Josech

In Bible versions:

Josech: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV
Joseph: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV
Joses: NET AVS NIV NRSV NASB TEV
Josephites: NET
Josephite: NET

a son of Joda; the father of Semein; an ancestor of Jesus.
the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus
a Jewish man from Arimathea in whose grave the body of Jesus was laid
two different men listed as ancestors of Jesus
a man nominated with Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot as apostle
a son of Jacob and Rachel; the father of Ephraim and Manasseh and ruler of Egypt
a brother of Jesus; a son of Mary
a man who was a companion of Paul
son of Jacob and Rachel; patriarch of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh
a tribe, actually two tribes named after Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh
father of Igal, of Issachar, who helped spy out Canaan
son of Asaph the Levite; worship leader under Asaph and King David
a man who put away his heathen wife; an Israelite descended from Binnui
priest and head of the house of Shebaniah under High Priest Joiakim in the time of Nehemiah
a son of Mary and brother of James and Jesus

---

increase; addition
raised; who pardons ( --> same as Jose)

Arts:

Arts Topics: Enter Joseph of Arimathea; I Am Joseph!; Joseph and the Christ Child; Joseph Is Sold; Joseph Warned by the Angel; Joseph's Last Years and Death; Joseph's Problem and Dream; Joseph, Man of Mary, in Various Compositions; Other Portraits of Joseph, Man of Mary; Portraits of Joseph of Arimathea; Portraits of Joseph, Son of Jacob; Portraits of Mary, Mother of James and Joseph; The Blessing of Joseph's Sons; The Death of Joseph; The Dreams of the Cupbearer and the Baker

Greek

Strongs #2501: Iwshf Ioseph

Joseph = "let him add"

1) the patriarch, the eleventh son of Jacob
2) the son of Jonan or Jonam, one of the ancestors of Christ, Lu 3:30
3) the son of Judah [or Judas; better Joda] another ancestor of
Jesus, Lu 3:26
4) the son of Mattathias, another ancestor of Christ, Lu 3:24
5) the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus
6) a half-brother of Jesus Mt 13:55
7) Joseph of Arimathaea, a member of the Sanhedrin, who favoured
Jesus. Mt 27:57,59; Mr 15:43,45
8) Joseph surnamed Barnabas Ac 4:36
9) Joseph call Barsabas and surnamed Justus, Ac 1:23

2501 Ioseph ee-o-safe'

of Hebrew origin (3130); Joseph, the name of seven
Israelites:-Joseph.
see HEBREW for 03130

Strongs #2500: Iwshv Ioses

Joses = "exalted"

1) one of the ancestors of Christ, Lu 3:29
2) Joses, the brother of Jesus, Mr 6:3
3) Joses, the son of Mary, the sister of the mother of Jesus, Mt 27:56
4) Joses, a Levite, Ac 4:36

2500 Ioses ee-o-sace'

perhaps for 2501; Joses, the name of two Israelites:-Joses. Compare
2499.
see GREEK for 2501
see GREEK for 2499

Hebrew

Strongs #03130: Powy Yowceph

Joseph = "Jehovah has added"

1) the eldest son of Jacob by Rachel
2) father of Igal, who represented the tribe of Issachar among the spies
3) a son of Asaph
4) a man who took a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
5) a priest of the family of Shebaniah in the time of Nehemiah

3130 Yowceph yo-safe'

future of 3254; let him add (or perhaps simply active
participle adding); Joseph, the name of seven
Israelites:-Joseph. Compare 3084.
see HEBREW for 03254
see HEBREW for 03084

Joseph [EBD]

remover or increaser. (1.) The elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 30:23, 24), who, on the occasion of his birth, said, "God hath taken away [Heb. 'asaph] my reproach." "The Lord shall add [Heb. yoseph] to me another son" (Gen. 30:24). He was a child of probably six years of age when his father returned from Haran to Canaan and took up his residence in the old patriarchal town of Hebron. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age," and he "made him a long garment with sleeves" (Gen. 37:3, R.V. marg.), i.e., a garment long and full, such as was worn by the children of nobles. This seems to be the correct rendering of the words. The phrase, however, may also be rendered, "a coat of many pieces", i.e., a patchwork of many small pieces of divers colours.

When he was about seventeen years old Joseph incurred the jealous hatred of his brothers (Gen. 37:4). They "hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." Their anger was increased when he told them his dreams (37:11).

Jacob desiring to hear tidings of his sons, who had gone to Shechem with their flocks, some 60 miles from Hebron, sent Joseph as his messenger to make inquiry regarding them. Joseph found that they had left Shechem for Dothan, whither he followed them. As soon as they saw him coming they began to plot against him, and would have killed him had not Reuben interposed. They ultimately sold him to a company of Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces (shekels) of silver (about $2, 10s.), ten pieces less than the current value of a slave, for "they cared little what they had for him, if so be they were rid of him." These merchants were going down with a varied assortment of merchandise to the Egyptian market, and thither they conveyed him, and ultimately sold him as a slave to Potiphar, an "officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" (Gen. 37:36). "The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake," and Potiphar made him overseer over his house. At length a false charge having been brought against him by Potiphar's wife, he was at once cast into the state prison (39; 40), where he remained for at least two years. After a while the "chief of the cupbearers" and the "chief of the bakers" of Pharaoh's household were cast into the same prison (40:2). Each of these new prisoners dreamed a dream in the same night, which Joseph interpreted, the event occurring as he had said.

