Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis by Robert Graves
Others deny the identity of Potiphera with Potiphar; or of this Asenath with Dinah’s daughter, and say that Pharaoh’s eldest son was Joseph’s rival for Asenath’s love.403
***
1. The historical basis of this myth seems to be the rise, under the eighteenth-dynasty Pharaohs Amenhotep III, and Amenhotep IV, of a Semitic general named Yanhamu, who is mentioned in the Tell-Amama letters as controlling the granaries of Yarimuta (or ‘Jarmuth’—Joshua XII. 11) and governing the Egyptian domains in Palestine. He was not the first Palestinian to hold high office under the Pharaohs: Thotmes Ill’s armour-bearer Meri-Re and his brother, the priest User-Min, were Amorites; and later Pharaoh Merneptah’s Chief Spokesman was Ben Matana, a Canaanite. This Yanhamu had a high-ranking colleague, Dudu, the Hebrew form of which is Dodo, Dodi, or Dodai—a name occurring in 2 Samuel XXIII. 9, 24, and in Judges X. 1, etc.—and may well have been a Hebrew himself. When, in the Amarna letters, Syrian authorities petition Pharaoh Amenhotep IV for armed help, they add that Yanhamu is acquainted with their circumstances. Ribaddi, King of Gebal, begs Pharaoh to tell Yanhamu: ‘Ribaddi is under your authority, and whatever evil the King of the Amorites does him, will harm you too.’ Ribaddi later asks that Yanhamu shall be sent with an army to his assistance. Yanhamu had brought Yakhtiri, the commandant of Joppa and Gaza, and apparently his fellow-countryman, to the Egyptian court while still a child. Yanhamu may have been a slave; we learn from the Amarna letters that Syrians and Palestinians sometimes sold their children for corn at Yarimuta.
2. According to Genesis, Pharaoh gave Joseph ‘garments of linen’ but, this being no particular honour, the royal apron, or shendit, is evidently intended.
3. There was nothing against Pharaoh’s promoting a minister as his Viceroy. Ptahhotep (about 2500 B.C.), known as ‘Pharaoh’s double’ substituted at times for his absent master, using all the royal titles and being entrusted with the Great Seal. The office of ‘Director of Granaries’, though usually distinct from that of Viceroy, was important enough to be held by royal princes. This same Ptahhotep, in his Maxims, insists on the prime need of keeping the granaries well stocked against years of famine. One such famine is recorded in a Beni-Hasan cave-inscription on the tomb of Amene, a feudal prince of the Middle Empire. Amene had made due provision for this famine and, it is claimed, did not afterwards exact arrears of produce from the farmers when favourable rises of the Nile had given them heavy crops of wheat and barley. One Baba, a nobleman of the seventeenth (Hyksos) dynasty, whose tomb is at El-Kab, mentions a famine that lasted many years. Some historians identify this with Joseph’s famine—but details of the Genesis story reflect either an earlier or a later date than the Hyksos period.
4. The marriage of the Viceroy to a Sun-priest’s daughter, and Pharaoh’s acceptance of Joseph’s monotheistic religion, both suggest that he was Amenhotep IV, the daring religious reformer who worshipped only Aten, the solar disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, and built a new capital at Amarna.
5. It had been suggested that Joseph’s title, which makes no sense in either Hebrew or Egyptian, may represent Zaphnto-Pa’anhi, ‘Nourisher of Life’. Abrech is not an Egyptian word, but recalls the Assyrio-Babylonian abaraku, a title given to the highest dignities, meaning ‘Divinely Blessed’. Asenath’s name was perhaps ‘Anhesaten’, which Akhenaten’s own daughter bore (see 49. h). Akhenaten’s High Priest of Aten is known to have been one Meri-re; and Potiphera’s name may have been substituted for his by a confusion with Potiphar, Joseph’s original owner.
6. Most of the midrashic embellishments on this myth are idle and out of key: among them is a tale of how Pharaoh’s throne was set at the top of seventy stairs, and visiting princes or ambassadors ascended as many stairs as they knew languages: seventy being the canonical number of languages spoken after the Tower of Babel fell (see 22. h). Joseph, being granted by God a knowledge of all tongues, ascended to the very top and sat beside Pharaoh. He is also said to have fought a successful campaign against the ‘Men of Tarshish’, who had attacked the Ishmaelites. ‘Tarshish’ was southern Spain, or perhaps Sardinia, but the midrash equates it with the gold-producing Land of Havilah, because Solomon’s Tarshish ships were said to have sailed for gold.
