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Dear friends,
In this week’s newsletter, I would like to discuss just a few words which appear in the story of the selling of Joseph. We will see how the difficulties in the biblical passages challenged different exegetes and what conclusions they reached based on them.
In Genesis 37, we are given a detailed description of the events that led up to the point when Joseph’s brothers chose to sell him as a slave and he ended up in Egypt. The major difficulty which arises from this chapter is the identity of the merchants to whom Joseph was sold: while v. 25 states that they were Ishmaelites, in v. 28 we hear of both Ishmaelites and Midianite merchants who were at the scene. In v. 36, we find that it was the Midianites who took Joseph down to Egypt, but at the beginning of chapter 39, we are again told that Joseph was brought down to Egypt – this time by Ishmaelites. So who was it who bought Joseph from his brothers and sold him to the Egyptians?
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| While Modern Biblical Criticism has its own suggestions for solving the crux, I would like to focus on the ancient interpretations which play on this duality. |
Ignoring the problem
Several ancient exegetes simply ignore the duality, and in retelling the biblical story, mention only one of the possible identities of the merchants – usually referring to them as Arabs, meaning – Ishmaelites. In this way, they simplify the text for their readers. One example of such an exegete is Artapanus, a Jewish writer of approximately the 2nd century BCE, who explains that the entire business of the selling of Joseph was in fact his own plan – he anticipated his brothers’ actions and contacted his relatives (merely two generations after Isaac and Ishmael, the family connection is not very remote), who transported him to Egypt.
In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an extra-biblical book, which was preserved only in some Christian traditions, each of the twelve sons of Jacob is presented as giving details about his life, and instructions to his children. Naturally, Joseph's story appears in a number of these testaments. In all cases, we do not hear of Midianites, and only the Ishmealites, sometimes also referred to as merchants, are mentioned. The most detailed description is found in the Testament of Joseph, in which we hear that Joseph was not merely sold to the Egyptians – he was first imprisoned in Egypt, and released by Potiphar’s wife.
Enhancing Joseph’s Suffering
In Jewish midrashic tradition (in Bereshit Raba 84, 22) we find the duality in the verses used in a completely different way. The Midrash claims that Joseph was sold four or five times –
“His brothers [sold him] to the Ishmaelites, and the Ishmaelites [sold him] to the merchants, and the merchants [sold him] to the Midianites, and the Midianites [sold him] to the Egyptians [sold him] to the state prison, and Potiphar came and took him from the state prison”
In this case, the Midrash bases itself on a textual crux – the duality of the merchants’ identity – and uses it in order to teach a lesson: the crux comes to teach us of Joseph’s great suffering, of his many sales and the frustration he must have felt not knowing what his fate would be and in whose hands he would end up. This is a typical midrashic solution for such a challenge, created by the biblical text itself.
It is interesting to note that both the Midrash and the Testament of Joseph place Joseph in a prison in Egypt upon arriving there. This raises the possibility that both compositions share a similar exegetical tradition, despite the fact that they were composed at different times and by different groups.
Have a great week,
Naama Baumgarten - Sharon
The Biblical Hebrew Online Team
on a personal note...
I would like to say goodbye to all our faithful readers. I’ve immensely enjoyed writing the newsletters for over two years, and I am especially grateful to all the readers who went to the trouble of sending warm responses and various questions. I am leaving eTeacher for a new, full-time job, but will always cherish the good memories I have from working here.
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