This led to Joseph's being remembered subsequently by the chief butler when Pharaoh also dreamed. At his suggestion Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the king's dreams. Pharaoh was well pleased with Joseph's wisdom in interpreting his dreams, and with his counsel with reference to the events then predicted; and he set him over all the land of Egypt (Gen. 41:46), and gave him the name of Zaphnath-paaneah. He was married to Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On, and thus became a member of the priestly class. Joseph was now about thirty years of age.

As Joseph had interpreted, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up great abundance of corn in granaries built for the purpose. These years were followed by seven years of famine "over all the face of the earth," when "all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn" (Gen. 41:56, 57; 47:13, 14). Thus "Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought." Afterwards all the cattle and all the land, and at last the Egyptians themselves, became the property of Pharaoh.

During this period of famine Joseph's brethren also came down to Egypt to buy corn. The history of his dealings with them, and of the manner in which he at length made himself known to them, is one of the most interesting narratives that can be read (Gen. 42-45). Joseph directed his brethren to return and bring Jacob and his family to the land of Egypt, saying, "I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land is yours." Accordingly Jacob and his family, to the number of threescore and ten souls, together with "all that they had," went down to Egypt. They were settled in the land of Goshen, where Joseph met his father, and "fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while" (Gen. 46:29).

The excavations of Dr. Naville have shown the land of Goshen to be the Wady Tumilat, between Ismailia and Zagazig. In Goshen (Egyptian Qosem) they had pasture for their flocks, were near the Asiatic frontier of Egypt, and were out of the way of the Egyptian people. An inscription speaks of it as a district given up to the wandering shepherds of Asia.

Jacob at length died, and in fulfilment of a promise which he had exacted, Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father in "the field of Ephron the Hittite" (Gen. 47:29-31; 50:1-14). This was the last recorded act of Joseph, who again returned to Egypt.

"The 'Story of the Two Brothers,' an Egyptian romance written for the son of the Pharaoh of the Oppression, contains an episode very similar to the Biblical account of Joseph's treatment by Potiphar's wife. Potiphar and Potipherah are the Egyptian Pa-tu-pa-Ra, 'the gift of the sun-god.' The name given to Joseph, Zaphnath-paaneah, is probably the Egyptian Zaf-nti-pa-ankh, 'nourisher of the living one,' i.e., of the Pharaoh. There are many instances in the inscriptions of foreigners in Egypt receiving Egyptian names, and rising to the highest offices of state."

By his wife Asenath, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen. 41:50). Joseph having obtained a promise from his brethren that when the time should come that God would "bring them unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob," they would carry up his bones out of Egypt, at length died, at the age of one hundred and ten years; and "they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin" (Gen. 50:26). This promise was faithfully observed. Their descendants, long after, when the Exodus came, carried the body about with them during their forty years' wanderings, and at length buried it in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor (Josh. 24:32; comp. Gen. 33:19). With the death of Joseph the patriarchal age of the history of Israel came to a close.

The Pharaoh of Joseph's elevation was probably Apepi, or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. Some, however, think that Joseph came to Egypt in the reign of Thothmes III. (see PHARAOH »2923), long after the expulsion of the Hyksos.

The name Joseph denotes the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in Deut. 33:13-17; the kingdom of Israel in Ezek. 37:16, 19, Amos 5:6; and the whole covenant people of Israel in Ps. 81:4.

(2.) One of the sons of Asaph, head of the first division of sacred musicians (1 Chr. 25:2, 9).

(3.) The son of Judah, and father of Semei (Luke 3:26). Other two of the same name in the ancestry of Christ are also mentioned (3:24, 30).

(4.) The foster-father of our Lord (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23). He lived at Nazareth in Galilee (Luke 2:4). He is called a "just man." He was by trade a carpenter (Matt. 13:55). He is last mentioned in connection with the journey to Jerusalem, when Jesus was twelve years old. It is probable that he died before Jesus entered on his public ministry. This is concluded from the fact that Mary only was present at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. His name does not appear in connection with the scenes of the crucifixion along with that of Mary (q.v.), John 19:25.

(5.) A native of Arimathea, probably the Ramah of the Old Testament (1 Sam. 1:19), a man of wealth, and a member of the Sanhedrim (Matt. 27:57; Luke 23:50), an "honourable counsellor, who waited for the kingdom of God." As soon as he heard the tidings of Christ's death, he "went in boldly" (lit. "having summoned courage, he went") "unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus." Pilate having ascertained from the centurion that the death had really taken place, granted Joseph's request, who immediately, having purchased fine linen (Mark 15:46), proceeded to Golgotha to take the body down from the cross. There, assisted by Nicodemus, he took down the body and wrapped it in the fine linen, sprinkling it with the myrrh and aloes which Nicodemus had brought (John 19:39), and then conveyed the body to the new tomb hewn by Joseph himself out of a rock in his garden hard by. There they laid it, in the presence of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joses, and other women, and rolled a great stone to the entrance, and departed (Luke 23:53, 55). This was done in haste, "for the Sabbath was drawing on" (comp. Isa. 53:9).

(6.) Surnamed Barsabas (Acts 1:23); also called Justus. He was one of those who "companied with the apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus went out and in among them" (Acts 1:21), and was one of the candidates for the place of Judas.

