Genesis/Bereshith 41: From Prison to Pharaoh's Court

• Joseph is given an Egyptian name by the Pharaoh: Joseph is given an Egyptian woman Asenath for a wife
  • Tsophnath Pa’neach 
  • “The man to whom secrets are revealed”
• Joseph sires 2 halfbreed Egypt-born sons
  • firstborn Menashsheh:
    •  ‘Elohiym has made me forget all my toil, and my fa¬ther’s house.’
  • secondborn Ephrayim: 
    • ‘For ‘Elohiym has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’  

[We feature three commentaries here:  the unbracketed is from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; RA/Robert Alter, EF/Everett Fox; the latter’s translation is what we feature here.—Admin1.]

Genesis/Bereshith 41

two full years.  After the events recounted in the previous chapter.

[EF] two years’-time: Lit. ‘two years of days.’

[RA] at the end of two full years. The Hebrew says literally “two years of days.”  The expression might simply mean “two years’ time,” but it is equally plausible, as the King James Version surmised, that the addition of “days” emphasizes that a full period of two years has elapsed before the course of events compel the chief cupbearer to recall his neglected promise to Joseph.

by the Nile.  Given the Nile’s importance as the source of Egypt’s fertility, it is appropriate that this dream of plenty and famine should take place on its banks, a point made as long ago as the thirteenth century in Narbonne by the Hebrew exegete David Kimhi.  As this story set in the pharaonic court unfolds, its Egyptian local color is brought out by a generous sprinkling of Egyptian loanwords in the Hebrew narrative: “Nile” (ye’or), “soothsayers” (artumim) “rushes” (‘au), “ring” (taba’at), “fine linen” (shesh).

reed grass.  Heb. achu, another Egyptian loan-word.  The Nile-grass is meant here.

[EF] cows: in later (Ptolemaic) Egyptian inscriptions, as here, cows represent years.

[RA] and stood by the cows.  There is a small ominous note in the fact that the second set of seven cows do not graze in the rushes, as the first seven do, and as one would expect cows to do.  In a moment, they will prove themselves carnivores.

[RA] and Pharaoh awoke. Although Pharaoh’s dreams, like Joseph’s, are quite stylized, the one element of psychological realism is his being shaken out of sleep by the nightmarish turn of the dream plot.

rank. Heb. ‘fat. i.e. rich.

[EF] fat and good: Referring to the ears of grain.

east wind. The dreaded sirocco coming from Arabia. It lasts at times fifty days and destroys the vegetation.

[RA] blasted by the east wind. The desert lies to the east, and the wind that blows from there (the amsin) is hot and parching.

[RA] and the meager ears swallowed the seven fat and full ears.  The nightmare image of carnivorous cows is intensified in the second dream by this depiction of devouring stalks of grain.  The imagery of Pharaoh’s second dream corresponds to the grain imagery of Joseph’s first dream, but an act of depredation is substituted for the ritual of obeisance.

his spirit was troubled. The double dream convinced him of its significance.  The Heb. verb for ‘was troubled’ suggests the violent beating of the heart in excitement.

magicians. Or, ‘sacred scribes’; Heb. chartumim—probably an Egyptian god.

none that could interpret. The complete failure of heathen magic is here contrasted with the perfect wisdom of the God-inspired Hebrew slave; cf. Exod. VII,12, and Daniel II and V.

[EF] his dream: The two dreams function as one, as Yosef explains.

[RA] his heart pounded. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is “his spirit pounded.” none could solve them for Pharaoh. Since it is implausible to imagine that the soothsayers had no interpretation at all to offer, one must assume that none could offer a convincing decipherment, as Rashi observes: “they interpreted (the dreams) and he was dissatisfied with their interpretation, for they would say: seven daughters you will beget, seven daughters you will bury.

I make mention of my faults. Not only his offence against the king, but also his sin against Joseph in forgetting him.

[RA] I recall. The verb means both “to mention” and “to cause to remember” and so is linked with the theme of remembrance and forgetting what is central to both to this episode and to the larger Joseph story.

to each man according to his dream.  The dream was appropriate to each one, and the interpretation was equally appropriate.

[RA] a slave. Although the Hebrew ‘eved is the same term the chief cupbearer has just used in the sense of “servant” (and which is used in verses 37 and 38 to refer to Pharaoh’s courtiers), it is likely that he invokes it here to highlight Joseph’s status as slave.

he shaved, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.

[RA] and he shaved and changed his garments. It is obvious that an imprisoned slave would have to make himself presentable before appearing in court, but, in keeping with the local color of the story, he does this in a distinctively Egyptian fashion.  In the ancient Near East, only the Egyptians were clean-shave, and the verb used here can equally refer to shaving the head, or close-cropping it, another distinctive Egyptian practice.  The putting on of fresh garments is realistically motivated in the same way, but we are probably meant to recall that each of Joseph’s descents into a pit was preceded by his being stripped of his garment.  When Pharaoh elevates him to viceroy, he will undergo still another change of clothing, from merely presentable dress to aristocratic raiment.

