tomb; then his grief overcame him, and he burst forth into bitter tears
and cried, “O mother, mother! I am an outcast and a slave, I the child
of the wife Jacob loved. When thou wast dying, thou didst show me to
my father, and bade him look on me, and be comforted for my loss. O
mother, mother! hast thou no thought of thy son? Awake and see the
miserable condition of thy child; shake off thy sleep; be my defence
against my brethren, and comfort my father. Awake and stand up to judge
my quarrel, awake and plead my cause with God! awake and look upon the
desolation of the soul of my father who cherished thee, and who for
fourteen years served a hard bondage for his beloved Rachel! Console
him, I pray thee, and by the voice that he loves, soothe the grief of
his last days.”
It was moonlight, and the caravan was resting.
A low voice issued from the tomb, “My son! my son Joseph! my child! I
have heard the voice of thy crying. I know all thou hast suffered, my
son, and my grief is as deep as the sea. But put thy trust in God, who
is the help of thy countenance and thy God! Rise, my child, and have
patience. If thou knewest the future, thou wouldst be comforted.”[411]
One of the chiefs of the caravan, wearied with the cries of Joseph,
came to drive him from the tomb, but suddenly a dark and threatening
cloud appeared in the sky over his head, and he desisted in fear.
In the Testament of the Twelve patriarchs, Benjamin says that a man
struck Joseph as he lagged on the way, whereupon a lion fell upon the
man and slew him.
The sun was about to set, when the caravan entered Heliopolis, the
chief city of Egypt, which was then under the government of Rajjan, an
Amalekite. Joseph’s face shone brighter than the mid-day sun; and as
this new light from the east shone in the city, and cast the shadows
towards the declining sun, all the women and damsels ran out upon the
terraces or to the windows to see.
Next day he was placed for sale before the palace of the king. All the
wealthy ladies of Heliopolis sent their husbands or relations to bid
for the beautiful youth, but he was purchased by Potiphar, the king’s
treasurer,[412] who was childless, and designed making Joseph his
adopted son and heir.
Zuleika,[413] Potiphar’s wife, received him with great friendliness,
gave him new clothes and a garden-house in which to live, as he would
not sit down to eat with the Egyptians. He was occupied in tending the
fruit and the flowers in Potiphar’s garden; and from her window Zuleika
watched him.
Thus Joseph served as gardener to Potiphar for six years.
A graceful Arab legend of this period of Joseph’s life deserves not to
be omitted.
One day an Ishmaelite passed the gate of Potiphar’s garden, leading a
camel. As the beast approached Joseph, who was standing at the door,
it bowed, refused to follow its master, and turning to Joseph, fell
before him, and shed tears over his feet.
Joseph recognized the camel as having once belonged to his father,
and he remembered having often given it bread. He questioned the
Ishmaelite, who acknowledged he had purchased the beast from Israel.
Now Joseph loved Zuleika as much as she loved him, but he did not
venture to hope that he was precious to his mistress.
One day when a great feast of the gods was observed, all the household
had gone to the temple, save Zuleika, who pretended to be ill, and
Joseph, who worshipped the One true God. Zuleika prepared a table with
wine and fruit and sweet cakes, and invited Joseph to eat with her.
He was rejoiced, and his heart beat with passion; and when he took
the goblet of wine she offered him, he looked into her eyes, and saw
that she loved him. Then, says the Rabbi Ishmael in the Midrash, the
form of his father Jacob appeared in the window or doorway, and thus
addressed him: “Joseph! hereafter the names of thy brothers engraven on
gems shall adorn the breastplate of the High Priest, and shall thine
be absent from among them?” Then Joseph dug his ten fingers into the
ground, and so conquered himself.[414]
The Mussulmans say also that Joseph was brought to his senses by seeing
the vision of his father in the door biting his finger reproachfully at
him.[415]
When Potiphar returned home, Zuleika brought false accusations against
Joseph, but a babe who was in its cradle, in the room,--the child was
a relation of Zuleika,--lifted up its voice in protest, and said,
“Potiphar, if you want to know the truth, examine the torn portion
of the garment. If it is from the front of the dress, then know that
Zuleika was struggling to thrust Joseph from approaching her; if from
the back, know that she was pursuing him.”
