JOSEPH. Similar theories are propounded to explain confusion in the narrative's parallel accounts of his slavery and imprisonment, as well as his and reunion(s) with his brothers, with Benjamin present in one, and absent in another. 2) Simeon was next, and he was also a son of Leah. 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. (Genesis 47:147:12) The family was then settled in Goshen. Joseph interpreted this dream as the cup-bearer being restored as cup-bearer to the Pharaoh within three days. After relaying his prophecies, Israel died. How many wives did Joseph have in the Bible? Hope that makes sense. In Jewish tradition, Joseph was the progenitor of the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, named for his two sons. Bible References: Rachel's story is told Genesis 29:6-35:24, 46:19-25, 48:7 . To Joseph, he gave a portion more of Canaanite property than he had to his other sons; land that he fought for against the Amorites. during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, to a later time during the Hyksos Era (16481540 B.C.E. At their first meeting, the brothers did not recognize him. The steward found the cup in Benjamin's sack - just as he had planted it the night before. Who was the wife of Joseph son of Jacob? How many children did Jacob have? These children are the offspring of four different women, Leah and Rachel, his wives, and Zilpah and Bilhah, their respective handmaids. Full Bible Timeline - section on the life of Jacob. He wanted to know if they would be willing to risk danger in order to save their half brother Benjamin. He was Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first. Response: We read in Genesis 41:45 that Pharaoh gave Joseph Osnat daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. yosef] to me another son." (Gen. 30:24) He was born in Padan-aram when Jacob was about 90 years old. On top of all this, Leah had stopped bearing children perhaps because Jacob was no longer performing his legal obligations to continue to provide her with marital relations (at one point, she actually had to buy a night with him from her sister). Recall that Jacob was born in the land of Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham, and where Jacob's father Isaac was born and lived his entire life. What is Jacob's new name? Potiphar believed that Joseph was incapable of such an act and petitioned Pharaoh to spare his life. Confronting Pseudo-archaeological memes Pt 4: Was Byblos the Goddess of Writing? This tendency, although greatly diminished, was followed throughout late antiquity, the Medieval Era, and into the Reformation. Judah is the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob and his first wife, Leah: his full brothers are Reuben, Simeon and Levi (all older), and Issachar and Zebulun (younger), and he has one full sister, Dinah. Soon, the family took up residence in the town of Bethel and later moved to Hebron. [g] Then he had their donkeys prepared with grain and sent the other brothers back to Canaan. (obviously would not happen to a wife). [42] Joseph is said to have been extremely handsome, which attracted his Egyptian master's wife to attempt to seduce him. 2. Confronting a Devastating Doctrine: Are Children Is Hand Washing Commanded? When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel commanded him to do. The story of Yusuf and Zulaikha was a favorite love song in the Near East. Genesis 31:38-41. The "seven lean years" has been taken to refer to a Middle Eastern famine documented at that time. [35] This tendency is represented in John Chrysostom who said that Joseph's suffering was "a type of things to come",[36] Caesarius of Arles who interpreted Joseph's famous coat as representative of the diverse nations who would follow Christ,[37] Ambrose of Milan who interpreted the standing sheaf as prefiguring the resurrection of Christ,[38] and others. The Gadites would later be described as, "brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Jacob's partiality to Rachel was the source of a great deal of hostility and scheming among Jacobs's wives and concubines (see Genesis 30). Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, lived in the land of Canaan with ten half-brothers, one full brother, and at least one half-sister. [44] In the Quran the brothers ask Jacob ("Yaqub") to let Joseph go with them. How many children did Jacob have? Now Jacob had twelve sons. (Genesis 37:35, Common English Bible). 2:1; 2 Ne. 1) Reuben was Jacob's firstborn. Well, thats what I thought for many years as well and it was no wonder I was looking through a lens colored by modern movies, television shows, and ten years spent living in uber-Mormon southern Idaho. 17As the time of the promise drew near, the promise that God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. 1. When Joseph and his mother bowed to Esau (Gen. 33:7), Joseph shielded his mother with his body (Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. 1:26). The Bible states that this name was given to Jacob as by God later in his life: "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (Genesis 32:28 . The baker's dream was about three baskets full of bread for the Pharaoh, and birds were eating the bread out of those baskets. The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is about Joseph's story. popularly referred to as a "coat of many colors." After the events of (Gen Ch. Laws of Hammurabi: [144] If a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife. The twelve sons of Jacob (Israel) from oldest to youngest were as follows. When the famine came, it was so severe that people from surrounding nations came to Egypt to buy bread. (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. This makes Jesus related to Adam, both as the son of God and . 51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." 