* At least, if (as most critics suppose) ' Judah' stood origin- ally in V.21 (J) for ' Reuben' (as the text stands, y.2Ib and v.22» are tautologous). But even K ttiat be not tiie caae, we have ' Reuben ' in iT.zi 29 (E), and ' Judah ' in v. 26 (J).
t In V.28 the absence of the art. before 'Midianites' shows that the reference cannot be to * the Ishmaelites,' mentioned specifically in v.2r.
I Properly, ' captain (or superintendent, chieO of the slaugh- terers' (of animals [not 'executioner*')), a Heb. title, though always, as it happens, applied to foreifjners (elsewhere only, with 3T for -e}, of Neb.'s ' captain of the guard ' Jer 399ff- 4110 436 6212ff., 2 K 258ff-, and Dn 2"). The royal butchers came in some way to form the royal bodyguard ; cf. W. R. Smith, OTJC^ 262 f. LXX otpvifjuiyupet, — in itself a perfectly possible rendering (see 1 S 923- W); but not probable in view of Jer 39, etc
§ Identified in the existing text with Potiphar (3736) by the harmonizing insertion in 39^^.
H The expression is a peculiar ono (not the ordinary Heb. term for * prison '), and is found only here (392'J-23) and 40^- 6. Understood as two Heb. words, it might mean * house of rour.d- noss,' i.e. a circular tower, sucli as mi(^ht be used as a prison ; bu^. fohar is perhaps the Hebraized form of an Egyp. word [cf. Ebers, Ae^. u. die Bb. Mas. 318 f, ; the very special char- acter of the suhan at Thebes (see Maspero, Struggle, 271 n. 5) is an objection to Sayce's view (EUH 87) tl at it may be this word].
H According to the insertions in vv.si- 6b. i5b (j)^ jn the state-
Srison, where Joseph was bound. In w.l4b-15a^ according to E, oseph prays to be released, not from imprisonment, but only from servitude in a foreign land, after having been 'stolen away ' from his native country (in agreement with E's repre- •entation in 3723a- c).
" Cf. 4112 (also E). In 3922 (j) Joseph is made overseer of the other prisoners ; and he receives this appointment, not from Ui master (as here), but from the keeper of the state-prison.
morning, he hears from them about their two dreams. Unable to interpret them themselves, they recount them to him ; and he interprets them correctly. Three days after, on the Pharaoh's birthday, the chief butler, as Joseph foretold, is restored to his office, and the chief oaker is hung (40'>-^).
Ch. 41 (with the exceptions noted, E) tells the story of Joseph's elevation in Egypt. After two years, during which time his jiosition remained unaltered (the chief butler having forgotten his promise to mention him to the king), the Pharaoh had his two dreams, of the fat and lean kine, and of the full and withered ears ; and much signifi- cance being attached in Egypt to dreams, Ue was disturbed to find no one able to interpret them. The chief butler, reminded by the occurrence of Joseph's skill in his o^vn case, mentions him to the Pharaoh. He is sent for ; and, being brought before the king,* declares to him what his dreams signify, viz. seven years of plenty, to be succeeded imme- diately by seven years of famine : in view of the future, he further suggests the practical measure of making provision for the years of famine by storing up in advance a fifth of the produce of each of the years of plenty. The Pharaoh, im- pressed by his sagacity, and recognizing it as of God (41^'-), forthwith invests him with authority over the entire land of Egypt, for the purpose of giving elJ'ect to this proiiosal, and confers upon him other signal marks of the royal favour (41*'"): he further, as a mark of his admittance into the Egj'ptian bureaucracy, bestows upon him an Egyptian name, Zaphnath-pa'anea'h, and marries him to Asenath, a daughter of Potipliera, priest of the great national temple of the sun (Ra), at On (Heliopolis, 7 miles N.E. of the modern Cairo). A notice from P (41'''') states that Joseph, at the time of his elevation, was 30 years of age. During the 7 years of plenty, Joseph amassed com in the granaries of every city from the surrounding district : in the 5tli of these years, we are told, Asenath bore him two sons, who were named, respectively, Manasseh in allusion to his furgetting now his past troubles, and Ephraim on account of his fruitfulness in the land of his affliction. When the years of famine began, the Egjptians all came to Joseph to buy corn (41"''*).
Famines in Egypt are due commonly to the failure of the annual inundation of the Nile. The famine in which Joseph is concerned is stated, however, to have extended to all the earth (41") ; and this circumstance is the fact upon which the entire sequel of the story hinges. 42''^' (E, except w."- ^) tells how, as the famine became severe in Canaan, Jacob sends all his sons except Benjamin to buy corn in Egypt. Introduced into Joseph's presence, they prostrate themselves before him (cf. the dreams, 37'"'), but do not recognize him : during the years of separation t he has grown from a youth into a man, and his Egyptian dress and shaven face further disguise him. He receives them roughly, and accuses them of being spies, sent to discover the 'nakedness of the land.' The charge throws them oS their guard ; and they seek to disarm his suspicions by volunteering informa- tion X about their family, of which Joseph at once takes advantage : desirous, namely, of ascertaining the truth about Benjamin, he insists that one shall be left bound in Egypt, while the others go home, and bring back their youngest brother with