Genesis 37-50: The Story of Joseph - Essay Example

Genesis 37-50: The Story of Joseph The Purpose of the Joseph Story The purpose of the Joseph Story could be understood in three different frameworks: (1) the Book of Genesis, (2) the Pentateuch, and (3) the Old Testament. The Book of Genesis provides the foundation of the Bible not only because, as its name suggests, it is the beginning, but also because, as beginnings show directions, it logically indicates endings. Thus, in the Book of Genesis, not only did God establish the origins, but also had definitely made clear what He has always intended for His creations. (Lensch 2002) In this context, its last part – the Joseph Story is meant to be a continuation of the story of the patriarchs (Mourna 2008, p. 5), completing the story of Jacob (Stokes 1997, p. 35) – which from the story of Abraham continues the patriarchal narrative (Reed 2004, p. 1-2) – and blessing Jacob’s whole family, purposely to initially, show the gradual fulfillment of God’s promise made to Abraham: Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them and that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Gen. 12: 1-3) with the number of Abraham’s descendants growing and their influence increasing in a foreign land (Mourna 2008, p. 5). The continuing story of the Patriarchs as God’s fulfilment of His promise is further emphasized as the Joseph Story ends (Redford 1970, p. 25), and as the Book of Exodus begins. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. (Gen. 50:24) And that ultimately, that promise will be fulfilled through a royal dynasty that will spring from the descendant of Judah (Alexander 1993, p. 255) as ensured by the unique genealogy outlined in the Book of Genesis beginning from Adam to Jacob and his sons (Alexander 1989, p. 5) (See illustration that follows.) In this sense, not only is the messianic prophesy established – that the Messiah will come from the royal family of Judah – Indeed Jesus Christ is born from the Davidic Kingdom ruled by King David, the grandson of Judah from his son Perez – (Gen. 49: 8-9): Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up? but also is the eschatological message: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49: 10) (emphasis added), wherein the ‘scepter’ could be easily understood to mean rulership (Gunkel 1997, p. 456) of a King, while Shiloh, understandably means as the Second Coming of Christ (Lensch 2002). In this context, comes the ultimate purpose of Genesis 37-50, which is the confirmation of God’s providence. “The belief in Providence allows Joseph and his family to transform the way in which they deal with suffering and those who caused it” (Beck-Berman 2006, p. 7): Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life… And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent the hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste ye and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not; (Gen. 45: 5, 7-9) And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. (Gen. 50: 19-20) That God – the all powerful, all loving, and ever faithful God – overcomes the obstacles resulting from the disobedience of His creations, His people, in order to fulfill His promise – the very thing He has always intended for his creation (Goldingay 1980, pp. 23-24). “Indeed, the theme of Gods guiding hand underlies the entire story” (Beck-Berman 2006, p. 3), that without God’s Divine Providence human salvation will never be possible, but because God loves His creation, He will keep His promise – to “bring about His originally intended good” (Lensch 2002). As the Story of Joseph opens a succession of events that has led to the captivity and slavery of Israelites in Egypt and eventually their liberty and empowerment at Mount Sinai under the leadership of Moses (Beck-Berman 2006, p. 4), makes it appear as a bridge to the Book of Exodus. However, as the Story of Joseph acts as a bridge that connects stories about God’s promises to the patriarchs that will eventually be fulfilled, makes it not only a bridge to the Book of Exodus, but to the whole of Pentateuch (Mourna 2008, p. 5), especially so that “The overarching theme throughout the Pentateuch is ‘promise and fulfillment’. “God promises Abraham that he will make of him a great nation. The rest of the story of the Pentateuch is the story of fulfillment of this promise” (Molasses 2007, p. 1). In fact, among the Pentateuch’s numerous key points in time is Genesis 49: Jacob’s blessing of his sons, as, this chapter narrates Jacobs prophecies about the ‘latter days’ (Lensch 2002). As Wilson argued (2004, p. 234): The Joseph story seems to exceed the requirement for a mere bridge