Josech [NAVE]

JOSECH
Luke 3:26

Joseph [NAVE]

JOSEPH
1. Son of Jacob, Gen. 30:24.
Personal appearance of, Gen. 39:6.
His father's favorite child, Gen. 33:2; 37:3, 4, 35; 48:22; 1 Chr. 5:2; John 4:5.
His father's partiality for, excites the jealousy of his brethren, Gen. 37:4, 11, 18-28; Psa. 105:17; Acts 7:9.
His prophetic dreams of his fortunes in Egypt, Gen. 37:5-11.
Sold into Egypt, Gen. 37:27, 28.
Is falsely reported to his father as killed by wild beasts, Gen. 37:29-35.
Is bought by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, Gen. 37:36.
Is prospered of God, Gen. 39:2-5, 21, 23.
Is falsely accused, and cast into prison; is delivered by the friendship of another prisoner, Gen. 39; 40; Psa. 105:18.
Is an interpreter of dreams: of the two prisoners, Gen. 40:5-23; of Pharaoh, Gen. 41:1-37.
His name is changed to Zaphnath-paaneah, Gen. 41:45.
Is promoted to authority next to Pharaoh at thirty years of age, Gen. 41:37-46; Psa. 105:19-22.
Takes to wife the daughter of the priest of On, Gen. 41:45.
Provides against the years of famine, Gen. 41:46-57.
Exports the produce of Egypt to other countries, Gen. 41:57.
Sells the stores of food to the people of Egypt, exacting of them all their money, flocks and herds, lands and lives, Gen. 47:13-26.
Exempts the priests from the exactions, Gen. 47:22, 26.
His father sends down into Egypt to buy grain, Gen. 42-44.
Reveals himself to his brethren; sends for his father; provides the land of Goshen for his people; and sustains them during the famine, Gen. 45; 46; 47:1-12.
His two sons, Gen. 41:50, 52.
See: Ephraim; Manasseh.
Mourns the death of his father, Gen. 50:1-14.
Exacts a pledge from his brethren to convey his remains to Canaan, Gen. 50:24, 25; Heb. 11:22, with Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32; Acts 7:16.
Death of, Gen. 50:22-26.
Kindness of heart, Gen. 40:7, 8.
His integrity, Gen. 39:7-12; humility, Gen. 41:16; 45:7-9; wisdom, Gen. 41:33-57; piety, Gen. 41:51, 52; faith, Gen. 45:5-8.
Was a prophet, Gen. 41:38, 39; 50:25; Ex. 13:19.
God's providence with, Gen. 39:2-5; Psa. 105:17-22.
His sons both blessed Joseph, Deut. 33:13-17.
Descendants of, Gen. 46:20; Num. 26:28-37.
2. Father of Igal the spy, Num. 13:7.
3. Of the sons of Asaph, 1 Chr. 25:2, 9.
4. A returned exile, Ezra 10:42.
5. A priest, Neh. 12:14.
6. Husband of Mary, Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:27.
His genealogy, Matt. 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38.
An angel appears and testifies to the iocence of his betrothed, Matt. 1:19-24.
Dwells at Nazareth, Luke 2:4.
Belongs to the city of Bethlehem, Luke 2:4.
Goes to Bethlehem to be enrolled, Luke 2:1-4.
Jesus born to, Matt. 1:25; Luke 2:7.
Presents Jesus in the temple, Luke 2:22-39.
Returns to Nazareth, Luke 2:39.
Warned in a dream to escape to Egypt in order to save the child's life, Matt. 2:13-15.
Warned in a dream to return to Nazareth, Matt. 2:19-23.
Attends the aual feast at Jerusalem with his family, Luke 2:42-51.
7. Of Arimathea. Begs the body of Jesus for burial in his own tomb, Matt. 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42.
8. Three ancestors of Joseph, Luke 3:24, 26, 30.
9. Called also Barsabas, surnamed Justus. One of the two persons nominated in place of Judas, Acts 1:21-23.
10. A designation of the ten tribes of Israel, Amos 5:6.

Joses [NAVE]

JOSES
1. One of the brethren of Jesus, Matt. 13:55; 27:56; Mark 6:3; 15:40, 47.
2. A Levite, surnamed Barnabas by the apostles, Acts 4:36.

JOSECH [SMITH]

the form of name given in the Revised Version for JOSEPH, in (Luke 3:26) It is not found in the Old Testament.

JOSEPH [SMITH]

(increase).

