Alice C. Linsley
Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, is an enigma. He is a high-born youth who is sold as a slave and serves time in jail. He was familiar enough with the customs of Egyptian nobility to adapt to his life in Potiphar's house and he went from slave to influential ruler. To understand the enigma of Joseph we must consider the finer details of his story.
He was a high-born slave
He was already Egyptianized before going to Egypt
He married a priest's daughter, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses
There is evidence that he had 2 wives, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses
He is claimed as a prophet by Jews, Christians and Muslims
Joseph's saga serves as the transition from the patriarchal narratives to the Exodus. After his death, he was mummified as a high-ranking Egyptian and buried in Goshen, adjacent to Avaris. Avaris was founded by Amenemhet I, the first king of the 12th dynasty. Archaeological and anthropological evidence indicates that the settlers of Goshen were people from Canaan who shared many features of Egyptian culture. This would be expected if Abraham's people were Horites, an Egyptian priesthood devoted to Horus of the Two Crowns.
Horite ruler-priests were careful to marry chaste daughters of priests. It is not a coincidence then that Joseph married Asenath, daughter of the "priest of Oon" (Gen. 41:45), later called Heliopolis (city of the Sun). Asenath's father was a Horite priest and the Horite priestly lines intermarried. If the sons of Horite priests married the daughter of Horite priests, their sons were also in the caste of priest. It means we must take these words quite literally: "For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." (Ex. 19:6)
Asenath, Joseph's wife, was raised at Heliopolis on the Nile. She was probably Joseph's cousin. Her first born son likely belonged to the Heliopolis shrine, whereas Ephraim, Joseph's younger son belonged to the House of Jacob. This explains why Jacob gave him the blessing that pertained to the first-born (Gen. 48:14).
Moses' two older brothers - Aaron and Korah - would also have married the daughters of priests. Korah's descendents are praised in 1 Chronicles 26, where they are grouped with the gatekeepers of Obed-Edom. Obed-Edom is a connection to Ruth, who named her first-born son Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This picks up the Messianic thread, pointing us back to the Horite expectation of the Son of God who was coming into the world.
Traditions Concerning Joseph's Burial
According to tradition, Joseph was re-buried somewhere in Canaan, in Horite territory. Most claim that his tomb is near Nablus in Palestinian territory, a site regarded as holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Tomb is located at the eastern entrance to the valley that separates Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. It is about 750 feet north of Jacob's Well, on the outskirts of Nablus, near biblical Shechem.
There is another Islamic tradition that places Joseph’s tomb in Haram al-Khalil in Hebron, in the tomb of the Patriarchs. This is the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a heavy rectangular building that encloses the underground Cave of Machpelah which was explored in 1967. This is the land and cave in Mamre that Abraham purchased for the burial of Sarah.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Joseph's Tomb at Nablus was to be accessible to Jews and Christians. However, following peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat initiated his intifada in the West Bank. In October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Israel to evacuate Judaism's third holiest site on October 6, 2000. The attackers burned Jewish prayer books and repainted the white dome roof Muslim Green, transforming Joseph's resting place into another Muslim holy site and anachronistically pronouncing Joseph a Muslim.
If the truth be told, Joseph does not fit the customary picture of Israelite or Arab. He married a Horite priest's daughter named Asenath. Priest's daughters grew up around water shrines or river temples where their fathers served as priests. These were women of high rank but they did not live pampered lives. Zipporah was drawing water for livestock when she met Moses. Rebekah was likewise engaged when Abraham’s servant arrived to contract a marriage between her and Isaac. It is important to note that these priestly daughters had two sons:
Rebekah – Esau (oldest) and Jacob (youngest)
Rachel – Joseph (oldest) and Benjamin (youngest)
Asenath – Manasseh (oldest) and Ephraim (youngest)
Tamar – Zerah (oldest) and Perez (youngest)
In each case, the younger son was tagged as an ancestor of the Messiah. However, this does not mean that the other son was not an ancestor of Messiah since the priestly lines intermarried. We first find this elevation of the youngest son in the story of Cain, Abel and Seth. We also find it in the story of Abraham, who was the youngest of Terah's three sons. This pattern is found also with David, the youngest of Jesse's sons.
According to the Babylonian Talmud Abraham's mother was associated with the Nile shrine at Karnak. Horite rulers married the daughters of Horite priests. About 75% of the women named in the Old Testament are daughters of priests. This was the practice among the royal priestly lines of Abraham’s people. So by every indication, Joseph was as thoroughly immersed in Horite religious practice as was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.