and suggests that the Joseph story does provide, de facto a transition from the patriarchal narratives to the Exodus. His links with Exodus and with the rest of the Pentateuch is the high significance of the promises in the final form of Genesis 37–50. In discerning the purpose of the Story of Joseph in the framework of the Old Testament, one has to understand the theme that unites the different books of the Old Testament, of which the New Testament writers believed to be a prophesy about the coming of Jesus Christ (Herrick 1998, p. 1) – the Messiah, the Savior in whom God’s promise will be fulfilled. Thus, in this context, the Story of Joseph is to lay down what Herrick (1998, p. 1) referred to as “an early text for later messianic conceptions.” And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. (Gen 35: 11) … And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. (Gen 36: 31) More than this, Dillard and Longman (1994, p. 56) pointed out that, with Joseph’s deep awareness of and full submission to God’s plan in putting him in a position that he could deliver his people, Joseph prefigures Jesus Christ, who Himself was crucified to save humankind. Thus, in both instances, the evil done to Joseph and Jesus are both God’s intention for good: “… but, God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50: 20). In this light, just as the Story of Joseph is linked to the Pentateuch on the basis of promise and fulfillment, which constitute the Pentateuch’s overarching theme, and so is the link of the two testaments. It is unsurprising then for New Testament writers to preach Jesus Christ from the Old Testament, as “Jesus in the New Testament continues God’s redemptive work in the Old Testament” (Greidanus 1999, p. 222), which was first prophesied in the Story of Joseph. The Literary Genre of the Joseph Story Classifying the Story of Joseph from a literary lens, literary scholars consider it a narrative genre of romance, as, the literary form used by the story was also popularly used during the Middle Ages, and as, they see the story as the “story of a great life, episodically told, incorporating elements of adventure, mistaken identity, miraculous escapes, mysterious interventions, reunions, movement between geographically diverse settings,… ultimately… success… vindication of the hero” (Greidanus 1999, p. 222). However, from a biblical point of view, Mourna (2008, p. 11) explained that the Joseph Story is totally different from that of the patriarchal narratives. The difference lies in its very form as a novel all through-out, and in its content as totally unrelated to genuine local traditions, since, the Joseph’s story as a novel has to be understood in the light of the saving grace and power of God (Mourna 2008, p. 11). In fact, Von Rad (2005, p. 80) believed that the story, “with its strong didactic motive, belongs to the category of early wisdom writing” – a discernible educational ideal in ancient Israelite wisdom that occurs in the Pharaoh’s court, the place where Joseph is honed of his responsibility (Mourna 2008, p. 11). Hence, it is viewed that the Joseph story is a wisdom novel as explained by known Biblical scholars. According to Wessel (1984, p. 51), the Joseph story demonstrates awareness of the Egyptian world and also reflects the influence of Egyptian wisdom literature – “To the Egyptians these compositions were known by the collective name of sb3yt, ‘instruction’, or more simply ‘teaching’ (the root meaning is closer to ‘enlightenment’)” (Ray 1995, p. 18). In fact Coats (1973, p. 294) recognized that the Joseph story is grounded in the Egyptian court, while Redford (1970, pp. 66-68) acknowledged the Egyptian court to be the setting of the story in Genesis 39-41: Joseph’s advancement, Pharaoh’s butler and baker, and Pharaoh’s two dreams. Furthermore, when compared with Solomon’s wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, Wilson (2004, p. 14) noted that Joseph’s wisdom is superior to Solomon in terms of administrative wisdom: And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, For as much as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. (Gen. 41: 38-40) In the same way, Von Rad (2005, p. 76) affirmed Joseph’s administrative wisdom to Solomon’s: “None would dispute the fact that this early wisdom literature belongs within the context of the royal court, and that its principal aim was to build up a competent body of future administrators.” But what was the source of Joseph’s wisdom? What set him apart from the wise men of his time? As Solomon rightly said in the Book of Proverbs (1:7, 9:10) "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom," and that “the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Hunter 2006, p. 18). This fear of the Lord was, in fact, the essence of Joseph’s wisdom as revealed in his interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dreams: “… never detach the years of plenty from… famine. When you experience plenty, do not let it blind your vision and desensitize you from what is truly important in life” (Jacobson . 