[RA] I have heard about you that you can understand a dream. “Heard” and “understand” are the same verb (shama’), which has both these senses, precisely like the French entendre.  Though the second clause has often been construed as a kind of hyperbole—you need only hear a dream to reveal its meaning—the straightforward notion of understanding dreams makes better sense.

it is not in me. Pharaoh assumed that Joseph was a professional interpreter of dreams.  Josephs answer is a fine combiantion of religious incerity and courtly deference.

an answer of peace.  i.e. an answer that will correspond to the needs of Pharaoh and his people.

such as I never saw. Pharaoh colours the recital by giving expression to the feelings which the dream excited.

[EF] in all the land . . . I have never seen their like: Pharaoh’s description of the his dream is more vivid than the narrator’s (vv1-4).

[RA] gaunt and very foul-featured and meager in flesh, I had not seen their like in all the land of Egypt. In keeping with the biblical convention of near verbatim repetition, Pharaoh, in recounting his dreams to Joseph, uses virtually the same words that the narrator used in first reporting them.  The piquant difference, as Meir Sternberg (1985) has noted, is that his language underlines his own sense of horror at what he has seen in his dream: “foul to look at and meager in flesh” is elaborated and intensified in Pharaoh’s repetition, and he adds the emphatic exclamation, “I had not seen their like . . .” (The phrase “in all the land of Egypt” will become a verbal motif to indicate the comprehensiveness of the plenty, of the famine, and of the measures that Joseph adopts.) The comment in verse 21 about the unchanging lean look of the cows after swallowing their fat predecessors again reflects Pharaoh’s horrified perspective.

meager in flesh. Here, and again in verses 20 and 27, I read daqot, “meager,” instead of the Masorettic raqot (“flat,” or perhaps “hollow”).  The Hebrew graphemes for d and r are similar in form, and several of the ancient versions reflect daqot in these verses.

[RA] and none could tell me the meaning. The Hebrew uses an ellipsis here, “and none could tell me.”

is one. The two dreams have the same meaning. They are a foreoding of what God is about to do.

[EF] Is one: Or “has a single meaning.”

[RA] Pharaoh’s dream is one. Joseph, it should be observed, doesn’t miss a beat here.  The moment he has heard the dreams, he has everything in hand: the meaning of all their details, and the explanation for the repetition.

[EF] The seven good cows . . .:  Yosef’s interpretation is highly structured.  The rhetoric emphasizes the last line of v. 27 after hearing “x are seven years,” three times we hear “x will be seven years of famine!” See above, 40:19, where “Pharaoh will lift up your head” is followed by “from off you.”

[RA] what God is about to do He has shown Pharaoh. Although the framework of the Joseph story is “secular” in comparison to the preceding narratives, and though Joseph’s exercise of okhmah (wisdom) in dream interpretation and economic planning has led scholars to detect a strong imprint of ancient Near Eastern Wisdom literature, he himself is careful to attribute the determination of events as well as his own “wisdom and discernment” to God (compare verse 16).  Whatever the considerations of source criticism, moreover, the name he uses for the deity in speaking with Pharaoh is ‘elohim, the term that has general currency among polytheists and monotheists, and not the particularist YHWH.

33-36. Joseph explains how God gives Pharaoh the answer of peace (v. 16).  The interpretation of the dream is supplemented by the practical advice as to how the coming crisis should be met. Joseph the dreamer and saint proves himself in an eminent degree a man of practical affairs.

[RA] And so, let Pharaoh look out for a discerning, wise man. The advice after the interpretation has not been requested. Joseph perhaps runs the risk of seeming presumptuous, but he must have a sense that he has captivated Pharaoh by the persuasive force of his interpretation, and he sees that this is his own great moment of opportunity.  One wonders whether Pharaoh’s two dreams also make him remember his own two dreams of future grandeur.

let him appoint appointed-overseers: We already know that Yosef is a man often entrusted with responsiblity—“appointed” (39:4, 40:4). dividing. . . into five parts: Hebrew obscure. B-R uses “arm (the land of Egypt).”

[RA] muster the land of Egypt. The meaning of the verb imesh is disputed.  It could be derived from amesh, “five,” and thus refer to a scheme of dividing the land into fifths or perhaps taking a levy of 20 percent from the crops of the good years. (In chapter 47, once the great famine is under way, Joseph institutes a 20 percent tax on the produce of the lands that have been made over to Pharaoh).  But the same root is also used for the arming or deployment of troops, and the idea here may be that Joseph is putting the whole country on a quasmilitary footing in preparation for the extended famine.

the hand of Pharaoh. i.e. in the royal granaries.

in the cities. Where the royal granaries were.

