And as for Jacob, he never intended to have any other wife but Rachel and only ended up in this polygamous situation because of trickery he chose to be a polygamist because it would seem that a man who was willing to work a grand total of fourteen years for a woman evidently could not imagine living without her. Both women had a crisis of identity Rachel wasnt a mother and Leah wasnt really a wife in her own eyes. Moses threw a pebble into the water there and cried out: "Joseph! Sarah died when she was 127 (23:1) - so Abraham would have been 137 and Isaac would have been 37. But Joseph had taken Mary to be his wife (Matthew 1:20), and there is no suggestion that her role as Joseph's wife was in any way different from the role of any other wife. The house of Israel acquired many possessions and multiplied exceedingly during the course of seventeen years, even through the worst of the seven-year famine. 2. Rachel had the perfectly acceptable legal recourse in those days to provide her husband with a surrogate, and according to the laws of the surrounding nations, any child borne by the concubine would be counted as coming from her which is exactly why Rachel, and not Bilhah, named the boys. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. What is Jacob's new name? 4) Judah was the next. The baker's dream was about three baskets full of bread for the Pharaoh, and birds were eating the bread out of those baskets. during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, to a later time during the Hyksos Era (16481540 B.C.E. Israel is another name for Jacob as, son of Isaac as. It was during this return to Egypt that Joseph disclosed his real identity to his brothers. It simply was a rarity. is devoted to him, the only instance in the Quran in which an entire chapter is devoted to a complete story of a prophet. After they mentioned a younger brother at home, the Vizier (Joseph) demanded that he be brought to Egypt as a demonstration of their veracity. This is great, Tyler. Joseph's story is recounted in some detail in the New Testament, during Saint Stephen's speech before the Sandhedrin in Acts 7. When Joseph and his mother bowed to Esau (Gen. 33:7), Joseph shielded his mother with his body (Targ. In the Qayyumu'l-Asma', the Bb refers to Bah'u'llh as the true Joseph and makes an analogous prophecy regarding Bah'u'llh suffering at the hands of his brother, Mrz Yahy. When the Pharaoh's advisers failed to interpret these dreams, the cup-bearer remembered Joseph. However, it is instructive to note that only Dinah is mentioned (Genesis 30:19-21; 34:1-3; 46:15) . Indeed the name Potiphar may even be a version of Merenptah's name (Poti = Ptah, Phar = Pharaoh). Part of the problem with that verse is that it is almost always separated from the context of the verses before it the case of the woman taken as a prisoner of war, brought into a mans home and taken as a wife. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and he said; "Take Mary home as your wife.". In the Kitb-i-Aqdas, Bah'u'llh states that "from my laws, the sweet-smelling savour of my garment can be smelled" and, in the Four Valleys, states that "the fragrance of his garment blowing from the Egypt of Baha," referring to Joseph. These were the 11 sons that were born to Jacob when he lived with Rachel's father Laban. Who was the angel of Although this very well may offend our modern sensibilities, Zilpah and Bilhah had a better life than they had hoped for, in the end. If Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons are added, then the total number is seventy (46:27). Jacob's other children are between 56 and 63. [15] Both men had dreams, and Joseph, being able to interpret dreams, asked to hear them. Through his father, he also has six half-brothers: Dan and Naphtali (whose . He admonished and forgave them, he sent also his garment which healed the patriarch's eyes as soon as it was cast unto his face. Joseph prospered in Potiphar's household and was eventually made head of the servants. As with Bilhahs offspring, Zilpahs children are claimed and named by Leah as her own. Rav Huna adds one more sale by concluding that after the Medanites sold him to the Egyptians, a fifth sale occurred when the Egyptians sold him to Potiphar. He then sent them away with grain, retaining Simeon as a hostage (Gen. 42:1-25), while ordering them not to return without Benjamin, the only one of his brothers born of Joseph's own mother, Rachel. [51] The remaining verses describe the migration of Jacob's family to Egypt and the emotional meeting of Jacob and his long lost son, Joseph. What is a forbidden marriage in the Bible? He received the same name as two great prophets, one past and one future: Joseph of Egypt and the Prophet Joseph Smith. One opinion holds that the Holy Spirit dwelt in