Joseph (Genesis)

This article is about the Joseph of the Book of Genesis. For the New Testament Joseph, see Saint Joseph. For other uses, see Joseph (disambiguation).

Joseph
יוֹסֵף‎
Joseph Overseer of the Pharaoh's Granaries (1874) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Born
Paddan Aram, Aram-Naharaim
(present-day Harran, Turkey)
Resting placeJoseph's Tomb, Nablus, West Bank
32°12′47″N 35°16′58″E / 32.2130268°N 35.2829153°E / 32.2130268; 35.2829153
Other namesZaphnath-Paaneah (צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ)
SpouseAsenath
Children
Parents
Relatives

Joseph (/ˈdʒoʊzəf, -səf/; Hebrew: יוֹסֵף, romanized: Yōsēp̄, lit. 'He shall add')[2][a] is an important Hebrew figure in the Bible's Book of Genesis. He was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's twelfth named child and eleventh son). He is the founder of the Tribe of Joseph among the Israelites. His story functions as an explanation for Israel's residence in Egypt. He is the favourite son of the patriarch Jacob, and his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Biblical Egypt, where he eventually ends up incarcerated. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Jacob's family travels to Egypt to escape the famine, and it is through him that they are given leave to settle in the Land of Goshen (the eastern part of the Nile Delta).

Scholars hold different opinions about the historical background of the Joseph story, as well as the date and development of its composition.[6] Some scholars argue that the narrative was "a multigenerational work, with both early and late, old and new components, that was produced over a long time and in a complex way, extending from the monarchic into the postmonarchic period of ancient Israel."[7]

In Jewish tradition, he is the ancestor of a second Messiah called "Mashiach ben Yosef", who will wage war against the forces of evil alongside Mashiach ben David and die in combat with the enemies of God and Israel.[8]

  1. ^ Genesis 46:20
  2. ^ Gesenius & Robinson 1882, p. 391.
  3. ^ "Psalms 81:6". Sefaria.
  4. ^ "Strong's Hebrew Concordance - 3084". Bible Hub.
  5. ^ Khan, Geoffrey (2020). The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. Open Book Publishers. ISBN 978-1783746767.
  6. ^ Binder, Susanne (2011). "Joseph's Rewarding and Investiture (Genesis 41:41-43) and The Gold Of Honour In New Kingdom Egypt". In Bar, S.; Kahn, D.; Shirley, J. J. (eds.). Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism, Ideology and Literature: Proceedings of a Conference at the University of Haifa, 3-7 May 2009. BRILL. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-90-04-19493-9.
  7. ^ Rezetko 2022, p. 31.
  8. ^ Blidstein, Gerald J. (2007). Skolnik, Fred; Berenbaum, Michael; Thomson Gale (Firm) (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 14. pp. 112–113. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4. OCLC 123527471. Retrieved 7 November 2019.


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