1. The elder of the two sons of Jacob by Rachel. He was born in Padan-aram (Mesopotamia), probably about B.C. 1746. He is first mentioned when a youth, seventeen years old. Joseph brought the evil report of his brethren to his father, and they hated him because his father loved him more than he did them, and had shown his preference by making a dress which appears to have been a long tunic with sleeves, worn by youths and maidens of the richer class. (Genesis 37:2) He dreamed a dream foreshadowing his future power, which increased the hatred of his brethren. (Genesis 37:5-7) He was sent by his father to visit his brothers, who were tending flocks in the fields of Dothan. They resolved to kill him, but he was saved by Reuben, who persuaded the brothers to cast Joseph into a dry pit, to the intent that he might restore him to Jacob. The appearance of the Ishmaelites suggested his sale for "twenty pieces (shekels) of silver." ver. 28. Sold into Egypt to Potiphar, Joseph prospered and was soon set over Potiphar?s house, and "all he had he gave into his hand;" but incurring the anger of Potiphar?s wife ch. (Genesis 39:7-13) he was falsely accused and thrown into prison, where he remained at least two years, interpreting during this time the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker. Finally Pharaoh himself dreamed two prophetic dreams. Joseph, being sent for, interpreted them in the name of God, foretelling the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. Pharaoh at once appointed Joseph not merely governor of Egypt, but second only to the sovereign, and also gave him to wife Asenath, daughter of Potipherah priest of On (Hieropolis), and gave him a name or title, Zaphnath-paaneah (preserver of life). Joseph?s first act was to go throughout all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years there was a very abundant produce, and he gathered the fifth part and laid it up. When the seven good years had passed, the famine began. (Genesis 41:54-57) [FAMINE] After the famine had lasted for a time, apparently two years, Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they brought, and brought it into Pharaoh?s house, (Genesis 47:13,14) and when the money was exhausted, all the cattle, and finally all the land except that of the priests, and apparently, as a consequence, the Egyptians themselves. He demanded, however, only a fifth part of the produce as Pharaoh?s right. Now Jacob, who had suffered also from the effects of the famine, sent Joseph?s brother to Egypt for corn. The whole story of Joseph?s treatment of his brethren is so graphically told in Genesis42-45 and is so familiar, that it is unnecessary here to repeat it. On the death of Jacob in Egypt Joseph carried him to Canaan, and laid him in the cave of Machpelah, the burying-place of his fathers. Joseph lived "a hundred and ten years," having been more than ninety in Egypt. Dying, he took an oath of his brethren that they should carry up his bones to the land of promise: thus showing in his latest action the faith, (Hebrews 11:22) which had guided his whole life. Like his father he was embalmed, "and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." (Genesis 50:26) His trust Moses kept, and laid the bones of Joseph in his inheritance in Shechem, in the territory of Ephraim his offspring. His tomb is, according to tradition, about a stone?s throw from Jacob?s well.
2. Father of Igal, who represented the tribe of Issachar among the spies. (Numbers 13:7)
3. A lay Israelite who had married a foreign wife. (Ezra 10:42) (B.C. 459.)
4. A representative of the priestly family of Shebaniah. (Nehemiah 12:14) (B.C. after 536.)
5. One of the ancestors of Christ, (Luke 3:30) So of Jonan.
6. Another ancestor of Christ, son of Judah. (Luke 3:26) (B.C. between 536-410.)
7. Another, son of Mattathias. (Luke 3:24) (B.C. after 400.)
8. Son of Heli, and reputed father of Jesus Christ. All that is told us of Joseph in the New Testament may be summed up in a few words. He was a just man, and of the house and lineage of David. He lived at Nazareth in Galilee. He espoused Mary, the daughter and heir of his uncle Jacob,a nd before he took her home as his wife received the angelic communication recorded in (Matthew 1:20) When Jesus was twelve years old Joseph and Mary took him with them to keep the passover at Jerusalem, and when they returned to Nazareth he continued to acct as a father to the child Jesus, and was reputed to be so indeed. But here our knowledge of Joseph ends. That he died before our Lord?s crucifixion is indeed tolerably certain, by what is related (John 19:27) and perhaps (Mark 6:3) may imply that he was then dead. But where, when or how he died we know not.
9. Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich and pious Israelite, probably a member of the Great Council or Sanhedrin. He is further characterized as "a good man and a just." (Luke 23:50) We are expressly told that he did not "consent to the counsel and deed" of his colleagues in conspiring to bring about the death of Jesus; but he seems to have lacked the courage to protest against their judgment. On the very evening of the crucifixion, when the triumph of the chief priests and rulers seemed complete, Joseph "went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus." Pilate consented. Joseph and Nicodemus then, having enfolded the sacred body in the linen shroud which Joseph had bought, consigned it to a tomb hewn in a rock, in a garden belonging to Joseph, and close to the place of crucifixion. There is a tradition that he was one of the seventy disciples.
10. Joseph, called Barsabas, and surnamed Justus; one of the two person chosen by the assembled church, (Acts 1:23) as worthy to fill the place in the apostolic company from which Judas had fallen.

JOSES [SMITH]

(exalted).

1. Son of Eliezer, in the genealogy of Christ. (Luke 3:29)
2. One of the Lord?s brethren. (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3)
3. Joses Barnabas. (Acts 4:36) [BARNABAS]

JOSECH [ISBE]

JOSECH - jo'-sek (Iosech, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek; Ioseph, Textus Receptus of the New Testament; the King James Version, Joseph): An ancestor of Jesus in Luke's genealogy (Lk 3:26).

JOSEPH (1) [ISBE]

JOSEPH (1) - jo'-zef (yoceph; Ioseph):

1. In the Old Testament:

(1) The 11th son of Jacob and 1st of Rachel (see separate article).

(2) The father of Igal of Issachar, one of the 12 spies (Nu 13:7).

(3) A son of Asaph (1 Ch 25:2,9).

(4) A man of the sons of Bani, who had married a foreign wife (Ezr 10:42).

(5) A priest of the family of Shebaniah in the days of Joiakim (Neh 12:14).

2. In the Apocrypha:

(1) Son of Zacharias, defeated by Gorgias circa 164 BC (1 Macc 5:18,56,60).