2008). In modern language, it means always love, fear and obey the will of the Lord, because it is only under God’s grace that we can be successful. Just as Loader (1986, p. 110) had understood wisdom in the Joseph narrative: … if man obeys the rules of wisdom, he is acknowledging Gods authority and is participating in Gods order; he is then being wise, and for his wisdom he is rewarded with success and prosperity. And as, Westermann (1986, p. 100) specifically emphasized that: … the significance of the wisdom as an integral part of the Bible resides above all in the fact that it makes it clear that the creator gave man the capacity of becoming properly oriented in his world, of understanding himself in his world, and of mastering the daily tasks given him. Thus, issues central in the theology of wisdom-writing are divine intervention and human intentions (Mourna 2008, p. 118). This means, “that which men purpose is one thing; what God does is another” (Von Rad 2005, p. 79). In simple terms, even how noble man’s intention might be, without God’s approval, it will not succeed. Or in the negative term, however, hard you defy God’s plan, still, God has the final say. Nonetheless, as wisdom tradition and wisdom thinking are both essential to the Joseph story, wherein Joseph’s life was purposely designed and guided by God as illustrated in Joseph’s dreams, hence it could be viewed that ‘the Joseph story is one of natural wisdom’ (Mourna 2008, p. 22), thereby characterizing Joseph as ‘an ideal wise man who influenced wisdom teaching’ (Mourna 2008, p. 28). The wisdom in the Joseph story could also be seen in the literary genius of the narrative, which “has been praised as a treasure of world literature… one of the most precious documents handed down to our own age from antiquity” (Ramsey 2004, p. 1). A narrative so intricately woven, resulting into a profound one that in absolute symmetry was able to reveal first then resolves itself (Ramsey 2004, p. 1). “The Joseph Story, by all accounts, is the most unified narrative in Genesis, perhaps in the entire Bible” (Rendsburg 1990, p. 216; Ramey 2004, p. 1). Von Rad (1961, cited in Rendsburg, p. 216) found it “an organically constructed narrative,” while Sarna (1966, cited in Rendsburg, p. 216; cited in Ramey 2004, p. 1) talked about its “unparalleled continuity of narrative.” Using chiastic analysis further reveals the clear unity of the text and its organic cohesion. (See the illustration that follows.) As illustrated above, Ramey (2004, p. 5) explained that: Everything in A through F has been structured to put Joseph in the position of power whereby he can surface his brothers’ guilt by a series of tests and bring them to a repentant state. From F’ through A’ there is resolution. Jacob’s family migrates to Egypt and settles in Goshen, famine continues, yet Joseph sustains the people, Joseph’s children receive Jacob’s blessing, Jacob breaths his last breath, and Joseph too dies, having lived the fullest of lives as indicated by his 110-year life-span. The matched units in the narrative as illustrated above have made the narrative so unified revealing its very theme which is promise and fulfillment, as exemplified in the different stories that composed the Joseph story. For example, the first matched units: A Hostility of brothers to Joseph (37:3-11) – A’ Joseph reassures his brothers (50:15-21) act as the introduction and conclusion to the narrative,” (Ramey 2004, p. 6) consecutively. Thus, the introduction of the conflict between brothers because of jealousy in unit-A has been resolved by acceptance and forgiveness in unit-A’, concluding the narrative. Furthermore, the use of doublets and pairs in the Joseph story is very evident in the text, that it could not be mistaken to be coincidental. These were purposely done probably to emphasize points, which the author sees important. For example, the occurrence of dreams in pairs, the two confinements of Joseph: in a pit and in Potiphar’s keep, the two trips to Egypt of Joseph’s brothers, the two requests for Benjamin to accompany them, the two instances where money keep is secretly kept in Joseph’s brothers’ sacks, the two audiences Joseph granted to his brothers, the two invitations of settlement in Egypt to Joseph’s family: one from Joseph himself and one from the