Hebrew Myths (40 page)

2
. Potiphar’s wife remained nameless, until the
Sepher Hayashar
called her ‘Zuleika’; in the
Testament of Joseph
(XII. 1; XIV. 1, etc.), however, she is called ‘the woman of Moph’.

The main midrashic elaboration of the bare Genesis account is reminiscent of Ovid’s record of Phaedra’s sufferings in
Heroides
IV. 67 ff. No obloquy attaches to Zuleika, because it was her duty to bear children and, if she had succeeded in getting twins from Joseph, might have been praised as highly as Tamar (see 51.
5
). But God intended another Egyptian woman to bear Joseph’s sons; and one midrash tells how Zuleika was deceived by the misreading of a horoscope which foretold that he would beget famous offspring on a woman of Potiphera’s household—namely Asenath (see 49.
h
, 9). Joseph’s rejoinders when threatened by Zuleika are all Scriptural quotations.

3
. The festival which allowed Zuleika to be alone with Joseph was either ‘The Reception of the Nile’, also called ‘The Night that Isis Weeps’ (June 20th), or the mid-July New Year Festival, celebrating the re-appearance
of Sirius, when the river reached its highest flood level in Middle Egypt. ‘The Ship of Rising Waters’ was then ceremoniously launched.

4
. Hebrew myth contains several anecdotes meant to sharpen the detective acumen of judges: such as Solomon’s judgement of the two harlots (1
Kings
III. 16 ff), and Daniel’s defence of Susanna against the lying elders (
Susanna
V. 45 ff). The case of Joseph’s torn garment is another such; but a rival midrash turns this legal argument inside out, making the dorsal rent proof of Zuleika’s furious attempts to haul him back for her sexual enjoyment, and the frontal rent proof of her struggles to repel his attack.

5
. Although one midrash explains the apparent anomaly of a married eunuch by saying that God had castrated him to punish an attempt on Joseph’s virtue, this is unnecessary—Pharaoh’s chief victualler needed a wife for social reasons. Such sterile unions were permitted at Rome in Juvenal’s day:
ducitur uxorem spado tener
.

6
. Potiphar was probably Pharaoh’s Chief Executioner, not his Chief Victualler (see 55.
1
).

(
a
) God watched over Joseph in the Royal Prison, where the Governor soon thought fit to appoint him his deputy. Thus, when Pharaoh’s Chief Butler and Chief Baker were also confined there, they came under Joseph’s supervision. What charges had been brought against these two is unknown. Some say that a fly was found in the royal wine-cup, and lumps of alum in a loaf set upon the royal table. Others, that both were accused of complicity in an attempt to ravish Pharaoh’s daughter.

One night, at all events, they dreamed dreams that haunted them throughout the next morning, and complained to Joseph: ‘Alas, sir, that we have no soothsayer here who can interpret them!’

‘Am I not a servant of the One God,’ Joseph asked, ‘to whom such interpretations belong?’

The Chief Butler then said: ‘I dreamed of a three-branched vine. Its branches budded, blossoms burst out and formed grape clusters, the fruit grew ripe. Pharaoh’s cup was in my right hand. I pressed the grape into it with my left, and gave him to drink.’

Joseph readily interpreted the dream: ‘Each branch is a day. In three days’ time Pharaoh will forgive your fault and let you bear his royal wine-cup as before. When this comes to pass, pray remember me, and bring my case to Pharaoh’s attention. I am of noble blood, but abducted by Ishmaelites from the land of my fathers, sold into slavery, and now imprisoned on a false charge.’

‘I shall do so without fail,’ promised the Chief Butler.

The Chief Baker, greatly reassured by what he heard, said: ‘In my dream I was carrying three bread-baskets upon my head: the topmost held all manner of cakes and confectionary for Pharaoh’s table. Suddenly a flock of birds swooped down and ate them all.’

Joseph announced: ‘In three days’ time, Pharaoh will behead you and hang your body upon a tree for the kites to eat.’

Three days later, Pharaoh celebrated his birthday with a palace banquet, which he made the occasion of restoring his Chief Butler
to favour and beheading his Chief Baker. However, the Chief Butler quite forgot what he had promised Joseph.
³⁹⁶

(
b
) After three months, Zuleika visited Joseph, saying: ‘How long must I keep you in prison? Be my lover, and I will set you free at once.’

