would frequently speak to her husband
in praise of Joseph's chastity in order that he might
conceive no suspicion of the state of her feelings. And,
again, she would encourage Joseph secretly, telling him not
to fear her husband, that he was convinced of his purity of
life, and though one should carry tales to him about
Joseph and herself, Potiphar would lend them no credence.
And when she saw that all this was ineffectual , she approached
him with the request that he teach her the word
of God, saying, "If it be thy wish that I forsake idol worship,
then fulfil my desire, and I will persuade that Egyptian
husband of mine to abjure the idols, and we shall walk in the
law of thy God." Joseph replied, "The Lord desireth not
that those who fear Him shall walk in impurity, nor hath He
pleasure in the adulterer."
Another time she came to him, and said, "If thou wilt not
do my desire, I will murder the Egyptian and wed with thee
according to the law." Whereat Joseph rent his garment,
and he said, "O woman, fear the Lord, and do not execute
this evil deed, that thou mayest not bring destruction down
upon thyself, for I will proclaim thy impious purposes to all
in public."
Again, she sent him a dish prepared with magic spells, by
means of which she hoped to get him into her power. But
when the eunuch set it before him, he saw the image of a
man handing him a sword together with the dish, and,
warned by the vision, he took good care not to taste of the
food. A few days later his mistress came to him, and asked
him why he had not eaten of what she had sent him. He reproached
her, saying, "How couldst thou tell me, I do not
come nigh unto the idols, but only unto the Lord? The God
of my fathers hath revealed thy iniquity to me through an
angel, but that thou mayest know that the malice of the
wicked has no power over those who fear God in purity, I
shall eat thy food before thine eyes, and the God of my
fathers and the angel of Abraham will be with me." The
wife of Potiphar fell upon her face at the feet of Joseph, and
amid tears she promised not to commit this sin again.
But her unholy passion for Joseph did not depart from
her, and her distress over her unfulfilled wish made her look
so ill that her husband said to her, "Why is thy countenance
fallen?" And she replied, "I have a pain at my heart, and
the groanings of my spirit oppress me."
Once when she was alone with Joseph, she rushed toward
him, crying, "I will throttle myself, or I will jump into a well
or a pit, if thou wilt not yield thyself to me." Noticing her
extreme agitation, Joseph endeavored to calm her with these
words, "Remember, if thou makest away with thyself, thy
husband's concubine, Asteho, thy rival, will maltreat thy
children, and extirpate thy memory from the earth." These
words, gently spoken, had the opposite effect from that intended.
They only inflamed her passion the more by feeding
her hopes. She said: "There, seest thou, thou dost love me
now! It sufficeth for me that thou takest thought for me
and for the safety of my children. I expect now that my
desire will be fulfilled." She did not know that Joseph spoke
as he did for the sake of God, and not for her sake.[110]
His mistress, or, as she was called, Zuleika, pursued him
day after day with her amorous talk and her flattery, saying:
"How fair is thy appearance, how comely thy form! Never
have I seen so well-favored a slave as thou art." Joseph
would reply: "God, who formed me in my mother's womb,
hath created all men."
Zuleika: "How beautiful are thine eyes, with which thou
hast charmed all Egyptians, both men and women!"
Joseph: "Beautiful as they may be while I am alive, so
ghastly they will be to look upon in the grave."
Zuleika: "How lovely and pleasant are thy words! I
pray thee, take thy harp, play and also sing, that I may hear
thy words."
Joseph: "Lovely and pleasant are my words when I proclaim
the praise of my God."
Zuleika: "How beautiful is thy hair! Take my golden
comb, and comb it."
Joseph: "How long wilt thou continue to speak thus to
me? Leave off! It were better for thee to care for thy
household."
Zuleika: "There is nothing in my house that I care for,
save thee alone."
But Joseph's virtue was unshaken. While she spoke thus,
he did not so much as raise his eyes to look at his
mistress.[111]
He remained equally steadfast when she lavished gifts upon
him, for she provided him with garments of one kind for the
morning, another for noon, and a third kind for the evening.
Nor could threats move him. She would say, "I will bring
false accusations against thee before thy master," and Joseph
would reply, "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed."
Or, "I will deprive thee of food;" whereupon
Joseph, "The Lord giveth food to the hungry." Or, "I
will have thee thrown into prison;" whereupon Joseph,
"The Lord looseth the prisoners." Or, "I will put heavy
labor upon thee that will bend thee double;" whereupon
Joseph, "The Lord raiseth up them that are bowed down."
Or, "I will blind thine eyes;" whereupon Joseph, "The
Lord openeth the eyes of the blind."[112]
When she began to exercise her blandishments upon him,
he rejected them with the words, "I fear my master." But
Zuleika would say, "I will kill him." Joseph replied with
indignation, "Not enough that thou wouldst make an adulterer
of me, thou wouldst have me be a murderer, besides?"
And he spoke furthermore, saying, "I fear the Lord my
God!"
Zuleika: "Nonsense! He is not here to see thee!
Joseph: "Great is the Lord and highly to be praised, and
His greatness is unsearchable."
Thereupon she took Joseph into her chamber, where an
idol hung above the bed. This she covered, that it might not
be a witness of what she was about to do. Joseph said:
"Though thou coverest up the eyes of the idol, remember,
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth.
Yes," continued Joseph, "I have many reasons not to do this
thing for the sake of God. Adam was banished from Paradise
on account of violating a light command; how much
more should I have to fear the punishment of God, were I to
commit so grave a sin as adultery! The Lord is in the habit
of choosing a favorite member of our family as a sacrifice
unto Himself. Perhaps He desireth to make choice of me,
but if I do thy will, I make myself unfit to be a sacrifice unto
God. Also the Lord is in the habit of appearing suddenly,
in visions of the night, unto those that love Him. Thus did
He appear unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I fear that
He may appear unto me at the very moment while I am defiling
myself with thee. And as I fear God, so I fear my
father, who withdrew the birthright from his first-born son
Reuben, on account of an immoral act, and gave it to me.
Were I to fulfil thy desire, I would share the fate of my
brother Reuben."[113]
With such words, Joseph endeavored to cure the wife of
his master of the wanton passion she had conceived for him,
while he took heed to keep far from a heinous sin, not from
fear of the punishment that would follow, nor out of
consideration for the opinion of men, but because he desired to
sanctify the Name of God, blessed be He, before the whole
world.[114] It was this feeling of his that Zuleika could not
comprehend, and when, finally, carried away by passion, she
told him in unmistakable language what she desired,[115] and
he recoiled from her, she said to Joseph: "Why dost thou
refuse to fulfil my wish? Am I not a married woman?
None will find out what thou hast done." Joseph replied:
"If the unmarried women of the heathen are prohibited
unto us, how much more their married women?[116] As the
Lord liveth, I will not commit the crime thou biddest me do."
In this Joseph followed the example of many pious men, who
utter an oath at the moment when they are in danger of succumbing
to temptation, and seek thus to gather moral courage
to control their evil instincts."
When Zuleika could not prevail upon him, to persuade
him, her desire threw her into a grievous sickness, and all
the women of Egypt came to visit her, and they said unto
her, "Why art thou so languid and wasted, thou that lackest
nothing? Is not thy husband a prince great and esteemed
in the sight of the king? Is it possible that thou canst want
aught of what thy heart desireth?" Zuleika answered them,
saying, "This day shall it be made known unto you whence
cometh the state wherein you see me."
She commanded her maid-servants to prepare food for all
the women, and she spread a banquet before them in her
house. She placed knives upon the table to peel the oranges,
and then ordered Joseph to appear, arrayed in costly garments,
and wait upon her guests. When Joseph came in,
the women could not take their eyes off him, and they all cut
their hands with the knives, and the oranges in their hands
were covered with blood, but they, not knowing what they
were doing, continued to look upon the beauty of Joseph
without turning their eyes away from him.
Then Zuleika said unto them: "What have ye done?
Behold, I set oranges before you to eat, and you have cut
your hands." All the women looked at their hands, and, lo,
they were full of blood, and it flowed down and stained their
garments. They said to Zuleika, "This slave in thy house
did enchant us, and we could not turn our eyes away from
him on account of his beauty." She then said: "This happened
to you that looked upon him but a moment, and you
could not refrain yourselves! How, then, can I control
myself in whose house he abideth continually, who see him
go in and out day after day? How, then, should I not waste
away, or keep from languishing on account of him!" And
the women spake, saying: "It is true, who can look upon
this beauty in the house, and refrain her feelings? But he
is thy slave! Why dost thou not disclose to him that which
is in thy heart, rather than suffer thy life to perish through
this thing?" Zuleika answered them: "Daily do I endeavor
to persuade him, but he will not consent to my
wishes. I promised him everything that is fair, yet have I
met with no return from him, and therefore I am sick, as
you may see."
Her sickness increased upon her. Her husband and her
household suspected not the cause of her decline, but all the
women that were her friends knew that it was on account
of the love she bore Joseph, and they advised her all the time
to try to entice the youth. On a certain day, while Joseph
was doing his master's work in the house, Zuleika came and
fell suddenly upon him, but Joseph was stronger than she,
and he pressed her down to the ground. Zuleika wept, and
in a voice of supplication, and in bitterness of soul, she said
to Joseph: "Hast thou ever known, seen, or heard of a
woman my peer in beauty, let alone a woman with beauty
exceeding mine? Yet I try daily to persuade thee, I fall
into decline through love of thee, I confer all this honor
upon thee, and thou wilt not hearken unto my voice! Is it
by reason of fear of thy master, that he punish thee? As
the king liveth, no harm shall come upon thee from thy
master on account of this thing. Now, therefore, I pray
thee, listen to me, and consent unto my desire for the sake of
the honor that I have conferred upon thee, and take this
death away from me. For why should I die on account of
thee?" Joseph remained as steadfast under these importunities
as before. Zuleika, however, was not discouraged;
she continued her solicitations unremittingly, day after
day,[118] month after month, for a whole year, but always
without the least success, for Joseph in his chastity did not
permit himself even to look upon her, wherefore she resorted
to constraint. She had an iron shackle placed upon his chin,
and he was compelled to keep his head up and look her in
the face."[119]
JOSEPH RESISTS TEMPTATION
Seeing that she could not attain her object by entreaties
or tears, Zuleika finally used force, when she judged that
the favorable chance had come. She did not have long to
wait. When the Nile overflowed its banks, and, according
to the annual custom of the Egyptians, all repaired to the
river, men and women, people and princes, accompanied by
music, Zuleika remained at home under pretense of being
sick. This was her long-looked-for opportunity, she
thought. She rose up and ascended to the hall of state, and
arrayed herself in princely garments. She placed precious
stones upon her head, onyx stones set in silver and gold,
she beautified her face and her body with all sorts of things
for the purifying of women, she perfumed the hall and the
whole house with cassia and frankincense, spread myrrh
and aloes all over, and afterward sat herself down at the
entrance to the hall, in the vestibule leading to the house,
through which Joseph had to pass to his work.
And, behold, Joseph came from the field, and he was on
the point of entering the house to do his master's work, but
when he reached the place where Zuleika sat, and saw all
she had done, he turned back. His mistress, perceiving it,
called out to him, "What aileth thee, Joseph? Go to thy
work, I will make room for thee, that thou mayest pass by
to thy seat." Joseph did as she bade him, he entered the
house, took his seat, and set about his master's work as
usual. Then Zuleika stood before him suddenly in all her
beauty of person and magnificence of raiment, and repeated
the desire of her heart.[120] It was the first and the last time
that Joseph's steadfastness deserted him, but only for an
instant. When he was on the point of complying with the
wish of his mistress, the image of his mother Rachel appeared
before him, and that of his aunt Leah, and the image
of his father Jacob. The last addressed him thus: "In time
to come the names of thy brethren will be graven upon the
breastplate of the high priest. Dost thou desire to have thy
name appear with theirs? Or wilt thou forfeit this honor
through sinful conduct? For know, he that keepeth company
with harlots wasteth his substance." This vision of
the dead, and especially the image of his father, brought
Joseph to his senses, and his illicit passion departed from
him.[121]
Astonished at the swift change in his countenance, Zuleika
said, "My friend and true-love, why art thou so affrighted
that thou art near to swooning?
Joseph: "I see my father!"
Zuleika: "Where is he? Why, there is none in the house."
Joseph: "Thou belongest to a people that is like unto the
ass, it perceiveth nothing. But I belong to those who can
see things."
Joseph fled forth, away from the house of his mistress,[122]
the same house in which aforetime wonders had been done
for Sarah kept a captive there by Pharaoh.[123] But hardly
was he outside when the sinful passion again overwhelmed
him, and he returned to Zuleika's chamber. Then the Lord
appeared unto him, holding the Eben Shetiyah[124] in His
hand, and said to him: "If thou touchest her, I will cast
away this stone upon which the earth is founded, and the
world will fall to ruin." Sobered again, Joseph started
to escape from his mistress,[125] but Zuleika caught him by his
garment, and she said: "As the king liveth, if thou wilt
not fulfil my wish, thou must die," and while she spoke thus,
she drew a sword with her free hand from under her dress,
and, pressing it against Joseph's throat, she said, "Do as I
bid thee, or thou diest." Joseph ran out, leaving a piece of
his garment in the hands of Zuleika as he wrenched himself
loose from the grasp of the woman with a quick, energetic
motion.[126]
Zuleika's passion for Joseph was so violent that, in lieu
of its owner, whom she could not succeed in subduing to her
will, she kissed and caressed the fragment of cloth left in
her hand.[127] At the same time she was not slow to perceive
the danger into which she had put herself, for, she feared,
Joseph might possibly betray her conduct, and she considered
ways and means of obviating the consequences of
her folly.[128]
Meanwhile her friends returned from the Nile festival,
and they came to visit her and inquire after her health.
They found her looking wretchedly ill, on account of the
excitement she had passed through and the anxiety she was
in. She confessed to the women what had happened with
Joseph, and they advised her to accuse him of immorality
before her husband, and then he would be thrown into
prison. Zuleika accepted their advice, and she begged her
visitors to support her charges by also lodging complaints
against Joseph, that he had been annoying them with improper
proposals.[129]
But Zuleika did not depend entirely upon the assistance of
her friends. She planned a ruse, besides, to be sure of
convincing her husband of Joseph's guilt. She laid aside her
rich robes of state, put on her ordinary clothes, and took to
her sick-bed, in which she had been lying when the people
left to go to the festival. Also she took Joseph's torn garment,
and laid it out next to her. Then she sent a little boy
to summon some of the men of her house, and to them she
told the tale of Joseph's alleged outrage, saying: "See the
Hebrew slave, whom your master hath brought in unto my
house, and who attempted to do violence to me to-day! You
had scarcely gone away to the festival when be entered the
house, and making sure that no one was here he tried to
force me to yield to his lustful desire. But I grasped his
clothes, tore them, and cried with a loud voice. When he
heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he was seized with
fear, and be fled, and got him out, but he left his garment
by me." The men of her house spake not a word, but, in a
rage against Joseph, they went to their master, and reported
to him what had come to pass.[130] In the meantime the husbands
of Zuleika's friends had also spoken to Potiphar, at
the instigation of their wives, and complained of his slave,
that he molested them.[131]
Potiphar hastened home, and he found his wife in low
spirits, and though the cause of her dejection was chagrin
at not having succeeded in winning Joseph's love, she pretended
that it was anger at the immoral conduct of the slave.
She accused him in the following words: "O husband,
mayest thou not live a day longer, if thou dost not punish
the wicked slave that hath desired to defile thy bed, that
hath not kept in mind who he was when he came to our
house, to demean himself with modesty, nor hath he been
mindful of the favors he hath received from thy bounty.
He did lay a privy design to abuse thy wife, and this at the
time of observing a festival, when thou wouldst be absent."[132]
These words she spoke at the moment of conjugal
intimacy with Potiphar, when she was certain of exerting
an influence upon her husband.[133]
Potiphar gave credence to her words, and he had Joseph
flogged unmercifully. While the cruel blows fell upon him,
he cried to God, "O Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent
of these things, and why should I die to-day on account of
a false accusation by the hands of these uncircumcised,
impious men?" God opened the mouth of Zuleika's child,
a babe of but eleven months, and he spoke to the men that
were beating Joseph, saying: "What is your quarrel with
this man? Why do you inflict such evil upon him? Lies
my mother doth speak, and deceit is what her mouth uttereth.
This is the true tale of that which did happen," and the
child proceeded to tell all that had passed--how Zuleika had
tried first to persuade Joseph to act wickedly, and then had
tried to force him to do her will. The people listened in
great amazement. But the report finished, the child spake
no word, as before.
Abashed by the speech of his own infant son, Potiphar
commanded his bailiffs to leave off from chastising Joseph,
and the matter was brought into court, where priests sat as
judges. Joseph protested his innocence, and related all that
had happened according to the truth, but Potiphar repeated
the account his wife had given him. The judges ordered the
garment of Joseph to be brought which Zuleika had in her
possession, and they examined the tear therein. It turned
out to be on the front part of the mantle, and they came to
the conclusion that Zuleika had tried to hold him fast, and
had been foiled in her attempt by Joseph, against whom she
was now lodging a trumped up charge. They decided that
Joseph had not incurred the death penalty, but they condemned
him to incarceration, because he was the cause of a
stain upon Zuleika's fair name."[134]
Potiphar himself was convinced of Joseph's innocence,
and when he cast him into prison, he said to him, "I know
that thou art not guilty of so vile a crime, but I must put
thee in durance, lest a taint cling to my children."[135]
JOSEPH IN PRISON
By way of punishment for having traduced his ten brethren
before his father, Joseph had to languish for ten years
in the prison to which the wiles of traducers had in turn
condemned him.[136] But, on the other hand, as he had sanctified
the Name of God before the world by his chastity and
his steadfastness, he was rewarded. The letter He, which
occurs twice in the Name of God, was added to his name.
He had been called Joseph, but now he was called also
Jehoseph.[137]
Though he was bound in prison, Joseph was not yet safe
from the machinations of his mistress, whose passion for
him was in no wise lessened. In truth it was she that had
induced her husband to change his intention regarding Joseph;
she urged him to imprison the slave rather than kill
him, for she hoped that as a prisoner he could be made
amenable to her wishes more easily. She spake to her husband,
saying: "Do not destroy thy property. Cast the slave
in prison and keep him there until thou canst sell him, and
receive back the money thou didst pay out for him."[138] Thus
she had the opportunity of visiting Joseph in his cell and
trying to persuade him to do her will. She would say,
"This and that outrage have I executed against thee, but, as
thou livest, I will put yet other outrages upon thee if thou
dost not obey me." But Joseph replied, "The Lord executeth
judgment for the oppressed."
Zuleika: "I will push matters so far that all men will
hate thee."
Joseph: "The Lord loveth the righteous."
Zuleika: "I will sell thee into a strange land."
Joseph: "The Lord preserveth the strangers."[139]
Then she would resort to enticements in order to obtain
her desire. She would promise to release him from prison,
if he would but grant her wish. But he would say, "Better
it is to remain here than be with thee and commit a trespass
against God." These visits to Joseph in prison Zuleika continued
for a long time, but when, finally, she saw that all
her hopes were vain, she let him alone.[140]
As the mistress persisted in her love for Joseph, so his
master, her husband, could not separate himself from his
favorite slave. Though a prisoner, Joseph continued to
minister to the needs of Potiphar, and he received permission
from the keeper of the prison to spend some of his time
in his master's house.[141] In many other ways the jailer showed
himself kindly disposed toward Joseph. Seeing the youth's
zeal and conscientiousness in executing the tasks laid upon
him, and under the spell of his enchanting beauty, he made
prison life as easy as possible for his charge. He even
ordered better dishes for him than the common prison fare,
and he found it superfluous caution to keep watch over
Joseph, for he could see no wrong in him, and he observed
that God was with him, in good days and in bad.
He even appointed him to be the overseer of the prison,
and as Joseph commanded, so the other prisoners were
obliged to do.[142]
For a long time the people talked of nothing but the
accusation raised against Joseph by his mistress. In
order to divert the attention of the public from him, God
ordained that two high officers, the chief butler and the
chief baker, should offend their lord, the king of Egypt, and
they were put in ward in the house of the captain of the
guard. Now the people ceased their talk about Joseph, and
spoke only of the scandal at court. The charges laid at the
door of the noble prisoners were that they had attempted to
do violence to the daughter of Pharaoh, and they had
conspired to poison the king himself. Besides, they had
shown themselves derelict in their service. In the wine
the chief butler had handed to the king to drink, a fly
had been discovered, and the bread set upon the royal
board by the chief baker contained a little pebble."[143] On
account of all these transgressions they were condemned to
death by Pharaoh, but for the sake of Joseph it was ordained
by Divine providence that the king should first detain
them in prison before he ordered their execution. The
Lord had enkindled the wrath of the king against his
servants only that the wish of Joseph for liberty might
be fulfilled, for they were the instruments of his deliverance
from prison, and though they were doomed to death, yet in
consideration of the exalted office they had held at court,
the keeper of the prison accorded them privileges, as, for
instance, a man was detailed to wait upon them, and the one
appointed thereto was Joseph.[144]
1]
The chief butler and the chief baker had been confined
in prison ten years,[145] when they dreamed a dream, both of
them, but as for the interpretation, each dreamed only that
of the other one's dream.[146] In the morning when Joseph
brought them the water for washing, he found them sad,
depressed in spirits, and, in the manner of the sages, he
asked them why they looked different on that day from other
days. They said unto him, "We have dreamed a dream this
night, and our two dreams resemble each other in certain
particulars, and there is none that can interpret them." And
Joseph said unto them: "God granteth understanding to
man to interpret dreams. Tell them me, I pray you."[147] It
was as a reward for ascribing greatness and credit to Him
unto whom it belongeth that Joseph later attained to his
lofty position.[148]
The chief butler proceeded to tell his dream: "In my
dream, behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were
three branches; and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms
shot forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe
grapes; and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the
grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave
the cup into Pharaoh's hand." The chief butler was not
aware that his dream contained a prophecy regarding the
future of Israel, but Joseph discerned the recondite
meaning,[149]
and he interpreted the dream thus: The three
branches are the three Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
whose descendants in Egypt will be redeemed by three
leaders, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; and the cup given into
the hand of Pharaoh is the cup of wrath that he will have to
drain in the end. This interpretation of the dream Joseph
kept for himself, and he told the chief butler nothing
thereof, but out of gratitude for the glad tidings of the
deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, he gave
him a favorable interpretation of his dream, and begged
him to have him in his remembrance, when it should be well
with him, and liberate him from the dungeon in which he
was confined.
When the chief baker heard the interpretation of the
butler's dream, he knew that Joseph had divined its meaning
correctly, for in his own he had seen the interpretation of
his friend's dream, and he proceeded to tell Joseph what
he had dreamed in the night: "I also was in my dream,
and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head;
and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake-
meats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the
basket upon my head." Also this dream conveyed a prophecy
regarding the future of Israel: The three baskets are
the three kingdoms to which Israel will be made subject,
Babylon, Media, and Greece; and the uppermost basket
indicates the wicked rule of Rome, which will extend over
all the nations of the world, until the bird shall come, who is
the Messiah, and annihilate Rome. Again Joseph kept
the prophecy a secret. To the chief baker he gave only the
interpretation that had reference to his person, but it was
unfavorable to him, because through his dream Joseph had
been made acquainted with the suffering Israel would have
to undergo.