Potiphar obeyed the voice of the sucking child, and found that his wife
had spoken falsely, and that Joseph was innocent.[416]
Now one of the neighbors had seen all that took place, for she was
sick, and had not attended the feast, so the whole affair was soon a
matter of gossip throughout the town. Then Zuleika invited all the
ladies who had blamed her to a great feast in her house; and towards
the close of the banquet, when the fruit and wine were brought in, an
orange and a knife were placed before each lady; and at the same moment
Joseph was brought into the room. The ladies, in their astonishment,
cut their fingers in mistake for the oranges, for their eyes were fixed
upon him, and they were amazed at his beauty; and the table was deluged
with blood.
“This,” said Zuleika, “is the youth on whose account you blame me. It
is true that I loved him, but his virtue has opposed me; and now love
is turned to hate, and I shall cast him into prison.”[417]
She was as good as her word, and thus it fell out that Joseph was
placed in the king’s prison. But God would not suffer the innocent
to be punished. He illumined his cell with a celestial light, made a
fountain spring up in the midst of it, and a fruit-bearing tree to grow
before the door.[418]
Joseph was five years in prison, and then the King of the Greeks, who
was warring against Egypt, sent an ambassador to Rajjan desiring peace.
But his true purpose was to throw him off his guard, that he might with
treachery destroy him. The ambassador sought the advice of an old Greek
woman who had long lived in Egypt. She said, “I know of only one way of
accomplishing what you desire, and that is to bribe the butler or the
baker of the king to poison him; but it would be better to put the drug
in the wine than in the bread.”
The ambassador then bribed the chief baker with much gold, and he
promised to put poison in Pharaoh’s meat. After that he told the old
woman that one of the two she had named to him had been persuaded to
destroy the king.
Then the ambassador returned, and when he was gone, the woman disclosed
all to Pharaoh, and she said, “Either the butler or the baker has taken
a bribe to poison thee, O king.” Thereupon the king cast both into
prison, till it should be made manifest which was guilty. Now the name
of the baker was Mohlib, and that of the butler was Kamra.
After they had been in prison some time, they had dreams; and they told
their dreams to Joseph.
The chief butler said, “I saw in my dream, and, behold, a vine was
before me. And in the vine were three branches: and as it sprouted it
brought forth buds, and immediately they ripened into clusters, and
became grapes. And I saw till they gave the cup of Pharaoh into my
hand, and I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I
gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of the dream. The
three branches are the three Fathers of the world, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, whose children are to be enslaved in Egypt in clay and
brickwork, and in all labors of the face of the field; but afterward
shall they be delivered by the hand of three shepherds. As for the cup
thou didst give into Pharaoh’s hand, it is the vial of the wrath of
God, which Pharoah is to drink at the last. But thou, the chief butler,
shalt receive a good reward: the three branches to thee are three days
until thy liberation.”
Joseph, leaving his higher trust in God, now turned and reposed it in
man, for he added, “Be thou mindful of me when it shall be well with
thee, and obtain my release from this prison-house.”
And the chief baker, seeing that Joseph had interpreted well, began to
speak with an impatient tongue, and said to Joseph, “I also saw in my
dream, and, behold, three baskets of hot loaves were upon my head; and
in the upper basket of all, delicious meat for Pharaoh, made by the
confectioner; and the birds ate them from the basket upon my head.”
Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are the
three enslavements with which the house of Israel are to be enslaved.
But thou, the chief baker, shalt receive an evil award. At the end of
three days, Pharoah shall take away thy head from thy body, and will
hang thee upon a gibbet, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off
thee.”
And it fell out as Joseph had foretold. But because Joseph had
withdrawn from putting his trust in God, and had laid it on man,
therefore he was forgotten by the butler and left in prison for two
years more.[419]
Joseph had now been seven years in prison, and this is why he had been
so long there. Potiphar’s wife persuaded her friends to bring against
Joseph the same accusation that she had laid against him, and their
husbands complained to Pharaoh; so he was kept in prison that he might
not cause strife and evil in the city.[420]
When the seven years were elapsed, one day the butler came to the
prison and bade Joseph follow him, as the King had been troubled
with a dream, and desired to have it explained. But Joseph refused
to leave till his innocence was proclaimed. He named to the butler
the ladies who had attended the banquet of Zuleika, and before whom
she had confessed that she loved him, and besought that they might
be called as witnesses before the king. Pharoah agreed; the ladies,
when interrogated, related all that had been said, and Zuleika herself
confessed the truth.