The Horites were a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus, who they regarded as the "Son of God". Both Heliopolis (Anu) and Karnack were Horite shrines. The priests of these shrines were clean shaven, like Moses’ half-brother Korah, whose name means shaved one. There is a twice-life-size statue in Joseph's tomb. The statue shows a clean-shaven man, not a bearded man as would be expected of an Asiatic (as shown below, second from the right).
Horus is the pattern by which later generations would recognize Jesus. Horus' birth was miraculous. He was killed by his brother and he rose to life again. Heliopolis, which has been occupied since the Predynastic Period, was one of the shrines dedicated to Ra-harakhty, which literally means Ra who is Horus of the Two Horizons (East and West). Joseph would have been buried facing the West as preparation for the journey to the world of the dead, where the sun shone after leaving the world of the living.
Horus was said to be the Lord of Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) and of Two Horizons. Horite ruler-priests married two wives and placed them in separate households on a North-South axis so as not to give offense to Horus who made his daily journey from East to West. Jesus claimed to be the Shepherd of two flocks. The two sheep folds represent the Kingdom He receives from the Father. One fold is comprised of all those who lived in expectation of His Incarnation and the other fold - the Church - is comprised of those who adore Him, the Son of God who has come in the flesh to save sinners, restore Paradise, and reign eternally.
In Goshen/Avaris, Joseph had a large Egyptian-style palace built over Jacob's dwelling. The palace enclosure had a garden tomb, the largest sepulcher found in Goshen. Joseph's body would have been mummified and wrapped in cloth. He was buried in a coffin, either facing the west to greet the rising Sun or with the head toward the north, according to the custom of his Kushite/Sudra ancestors. This attests to the antiquity of the Joseph story because royal burials were later in cemetaries far removed from residences.
The Avaris palace had adjoining twin suites for two families. These may have been for Joseph's two wives or for the families of his two sons. This would have been one of at least two residences belonging to Joseph. The other was likely in Heliopolis on the Nile.
Related reading: Potiphar, Son of Horus; Who Were the Horites?
Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, is an enigma. He is a high-born youth who is sold as a slave and serves time in jail. He was familiar enough with the customs of Egyptian nobility to adapt to his life in Potiphar's house and he went from slave to influential ruler. To understand the enigma of Joseph we must consider the finer details of his story.
He was a high-born slave
He was already Egyptianized before going to Egypt
He married a priest's daughter, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses
There is evidence that he had 2 wives, as did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses
He is claimed as a prophet by Jews, Christians and Muslims
Joseph's saga serves as the transition from the patriarchal narratives to the Exodus. After his death, he was mummified as a high-ranking Egyptian and buried in Goshen, adjacent to Avaris. Avaris was founded by Amenemhet I, the first king of the 12th dynasty. Archaeological and anthropological evidence indicates that the settlers of Goshen were people from Canaan who shared many features of Egyptian culture. This would be expected if Abraham's people were Horites, an Egyptian priesthood devoted to Horus of the Two Crowns.
Horite ruler-priests were careful to marry chaste daughters of priests. It is not a coincidence then that Joseph married Asenath, daughter of the "priest of Oon" (Gen. 41:45), later called Heliopolis (city of the Sun). Asenath's father was a Horite priest and the Horite priestly lines intermarried. If the sons of Horite priests married the daughter of Horite priests, their sons were also in the caste of priest. It means we must take these words quite literally: "For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." (Ex. 19:6)
Asenath, Joseph's wife, was raised at Heliopolis on the Nile. She was probably Joseph's cousin. Her first born son likely belonged to the Heliopolis shrine, whereas Ephraim, Joseph's younger son belonged to the House of Jacob. This explains why Jacob gave him the blessing that pertained to the first-born (Gen. 48:14).
Moses' two older brothers - Aaron and Korah - would also have married the daughters of priests. Korah's descendents are praised in 1 Chronicles 26, where they are grouped with the gatekeepers of Obed-Edom. Obed-Edom is a connection to Ruth, who named her first-born son Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This picks up the Messianic thread, pointing us back to the Horite expectation of the Son of God who was coming into the world.
Traditions Concerning Joseph's Burial
According to tradition, Joseph was re-buried somewhere in Canaan, in Horite territory. Most claim that his tomb is near Nablus in Palestinian territory, a site regarded as holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Tomb is located at the eastern entrance to the valley that separates Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. It is about 750 feet north of Jacob's Well, on the outskirts of Nablus, near biblical Shechem.