And all came to pass, as Joseph had said, on the third
day.[150] The day whereon he explained the meaning of
their dreams to the two distinguished prisoners, a son was
born unto Pharaoh and to celebrate the joyous event, the
king arranged a feast for his princes and servants that was
to last eight days. He invited them and all the people to
his table, and he entertained them with royal splendor. The
feast had its beginning on the third day after the birth of the
child, and on that occasion the chief butler was restored in
honor to his butlership, and the chief baker was hanged,[151]
for Pharaoh's counsellors had discovered that it was not the
butler's fault that the fly had dropped into the king's wine,
but the baker had been guilty of carelessness in allowing the
pebble to get into the bread.[152] Likewise it appeared that
the butler had had no part in the conspiracy to poison the
king, while the baker was revealed as one of the plotters,
and he had to expiate his crime with his life.[153]
PHARAOH'S DREAMS
Properly speaking, Joseph should have gone out free from
his dungeon on the same day as the butler. He had been
there ten years by that time, and had made amends for the
slander he had uttered against his ten brethren. However,
he remained in prison two years longer. "Blessed is the
man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord,"
but Joseph had put his confidence in flesh and blood. He had
prayed the chief butler to have him in remembrance when
it should be well with him, and make mention of him unto
Pharaoh, and the butler forgot his promise, and therefore
Joseph had to stay in prison two years more than the years
originally allotted to him there.[154] The butler had not
forgotten
him intentionally, but it was ordained of God that
his memory should fail him. When he would say to himself,
If thus and so happens, I will remember the case of Joseph,
the conditions he had imagined were sure to be reversed, or
if he made a knot as a reminder, an angel came and undid
the knot, and Joseph did not enter his mind.[155]
But "the Lord setteth an end to darkness," and Joseph's
liberation was not delayed by a single moment beyond the
time decreed for it. God said, "Thou, O butler, thou didst
forget Joseph, but I did not," and He caused Pharaoh to
dream a dream that was the occasion for Joseph's release.[156]
In his dream Pharaoh saw seven kine, well-favored and
fat-fleshed, come up out of the Nile, and they all together
grazed peaceably on the brink of the river, In years when
the harvest is abundant, friendship reigns among men, and
love and brotherly harmony, and these seven fat kine stood
for seven such prosperous years. After the fat kine, seven
more came up out of the river, ill-favored and lean-
fleshed, and each had her back turned to the others, for
when distress prevails, one man turns away from the other.
For a brief space Pharaoh awoke, and when he went to sleep
again, he dreamed a second dream, about seven rank and
good ears of corn, and seven ears that were thin and blasted
with the east wind,[157] the withered cars swallowing the full
ears. He awoke at once, and it was morning, and dreams
dreamed in the morning are the ones that come true.[158]
This was not the first time Pharaoh had had these dreams.
They had visited him every night during a period of two
years, and he had forgotten them invariably in the morning.
This was the first time he remembered them, for the
day had arrived for Joseph to come forth from his prison
house.[159] Pharaoh's heart beat violently when he called
his dreams to mind on awaking.[160] Especially the second
one, about the ears of corn, disquieted him. He reflected
that whatever has a mouth can eat, and therefore the dream
of the seven lean kine that ate up the seven fat kine did not
appear strange to him. But the ears of corn that swallowed
up other ears of corn troubled his spirit.[161] He therefore
called for all the wise men of his land, and they endeavored
in vain to find a satisfactory interpretation. They explained
that the seven fat kine meant seven daughters to be born
unto Pharaoh, and the seven lean kine, that he would bury
seven daughters; the rank ears of corn meant that Pharaoh
would conquer seven countries, and the blasted ears, that
seven provinces would rebel against him.[162] About the ears
of corn they did not all agree. Some thought the good ears
stood for seven cities to be built by Pharaoh, and the seven
withered ears indicated that these same cities would be
destroyed at the end of his reign.
Sagacious as he was, Pharaoh knew that none of these
explanations hit the nail on the head. He issued a decree
summoning all interpreters of dreams to appear before him
on pain of death, and he held out great rewards and distinctions
to the one who should succeed in finding the true
meaning of his dreams. In obedience to his summons, all
the wise men appeared, the magicians and the sacred scribes
that were in Mizraim, the city of Egypt, as well as those
from Goshen, Raamses, Zoan, and the whole country of
Egypt, and with them came the princes, officers, and servants
of the king from all the cities of the land.
To all these the king narrated his dreams, but none could
interpret them to his satisfaction. Some said that the seven
fat kine were the seven legitimate kings that would rule over
Egypt, and the seven lean kine betokened seven princes that
would rise up against these seven kings and exterminate
them. The seven good ears of corn were the seven superior
princes of Egypt that would engage in a war for their overlord,
and would be defeated by as many insignificant princes,
who were betokened by the seven blasted ears.
Another interpretation was that the seven fat kine were
the seven fortified cities of Egypt, at some future time to fall
into the hands of seven Canaanitish nations, who were
foreshadowed
in the seven lean kine. According to this interpretation,
the second dream supplemented the first. It
meant that the descendants of Pharaoh would regain sovereign
authority over Egypt at a subsequent period, and
would subdue the seven Canaanitish nations as well.
There was a third interpretation, given by some: The
seven fat kine are seven women whom Pharaoh would take
to wife, but they would die during his lifetime, their loss
being indicated by the seven lean kine. Furthermore,
Pharaoh would have fourteen sons, and the seven strong
ones would be conquered by the seven weaklings, as the
blasted ears of corn in his dream had swallowed up the rank
ears of corn.
And a fourth: "Thou wilt have seven sons, O Pharaoh,
these are the seven fat kine. These sons of thine will be
killed by the seven powerful rebellious princes. But then
seven minor princes will come, and they will kill the seven
rebels, avenge thy descendants, and restore the dominion to
thy family."
The king was as little pleased with these interpretations
as with the others, which he had heard before, and in his
wrath he ordered the wise men, the magicians and the scribes
of Egypt, to be killed, and the hangmen made ready to execute
the royal decree.
However, Mirod, Pharaoh's chief butler,[163] took fright,
seeing that the king was so vexed at his failure to secure an
interpretation of his dreams that he was on the point of
giving up the ghost. He was alarmed about the king's death,
for it was doubtful whether the successor to the throne would
retain him in office. He resolved to do all in his power to
keep Pharaoh alive. Therefore he stepped before him, and
spake, saying, "I do remember two faults of mine this day,
I showed myself ungrateful to Joseph, in that I did not bring
his request before thee, and also I saw thee in distress by
reason of thy dream, without letting thee know that Joseph
can interpret dreams.[164] When it pleased the Lord God to
make Pharaoh wroth with his servants, the king put me in
ward in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the
chief baker.[165] And with us there was a simple young
man, one of the despised race of the Hebrews, slave to the
captain of the guard, and he interpreted our dreams to us,
and it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was.
Therefore,
O king, stay the hand of the hangmen, let them not
execute the Egyptians. The slave I speak of is still in the
dungeon, and if the king will consent to summon him
hither, he will surely interpret thy dreams."[166]
JOSEPH BEFORE PHARAOH
"Accursed are the wicked that never do a wholly good
deed." The chief butler described Joseph contemptuously
as a "slave" in order that it might be impossible for him
to occupy a distinguished place at court, for it was a law
upon the statute books of Egypt that a slave could never sit
upon the throne as king, nor even put his foot in the stirrup
of a horse.[167]
Pharaoh revoked the edict of death that he had issued
against the wise men of Egypt, and he sent and called Joseph.
He impressed care upon his messengers, they were
not to excite and confuse Joseph, and render him unfit to
interpret the king's dream correctly.[168] They brought him
hastily out of the dungeon, but first Joseph, out of respect
for the king, shaved himself, and put on fresh raiment,
which an angel brought him from Paradise, and then he
came in unto Pharaoh.[169]
The king was sitting upon the royal throne, arrayed in
princely garments, clad with a golden ephod upon his breast,
and the fine gold of the ephod sparkled, and the carbuncle,
the ruby, and the emerald flamed like a torch, and all the
precious stones set upon the king's head flashed like a blazing
fire, and Joseph was greatly amazed at the appearance
of the king. The throne upon which he sat was covered
with gold and silver and with onyx stones, and it had
seventy steps. If a prince or other distinguished person
came to have an audience with the king, it was the custom
for him to advance and mount to the thirty-first step of the
throne, and the king would descend thirty-six steps and
speak to him. But if one of the people came to have speech
with the king, he ascended only to the third step, and the
king would come down four steps from his seat, and address
him thence. It was also the custom that one who knew all
the seventy languages ascended the seventy steps of the
throne to the top, but if a man knew only some of the
seventy languages, he was permitted to ascend as many steps
as he knew languages, whether they were many or, few.
And another custom of the Egyptians was that none could
reign over them unless he was master of all the seventy
languages.
When Joseph came before the king, he bowed down to
the ground, and he ascended to the third step, while the
king sat upon the fourth from the top, and spake with Joseph,
saying:[170] "O young man, my servant beareth witness
concerning thee, that thou art the best and most discerning
person I can consult with. I pray thee, vouchsafe
unto me the same favors which thou didst bestow on this
servant of mine, and tell me what events they are which the
visions of my dreams foreshow. I desire thee to suppress
naught out of fear, nor shalt thou flatter me with lying
words, or with words that please me. Tell me the truth,
though it be sad and alarming."[171]
Joseph asked the king first whence he knew that the
interpretation
given by the wise men of his country was not true,
and Pharaoh replied, "I saw the dream and its interpretation
together, and therefore they cannot make a fool of
me."[172] In his modesty Joseph denied that he was an adept
at interpreting dreams. He said, "It is not in me; it is in
the hand of God, and if it be the wish of God, He will permit
me to announce tidings of peace to Pharaoh." And for
such modesty he was rewarded by sovereignty over Egypt,
for the Lord doth honor them that honor Him. Thus was
also Daniel rewarded for his speech to Nebuchadnezzar:
"There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, but as for
me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I
have more than any living, but to the intent that the
interpretation may be made known to the king, and that thou
mayest know the thoughts of thy heart."[173]
Then Pharaoh began to tell his dream, only he omitted
some points and narrated others inaccurately in order that
he might test the vaunted powers of Joseph. But the youth
corrected him, and pieced the dreams together exactly as
they had visited Pharaoh in the night, and the king was
greatly amazed.[174] Joseph was able to accomplish this feat,
because he had dreamed the same dream as Pharaoh, at the
same time as he.[175] Thereupon Pharaoh retold his dreams,
with all details and circumstances, and precisely as he had
seen them in his sleep, except that he left out the word Nile
in the description of the seven lean kine, because this river
was worshipped by the Egyptians, and he hesitated to say
that aught that is evil had come from his god.[176]
Now Joseph proceeded to give the king the true interpretation
of the two dreams. They were both a revelation concerning
the seven good years impending and the seven years
of famine to follow them. In reality, it had been the purpose
of God to bring a famine of forty-two years' duration
upon Egypt, but only two years of this distressful period
were inflicted upon the land, for the sake of the blessing of
Jacob when he came to Egypt in the second year of the
famine. The other forty years fell upon the land at the
time of the prophet Ezekiel.[177]
Joseph did more than merely interpret the dreams. When
the king gave voice to doubts concerning the interpretation,
he told him signs and tokens. He said: "Let this be a sign
to thee that my words are true, and my advice is excellent:
Thy wife, who is sitting upon the birthstool at this moment,
will bring forth a son, and thou wilt rejoice over him, but
in the midst of thy joy the sad tidings will be told thee of
the death of thine older son, who was born unto thee but two
years ago, and thou must needs find consolation for the loss
of the one in the birth of the other."
Scarcely had Joseph withdrawn from the presence of the
king, when the report of the birth of a son was brought to
Pharaoh, and soon after also the report of the death of his
first-born, who had suddenly dropped to the floor and passed
away. Thereupon he sent for all the grandees of his realm,
and all his servants, and he spake to them, saying: "Ye
have heard the words of the Hebrew, and ye have seen that
the signs which he foretold were accomplished, and I also
know that he hath interpreted the dream truly. Advise me
now how the land may be saved from the ravages of the
famine. Look hither and thither whether you can find a
man of wisdom and understanding, whom I may set over
the land, for I am convinced that the land can be saved only
if we heed the counsel of the Hebrew." The grandees and
the princes admitted that safety could be secured only by
adhering to the advice given by Joseph, and they proposed
that the king, in his sagacity, choose a man whom he considered
equal to the great task.[178] Thereupon Pharaoh said:
"If we traversed and searched the earth from end to end,
we could find none such as Joseph, a man in whom is the
spirit of God.[179] If ye think well thereof, I will set him over
the land which he hath saved by his wisdom."[180]
The astrologers, who were his counsellors, demurred, saying,
"A slave, one whom his present owner hath acquired
for twenty pieces of silver, thou proposest to set over us as
master?" But Pharaoh maintained that Joseph was not
only a free-born man beyond the peradventure of a doubt,
but also the scion of a noble family.[181] However, the princes
of Pharaoh were not silenced, they continued to give utterance
to their opposition to Joseph, saying: "Dost thou not
remember the immutable law of the Egyptians, that none
may serve as king or as viceroy unless he speaks all the
languages of men? And this Hebrew knows none but his
own tongue, and how were it possible that a man should rule
over us who cannot even speak the language of our land?
Send and have him fetched hither, and examine him in
respect to all the things a ruler should know and have, and
then decide as seemeth wise in thy sight."
Pharaoh yielded, he promised to do as they wished, and
he appointed the following day as the time for examining
Joseph, who had returned to his prison in the meantime,
for, on account of his wife, his master feared to have him
stay in his house. During the night Gabriel appeared unto
Joseph, and taught him all the seventy languages, and he
acquired them quickly after the angel had changed his name
from Joseph to Jehoseph. The next morning, when he came
into the presence of Pharaoh and the nobles of the kingdom,
inasmuch as he knew every one of the seventy languages,
he mounted all the steps of the royal throne, until he reached
the seventieth, the highest, upon which sat the king, and
Pharaoh and his princes rejoiced that Joseph fulfilled all the
requirements needed by one that was to rule over Egypt.
The king said to Joseph: "Thou didst give me the
counsel to look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over
the land of Egypt, that he may in his wisdom save the land
from the famine. As God hath showed thee all this, and as
thou art master of all the languages of the world, there is
none so discreet and wise as thou. Thou shalt therefore be
the second in the land after Pharaoh, and according unto thy
word shall all my people go in and go out; my princes and
my servants shall receive their monthly appanage from thee;
before thee the people shall prostrate themselves, only in the
throne will I be greater than thou."[182]
THE RULER OF EGYPT
Now Joseph reaped the harvest of his virtues, and according
to the measure of his merits God granted him reward.
The mouth that refused the kiss of unlawful passion and
sin received the kiss of homage from the people; the neck
that did not bow itself unto sin was adorned with the gold
chain that Pharaoh put upon it; the hands that did not
touch sin wore the signet ring that Pharaoh took from his
own hand and put upon Joseph's; the body that did not come
in contact with sin was arrayed in vestures of byssus; the
feet that made no steps in the direction of sin reposed in the
royal chariot, and the thoughts that kept themselves undefiled
by sin were proclaimed as wisdom.[183]
Joseph was installed in his high position, and invested
with the insignia of his office, with solemn ceremony. The
king took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it upon
Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in princely apparel, and set
a gold crown upon his head, and laid a gold chain about his
neck. Then he commanded his servants to make Joseph to
ride in his second chariot, which went by the side of the
chariot wherein sat the king, and he also made him to ride
upon a great and strong horse of the king's horses, and his
servants conducted him through the streets of the city
of Egypt. Musicians, no less than a thousand striking
cymbals and a thousand blowing flutes, and five thousand
men with drawn swords gleaming in the air formed the vanguard.
Twenty thousand of the king's grandees girt with
gold-embroidered leather belts marched at the right of
Joseph, and as many at the left of him.[184] The women and
the maidens of the nobility looked out of the windows to
gaze upon Joseph's beauty, and they poured down chains
upon him, and rings and jewels, that he might but direct
his eyes toward them. Yet he did not look up, and as a reward
God made him proof against the evil eye, nor has it
ever had the power of inflicting harm upon any of his
descendants.[185] Servants of the king, preceding him and
following him, burnt incense upon his path, and cassia, and all
manner of sweet spices, and strewed myrrh and aloes wherever
he went. Twenty heralds walked before him, and they
proclaimed: "This is the man whom the king bath chosen
to be the second after him. All the affairs of state will be
administered by him, and whoever resisteth his commands,
or refuseth to bow down to the ground before him, he will
die the death of the rebel against the king and the king's
deputy."
Without delay the people prostrated themselves, and they
cried, "Long live the king, and long live the deputy of the
king!" And Joseph, looking down from his horse upon
the people and their exultation, exclaimed, his eyes directed
heavenward: "The Lord raiseth up the poor out of the
dust, and lifteth up the needy from the dunghill. O Lord
of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee."
After Joseph, accompanied by Pharaoh's officers and
princes, had journeyed through the whole city of Egypt,
and viewed all there was therein, he returned to the king on
the selfsame day, and the king gave him fields and vineyards
as a present, and also three thousand talents of silver, and
a thousand talents of gold, and onyx stones and bdellium,
and many other costly things. The king commanded, moreover,
that every Egyptian give Joseph a gift, else he would
be put to death. A platform was erected in the open street,
and there all deposited their presents, and among the things
were many of gold and silver, as well as precious stones,
carried thither by the people and also the grandees, for they
saw that Joseph enjoyed the favor of the king. Furthermore,
Joseph received one hundred slaves from Pharaoh,
and they were to do all his bidding, and he himself acquired
many more, for he resided in a spacious palace. Three years
it took to build it. Special magnificence was lavished upon
the hall of state, which was his audience chamber, and upon
the throne fashioned of gold and silver and inlaid with
precious stones, whereon there was a representation of the
whole land of Egypt and of the river Nile. And as Joseph
multiplied in riches, so he increased also in wisdom, for God
added to his wisdom that all might love and honor him.[186]
Pharaoh called him Zaphenath-paneah, he who can reveal
secret things with ease, and rejoiceth the heart of man
therewith. Each letter of the name Zaphenath-paneah has a
meaning, too. The first, Zadde, stands for Zofeh, seer; Pe
for Podeh, redeemer; Nun for Nabi, prophet; Taw for
Tomek, supporter; Pe for Poter, interpreter of dreams; Ain
for Arum, clever; Nun for Nabon, discreet; and Het for
Hakam, wise.[187]
The name of Joseph's wife pointed to her history in the
same way. Asenath was the daughter of Dinah and Hamor,
but she was abandoned at the borders of Egypt, only, that
people might know who she was, Jacob engraved the story
of her parentage and her birth upon a gold plate fastened
around her neck. The day on which Asenath was exposed,
Potiphar went walking with his servants near the city
wall, and they heard the voice of a child. At the captain's
bidding they brought the baby to him, and when he read
her history from the gold plate, he determined to adopt her.
He took her home with him, and raised her as his daughter.
The Alef in Asenath stands for On, where Potiphar was
priest; the Samek for Setirah, Hidden, for she was kept concealed
on account of her extraordinary beauty; the Nun for
Nohemet, for she wept and entreated that she might be delivered
from the house of the heathen Potiphar; and the Taw
for Tammah, the perfect one, on account of her pious, perfect
deeds.[188]
Asenath had saved Joseph's life while she was still an
infant in arms. When Joseph was accused of immoral conduct
by Potiphar's wife and the other women, and his master
was on the point of having him hanged, Asenath approached
her foster-father, and she assured him under oath that the
charge against Joseph was false. Then spake God, "As
thou livest, because thou didst try to defend Joseph, thou
shalt be the woman to bear the tribes that he is appointed
to beget.[189]
Asenath bore him two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, during
the seven years of plenty, for in the time of famine
Joseph refrained from all indulgence in the pleasures of
life.[190] They were bred in chastity and fear of God by their
father, and they were wise, and well-instructed in all knowledge
and in the affairs of state, so that they became the
favorites of the court, and were educated with the royal
princes.
Before the famine broke over the land, Joseph found an
opportunity of rendering the king a great service. He
equipped an army of four thousand six hundred men, providing
all the soldiers with shields and spears and bucklers
and helmets and slings. With this army, and aided by the
servants and officers of the king, and by the people of Egypt,
he carried on a war with Tarshish in the first year after his
appointment as viceroy. The people of Tarshish had invaded
the territory of the Ishmaelites, and the latter, few
in number at that time, were sore pressed, and applied to
the king of Egypt for help against their enemies. At the
head of his host of heroes, Joseph marched to the land of
Havilah, where he was joined by the Ishmaelites, and with
united forces they fought against the people of Tarshish,
routed them utterly, settled their land with the Ishmaelites,
while the defeated men took refuge with their brethren in
Javan. Joseph and his army returned to Egypt, and not a
man had they lost.
In a little while Joseph's prophecy was confirmed: that
year and the six following years were years of plenty, as
he had foretold.[191] The harvest was so ample that a single
ear produced two heaps of grain,[192] and Joseph made circumspect
arrangements to provide abundantly for the years of
famine. He gathered up all the grain, and in the city situated
in the middle of each district he laid up the produce
from round about, and had ashes and earth strewn on the
garnered food from the very soil on which it had been
grown;[193] also he preserved the grain in the ear; all these
being precautions taken to guard against rot and mildew.
The inhabitants of Egypt also tried, on their own account,
to put aside a portion of the superabundant harvest of the
seven fruitful years against the need of the future, but when
the grievous time of dearth came, and they went to their
storehouses to bring forth the treasured grain, behold, it
had rotted, and become unfit for food.[194] The famine broke
in upon the people with such suddenness that the bread gave
out unexpectedly as they sat at their tables, they had not
even a bite of bran bread.
Thus they were driven to apply to Joseph and beseech his
help, and he admonished them, saying, "Give up your allegiance
to your deceitful idols, and say, Blessed is He who
giveth bread unto all flesh." But they refused to deny their
lying gods, and they betook themselves to Pharaoh, only
to be told by him, "Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you,
do!" For this Pharaoh was rewarded. God granted him
long life and a long reign, until he became arrogant, and
well-merited punishment overtook him.[195]
When the Egyptians approached Joseph with the petition
for bread, he spoke, saying, "I give no food to the
uncircumcised. Go hence, and circumcise yourselves, and then
return hither." They entered the presence of Pharaoh, and
complained to him regarding Joseph, but he said as
before, "Go unto Joseph!" And they replied, "We come
from Joseph, and he hath spoken roughly unto us, saying,
Go hence and circumcise yourselves! We warned thee in
the beginning that he is a Hebrew, and would treat us in
such wise." Pharaoh said to them: "O ye fools, did he not
prophesy through the holy spirit and proclaim to the whole
world, that there would come seven years of plenty to be
followed by seven years of dearth? Why did you not save
the yield of one or two years against the day of your need?"
Weeping, they made reply: "The grain that we put
aside during the good years hath rotted."
Pharaoh: "Have ye nothing over of the flour of yesterday?"
The Egyptians: "The very bread in the basket rotted!"
Pharaoh: "Why?"
The Egyptians: "Because Joseph willed thus!"
Pharaoh: "O ye fools, if his word hath power over the
grain, making it to rot when he desireth it to rot, then also
must we die, if so be his wish concerning us. Go, therefore,
unto him, and do as he bids you."[196]
JOSEPH'S BRETHREN IN EGYPT
The famine, which inflicted hardships first upon the
wealthy among the Egyptians, gradually extended its ravages
as far as Phoenicia, Arabia, and Palestine.[197] Though
the sons of Jacob, being young men, frequented the streets
and the highways, yet they were ignorant of what their old
home-keeping father Jacob knew, that corn could be procured in
Egypt. Jacob even suspected that Joseph was in
Egypt. His prophetic spirit, which forsook him during the
time of his grief for his son, yet manifested itself now and
again in dim visions, and he was resolved to send his sons
down into Egypt.[198] There was another reason. Though he
was not yet in want, he nevertheless had them go thither for
food, because he was averse from arousing the envy of the
sons of Esau and Ishmael by his comfortable state.[199] For
the same reason, to avoid friction with the surrounding
peoples, he bade his sons not appear in public with bread in
their hands, or in the accoutrements of war.[200] And as he
knew that they were likely to attract attention, on account
of their heroic stature and handsome appearance, he cautioned
them against going to the city all together through
the same gate, or, indeed, showing themselves all together
anywhere in public, that the evil eye be not cast upon them.[201]
The famine in Canaan inspired Joseph with the hope of
seeing his brethren. To make sure of their coming, he
issued a decree concerning the purchase of corn in Egypt,
as follows: "By order of the king and his deputy, and the
princes of the realm, be it enacted that he who desireth to
buy grain in Egypt may not send his slave hither to do his
bidding, but he must charge his own sons therewith. An
Egyptian or a Canaanite that hath bought grain and then
selleth it again shall be put to death, for none may buy more
than he requireth for the needs of his household. Also, who
cometh with two or three beasts of burden, and loads them
up with grain, shall be put to death."