(2) Called a brother of Judas Maccabeus in 2 Macc 8:22, probably by mistake for John.

(3) Great-grandfather of Judith (Judith 8:1).

3. In the New Testament:

(1) The husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus (see special article).

(2, 3) The name of 3 ancestors of Jesus according to the King James Version (Lk 3:24,26,30); the name of two according to the Revised Version (British and American), which reads "Josech" in Lk 3:26.

(4) A Jew of Arimathea in whose sepulcher Jesus was buried (Mt 27:57, etc.; see article).

(5) One of the brethren of Jesus, according to the Revised Version (British and American) (Mt 13:55, the King James Version "Joses"). the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) both have "Joses" in Mt 27:56; Mk 6:3; 15:40,47.

(6) Joseph Barsabbas (Acts 1:23; see article).

(7) Joseph, surnamed Barnabas (Acts 4:36, the King James Version "Joses"; see BARNABAS).

S. F. Hunter

JOSEPH (2) [ISBE]

JOSEPH (2) - jo'-zef (yoceph, "He will add"; Septuagint Ioseph). The narrative (Gen 30:23,14) indicates not so much a double etymology as the course of Rachel's thoughts. The use of 'acaph, "He takes away," suggested to her mind by its form in the future, yoceph, "He will add," "And she called his name Joseph, saying, Yahweh add to me another son"):

I. THE JOSEPH STORY, A LITERARY QUESTION

1. An Independent Original or an Adaptation?

2. A Monograph or a Compilation?

(1) An Analytical Theory Resolving It into a Mere Compilation

(2) A Narrative Full of Gems

(3) The Argument from Chronology Supporting It as a Monograph

II. THE STORY OF JOSEPH, A BIOGRAPHY

1. A Bedouin Prince in Canaan

2. A Bedouin Slave in Egypt

3. The Bedouin Slave Becomes Again the Bedouin Prince

4. The Prime Minister

5. The Patriarch

LITERATURE

The eleventh son of Jacob. The Biblical narrative concerning Joseph presents two subjects for consideration, the Joseph story, a literary question, and the story of Joseph, a biography. It is of the first importance to consider these questions in this order.

Cheyne in Encyclopedia Biblica reaches such conclusions concerning the Joseph story that the story of Joseph is mutilated almost beyond recognition as a biography at all. Driver in HDB holds that the Joseph story was "in all probability only committed to writing 700-800 years" later than the time to which Joseph is attributed, points out that Joseph's name was also the name of a tribe, and concludes that "the first of these facts at once destroys all guarantee that we possess in the Joseph narrative a literal record of the facts," and that "the second fact raises the further question whether the figure of Joseph, in part or even as a whole, is a reflection of the history and characteristics of the tribe projected upon the past in the individual form." But he draws back from this view and thinks it "more probable that there was an actual person Joseph, afterward .... rightly or wrongly regarded as the ancestor of the tribe .... who underwent substantially the experience recounted of him in Genesis." In the presence of such critical notions concerning the literature in which the narrative of Joseph is embodied, it is clear that until we have reached some conclusions concerning the Joseph story, we cannot be sure that there is any real story of Joseph to relate.

I. The Joseph Story, a Literary Question.

1. An Independent Original or an Adaptation?:

This literary problem will be solved, if satisfactory answers may be found to two questions: Is it an independent original or an adaptation? Suitable material for such an adaptation as would produce a Joseph story has been sought at either end of the line of history: Joseph the progenitor and Joseph the tribe. The only contestant for the claim of being an early original of which the Joseph story might be an adaptation is the nasty "Tale of Two Brothers" (RP, series I, volume II, 137-46). This story in its essential elements much resembles the Joseph story. But such events as it records are common: why not such stories?

What evidence does this "Tale of Two Brothers" afford that the Joseph story is not an independent original? Are we to suppose that because many French romances involve the demi-monde, there was therefore no Madame de Pompadour? Are court scandals so unheard of that ancient Egypt cannot afford two? And why impugn the genuineness of the Joseph story because the "Tale of Two Brothers" resembles it? Is anyone so ethereal in his passions as not to know by instinct that the essential elements of such scandal are always the same? The difference in the narrative is chiefly in the telling. At this latter point the Joseph story and the "Tale of Two Brothers" bear no resemblance whatever.

If the chaste beauty of the Biblical story be observed, and then one turn to the "Tale of Two Brothers" with sufficient knowledge of the Egyptian tongue to perceive the coarseness and the stench of it, there can be no question that the Joseph story is independent of such a literary source. To those who thus sense both stories, the claim of the "Tale of Two Brothers" to be the original of the Joseph story cannot stand for a moment. If we turn from Joseph the progenitor to Joseph the tribe, still less will the claim that the story is an adaptation bear careful examination. The perfect naturalness of the story, the utter absence from its multitudinous details of any hint of figurative language, such as personification always furnishes, and the absolutely accurate reflection in the story of the Egypt of Joseph's day, as revealed by the many discoveries of which people of 700-800 years later could not know, mark this theory of the reflection of tribal history and characteristics as pure speculation. And besides, where in all the history of literature has it been proven that a tribe has been thus successfully thrown back upon the screen of antiquity in the "individual form"? Similar mistakes concerning Menes and Minos and the heroes of Troy are a warning to us. Speculation is legitimate, so long as it does not cut loose from known facts, but gives no one the right to suppose the existence in unknown history of something never certainly found in known history. So much for the first question.