57
THE FAMINE
(a) Seven years of plenty came and went; seven years of famine followed. When all private bins were empty, Joseph opened the Royal Granaries and sold corn to the people. He had stored grain and pulses in each provincial city, and mixed them with dust from the very fields where they grew, knowing this to be the one sure safeguard against maggots and mildew. The Egyptians did not take such precautions, and their own stores soon rotted.
Famine spread beyond the bounds of Egypt, and Joseph collected vast sums of money from the sale of corn to Arabians, Canaanites, Syrians and others. He told his officers: ‘In the name of Pharaoh and his Viceroy! All strangers wishing to buy corn must come in person and, if found to have bought it for resale rather than for their own needs, will be put to death. No man may bring more than one pack-beast, or fail to sign his name, his father’s and his grandfather’s, in receipt of purchase.’ Joseph also made them submit a daily list of buyers. He knew that his brothers would arrive before long, and wished to be informed at once.404
(b) When the Egyptians were left penniless, Joseph let them buy corn with cattle and, in time, every herd passed into Pharaoh’s hands. They then offered Joseph first their land, and finally their bodies in payment. Thus Pharaoh became sole owner of Egypt, entitled to move people from city to city, like the slaves they now were. Only the endowed priesthood kept their land and liberty.
In the third year, Joseph dealt out seed-corn, obliging the farmers to pay Pharaoh one-fifth of its produce in perpetuity. This law is still observed.405
(c) Jacob, hearing of corn for sale in Egypt, ordered his sons to go there and buy what they could. All set off except Benjamin, whom Jacob kept at home, saying: ‘He might meet with an accident on the way.’
Jacob warned his sons: ‘When you reach Egypt, tell as few people as possible that you are buying corn. Practice humility, efface yourselves, beware of jealous eyes! Enter Pharaoh’s city by different gates, and never be seen conversing together.’ They obeyed these orders on arrival; but, that evening, when the day’s list of foreign traders was submitted to Joseph, he noticed their names and sent for them. They were arrested in the harlots’ quarter where, driven by stings of conscience, they had gone to inquire about their lost brother from the resident slave-dealers.406
(d) Ushered into Joseph’s presence, they fell on their faces before him. He addressed them roughly through an interpreter: ‘From what country do you come, and what is your business?’
‘We come from Canaan to buy corn,’ they answered.
Joseph roared: ‘You are spies!’
‘My lord,’ they protested fawningly, ‘we are not spies but honest, decent men travelling on legitimate business.’
Joseph cut them short: ‘If you were honest men, why did you enter this city each by a different gate? And if decent men, why did you spend so long in the harlots’ quarter?’
‘We entered by different gates on our father’s advice,’ Judah answered, ‘and in the harlots’ quarter we made inquiries about some lost goods.’
Joseph insisted: ‘You are clearly a band of soldiers, sent here by Pharaoh’s enemies to report on the defences of Egypt.’
‘I assure Your Eminence that we are all sons of a single Hebrew father settled in Canaan,’ said Judah. ‘Formerly we were twelve, but one is now dead, and the youngest stayed at home.’
‘You have entered this city,’ Joseph pronounced, ‘like a libertine bent on uncovering the nakedness of another man’s wife.’ Then he studied his silver divining-cup and said: ‘Moreover, I see in this cup that two of you once massacred the inhabitants of a fortified city; and that, together, you sold a near kinsman to travelling merchants. By Pharaoh’s life, I will not release you until I have seen your youngest brothe
He confined his brothers to a dungeon, but on the evening of the third day told them: ‘Since my God is merciful, and requires mercy of His worshippers, I am keeping only a single hostage. The others are free to take their corn home. When they return, however, the youngest brother must be with them.’
Unaware that Joseph knew Hebrew, they whispered among themselves: ‘This is our punishment for abandoning Joseph when he cried out from the pit!’
Reuben said: ‘I warned you then not to ill-treat the child; but none would listen. Now his ghost cries out for vengeance.’