At the gates of the city of Egypt, Joseph stationed guards,
whose office was to inquire and take down the name of all
that should come to buy corn, and also the name of their
father and their grandfather, and every evening the list of
names thus made was handed to Joseph. These precautions
were bound to bring Joseph's brethren down to Egypt, and
also acquaint him with their coming as soon as they entered
the land.
On their journey his brethren thought more of Joseph
than of their errand. They said to one another: "We know
that Joseph was carried down into Egypt, and we will make
search for him there, and if we should find him, we will
ransom him from his master, and if his master should refuse
to sell him, we will use force, though we perish ourselves."[202]
At the gates of the city of Egypt, the brethren of Joseph
were asked what their names were, and the names of their
father and grandfather. The guard on duty happened to be
Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The brethren submitted to
being questioned, saying "Let us go into the town, and we
shall see whether this taking down of our names be a matter
of taxes. If it be so, we shall not demur; but if it be something
else, we shall see to-morrow what can be done in the
case."[203]
On the evening of the day they entered Egypt, Joseph
discovered their names in the list, which he was in the
habit of examining daily, and he commanded that all
stations for the sale of corn be closed, except one only.
Furthermore, even at this station no sales were to be negotiated
unless the name of the would-be purchaser was first
obtained. His brethren, with whose names Joseph furnished
the overseer of the place, were to be seized and brought to
him as soon as they put in appearance.
But the first thought of the brethren was for Joseph, and
their first concern, to seek him. For three days they made
search for him everywhere, even in the most disreputable
quarters of the city. Meantime Joseph was in communication
with the overseer of the station kept open for the sale
of corn, and, hearing that his brethren had not appeared
there, he dispatched some of his servants to look for them,
but they found them neither in Mizraim, the city of Egypt,
nor in Goshen, nor in Raamses. Thereupon he sent sixteen
servants forth to make a house to house search for them in
the city, and they discovered the brethren of Joseph in a
place of ill-fame and haled them before their master.
JOSEPH MEETS HIS BRETHREN
A large crown of gold on his head, apparelled in byssus
and purple, and surrounded by his valiant men, Joseph was
seated upon his throne in his palace. His brethren fell down
before him in great admiration of his beauty, his stately
appearance, and his majesty.[204] They did not know him, for
when Joseph was sold into slavery, he was a beardless youth.
But he knew his brethren, their appearance had not changed
in aught, for they were bearded men when he was separated
from them.[205]
He was inclined to make himself known to them as their
brother, but an angel appeared unto him, the same that had
brought him from Shechem to his brethren at Dothan, and
spoke, saying, "These came hither with intent to kill thee."
Later, when the brethren returned home, and gave an account
of their adventures to Jacob, they told him that a man
had accused them falsely before the ruler of Egypt, not
knowing that he who incited Joseph against them was an
angel. It was in reference to this matter, and meaning their
accuser, that Jacob, when he dispatched his sons on their
second expedition to Egypt, prayed to God, "God Almighty
give you mercy before the man."[206]
Joseph made himself strange unto his brethren, and he
took his cup in his hand, knocked against it, and said, "By
this magic cup I know that ye are spies." They replied,
"Thy servants came from Canaan into Egypt for to buy
corn."
Joseph: "If it be true that ye came hither to buy corn,
why is it that each one of you entered the city by a separate
gate?"[207]
The brethren: "We are ALL the sons of one man in the
land of Canaan, and he bade us not enter a city together by
the same gate, that we attract not the attention of the people
of the place." Unconsciously they had spoken as seers, for
the word ALL included Joseph as one of their number.[208]
Joseph: "Verily, ye are spies! All the people that come
to buy corn return home without delay, but ye have lingered
here three days, without making any purchases, and all the
time you have been gadding about in the disreputable parts
of the city, and only spies are wont to do thus."
The brethren: "We thy servants are twelve brethren, the
sons of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of the Hebrew Abraham.
The youngest is this day with our father in Canaan,
and one hath disappeared. Him did we look for in this land,
and we looked for him even in the disreputable houses."
Joseph: "Have ye made search in every other place on
earth, and was Egypt the only land left? And if it be true
that he is in Egypt, what should a brother of yours be doing
in a house of ill-fame, if, indeed, ye are the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?"
The brethren: "We did hear that some Ishmaelites stole
our brother, and sold him into slavery in Egypt, and as our
brother was exceeding fair in form and face, we thought he
might have been sold for illicit uses, and therefore we
searched even the disreputable houses to find him."
Joseph: "You speak deceitful words, when you call yourselves
sons of Abraham. By the life of Pharaoh, ye are
spies, and you did go from one disreputable house to another
that none might discover you."[209]
The expression "by the life of Pharaoh" might have betrayed
Joseph's real feeling to his brethren, had they but
known his habit of taking this oath only when he meant to
avoid keeping his word later.[210]
Joseph continued to speak to his brethren: "Let us suppose
you should discover your brother serving as a slave,
and his master should demand a high sum for his ransom,
would you pay it?"
The brethren: "Yes!"
Joseph: "But suppose his master should refuse to surrender
him for any price in the world, what would you do?"
The brethren: "If he yields not our brother to us, we
will kill the master, and carry off our brother."
Joseph: "Now see how true my words were, that ye are
spies. By your own admission ye have come to slay the inhabitants
of the land. Report hath told us that two of you
did massacre the people of Shechem on account of the wrong
done to your sister, and now have ye come down into Egypt
to kill the Egyptians for the sake of your brother. I shall be
convinced of your innocence only if you consent to send one
of your number home and fetch your youngest brother
hither."
His brethren refused compliance, and Joseph caused them
to be put into prison by seventy of his valiant men, and there
they remained for three days.[211] God never allows the
pious to languish in distress longer than three days, and so
it was a Divine dispensation that the brethren of Joseph
were released on the third day,[212] and were permitted by
Joseph to return home, on condition, however, that one of
them remain behind as hostage.
The difference between Joseph and his brethren can be
seen here. Though he retained one of them to be bound in
the prison house, he still said, "I fear God," and dismissed
the others, but when he was in their power, they gave no
thought to God.[213] At this time, to be sure, their conduct
was such as is becoming to the pious, who accept their fate
with calm resignation, and acknowledge the righteousness
of God, for He metes out reward and punishment measure
for measure. They recognized that their present punishment
was in return for the heartless treatment they had dealt out
to Joseph, paying no heed to his distress, though he fell at
the feet of each of them, weeping, and entreating them not
to sell him into slavery. Reuben reminded the others that
they had two wrongs to expiate, the wrong against their
brother and the wrong against their father, who was so
grieved that he exclaimed, "I will go down to the grave to
my son mourning."
The brethren of Joseph knew not that the viceroy of
Egypt understood Hebrew, and could follow their words,
for Manasseh stood and was an interpreter between them
and him.[214]
Joseph decided to keep Simon as hostage in Egypt, for he
had been one of the two--Levi was the other--to advise that
Joseph be put to death, and only the intercession of Reuben
and Judah had saved him. He did not detain Levi, too, for
he feared, if both remained behind together, Egypt might
suffer the same fate at their hands as the city of Shechem.[215]
Also, he preferred Simon to Levi, because Simon was not a
favorite among the sons of Jacob, and they would not resist
his detention in Egypt too violently, while they might annihilate
Egypt, as aforetime Shechem, if they were deprived
of Levi, their wise man and high priest.[216] Besides, it was
Simon that had lowered Joseph into the pit, wherefore he
had a particular grudge against him.[217]
When the brethren yielded to Joseph's demand, and consented
to leave their brother behind as hostage, Simon said
to them, "Ye desire to do with me as ye did with Joseph!"
But they replied, in despair: "What can we do? Our
households will perish of hunger." Simon made answer,
"Do as ye will, but as for me, let me see the man that will
venture to cast me into prison." Joseph sent word to Pharaoh
to let him have seventy of his valiant men, to aid him
in arresting robbers. But when the seventy appeared upon
the scene, and were about to lay hands on Simon, he uttered
a loud cry, and his assailants fell to the floor and knocked
out their teeth.[218] Pharaoh's valiant men, as well as all the
people that stood about Joseph, fled affrighted, only Joseph
and his son Manasseh remained calm and unmoved. Manasseh rose up,
dealt Simon a blow on the back of his neck,
put manacles upon his hands and fetters upon his feet, and
cast him into prison. Joseph's brethren were greatly amazed
at the heroic strength of the youth, and Simon said, "This
blow was not dealt by an Egyptian, but by one belonging to
our house."[219]
He was bound and taken to prison before the eyes of the
other brethren of Joseph, but as soon as they were out of
sight, Joseph ordered good fare to be set before him, and
he treated him with great kindness.[220]
Joseph permitted his nine other brethren to depart, carrying
corn with them in abundance, but he impressed upon
them that they must surely return and bring their youngest
brother with them. On the way, Levi, who felt lonely without
his constant companion Simon, opened his sack, and he
espied the money he had paid for the corn. They all
trembled, and their hearts failed them, and they said,
"Where, then, is the lovingkindness of God toward our
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, seeing that He hath delivered
us into the hands of the Egyptian king, that he may
raise false accusations against us?" And Judah said,
"Verily, we are guilty concerning our brother, we have
sinned against God, in that we sold our brother, our own
flesh, and why do ye ask, Where, then, is the lovingkindness
of God toward our fathers?"
Reuben spoke in the same way: "Spake I not unto you,
saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear?
And now the Lord doth demand him of us. How can you
say, Where, then, is the lovingkindness of God toward our
fathers, though you have sinned against Him?"
They proceeded on their journey home, and their father
met them on the way. Jacob was astonished not to see
Simon with them, and in reply to his questions, they told
him all that had befallen them in Egypt. Then Jacob cried
out: "What have ye done? I sent Joseph to you to see
whether it be well with you, and ye said, An evil beast hath
devoured him. Simon went forth with you for to buy corn,
and you say, The king of Egypt hath cast him into prison.
And now ye will take Benjamin away and kill him, too. Ye
will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave."[221]
The words of Jacob, which he uttered, "Me have ye bereaved
of my children," were meant to intimate to his sons
that he suspected them of the death of Joseph and of
Simon's disappearance as well, and their reports concerning
both he regarded as inventions.[222] What made him inconsolable
was that now, having lost two of his sons, he could
not hope to see the Divine promise fulfilled, that he should
be the ancestor of twelve tribes.[223] He was quite resolved
in his mind, therefore, not to let Benjamin go away with his
brethren under any condition whatsoever, and he vouchsafed
Reuben no reply when he said, "Slay my two sons, if I bring
him not to thee." He considered it beneath his dignity to
give an answer to such balderdash.[224] "My first-born son,"
he said to himself, "is a fool. What will it profit me, if I
slay his two sons? Does he not know that his sons are
equally mine?"[225] Judah advised his brethren to desist from
urging their father then; he would consent, he thought, to
whatever expedients were found necessary, as soon as their
bread gave out, and a second journey to Egypt became
imperative.[226]
THE SECOND JOURNEY TO EGYPT
When the supplies bought in Egypt were eaten up, and
the family of Jacob began to suffer with hunger, the little
children came to him, and they said, "Give us bread, that
we die not of hunger before thee." The words of the little
ones brought scorching tears to the eyes of Jacob, and he
summoned his sons and bade them go again down into Egypt
and buy food.[227] But Judah spake unto him, "The man did
solemnly protest unto us, saying that we should not see his
face, except our brother Benjamin be with us, and we cannot
appear before him with idle pretexts." And Jacob said,
"Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man
whether ye had yet a brother?" It was the first and only
time Jacob indulged in empty talk, and God said, "I made it
My business to raise his son to the position of ruler of
Egypt, and he complains, and says, Wherefore dealt ye so
ill with-me?" And Judah protested against the reproach,
that he had initiated the Egyptian viceroy in their family
relations, with the words: "Why, he knew the very wood
of which our baby coaches are made![228] Father," he continued,
"if Benjamin goes with us, he may, indeed, be taken
from us, but also he may not. This is a doubtful matter,
but it is certain that if he does not go with us, we shall all
die of hunger. It is better not to concern thyself about what
is doubtful, and guide thy actions by what is certain.[229] The
king of Egypt is a strong and mighty king, and if we go to
him without our brother, we shall all be put to death. Dost
thou not know, and hast thou not heard, that this king is
very powerful and wise, and there is none like unto him in all
the earth? We have seen all the kings of the earth, but none
like unto the king of Egypt. One would surely say that
among all the kings of the earth there is none greater than
Abimelech king of the Philistines, yet the king of Egypt is
greater and mightier than he, and Abimelech can hardly be
compared with one of his officers. Father, thou hast not
seen his palace and his throne, and all his servants standing
before him. Thou hast not seen that king upon his throne,
in all his magnificence and with his royal insignia, arrayed
in his royal robes, with a large golden crown upon his head.
Thou hast not seen the honor and the glory that God hath
given unto him, for there is none like unto him in all the
earth. Father, thou hast not seen the wisdom, the understanding,
and the knowledge that God has given in his
heart. We heard his sweet voice when he spake unto us.
We know not, father, who acquainted him with our names,
and all that befell us. He asked also concerning thee, saying,
Is your father still alive, and is it well with him? Thou
hast not seen the affairs of the government of Egypt regulated
by him, for none asketh his lord Pharaoh about them.
Thou hast not seen the awe and the fear that he imposes
upon all the Egyptians. Even we went out from his presence
threatening to do unto Egypt as unto the cities of the
Amorites, and exceedingly wroth by reason of all his words
that he spake concerning us as spies, yet when we came
again before him, his terror fell upon us all, and none of us
was able to speak a word to him, great or small. Now,
therefore, father, send the lad with us, and we will arise and
go down into Egypt, and buy food to eat, that we die not of
hunger."[230]
Judah offered his portion in the world to come as surety
for Benjamin, and thus solemnly he promised to bring him
back safe and sound, and Jacob granted his request, and
permitted Benjamin to go down into Egypt with his other
sons. They also carried with them choice presents from
their father for the ruler of Egypt, things that arouse wonder
outside of Palestine, such as the murex, which is the
snail that produces the Tyrian purple, and various kinds of
balm, and almond oil, and pistachio oil, and honey as hard as
stone. Furthermore, Jacob put double money in their hand
to provide against a rise in prices in the meantime. And
after all these matters were attended to, he spake to his sons,
saying: "Here is money, and here is a present, and also your
brother. Is there aught else that you need?" And they
replied, Yes, we need this, besides, that thou shouldst
intercede for us with God." Then their father prayed:[231]
"O Lord, Thou who at the time of creation didst call
Enough! to heaven and earth when they stretched themselves
out further and further toward infinity, set a limit
to my sufferings, too, say unto them, Enough![232] God Almighty
give you mercy before the ruler of Egypt, that he
may release unto you Joseph, Simon, and Benjamin."
This prayer was an intercession, not only for the sons of
Jacob, but also for their descendants--that God would deliver
the Ten Tribes in time to come, as He delivered the two,
Judah and Benjamin, and after He permitted the destruction
of two Temples, He would grant endless continuance to the
third.[233]
Jacob also put a letter addressed to the viceroy of Egypt
into the hands of his son. The letter ran thus: "From thy
servant Jacob, the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham,
prince of God, to the mighty and wise king Zaphenathpaneah,
the ruler of Egypt, peace! I make known unto my
lord the king that the famine is sore with us in the land of
Canaan, and I have therefore sent my sons unto thee, to buy
us a little food, that we may live, and not die. My children
surrounded me, and begged for something to eat, but, alas,
I am very old, and I cannot see with mine eyes, for they are
heavy with the weight of years, and also on account of my
never-ceasing tears for my son Joseph, who hath been taken
from me. I charged my sons not to pass through the gate
all together at the same time, when they arrived in the city of
Egypt, in consideration of the inhabitants of the land, that
they might not take undue notice of them. Also I bade them
go up and down in the land of Egypt and seek my son Joseph,
mayhap they would find him there.
"This did they do, but thou didst therefore account them
as spies. We have heard the report of thy wisdom and
sagacity. How, then, canst thou look upon their countenances,
and yet declare them to be spies? Especially as we
have heard thou didst interpret Pharaoh's dream, and didst
foretell the coming of the famine, are we amazed that thou,
in thy discernment, couldst not distinguish whether they be
spies or not.
"And, now, O my lord king, I send unto thee my son Benjamin,
as thou didst demand of my other sons. I pray thee,
take good care of him until thou sendest him back to me in
peace with his brethren. Hast thou not heard, and dost thou
not know, what our God did unto Pharaoh when he took our
mother Sarah unto himself? Or what happened unto Abimelech
on account of her? And what our father Abraham
did unto the nine kings of Elam, how he killed them and
exterminated their armies, though he had but few men with
him? Or hast thou not heard what my two sons Simon and
Levi did to the eight cities of the Amorites, which they
destroyed
on account of their sister Dinah? Benjamin consoled
them for the loss of Joseph. What, then, will they do
unto him that stretcheth forth the hand of power to snatch
him away from them?
"Knowest thou not, O king of Egypt, that the might of
our God is with us, and that He always hearkens unto our
prayers, and never forsakes us? Had I called upon God to
rise up against thee when my sons told me how thou didst act
toward them, thou and thy people, ye all would have been
annihilated ere Benjamin could come down to thee. But I
reflected that Simon my son was abiding in thy house, and
perhaps thou wast doing kindnesses unto him, and therefore
I invoked not the punishment of God upon thee. Now my
son Benjamin goeth down unto thee with my other sons.
Take heed unto thyself, keep thy eyes directed upon him,
and God will direct His eye upon all thy kingdom.
"I have said all now that is in my heart. My sons take
their youngest brother down into Egypt with them, and do
thou send them all back to me in peace."
This letter Jacob put into the keeping of Judah, charging
him to deliver it to the ruler of Egypt. His last words to
his sons were an admonition to take good care of Benjamin
and not leave him out of their sight, either on the journey
or after their arrival in Egypt. He bade farewell to them,
and then turned in prayer to God, saying: "O Lord of
heaven and earth! Remember Thy covenant with our
father Abraham. Remember also my father Isaac, and grant
grace unto my sons, and deliver them not into the hands of
the king of Egypt. O my God, do it for the sake of Thy
mercy, redeem my sons and save them from the hands of
the Egyptians, and restore their two brethren unto them."
Also the women and the children in the house of Jacob
prayed to God amid tears, and entreated Him to redeem their
husbands and their fathers out of the hands of the king of
Egypt.[234]
JOSEPH AND BENJAMIN
Great was the joy of Joseph when his brethren stood before
him and Benjamin was with them. In his youngest
brother he saw the true counterpart of his father.[235] He
ordered his son Manasseh,[236] the steward of his house, to
bring the men into the palace, and make ready a meal for
them. But he was to take care to prepare the meat dishes
in the presence of the guests, so that they might see with
their own eyes that the cattle had been slaughtered according
to the ritual prescriptions, and the sinew of the hip which is
upon the hollow of the thigh had been removed.[237]
The dinner to which Joseph invited his brethren was a
Sabbath meal, for he observed the seventh day even before
the revelation of the law. The sons of Jacob refused the
invitation of the steward, and a scuffle ensued. While he
tried to force them into the banqueting hall, they tried to
force him out,[238] for they feared it was but a ruse to get
possession
of them and their asses, on account of the money
they had found in their sacks on their return from their first
journey to Egypt. In their modesty they put the loss of
their beasts upon the same level as the loss of their personal
liberty. To the average man property is as precious as life
itself.[239]
Standing at the door of Joseph's house, they spake to the
steward, and said: "We are in badly reduced circumstances.
In our country we supported others, and now we depend
upon thee to support us." After these introductory words,
they offered him the money they had found in their sacks.
The steward reassured them concerning the money, saying,
"However it may be, whether for the sake of your own
merits, or for the sake of the merits of your fathers, God
hath caused you to find a treasure, for the money ye paid for
the corn came into my hand." Then he brought Simon out
to them. Their brother looked like a leather bottle, so fat
and rotund had he grown during his sojourn in Egypt.[240]
He told his brethren what kind treatment had been accorded
unto him. The very moment they left the city he had been
released from prison, and thereafter he had been entertained
with splendor in the house of the ruler of Egypt.
When Joseph made his appearance, Judah took Benjamin
by the hand, and presented him to the viceroy, and they
all bowed down themselves to him to the earth.[241] Joseph
asked them concerning the welfare of their father and
their grandfather, and they made reply, "Thy servant
our father is well; he is yet alive," and Joseph knew from
their words that his grandfather Isaac was no more.[242] He
had died at the time when Joseph was released from prison,
and the joy of God in the liberation of Joseph was overcast
by His sorrow for Isaac.[243] Then Judah handed his father's
letter to Joseph, who was so moved at seeing the well-known
handwriting that he had to retire to his chamber and weep.
When he came back, he summoned Benjamin to approach
close to him, and he laid his hand upon his youngest
brother's head, and blessed him with the words, "God be
gracious unto thee, my son."[244] His father had once mentioned
"the children which God hath graciously given Thy
servant," and as Benjamin was not among the children thus
spoken of, for he was born later, Joseph compensated him
now by blessing him with the grace of God.[245]
The table was set in three divisions, for Joseph, for his
brethren, and for the Egyptians. The sons of Jacob did not
venture to eat of the dishes set before them, they were afraid
they might not have been prepared according to the ritual
prescriptions--a punishment upon Joseph for having slandered
his brethren, whom he once charged with not being
punctilious in the observance of the dietary laws.[246] The
Egyptians, again, could not sit at the same table with the
sons of Jacob, because the latter ate the flesh of the animals
to which the former paid divine worship.[247]
When all was ready, and the guests were to be seated,
Joseph raised his cup, and, pretending to inhale his knowledge
from it, he said, "Judah is king, therefore let him sit
at the head of the table, and let Reuben the first-born take
the second seat," and thus he assigned places to all his
brethren corresponding to their dignity and their age.[248]
Moreover, he seated the brothers together who were the
sons of the same mother, and when he reached Benjamin,
he said, "I know that the youngest among you has no
brother borne by his own mother, next to whom he might be
seated, and also I have none, therefore he may take his place
next to me."
The brethren marvelled one with another at all this. During
the meal, Joseph took his portion, and gave it to Benjamin,
and his wife Asenath followed his example, and also
Ephraim and Manasseh, so that Benjamin had four portions
in addition to that which he had received like the other sons
of Jacob.[249]
Wine was served at the meal, and it was the first time in
twenty-two years that Joseph and his brethren tasted of it,
for they had led the life of Nazarites, his brethren because
they regretted the evil they had done to Joseph, and Joseph
because he grieved over the fate of his father.[250]
Joseph entered into conversation with his brother Benjamin.
He asked him whether he had a brother borne by his
own mother, and Benjamin answered, "I had one, but I do
not know what hath become of him." Joseph continued his
questions: "Hast thou a wife?"
Benjamin: "Yes, I have a wife and ten sons."
Joseph: "And what are their names? "
Benjamin: "Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and
Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard."
Joseph: "Why didst thou give them such peculiar
names?"
Benjamin: "In memory of my brother and his sufferings:
Bela, because my brother disappeared among the
peoples; Becher, he was the first-born son of my mother;
Ashbel, he was taken away from my father; Gera, he dwells
a stranger in a strange land; Naaman, he was exceedingly
lovely; Ehi, he was my only brother by my father and my
mother together; Rosh, he was at the head of his brethren;
Muppim, he was beautiful in every respect; Huppim, he was
slandered; and Ard, because he was as beautiful as a rose."[251]
Joseph ordered his magic astrolabe to be brought to
him, whereby he knew all things that happen, and he said
unto Benjamin, "I have heard that the Hebrews are acquainted
with all wisdom, but dost thou know aught of
this?" Benjamin answered, "Thy servant also is skilled
in all wisdom, which my father hath taught me." He then
looked upon the astrolabe, and to his great astonishment he
discovered by the aid of it that he who was sitting upon the
throne before him was his brother Joseph. Noticing Benjamin's
amazement, Joseph asked him, "What hast thou
seen, and why art thou astonished?" Benjamin said, "I
can see by this that Joseph my brother sitteth here before
me upon the throne." And Joseph said: "I am Joseph thy
brother! Reveal not the thing unto our brethren. I will
send thee with them when they go away, and I will command
them to be brought back again into the city, and I will
take thee away from them. If they risk their lives and fight
for thee, then shall I know that they have repented of what
they did unto me, and I will make myself known unto them.