Then Pharaoh sent and fetched Joseph out of prison, and gave him his
liberty.
“I dreamed,” said the king, when Joseph stood before his throne, “that
seven lean cows ate seven fat cows, and that seven empty husks ate
seven full ears of corn. What is the interpretation of this dream?”
“God will give thee seven fruitful years, and then seven years of
famine,” answered Joseph. “Therefore must thou gather together all the
superfluity in the first seven years to sustain the starving people in
the seven years of dearth.”[421]
The king was so well pleased with this interpretation, that he made
Joseph his chief treasurer in Potiphar’s room. Joseph went through all
the land, and purchased corn, which, on account of the good harvests,
was at a very low price.
One day as he rode out of the town to view his magazines, he observed
a beggar-woman whose whole appearance was most woe-begone, but bespoke
her having seen better days. Joseph approached her with compassion, and
held out to her a handful of gold. She hesitated about taking it, and
said, sobbing, “Great prophet of God! I am not worthy to receive this
at thy hand, though it was my love for thee which was the first step
on the ladder on which thou mountedst to thy present exaltation.” And
Joseph saw that the poor beggar-woman was Zuleika, wife of Potiphar.
He asked about her husband, and learned that shortly after he had been
deposed from office, he had died of distress of mind and body. “Thou
hast thought evil of me,” she said, “but I have great excuses, thou
wast so beautiful; and moreover I was young, and only a wife in name,
for I am as I left my mother’s womb, a maiden, with the seal of God
upon me.”
Then Joseph was filled with joy. He extended his hands to her, and he
brought her to the king’s palace, and she was treated there with care
as a sister, till she recovered her bloom and joy, and then Joseph
took her to be his wife.[422] And by her he had two sons before the
seven years of dearth began, during which the Egyptians gave first
their gold, and their apparel and all their movable goods; then their
land, then their slaves, and last of all themselves, their wives and
children, as bondsmen, that they might have food.
But not only did Egypt suffer, the adjoining lands were also afflicted
with scarcity. There was no corn in Canaan, and Jacob sent his ten
sons into Egypt to buy corn, retaining Benjamin at home. He cautioned
his sons not to create mistrust by their numbers, nor cause the evil
eye to light on them, and advised them to enter the city of Pharaoh by
different gates, for it had ten.
But Joseph expected that his brothers would be coming to Egypt, and
therefore he bade the gatekeepers every day bring him the names of
those who had entered the city. One day one porter gave him the name
of Reuben, son of Jacob; and so on to the tenth, Asher, son of Jacob.
Joseph at once gave orders for every storehouse to be closed with the
exception of one, and gave the keepers of the open magazine the names
of his brothers, and said to them, “When these people arrive take them
prisoners, and bring them before me.”
And when they appeared before him, he charged them with being spies:
“For,” said he, “if ye were true men, ye would have come in together;
but ye entered by different gates, and that shows that ye are set upon
evil.”[423]
When, to excuse themselves, they told their family history, he bade
them go and bring Benjamin down to him, and, to secure their return, he
kept Simeon in prison as hostage.
When Joseph wanted to imprison Simeon, his brothers desired to assist
him by force, but Simeon refused their assistance. Joseph ordered
seventy fighting men of Pharaoh’s body-guard to cast him down and
handcuff him. But when they approached, Simeon gave a scream, and
the seventy fell back on the ground, and their teeth went down their
throats. “Hah!” said Joseph to his son Manasseh, who stood near him,
“throw a chain about his neck.”
Manasseh dealt Simeon a blow, and chained him. “Then,” said Simeon,
“this blow comes from one of the family.”[424]
Jacob, reluctant to part with Benjamin, was however obliged to do so,
being pressed with famine. Joseph received the brethren, measured out
to them the wheat, and, by his orders, his steward secretly put the
silver cup of Joseph into the sack of Benjamin. Then at the gate of the
city they were charged with theft, and were brought back to the palace
of Joseph.
“What is the penalty due to him who has stolen my cup?” asked Joseph.
“Let him be thy slave,” answered the brethren, feeling confident in
their innocence. But when the sacks were opened, and his cup was found
in that of Benjamin, they said to their youngest brother, “Woe to thee!
what hast thou done? Wast thou resolved to follow the example of thy
lost brother, who stole his grandfather Laban’s idol, and his aunt’s
girdle?”
