And the birds will eat away your flesh. Then Pharaoh woke up. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. Then I woke up.
I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.
Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.
You have come to see where our land is unprotected. Your servants are honest men, not spies. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies! Now we must give an accounting for his blood. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.
Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land. When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!
Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. Perhaps it was a mistake. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys. So we have brought it back with us. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.
Is he still living? He went into his private room and wept there. So they feasted and drank freely with him. This is a wicked thing you have done. Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. How can we prove our innocence?
Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.
Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father. Is my father still living? He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute. And bring my father down here quickly. Afterward his brothers talked with him. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.
In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt. My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. Romans Commentaries for Romans Joseph's servitude thus fits the pattern for the Middle Kingdom period of Egyptian history. Our purpose here, assuming a 12th Dynasty date for Joseph to be most in accord with the Scriptural chronology , is to examine what new evidence there may be that would both support and further illustrate a career for Joseph in the Middle Kingdom.
But first let us note an area for further research, involving the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine so important to the Joseph Story. Collating this information with an analysis of statuary, and with the well-known literary work entitled The Complaint of Khahkeperre-Seneb ,[9] Bell concludes that the midth Dynasty suffered erratic Nile levels which caused crop failure and the resultant social disruption mirrored in the Complaint.
One might ask why an unusually high Nile would hurt crops; Bell's answer is that under such conditions it would take longer for the water to drain off the fields, and would thus impede the year's planting. As more information comes to light and as our knowledge of Nile fluctuations becomes more complete, we may be better able to consider Joseph's famine in a 12th Dynasty context.
In recent years our archeological knowledge of the Nile delta has increased significantly. This region is now the accepted location of the Biblical city of Ramses and the earlier Hyksos capital of Avaris. Our knowledge of the northeast delta and Asiatic influence in the region is much greater than it was 20 years ago. One discovery, made by Bietak's team between and and pointed out recently by John J.
Bimson, is of extreme significance for the 12th Dynasty historicity of the Joseph Story Bietak A palace and accompanying garden dating to the 12th Dynasty were found. There is no evidence that the palace was any kind of royal residence; Bietak hypothesizes on the basis of inscriptional material that it was the headquarters of an official who supervised trade and mining expeditions across the northeastern border Bietak But what is most interesting about this find is the cemetery located in the palace garden, and particularly one of the tombs in it.
All of the other graves there are approximately 12 altogether seem to date to a slightly later period, perhaps the early years of Dynasty 13, and were on the basis of their orientation, definitely not part of the original palace-garden complex. But the largest and most impressive tomb of the lot, consisting of a single brick chamber with a small chapel in front of it, was oriented to the structures of stratum E early-to-middle 12th Dynasty Bietak While the tomb had been robbed and badly damaged, a most interesting find was discovered in the robbers' tunnel between the tomb chamber and the chapel.
A statue, almost certainly of one of the officials who lived in the palace in the late years of the 12th Dynasty, had been removed probably from the tomb chapel and had been smashed to pieces. All that remain are a few fragments of the head; the facial features have been very deliberately destroyed.
But the most interesting thing is that this official was clearly an Asiatic. This is demonstrated by the yellow coloration of the skin, which was, as Bietak observes, typical for the depiction of male Asiatics, and by another Asiatic feature, the so-called Mushroom hairstyle which the statue had Bietak The significance of this find for a 12th Dynasty setting of the Joseph Story is obvious. As John Bimson has observed,[10] there is not enough evidence to claim with any degree of certainty that the tomb of Joseph has been found, or that a statue of the famed Biblical character has been found.
But it is clear that this man, without doubt a Canaanite of some kind, became a very important official in the Egyptian government. He was important enough to have lived in a major palace complex and to have equipped a tomb for himself in its garden, and to have commissioned a more than life-sized statue of himself for his tomb chapel.
This demonstrates that an Asiatic could indeed rise to a position of prominence in an earlier period than the days of Hyksos rule, and allows us to accept the possibility, which I believe to be the case, that Joseph served a king of the Middle Kingdom at almost exactly the same time as did this Canaanite.
The next issues to be addressed are Joseph's titles after his rise to importance in the Egyptian court. What office or offices did he hold? And is there room for him among the known holders of these offices in Dynasty 12?
Genesis is a key reference. This title evidently had several usages, some of which can be quickly eliminated in the case of Joseph. He was not a priest, nor did a daughter of his enter the harim of the Pharaoh. These are meanings of this title, but neither fits Joseph. Some would interpret it as some sort of palace overseer or court chamberlain. The Egyptian title usually translated Chamberlain , [imy-r 'hnwty n pr- nsw , translates Overseer of the Interior of the King's House and does not seem to fit either the Biblical phrase or the context of the Joseph Story.
Joseph had, after his interpretation of the king's dream , advised Pharaoh regarding agricultural matters relating to the future years of plenty and the following famine. It seems most natural, in light of the king's response, for Joseph to be given a post that was connected with agriculture , as that of Chief Steward of the King certainly was. The chamberlain had no such function. William Ward, in his Index of Egyptian Administrative and Religious Titles of the Middle Kingdom , cites over 20 examples of the title in various publications, without attempting to enumerate all the occurrences in the major museums of the world 22, n.
The duties of the Chief Steward are known from New Kingdom texts and from the 11th Dynasty biographical text of the chief Steward Henunu preserved in his tomb at Deir el Bahri Hayes This official was administrator of the royal estates, supervisor of royal granaries, and overseer of royal flocks and herds.
Henunu was also involved in taxation , supplying certain parts of Upper Egypt with provisions, construction of the royal tomb, collection of tribute from Beduin tribes, and procuring cedar wood from Syria.
Joseph would have been very qualified to perform most of these tasks; the ones connected with agriculture and taxation would certainly fit the context of the Biblical story.
The greatest debate concerning Joseph's titles centers around that of Vizier. William Ward has argued against the idea that Joseph was ever Vizier of Egypt ; He views several of the descriptive phrases used about Joseph in the Old Testament as Hebrew equivalents of general Egyptian platitudes that could be applied to any middle level official.
The problem with this is that direct equation does not appear strong. To me such an equation is weak. I find a number of phrases describing Joseph and the duties performed by Joseph that would fit only the Vizier, who was in the Middle Kingdom the single most powerful man in the kingdom aside from the sovereign himself. Let us note these and a few other points:. When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt for food during the famine, Joseph was the official they met. At least in the New Kingdom, a period about which we are far better informed, the Vizier was the official who met foreign delegations Hayes This lake was fed with water from one of the branches of the Nile.
Droughts in Egypt used to cause this branch to dry up, leaving the land around the Lake destitute. We do know that between and BC a canal was built to keep the branches of the Nile permanently open, enabling water to fill Lake Quaran and keep the land fertile. This canal was so effective that it still successfully functions today.
There is no record of who built the canal, but for thousands of years it has only been known by one name. In Arabic it's the Bahr Yusef. This translates into English as The Waterway of Joseph. Could this canal have been built by a certain Prime Minister called Joseph as part of his work to save Egypt from famine? Was this Prime Minister the son of a Canaanite called Jacob? The Bible tells us that the Pharaoh allowed Joseph to bring Jacob and his family to Egypt, where he took care of them.
Generations later, Moses was to lead the descendents of Jacob out of slavery and Egypt to their promised land. Among the items that Moses brought from Egypt were the bones of his predecessor, Joseph.
Whatever the truth behind the life of Joseph, his story accounts for a pivotal period in the history of the Israelites. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so.
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