But if they forsake thee, I will keep thee, that thou shouldst
remain with me. They shall go away, and I will not make
myself known unto them."[252]
Then Joseph inquired of Benjamin what his brethren had
told their father after they had sold him into slavery, and
he heard the story of the coat dipped in the blood of a kid
of the goats. "Yes, brother," spoke Joseph, "when they
had stripped me of my coat, they handed me over to the
Ishmaelites,
who tied an apron around my waist, scourged me,
and bade me run off. But a lion attacked the one that beat
me, and killed him, and his companions were alarmed, and
they sold me to other people."[253]
Dismissed by Joseph with kind words, his brethren started
on their homeward journey as soon as the morning was
light, for it is a good rule to "leave a city after sunrise, and
enter a city before sundown."[254] Besides, Joseph had a specific
reason for not letting his brethren depart from the city
during the night. He feared an encounter between them and
his servants, and that his men might get the worst of it, for
the sons of Jacob were like the wild beasts, which have the
upper hand at night.
THE THIEF CAUGHT
They were not yet far beyond the city gates, when Joseph
dispatched Manasseh, the steward of his house, to follow
after them, and look for the silver cup that he had concealed
in Benjamin's sack. He knew his brethren well, he
did not venture to let them get too far from the city before
he should attempt to force their return. He hoped that the
nearness of the city would intimidate them and make them
heed his commands. Manasseh therefore received the order
to bring them to a halt, by mild speech if he could, or by
rough speech if he must, and carry them back to the city.[255]
He acted according to his instructions. When the brethren
heard the accusation of theft , they said: "With whomsoever
of thy servants the cup be found, let him die, and we
also will be my lord's bondmen." And Manasseh said, "As
you say, so were it proper to do, for if ten persons are
charged with theft, and the stolen object is found with one
of them, all are held responsible. But I will not be so hard.
He with whom the cup is found shall be the bondman, and
the rest shall be blameless."
He searched all the sacks, and in order not to excite the
suspicion that he knew where the cup was, he began at Reuben,
the eldest, and left off at Benjamin, the youngest, and
the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. In a rage, his
brethren shouted at Benjamin, "O thou thief and son of a
thief! Thy mother brought shame upon our father by her
thievery, and now thou bringest shame upon us." But he
replied, "Is this matter as evil as the matter of the kid of
the goats--as the deed of the brethren that sold their own
brother into slavery?"[256]
In their fury and vexation, the brethren rent their clothes.
God paid them in their own coin. They had caused Jacob
to tear his clothes in his grief over Joseph, and now they
were made to do the same on account of their own troubles.
And as they rent their clothes for the sake of their brother
Benjamin, so Mordecai, the descendant of Benjamin, was
destined to rend his on account of his brethren, the people of
Israel. But because mortification was inflicted upon the
brethren through Manasseh, the steward of Joseph, the
allotment of territory given to the tribe of Manasseh was
"torn" in two, one-half of the tribe had to live on one side
of the Jordan, the other half on the other side. And Joseph,
who had not shrunk from vexing his brethren so bitterly
that they rent their clothes in their abasement, was punished,
in that his descendant Joshua was driven to such despair
after the defeat of Ai that he, too, rent his clothes.[257]
Convicted of theft beyond the peradventure of a doubt,
the brethren of Joseph had no choice but to comply with the
steward's command and return to the city. They accompanied
him without delay. Each of them loaded his ass himself, raising
the burden with one hand from the ground to
the back of the beast, and then they retraced their steps
cityward,[258] and as they walked, they rapped Benjamin roughly
on the shoulder, saying, "O thou thief and son of a thief,
thou hast brought the same shame upon us that thy mother
brought upon our father." Benjamin bore the blows and the
abusive words in patient silence, and he was rewarded for
his humility. For submitting to the blows upon his shoulder,
God appointed that His Shekinah should "dwell between
his shoulders," and He also called him "the beloved of the
Lord."[259]
Joseph's brethren returned to the city without fear.
Though it was a great metropolis, in their eyes it appeared
but as a hamlet of ten persons, which they could wipe out
with a turn of the hand.[260] They were led into the presence
of Joseph, who, contrary to his usual habit, was not holding
a session of the court in the forum on that day. He remained
at home, that his brethren might not be exposed to
shame in public. They fell to the earth before him, and
thus came true his dream of the eleven stars that made
obeisance to him.[261] But even while paying homage to Joseph,
Judah was boiling inwardly with suppressed rage, and
he said to his brethren, "Verily, this man hath forced me to
come back hither only that I should destroy the city on this
day."
Guarded by his valiant men on the right and on the left,
Joseph addressed his brethren, snarling, "What deed is this
that ye have done, to steal away my cup? I know well, ye
took it in order to discover with its help the whereabouts of
your brother that hath disappeared."[262] Judah was spokesman,
and he replied: "What shall we say unto my lord
concerning the first money that he found in the mouth of
our sacks? What shall we speak concerning the second
money that also was in our sacks? And how shall we
clear ourselves concerning the cup? We cannot acknowledge
ourselves guilty, for we know ourselves to be innocent
in all these matters. Yet we cannot avow ourselves innocent,
because God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants,
like a creditor that goes about and tries to collect a
debt owing to him.[263] Two brothers take care not to enter
a house of mirth and festivity together, that they be not
exposed to the evil eye, but we all were caught together in
one place, by reason of the sin which we committed in
company."
Joseph: "But if your punishment is for selling Joseph,
why should this brother of yours suffer, the youngest, he
that had no part in your crime.
Judah: "A thief and his companions are taken together."
Joseph: "If you could prevail upon yourselves to report
to your father concerning a brother that had not stolen, and
had brought no manner of shame upon you, that a wild
beast had torn him, you will easily persuade yourselves to
say it concerning a brother that hath stolen, and hath
brought shame upon you. Go hence, and tell your father,
'The rope follows after the water bucket.'[264] But," continued
Joseph, shaking his purple mantle, "God forbid that
I should accuse you all of theft. Only the youth that stole
the cup in order to divine his brother's whereabouts shall
remain with me as my bondman; but as for you, get you up
in peace unto your father."
The holy spirit called out, "Great peace have they which
love thy law!"
The brethren all consented to yield Benjamin to the ruler
of Egypt, only Judah demurred, and he cried out, "Now it
is all over with peace!" and he prepared to use force, if
need be, to rescue Benjamin from slavery.[265]
JUDAH PLEADS AND THREATENS.
Joseph dismissed his brethren, and carried Benjamin off
by main force, and locked him up in a chamber. But Judah
broke the door open and stood before Joseph with his
brethren.[266] He determined to use in turn the three means of
liberating Benjamin at his disposal. He was prepared to
convince Joseph by argument, or move him by entreaties, or
resort to force, in order to accomplish his end.[267]
He spake: "Thou doest a wrong unto us. Thou who
didst say, 'I fear God,' thou showest thyself to be like unto
Pharaoh, who hath no fear of God. The judgments which
thou dost pronounce are not in accordance with our laws, nor
are they in accordance with the laws of the nations. According
to our law, a thief must pay double the value of what he
hath stolen. Only, if he hath no money, he is sold into slavery,
but if he hath the money, he maketh double restitution.
And according to the law of the nations, the thief is deprived
of all he owns. Do so, but let him go free. If a man buys
a slave, and then discovers him to be a thief, the transaction
is void. Yet thou desirest to make one a slave whom thou
chargest with being a thief. I suspect thee of wanting to
keep him in thy power for illicit purposes,[268] and in this
lustfulness thou resemblest Pharaoh. Also thou art like Pharaoh
in that thou makest a promise and keepest it not. Thou
saidst unto thy servants, Bring thy youngest brother down
unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. Dost thou call
this setting thine eyes upon him?[269] If thou didst desire
nothing beside a slave, then wouldst thou surely accept our
offer to serve thee as bondmen instead of Benjamin. Reuben
is older than he, and I exceed him in strength. It cannot
but be as I say, thou hast a lustful purpose in mind with
our brother.[270]
"Therefore let these words of mine which I am about to
speak find entrance into thy heart: For the sake of the
grandmother of this lad were Pharaoh and his house
stricken with sore plagues, because he detained her in his
palace a single night against her will. His mother died a
premature death, by reason of a curse which his father uttered
in inconsiderate haste. Take heed, then, that this man's
curse strike thee not and slay thee. Two of us destroyed the
whole of a city on account of one woman, how much more
would we do it for the sake of a man, and that man the
beloved of the Lord, in whose allotment it is appointed that
God shall dwell!
"If I but utter a sound, death-dealing pestilence will
stalk through the land as far as No. In this land Pharaoh
is the first, and thou art the second after him, but in our
land my father is the first, and I am the second. If thou
wilt not comply with our demand, I will draw my sword,
and hew thee down first, and then Pharaoh."
When Judah gave utterance to this threat, Joseph made a
sign, and Manasseh stamped his foot on the ground so that
the whole palace shook. Judah said, "Only one belonging to
our family can stamp thus!" and intimidated by this display
of great strength, he moderated his tone and manner.
"From the very beginning," he continued to speak, "thou
didst resort to all sorts of pretexts in order to embarrass us.
The inhabitants of many countries came down into Egypt to
buy corn, but none of them didst thou ask questions about
their family relations. In sooth, we did not come hither to
seek thy daughter in marriage, or peradventure thou desirest
an alliance with our sister? Nevertheless we gave
thee an answer unto all thy questions."
Joseph replied: "Verily, thou canst talk glibly! Is there
another babbler like thee among thy brethren?[271] Why dost
thou speak so much, while thy brethren that are older than
thou, Reuben, Simon, and Levi, stand by silent?"
Judah: "None of my brethren has so much at stake as I
have, if Benjamin returns not to his father. I was a surety
to my father for him, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever,
in this world and in the world to come.[272]
The other brethren withheld themselves intentionally from
taking part in the dispute between Judah and Joseph, saying,
"Kings are carrying on a dispute, and it is not seemly for
us to interfere between them."[273] Even the angels descended
from heaven to earth to be spectators of the combat between
Joseph the bull and Judah the lion, and they said, "It lies
in the natural course of things that the bull should fear the
lion, but here the two are engaged in equal, furious combat."
In reply to Judah, when he explained that his great interest
in Benjamin's safety was due to the pledge he had
given to his father, Joseph spoke: "Why wast thou not a
surety for thy other brother, when ye sold him for twenty
pieces of silver? Then thou didst not regard the sorrow
thou wast inflicting upon thy father, but thou didst say, A
wild beast hath devoured Joseph. And yet Joseph had done
no evil, while this Benjamin has committed theft. Therefore,
go up and say unto thy father, The rope hath followed
after the water bucket."
These words had such an effect upon Judah that he broke
out in sobs, and cried aloud, "How shall I go up to my
father, and the lad be not with me?"[274] His outcry reached
to a distance of four hundred parasangs, and when Hushim
the son of Dan heard it in Canaan, he jumped into Egypt
with a single leap and joined his voice with Judah's, and
the whole land was on the point of collapsing from the great
noise they produced. Joseph's valiant men lost their teeth,
and the cities of Pithom and Raamses were destroyed, and
they remained in ruins until the Israelites built them
up again under taskmasters. Also Judah's brethren, who
had kept quiet up to that moment, fell into a rage, and
stamped on the ground with their feet until it looked as
though deep furrows had been torn in it by a ploughshare.[275]
And Judah addressed his brethren, "Be brave, demean yourselves
as men, and let each one of you show his heroism, for
the circumstances demand that we do our best."
Then they resolved to destroy Mizraim, the city of Egypt,
and Judah said, "I will raise my voice, and with it destroy
Egypt."
Reuben: "I will raise my arm, and crush it out of
existence."
Simon: "I will raise my hand, and lay waste its palaces."
Levi: "I will draw my sword, and slay the inhabitants
of Egypt."
Issachar: "I will make the land like unto Sodom."
Zebulon: "Like unto Gomorrah will I render it."
Dan: "I will reduce it to a desert."[276]
Then Judah's towering rage began to show signs of breaking
out: his right eye shed tears of blood; the hair above
his heart grew so stiff that it pierced and rent the five
garments
in which he was clothed; and he took brass rods, bit
them with his teeth, and spat them out as fine powder.
When Joseph observed these signs, fear befell him, and in
order to show that he, too, was a man of extraordinary
strength, he pushed with his foot against the marble pedestal
upon which he sat, and it broke into splinters.
Judah exclaimed, "This one is a hero equal to myself!"
Then he tried to draw his sword from its scabbard in order
to slay Joseph, but the weapon could not be made to budge,
and Judah was convinced thereby that his adversary was a
God-fearing man, and he addressed himself to the task of
begging him to let Benjamin go free, but he remained
inexorable.[277]
Judah then said: "What shall we say unto our father,
when he seeth that our brother is not with us, and he will
grieve over him?"
Joseph: "Say that the rope hath followed after the water
bucket."
Judah: "Thou art a king, why dost thou speak in this
wise, counselling a falsehood? Woe unto the king that is
like thee!"
Joseph: "Is there a greater falsehood than that ye spake
concerning your brother Joseph, whom you sold to the
Midianites for twenty pieces of silver, telling your father,
An evil beast bath devoured him?"
Judah: "The fire of Shechem burneth in my heart, now
will I burn all thy land with fire."
Joseph: "Surely, the fire kindled to burn Tamar, thy
daughter-in-law, who did kill thy sons, will extinguish the
fire of Shechem."
Judah: "If I pluck out a single hair from my body, I will
fill the whole of Egypt with its blood."
Joseph: "Such is it your custom to do; thus ye did unto
your brother whom you sold, and then you dipped his coat
in blood, brought it to your father, and said, An evil beast
hath devoured him, and here is his blood."
When Judah heard this, he was exceedingly wroth, and
he took a stone weighing four hundred shekels that was
before him, cast it toward heaven with one hand, caught it
with his left hand, then sat upon it, and the stone turned into
dust. At the command of Joseph, Manasseh did likewise
with another stone, and Joseph said to Judah: "Strength
hath not been given to you alone, we also are powerful men.
Why, then, will ye all boast before us?" Then Judah sent
Naphtali forth, saying, "Go and count all the streets of the
city of Egypt and come and tell me the number," but Simon
interposed, saying, "Let not this thing trouble you, I will
go to the mount, and take up one huge stone from the
mount, throw it over the whole of Mizraim, the city of
Egypt, and kill all therein."
Hearing all these words, which they spake aloud, because
they did not know that he understood Hebrew, Joseph bade
his son Manasseh make haste and gather together all the
inhabitants of Egypt, and all the valiant men, and let them
come to him on horseback and afoot. Meantime Naphtali
had gone quickly to execute Judah's bidding, for he was as
swift as the nimble hart, he could run across a field of corn
without breaking an ear. And he returned and reported
that the city of Egypt was divided into twelve quarters.
Judah bade his brethren destroy the city; he himself undertook
to raze three quarters, and he assigned the nine remaining
quarters to the others, one quarter to each.
In the meantime Manasseh had assembled a great army,
five hundred mounted men and ten thousand on foot,
among them four hundred valiant heroes, who could fight
without spear or sword, using only their strong, unarmed
hands. To inspire his brethren with more terror, Joseph
ordered them to make a loud noise with all sorts of instruments,
and their appearance and the hubbub they produced
did, indeed, cause fear to fall upon some of the brethren of
Joseph. Judah, however, called to them, "Why are you
terrified, seeing that God grants us His mercy?" He drew
his sword, and uttered a wild cry, which threw all the people
into consternation, and in their disordered flight many fell
over each other and perished, and Judah and his brethren
followed after the fleeing people as far as the house of
Pharaoh. Returning to Joseph, Judah again broke out in
loud roars, and the reverberations caused by his cries were
so mighty that all the city walls in Egypt and in Goshen fell
in ruins, the pregnant women brought forth untimely births,
and Pharaoh was flung from his throne. Judah's cries
were heard at a great distance, as far off as Succoth.
When Pharaoh learnt the reason of the mighty uproar, he
sent word to Joseph that he would have to concede the demands
of the Hebrews, else the land would suffer destruction.
"Thou canst take thy choice," were the words of
Pharaoh, "between me and the Hebrews, between Egypt
and the land of the Hebrews. If thou wilt not heed my command,
then leave me and go with them into their land."
JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN
Seeing that his brethren were, indeed, on the point of
destroying Egypt, Joseph resolved to make himself known
to them, and he cast around for a proper opening, which
would lead naturally to his announcement. At his behest,
Manasseh laid his hand upon Judah's shoulder, and his touch
allayed Judah's fury, for he noticed that he was in contact
with a kinsman of his, because such strength existed in no
other family. Then Joseph addressed Judah gently, saying:[278]
"I should like to know who advised him to steal the
cup. Could it have been one of you?" Benjamin replied:
"Neither did they counsel theft, nor did I touch the cup."
"Take an oath upon it," demanded Joseph, and Benjamin
complied with his brother's request: "I swear that I did not
touch the cup! As true as my brother Joseph is separated
from me; as true as I had nothing to do with the darts that
my brethren threw at him; as true as I was not one of those
to take off his coat; as true as I had no part in the transaction
by which he was given over to the Ishmaelites; as true
as I did not help the others dip his coat in blood; so true
is my oath, that they did not counsel theft, and that I did
not commit theft."
Joseph: "How can I know that this oath of thine taken
upon thy brother's fate is true?"
Benjamin: "From the names of my ten sons, which I
gave them in memory of my brother's life and trials, thou
canst see how dearly I loved him. I pray thee, therefore,
do not bring down my father with sorrow to the grave."
Hearing these words of abiding love, Joseph could refrain
himself no longer. He could not but make himself known
unto his brethren.[279] He spake these words to them: "Ye
said the brother of this lad was dead. Did you yourselves
see him dead before you?" They answered, "Yes!"
Joseph: "Did you stand beside his grave?"
The brethren: "Yes!"
Joseph: "Did you throw clods of earth upon his corpse?"
The brethren: "No."
Then Joseph reflected, saying to himself: "My brethren
are as pious as aforetime, and they speak no lies. They said
I was dead, because when they abandoned me, I was poor,
and 'a poor man is like unto a dead man;' they stood beside
my grave, that is the pit into which they cast me; but they
did not say that they had shovelled earth upon me, for that
would have been a falsehood."
Turning to his brethren, he said: "Ye lie when ye say
that your brother is dead. He is not dead. You sold him,[280]
and I did buy him. I shall call him, and set him before your
eyes," and he began to call, "Joseph, son of Jacob, come
hither! Joseph, son of Jacob, come hither! Speak to thy
brethren who did sell thee." The others turned their eyes
hither and thither, to the four corners of the house, until
Joseph called to them: "Why look ye here and there? Behold, I am
Joseph your brother! "Their souls fled away
from them, and they could make no answer, but God permitted
a miracle to happen, and their souls came back to
them.
Joseph continued, "Ye see it with your own eyes, and also
my brother Benjamin seeth it with his eyes, that I speak
with you in Hebrew, and I am truly your brother." But
they would not believe him. Not only had he been transformed
from a smooth-faced youth into a bearded man since
they had abandoned him, but also the forsaken youth now
stood before them the ruler of Egypt. Therefore Joseph
bared his body and showed them that he belonged to the
descendants
of Abraham.
Abashed they stood there, and in their rage they desired
to slay Joseph as the author of their shame and their suffering.
But an angel appeared and flung them to the four
corners of the house. Judah raised so loud an outcry that
the walls of the city of Egypt tumbled down, the women
brought forth untimely births, Joseph and Pharaoh both
rolled down off their thrones, and Joseph's three hundred
heroes lost their teeth, and their heads remained forever
immobile, facing backward, as they had turned them to discover
the cause of the tumult. Yet the brethren did not venture
to approach close to Joseph, they were too greatly
ashamed of their behavior toward their brother.[281] He
sought to calm them, saying, "Now be not grieved, nor
angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life."
Even such kind words of exhortation did not banish their
fear, and Joseph continued to speak, "As little as I harbor
vengeful thoughts in my heart against Benjamin, so little
do I harbor them against you."And still his brethren were
ill at case, and Joseph went on, "Think you that it is possible
for me to inflict harm upon you? If the smoke of ten
candles could not extinguish one, how can one extinguish
ten?"
At last the brethren were soothed, and they went up to
Joseph,[282] who knew each by name, and, weeping, he embraced
and kissed them all in turn. The reason why he wept
was that his prophetic spirit showed him the descendants of
his brethren enslaved by the nations.[283] Especially did he
weep upon Benjamin's neck, because he foresaw the destruction
decreed for the two Temples to be situated in the allotment
of Benjamin. And Benjamin also wept upon Joseph's
neck, for the sanctuary at Shiloh, in the territory of Joseph
which was likewise doomed to destruction.[284]
Pharaoh was well pleased with the report of the reconciliation
between Joseph and the Hebrews, for he had feared
that their dissensions might cause the ruin of Egypt, and he
sent his servants to Joseph, that they take part in his joy.
Also he sent word to Joseph that it would please him well if
his brethren took up their abode in Egypt, and he promised
to assign the best parts of the land to them for their
dwelling-place.[285]
Not all the servants of Pharaoh were in agreement with
their master concerning this invitation to the Hebrews.
Many among them were disquieted, saying, "If one of the
sons of Jacob came hither, and he was advanced to a high
position over our heads, what evil will happen to us when
ten more come hither?"[286]
Joseph gave all his brethren two changes of raiment, one
for use on the ordinary days of the week and one for use
on the Sabbath, for, when the cup was found with Benjamin,
they had rent their clothes, and Joseph would not have
his brethren go about in torn garments.[287] But to Benjamin
he gave five changes of raiment, though not in order to
distinguish him above his brethren. Joseph remembered
only too well what mischief his father had caused by giving
him the coat of many colors, thereby arousing the envy of
his brethren. He desired only to intimate that Mordecai, a
descendant of Benjamin, would once be arrayed in five royal
garments.[288]
Joseph presented his brethren, apparelled in their gold and
silver embroidered clothes, before Pharaoh, who was well
pleased to become acquainted with them when he saw that
they were men of heroic stature and handsome appearance.[289]
He gave them wagons, to bring their families down
into Egypt, but as they were ornamented with images of
idols, Judah burnt them,[290] and Joseph replaced them with
eleven other wagons, among them the one he had ridden in
at his accession to office, to view the land of Egypt. This
was to be used by his father on his journey to Egypt. For
each of his brothers' children, he sent raiments, and also one
hundred pieces of silver for each, but for each of the children
of Benjamin he sent ten changes of raiment. And for
the wives of his brethren he gave them rich garments of
state, such as were worn by the wives of the Pharaohs, and
also ointments and aromatic spices. To his sister Dinah he
sent silver and gold embroidered clothes, and myrrh, aloes,
and other perfumes, and such presents he gave also to the
wife and the daughters-in-law of Benjamin. For themselves
and for their wives the brethren received all sorts of precious
stones and jewelled ornaments, like those that are worn by
the Egyptian nobility.
Joseph accompanied his eleven brethren to the frontier,
and there he took leave of them with the wish that they and
all their families come down to Egypt,[291] and he enjoined
upon them, besides, three maxims to be observed by travellers:
Do not take too large steps; do not discuss Halakic
subjects, that you lose not your way; and enter the city at
the latest with the going down of the sun.[292]
JACOB RECEIVES THE GLAD TIDINGS
In blithe spirits the sons of Jacob journeyed up to the
land of Canaan, but when they reached the boundary line,
they said to one another, "How shall we do? If we appear
before our father and tell him that Joseph is alive, he will be
greatly frightened, and he will not be inclined to believe
us." Besides, Joseph's last injunction to them had been to
take heed and not startle their father with the tidings of joy.
On coming close to their habitation, they caught sight of
Serah, the daughter of Asher, a very beautiful maiden, and
very wise, who was skilled in playing upon the harp. They
summoned her unto them and gave her a harp, and bade her
play before Jacob and sing that which they should tell her.
