Joseph- Hebrew/Jewish FigureMortal"The Dreamer"

The Favored Son

Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob but the first by his beloved wife Rachel, born after years of her bitter barrenness. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors." The famous coat (ketonet passim) marked Joseph as the favorite, distinguished from his brothers.

The favoritism bred resentment. When Joseph brought a bad report about his brothers to their father, their hatred intensified. They could not speak peaceably to him. Into this volatile situation, Joseph introduced his dreams.

The Dreamer

Joseph dreamed that he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field. His sheaf rose and stood upright; their sheaves gathered around and bowed down to his. The brothers' reaction was bitter: "Are you indeed to reign over us?" A second dream showed the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing to Joseph. Even Jacob rebuked him: "Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?"

Yet Jacob "kept the matter in mind."

Sold into Slavery

Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers, who were pasturing flocks at Shechem. When they saw him approaching, still distant in his distinctive coat, they plotted murder: "Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits... and we will see what will become of his dreams."

Reuben, the eldest, intervened to save Joseph's life, intending to rescue him later. They stripped Joseph of his robe and threw him into an empty cistern. When a caravan of Ishmaelite traders passed by, Judah proposed selling Joseph rather than killing him. For twenty pieces of silver, Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt.

The brothers dipped Joseph's coat in goat's blood and brought it to Jacob. The father recognized it and concluded that a wild animal had devoured his son. He mourned inconsolably: "I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning."

Slave and Prisoner

In Egypt, Joseph was purchased by Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. Everything he did prospered. Potiphar made him overseer of his household.

But Joseph was "handsome in form and appearance," and Potiphar's wife desired him. Day after day she pressured him; day after day he refused: "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" When she seized him by his garment and he fled, leaving the garment in her hand, she accused him of attempted rape. Potiphar imprisoned Joseph.

Even in prison he found favor and was put in charge of the prisoners. There he met Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker, both imprisoned for offenses against the king. Each had a dream on the same night. Joseph offered to interpret: "Do not interpretations belong to God?" The cupbearer's dream of three branches bearing grapes meant he would be restored in three days. The baker's dream of three baskets of bread eaten by birds meant he would be executed in three days. Both interpretations proved correct. The restored cupbearer forgot Joseph for two full years.

Before Pharaoh

Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows devoured by seven lean cows, then seven plump ears of grain swallowed by seven thin ears. All his magicians failed to interpret the dreams. At last the cupbearer remembered Joseph, who was hastily brought from prison, shaved, and presented to Pharaoh.

Joseph disclaimed personal power: "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Seven years of abundant harvest would be followed by seven years of famine so severe that the abundance would be forgotten. He advised Pharaoh to appoint an overseer to store one-fifth of the produce during the good years. Pharaoh appointed Joseph on the spot: "Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you."

Joseph was thirty years old. Thirteen years had passed since his brothers sold him. He received Pharaoh's signet ring and an Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah. He married Asenath, daughter of the priest of On, and had two sons: Manasseh ("God has made me forget all my hardship") and Ephraim ("God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction").

The Brothers' Journey

When famine struck, it reached Canaan. Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain, keeping Benjamin, Rachel's other son, safe at home. Joseph recognized his brothers when they appeared before him, but they did not recognize the Egyptian viceroy as their Hebrew brother.

Joseph accused them of being spies. He imprisoned them for three days, then released nine, keeping Simeon as hostage until they brought their youngest brother. As they discussed their predicament in Hebrew, not knowing Joseph understood, they expressed guilt: "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen." Joseph turned away and wept.

The brothers returned to Canaan and discovered their money had been returned in their sacks. Despite Jacob's anguished reluctance to risk Benjamin, the ongoing famine forced him to relent. Judah pledged himself as surety for Benjamin's safe return.

Recognition and Reconciliation

When the brothers returned to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph invited them to dine at his house. He saw his full brother, and was so overcome that he retreated to a private room to weep. Then he tested them: a silver cup was hidden in Benjamin's sack, and when the brothers were accused of theft, Joseph offered to keep only Benjamin as his slave, freeing the others.

Judah's response transformed the situation. He recounted the family's history, their father's grief over the "dead" son, the pledge he had made. He offered himself as slave in Benjamin's place: "For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father."

Joseph could no longer control himself. He sent all Egyptians out and wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard. "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" His brothers were terrified, but Joseph reassured them: "Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. So it was not you who sent me here, but God."

The Reunion

Joseph sent wagons to bring Jacob and all the family to Egypt, where they would survive the remaining years of famine. When Jacob heard that Joseph was alive, his spirit revived: "Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."

The family settled in Goshen. Jacob adopted Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, giving Joseph a double portion among the tribes. After Jacob's death, the brothers feared Joseph's vengeance. Joseph wept at their fear: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive." He died at 110 and was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt, but he made his brothers swear to carry his bones to the Promised Land when God brought them there. Centuries later, during the Exodus, Moses kept this promise.