Their words affected Joseph so forcibly that he withdrew awhile and wept. Soon he washed his face, came back, ordered Simeon to be put in fetters again, and sent the rest away, after giving secret orders that, when their sacks were filled, each man’s purchase money should be hidden in the sack’s mouth.407
(e) At an inn near the frontier, one of them went out to fetch a little grain, and found his money among it. He ran to tell the others, who cried terror-stricken: ‘What will God do next?’
When they reached home and told Jacob of their adventures, he said: ‘You have already bereaved me of two children. Joseph has been killed, Simeon lies in fetters, and now you ask for Benjamin too! This is grief heaped upon grief.’
Reuben cried: ‘I will leave you my own two sons as hostages. Kill them, if I return without Simeon and Benjamin!’
Jacob answered: ‘Benjamin is the sole surviving son of my beloved wife Rachel. If any accident befalls him, my soul will descend in sorrow to the Pit… I will never let you take him!’408
***
1. That Joseph required the Egyptians to pay Pharaoh one fifth of their grain provides mythic authority for an arrangement which persists today between tenant farmers and feudal landlords in many parts of the Middle East. It seems, however, to have been introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos conquerors two or three centuries before the days of Amenhotep IV. Only priests were excused the due.
2. Among the midrashic fancies attached to this myth is Joseph’s insistence that all Egyptians who sold their bodies should be circumcised; but circumcision was already an ancient Egyptian custom. His mixing of dust with the corn, ingeniously excused as a preservative measure, may be a reminiscence of how mediaeval millers adulterated their bread stuffs. According to another midrash, Joseph piously withheld enormous profits, made in Pharaoh’s name, for the enrichment of his own family; this was tacitly excused by God’s later command in Exodus III. 22: ‘Ye shall despoil the Egyptians!’
3. The brothers are said to have visited the harlots’ quarter on the assumption that so handsome a boy as Joseph would have been sold to a sodomitic brothel. Jacob’s alleged advice, like his separation of the flocks into two camps, and the space he put between herds sent as gifts to Esau (see 47. a), are reminders to Jews of the Dispersal that extreme caution and dissimulation are called for when dealing with a Gentile power.
4. The editors of Genesis have not troubled to correct Jacob’s remark about his soul descending to the Pit; he therefore professes no greater faith in the Resurrection than Esau (see 38. 5, 40. 3 and 61. 4–5).
5. Silver divination cups used in the cult of Anubis, the Egyptian Hermes, are mentioned by Pliny. It appears that a portrait of the god was engraved inside the cup. The diviner filled it with water, into which he dropped some small object, and then watched how the ripples affected the god’s expression. Talmudists assumed that such cups had guardian angels (sore hakos) to whom they attributed divinatory powers.
58
THE BROTHERS’ RETURN
(a) Soon all the corn which Jacob’s sons brought from Egypt was eaten. He told them to go and buy more.
Judah answered: ‘Pharaoh’s Viceroy forbade us to return without our brother Benjamin. Unless you let him come, we must stay at home and starve.’
‘But why were you such fools as to admit having a younger brother?’
‘He questioned us so closely that we dared not lie. How could we anticipate his demand for Benjamin? Put the lad in my charge, Father, and if I do not bring him home again, lay me under a perpetual curse. Had you given us leave at once, we might by now have twice gone to Egypt and back, and felt no hunger. Moreover, Simeon would be free.’
At last Jacob gave way: ‘Go, then… Take the Viceroy suitable gifts—balsam, honey, spices, gum-mastic, nuts and almonds—also double the money you paid last time, besides returning what was mistakenly placed in your sacks. And when you present Benjamin to this harsh man, may God make him show mercy… If I must be bereaved of my children, why, that is His will!’409
(b) On reaching Egypt, the brothers announced Benjamin’s arrival, whereupon Joseph sent them an invitation to dine at the Palace. They told the Chief Steward that their corn money had been accidentally repaid them. ‘Say no more,’ he answered, ‘such miracles often happen, if God takes a hand in human affairs. His Eminence, however, acknowledges full payment; and now that you have brought your youngest brother, he has consented to free Simeon.’410
(c) Simeon soon appeared, looking none the worse; and the brothers were given water to wash their feet, and fodder to set before their pack-beasts. When led into Joseph’s hall, they prostrated themselves, and offered him Jacob’s gifts.