She sat down before Jacob, and, with an agreeable melody,
she sang the following words, accompanying herself upon
the harp: "Joseph, my uncle, liveth, he ruleth over the
whole of Egypt, he is not dead!" She repeated these words
several times, and Jacob grew more and more pleasurably
excited. His joy awakened the holy spirit in him, and he
knew that she spoke the truth.[293] The spirit of prophecy
never visits a seer when he is in a state of lassitude or in a
state of grief; it comes only together with joy. All the
years of Joseph's separation from him Jacob had had no
prophetic visions, because he was always sad, and only when
Serah's words reawakened the feeling of happiness in his
heart, the prophetic spirit again took possession of him.[294]
Jacob rewarded her therefor with the words, "My daughter,
may death never have power over thee, for thou didst revive
my spirit." And so it was. Serah did not die, she entered
Paradise alive. At his bidding, she repeated the words she
had sung again and again, and they gave Jacob great joy
and delight, so that the holy spirit waxed stronger and
stronger within him.
While he was sitting thus in converse with Serah, his sons
appeared arrayed in all their magnificence, and with all the
presents that Joseph had given them, and they spake to
Jacob, saying: "Glad tidings! Joseph our brother liveth!
He is ruler over the whole land of Egypt, and he sends thee
a message of joy." At first Jacob would not believe them,
but when they opened their packs, and showed him the presents
Joseph had sent to all, he could not doubt the truth of
their words any longer.[295]
Joseph had had a premonition that his father would refuse
to give his brethren credence, because they had tried to deceive
him before, and "it is the punishment of the liar that
his words are not believed even when he speaks the truth."
He had therefore said to them, "If my father will not believe
your words, tell him that when I took leave of him, to see
whether it was well with you, he had been teaching me the
law of the heifer whose neck is broken in the valley." When
they repeated this, every last vestige of Jacob's doubt
disappeared, and he said: "Great is the steadfastness of my
son Joseph. In spite of all his sufferings he has remained
constant in his piety.[296] Yea, great are the benefits that
the Lord hath conferred upon me. He saved me from the
hands of Esau, and from the hands of Laban, and from the
Canaanites who pursued after me. I have tasted many joys,
and I hope to see more, but never did I hope to set eyes upon
Joseph again, and now I shall go down to him and behold
him before my death."[297]
Then Jacob and the members of his family put on the
clothes Joseph had sent, among them a turban for Jacob,
and they made all preparations to journey down into Egypt
and dwell there with Joseph and his family. Hearing of his
good fortune, the kings and the grandees of Canaan came
to wait upon Jacob and express sympathy with him in his
joy, and he prepared a three days' banquet for them.[298]
Jacob, however, would not go down into Egypt without
first inquiring whether it was the will of God that he should
leave the Holy Land.[299] He said, "How can I leave the land
of my fathers, the land of my birth, the land in which the
Shekinah dwells, and go into an unclean land, inhabited by
slaves of the sons of Ham, a land wherein there is no fear of
God?"[300] Then he brought sacrifices in honor of God, in
the expectation that a Divine vision would descend upon
him and instruct him whether to go down into Egypt or
have Joseph come up to Canaan. He feared the sojourn
in Egypt, for he remembered the vision he had had at
Beth-el on leaving his father's house,[301] and he said to God:
"I resemble my father. As he was greedy in filling his maw,
so am I, and therefore I would go down into Egypt in consequence
of the famine. As my father preferred one son to
the other, so had I a favorite son, and therefore I would go
down into Egypt to see Joseph. But in this I do not resemble
my father, he had only himself to provide for, and
my house consists of seventy souls, and therefore am I compelled
to go down into Egypt. The blessing which my father
gave me was not fulfilled in me, but in my son Joseph, whom
peoples serve, and before whom nations bow down."[302]
Then the Shekinah addressed Jacob, calling his name
twice in token of love,[303] and bidding him not to fear the
Egyptian slavery foretold for the descendants of Abraham,
for God would have pity upon the suffering of his children
and deliver them from bondage.[304] God furthermore said, "I
will go down into Egypt with thee," and the Shekinah
accompanied Jacob thither, bringing the number of the company
with which he entered Egypt up to seventy.[305] But as
Jacob entertained fears that his descendants would stay
there forever, God gave him the assurance that He would
lead him forth together with all the pious that were like
unto him.[306] And God also told Jacob that Joseph had remained
steadfast in his piety even in Egypt, and he might
dismiss all doubts from his mind on this score, for it was his
anxiety on this account that had induced Jacob to consider
going down into Egypt; he wanted only to make sure of
Joseph's faithfulness, and then return home, but God
commanded him to go thither and remain there.[307]
Before Jacob left Canaan, he went to Beer-sheba, to hew
down the cedars that Abraham had planted there, and
take them with him to Egypt. For centuries these cedar
trees remained in the possession of his descendants; they
carried them with them when they left Egypt, and they
used them in building the Tabernacle.[308]
Although Joseph had put wagons at the disposal of his
brethren for the removal of his family from Canaan to
Egypt, they yet carried Jacob upon their arms, for which
purpose they divided themselves into three divisions, one
division after the other assuming the burden. As a reward
for their filial devotion, God redeemed their descendants
from Egypt.[309]
Judah was sent on ahead by his father, to erect a dwelling
in Goshen, and also a Bet ha-Midrash, that Jacob might set
about instructing his sons at once after his arrival. He
charged Judah with this honorable task in order to compensate
him for a wrong he had done him. All the years
of Joseph's absence he bad suspected Judah of having made
away with Rachel's son.[310] How little the suspicion was
justified he realized now when Judah in particular had been
assiduous in securing the safety of Benjamin, the other son
of Rachel. Jacob therefore said to Judah: "Thou hast done
a pious, God-bidden deed, and hast shown thyself to be a
man capable of carrying on negotiations with Joseph. Complete
the work thou hast begun! Go to Goshen, and together
with Joseph prepare all things for our coming. Indeed,"
continued Jacob, "thou wast the cause of our going down
into Egypt, for it was at thy suggestion that Joseph was sold
as a slave, and, also, through thy descendants Israel will be
led forth out of Egypt."[311]
When Joseph was informed of the approach of his father,
he rejoiced exceedingly, chiefly because his coming would
stop the talk of the Egyptians, who were constantly referring
to him as the slave that had dominion over them.
"Now," thought Joseph, "they will see my father and my
brethren, and they will be convinced that I am a free-born
man, of noble stock."
In his joy in anticipation of seeing his father, Joseph
made ready his chariot with his own hands, without waiting
for his servants to minister to him, and this loving action
redounded later to the benefit of the Israelites, for it rendered
of none effect Pharaoh's zeal in making ready his
chariot himself, with his own hands, to pursue after the
Israelites.[312]
JACOB ARRIVES IN EGYPT
When the Egyptian nobles observed their viceroy completing
his preparations to meet his father, they did the
same.[313] Indeed, Joseph had issued a proclamation throughout
the land, threatening with death all that did not go forth
to meet Jacob. The procession that accompanied him was
composed of countless men, arrayed in byssus and purple,
and marching to the sound of all sorts of musical instruments.
Even the women of Egypt had a part in the reception
ceremonies. They ascended to the roofs of the houses
and the walls of the cities, ready to greet Jacob with the
music of cymbals and timbrels.
Joseph wore the royal crown upon his head, Pharaoh had
yielded it to him for the occasion. He descended from his
chariot when he was at a distance of about fifty ells from his
father, and walked the rest of the way on foot, and his example
was followed by the princes and nobles of Egypt.
When Jacob caught sight of the approaching procession, he
was rejoiced,[314] and even before he recognized Joseph, he
bowed down before him, but for permitting his father to
show him this mark of honor, punishment was visited upon
Joseph. He died an untimely death, before the years of life
assigned to him had elapsed.[315]
That no harm befall Jacob from a too sudden meeting
with him, Joseph sent his oldest son ahead with five horses,
the second son following close after him in the same way.
As each son approached, Jacob thought he beheld Joseph,
and so he was prepared gradually to see him face to face.[316]
Meantime Jacob had espied, from where he was seated, a
man in royal robes among the Egyptians, a crown upon
his head, and a purple mantle over his shoulders, and
he asked Judah who it might be. When he was told that it
was Joseph, his joy was great over the high dignity attained
by his son.
By this time Joseph had come close to his father, and he
bowed himself before him down to the earth, and all the
people with him likewise prostrated themselves.[317] Then
Joseph fell upon his father's neck, and he wept bitterly. He
was particularly grieved that he had permitted his father
to bow down before him but a little while before without
hindering it.[318] At the very moment when Joseph embraced
his father, Jacob was reciting the Shema', and he did not
allow himself to be interrupted in his prayer,[319] but then he
said, "When they brought me the report of the death of
Joseph, I thought I was doomed to double death--that I
should lose this world and the world to come as well. The
Lord had promised to make me the ancestor of twelve tribes,
and as the death of my son rendered it impossible that this
promise should be realized, I feared I had incurred the doom
by my own sins, and as a sinner I could not but expect
to forfeit the future world, too. But now that I have
beheld thee alive, I know that my death will be only for the
world here below."[320]
Such was the manner of Jacob's arrival in Egypt. He
came with his whole family, sixty-nine persons they were in
all, but the number was raised to seventy by the birth of
Jochebed, afterward the mother of Moses, which took place
when the cavalcade had advanced to the space between the
one and the other city wall.[321] All the males in his family
were married men; even Pallu and Hezron, the latter of
whom was but one year old at the time of their migration,
and the former but two years, had the wives with them that
had been chosen for them by their parents.[322] In general,
all the sons and grandsons of Jacob had married young, some
of them had been fathers at the age of seven.[323]
Joseph took some from among his brethren, and presented
them to Pharaoh. He chose the weakest of them,
that the king might not be tempted to retain them in his
service as warriors.[324] And as he did not desire his family
to live at close quarters with the Egyptians and perhaps
amalgamate with them, he introduced them as shepherds.
The Egyptians worshipped the constellation of the rain,
and paid divine honors to animals, and they kept aloof
from shepherds. Pharaoh therefore was inclined to grant
Joseph's wish, to give them the pasture land of Goshen for
their sojourning place, the land that was theirs by right, for
the Pharaoh that took Sarah away from Abraham by force
had given it to her as her irrevocable possession.[325]
In their conversation with Pharaoh the brethren of Joseph
made it plain to the Egyptian king that it was not their
intention to remain in Egypt forever, it was to be only a
temporary dwelling-place.[326]
Then Joseph set Jacob his father before Pharaoh, and
when the king saw him, he said to Og, who happened to be
with him at that moment, "Seest thou! Thou wast wont
to call Abraham a sterile mule, and here is his grandson
with a family of seventy persons!" Og would not believe
his own eyes, he thought Abraham was standing before
him, so close was the resemblance between Jacob and his
progenitor. Then Pharaoh asked about Jacob's age, to find
out whether he actually was Jacob, and not Abraham. And
Jacob said unto Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my
pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years," using the
word pilgrimage in reference to life on earth, which the
pious regard as a temporary sojourn in alien lands. "Few
and evil," he continued, "have been the days of the years of
my life. In my youth I had to flee to a strange land on account
of my brother Esau, and now, in my old age, I must
again go to a strange land, and my days have not attained
unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the
days of their pilgrimage." These words sufficed to convince
Pharaoh and Og that the man standing before them
was not Abraham, but his grandson.[327]
When Jacob uttered the words, "The days of the years
of my pilgrimage have been few and evil," God said to him:
"Jacob, I saved thee out of the hands of Esau and Laban,
I restored Joseph unto thee, and made him to be a king and
a ruler, and yet thou speakest of few and evil days. Because
of thy ingratitude, thou wilt not attain unto the days
of the years of the life of thy fathers," and Jacob died at
an age thirty-three years less than his father Isaac's.[328]
On going out from the presence of Pharaoh, Jacob
blessed the king with the words, "May the years still in
store for me be given unto thee, and may the Nile overflow
its banks henceforth again and water the land." His words
were fulfilled. In order to show that the pious are a blessing
for the world, God caused the Nile to rise above its bed
and fructify the land of Egypt.[329]
JOSEPH'S KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY
Jacob and his family now settled in the land of Goshen,
and Joseph provided them with all things needful, not only
with food and drink, but also with clothing, and in his love
and kindness he entertained his father and his brethren
daily at his own table.[330] He banished the wrong done to him
by his brethren from his mind, and he besought his father
to pray to God for them, that He should forgive their great
transgression. Touched by this noble sign of love, Jacob
cried out, "O Joseph, my child, thou hast conquered the
heart of thy father Jacob."[331]
Joseph had other virtues, besides. The title "the God-
fearing one," borne only by him, Abraham, Job, and Obadiah,
he gained by reason of his kindness of heart and his generosity.
Whatever he gave his brethren, he gave with a
"good eye," a liberal spirit. If it was bread for food, it
was sure to be abundant enough, not only to satisfy the
hunger of all, but also for the children to crumble, as is
their habit.[332]
But Joseph was more than a helper to his family. As a
shepherd pastures his flock, so he provided for the whole
world during the years of famine. The people cursed Pharaoh,
who kept the stores of corn in his treasure chambers
for his own use, and they blessed Joseph, who took thought
for the famishing, and sold grain to all that came.[333] The
wealth which he acquired by these sales was lawful gain,
for the prices were raised, not by him, but by the Egyptians
themselves.[334] One part of his possessions, consisting of
gold and silver and precious stones, Joseph buried in four
different places, in the desert near the Red Sea, on the banks
of the Euphrates, and in two spots in the desert in the vicinity
of Persia and Media.[335] Korah discovered one of the hiding-
places, and the Roman emperor Antoninus, the son of Severus,
another. The other two will never be found, because
God has reserved the riches they hold for the pious, to be
enjoyed by them in the latter days, the days of the Messiah.[336]
The remainder of Joseph's possessions he gave
away, partly to his brethren and their families, and partly
to Pharaoh, who put them into his treasury.[337]
The wealth of the whole world flowed into Egypt at that
time, and it remained there until the exodus of the Israelites.
They took it along, leaving Egypt like a net without fish.
The Israelites kept the treasure until the time of Rehoboam,
who was deprived of it by the Egyptian king Shishak, and
he in turn had to yield it to Zerah, the king of Ethiopia.
Once more it came into possession of the Jews when King
Asa conquered Zerah, but this time they held it for only a
short while, for Asa surrendered it to the Aramean king
Ben-hadad, to induce him to break his league with Baasha,
the king of the Ten Tribes. The Ammonites, in turn, captured
it from Ben-hadad, only to lose it in their war with the
Jews under Jehoshaphat. Again it remained with the Jews,
until the time of King Ahaz, who sent it to Sennacherib as
tribute money. Hezekiah won it back, but Zedekiah, the last
king of the Jews, lost it to the Chaldeans, from whom it
came to Persia, thence to the Greeks, and finally to the
Romans, and with the last it remained for all time.[338]
The people were soon left without means to purchase the
corn they needed. In a short time they had to part with
their cattle, and when the money thus secured was spent,
they sold their land to Joseph, and even their persons.
Many of them would cover themselves with clay and appear
before Joseph, and say to him, "O lord king, see me
and see my possessions!" And so Joseph bought all the
land of Egypt, and the inhabitants became his tenants, and
they gave a fifth of their ingatherings unto joseph.[339]
The only class of the people permitted to remain in possession
of their land were the priests. Joseph owed them
gratitude, for they had made it possible for him to become
the ruler over Egypt. The Egyptians had hesitated to make
him their viceroy, because they shrank from choosing a man
accused of adultery for so high an office. It was the priests
that made the suggestion to examine Joseph's torn garment,
which his mistress had submitted as evidence of his guilt,
and see whether the rent was in front or in back. If it was
in back, it would show his innocence--he had turned to
flee, and his temptress had clutched him so that the garment
tore. But if the tear was in front, then it would be a proof
of his guilt--he had used violence with the woman, and she
had torn the mantle in her efforts to defend her honor. The
angel Gabriel came and transferred the rent from the fore
part to the back, and the Egyptians were convinced of Joseph's
innocence, and their scruples about raising him to the
kingship were removed.[340]
As soon as the Egyptians learnt of the advantageous position
of the priests, they all tried to prove themselves members
of the caste. But Joseph investigated the lists in the
archives, and determined the estate of every citizen.
The priests were favored in another way. Beside remaining
in possession of their land, they received daily portions
from Pharaoh, wherefore God said, "The priests that
serve idols receive all they need every day, how much more
do the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are My
priests, deserve that I should give them what they need
every day."[341]
The rest of the inhabitants of Egypt, who had to part
with their land, were not permitted to remain in their native
provinces. Joseph removed them from their own cities, and
settled them in others. His purpose herein was to prevent
the Egyptians from speaking of his brethren derogatorily as
"exiles the sons of exiles"; he made them all equally
aliens.[342] For the same reason, God later, at the time of the
going forth of the Israelites from Egypt, caused all nations
to change their dwelling-places about, so that the Israelites
could not be reproached with having had to leave their home.
And, finally, when Sermacherib carried the Jews away from
their land into exile, it also happened that this king first
mixed up the inhabitants of all the countries of the world.[343]
JACOB'S LAST WISH
In return for the seventeen years that Jacob had devoted
to the bringing up of Joseph, he was granted seventeen
years of sojourn with his favorite son in peace and
happiness. The wicked experience sorrow after joy; the
pious must suffer first, and then they are happy, for all's
well that ends well, and God permits the pious to spend the
last years of their lives in felicity.[344]
When Jacob felt his end approach, he summoned Joseph
to his bedside, and he told him all there was in his heart.
He called for Joseph rather than one of his other sons, because
he was the only one in a position to execute his wishes.
Jacob said to Joseph: "If I have found grace in thy
sight, bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. Only for thy
sake did I come down into Egypt, and for thy sake I spoke,
Now I can die. Do this for me as a true service of love, and
not because thou art afraid, or because decency demands it.
And when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt bury me in
their burying-place. Carry me out of the land of idolatry,
and bury me in the land where God hath caused His Name
to dwell, and put me to rest in the place in which four husbands
and wives are to be buried, I the last of them."
Jacob desired not to be buried in Egypt for several reasons.
He knew that the soil of Egypt would once swarm
with vermin, and it revolted him to think of his corpse exposed
to such uncleanness. He feared, moreover, that his
descendants might say, "Were Egypt not a holy land, our
father Jacob had never permitted himself to be buried
there," and they might encourage themselves with this argument
to make choice of Egypt as a permanent dwelling-
place. Also, if his grave were there, the Egyptians might
resort to it when the ten plagues came upon them, and if he
were induced to pray for them to God, he would be advocating
the cause of the Lord's enemies. If, on the other
hand, he did not intercede for them, the Name of God would
be profaned among the heathen, who would say, "Jacob is
a useless saint!" Besides, it was possible that God might
consider him, the "scattered sheep" of Israel, as a sacrifice
for the Egyptians, and remit their punishment. From his
knowledge of the people, another fear was justified, that
his grave would become an object of idolatrous veneration,
and the same punishment is appointed by God for the idols
worshipped as for the idolaters that worship them.
If Jacob had good reasons for not wanting his body to
rest in the soil of Egypt, he had equally good reasons for
wanting it to rest in the Holy Land. In the Messianic time,
when the dead will rise, those buried in Palestine will
awaken to new life without delay, while those buried elsewhere
will first have to roll from land to land through the
earth, hollowed out for the purpose, until they reach the
Holy Land, and only then will their resurrection take place.
But over and beyond this, Jacob had an especial reason for
desiring to have his body interred in Palestine. God had
said to him at Beth-el, "The land whereon thou liest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed," and hence he made
every endeavor to "lie" in the Holy Land, to make sure it
would belong to him and his descendants.[345] Nevertheless he
bade Joseph strew some Egyptian earth over his dead body.[346]
Jacob expressed these his last wishes three times. Such is
the requirement of good breeding in preferring a request.
In the last period of Jacob's life, one can see how true it is
that "even a king depends upon favors in a strange land."
Jacob, the man for the sake of whose merits the whole world
was created, for the sake of whom Abraham was delivered
from the fiery furnace, had to ask services of others while
he was among strangers,[347] and when Joseph promised to do
his bidding, he bowed himself before his own son, for it is a
true saying, "Bow before the fox in his day," the day of his
power.[348]
He was not satisfied with a simple promise from Joseph,
that he would do his wish; he insisted upon his taking an
oath by the sign of the covenant of Abraham, putting a hand
under his thigh in accordance with the ceremony customary
among the Patriarchs![349] But Joseph said: "Thou treatest
me like a slave. With me thou hast no need to require an
oath. Thy command sufficeth." Jacob, however, urged
him, saying: "I fear Pharaoh may command thee to bury me
in the sepulchre with the kings of Egypt. I insist that thou
takest an oath, and then I will be at peace." Joseph gave
in,[350] though he would not submit to the ceremony that
Eliezer had used to confirm the oath he took at the request
of his master Abraham. The slave acted in accordance with
the rules of slavery, the free man acted in accordance with
the dictates of freedom.[351] And in a son that thing would
have been unseemly which was becoming in a slave.[352]
When Joseph swore to bury his father in Palestine, he
added the words, "As thou commandest me to do, so also
will I beg my brethren, on my death-bed, to fulfil my last
wish and carry my body from Egypt to Palestine."[353]
Jacob, noticing the Shekinah over the bed's head, where
she always rests in a sick room, bowed himself upon the
bed's head,[354] saying, "I thank thee, O Lord my God, that
none who is unfit came forth from my bed, but my bed was
perfect."[355] He was particularly grateful for the revelation
God had vouchsafed him concerning his first-born son
Reuben, that he had repented of his trespass against his
father, and atoned for it by penance. He was thus assured
that all his sons were men worthy of being the progenitors
of the twelve tribes, and he was blessed with happiness such
as neither Abraham nor Isaac had known, for both of them
had had unworthy as well as worthy sons.[356]
Until the time of Jacob death had always come upon
men suddenly, and snatched them away before they were
warned of the imminent end by sickness. Once Jacob spoke
to God, saying, "O Lord of the world, a man dies suddenly,
and he is not laid low first by sickness, and he cannot acquaint
his children with his wishes regarding all he leaves
behind. But if a man first fell sick, and felt that his end
were drawing nigh, he would have time to set his house in
order." And God said, "Verily, thy request is sensible, and
thou shalt be the first to profit by the new dispensation," and
so it happened that Jacob fell sick a little while before his
death.[357]
His sickness troubled him grievously, for he had undergone
much during his life. He had worked day and night
while he was with Laban, and his conflicts with the angel
and with Esau, though he came off victor from both, had
weakened him, and he was not in a condition to endure the
hardships of disease.[358]
THE BLESSING OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
All the years of Jacob's sojourn in Egypt, Asenath, the
wife of Joseph, was his constant nurse. When she saw his
end drawing nigh, she spoke to Joseph: "I have heard that
one who is blessed by a righteous man is as though he had
been blessed by the Shekinah. Therefore, bring thy sons
hither, that Jacob give them his blessing."[359]
Though Joseph was a devoted and loving son to his
father, he was not in constant attendance upon him, because
he wanted to avoid giving him the opportunity of inquiring
into the circumstances of his coming to Egypt. He was
apprehensive that Jacob might curse his sons and bring death
upon them, if he discovered the facts connected with
their treacherous dealings with Joseph. He took good care
therefore never to be alone with his father. But as he desired
to be kept informed of his welfare, he arranged a
courier service between himself and Jacob.
Now when Joseph received the news of his father's having
fallen sick, through his messenger, as well as through Ephraim,
whom Jacob was instructing in the Torah, he hastened
to the land of Goshen, taking his two sons with him. He
desired to have certainty upon five points: Would his father
bless his two sons, who were born in Egypt, and, if so, would
he appoint them to be heads of tribes? Would he assign
the rights of the first-born unto himself, and, if so, would
he divest Reuben of such rights altogether? And why had
his father buried his mother Rachel by the wayside, and not
carried her body to the family tomb at Machpelah?[360]
Jacob had also entertained doubts on five points, when he
was about to emigrate from Canaan to Egypt: He did not
know whether his descendants would lose themselves among
the people of Egypt; whether he would die there and
be buried there; and whether he would be permitted to see
Joseph and see the sons of Joseph. God gave him the assurance,
saying, "I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I
will surely bring thee up again after thy death, and thy
descendants also, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine
eyes." When the time approached for the fulfilment of the
Divine promise, God appeared unto Jacob, and He said, "I
promised to fulfil thy wish, and the time of fulfilment hath
come."