Joseph from his childhood until his death (Pirke R. El. Simeon in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature). [21] After questioning them, he accused them of being spies. Joseph did very well with God's help. ", "The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had brought up from the land of Egypt, they buried at Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor". The majority of modern scholars agree that the Joseph story is a Wisdom novella constructed by a single author and that it reached its current form in the 5th century BCE at the earliest. During this period of famine, Joseph's brothers, except for Benjamin, also came down to Egypt to buy grain. | Alpha Index Isaac and Rebecca's son Jacob was sent there to avoid the wrath of his brother Esau. The cupbearer took this opportunity to inform the king of Joseph's gift and recommended his services. Before he died, he made the children of Israel swear that when they left the land of Egypt they would take his bones with them, and on his death his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. Is Polygamy Really Biblical? During the seven years of abundance, Joseph ensured that the storehouses were full and that all produce was weighed. . Glad to hear from you Brian, I have received many heartbreaking messages from women whose husbands seem to think they can force them into this lifestyle when they havent even bothered to look at whether or not the reasons that existed then still exist now, which of course they do not. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Confronting Pseudo-archaeological memes Pt 4: Was Byblos the Goddess of Writing? The final group, where a transaction is made, is among the Egyptians in the same verse. At last Rachel was able to have a child. Answer (1 of 10): If you are talking about Jacob (Israel)'s son Joseph, then he had one wife. One tradition holds that Jacob's other children came into the world only for Joseph's sake. Joseph's half-brothers were jealous of him; (Genesis 37:1820) wherefore, in Dothan, most of them plotted to kill him, with the exception of Reuben,[12][13] who suggested to have Joseph thrown into an empty cistern, intending to rescue Joseph himself. 3. Is Polygamy Really Biblical? Her maid Bilhah is ancestor of two more ( Gen 35:25; Gen 46:23-24). He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. In an essay posted without fanfare to its website in late October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said for the first time that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, had as many as 40 wives. He is presently pastor of the Evangelical Church of Archbold, Ohio. As Jacob's name became synonymous with all Israel, so that of Joseph was eventually equated with all the tribes that made up the northern kingdom. The story begins in Canaan - modern day Palestine, Syria and Israel - around 1600 to 1700 BC. Response: We read in Genesis 41:45 that Pharaoh gave Joseph Osnat daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. According to the Documentary Hypothesis Joseph's toy is a combination of two or more versions which were later combined into the current narrative. She told Jacob, "Here is my maid Bilhah. They also discovered that all of their money sacks still had money in them, and they were dismayed. This mandate lasted until the days of Moses (Genesis 47:2031). They were directed into the province of Goshen and Joseph readied his chariot to meet his father there. Then he brought the brothers into the house of Joseph and received them hospitably. [42] Joseph is said to have been extremely handsome, which attracted his Egyptian master's wife to attempt to seduce him. Then he revealed to the Hebrews that he was in fact their brother, Joseph. The problem lies in the fact that the Hebrew word for wife, isha, is also the generic word for woman (we see this same phenomenon in Greek), and so Bilhah and Zilpah were given to Jacob as women who were there for the express purpose of bearing children otherwise known as concubines. Some believe that he built the city of Memphis, and that he was instrumental in building the obelisks and pyramids. Am happy to have read this. In fact, this is all we learn about her: Genesis 41:45: "Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave . Information much needed for understanding context. How many wives did Abraham have? Joseph was born the 11 th of 12 sons to his father Jacob. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers. So the final birth order of Jacob's thirteen children by these four women was: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah, Joseph, and Benjamin. She gave birth to Joseph, one of the most important figures of the Old Testament, who saved the nation of Israel during a famine. [26][27] The plot begins by showing Joseph as a dreamer; this leads him into trouble as, out of jealousy, his brothers sell him into slavery. The Pharaoh honored their stay and even proposed that if there were any qualified men in their house, then they may elect a chief herdsman to oversee Egyptian livestock. Levirate marriage served two functions that a mans name would not cease to go forward and that a woman would not be bereft of support. With Reuben and Judah's persistence, they persuaded their father to let Benjamin join them for fear of Egyptian retribution (Genesis 42:2943:15). In analyzing Genesis Chapter 37, there are five different Hebrew names used to describe five different groups of people involved in the transaction of selling Joseph, according to Rabbi Judah and Rav Huna. According to the biblical account, Joseph was the son of Jacob by Rachel, the patriarch's favorite wife (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of Joseph's birth, said, "The Lord shall add [Heb. Known best for his coat of "many colors" and his God-given ability to interpret dreams, Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous half-brothers. In the Qur'an a whole chapter (sura xii) is devoted to Joseph; and Islamic commentators add many details to this "best of stories.". Thats an interesting word, because although the lemma is the same isha as I discussed above neshe is tied in to the idea of a debt. As a result, he was envied by his half-brothers. | Servants of Grace Apologetics, Mishpatim in Context: Selling your daughter into slavery? He Was the Son of Isaac. "-Genesis 41:45. Joseph's sons Manasseh and Ephraim were born before the years of famine. By way of background, the Bible tells us that God created the first man, Adam, out of dust, and then created Eve out of Adam's ribs (Genesis 2:7,22). Both were met by angels at various times (Gen. R. 84:6; Num. The cup-bearer's dream was about a vine with three branches that was budding. 84, xl. In icons, he is sometimes depicted wearing the nemes headdress of an Egyptian vizier. He is presently pastor of the Evangelical Church of Archbold, Ohio. They stopped at Atad where they observed seven days of mourning. However there are two separate lands related to the epithet Cush. Kusiteand Kusan are both used and they are spelled almost exactly the same the only difference being a tav vs a nun at the end of the word. Moreover, Inter. Cushan and Midian are equated with each other, as are tents and curtains and affliction and trembling. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Here is the list lifted from my answer to Who was Joseph in the Bible? The reason that Joseph selected Simeon may have been that the latter was the eldest after Reuben, who was spared by Joseph in return for his interference on Joseph's behalf many years before (Gen. xxxvii. The coffin thereupon floated up (Ex. A. degree from Wheaton College, and the B. D. and Th. Then Israel called all of his sons in and prophesied their blessings or curses to all twelve of them in order of their ages. As Zipporah was a Midianite, calling her a Kusite makes absolute sense. But like everything else, modern context is not Biblical context we dont think the same way or have the same needs and therefore we dont live the same way; we certainly dont have the same expectations. . Angered by his running away from her, she made a false accusation of rape, and thus assured his imprisonment[d] (Genesis 39:120). Jacob also had some daughters, but the Bible gives the name of only one of them. In Canaan, Rachel gave birth to Jacob's final son, Benjamin, but, tragically, she died in childbirth. Elkannah had two women but again, one of them was barren so I suspect that Peninah was a concubine. Such a blessing as always sis. When Rachel did not have any children, she became upset. 17:1; 1 Ne. Joseph likely also has this status because he is the eldest child of Jacob's favorite (deceased) wife, Rachel . The brothers were frozen and could not utter a word. Your email address will not be published. But you'd be wrong. Joseph's brothers were motivated by fear. Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the king's dream. : > 1. According to Legend of the Jews, the name of Potiphar's wife is Zuleikha and when she was enticing Joseph to give up to her sinful passion, God appeared unto him, holding the foundation of earth (Eben Shetiyah), that He would destroy the world if Joseph touched her. Charles L. Zimmerman holds the B. According to most rabbinical authorities, Joseph's coffin was sunk in the Nile (Targ. According to the biblical account, Joseph was the son of Jacob by Rachel, the patriarch's favorite wife (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of Joseph's birth, said, "The Lord shall add [Heb. For the New Testament Joseph, see, Another possible translation is "coat with long sleeves" (. Leah was "Tender Eyed". The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is about Joseph's story. [6], The Bible offers two explanations of the name Ysf: first it is compared to the Hebrew root (-s-p), meaning "to gather, remove, take away":[7] "And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach" (Genesis 30:23);[8] Ysf is then identified with the similar root (y-s-p), meaning "to add":[9] "And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son." Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. As for kings - marriages were largely about political alliances (especially with . It starts with the 12 tribes and ends with the 12 gates with 12 pearls representing the tribes and the 12 kinds of fruit. It is described in the Quran as the 'best of stories'. He withdrew to his chambers and wept. This article incorporates text from the 19011906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. yosef] to me another son." (Gen. 30:24) He was born in Padan-aram when Jacob was about 90 years old. The robotic sermon went on to relate the story of when Joseph, the son of Jacob, was reunited with his brothers after many years. He is Jacob's favorite (Genesis 37:3). Upon their return to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph received them kindly and prepared a feast for them. They betrayed him by. He then gave his blessing upon all of his sons, and the blessing he gave to Joseph was the greatest of all: Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh multiplied to become two separate tribes of Israel. In the Bible, the name Joseph was first mentioned as the eleventh son of Jacob, and the The following morning the brothers began their journey back to Canaan. Deut 21:15 says that if a man has two wives, one loved and one unloved that he cannot disinherit the child of the unloved wife doesnt this say that men can have two wives? To sum up, true Biblical (as well as ancient Near Eastern) polygamy (having more than one wife on purpose) was really limited to Kings, and that was historically for the purpose of creating alliances and safety for the kingdom. We passed on to Zilpah, and they noticed it again Gad is Leahs son!, Very good, I smiled. Yes, the Bible does indicate that Jacob had more than one daughter. Joseph and Asenath. Even John Calvin, sometimes hailed as the father of modern grammatico-historical exegesis,[39] writes "in the person of Joseph, a lively image of Christ is presented. Old and nearly blind, Jacob is overwhelmed with joy, saying: "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too" (Gen 48:11). The brothers then dipped Joseph's coat in goat's blood and, returning home, showed it to their father, who concluded that Joseph had been torn apart by a wild beast. They thought that the missed transaction would somehow be used against them as way to induct them as slaves and to confiscate their possessions. To add to the distinction within the family, in chapter thirty-seven, when Joseph goes tattling on his brothers, it specifically mentions that they are the sons of the neshe Bilhah and Zilpah. When Rachel had successfully provided Jacob with an heir, Leah felt her position was tenuous. Bible References: Rachel's story is told Genesis 29:6-35:24, 46:19-25, 48:7 . Then he prepared a great ceremonial journey to Canaan leading the servants of the Pharaoh, and the elders of the houses Israel and Egypt beyond the Jordan River. John 10:30) is hen and the word used by Paul in those instances is mia. The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: Genesis 29:32-35 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me Joseph was the first son of Rachel and Jacob, and the 11th of Jacobs 12sons, Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, Joseph became the slave of Potiphar a very high official in Egypt. Matthew 1:25 says, "But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son" (emphasis added). Who is Dans mom? I asked. After bearing Judah, Leah stopped bearing children for a . Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years after his arrival (Genesis 47:28). [31] However, punishment could not have been avoided because of her class status and limited public knowledge of her scheme. Conversations that Christians Must Have#MeToo and #BLM, Episode 82: Mark Part 24Cosmic Encounters 3The Woman with the Issue of Blood. How many wives did Joseph have in the Bible? (Genesis 45:128), Thus, Jacob (also known as Israel) and his entire house of seventy[22] gathered up with all their livestock and began their journey to Egypt. 12Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, so he sent our fathers there for the first time. 20. (Genesis 37:35, Common English Bible). Joseph is 56 and Benjamin is about 40. For an excellent read on many matters pertaining to women in the Bible (not all of which I agree with, of course), see Matthews, Victor H., Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (1998) p 229 is directly relevant to this discussion. Gad and Asher: On the heels of Rachel's entry into the battle of the babies, Leah decided to give her maid, Zilpah to Jacob ( Genesis 30:9-12 ). As Joseph had foreseen, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up a great abundance of grain in granaries built for the purpose. Joseph And His Brothers, The cultural impact of the Joseph story in early-modern times is discussed in, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 10:50. When he. Elkannah had two women but again, one of them was barren so I suspect that Peninah was a concubine. Here, their lamentation was so great that it caught the attention of surrounding Canaanites who remarked "This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians." Abraham had one wife, and then only took a concubine when she was still barren at 80; he took a second wife only after the death of his first. Joseph was the favorite son of his father, who made him a richly ornamented coat. [b] Upon imprisoning Joseph, the brothers saw a camel caravan carrying spices and perfumes to Egypt, and sold Joseph to these merchants. Moses followed Joseph's pattern in rising from slavery to a position of royal favor in the court of the pharaohs, and would later lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. Jacob's favoritism for Joseph made his half-brothers so jealous that they were ready to murder him (see Genesis 37). After being beaten by his brethren, Joseph was thrown by Simeon into a pit, among serpents and scorpions; but Joseph prayed to God and the reptiles retired to their holes (Targ. He brought them closer and relayed to them the events that had happened and told them not to fear, that what they had meant for evil, God had meant for good. And Jo. "[40], In addition, some Christian authors have argued that this typological interpretation finds its origin in the speech of Stephen in Acts 7:9-15, as well as the Gospel of Luke and the parables of Jesus, noting strong verbal and conceptual collocation between the Greek translation of the portion of Genesis concerning Joseph and the Parable of the Wicked Tenants and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Then he commanded them to go and bring their father and his entire household into Egypt to live in the province of Goshen, because there were five more years of famine left. Since Joseph and Benjamin were born from Rachel, this test was necessary to reveal if they would betray Benjamin as they did with Joseph when he was seventeen. There Jacob worked for Laban, fathered eleven sons and daughter, Dinah, (Gen. 35:22-26; 46:15), and amassed livestock and wealth. Seeing only the powerful minister who controlled their lives and fortunes, they "bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground" (Gen. 42:6), thus fulfilling in part his earlier prophetic dream. Isaac had one wife. In addition to honoring him, there was a strong tendency in the patristic period to view his life as a typological precursor to Christ. (Genesis 46:134). So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? 14 Facts About Esau Everyone Should Know. In one Talmudic story, Joseph was buried in the Nile river, as there was some dispute as to which province should be honored by having his tomb within its boundaries. At the end of that period, the Pharaoh had a strange dream which none of his advisers could interpret. I think Ill stick with my one wife (Staci) of 23 years. The story of Yusuf and Zulaikha was a favorite love song in the Near East. The sons by . He has humbled her (had sexual relations with her) and cannot sell her to another man, he must allow her to go out for nothing (she came in with no dowry). These children are the offspring of four different women, Leah and Rachel, his wives, and Zilpah and Bilhah, their respective handmaids. After Jacob's death, Joseph received the Pharaoh's permission to travel with a great caravan to Canaan in order to bury the patriarch. When the Vizier (Joseph) confronted them about the silver cup, he demanded that the one who possessed the cup in his bag become his slave. If later he is disgusted with her (after all, she was from a pagan nation), he cannot treat her as a slave and simply sell her away but must treat her as he would treat a divorced wife. Joseph is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Qur'an, suras vi. As Bilhah and Zilpah were almost undoubtedly purchased by Laban as young girls from fathers who either needed to pay debts or who could not afford to provide dowries, this term does make sense again, these were women of a special class.