Joseph (Genesis)
Joseph (/ˈdʒoʊzəf, -səf/; Hebrew: יוֹסֵף, romanized: Yōsēp̄, lit. 'He shall add')[2][a] is an important Hebrew figure in the Bible's Book of Genesis and in the Quran. He was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's twelfth named child and eleventh son). He is the founder of the Tribe of Joseph among the Israelites. His story functions as an explanation for Israel's residence in Egypt. He is the favourite son of the patriarch Jacob, and his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Biblical Egypt, where he eventually ends up incarcerated. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Jacob's family travels to Egypt to escape the famine, and it is through him that they are given leave to settle in the Land of Goshen (the eastern part of the Nile Delta).
This article is about the Joseph of the Book of Genesis. For the New Testament Joseph, see Saint Joseph. For other uses, see Joseph (disambiguation).
Joseph
2170 AM (c. 1590 BC)
Zaphnath-Paaneah (צָפְנַת פַּעְנֵחַ)
- Reuben (half-brother)
- Simeon (half-brother)
- Levi (half-brother)
- Judah (half-brother)
- Dan (half-brother)
- Naphtali (half-brother)
- Gad (half-brother)
- Asher (half-brother)
- Issachar (half-brother)
- Zebulun (half-brother)
- Dinah (half-sister)
- Benjamin (brother)
- Rebecca (grandmother)
- Isaac (grandfather)
- Esau (uncle)
- Leah (aunt/stepmother)
- Laban (grandfather and great‑uncle)
- Abraham (great-grandfather)
- Sarah (great-grandmother)
- Potipherah (father-in-law)
Scholars hold different opinions about the historical background of the Joseph story, as well as the date and development of its composition.[6] Thomas Römer argues that "The date of the original narrative can be the late Persian period, and while there are several passages that fit better into a Greek, Ptolemaic context, most of these passages belong to later revisions."[7]
In Jewish tradition, he is the ancestor of a second Messiah called "Mashiach ben Yosef", who will wage war against the forces of evil alongside Mashiach ben David and die in combat with the enemies of God and Israel.[8]
Etymology[edit]
The Bible offers two explanations of the name Yosēf: first, it is compared to the triliteral א־ס־ף (ʾ-s-p), meaning "to gather, remove, take away":[9] "And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach" (Genesis 30:23);[10] Yosēf is then identified with the similar root יסף (y-s-p), meaning "to add":[11] "And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son." (Genesis 30:24).[12][13]
Biblical narrative[edit]
Birth and family[edit]
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. He was Rachel's firstborn and Jacob's eleventh son. Of all the sons, Joseph was preferred by his father, who gave him a "long coat of many colors".[b] When Joseph was seventeen years old, he shared with his brothers two dreams he had: in the first dream, Joseph and his brothers gathered bundles of grain, of which those his brothers gathered, bowed to his own. In the second dream, the sun (father), the moon (mother), and eleven stars (brothers) bowed to Joseph himself. These dreams, implying his supremacy, angered his brothers (Genesis 37:1–11) and made the brothers plot his demise.
Baha'i tradition[edit]
There are numerous mentions of Joseph in Bahá'í writings.[53] These come in the forms of allusions written by the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh states that "from my laws, the sweet-smelling savour of my garment can be smelled" and, in the Four Valleys, states that "the fragrance of his garment blowing from the Egypt of Baha," referring to Joseph.
Bahá'í commentaries have described these as metaphors with the garment implying the recognition of a manifestation of God. In the Qayyumu'l-Asma', the Báb refers to Bahá'u'lláh as the true Joseph and makes an analogous prophecy regarding Bahá'u'lláh suffering at the hands of his brother, Mírzá Yahyá.[54]