The holy spirit made known to Jacob that Joseph was
coming to him,[361] and he strengthened himself, and sat upon
the bed in order to pay due respect to the representative of
the government. Though Joseph was his son, he was also
viceroy, and entitled to special marks of honor. Besides,
Jacob desired to make the impression of being a man
in good health. He wanted to avoid the possibility of having
his blessing of Joseph and Joseph's sons questioned as the
act of an irresponsible person.[362]
He strengthened himself spiritually as well as physically,
by prayer to God, in which he besought Him to let the holy
spirit descend upon him at the time of his giving the blessing
to the sons of Joseph.
When Joseph appeared in the company of his two sons, his
father said to him: "In all the seventeen years thou hast
been visiting me, thou didst never bring thy sons with thee,
but now they have come, and I know the reason. If I bless
them, I shall act in opposition to the word of God, who
promised to make me the progenitor of twelve tribes, for if
I adopt them as my sons, there will be fourteen tribes. But
if I do not bless them, it will plunge thee in sorrow. So be
it, I will bless them. But think not I do it because thou
didst support me all these years. There is quite another
reason.[363] When I left my father's house to go to Haran, I
offered up a prayer at Beth-el, and I promised to give unto
God the tenth of all I owned. So far as my material possessions
are concerned, I kept my vow, but I could not give the
tithe of my sons, because according to the law I had to withdraw
from the reckoning the four sons, Reuben, Joseph,
Dan, and Gad, that are the first-born children of their mothers.
When I returned, God again appeared unto me in
Beth-el, and He said, Be fruitful and multiply. But after
this blessing no son was born unto me except Benjamin
alone, and it cannot be but that God meant Manasseh and
Ephraim when He spoke of 'a nation and a company of
nations.' If now I have found favor in thy sight, thy two
sons Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simon,
shall be mine, and then I shall be able to give a tenth part of
my ten sons unto the Lord, and I shall leave this world free
from the sin of not keeping my vow to the Lord concerning
the tithe-giving."
Joseph consented to do his father's will, and Jacob tithed
his sons, consecrating Levi to the Holy One, and appointing
him to be the chief of his brethren. He enjoined his sons
to have a care that there should never fail them a son of
Levi in the priestly succession. And it happened that.
of all the tribes Levi was the only one that never proved
faithless to the covenant of the fathers.[364]
Thus Jacob adopted Manasseh and Ephraim to be his own
sons, even as Reuben and Simon were his sons. They were
entitled like the others to a portion in the Holy Land, and
like the others they were to bear standards on their journey
through the desert.[365]
Satisfied as to Jacob's intentions concerning his sons,
Joseph asked his father about his mother's burial-place, and
Jacob spoke, saying: "As thou livest, thy wish to see thy
mother lying by my side in the grave doth not exceed mine
own. I had joy in life only as long as she was alive, and
her death was the heaviest blow that ever fell upon me."
Joseph questioned him: "Perhaps thou didst have to bury
her in the way, because she died during the rainy season,
and thou couldst not carry her body through the rain to our
family sepulchre?" "No," replied Jacob, "she died in the
spring time, when the highways are clean and firm." Joseph:
"Grant me permission to take up her body now and
place it in our family burial-place." Jacob: "No, my son,
that thou mayest not do. I was unwilling to bury her in
the way, but the Lord commanded it." The reason of the
command was that God knew that the Temple would be
destroyed, and Israel would be carried away into banishment,
and the exiles would ask the Patriarchs to intercede
for them with God, but God would not hearken unto them.
On their way to the land of the stranger they would pass
the grave of Rachel, and they would throw themselves upon
it, and beseech their mother to make intercession for them
with God. And Rachel would pray to God in their behalf:
"O Lord of the world, look upon my tears, and have compassion
upon my children. But if Thou wilt not take pity on
them, then indemnify me for the wrong done to me." Unto
her prayer God will hearken, and He will have mercy upon
Israel. Therefore was Rachel buried in the way.
Now Jacob desired to bless the sons of Joseph, but the
holy spirit made him to see Jeroboam, the descendant of
Ephraim, and Jehu, the descendant of Manasseh, how they
would seduce Israel to idolatry, and the Shekinah forsook
him as he was about to lay his hands upon the heads of his
grandsons. He said to Joseph, "Is it possible that thou
didst not marry the mother of thy children according to the
law?" Joseph thereupon brought his wife Asenath to his
father, and pointing to her marriage contract, he said, "This
one is my wife, whom I married as is proper, with a marriage
contract and due ceremony. I pray thee, my father,
bless my sons if only for the sake of this pious woman."
Jacob bade his grandsons approach close to him, and he
kissed and embraced them, in the hope that his joy in them
would lure back the holy spirit, but his hope was vain. Joseph
concluded that the time was not favorable for blessing,
and he decided to go away until a more propitious opportunity
presented itself, first, however, proving to his father
that his sons had been initiated in the covenant of Abraham.
Outside of his father's chamber, alone with his sons, he
threw himself down before God and besought Him to show
him mercy, and he bade his sons do likewise, saying, "Be
not content with your high station, for worldly honors are
but for a time. Entreat God to be merciful and let the
Shekinah descend upon my father, that he bless you both."
Then spake God to the holy spirit: "How long yet shall
Joseph suffer? Reveal thyself quickly, and enter into Jacob,
that he may be able to bestow blessings."
In the words of Jacob, "Ephraim and Manasseh, even as
Reuben and Simon, shall be mine," Joseph had noticed his
father's preference for his younger son Ephraim. It made
him very anxious about his older son's birthright, and he
was careful to put the two lads before his father in such
wise that Manasseh should stand opposite Jacob's right
hand, and Ephraim opposite his left hand.[366] But Ephraim,
on account of his modesty, was destined for greater things
than his older brother Manasseh, and God bade the
holy spirit prompt Jacob to give the birthright to Ephraim.[367]
Now when Joseph observed his father put his right
hand upon Ephraim's head, he made an attempt to remove
it unto Manasseh's head. But Jacob warded him off, saying:
"What, thou wouldst displace my hand against my will, the
hand that overcame the prince of the angel hosts, who is as
large as one-third of the world![368] I know things not known
to thee--I know what Reuben did to Bilhah, and what
Judah did to Tamar. How much more do I know things
known to thee![369] Thinkest thou I know not what thy
brethren did to thee, because thou wouldst betray nothing
whenever I asked thee?[370] I know it, Manasseh also shall
become great, the judge Gideon shall descend from him, but
his younger brother will be the ancestor of Joshua, who will
bring the sun and the moon to a standstill, though they have
dominion over the whole earth from end to end." Thus did
Jacob set Ephraim the younger above Manasseh the older,
and thus did it remain unto all times. In the list of the
generations, Manasseh comes after Ephraim, and so it was
in the allotment of the portions in the Holy Land, and so it
was in the placing of the camps and the standards of the
tribes, and in the dedication of the Tabernacle--everywhere
Ephraim preceded Manasseh.[371]
The blessing bestowed upon his grandchildren by Jacob
was as follows: "O that it be the will of God that ye walk
in the ways of the Lord like unto my fathers Abraham and
Isaac,[372] and may the angel that hath redeemed me from all
evil give his aid unto Joshua and Gideon,[373] and reveal himself
unto them. May your names be named on Israel, and
like unto fishes may you grow into a multitude in the midst
of the earth, and as fishes are protected by the water, so
may you be protected by the merits of Joseph."[374]
The words "like unto fishes" were used by Jacob for the
purpose of intimating the manner of death awaiting the
Ephraimites, the descendants of Joseph. As fish are caught
by their mouth, so the Ephraimites were in later days to
invite their doom by their peculiar lisp. At the same time,
Jacob's words contained the prophecy that Joshua the son
of the man Nun, the "fish," would lead Israel into the Holy
Land. And in his words lay still another prophecy, with
reference to the sixty thousand men children begot in the
same night as Moses, all cast into the river with him, and
saved for the sake of his merits. The number of boys
thrown to the fishes in the river that night was equal to the
number of men in Israel upon the earth.[375]
Ephraim received a special and separate blessing from
his grandfather. Jacob said to him, "Ephraim, my son,
thou art the head of the Academy, and in the days to come
my most excellent and celebrated descendants will be called
Ephrati after thee."[376]
Joseph received two gifts from his father. The first was
Shechem, the city that Jacob had defended, with sword
and bow, against the depredations of the Amorite kings
when they tried to take revenge upon his sons for the outrage
committed there. And the second gift was the garments
made by God for Adam and passed from hand to
hand, until they came into the possession of Jacob. Shechem
was his reward, because, with his chastity, he stemmed
the tide of immorality that burst loose in Shechem first of
all.[377] Besides, he had a prior claim upon the city. Shechem,
son of Hamor, the master of the city, had given it to Dinah
as a present, and the wife of Joseph, Asenath, being the
daughter of Dinah, the city belonged to him by right.[378]
Adam's clothes Jacob had received from Esau. He had
not taken them from his brother by force, but God had
caused them to be given to him as a reward for his good
deeds. They had belonged to Nimrod. Once when the
mighty hunter caught Esau in his preserves, and forbade
him to go on the chase, they agreed to determine by combat
what their privileges were. Esau had taken counsel with
Jacob, and he had advised him never to fight with Nimrod
while he was clothed in Adam's garments. The two now
wrestled with each other, and at the time Nimrod was not
dressed in Adam's clothes. The end was that he was slain
by Esau. Thus the garments worn by Adam fell into the
hands of Esau, from him they passed into Jacob's, and he
bequeathed them to Joseph.[379]
Jacob also taught Joseph three signs whereby to distinguish
the true redeemer, who should deliver Israel from
the bondage of Egypt. He would proclaim the Ineffable
Name, appoint elders, and use the word Pakod in addressing
the people.[380]
THE BLESSING OF THE TWELVE TRIBES
When Joseph and his two sons left Jacob, his brethren,
envious of the bountiful blessings bestowed upon the three,
said, "The whole world loveth a favorite of fortune, and
our father hath blessed Joseph thus because he is a ruler of
men." Then spoke Jacob: "They that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing. I have blessings enough for
all."[381]
Jacob summoned his sons from the land of Egypt, and
bade them come to him at Raamses, first, however, commanding
them to make themselves clean, that the blessing he was
about to bestow might attach itself to them. Another one
of his commands was that they were to establish an Academy,
by the members of which they were to be governed.
When his sons were brought into his presence by the
angels, Jacob spoke, saying, "Take heed that no dissensions
spring up among you, for union is the first condition of
Israel's redemption," and he was on the point of revealing
the great secret to them concerning the end of time, but
while they were standing around the golden bed whereon
their father lay, the Shekinah visited him for a moment and
departed as quickly, and with her departed also all trace of
the knowledge of the great mystery from the mind of Jacob.[382]
He had the same experience as his own father Isaac, who
also had loss of memory inflicted upon him by God, to prevent
him from revealing the secret at the end of time to
Esau, when he summoned him to receive his blessing.
The accident made Jacob apprehensive that his sons were
not pious enough to be considered worthy of the revelation
concerning the Messianic era, and he said to them, "Ishmael
and the sons of Keturah were the blemished among the issue
of my grandfather Abraham; my father Isaac begot a blemished
issue in Esau, and I fear now that among you, too,
there is one that harbors the intention to serve idols."
The twelve men spake, and said: "Hear, O Israel, our
father, the Eternal our God is the One Only God. As thy
heart is one and united in avouching the Holy One, blessed
be He, to be thy God, so also are our hearts one and united
in avouching Him." Whereto Jacob responded, "Praised
be the Name of the glory of His majesty forever and
ever!"[383] And although the whole mystery of the Messianic
time was not communicated to the sons of Jacob, yet the
blessing of each contained some reference to the events of
the future.
These were the words addressed by Jacob to his oldest
son: "Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the
beginning of my strength! Thy portion should have been
three crowns. Thou shouldst have had the double heritage
of thy primogeniture, and the priestly dignity, and the royal
power. But by reason of thy sin, the birthright is conferred
upon Joseph, kingship upon Judah, and the priesthood upon
Levi. My son, I know no healing remedy for thee, but the
man Moses, who will ascend to God, he will make thee whole,
and God will forgive thy sin.[384] I bless thee--may thy
descendants be heroes in the Torah and heroes in war.[385]
Though thou must lose thy birthright, yet wilt thou be the
first to enter into possession of thy allotment in the Holy
Land, and in thy territory shall be the first of the cities of
refuge, and always shall thy name stand first in the list of
the families of the tribes. Yea, thou shalt also be the first
whose heritage will be seized by the enemy, and the first to
be carried away into the lands of exile."[386]
After Reuben had had his "ears pulled" thus, he retired,
and Jacob called his sons Simon and Levi to his side, and he
addressed them in these words: "Brethren ye were of
Dinah, but not of Joseph, whom you sold into slavery. The
weapons of violence wherewith ye smote Shechem were
stolen weapons, for it was not seemly for you to draw the
sword. That was Esau's portion. To him was it said, By
thy sword shalt thou live. Into the council of the tribe of
Simon my soul will not come when they foregather at
Shittim to do vicious deeds, and my glory will not be united
unto the assembly of Korah, the descendants of Levi. In
their anger Simon and Levi slew the prince of Shechem,
and in their self-will they sold Joseph the bull into slavery.
Accursed was the city of Shechem when they entered to
destroy it. If they remain united, no ruler will be able to
stand up before them, no war will prosper against them.
Therefore will I divide and scatter their possession among
the possessions of the other tribes. The descendants of
Simon will many of them be poor men, who will wander
from tribe to tribe and beg for bread, and also Levi's tribe
will gather its tithes and gifts from all the others."
The words of Jacob, "I will divide them in Jacob," spoken
of Simon and Levi, were fulfilled on Simon in particular.
When twenty-four thousand of Simon fell at Shittim, the
widows they left behind married husbands of all the other
tribes. Nevertheless Jacob did not dismiss Simon and Levi
without blessing them; the tribe of Simon was to bring forth
the teachers and the beadles needed by all Israel, and Levi,
the scholars that would expound the Torah and render decisions
according to its teachings.[387]
When the remaining sons of Jacob heard the rebukes
dealt out by their father to these three, they feared to hear
like reproaches, and they tried to slip away from his presence.
Especially Judah was alarmed, that his father might
taunt him with his trespass touching Tamar. But Jacob
spoke thus to him: "Judah, thou dost deserve thy name.
Thy mother called thee Jehudah, because she gave praise to
God at thy birth, and so shall thy brethren praise thee, and
they all will call themselves by thy name. And as thou didst
confess thy sin openly, so also thy descendants, Achan,
David, and Manasseh, will make public avowal of their sins,
and the Lord will hear their prayer. Thy hands will send
darts after the fleeing foe, and thy father's sons shall pay
thee respect. Thou hast the impudence of a dog and the
bravery of a lion. Thou didst save Joseph from death, and
Tamar and her two sons from the flames. No people and no
kingdom will be able to stand up against thee. Rulers shall
not cease from the house of Judah, nor teachers of the law
from his posterity, until his descendant Messiah come, and
the obedience of all peoples be unto him. How glorious is
Messiah of the House of Judah! His loins girded, he will
go out to do battle with his enemies. No king and no ruler
will prevail against him. The mountains will be dyed red
with their blood, and the garments of Messiah will be like
the garments of him that presseth wine. The eyes of Messiah
will be clearer than pure wine, for they will never behold
unchastity and bloodshed; and his teeth will be whiter
than milk, for never will they bite aught that is taken by
violence."[388]
Though Issachar was the older, Zebulon came next to be
blessed, as a reward for the sacrifice he had made for his
brother's sake, for when Issachar chose the study of the
Torah as his vocation, Zebulon decided to devote himself to
business and support his brother with the profits of his
trade, that he might give himself up to the law undisturbed.[389]
His blessing was that he would conquer the seacoast
as far as Zidon.[390]
"Issachar," said Jacob, "will take upon himself the burden
of the study of the Torah, and all the other tribes will
come to him and ask him to decide their doubts on legal
questions, and his descendants will be the members of the
Sanhedrin and the scholars that will occupy themselves with
fixing the calendar." Jacob blessed Issachar also with
the blessing, that the fruits of his land should be exceedingly
large, and this brought a heavenly as well as an earthly
profit in its train, for when the heathen to whom the fruits
were sold marvelled thereat, the Jewish merchants explained
that their extraordinary size was due to the merits of the
tribe of Issachar, whom God rewarded for their devotion to
the Torah, and thus many of the heathen were induced to
convert to Judaism.[391]
In blessing Dan, Jacob's thoughts were occupied chiefly
with his descendant Samson, who, like unto God, without
any manner of assistance, conferred victory upon his people.
Jacob even believed the strong, heroic man to be the Messiah,
but when Samson's death was revealed to him, he exclaimed,
"I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord, for Thy help
is unto all eternity, while Samson's help is only for a
time.[392] The redemption" continued Jacob, "will not be
accomplished by Samson the Danite, but by Elijah the
Gadite, who will appear at the end of time."[393]
Asher's blessing was the beauty of his women, who would
be sought in marriage by kings and high priests.[394]
In Naphtali's land all fruits would ripen quickly, and they
would be brought as presents to kings, and gain royal favor
for the givers. This blessing was fulfilled in the plain of
Gennesaret.[395] At the same time Naphtali's blessing was a
prophecy concerning his descendant Deborah, who was like
a hind let loose against Sisera to conquer him, and she gave
goodly words in her song of Israel's victory.[396] Naphtali
himself deserved the description applied to Deborah, for he
was swift as a hart to do the will of God, and he was a fleet
messenger unto his father and the tribes. They sent him
whithersoever they would, and he executed their errands
with dispatch.[397] He served the brethren of Joseph as herald,
to announce unto Jacob the glad tidings, "Joseph is yet
alive," and when the stricken father saw him approach, he
said, "Lo, here cometh Naphtali the lovable, who proclaimeth
peace."[398]
Joseph's blessing exceeded the blessing of all his brethren.
Jacob spoke: "O son whom I bred up, Joseph, whom
I raised, and who wast strong to resist the enticements of
sin, thou didst conquer all the magicians and the wise men
of Egypt by thy wisdom and thy pious deeds. The daughters
of princes cast their jewels before thee, to draw thine
eyes upon them when thou didst pass through the land of
Egypt, but thou didst not look their way, and therefore wast
thou made the father of two tribes. The magicians and the
wise men of Egypt sought to defame thee before Pharaoh
and slander thee, but thou didst set thy hope in the Almighty.
Therefore may He who appeared unto me as El
Shaddai bless thee and grant thee fertile soil and much
cattle. May the blessing thy father giveth thee now, and
the blessing that his fathers Abraham and Isaac gave
him, and that called forth the envy of the great of the
world, Ishmael, Esau, and the sons of Keturah--may all
these blessings be a crown upon the head of Joseph, and a
chain upon the neck of him that was the ruler of Egypt, and
yet diminished not the honor due to his brethren."[399]
The slander of which Jacob spoke referred to what Potiphar
had said of Joseph before Pharaoh. He had complained,
saying, "Why didst thou appoint my slave, whom I
did buy for twenty pieces of silver, to be ruler over the
Egyptians?" Joseph had then taken up his own defense,
saying: "When thou didst buy me as a slave, thou didst
commit a capital crime. Only a descendant of Canaan may
be sold as a slave, and I am a descendant of Shem, and a
prince besides. If thou wilt convince thyself of the truth of
my words, do but compare me with the likeness of my
mother Sarah that Pharaoh had made of her!" They
brought Sarah's likeness, and, verily, it appeared that
Joseph resembled his ancestress, and all were convinced of
his noble lineage.[400]
The blessing that Jacob bestowed upon Benjamin contains
the prophecy that his tribe would provide Israel with
his first ruler and his last ruler, and so it was, for Saul and
Esther both belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Likewise
Benjamin's heritage in the Holy Land harbors two extremes:
Jericho ripens its fruits earlier than any other region in
Palestine, while Beth-el ripens them latest. In
Benjamin's blessing, Jacob referred also to the service in the
Temple, because the Holy Place was situated in the territory
of Benjamin. And when Jacob called his youngest son a
wolf that ravineth, he was thinking of the judge Ehud, the
great scholar, a Benjamite, who conquered Eglon king of
Moab, and also he had in mind the Benjamites that captured
their wives by cunning and force.[401]
Again, if he called Benjamin a wolf, Judah a lion, and
Joseph a bull, he wanted to point to the three kingdoms
known as wolf, lion, and bull, the doom of which was and
will be sealed by the descendants of his three sons: Babylon,
the kingdom of the lion, fell through the hands of
Daniel of the tribe of Judah; Media, the wolf, found its
master in the Benjamite Mordecai; and the bull Joseph will
subdue the horned beast, the kingdom of wickedness, before
the Messianic time.[402]
THE DEATH OF JACOB
After Jacob had blessed each of his sons separately, he
addressed himself to all of them together, saying: "According
to my power did I bless you, but in future days a prophet
will arise, and this man Moses will bless you, too, and he
will continue my blessings where I left off." He added,
besides, that the blessing of each tribe should redound to the
good of all the other tribes: the tribe of Judah should have a
share in the fine wheat of the tribe of Benjamin, and Benjamin
should enjoy the goodly barley of Judah. The tribes
should be mutually helpful, one to another.[403]
Moreover, he charged them not to be guilty of idolatry in
any form or shape and not to let blasphemous speech pass
their lips, and he taught them the order of transporting his
bier,[404] thus: "Joseph, being king, shall not help to bear it,
nor shall Levi, who is destined to carry the Ark of the Shekinah.
Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon shall grasp its front
end, Reuben, Simon, and Gad its right side, Ephraim, Manasseh,
and Benjamin the hindmost end, and Dan, Asher,
and Naphtali its left side." And this was the order in which
the tribes, bearing each its standard, were to march through
the desert, the Shekinah dwelling in the midst of them.[405]
Jacob then spake to Joseph, saying: "And thou, my son
Joseph, forgive thy brethren for their trespass against thee,
forsake them not, and grieve them not, for the Lord hath
put them into thine hands, that thou shouldst protect them
all thy days against the Egyptians."
Also he admonished his sons, saying that the Lord would
be with them if they walked in His ways, and He would
redeem them from the hands of the Egyptians. "I know,"
he continued, "great suffering will befall your sons and
your grandsons in this land, but if you will obey God, and
teach your sons to know Him, then He will send you a
redeemer, who will bring you forth out of Egypt and lead
you into the land of your fathers."[406]
In resignation to the will of God,[407] Jacob awaited his end,
and death enveloped him gently. Not the Angel of Death
ended his life, but the Shekinah took his soul with a kiss.
Beside the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, only
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam breathed their last in this manner,
through the kiss of the Shekinah. And these six, together
with Benjamin, are the only ones whose corpses are
not exposed to the ravages of the worms, and they neither
corrupt nor decay.
Thus Jacob departed this world, and entered the world
to come, a foretaste of which he had enjoyed here below,
like the other two Patriarchs, and none beside among men.
In another respect their life in this world resembled their
life in the world to come, the evil inclination had no power
over them, either here or there, wherein David resembled
them.[408]
Joseph ordered his father's body to be placed upon a
couch of ivory, covered with gold, studded with gems, and
hung with drapery of byssus and purple. Fragrant wine
was poured out at its side, and aromatic spices burnt next
to it. Heroes of the house of Esau, princes of the family
of Ishmael, and the lion Judah, the bravest of his sons,
surrounded the sumptuous bier of Jacob. "Come," said Judah
to his brethren, "let us plant a high cedar tree at the head
of our father's grave, its top shall reach up to the skies, its
branches shall shade all the inhabitants of the earth, and its
roots shall grow down deep into the earth, unto the abyss.
