RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Joseph
of the five chief theses of the Council of Florence, discussing at length the procession of the Holy- Ghost, unleavened bread, purgatory, eternal life, and the supremacy of the pope. This treatise was at first erroneously ascribed to Gennadius Scholarius. Joseph also discussed the same council in the long dialogue first edited by Leo Allatius in his Graecia orthodoxa, i. 583-654 (Rome, 1652).
(Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography: Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, xi. 458, Hamburg, 1808; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 118-119.
JOSEPH THE PATRIARCH: Oldest son of Jacob and Rachel. The name " Joseph " (Hebr. Yoseph) was probably originally Joseph-el, " may God add " (Gen. xxx. 24; see Jacob). The relation of the sources of the story of the patriarch as given in the Book of Genesis (xxx. 22-24, xxxvii., xxxix. 1) is similar to that in the history of Jacob (q.v.). E and J predominate, P being used more exten- The sively only toward the end (Gen. xlvi.
Sources. 1). The attempt to distinguish between E and J is without convincing success. It is asserted that J calls the traveling Arabian merchants Ishmaelites, while E calls them Midianites; that E (Gen. xxxvii. 28) makes them take Joseph out of the pit without the complicity of his brothers and so "steal" him (Gen. xl. 15) while, according to J, he was sold by his brothers (also according to Gen. xlv. 4) ; that for J Joseph's Egyptian master was a wealthy private citizen, for E, the captain of the guard and keeper of the prison. In all essential points, however, the story must have been told in the same way by both E and J. Joseph's character justifies Jacob's especial love. Its fundamental quality was his earnest fear of God (Gen. xxxvii. 2, xxxix. 9, xli. 16, xlii. 18, xlv. 8, 1. 19-20), who showed him grace both in his own sight and before men, making him appear the purest and the noblest of the sons of Jacob.
In considering the historical value of the tradition of Joseph, the references to Egypt, its customs, manners, etc., are of especial importance. Modern investigation of the monu- Historicity ments has explained and justified the of the recital. While formerly many schol-
Narrative. ars thought to find in Joseph's story erroneous statements of Egyptian conditions, Hengstenberg and the Egyptologists Ebers and Brugsch have shown that the story is almost entirely concordant with the monuments of Egypt. Caravan trade was carried on by the Arabs from the most remote times between Syria, Palestine, and the country of the Nile; precisely the three spices mentioned in Gen. xxxvii. 25 (cf. xliii. 11) were always staple articles of commerce between Gilead and Egypt; the caravan route, after crossing the Jordan at Beth-shan, passed by Dothan; there was a good market for young slaves in Egypt; Potiphar bears a genuine Egyptian name (" devoted to Ra "); such stewardships as that with which Joseph was entrusted by Potiphar appear frequently in the Egyptian inscriptions and on the monuments; the scene between Joseph and Potiphar's wife is practically duplicated in a story preserved in the D'Orbiney Papyrus (" The Tale of Two Brothers "), written down for Seti II.
when he was crown prince (cf. H. Brugsch, Aus dem Orient, Berlin, 1864, pp. 7 sqq.; Eng. transl. in W M. F. Petrie, Egyptian Tales, London, 1894-95; cf . A. H. Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Monuments, London, 1894); dreams were matters of intense interest in Egypt; the two court officials of Gen. xl. 1 appear as representatives of the court butlers and the court bakers, even the title " chief of the bakers " has been found; an illustration of the dream of the court baker is given in a representation of the court bakery of Rameses III. (J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, ii. 385, London, 1837), wherein a load of freshly baked bread on a board or mat (elsewhere a basket, Wilkinson, ii. 393) is borne away on the head; according to the Rosetta stone and the Decree of Canopus, Egyptian kings on their birthdays were accustomed to issue amnesties; the double dream of the Pharaoh (Gen. xli.) is thoroughly Egyptian; the very words ye' or, "stream" ( = Nile) and ahu, " reed-grass," are Egyptian; the number seven was significant in the land; the kine, that is, the good and the lean years, quite properly come up out of the stream which was the object of divine honors as the fructifier of the entire country; the cow is symbolical of Isis-Hathor, the female principle of fertility, and therefore especially appropriate for the representation of the productivity of the land; the " magicians " of chap. xli. 8 correspond to the sacred scribes who, besides devoting themselves to the arts of writing, mensuration, and astronomy, were also entrusted with the task of explaining portents; the shaving of the hair and the changing of clothing on the occasion of an appearance before the Pharaoh (Gen. xli. 14) was required by ancient Egyptian custom, while among the Israelites baldness was regarded as an infirmity; the ceremonies accompanying the conferral of his new dignities upon Joseph (Gen. xli. 42) are all faithfully represented on the monuments; the cry abrech (Gen. xli. 43, E. V margin) which was shouted by a runner appears, indeed, to have been an Assyrio-Babylonian title, but the names given in xli. 45 are clearly Egyptian. As master of the granaries, Joseph really held the place in the kingdom next after that of the Pharaoh; hence he properly calls himself (xlv. 8) Pharaoh's father, lord over his whole house, ruler of all the land of Egypt; in chap. xlii. 6 he is called " governor " over the land; the designation adhon, " lord," has even found its way into Egyptian and the title db-en-pira'o in the sense of " counselor of the Pharaoh " occurs often in the papyri. The economic regulations promulgated by Joseph must be judged according to the standard of Egyptian conditions. The tax imposed (xli. 34) was, in the rich land of Egypt, neither hard to bear nor unusual, and the fact that the State assumed possession of all landed property, with the exception of that belonging to the priests, was a result of the centralizing tendency, more necessary and therefore more justifiable in that land than elsewhere. Two cases of this kind are given in H. Brugsch, Geschichte Aegyptens, Leipsic, 1877, pp. 130, 244 sqq., Eng. transl., London, 1879. The fact that Canaan suffered from a drought at the same time is also in accord with
Joseph