[EF] hand: I.e. supervision.

[RA] under Pharaoh’s hand. Joseph deferentially and diplomatically indicates that everything will be under Pharaoh’s jurisdiction, though it will really be the “hand”—authority, power, trust—of the “discerning, wise man” that will run the country.

store. A reserve.

[EF] the land: i.e. Its people.

in whom the spirit of God is.  i.e. combining the supernatural power of interpreting dreams with the practical sagacity of a statesman.

[EF]  The words seemed good: Words now bring about Yosef’s rise to power.

[RA] Could we find a man like him, in whom is the spirit of God?  Pharaoh produces exactly the response Joseph would have hoped for.  Again, the flexibility of ‘elohim serves the dialogue well.  The Egyptian monarch has not been turned into a monotheist by Joseph, but he has gone along with Joseph’s idea that human wisdom is a gift of God, or the gods, and the expression he uses could have the rather general force of “divine spirit.”

To your orders shall all my people submit; 

over my house.  He makes him Grand Vizier.

he ruled. Or, ‘do homage.’

[EF] the One Over My House: A title similar to that ofo Yosef’s steward lin 43:16ff. submit: Hebew obscure. only by the throne: similar to Yosef’s situation in Potifar’s house.  “He is no greater in this house than I” (39:9)—but he withholds his wife.

[RA] by your lips all my folk shall be guided. The Hebrew says literally “by your mouth.”  The clear meaning is “by your commands,” “by the directives you issue.”  There is some doubt about the verb yishaq. The usual sense of “will kiss” is extemely unlikely here, unless this is a peculiar idiom for civil obedience not otherwise attested.  It is best to associate it with the noun mesheq (15:2), which appears to refer to economic administration.

[EF] all the land of Egypt: A refrain here, pointing to Yosef’s power.

[RA] And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See I have set you.”  This is a nice deployment of the convention of a second iteration of the formula for introducing direct discourse without an intervening response from the interlocutor.  Joseph for the moment has remained silent, uncertain what to say to Pharaoh’s astounding proposal, even if eliciting such a proposal may have been his express intention.  So Pharaoh must repeat himself—this time in a performative speech-act in which he officially confers the high office on Joseph and confirms the act by adorning the Hebrew slave with regal insignia: the signet ring, the golden collar, and the fine linen dress.

signet ring. Thereby symbolically endowing him with royal authority.

fine linen. The Heb. word comes from the Egyptian. It is the material worn by the royal family and the highest officials of the kingdom.

a gold chain. The gold collar appertaining to the office of Grand Vizier. This is another instance of the remarkable historical exactness of the Joseph narrative.  ‘No ancient civilization was more distinct and unique than that of Egypt.  Her customs, her language, and her system of writing were shared by no other people; and yet at every point, the narrative reveals a thorough familiarity with Egyptian life. Peculiar Egyptian customs are also reflected in the stories; as, for example , the giving of the much-prized golden collar, which was bestowed upon a public servant for distinguished achievement’ (F.C.Kent).

[RA] the golden collar. Although English translators have repeatedly rendered this as “chain,” Egptian bas-reliefs show a more elaborate ceremonial ornament made out of twisted gold wire that covered part of the shoulders and upper chest as well as the neck. In fact, the Hebrew word is not the normal term for “chain,” and reflects a root that means “to plait,” “to cushion,” “to pad.”

second chariot. Next to Pharaoh’s. Horses and chariots were introduced into Egypt during the Yhksos period.

abrech. ‘Probably an Egyptian word similar in sound to the Herew word meaning “to kneel”‘ (RV Margin).

[EF] Avrekh/Attention:  Hebrew unclear.  Some suggest that it is Hebrew for “bend the knee,” others that it resembles an Assyrian title.

[RA] Abrekh. Despite the ingenuity of traditional commentators in construing this as a Hebrew word, it is evidently Egyptian (in consonance with the loanwords in the surrounding narrative) and may mean something like “make way.”  Gerhard von Rad calls attention to this meaning while canvassing other possibilities and sensibly concluding that the term is entirely certain.

lift up his hand or his foot. i.e. do anything.

[RA] I am Pharaoh! Most commentators and translators have construed this as an implied antithesis: though I am Pharaoh, without you no man shall raise hand or foot . . . But this is unnecessary because we know the royal decrees in the ancient Near East regularly began with the formula:  I am King X.  The sense here would thus be: By the authority invested in me as Pharaoh, I declare that without you, etc.