For from him are sprung twelve tribes, and from him will
arise kings and rulers, chapters of priests prepared to perform
the service of the sacrifices, and companies of Levites
ready to sing psalms and play upon sweet instruments."[409]
The sons of Jacob tore their garments and girded their
loins with sackcloth, threw themselves upon the ground, and
strewed earth upon their heads until the dust rose in a high
cloud. And when Asenath, the wife of Joseph, heard the
tidings of Jacob's death, she came, and with her came the
women of Egypt, to weep and mourn over him. And the
men of Egypt that had known Jacob repaired thither, and
they mourned day after day, and also many journeyed down
into Egypt from Canaan, to take part in the seventy days'
mourning made for him.[410]
The Egyptians spake to one another, saying, "Let us
lament for the pious man Jacob, because the affliction of the
famine was averted from our land on account of his merits,"
for instead of ravaging the land for forty-two years according
to the decree of God, the famine had lasted but two
years, and that was due to the virtues of Jacob.[411]
Joseph ordered the physicians to embalm the corpse. This
he should have refrained from doing, for it was displeasing
to God, who spoke, saying: "Have I not the power to preserve
the corpse of this pious man from corruption? Was it
not I that spoke the reassuring words, Fear not the worm, O
Jacob, thou dead Israel?" Joseph's punishment for this
useless precaution was that he was the first of the sons of
Jacob to suffer death.[412] The Egyptians, on the other
hand, who devoted forty days to embalming the corpse
and preparing it for burial, were rewarded for the veneration
they showed. Before He destroyed their city, God
gave the Ninevites a forty days' respite on account of
their king, who was the Pharaoh of Egypt. And for the
three score and ten days of mourning that the heathen
made for Jacob, they were recompensed at the time of
Ahasuerus. During seventy days, from the thirteenth of
Nisan, the date of Haman's edict ordering the extermination
of the Jews, until the twenty-third of Siwan, when Mordecai
recalled it, they were permitted to enjoy absolute power
over the Jews.
When all preparations for the burial of Jacob had been
completed, Joseph asked permission of Pharaoh to carry the
body up into Canaan. But he did not himself go to put his
petition before Pharaoh, for he could not well appear before
the king in the garb of a mourner, nor was he willing to
interrupt his lamentation over his father for even a brief
space and stand before Pharaoh and prefer his petition. He
requested the family of Pharaoh to intercede for him with
the king for the additional reason that he was desirous of
enlisting the favor of the king's relations, lest they advise
Pharaoh not to fulfil his wish. He acted according to the
maxim, "Seek to win over the accuser, that he cause thee
no annoyance."[413]
Joseph applied first to the queen's hairdresser, and she
influenced the queen to favor him, and then the queen put
in a good word for him with the king.[414] At first Pharaoh
refused the permission craved by Joseph, who, however,
urged him to consider the solemn oath he had given his
dying father, to bury him in Canaan. Pharaoh desired him
to seek absolution from the oath. But Joseph rejoined,
"Then will I apply also for absolution from the oath I gave
thee," referring to an incident in his earlier history. The
grandees of Egypt had advised Pharaoh against appointing
Joseph as viceroy, and they did not recede from this counsel
until Joseph, in his conversation with the Egyptian king,
proved himself to be master of the seventy languages of the
world, the necessary condition to be fulfilled before one
could become ruler over Egypt. But the conversation
proved something else, that Pharaoh himself was not entitled
to Egyptian kingship, because he lacked knowledge of
Hebrew. He feared, if the truth became known, Joseph
would be raised to his own place, for he knew Hebrew beside
all the other tongues. In his anxiety and distress,
Pharaoh made Joseph swear an oath never to betray the
king's ignorance of Hebrew. Now when Joseph threatened
to have himself absolved from this oath as well as the one
to his dying father, great terror overwhelmed him, and he
speedily granted Joseph permission to go up to Canaan and
bury his father there.[415]
Moreover, Pharaoh issued a decree in all parts of the land
menacing those with death who would not accompany Joseph
and his brethren upon their journey to Canaan with
their father's remains, and accordingly the procession that
followed the bier of Jacob was made up of the princes and
nobles of Egypt as well as the common people.[416] The bier
was borne by the sons of Jacob. In obedience to his wish not
even their children were allowed to touch it.[417] It was
fashioned
of pure gold, the border thereof inlaid with onyx
stones and bdellium, and the cover was gold woven work
joined to the bier with threads that were held together with
hooks of onyx stones and bdellium. Joseph placed a large
golden crown upon the head of his father, and a golden
sceptre he put in his hand, arraying him like a living king.
The funeral cortege was arranged in this order: First
came the valiant men of Pharaoh and the valiant men of
Joseph, and then the rest of the inhabitants of Egypt. All
were girt with swords and clothed in coats of mail, and the
trappings of war were upon them. The weepers and mourners
walked, crying and lamenting, at some distance from the
bier, and the rest of the people went behind it, while Joseph
and his household followed together after it, with bare feet
and in tears, and Joseph's servants were close to him, each
man with his accoutrements and weapons of war. Fifty of
Jacob's servants preceded the bier, strewing myrrh upon
the road in passing, and all manner of perfumes, so that the
sons of Jacob trod upon the aromatic spices as they carried
the body forward.
Thus the procession moved on until it reached Canaan.
It halted at the threshing-floor of Atad, and there they
lamented with a very great and sore lamentation.[418] But the
greatest honor conferred upon Jacob was the presence of
the Shekinah, who accompanied the cortege.[419]
The Canaanites had no intention at first to take part
in the mourning made for Jacob, but when they saw the
honors shown him, they joined the procession of the
Egyptians,[420]
loosing the girdles of their garments as a sign of
grief.[421] Also the sons of Esau, Ishmael, and Keturah appeared,
though their design in coming was to seize the
opportunity and make war upon the sons of Jacob, but when
they saw Joseph's crown suspended from the bier, the
Edomite and Ishmaelite kings and princes followed his example,
and attached theirs to it, too, and it was ornamented
with thirty-six crowns.
Nevertheless the conflict was not averted; it broke out in
the end between the sons of Jacob and Esau and his followers.
When the former were about to lower the body of their
father into the Cave of Machpelah, Esau attempted to prevent
it, saying that Jacob had used his allotted portion of the
tomb for Leah, and the only space left for a grave belonged
to himself. For, continued Esau, "though I sold my birthright
unto Jacob, I yet have a portion in the tomb as a son
of Isaac." The sons of Jacob, however, were well aware of
the fact that their father had acquired Esau's share in the
Cave, and they even knew that a bill of sale existed, but
Esau, assuming properly that the document was left behind
in Egypt, denied that any such had ever been made out, and
the sons of Jacob sent Naphtali, the fleet runner, back to
Egypt to fetch the bill. Meantime, while this altercation
was going on between Esau and the others, Hushim the son
of Dan arose and inquired in astonishment why they did not
proceed with the burial of Jacob, for he was deaf and had
not understood the words that had passed between the disputants.
When he heard what it was all about, and that the
ceremonies were interrupted until Naphtali should return
from Egypt with the bill of sale, he exclaimed, with indignation,
"My grandfather shall lie here unburied until Naphtali
comes back!" and he seized a club and dealt Esau a
vigorous blow, so that he died, and his eyes fell out of their
sockets and dropped upon Jacob's knees, and Jacob opened
his own eyes and smiled. Esau being dead, his brother's
burial could proceed without hindrance, and Joseph interred
him in the Cave of Machpelah in accordance with his wish.
His other children had left all arrangements connected
with the burial of their father's body to their brother Joseph,
for they reflected that it was a greater honor for Jacob if a
king concerned himself about his remains rather than simple
private individuals.[422]
The head of Esau, as he lay slain by the side of Jacob's
grave, rolled down into the Cave, and fell into the lap of
Isaac, who prayed to God to have mercy upon his son, but
his supplications were in vain. God spoke, saying, "As I
live, he shall not behold the majesty of the Lord."[423]
THE SONS OF JACOB AT WAR WITH THE SONS OF ESAU
Jacob having been interred with royal pomp, and the
seven days' period of mourning over, the conflict between
the sons of Jacob and the sons of Esau broke out anew. In
the skirmish that had ensued when Esau advanced a claim upon a place in the Cave of Machpelah, while his brother's
remains still lay unburied, he lost forty of his men, and after
his death fortune favored his sons as little. Eighty of their
followers were slain, while of the sons of Jacob not one was
lost. Joseph succeeded in capturing Zepho the son of
Eliphaz and fifty of his men, and he clapped them in
chains and carried them off to Egypt. Thereupon the rest
of the attacking army led by Eliphaz fled to Mount Seir,
taking with them the headless corpse of Esau, to bury it in
his own territory. The sons of Jacob pursued after them,
but they slew none, out of respect for the remains of Esau.
On the third day a great army gathered together, consisting
of the inhabitants of Seir and the children of the East,
and they marched down into Egypt with the purpose of
making war upon Joseph and his brethren. In the battle
that came off, this army was almost totally destroyed, not
less than six hundred thousand men were mowed down by
Joseph and his warriors, and the small remnant fled
precipitately.
Returned to their own country after this fatal
campaign, the sons of Esau and the sons of Seir fell to
quarrelling among themselves, and the sons of Seir demanded
that their former allies leave the place, because it was they
that had brought misfortune upon the country.
The sons of Esau thereupon dispatched a messenger in
secret to their friend Agnias, king of Africa, begging his aid
against the sons of Seir. He granted their request, and
sent them troops consisting of foot-soldiers and mounted
men. The sons of Seir, on their part, also sought allies, and
they secured the help of the children of the East, and of the
Midianites, who put warriors at their disposal. In the encounters
that ensued between the hostile forces, the sons of
Esau were defeated again and again, partly on account of
treachery in their own ranks, for their men sometimes deserted
to the enemy while the combat was on. At last, however,
in the battle that took place in the desert of Paran, the
sons of Esau gained a decisive victory. They massacred all
the warriors of the sons of Seir, and the Midianites and the
children of the East were put to flight.
Thereafter the sons of Esau returned to Seir, and they
slew all the inhabitants of the place, men, women, and children,
sparing only fifty lads and maidens. The former they
used as slaves, and the latter they took to wife. They also
enriched themselves with the spoils, seizing all the possessions
of the sons of Seir, and the whole land was divided
among the five sons of Esau. Now these descendants of
Esau determined to put a king over themselves, but in consequence
of the treachery committed during the war there
prevailed such hatred and bitterness among them that they
decided never to appoint a ruler from their own people.
Their choice fell upon Bela, the son of Beor, one of the
warriors sent to them by King Agnias. His peer could
not be found among the allied troops for bravery, wisdom,
and handsome appearance. They set the royal crown upon
his head, built a palace for him, and gave him gifts of silver,
gold, and gems, until he lived in great opulence. He reigned
happily for thirty years, and met his death then in a war
against Joseph and his brethren.
This war came about because the sons of Esau could not
banish from their memory the disgrace of the defeat inflicted
upon them by Joseph and his people. Having enlisted
the aid of Agnias, and of the Ishmaelites and other nations of
the East, they set forth on a second campaign against Egypt,
in the hope of delivering Zepho and his followers from the
hands of Joseph. In spite of their enormous host--they had
no less than eight hundred thousand men of infantry and
cavalry--they were defeated at Raamses by Joseph and his
brethren and their little company of six hundred men. Beside
their king Bela, they left one-fourth of their army upon
the field. The loss of their king discouraged them grievously,
and they took to flight, hard pressed by Joseph, who
cut down many of the fugitives.
When he returned from the battle, Joseph ordered manacles
and fetters to be put upon Zepho and his followers, and
their captivity was made more bitter unto them than it had
been before.
The sons of Esau appointed Jobab of Bozrah to succeed
their dead king Bela. His reign lasted ten years, but they
desisted from all further attempts at waging war with the
sons of Jacob. Their last experience with them had been
too painful, but the enmity they cherished against them was
all the fiercer, and their hatred never abated.
Their third king was Husham, and he ruled over them
for twenty years. During his reign Zepho succeeded in
making good his escape from Egypt. He was received
kindly by Agnias, king of Africa, and appointed
commander-in-chief of his troops. He used every means of
persuasion
to induce his sovereign lord to enter into a war with Egypt,
but in vain, for Agnias was only too well acquainted with
the strength and heroism of the sons of Jacob. For many
years he resisted Zepho's arguments and blandishments. Indeed,
as it was, Agnias had his hands full with other warlike
enterprises. It had happened about this time that a man of
the land of Kittim, 'Uzi by name, whom his countrymen
venerated as a god, died in the city of Pozimana, and he left
behind a fair and clever daughter. Agnias heard of Yaniah's
beauty and wisdom, and he sued for her hand, and his request
was granted him by the people of Kittim.
The messengers of Agnias were hastening away from
Kittim, bearing to their master the promise of the inhabitants
that Yaniah should become his wife, when Turnus,
king of Benevento, arrived on the same errand. His suit
was rejected, for the people of Kittim were afraid-to break
the promise given to Agnias. In his anger, Turnus went to
Sardinia to make war upon King Lucus, a brother of Agnias,
intending to deal with the latter as soon as the other
was rendered harmless. Hearing of the design hatched by
Turnus, Agnias hastened to Sardinia to the assistance of his
brother, and a battle took place in the Valley of Campania.
Against Turnus were arrayed Agnias, his brother Lucus,
and the son of the latter, Niblos, whom his father had appointed
commander-in-chief of the Sardinian troops. In the
first encounter, Turnus was the victor, and the Sardinians
lost their general Niblos. But in the second engagement
the army of Turnus was routed completely, and he himself
was left dead on the field. His army fled, pursued closely
by Agnias as far as the cross-road between Rome and Albano.
Niblos' body was put inside of a golden statue, and
his father erected a high tower over his grave, and another
over the grave of Turnus, and these two buildings, connected
by a marble pavement, stand opposite to each other,
on the cross-road at which Agnias left off from following
after the fugitive army.
The king of Africa went on to the city of Benevento, but
he took no harsh measures against it and its inhabitants, because
it belonged to the land of Kittim at that time. Thenceforth,
however, bands of soldiers from Africa made incursions,
now and again, into the land of Kittim, under the lead
of Zepho, the captain of the African army. Agnias meantime
went to Pozimana, to solemnize his marriage with
Yaniah, and he returned with her to his capital in Africa.[424]
ZEPHO KING OF KITTIM
All this time Zepho did not leave off urging Agnias to
invade Egypt, and he succeeded finally in persuading the
king to consider his wish, and a great army was equipped
against Egypt and the sons of Jacob. Among the shield-
bearers was Balaam, the fifteen year old son of Beor, a wise
youth and an adept in magic, and the king bade him acquaint
him with the issue of the war upon which they were entering.
Balaam took wax and moulded the figures of men,
to represent the army of Agnias and the army of the Egyptians,
and he plunged them into magic water and let them
swim, and it appeared that the African army was subdued
by the Egyptians. Agnias accordingly gave up the campaign,
and Zepho, seeing that his sovereign could not be
persuaded into war with the sons of Jacob, fled the country
and betook himself to Kittim.
The people of Kittim received him with great honors,
and they offered him much money to stay with them and
conduct their wars. It happened once while Zepho was in
the mountains of Koptiziah, where the inhabitants of Kittim
had taken refuge before the troops of the African king,
that he had to go on a search for an ox that had strayed
away, and he discovered a cave the opening of which was
barred by a great stone. He shivered the stone in pieces,
and entering the cave he saw an animal formed like a man
above and a he-goat below, and he killed the strange beast,
which was in the very act of devouring his lost ox. There
was great rejoicing among the people of Kittim, for the
monster had long been doing havoc among their cattle, and
in gratitude they set aside one day of the year, which they
called by Zepho's name, in honor of their liberator, and all
the people brought him presents and offered sacrifices to him.
At this time it came to pass that Yaniah, the wife of King
Agnias, fell into a grievous sickness, and the physicians
ascribed her illness to the climate, and to the water of Africa,
to which she, a native of the land of Kittim, could not get
accustomed, because she had been in the habit of using the
water of the river Forma, which her forefathers had drawn
to her house through a conduit. Agnias sent to the land of
Kittim and had some of the water of the Forma brought to
Africa. Finding it much lighter than the water of his own
country, he built a huge canal from the land of Kittim. to
Africa, and the queen henceforth had all the Forma water
she needed. Besides, he took earth and stone from Kittim,
and built a palace for Yaniah, and she recovered from her
illness.
Meantime Zepho had won a decisive victory over the
African troops that had made an incursion into the land of
Kittim, and the people chose him as king. His first undertaking
was a campaign against the sons of Tubal and the
Islands of the Sea, and again he was successful, he subdued
them completely. On his return, the people built a great
palace for Zepho, and they renewed his kingship, and he
continued until his death to reign as king of Kittim and of
Italy.
During the first thirteen years of his reign, the Africans
made no attempt to disturb the peace of Kittim, but then
they invaded the land, only to be severely repulsed by Zepho,
who pursued the troops up to the very borders of Africa, and
Agnias the king was in such consternation that he did not
venture to make reprisals for some time. When he finally
made a second attempt, his troops were annihilated by Zepho
down to the very last man. Now Agnias, in despair, assembled
all the inhabitants of Africa, as numerous as the
sand on the sea-shore, and he united his great host with the
army of his brother Lucus, and thus he made his third attempt
upon Zepho and the people of the land of Kittim.
Alarmed, Zepho wrote to his brethren in Seir, and entreated
their king Hadad to send him aid. But the people
of Seir had concluded an alliance with Agnias as far back
as under their first king Bela, and they refused Zepho's
request, and the king of Kittim had to face the host of eight
hundred thousand men mustered by Agnias with his little
band of three thousand. Then the people of Kittim spake
to their king Zepho, saying: "Pray for us unto the God of
thy ancestors. Peradventure He may deliver us from the
hand of Agnias and his army, for we have heard that He is
a great God, and He delivers all that trust in Him." Zepho
prayed unto the Lord, saying: "O Lord, God of Abraham
and Isaac, my fathers, this day may it be made known that
Thou art a true God, and all the gods of the nations are vain
and useless. Remember now this day unto me Thy covenant
with Abraham our father, which our ancestors related
unto us, and do graciously with me this day for the sake of
Abraham and Isaac, our fathers, and save me and the sons
of Kittim from the hand of the king of Africa, who hath
come against us for battle."
God gave ear unto Zepho's prayer, and in the first day's
battle one-half of the African army fell. Agnias forthwith
dispatched a decree to his country, ordering, on penalty
of death and confiscation of property, that all the males
of the land, including boys that bad passed their tenth year,
were to join the army and fight against the people of Kittim.
In spite of these new accessions, three hundred thousand
strong, Agnias was beaten again by Zepho in the second
battle. The African general Sosipater having fallen slain,
the troops broke into flight, at their head Agnias with Lucus
the brother and Asdrubal the son of Agnias. After this dire
defeat the Africans made no further attempt to disturb the
peace of Kittim, and their incursions ceased forever.
In spite of the great victory that Zepho had won with
the help of God, the king of Kittim walked in the idolatrous
ways of the people whom he ruled, and in the ways of the
sons of Esau, for, as saith the proverb of the ancients, "Out
of the wicked cometh forth wickedness," and Zepho was not
other than the rest of the sons of Esau.
The severe defeat inflicted upon Agnias drove Balaam
from Africa to Kittim, and he was received with great
honors by Zepho, who welcomed him on account of his deep
wisdom.
Now Zepho thought the time had arrived for him to carry
out his plan of vengeance against the posterity of Jacob, all
the more as in the meantime Joseph had died, and also his
brethren and the valiant men of Pharaoh had passed away.
He was joined in the enterprise by Hadad, the king of Edom,
and by the nations of the East and the Ishmaelites. The
allied army was so vast that the space it covered as it stood
in rank and file was equal to a three days' journey. It
formed in battle array in the Valley of Pathros, and it was
met by three hundred thousand Egyptians and one hundred
and fifty Israelites from Goshen. But the Egyptians did
not trust the Israelites, they feared their defection to the
sons of Esau and Ishmael. They therefore made an agreement
with them that the Israelites were not to come to the
help of the Egyptians until it appeared that the enemy were
getting the upper hand
Zepho, who had a high opinion of Balaam's ability, desired
him to use his magic arts and find out what would be
the outcome of the war, but Balaam's knowledge failed him,
he could not satisfy the king's wish. The Egyptians got
the worst of the first encounter between the two hostile
armies, but the aspect of things changed as soon as they
summoned the Israelites to aid them. The Israelites prayed
to God to support them with His help, and the Lord heard
their prayer. Then they threw themselves upon Zepho and
his allies, and after they had cut down several thousand
men, such dismay and confusion took hold of the enemy
that they fled hastily, pursued by the Israelites as far as the
boundary of the country. The Egyptians, instead of coming
to the assistance of the Israelites, had taken to flight, leaving
the small band of their allies to dispose of the huge host of
their adversaries. Embittered by such treatment, the Israelites
slew as many as two hundred Egyptians, under the pretext
that they thought they belonged to the enemy.[425]
THE NATIONS AT WAR
Hadad, the king of Edom, who had failed to gain fame
and honor in the Egyptian campaign, was favored by fortune
in another war, a war against Moab. The Moabites shrank
from meeting Hadad alone, and they made an alliance with
the Midianites. In the thick of the fight the Moabites fled
from the field of battle, leaving the Midianites to their fate,
and these deserted allies of theirs were cut down to a
man by Hadad and his Edomites. The Moabites saved their
skins, and suffered only the inconvenience of having to pay
tribute. To avenge the faithlessness practiced against them,
the Midianites, supported by their kinsmen, the sons of
Keturah, gathered a mighty army, and attacked the Moabites
the following year. But Hadad came to their assistance,
and again he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Midianites,
who had to give up their plan of revenge against Moab.
This is the beginning of the inveterate enmity between the
Moabites and the Midianites. If a single Moabite is caught
in the land of Midian, he is killed without mercy, and a
Midianite in Moab fares no better.
After the death of Hadad, the Edomites installed Samlah
of Masrekah as their king, and he reigned eighteen years.
It was his desire to take up the cause of Agnias, the old ally
of the Edomites, and chastise Zepho for having gone to war
with him, but his people, the Edomites, would not permit
him to undertake aught that was inimical to their kinsman,
and Samlah had to abandon the plan. In the fourteenth
year of Samlah's reign, Zepho died, having been king of
Kittim for fifty years. His successor was Janus, one of the
people of Kittim, who enjoyed an equally long reign.
Balaam had made his escape to Egypt after the death of
Zepho, and he was received there with great demonstrations
of honor by the king and all the nobles, and Pharaoh appointed
him to be royal counsellor, for he had heard much
about his exceeding great wisdom.
In the Edomite kingdom, Samlah was succeeded by Saul
of Pethor, a youth of surpassing beauty, whose reign lasted
forty years. His successor upon the throne was Baal
Hamon, king for thirty-eight years, during which period the
Moabites rose up against the Edomites, to whom they had
been paying tribute since the time of Hadad, and they succeeded
in throwing off the yoke of the stranger.
The times were troubled everywhere. Agnias, the king of
Africa, died, and also the death of Janus occurred, the king
of Kittim. The successors to these two rulers, Asdrubal,
the son of Agnias, and Latinus, the king of Kittim, then
entered upon a long drawn out war of many years. At first
the fortune of war favored Latinus. He sailed to Africa
in ships, and inflicted one defeat after another upon Asdrubal,
and finally this king of Africa lost his life upon the
battlefield. After destroying the canal from Kittim to Africa
built many years before by Agnias, Latinus returned to
his own country, taking with him as his wife Ushpiziwnah,
the daughter of Asdrubal, who was so wondrously beautiful
that her countrymen wore her likeness upon their garments.
Latinus did not enjoy the fruits of his victory long.
Anibal, the younger brother of Asdrubal and his successor
in the royal power, went to Kittim in ships and carried on
a series of wars lasting eighteen years, in the course of
which he killed off eighty thousand of the people of Kittim,
not sparing the princes and the nobles. At the end of this
protracted period he went back to Africa, and reigned over
his people in quiet and peace.
The Edomites, during the forty-eight years of the reign
of Hadad, the successor of Baal Hamon, fared no better than
the people of Kittim. Hadad's first undertaking was to reduce
the Moabites again under the sovereignty of Edom, but
he had to desist, because he could not offer successful
resistance
to a newly chosen king of theirs, one of their own
people, who enlisted the aid of their kinsmen the Ammonites.
The allies commanded a great host, and Hadad was
overwhelmed. These wars were followed by others between
Hadad of Edom. and Abimenos of Kittim. The latter was
the attacking party, and he invaded Seir with a mighty army.
The sons of Seir were defeated abjectly, their king Hadad
was taken captive, and then executed by Abimenos, and
Seir was made a province subject to Kittim and ruled by a
governor.
Thus ended the independence of the sons of Esau.