But as they had sworn to their father to restore Benjamin to him, they
besought Joseph to take one of them in the place of Benjamin. But
Joseph persisted that he would keep Benjamin.
Then said Reuben to his brothers, “Go back to our father, and tell
him all that has occurred; I, the eldest of you, who undertook on the
security of my life to bring Benjamin home, must remain here till he
himself calls me back, for he will see that we have stood hostages for
a thief.”[425]
Now Reuben had a fierce temper, and when he became furious, all the
down or hair on his skin bristled and penetrated his clothes like
needles; he pulled off his head-gear, and uttered a scream so terrible
that all who heard it died of terror. This frenzy of Reuben’s could
only be abated by one of the family of Jacob placing his hand upon
him. Reuben went up to Joseph, and said, “O great one of Egypt, I am
in a rage; and if I scream out, all who hear me will die of fright.
Restore to me my brother, or I shall scream, and then thou and all the
inhabitants of Egypt will perish.”
Joseph knowing that Reuben spoke the truth, and seeing his hair
bristling through his clothes like needle-points, and knowing also that
if any one of the house of Jacob were to lay his hand on the body of
Reuben, his force would pass away,--he said to Ephraim, his son, “Go
softly, so that Reuben may not observe thee, and lay thine hand upon
his shoulder that his anger may abate.” Ephraim did as he was bidden,
and instantly the hairs of Reuben sank, and his fury passed away, and
he felt that the power to scream was gone from him.
Then Joseph said calmly, “I shall retain Benjamin, do what you will.”
Reuben made an effort to scream, but it was unavailing. Then
astonishment got hold of him, and he said to Joseph, “I think that
there must be one of the family of Jacob in this house.”[426]
Then Joseph ordered Benjamin to be chained. And when Judah saw this he
roared like a lion, and his voice was so piercing, that Chuschim, the
son of Dan, who was in Canaan, heard him, and began to roar also.
And Judah drew his sword, and roared, and pursued the Egyptian soldiers
sent to bind Benjamin, and the fear of him fell on them all, and they
fell, and he smote them up to the gates of the king’s palace; and he
roared again, and all the walls of Memphis rocked, and the earth shook,
and Pharaoh was shaken off his throne and fell on his face, and the
roar of Judah was heard four hundred miles off.
Joseph feared to be killed by Judah. When Judah was angry, blood
spirted from his right eye. Judah wore five sets of clothes upon him,
one above another; and when he was angry, his heart swelled so as
to tear them all. Joseph, fearing him, roared at him, and his voice
shivered a pillar of the palace into fine dust, so that Judah thought,
“This is a great hero! he can master me.”[427]
Then said Judah to Joseph, “Let our brother go, or we will devastate
this land.”
Then Joseph answered, “Go home, and tell your father that a wild beast
has devoured him.”
Then Judah beckoned to his brother Naphtali, who was very swift of
foot, and said to him, “Run speedily and count all the streets in
Egypt, and come swiftly back and tell me.”
But Simeon said, “There is no need; I will break a stone out of the
mountains and throw it down on the land of Egypt, and will utterly
destroy it.”[428]
Then Joseph saw that it was not well to press them further; so he took
a bowl, and filled it, and looked into it as though he were divining
by it, and said suddenly, “Ye are liars! Ye told me that your brother
Joseph was dead, and behold he is alive, and I see him in this bowl! Ye
sold him.”
Then he bade Zuleika bring the deed of sale, and he handed it to Judah.
Thereupon the brothers knew him, and fell down before him, and besought
him to pardon them.
Then he told them how God had exalted him, and he comforted their
hearts, and after that he asked news of his father.
They replied, “He is blind with grief at having to part with Benjamin.”
Therefore Joseph said, “Take my shirt and go to my father, and pass my
shirt before his face, and he will recover his sight. Then take all
that you have, and come down into Egypt.”[429]
When the caravan left Memphis, the sons of Jacob carried with them
abundance of corn and the shirt of Joseph; and the wind was in their
backs, and blew the scent of the shirt from the gate of Memphis into
Canaan. And Jacob snuffed the wind, and said, “O women! O children! I
can smell Joseph.”