2. A Monograph or a Compilation?:

Is it a monograph or a compilation? The author of a monograph may make large use of literary materials, and the editor of a compilation may introduce much editorial comment. Thus, superficially, these different kinds of composition may much resemble each other, yet they are, in essential character, very different the one from the other. A compilation is an artificial body, an automaton; a monograph is a natural body with a living soul in it. This story has oriental peculiarities of repetition and pleonastic expression, and these things have been made much of in order to break up the story; to the reader not seeking grounds of partition, it is one of the most unbroken, simply natural and unaffected pieces of narrative literature in the world. If it stood alone or belonged to some later portion of Scripture, it may well be doubted that it would ever have been touched by the scalpel of the literary dissector. But it belongs to the Pentateuch. There are manifest evidences all over the Pentateuch of the use by the author of material, either documentary or of that paradoxical unwritten literature which the ancients handed down almost without the change of a word for centuries.

(1) An Analytical Theory Resolving It into a Mere Compilation.

An analytical theory has been applied to the Pentateuch as a whole, to resolve it into a mere compilation. Once the principles of this theory are acknowledged, and allowed sway there, the Joseph story cannot be left untouched, but becomes a necessary sacrifice to the system. A sight of the lifeless, ghastly fragments of the living, moving Joseph story which the analysis leaves behind (compare EB, article "Joseph") proclaims that analysis to have been murder. There was a life in the story which has been ruthlessly taken, and that living soul marked the narrative as a monograph.

(2) A Narrative Full of Gems.

Where else is to be found such a compilation? Here is one of the most brilliant pieces of literature in the world, a narrative full of gems: (a) the account of the presentation of the brothers in the presence of Joseph when he was obliged to go out to weep (Gen 43:26-34), and (b) the scene between the terrified brothers of Joseph and the steward of his house (Gen 44:6-13), (c) Judah's speech (Gen 44:18-34), (d) the touching close of the revelation of Joseph to his brothers at last (Gen 45:1-15). The soul of the whole story breathes through all of these. Where in all literature, ancient or modern, is to be found a mere compilation that is a great piece of literature? So far removed is this story from the characteristics of a compilation, that we may challenge the world of literature to produce another monograph in narrative literature that surpasses it.

(3) The Argument from Chronology Supporting It as a Monograph

Then the dates of Egyptian names and events in this narrative strongly favor its origin so early as to be out of the reach of the compilers. That attempts at identification in Egyptian of names written in Hebrew, presenting as they do the peculiar difficulties of two alphabets of imperfectly known phonetic values and uncertain equivalency of one in terms of the other, should give rise to differences of opinion, is to be expected. The Egyptian equivalents of Zaphenath-paneah and Asenath have been diligently sought, and several identifications have been, suggested (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, 122; Budge, History of Egypt, V, 126-27). That which is most exact phonetically and yields the most suitable and natural meaning for Zaphenath-paneah is by Lieblein (PSBA, 1898, 204-8). It is formed like four of the names of Hyksos kings before the time of Joseph, and means "the one who furnishes the nourishment of life," i.e. the steward of the realm. The name Asenath is found from the XIth Dynasty on to the XVIIIth. Potiphar is mentioned as an Egyptian. Why not of course an Egyptian? The narrative also points distinctly to conditions obtaining under the Hyksos kings. When the people were like to perish for want of food they promised Joseph in return for help that they would be "servants of Pharaoh" (Gen 47:18-25). This suggests a previous antagonism to the government, such as the Hyksos kings had long to contend with in Egypt. But the revolution which drove out the Hyksos labored so effectually to eradicate every trace of the hated foreigners that it is with the utmost difficulty that modern Egyptological research has wrested from the past some small items of information concerning them. Is it credible that the editor of scraps, which were themselves not written down until some 700-800 years later, should have been able to produce such a life-story fitting into the peculiar conditions of the times of the Hyksos? Considered as an independent literary problem on its own merits, aside from any entangling necessities of the analytical theory of the Pentateuch, the Joseph story must certainly stand as a monograph from some time within distinct memory of the events it records. If the Joseph story be an independent original and a monograph, then there is in reality to be considered the story of Joseph.

II. The Story of Joseph, a Biography.

It is unnecessary to recount here all the events of the life of Joseph, a story so incomparably told in the Biblical narrative. It will be sufficient to touch only the salient points where controversy has raged, or at which archaeology has furnished special illumination. The story of Joseph begins the tenth and last natural division of Gen in these words: "The generations of Jacob" (Gen 37:2). Up to this point the unvarying method of Gen is to place at the head of each division the announcement "the generations of" one of the patriarchs, followed immediately by a brief outline of the discarded line of descent, and then to give in detail the account of the chosen line.

There is to be now no longer any discarded line of descent. All the sons of Jacob are of the chosen people, the depository of the revelation of redemption. So this division of Gen begins at once with the chosen line, and sets in the very foreground that narrative which in that generation is most vital in the story of redemption, this story of Joseph beginning with the words, "Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren" (Gen 37:2). Joseph had been born in Haran, the firstborn of the beloved Rachel, who died at the birth of her second son Benjamin. A motherless lad among the sons of other mothers felt the jealousies of the situation, and the experience became a temptation. The "evil report" of his brethren was thus naturally carried to his father, and quite as naturally stirred up those family jealousies which set his feet in the path of his great career (Gen 37:2-4). In that career he appears as a Bedouin prince in Canaan.