Henceforth they had to pay tribute to Kittim, over which
Abimenos ruled until his death, in the thirty-eighth year of
his reign.[426]
JOSEPH'S MAGNANIMITY
As Joseph was returning from the burial of his father in
the Cave of Machpelah, he passed the pit into which his
brethren had once cast him, and he looked into it, and said,
"Blessed be God who permitted a miracle to come to pass
for me here!" The brethren inferred from these words of
gratitude, which Joseph but uttered in compliance with the
injunctions of the law, that he cherished the recollection of
the evil they had done him, and they feared, that now their
father was dead, their brother would requite them in accordance
with their deeds. They observed, moreover, that since
their father was no more, Joseph had given up the habit of
entertaining them at his table, and they interpreted this as
a sign of his hatred of them. In reality, it was due to
Joseph's respect and esteem for his brethren. "So long
as my father was alive," Joseph said to himself, "he bade
me sit at the head of the table, though Judah is king, and
Reuben is the first-born. It was my father's wish, and
I complied with it. But now it is not seemly that I should
have the first seat in their presence, and yet, being ruler of
Egypt, I cannot yield my place to any other." He thought
it best therefore not to have the company of his brethren
at his meals.
But they, not fathoming his motives, sent Bilhah to him
with the dying message of their father, that he was to forgive
the transgression and the sin of his brethren. For the
sake of the ways of peace they had invented the message;
Jacob had said nothing like it. Joseph, on his part, realized
that his brethren spoke thus only because they feared he
might do harm unto them, and he wept that they should put
so little trust in his affection. When they appeared, and fell
down before his face, and said, "Thou didst desire to make
one of us a slave unto thyself. Behold, we all are ready to be
thy servants," he spoke to them gently, and tried to convince
them that he harbored no evil design against them. He
said: "Be not afraid, I will do you no harm, for I fear God,
and if ye think I failed to have you sit at my table because
of enmity toward you, God knows the intentions of my
heart, He knows that I acted thus out of consideration for
the respect I owe to you."[427]
Furthermore he said: "Ye are like unto the dust of the
earth, the sand on the sea-shore, and the stars in the heavens.
Can I do aught to put these out of the world? Ten
stars could effect nothing against one star, how much less
can one star effect anything against ten? Do you believe that
I have the power of acting contrary to the laws of nature?
Twelve hours hath the day, twelve hours the night, twelve
months the year, twelve constellations are in the heavens,
and also there are twelve tribes! You are the trunk and I
am the head--of what use the head without the trunk? It
is to my own good that I should treat you with fraternal
affection. Before your advent, I was looked upon as a slave
in this country--you proved me a man of noble birth. Now,
if I should kill you, my claims upon an aristocratic lineage
would be shown to be a lie. The Egyptians would say, He
was not their brother, they were strangers to him, he but
called them his brethren to serve his purpose, and now he
hath found a pretext to put them out of the way. Or they
would hold me to be a man of no probity. Who plays false
with his own kith and kin, how can he keep faith with
others? And, in sooth, how can I venture to lay hand upon
those whom God and my father both have blessed?"[428]
As Joseph's dealings were kind and gentle with his brethren,
so he was the helper and counsellor of the Egyptians,
and when Pharaoh departed this life, Joseph being then a
man of seventy-one years of age, the king's last wish was
that he might be a father unto his son and successor Magron,
and administer the affairs of state for him. Some of the
Egyptians desired to make Joseph king after the death of
Pharaoh, but this plan met with opposition on the part of
others. They objected to an alien on the throne, and so the
royal title was left to Magron, called Pharaoh, according to
the established custom the name given to all the Egyptian
kings. But Joseph was made the actual ruler of the land,
and though he was only viceroy in Egypt, he reigned as
king over the lands outside of Egypt as far as the Euphrates,
parts of which Joseph had acquired by conquest.
The inhabitants of these countries brought their yearly
tribute to him and other presents besides, and thus did
Joseph rule for forty years, beloved of all, and respected by
the Egyptians and the other nations, and during all that time
his brethren dwelt in Goshen, happy and blithe in the service
of God. And in his own family circle Joseph was happy
also; he lived to act as godfather at the circumcision of the
sons of his grandson Machir.
His end was premature as compared with that of his
brethren; at his death he was younger than any of them at
their death. It is true, "Dominion buries him that exercises
it."[429] He died ten years before his allotted time, because,
without taking umbrage, he had permitted his brethren to
call his father his "servant" in his presence.[430]
ASENATH
God gives every man the wife he deserves,[431] and so
Asenath was worthy of being the helpmeet of Joseph the
pious. Her father was Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's magnates,
ranking among the most distinguished of them by
reason of wisdom, wealth, and station. His daughter was
slender like unto Sarah, beautiful like Rebekah, and radiant
in appearance like Rachel. Noblemen and princes sued for
her hand when she was eighteen years of age. Even Pharaoh's
appointed successor, his first-born son, demanded her
in marriage, but his father refused to comply with his wish,
because he did not consider her a proper wife for one destined
to sit upon the throne. The daughter of the Moabite
king, he insisted, was a more suitable match for him. But
Asenath rejected every proposal of marriage, and avoided
all intercourse with men. With seven maidens born the same
day as herself, she lived in retirement in a magnificent
palace adjoining that of her parents.
It happened in the first of the seven years of plenty that
Joseph planned to visit the place in which Potiphar resided,
and he sent word to him that he would put up with him, at
his house. Potiphar was enchanted with the honor in prospect
for him, and also with the opportunity it would afford him
of bringing about a marriage between Asenath and Joseph.
But when he disclosed his plan to his daughter, she rejected
it with indignation. "Why shouldst thou desire to see me
united with a vagabond, a slave," she cried out, "one that
does not even belong to our nation, but is the son of a
Canaanitish herdsman, a fellow that attempted to violate the
honor of his mistress, and in punishment for this misdemeanor was
thrown into prison, to be liberated thence by
Pharaoh for interpreting his dream? Nay, father, never
will I become his wife. I am willing to marry the son of
Pharaoh, the future ruler and king of Egypt."
Potiphar promised his daughter not to speak of the plan
again. At that moment Joseph's arrival was announced,
and Asenath left the presence of her parents and withdrew
to her own apartments. Standing by the window, she saw
Joseph pass, and she was so transported with his divine
beauty and his indescribably noble carriage that she burst
into tears, and said: "Poor, foolish me, what shall I do?
I permitted myself to be misled by friends, who told me that
Joseph was the son of a Canaanitish shepherd. Now I behold
the splendor that emanates from him like unto the
splendor of the sun, illuminating our house with his rays.
In my audacity and folly I had looked down upon him, and
had spoken absurd nonsense against him. I knew not that
he was a son of God, as he must be, for among men such
beauty as his does not exist. I pray Thee, O God of Joseph,
grant me pardon! It was my ignorance that made me speak
like a fool. If my father will give me in marriage to Joseph,
I will be his forever."
Meantime Joseph had taken his seat at Potiphar's table,
and he observed a maiden looking at him from one of the
palace windows. He commanded that she be ordered away,
for he never permitted women to gaze at him or come near
to him. His supernatural beauty always fascinated the
noble Egyptian ladies, and they were untiring in the efforts
they made to approach him. But their attempts were vain.
He cherished the words of his father Jacob, who had admonished
his son to keep aloof from the women of the Gentiles.
Potiphar explained to Joseph that the maiden at the window
was his virgin daughter, who never permitted men to
abide near her; he was the first man she had ever looked
upon. The father continued and made the request of Joseph,
to allow his daughter to pay him her respects. Joseph
granted the favor he desired, and Asenath appeared and
greeted him with the words, "Peace be with thee, thou
blessed of God Most High," whereunto Joseph returned the
salutation, "Be thou blessed of the Lord, from whom flow
all blessings."
Asenath desired also to kiss Joseph, but he warded off the
intimate greeting with the words: "It is not meet that a
God-fearing man, who blesses the living God, and eats the
blessed bread of life, who drinks of the blessed cup of
immortality
and incorruptibility, and anoints himself with the
fragrant oil of holiness, should kiss a woman of a strange
people, who blesses dead and unprofitable idols, and eats
the putrid bread of idolatry, which chokes the soul of man,
who drinks the libations of deceit, and anoints herself with
the oil of destruction."
These words uttered by Joseph touched Asenath unto
tears. Out of compassion with her, he bestowed his blessing
upon her, calling upon God to pour out His spirit over
her and make her to become a member of His people and
His inheritance, and grant her a portion in the life eternal.
THE MARRIAGE OF JOSEPH
The appearance and the speech of Joseph made so deep
an impression upon Asenath that no sooner had she reached
her apartment than she divested herself of her robes of state
and took off her jewels, and put on sackcloth instead,
strewed ashes upon her head, and supplicated God amid
tears to grant her pardon for her sins. In this manner she
spent seven days and seven nights in her chamber. Not
even her seven attendants were permitted to enter her presence
during the time of her penance. The morning of the
eighth day an angel appeared unto her, and bade her put
away her sackcloth and ashes and array herself in state, for
this day she had been born anew, he said, to eat the blessed
bread of life, to drink of the cup of life immortal, and anoint
herself with the oil of life eternal. Asenath was about to
set food and drink before her guest, when she perceived a
honeycomb of wondrous form and fragrance. The angel
explained to her that it had been produced by the bees of
Paradise, to serve as food for the angels and the elect of
God. He took a small portion of it for himself, and the
rest he put into Asenath's mouth, saying: "From this day
forth thy body shall bloom like the eternal flowers in Paradise,
thy bones shall wax fat like the cedars thereof, strength
inexhaustible shall be thine, thy youth shall never fade, and
thy beauty never perish, and thou shalt be like unto a metropolis
surrounded by a wall." At the request of Asenath,
the angel blessed also her seven attendants, with the words,
"May the Lord bless you and make you to be seven pillars
in the City of Refuge."
Thereupon the angel left her, and she saw him ascend
heavenward in a chariot of fire drawn by four steeds of fire.
Now she knew that she had not been entertaining a human
being, but an angel.
The celestial messenger had scarcely departed, when a
visit from Joseph was announced, and she hastened to array
and adorn herself for his reception. When she washed her
face, she caught sight of it in the water, and saw it to be of
such beauty as never before, so great had been the transformation
wrought by the angel. When Joseph came, he did
not recognize her. He asked her who she was, whereto she
replied, "I am thy maid-servant Asenath! I have cast away
my idols, and this day a visitant came to me from heaven.
He gave me to eat of the bread of life and to drink of the
blessed cup, and he spake these words unto me, 'I give thee
unto Joseph as his affianced wife, that he may be thy affianced
husband forever.' And furthermore he said, 'Thy
name shall not any more be called Asenath, but thy name
shall be City of Refuge, whither the nations shall flee for
safety.' And he added, 'I go to Joseph, to tell him all these
things that have reference to thee.' Now, my lord, thou
knowest whether the man was with thee and spoke to thee
in my behalf."
Joseph confirmed all she had said, and they embraced and
kissed each other in token of their betrothal, which they
celebrated by a banquet with Potiphar and his wife. The
wedding took place later in the presence of Pharaoh, who
set a golden crown upon the head of the bridegroom and the
bride, gave them his blessing, and made a seven days' feast
in their honor, to which he invited the magnates and princes
of Egypt and of other countries. And during the seven days
of the wedding festivities the people were prohibited, under
penalty of death, from doing any manner of work; they all
were to join in the celebration of Joseph's marriage.
KIND AND UNKIND BRETHREN
On the twenty-first day of the second month in the second
of the seven years of famine, Jacob came down to Egypt,
and his daughter-in-law Asenath visited him. She marvelled
not a little at his beauty and strength. His shoulders
and his arms were like an angel's, and his loins like a giant's.
Jacob gave her his blessing, and with her husband she returned
home, accompanied by the sons of Leah, while the
sons of the handmaids, remembering the evil they had once
done unto Joseph, kept aloof. Levi in particular had conceived
a fondness for Asenath. He was especially close to
the Living God, for he was a prophet and a sage, his eyes
were open, and he knew how to read the celestial books
written by the finger of God. He revealed to Asenath that
he had seen her future resting-place in heaven, and it was
built upon a rock and encompassed by a diamond wall.
On their journey they met the son of Pharaoh, his successor
to the throne, and he was so transported with Asenath's
beauty, that he made the plan of murdering Joseph
in order to secure possession of his wife. He summoned
Simon and Levi, and by blandishments and promises sought
to induce them to put Joseph out of the way. Simon was
so enraged that he would have felled him at once, had not
his brother Levi, who was endowed with the gift of prophecy,
divined his purpose, and frustrated it by stepping upon
his foot, while whispering: "Why art thou so angry, and
so wroth with the man? We that fear God may not repay
evil with evil." Turning to the son of Pharaoh, he told him
that nothing would induce them to execute the wickedness
he had proposed; rather he advised him not to undertake
aught against Joseph, else he would kill him with the sword
that had served him in his slaughter of the inhabitants of
Shechem. The culprit was seized with frantic alarm, and
fell down before Simon and Levi to entreat their mercy.
Levi raised him tip, saying, "Fear not, but abandon thy
wicked plan, and harbor no evil design against Joseph."
Nevertheless the son of Pharaoh did not give up his
criminal purpose. He approached the sons of Bilhah and
Zilpah, and sought to accomplish through them what had
failed with Simon and Levi. He called them into his presence,
and told them of a conversation between Joseph and
Pharaoh that he had overheard. The former had said that
he waited but to learn of the death of his father Jacob in
order to do away with the sons of the handmaids, because
they had been the ones to sell him into slavery. Their wrath
excited against Joseph by these words, the sons of Bilhah
and Zilpah assented to the proposition of the son of Pharaoh.
It was arranged that the latter should kill Pharaoh,
the friend of Joseph, while they would fall upon their
brother, and put him out of the way. They were furnished
with six hundred able warriors and fifty spearmen for the
purpose. The first part of the plan, the murder of Pharaoh,
failed. The palace guard would not allow even the successor
to the throne to enter his father's bedchamber, and
he had to depart without having effected his object.
Now Dan and Gad gave him the advice to take up his
station with fifty archers in a secret place that Asenath
had to pass on her homeward journey. Thence he could
make a successful attack upon her suite, and gain possession
of her. Naphtali and Asher did not care to have anything to do
with this hostile enterprise against Joseph, but
Dan and Gad forced them into it, insisting that all the sons
of the handmaids must stand together as men and repel the
danger that threatened them.
TREACHERY PUNISHED
From their ambush the forces of the son of Pharaoh fell
upon Asenath and her six hundred attendants. They succeeded
in hewing down the vanguard, and Asenath had to
take to flight. To her alarm she encountered the son of
Pharaoh with fifty mounted men. Benjamin, seated in the
same chariot with her, came to her rescue, for in spite of his
youth he was exceedingly courageous. He descended from
the chariot, gathered pebbles, and, throwing them at the
son of Pharaoh, struck him on his forehead and inflicted a
severe wound. The charioteer aided him by keeping him
supplied with pebbles, which he cast at the fifty riders with
such expert skill that he slew forty-eight of them with as
many missiles. Meantime the sons of Leah arrived on the
spot and came to Asenath's aid, for Levi, with his prophetic
spirit, had seen what was happening, and summoning his
five brothers he had hastened thither. These six attacked
the troops in ambush and cut them down. But the danger
to Asenath was by no means removed. At this moment the
sons of the handmaids threw themselves upon her and Benjamin
with drawn swords. It was their intention to kill
them both, and flee to cover in the depths of the woods.
But as soon as Asenath supplicated God for aid, the swords
dropped from the hands of her assailants, and they saw that
the Lord was on the side of Asenath. They fell at her feet
and entreated her grace. She allayed their anxiety with the
words: "Be courageous and have no fear of your brethren,
the sons of Leah. They are God-fearing men. Do but keep
yourselves in hiding until their wrath is appeased."
When the sons of Leah appeared, Asenath fell down before
them, and amid tears she adjured them to spare the
sons of the handmaids and not repay with evil the evil they
had meditated. Simon would not hear of making concessions.
He insisted that the measure of their sins was full,
and they must pay for them with their lives, for they had
been the ones that had sold Joseph into slavery, and brought
down untold misfortune upon Jacob and his sons. But Asenath
did not leave off, and her urgent petitions won the day.
She succeeded in calming the anger of Simon, and in Levi
she had a secret ally, for this prophet knew the hiding-place
of the sons of the handmaids, and he did not betray it to
Simon, lest his wrath be increased at the sight of them. It
was also Levi that restrained Benjamin from giving the
death blow to the heavily wounded son of Pharaoh. So far
from permitting harm to be done to him, he washed his
wounds, put him into a chariot, and took him to Pharaoh,
who thanked Levi from his heart for his services of loving-
kindness. Levi's efforts were vain, three days later the son
of Pharaoh died of the wounds inflicted by Benjamin, and
from grief over the loss of his first-born Pharaoh followed
him soon after, departing this life at the age of one hundred
and seventy-seven years. His crown he left to Joseph, who
ruled over Egypt for forty-eight years thereafter. He in
turn handed the crown on to the grandchild of Pharaoh, an
infant in arms at the time of his grandfather's death, toward
whom Joseph had acted in a father's stead all his life.[432]
THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF JOSEPH
On his death-bed Joseph took an oath of his brethren, and
he bade them on their death-bed likewise take an oath of
their sons, to carry his bones to Palestine, when God should
visit them and bring them up out of the land of Egypt. He
said: "I that am a ruler could take my father's body up to
the Holy Land while it was still intact. Of you I do but
make the request that ye carry my bones from hence, and
you may inter them in any spot in Palestine, for I know that
the burial-place of the fathers was appointed to be the tomb
only of the three Patriarchs and their three wives."
Joseph took the oath, to carry his remains along with them
when they left Egypt, from his brethren, and not from his
sons, to bury him at once in Palestine, for he feared the
Egyptians would not give the latter permission to transport
his bones even if they recalled what Joseph had been allowed
to do with his father's body. They would object that Joseph
had been the viceroy, and a wish preferred by one of so high
an estate could not be denied.[433] Furthermore, he adjured
his brethren not to leave Egypt until a redeemer should
appear and announce his message with the words, "Pakod--
I have surely visited you"--a tradition which Joseph had
received from his father, who bad it from Isaac, and Isaac
in turn had beard it from Abraham.[434] And he told them that
God would redeem Israel through Moses as through the
Messiah, in this world as in the world to come, and the
Egyptian redemption would begin in Tishri, when Israel
would be freed from slave labor, and would be completed
in the following Nisan, when they would leave Egypt.[435]
Joseph also admonished his brethren to walk in the ways
of the Lord, so that they might become worthy of His grace
and help. Especially he impressed upon his brethren and
his sons the virtue of chastity and a steadfast moral life.
He told them all that had happened to him, the hatred of
his brethren, the persecutions of the wife of Potiphar, the
slander, envy, and malice of the Egyptians, to show how that
those who fear the Lord are not forsaken by Him in darkness,
or bondage, or tribulation, or distress. "I was sold
into slavery," he said, "but the Lord delivered me; I was
thrown into prison, but His strong hand helped me. I was
tortured by hunger, but the Lord Himself gave me sustenance.
I was alone, and God comforted me. And as for
you, if ye will walk in the ways of chastity and purity in
patience and humility of heart, the Lord will dwell among
you, for He loveth a chaste life, and if you, my children,
will observe the commandments of the Lord, He will raise
you up here, in this world, and bless you there, in the world
to come. If men seek to do evil unto you, pray for them,
and you will be delivered from all evil by the Lord. On
account of my forbearing patience I received the daughter
of my master to wife, and her dowry was a hundred talents
of gold, and God gave me also beauty like the beauty of a
flower, more than all the children of Jacob, and He preserved
me unto mine old age in vigor and beauty, for in all
things did I resemble Jacob."
Joseph continued and told them the visions he had
had, in which the future of Israel was revealed to him,
and then he closed with the words: "I know that the Egyptians
will oppress you after my death, but God will execute
vengeance for your sakes, and He will lead you to the land
of promise of your fathers. But ye shall surely carry my
bones with you from hence, for if my remains are taken to
Canaan, the Lord will be with you in the light, and Behar
will be with the Egyptians in the darkness. Also take with
you the bones of your mother Zilpah, and bury them near
the sepulchre of Bilhah and Rachel."
These words ended, he stretched out his feet, and slept
his last eternal sleep, and the whole of Israel mourned him,
and the whole of Egypt was in great grief, for he had been
a compassionate friend to the Egyptians, too, and he had
done good unto them, and given them wise counsel and assistance
in all their undertakings.[436]
Joseph's wish, that his bones should rest in the Holy Land,
was fulfilled when the Israelites went forth from Egypt, and
no less a personage than Moses applied himself to its execution.
Such was Joseph's reward for the devotion he had
displayed in the interment of his father's body, for he had
done all things needful himself, leaving naught to others.
Therefore so great a man as Moses busied himself with the
realization of Joseph's wish.[437]
For three days and three nights preceding the exodus
Moses hunted up and down through the land of Egypt for
Joseph's coffin, because he knew that Israel could not leave
Egypt without heeding the oath given to Joseph. But his
trouble was in vain; the coffin was nowhere to be found.
Serah, the daughter of Asher, met Moses, tired and exhausted,
and in answer to her question about the cause of his
weariness, he told her of his fruitless search. Serah took
him to the Nile river, and told him that the leaden coffin
made for Joseph by the Egyptians had been sunk there after
having been scaled up on all sides. The Egyptians had
done this at the instigation and with the help of the magicians,
who, knowing that Israel could not leave the country
without the coffin, had used their arts to put it in a place
whence it could not be removed.[438]
Moses now took Joseph's cup, and he cut four flat pieces
from it, and engraved a lion on one of them, an eagle on the
second, a bull on the third, and a human figure on the fourth.
He threw the first, with the lion, into the river, saying at the
same time, "Joseph, Joseph, the hour for the redemption of
Israel hath arrived, the Shekinah lingers here only for thy
sake, the clouds of glory await thy coming. If thou wilt
show thyself, well and good; if not, then we are clear from
our oath." But the coffin did not appear.
Then Moses threw the second plate into the water, that
with the figure of the eagle, repeating the same words, but
again the coffin did not rise from the bed of the Nile, and
there it remained, too, when he threw in the third plate bearing
the figure of the bull, and called upon Joseph a third
time to come forth. But the fourth plate with the human
figure and the fourth invocation to Joseph brought the coffin
to the surface of the water. Moses seized it, and in joy he
bore it off.[439] While Israel had been busy gathering gold
and silver from the Egyptians, Moses had been thinking of
nothing but Joseph's coffin, and his happiness was great
that he had been permitted to fulfil the wish of Joseph.[440]
During the forty years of wandering through the desert,
the coffin was in the midst of Israel, as a reward for Joseph's
promise to his brethren, "I will nourish you and take care
of you." God had said, "As thou livest, for forty years
they will take care of thy bones."[441]
All this time in the desert Israel carried two shrines with
them, the one the coffin containing the bones of the dead
man Joseph, the other the Ark containing the covenant of
the Living God. The wayfarers who saw the two receptacles
wondered, and they would ask, "How doth the ark of the
dead come next to the ark of the Ever-living?" The
answer was, "The dead man enshrined in the one fulfilled
the commandments enshrined in the other. In the latter it
is written, I am the Lord thy God, and he said, Am I in the
place of God? Here it is written, Thou shalt have no other
gods before My face, and he said, I fear God. Here it is
written, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain, and therefore he did not swear by God, but said,
By the life of Pharaoh. Here it is written, Remember the
Sabbath day, and he said to the overseer of his palace on
Friday, Slay and make ready, meaning for the Sabbath.
Here it is written, Honor thy father and thy mother, and he
said, when his father desired to send him to his brethren,
Here am I, although he knew it was perilous for him to go.
Here it is written, Thou shalt not kill, and he refrained from
murdering Potiphar when Potiphar's wife urged him to do
it. Here it is written, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and
he scorned the adulterous proposals of Potiphar's wife.
Here it is written, Thou shalt not steal, and he stole nothing
from Pharaoh, but gathered up all the money and brought
it unto Pharaoh's house. Here it is written, Thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbor, and he told his
father nothing of what his brethren had done to him, though
what he might have told was the truth. Here it is written,
Thou shalt not covet, and he did not covet Potiphar's
wife."[442]
On their arrival in the Holy Land, the Israelites buried
the bones of Joseph in Shechem, for God spake to the tribes,
saying, "From Shechem did ye steal him, and unto Shechem,
shall ye return him."[443]
God, who is so solicitous about the dead bodies of the
pious, is even more solicitous about their souls, which stand
before Him like angels, and do their service ministering
unto Him.[444] | 