52 The name of the second he called E'phraim, "For God has . 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. Joseph urged the first, a royal cupbearer, to get him out of prison once he was reinstated, but the cupbearer took no action on his behalf for two more years. In addition to honoring him, there was a strong tendency in the patristic period to view his life as a typological precursor to Christ. Thus, "Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought.". People just cherry pick with the descriptions to determine prescriptives without studying out the matter. The narrative describes his emotional reaction upon seeing Benjamin: "Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. Some declare that during the 22 years he was away from home he drank no wine (Shab. 36). Joseph is represented as a perfectly righteous man (tzadik gamur) and as the counterpart of his father Jacob. Joseph was the favorite son of his father, who made him a richly ornamented coat. 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. The story tells of two servants of Pharaoh's household who were in jail with Joseph and asked him to interpret their dreams. Because the 12 sons of Jacob became the 12 tribesGod's covenantal peoplethe 12 stones on the high priest's breastplate of course represent God's promise to them ( Genesis 28:12-15 ). 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. When the Vizier (Joseph) appeared, they gave him gifts from their father. Following the prediction, Joseph became Vizier, under the name of Zaphnath-Paaneah (Hebrew: pna Pana),[e][19] and was given Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On,[f] to be his wife. Joseph ordered the steward to go after the brothers and to question them about the "missing" silver cup. Answer and Explanation: Joseph has one wife, Asenath the daughter of Potiphar the priest of On, whom he marries in Egypt. [28] Impressed with Joseph's interpretations, Pharaoh appoints him as second-in-command (Gen 41:41). Certain rabbis declared that Joseph was ready to yield to his mistress, but that his father's image suddenly appeared to him and called him to his duty (Sotah 36b; Gen. R. 87:9). Her father, Jacob, saw that his family was deeply ashamed of his new granddaughter. Thank you for your VERY well done teaching. 14 Facts About Esau Everyone Should Know. He was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's twelfth child and eleventh son). I think Ill stick with my one wife (Staci) of 23 years. After Jacob's death, Joseph received the Pharaoh's permission to travel with a great caravan to Canaan in order to bury the patriarch. 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. Jacob's sons, including Joseph, are listed at the end of this page. | Fact Sheet Index They commemorate him on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before Christmas) and on Holy and Great Monday (Monday of Holy Week). He forgave them and sent for Jacob and the entire household to come to Egypt. After Joseph rejected the attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce him, she accused him of attempted rape, and he was cast into the state prison (Gen. 39:40), where he became the most trusted inmate and remained for at least two years. Even though I never watched either Big Love or Sister Wives, I knew about people who lived like this and I will bet that anyone who lives in certain parts of certain western states can tell you the same thing. She told Jacob, "Here is my maid Bilhah. Jacob had 12 sons, at Hebron. There are numerous mentions of Joseph in Bah' writings. The Vizier broke down into tears. The remaining brothers returned to their father in Canaan, and told him all that had transpired in Egypt. Joseph! For example, just before his death he predicted that God would visit the children of Israel and lead them out of Egypt and into the promised land. She also bore Benjamin and was a faithful wife to Jacob. Cause me to die as a Muslim and join me with the righteous" (Qur'an 12:101). 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. Joseph is between 39 and 56 years old. Angered by his running away from her, she made a false accusation of rape, and thus assured his imprisonment[d] (Genesis 39:120). Joseph would have been approximately six years old . The Haran controversy wrestles with the question of how long Abraham's grandson Jacob lived in Haran. After bearing Judah, Leah stopped bearing children for a . Stories about Jacob in the Bible begin at Genesis 25:19. Answer (1 of 10): If you are talking about Jacob (Israel)'s son Joseph, then he had one wife. 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. Later, Joseph became Potiphar's personal servant, and subsequently his household's superintendent. 38). "Pharaoh called Joseph by the name Tzafnat-Pa'neach and gave him as his wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. The following morning the brothers began their journey back to Canaan. Both were met by angels at various times (Gen. R. 84:6; Num. The story of Joseph or Yusuf as it is told in Arabic literature has the same general outlines as the Biblical narrative; but in the Arabic account there is a wealth of accessory detail and incident. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. I have questioned this over the years, but didnt understand the cultural context as well as you have laid out. So they named this spot Abel Mizraim. The "unloved" Leah bore seven of Jacob's childrensix sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, as well as a daughter, Dinah. Then he brought the brothers into the house of Joseph and received them hospitably. As for kings marriages were largely about political alliances (especially with David who was shoring up support with the various tribes as well as maintaining his connection with Sauls royal line), except for Solomon, who was. Their relationship is first mentioned in Genesis 41:45.