They all thought, “He is deranged,” but they said, “It is forty years
since Joseph died, and thou canst think of nothing else; thou art
always insisting that he is alive.”
When the caravan was near the dwelling of Jacob, Judah brought the
shirt of Joseph in, and said, “On the day upon which I bore the bloody
coat of Joseph, I said a wolf had devoured him. Now I bring thee good
news.” And he cast the shirt upon the face of his father, and Jacob
recovered his sight.[430]
The story in the Sepher Hadjaschar, or Book of Jasher, is more
poetical. As the sons were approaching the home of their father,
Sarah, the adopted daughter of Asher, came to meet them. She was very
beautiful and graceful and modest, and could play sweetly on the harp.
They gave her the kiss of peace, and told her the tidings. Then she
went singing home, accompanying her words upon the harp, “Joseph is
not dead, God has been his protector, and he lives, and is governor in
Egypt; rejoice and be glad of heart!” Then Jacob was filled with hope
and consolation, and he said, “Because thou hast revived my spirit, my
daughter, death shall never seize on thee.”[431]
After that, Jacob went down into Egypt, that he might see his son
Joseph before he died. And when they met, they fell on one another’s
neck and wept, and kissed; and Jacob said to his son, “Tell me, I pray
thee, what evil thy brothers did to thee.” But Joseph answered, “Nay,
my father, I will tell thee only how great good the Lord did to me.”
We have heard how that Joseph married Zuleika, the wife Potiphar, but
this is not a universal tradition. It is said in Genesis that he had to
wife Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. Many suppose that
this Asenath was the daughter of Potiphar, the old master of Joseph,
and that her mother was Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and the following
story is related of Asenath:--
She was a maid of wondrous beauty, of which she was very proud, and she
greatly despised all men, though she had never seen any, saving her
father. She dwelt in a tower next to her father’s house, ten stories
high, which contained every thing that the eye could desire, and also
idols in gold and silver, which she daily worshipped. Asenath was as
tall as Sarah, as comely as Rebekah, and as beautiful as Rachel.
Now Joseph, being on his way through Egypt, sent down to the priest
Potipherah, to command him to bring his daughter before him. Thereupon
Potipherah was glad, and told his daughter that Joseph, the Strength of
God, was coming, and that she should become his wife. At this Asenath
was very indignant, and spoke angry words of Joseph, declaring that
she would be wife to no man, saving to a king’s son. Now, while she
thus spake, Joseph came, seated in the chariot of Pharaoh, which was
all of gold, drawn by four horses white as snow, with gilt reins. And
Joseph was dressed in a radiant tunic, with gold embroidery, and a robe
of crimson woven with gold hung from his shoulders, and a fillet of
gold was about his temples, and in his hand was an olive branch full of
fruit.
Then Potipherah came with his wife, and did him homage. Joseph entered
the hall, and the doors were shut, and Asenath beheld him, and she was
troubled at what she had said of him, and thought, “This is the sun
come from heaven; I knew not before that Joseph was divine. What father
hath begotten so much beauty, or what mother borne so much light?”
Then Joseph said, “Who was that woman that was here, but hath gone?”
for Asenath had hastened to her chamber.
And Potipherah said, “My lord, my daughter is a maiden, and very
modest; she hath, till this day, seen no man save myself. If it please
thee, she shall come and salute thee.”
Then Joseph said, “If thy daughter be a maiden, I will treat her as a
sister.”
They brought her into his presence, and Potipherah said to her, “Salute
thy brother, who hateth women as thou hatest men.”
And Asenath said, “Hail, blessed of God, who giveth life to all!”
Then Potipherah bade his daughter kiss Joseph, but when she approached
him, he thrust forth his hand and said, “It becomes not the man
worshipping the living God to kiss an outlandish woman whose lips kiss
dumb idols.”
Asenath hearing these words, fell into great grief and wept. Joseph
had compassion on her, and laid his hand on her head and blessed her,
and Asenath was glad because of his benediction. But she went to her
couch in the tower, and was ill with fear and pain, and she turned with
penitence from her idols, and renounced them, and cast them out of her
window.
Joseph ate and drank, and went his way, promising to return in eight
days. Then Asenath put on a black robe, and closed her door and prayed,
and cast her food to the dogs, and laid her head on the pavement, and
wept seven days.