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Yoseph; A Slave Who Suddenly Becomes Viceroy Of Egypt

The failure of Pharaoh's official wisemen and magicians to provide at once an accurate interpretation, together with the explanation offered by Yoseph, a former Canaanite shepherd summoned straight from prison, who in addition, like a professional soothsayer, had suggested an immediate plan to save the country, all combined to make Pharaoh conceive a certain admiration for the young Hebrew who appeared to be inspired by his tribal god. Undoubtedly this was of interest to Pharaoh, even though he did not worship a strange god; a polytheist was always ready to accept benefits from whatever higher power they emanated. Yoseph had scarcely concluded his prophecy, embellished with judicious advice, when Pharaoh exclaimed, 'Can we find any man like this, possessing the spirit of YAHWEH ?

Without more ado, since the interests of the country required it, Pharaoh decided to raise Yoseph the slave to the highest office. And, in fact, such a sudden elevation was by no means unusual in oriental countries. There are several examples of it in Egyptian history, and the Scriptures itself, though at a much later period, relates the unexpected good fortune of Daniel in not dissimilar circumstances.

Careful reading of this chapter of Bereshith shows that Yoseph received the two different titles of master of the palace or chancellor (Egyptian documents call it 'Master of the house of Pharaoh') and that of viceroy or governor (some Egyptologists prefer the use of the term Vizier). All are agreed that these were offices of the highest degree.

In addition the scene of Yoseph's investiture is very accurately reported by Bereshith, as is proved by mural paintings: those, for example, adorning the tomb of Rekhmire, or those of which the vizier Rameses is the hero. Pharaoh took the ring from his hand and put it on Yoseph's. This was a symbolical action ratifying the delegation of powers. The ring in question on which the royal seal was engraved, enabled Yoseph to authenticate the acts of government. All these details are historically correct. In ancient times, officials, as indeed private individuals, used two sorts of seal: there was the Babylonian seal in cylindrical form, with the seal carved on the surface, which was worn hanging from the neck, and also in the form of a stone set in a ring. According to the archaeologists at the time of Yoseph (end of the seventeenth century B.C.) the Egyptians almost exclusively used the ring seal, as the Scriptures relates. The gold chain which Pharaoh placed round Yoseph's neck, despite the doubts of some Egyptologists on the point, may be regarded as a ritual gesture forming part of the traditional ceremonies of investiture. All these details related in the Scriptures are in surprising agreement with the findings of archaeology.

A further interesting detail of ritual was that at once on his appointment Yoseph was clothed in fine linen. The Hebrew word here used by the Scriptures means linen cloth of high quality, a characteristic Egyptian product. This involved a second change of clothes for Yoseph (not to be confused with the clean garment put on the prisoner when he was summoned from prison). This new garment, woven from royal linen, was one of the external signs of the office of vizier.

Another typically Egyptian detail was that Pharaoh made Yoseph ride in the best chariot he had after his own, and they cried before him 'Abrek', that is, 'Beware' or 'Make way'. It is very probable that this was shouted by heralds galloping before Pharaoh's chariot, or even, on occasion, before the chariot of certain high officials. There is a scene of this kind depicted in the hypogeum of Neferhotep in which the heralds clear the way as the chariot goes forward.

 

At this time Yoseph must have been about thirty. According to the tradition of the country, officials of Syrian or Palestinian origin were given a new name which was Egyptian. A papyrus of the thirteenth dynasty provides an example of this custom: opposite the foreign names, and facing the name of the offices occupied, the scribe has carefully noted the name given to the officials by their new country. Thus by Pharaoh's order, Yoseph the Hebrew became Zaphenath-paneah. Orientalists recognize it as an Egyptian form. Fr de Vaux in the Jerusalem Bible translates it by YAHWEH says: he is living.

Soon afterwards we find the new vizier marrying a woman of the nobility named Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera (not to be confused with Potiphar, the official mentioned at the beginning of the narrative) who was high-priest of the city of On (later Heliopolis, a religious centre to the north of Memphis). According to some orientalists Asenath means 'belonging to the goddess Neith' (a sort of Minerva of the banks of the Nile). Potiphera ('Gift of Ra') is a characteristic name of the Delta region.

Yoseph's Agrarian Policy

In the northern part of Egypt Yoseph was now to all intents and purposes the food controller. His predictions were fulfilled one by one. First came seven years of plenty, the rise of the Nile taking place perfectly satisfactorily; as a result of copious rain in the tropical regions the Nile and its tributaries were well supplied with water and the consequent flooding covered the whole valley of the river with black mud on which, in spring time and afterwards, heavy crops were grown. During this period of plenty the people gave vent to their joy, thanking the Nile god. In his honour they sang praises to the 'Creator of wheat', to the 'Maker of barley', for 'he made everything that is good' and he was regarded as the 'Lord of all pleasing foods'.

The new food controller did not share the general euphoria. He regarded these few years of plenty merely as a respite which was to be used to the best advantage At the end of each harvest the government stored vast quantities of cereals, and Yoseph was careful that these stocks should be kept in specially fitted barns which were thief-proof. The architectural style of these barns is known to us; in Egyptian tombs archaeologists have discovered various representations of these buildings, and in the Louvre Museum, for example, there is an earthenware model of one.

The writer of the account in Bereshith was, of course an oriental scribe; on this occasion he has allowed himself to be carried away by his enthusiasm. Yoseph, he tells us, stored the corn like the sand of the sea, so much that they stopped reckoning, since it was beyond all estimating. We should not take this too literally; the Hyksos were far too Egyptianized not to have adopted the old bureaucratic traditions of the country in which cautious accountants never missed an opportunity of drawing up lists with in goings and outgoings carefully noted.

After seven years of plenty a terrible period of drought began in the region of the great African lakes. As a result the rise of the river in the valley on the Nile was manifestly insufficient and despite the system of channels devised to ensure the distribution of water the land remained infertile. Very soon famine loomed. The people came to Pharaoh, pleading their distress and asking for bread. Pharaoh sent them to Yoseph, the minister in charge and distributor of cereals.

A corn granary in Egypt (tomb painting, c.1460 B.C.)

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