There is another Islamic tradition that places Joseph’s tomb in Haram al-Khalil in Hebron, in the tomb of the Patriarchs. This is the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a heavy rectangular building that encloses the underground Cave of Machpelah which was explored in 1967. This is the land and cave in Mamre that Abraham purchased for the burial of Sarah.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Joseph's Tomb at Nablus was to be accessible to Jews and Christians. However, following peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat initiated his intifada in the West Bank. In October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Israel to evacuate Judaism's third holiest site on October 6, 2000. The attackers burned Jewish prayer books and repainted the white dome roof Muslim Green, transforming Joseph's resting place into another Muslim holy site and anachronistically pronouncing Joseph a Muslim.
If the truth be told, Joseph does not fit the customary picture of Israelite or Arab. He married a Horite priest's daughter named Asenath. Priest's daughters grew up around water shrines or river temples where their fathers served as priests. These were women of high rank but they did not live pampered lives. Zipporah was drawing water for livestock when she met Moses. Rebekah was likewise engaged when Abraham’s servant arrived to contract a marriage between her and Isaac. It is important to note that these priestly daughters had two sons:
Rebekah – Esau (oldest) and Jacob (youngest)
Rachel – Joseph (oldest) and Benjamin (youngest)
Asenath – Manasseh (oldest) and Ephraim (youngest)
Tamar – Zerah (oldest) and Perez (youngest)
In each case, the younger son was tagged as an ancestor of the Messiah. However, this does not mean that the other son was not an ancestor of Messiah since the priestly lines intermarried. We first find this elevation of the youngest son in the story of Cain, Abel and Seth. We also find it in the story of Abraham, who was the youngest of Terah's three sons. This pattern is found also with David, the youngest of Jesse's sons.
According to the Babylonian Talmud Abraham's mother was associated with the Nile shrine at Karnak. Horite rulers married the daughters of Horite priests. About 75% of the women named in the Old Testament are daughters of priests. This was the practice among the royal priestly lines of Abraham’s people. So by every indication, Joseph was as thoroughly immersed in Horite religious practice as was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.
The Horites were a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus, who they regarded as the "Son of God". Both Heliopolis (Anu) and Karnack were Horite shrines. The priests of these shrines were clean shaven, like Moses’ half-brother Korah, whose name means shaved one. There is a twice-life-size statue in Joseph's tomb. The statue shows a clean-shaven man, not a bearded man as would be expected of an Asiatic (as shown below, second from the right).
In Goshen/Avaris, Joseph had a large Egyptian-style palace built over Jacob's dwelling. The palace enclosure had a garden tomb, the largest sepulcher found in Goshen. Joseph's body would have been mummified and wrapped in cloth. He was buried in a coffin, either facing the west to greet the rising Sun or with the head toward the north, according to the custom of his Kushite/Sudra ancestors. This attests to the antiquity of the Joseph story because royal burials were later in cemetaries far removed from residences.
The Avaris palace had adjoining twin suites for two families. These may have been for Joseph's two wives or for the families of his two sons. This would have been one of at least two residences belonging to Joseph. The other was likely in Heliopolis on the Nile.
Related reading: Potiphar, Son of Horus; Who Were the Horites?
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7 comments:
Alice, your description of "preparatory grace" in the patterns of Egyptian religious life reminds me of a book I read years ago to great profit, "Eternity in their Hearts", by Don Richardson. If you have not already read this I think you would really enjoy it.
Don Richardson's book is a wonderful story. Yes, God has prepared the way for His Christ and He has prepared our hearts for His Peace Child.
Does the research you have done on Asenath and her probable origins help in any way to settle a question we may have, about whether her father Poti-phera, the priest of On (Gen. 41:45), might have been the very same man as Poti-phar, an officer of Pharoah (Gen. 39:1)?
They may be the same person, though I doubt this.
We may have two traditions. One tradition says that Potiphar was an officer of the guard in Pharaoh's court and the other says that he was a priest and Joseph's father-in-law. The idea of two distinct traditions is developed in D. B. Redford's A Study Of The Biblical Story Of Joseph (Genesis 37-50), 1970, E. J. Brill: Leiden, pp. 136-137. What is intriguing here is the suggestion that Joseph is associated with the name/title Potiphar in both traditions. This is something that requires further investigation.
Go for it! Let me know what you discover.
Since the Yoruba people switch the seniority of twins upon birth, my hypothesis is that Jacob was aware of this practice which would account for the way he blessed the two sons of Joseph.
Perhaps there is a scientific explanation. It would be interesting to investigate whether or not this practice of switching seniority for twins was observed also by the Egyptians and Nubians before or during the time of Jacob whom I doubt to be the first twin. Maybe Isaac and Rebecca were not initially aware of this tradition and they were the first to observe it.
YT
I meant "first set of twins in mankind"
YT, The theme of the elevation of the younger son above his elder brother runs throughout the Bible. These were the youngest sons and all were chosen by God to lead: Abraham, Moses and David.
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