1. A Bedouin Prince in Canaan:

The patriarchs of those times were all sheiks or princes of those semi-nomadic rovers who by the peculiar social and civil customs of that land were tolerated then as they are to this day under the Turkish government in the midst of farms and settled land tenure. Jacob favored Rachel and her children. He put them hindermost at the dangerous meeting with Esau, and now he puts on Joseph a coat of many colors (Gen 37:3). The appearance of such a coat a little earlier in the decoration of the tombs of Benichassan among Palestinian ambassadors to Egypt probably indicates that this garment was in some sense ceremonial, a token of rank. In any case Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a Bedouin prince. Did the father by this coat indicate his intention to give him the precedence and the succession as chieftain of the tribe? It is difficult otherwise to account for the insane jealousy of the older brethren (Gen 37:4). According to the critical partition of the story, Joseph's dreams may be explained away as mere reflections or adaptations of the later history of Joseph (compare PENTATEUCH). In a real biography the striking providential significance of the dreams appears at once. They cannot be real without in some sense being prophetic. On the other hand they cannot be other than real without vitiating the whole story as a truthful narrative, for they led immediately to the great tragedy; a Bedouin prince of Canaan becomes a Bedouin slave in Egypt.

2. A Bedouin Slave in Egypt:

The plot to put Joseph out of the way, the substitution of slavery for death, and the ghastly device for deceiving Jacob (Gen 37:18-36) are perfectly natural steps in the course of crime when once the brothers had set out upon it. The counterplot of Reuben to deliver Joseph reflects equally his own goodness and the dangerous character of the other brothers to whom he did not dare make a direct protest.

Critical discussion of "Ishmaelites" and "Midianites" and "Medanites" presents some interesting things and many clever speculations which may well be considered on their own merits by those interested in ethnology and etymologies. Many opinions advanced may prove to be correct. But let it be noted that they arc for the most part pure speculation. Almost nothing is known of the interrelation of the trans-Jordanic tribes in that age other than the few hints in the Bible. And who can say what manner of persons might be found in a caravan which had wandered about no one knows where, or how long, to pick up trade before it turned into the northern caravan route? Until archaeology supplies more facts it is folly to attach much importance to such speculations (Kyle, The Deciding Voice of the Monuments in Biblical Criticism, 221).

In the slave market in Egypt, Joseph was bought by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, "an Egyptian." The significant mention of this fact fits exactly into a place among the recovered hints of the history of those times, which make the court then to be not Egyptian at all, but composed of foreigners, the dynasty of Hyksos kings among whom an "Egyptian" was so unexpected as to have his nationality mentioned.

Joseph's native nobility of character, the pious training he had received in his father's house, and the favor of God with him gave him such prosperity that his master entrusted all the affairs of his household to him, and when the greatest of temptations assails him he comes off victorious (Genesis 39). There is strong ground for the suspicion that Potiphar did not fully believe the accusation of his wife against Joseph. The fact that Joseph was not immediately put to death is very significant. Potiphar could hardly do less than shut him up for the sake of appearances, and perhaps to take temptation away from his wife without seeming to suspect her. It is noticeable also that Joseph's character soon triumphed in prison. Then the same Providence that superintended his dreams is leading so as to bring him before the king (Genesis 40; 41).

3. The Bedouin Slave Becomes Again the Bedouin Prince:

The events of the immediately preceding history prepared Joseph's day: the Hyksos kings on the throne, those Bedouin princes, "shepherd kings" (Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities), the enmity of the Egyptians against this foreign dynasty so that they accounted every shepherd an "abomination" (Gen 46:34), the friendly relation thus created between Palestinian tribes and Egypt, the princely character of Joseph, for among princes a prince is a prince however small his principality, and last of all the manifest favor of God toward Joseph, and the evident understanding by the Pharaohs of Semitic religion, perhaps even sympathy with it (Gen 41:39). All these constitute one of the most majestic, Godlike movements of Providence revealed to us in the word of God, or evident anywhere in history. The same Providence that presided over the boy prince in his father's house came again to the slave prince in the Egyptian prison. The interpretation of the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker of Pharaoh (Gen 40 through 41:1-24) brought him at last through much delay and selfish forgetfulness to the notice of the king, and another dream in which the same cunning hand of Providence is plainly seen (Genesis 41) is the means of bringing Joseph to stand in the royal presence. The stuff that dreams are made of interests scarcely less than the Providence that was superintending over them. As the harvest fields of the semi-nomadic Bedouin in Palestine, and the household routine of Egypt in the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker, so now the industrial interests and the religious forms of the nation appear in the dreams of Pharaoh. The "seven kine" of the goddess Hathor supplies the number of the cows, and the doubling of the symbolism in the cattle and the grain points to the two great sources of Egypt's welfare. The Providence that had shaped and guided the whole course of Joseph from the Palestinian home was consummated when, with the words, "Inasmuch as thou art a man in whom is the spirit of God," Pharaoh lifted up the Bedouin slave to be again the Bedouin prince and made him the prime minister.