Zuphenath-paneah.  Joseph receives a new name on his state appointment.  This is both an Egyptian and a Hebrew custom; e.g. Num. XIII,16. Egyptologists explain that Zaphenath means ‘food-man’, and paneah, ‘of the life,’ i.e. the Chief Steward in the realm in face of Famine (Kyle).  The importance of the change of name in the story lies in the fact that it helps to conceal the identity of Joseph when his brethren come to Egypt.

Asenath. i.e. belonging to the goddess Neith.

Poti-phera. To be distinguished from Potiphar, the former master of Joseph.

On. Later known as Heliopolis, near Cairo.  On was the centre of Sun worship in Egypt. Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames Embankment originally stood on On.

[EF] Tzafenat-Pane’ah/The God Speaks and He lives: An Egyptian name which is appropriate to the story. Yosef lives, and through him so do Egypt, his family, and the future People of IsraYosef’s influence: Perhaps an idiom, or merely “Yosef went out.”

[RA] Zaphenath-Paneah. The change to an Egyptian name is of a piece with the assumption of Egyptian dress and the insignia of high office.  the name may mean “God speaks, he lives, as Moshe Weinfeld, following the lead of Egyptologists, surmises.

Potiphera. This is the full form of the same name borne by Joseph’s old master, Potiphar, but evidently refers to a different person, since Potiphar was identified as courtier and high chamberlain, not as priest.  On is not a deity but the name of a city, later designated Heliopolis by the Greeks because of the sun worship centered there.

Joseph went out over the land. The wording is a little odd.  It may be assoociated with the end of verse 46.

thirty years old.  He had spent about twelve years in prison.

[EF] thirty: Yosef will be in power for eighty years (2×40), another patterned number.

[RA] when he stood before Pharaoh. This could mean, idiomatically, when he entered Pharaoh’s service, though it is equally possible that the verb refers literally to the scene just reported, when he stood before Pharaoh and made his way to greatness by interpreting the dreams.

in heaps. The produce was mot abundant. Some Jewish commentators render, ‘for the store houses.’

[RA] made gatherings. The Hebrew qematsim elsewhere means “handfuls,” and there is scant evidence that it means “abundance,” as several modern versions have it.  But qomets is a “handful” because it is what the hand gathers in as it closes, and it isphonetically and semantically cognate with wayiqbots, “he collected,” the very next word in the Hebrew text.  The likely reference here, then, is not to small quantities (handfuls) but to the process of systematically gathering in the grain, as the next sentence spells out.

[RA] like the sand of the sea, very much, until he ceased counting.  The language here is strongly reminiscent of the covenantal language in the promise of progeny to Abraham and thus provides a kind of associative link with the notice of Joseph’s progeny in the next three verses.  Upon the birth of Ephraim, Joseph himself will invoke the verb for making fruitful that is featured in the repeated promises of offspring to the patriarchs.

all my toil, and all my fathers house. His position had made him forget his toil as a bondman, and the will-will of his brethren that was the cause of that bondage.  Or, the phrase can be viewed as the Heb. idiom for ‘all the suffering caused to me by my father’s house’, i.e. my brethren (Wogue).

{EF] Menashe: Trad. English “Menasseh.” made-me-forget: Yet he does not forget for long, any more than the cupbearer did (Chap. 41).

[RA] Menasseh . .  released me from all the debt.  The naming pun is on the verbal stem n-sh-h. The virtually universal construal of this term here is “made me forget,” but it must be said that the root in that sense occurs only five times in the biblical corpus, and at least two or three of those are doubtful.  It is also somewhat odd that Joseph should celebrate God for having made him forget his father’s house.  But a very common usage of n-sh-h is “to hold in debt,” and a natural meaning of that stem in the pi’el  conjugation, as here, would be “to relieve from the condition of debt.”  Such an unambiguously positive verb is a better parallel to “made me fruitful” in the next verse. I am grateful to Amos Funkenstein for this original suggestion.

52 And the name of the second he called: Efrayim/Double-fruit, meaning: God has made me bear fruit in the land of my affliction.

[EF] bear fruit . . . affliction: Two expressions from the stories about the Patriarchs.

[RA] Ephraim . . . made me fruitful. The naming pun is on the verbal stem p-r-h.

all lands. All the neighbouring lands.

[EF] Famine occurred in all lands: The repetition of “all” here brings home the totality of the famine.

[RA] all the land of Egypt was hungry. The contradiction between this report and the preceding statement that there was bread in Egypt is pointed. There is food in storage, not to be had from the wasted fields, but Joseph metes it out tot he populace, and at a price.

the storehouses.  The granaries.

[RA] Joseph laid open whatever had grain within. The Masoretic Text, which lacks “whatever had grain,” is problematic at this point.  The Aramaic Targums supply these missing words.  Other ancient versions presume a phrase like “stores of grain.”

all countries. i.e. ‘the whole world’, everybody. This verse prepares for the next scene of the drama (Chap. XLII).