Joseph asked: ‘Is the old man still alive?’
‘Your servant is alive and well,’ Judah answered humbly.
Joseph turned to Benjamin: ‘So this is your youngest brother? God bless you, my lad!’ Then, unable any longer to restrain his tears, he withdrew and wept in secret. Presently, however, he came back and ordered dinner; but ate alone, as suited his dignity. Since Egyptians consider shepherds no better than swineherds, the brothers were kept apart from the courtiers. They sat in order of birth, wondering at their honourable treatment. Slaves served them with dainties from Joseph’s table; yet they could not understand why Benjamin’s helping should be five times larger than any other. A butler filled their wine-cups again and again, until they grew as drunken as Joseph himself.411
(d) Joseph ordered his Chief Steward to return the brothers’ money while filling their corn sacks, and hide his own silver divining-cup in Benjamin’s. The Steward obeyed and, at daybreak, watched them lead off their laden asses. Joseph then summoned him and said: ‘Take a chariot, pursue those Hebrews, ask them why they have repaid my kindness with deceit, by stealing my divining-cup.’
The Steward soon overtook the brothers, who cried in astonishment: ‘How can His Eminence accuse us of such villainy? Did we not return him the money paid us in error? Is it likely that we should steal silver or gold from the Viceregal Palace? Search our sacks, and if you find any cup, enslave us all!’
‘My orders,’ answered the Steward, ‘are to arrest only the thief.’
When they unloaded their beasts, he made as if to search the sacks, until at last he found Joseph’s cup in Benjamin’s. They beat Benjamin unmercifully, shouting: ‘Take that, and that, light-fingered wretch! You have shamed us worse than did your mother Rachel by her theft of Laban’s teraphim.’ Having torn their garments in grief, and reloaded the asses, they went back to Joseph’s Palace.412
(e) Once more the brothers grovelled before Joseph. He asked: ‘Why this folly? Was it not manifest that I could divine the present, past, and future even without my silver cup?’
Judah answered: ‘What can we say to Your Eminence? How clear ourselves of guilt? God is punishing a crime that we committed long ago. Enslave us all, not merely our knavish brother.’
Shaking the edge of his purple cloak, Joseph replied: ‘Far be it from me to accuse you of complicity! I shall, indeed, enslave Benjamin; but the rest of you may return to Canaan.’
‘What shall we tell our unhappy father?’ asked Judah in despair.
‘Tell him,’ Joseph answered, ‘that the rope has followed the bucket into the well.’
Judah begged Joseph to hear him out, while he
(f) Joseph dismissed his attendants and, weeping unashamedly at last, asked the brothers in Hebrew: ‘Is our father truly still alive?’
They did not know how to answer, thinking him mad.
Joseph beckoned them closer. Terror-stricken, they obeyed. ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt,’ he said. ‘But, pray, feel no undue remorse: because God Himself prompted your designs. There have now been two years of famine in Egypt, and five more must follow, without ploughing or reaping. God sent me ahead and appointed me Viceroy to provide for you all. Hurry home, and tell our father that I am alive! Beg him to come without delay, bringing his flocks, herds, and possessions to the Land of Goshen, which lies near this city. Neither you nor my brother Benjamin can doubt that I am speaking the truth. So do as I ask!’
With that, Joseph embraced Benjamin, after which he and the others exchanged fraternal kisses.414
***
1. This is historical fiction, but accounts for certain Hebrew shepherds, settled north-east of the Delta, who had given their townships such un-Egyptian names as Succoth, Baal-Zephon, and Migdol. Goshen, between the Pelusian branch of the Nile and Lake Timsah, was a district which, in Joseph’s day, lay too far from the Nile floods to be arable, though providing good pasture. Some generations later, however, Rameses II irrigated Goshen by digging a canal, and built the cities of Rameses and Pithom with Hebrew labour (Exodus I. 11). Rameses II seems to have been the Pharaoh who ‘knew not Joseph’ (Exodus I. 8), and against whom Moses rebelled.
2. Joseph here anticipates the well-known modem technique of extorting confessions by first frightening the victim, then reassuring him, then frightening him again, until he grows confused and breaks down.