4. The Prime Minister:

The history of "kings' favorites" is too well known for the elevation of Joseph to be in itself incredible. Such things are especially likely to take place among the unlimited monarchies of the Orient. The late empress of China had been a Chinese slave girl. The investiture of Joseph was thoroughly Egyptian--the "collar," the signet "ring," the "chariot" and the outrunners who cried before him "Abrech." The exact meaning of this word has never been certainly ascertained, but its general import may be seen illustrated to this day wherever in the East royalty rides out. The policy adopted by the prime minister was far-reaching, wise, even adroit (Gen 41:25-36). It is impossible to say whether or not it was wholly just, for we cannot know whether the corn of the years of plenty which the government laid up was bought or taken as a taxlevy. The policy involved some despotic power, but Joseph proved a magnanimous despot. The deep and subtle statesmanship in Joseph's plan does not fully appear until the outcome. It was probably through the policy of Joseph, the prime minister, that the Hyksos finally gained the power over the people and the mastery of the land.

Great famines have not been common in Egypt, but are not unknown. The only one which corresponds well to the Bible account is that one recorded in the inscription of Baba at el Kab, translated by Brugsch. Some scarcely justifiable attempts have been made to discredit Brugsch in his account of that inscription. The monument still remains and is easily visited, but the inscription is so mutilated that it presents many difficulties. The severity of the famine, the length of its duration, the preparation by the government, the distribution to the people, the success of the efforts for relief and even the time of the famine, as far as it can be determined, correspond well to the Bible account (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, chapter vi). The way in which such famines in Egypt come about has been explained by a movement of the sudd, a sedgelike growth in the Nile, so as to clog the upper river (Wright, Scientific Confirmations, 70-79).

Joseph's brethren came "with those that came," i.e. with the food caravans. The account does not imply that the prime minister presided in person at the selling of grain, but only that he knew of the coming of his brethren and met them at the market place. The watchfulness of the government against "spies," by the careful guarding of the entrances to the land, may well have furnished him with such information. Once possessed with it, all the rest of the story of the interviews follows naturally (compare traditions of Joseph, Jewish Encyclopedia).

The long testing of the brethren with the attendant delay in the relief of the father Jacob and the family (Genesis 42 through 45) has been the subject of much discussion, and most ingenious arguments for the justification of Joseph. All this seems unnecessary. Joseph was not perfect, and there is no claim of perfection made for him in the Bible. Two things are sufficient to be noted here: one that Joseph was ruler as well as brother, with the habits of a ruler of almost unrestrained power and authority and burdened with the necessity for protection and the obligation to mete out justice; the other that the deliberateness, the vexatious delays, the subtle diplomacy and playing with great issues are thoroughly oriental. It may be also that the perplexities of great minds make them liable to such vagaries. The career of Lincoln furnishes some curious parallels in the parleying with cases long after the great president's mind was fully made up and action taken.

The time of these events and the identification of Joseph in Egypt are most vexed questions not conclusively settled. Toffteen quite confidently presents in a most recent identification of Joseph much evidence to which one would like to give full credence (Toffteen, The Historical Exodus). But aside from the fact that he claims two exodi, two Josephs, two Aarons, two lawgivers called Moses, and two givings of the law, a case of critical doublets more astounding than any heretofore claimed in the Pentateuch, the evidence itself which he adduces is very far from conclusive. It is doubtful if the texts will bear the translation he gives them, especially the proper names. The claims of Rameses II, that he built Pithom,. compared with the stele of 400 years, which he says he erected in the 400th year of King Nubti, seems to put Joseph about the time of the Hyksos king. This is the most that can be said now. The burial of Jacob is in exact accord with Egyptian customs. The wealth of the Israelites who retained their possessions and were fed by the crown, in contrast with the poverty of the Egyptians who sold everything, prepares the way for the wonderful growth and influence of Israel, and the fear which the Egyptians at last had of them. "And Joseph died, being 110 years old," an ideal old age in the Egyptian mind. The reputed burial place of Joseph at Shechem still awaits examination.

5. The Patriarch:

Joseph stands out among the patriarchs in some respects with preeminence. His nobility of character, his purity of heart and life, his magnanimity as a ruler and brother Patriarch make him, more than any other of the Old Testament characters, an illustration of that type of man which Christ was to give to the world in perfection. Joseph is not in the list of persons distinctly referred to in Scripture as types of Christ--the only perfectly safe criterion--but none more fully illustrates the life and work of the Saviour. He wrought salvation for those who betrayed and rejected him, he went down into humiliation as the way to his exaltation, he forgave those who, at least in spirit, put him to death, and to him as to the Saviour, all must come for relief, or perish.

LITERATURE.

Commentaries on Genesis; for rabbinical literature, compare Seligsohn in Jewish Encyclopedia, some very interesting and curious traditions; Ebers, Egypten und die Bucher Moses; "The Tale of Two Brothers," RP, series I, volume II, 13746; Wilkinson-Birch, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians; Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt.

M. G. Kyle

JOSES [ISBE]

JOSES - jo'-sez, jo'-zez (Ioses):

(1) One of the brethren of Jesus (Mk 6:3; in Mt 13:55 the Greek is "Joseph," and the Revised Version (British and American) so renders).

(2) A son of Mary, perhaps identical with (1) (Mt 27:56; Mk 15:40,47).

See BRETHREN OF THE LORD.

(3) A name of Barnabas (Acts 4:36 the King James Version, where again Greek and the Revised Version (British and American) have "Joseph").

See BARNABAS.