Pharaoh, the two times repetitions of the dialogues in the story: twice did Joseph’s brothers explained to Jacob the impossibility of returning without Benjamin, twice did Joseph accuse his brothers of espionage, twice did he also reveal his identity, and more – these could have meant to emphasize the following: the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams, the hard headedness of Jacob, the resolve of Joseph to treat his brothers as spies, the initiative of Egyptians to convince Israel to settle down in Egypt, and many more (Redford 1970, p. 75). However, Redford (1970, p. 75) furthered, that a much deeper significance of this literary technique as employed in the Joseph story “is the slowing down of the action.” This according to him is usually used to heighten suspense. The Main Characters of the Joseph Story On the ground that the Story of Joseph is a continuation of the Patriarchal narratives from Abram to Judah to demonstrate the partial fulfillment of God’s promises to the Patriarchs; a completion of Jacob’s story that ended with his death after blessing his twelve sons, assuring them of their places in God’s plan; a confirmation of Judah to carry on the unique line of ‘seed’ from where the Messiah shall spring; and recognizing Joseph’s critical role in God’s salvation plan – as a deliverer of his people to ensure that the seed that shall carry the royal seed would be saved from the famine that hit the land and be transformed to carry on God’s plan, it could not be sufficient to acknowledge Joseph and Jacob only as the main characters of the story. Instead, a full understanding of Genesis 37-50 showed that the main characters of the story are Jacob – being the Patriarch to which the Patriarchal narrative shall continue; Judah – being the successor of Jacob from whose lineage the Messiah shall be borne; Joseph – being the main instrument of God to bring about His partial fulfillment of His promise; and of course God Himself, whose divine providence make human history possible. Exclusive of God, who is believed to be the author of the Bible, the three mortals take the center stage because all of them played a vital role in the partial fulfillment of God’s promise to the Patriarchs. The Authorship of the Joseph Story (Gen. 37-50) Two contending views regarding the authorship of the last part of the Book of Genesis, the Joseph Story (Genesis 37-50) take the center stage: the ‘Documentary Hypothesis’, known to many as the ‘Graf-Wellhausen Theory’ (Lyons, Min, and A.P. Staff 2003, p. 1), which makes use of the ‘Redactionist Theory’; and the ‘Mosaic Authorship’, which makes use of the ‘Tablet Theory’ (Sewell 1994, p. 1). The Documentary Hypothesis, which so-called liberal scholars use, teach that the Pentateuch, in so doing the Joseph Story, was compiled from four different sources which were also written in different times: (1) the Jehovahist (J) or Yahwehist document approximately written around 850 B.C. was characterized by its use of Yahweh in reference to God, (2) the Elohist (E) document approximately written around 750 B.C. was characterized by its use of Elohim for the divine name, (3) the Deuteronomist (D) document approximately written around 620 B.C. was characterized by its compositions which were mostly books of Deuteronomy; and (3) the Priestly (P) document – the section to be written last by around 500 B.C. was characterized by its composition which was most of the Priestly laws (Lyons, Min, and A.P. Staff 2003, p. 1-2). These four documents were then redacted or edited and combined into one work (Morris, 1976, p. 23; McDowell, 1999, p. 406). Essentially, this view refutes the long-time held belief “that Moses wrote the Pentateuch and they deny that the Pentateuch as it stands in our Bible is true history throughout” (Cloud 1999). However, despite of its many criticism on Mosaic Authorship, the Documentary Hypothesis has not proven anything yet (Lyons, Min, and A.P. Staff 2003). On the other hand, the Mosaic Authorship based on the ‘Tablet Theory’ upholds the Divine Inspiration Theory. This suggests that “portions of Genesis were originally written on clay tablets by men who personally experienced the events described. The tablets were later compiled by Moses” (Sewell 1999) under God’s Divine Inspiration. Having been written by witnesses themselves supports its historical accuracy. In fact, attacks on the historical accuracy of Genesis and the Pentateuch had been disproved long ago. Thus, it remains until today, that the author of the Pentateuch, in this sense the Joseph story, is Moses. Jesus Himself recognized this in the New Testament. To deny this is to deny the deity of Jesus Christ and everything that we believe in God. As DeHaan (1978, p. 41) correctly argued: Prove that Moses did not write the books of the Pentateuch and you prove that Jesus was totally mistaken and not the infallible Son of God he claimed to be. Upon your faith in Moses as the writer of the five books attributed to him rests also your faith in Jesus as the Son of God. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ without believing what Moses wrote. You see, there is much more involved in denying the books of Moses than most people suppose. This then would answer the question as to whom is the Joseph Story written? As the purpose of the narrative can be deduced from itself, it can also be deduced that it was written for the Israelites, but most of all it was written for those who would like to believe in the Divine hand. Reference List Alexander, T. D. 1989, ‘From Adam to Judah: The Significance of the Family Tree in Genesis’, The Evangelical Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 5-19. --------- 1993, ‘Genealogies, Seed and the Compositional Unity of Genesis’, Tyndale Bulletin, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 255-270. Beck-Berman, D. 2006, ‘The Story of Joseph: A partial Paradigm of Conflict Resolution’, The Student Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, vol. 1, no. 1., pp. 1-10. Cloud, D. 1999, ‘Biblical Inspiration’, Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, viewed 1 April 2010, Coats, G. W. 1973, ‘Joseph Story and Ancient Wisdom: A Reappraisal’. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 35, pp. 285–297. DeHaan, M.R. 1978, Genesis and Evolution, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. Dillard, R. B., and Longman, T. 1994, An Introduction to the Old Testament, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Goldingay, J. 1980, ‘The Patriarchs in Scripture and History’, in Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives, ed. A.R. Millard, and D.J. Wiseman, Leicester, UK, pp. 11-40. Greidanus, S., 1999, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan/ Cambridge, UK. Gunkel, H. 1997, Genesis, trans., M. E. Biddle, Mercer University Press, Macon, GA. Herrick, G. 1998, ‘An early text for later messianic conceptions: A look at Genesis 49: 8-12’, Biblical Studies Press, pp. 1-5, viewed 30 March 2010,< http://www.bible.org> Hunter, A. 2006, Wisdom literature, SCM Press, London. Jacobson, Y.Y. 2008, Parshah Insights: Joseph’s Wisdom, Chabad.org Parshah, Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, viewed 1 April 2010, Lensch, C. K. 2002, ‘Eschatology in the Book of Genesis’, The Mountain Retreat, viewed 29 March 2010, Lyons, E., Min M., and A.P.Staff 2003, ‘Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch – Tried and True’, Reason and Revelation, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-7. McDowell, J. 1999, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Nelson, Nashville, TN. Molasses, C. 2007, ‘Plowing through the Pentateuch’, Bible Exploration, viewed 31 March 2010, Morris, H. M. 1976, The Genesis Record, Baker, Grand Rapids, MI. Mourna, E. L. 2008, Responsibility in the Joseph Narrative (Gen 37-50), MA thesis in Theology, University of South Africa, viewed 28 March 2010, Ramey, W.D. 2004, ‘The Literary Genius of the Joseph Narrative’, In the Beginning, viewed 1 April 2010, < http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/Doc3/litgen.pdf> Ray, J.D. 1995, ‘Egyptian wisdom literature’, in Wisdom in Ancient Israel, ed. J. Day, R. P. Gordon, and H. G. M. Williamson, Cambridge University Press, Great Britain. Redford, D. B. 1970, A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50), E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. Reed, A. Y. 2004, ‘From Abraham to Jacob: The Patriarchal Narrative, continued’, Five Books of Moses, viewed 31 March 2010, Rendsburg, G.A. 1990, ‘Redactional Structuring in the Joseph Story: Genesis 37-50’, in Mappings of the Biblical Terrain: The Bible as Text, ed. V.L. Tollers and J. Maier, Associated University Presses, Inc., Cranburry, NJ, pp. 215-232. Sewell, C. 1994, ‘The Tablet Theory of Genesis Authorship’, Bible and Spade, vol. 7, no. 1, viewed 1 April 2010, Stokes, J. 1997, ‘The Story of Joseph in Five Religious Traditions’, World Order, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 35-46. Von Rad, G. 2005, From Genesis to Chronicles: Exploration in Old Testament Theology, Fortress Press, Minneapolis. Westermann, C. 1986, Genesis 37 – 50: A Commentary, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis. Wilson, L 2004, Joseph Wise and Otherwise: The Intersections of Wisdom and Covenant in Genesis 37–50, Paternoster Press, Carlistle Read More