Joseph answered: ‘I have sworn before God never to be your lover!’ Zuleika then threatened Joseph with torture, and heavy fetters; but could not move him. It is said, though, that God lengthened Joseph’s prison term by two more years: because he had twice asked the Chief Butler, not Himself, to secure his release.
³⁹⁷

***

1
. Zuleika’s love for Joseph is a Judaean addition, evidently supplied to explain a mistaken reading of ‘in prison’. The older Ephraimite account presents Joseph’s master Potiphar as the Royal Prison governor, who placed the Butler and Baker under Joseph’s charge. Joseph was ‘in prison’ merely as a warder.

2
. Some midrashic commentators considered Joseph’s interpretations of these dreams too ephemeral, and therefore suggested more edifying ones that Joseph had discreetly kept to himself. Thus the vinestock represented the world; its three branches, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; its blossom, the patriarchs’ wives; its ripe grapes, the twelve tribes. Or the vinestock represented the Law; its three branches, Moses, Aaron and Miriam; its blossom, the Assembly of Israel; and its grapes, the righteous souls of each generation. Or the vinestock represented Israel; its three branches, the three chief festivals; its budding, Israel’s tribal increase in Goshen; its blossom, her redemption from bondage; and its grapes, the Exodus that would make Pharaoh’s pursuing army stagger as if drunken. Similarly, the Chief Baker’s three baskets represented the three kingdoms of Babylon, Media and Greece, which were to oppress Israel (see 28.
5
); while the topmost basket (read as a fourth, not the third) stood for Rome, whose riches and luxuries would be destroyed by angels in the Messiah’s Days.

3
. The twelfth-century
Midrash Hagadol
, compiled in Yemen, states that the bird which ate from the Chief Baker’s baskets symbolized the Messiah who would annihilate the kingdoms oppressing Israel. This symbol is elaborated by the mediaeval Kabbalists. In a
Description of the Garden of Eden
, dating perhaps from the eleventh century, and also in the Zohar, the Inner Hall or Paradise where the Messiah dwells is named ‘The Bird’s Nest’.

(
a
) Two years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, out of which stepped seven plump, sleek cows and began grazing on the papyrus reed. Seven lean, wretched-looking cows followed after a while but, instead of grazing, ravenously devoured their sisters—horns, hooves and all. Pharaoh awoke in horror. Falling asleep again, he dreamed of seven plump ears of corn that grew from a single stalk; but another seven ears growing near by, empty of grain and withered by the East Wind, swallowed them down.

At day break, Pharaoh sent for his soothsayers and recounted the dreams. None of their interpretations satisfied him. They said: ‘The seven sleek cows indicate that you will beget seven beautiful daughters; the lean ones, that they will all die of a wasting ailment. The seven plump ears of corn indicate that you will conquer seven nations; the withered, that they will afterwards rebel.’
³⁹⁸

(
b
) Observing Pharaoh’s distress, Merod, the Chief Butler, suddenly remembered Joseph. He had not, indeed, been ungrateful: Joseph’s case constantly troubled him, and he would tie knots in his kerchief as a reminder; but always forgot what they meant when he entered Pharaoh’s presence. God thus delayed matters until the time should be ripe. Merod now told Pharaoh how accurately Joseph interpreted dreams, and pleaded for his release. Pharaoh thereupon summoned Joseph, who was at once shaved, dressed in decent garments, and brought into the Royal Council Chamber.

Pharaoh said: ‘I am told that you interpret dreams.’

Joseph answered: ‘Not I, but the Living God who speaks through me! He will set Pharaoh’s mind at rest.’

Pharaoh told his dreams, adding that after the lean cows had swallowed the sleek, they looked as hungry as ever.

‘God has sent Pharaoh two dreams with the same meaning,’ said Joseph. ‘The seven sleek cows and the seven plump ears of corn stand for years; likewise the lean cows and the empty ears. Seven years of plenty must be followed by seven years of famine so severe that the time of plenty will be quite forgotten. Pharaoh’s second dream reinforces
the first, and advises instant action. God herewith counsels Pharaoh to choose a trustworthy Viceroy, capable of providing against the evil days ahead; he must instruct his officers to buy up one fifth of the country’s grain and pulses during the seven plentiful years. Let this surplus be stored under Pharaoh’s seal in the Royal Granaries, one at each provincial city, as a reserve against the years of famine.’
³⁹⁹

(
c
) The whole Court was convinced that Joseph had spoken the truth, and Pharaoh asked: ‘Where can I find another man who will thus follow the dictates of the Living God?’ Since no answer came, Pharaoh turned to Joseph and said: ‘Inasmuch as God has revealed these things to you, we need look no farther. I appoint you my Viceroy over all Egypt, and whatever orders you give to the people, they shall also be mine. I reserve no more than my Pharaonic dignity, which is superior to yours.’

So saying, Pharaoh took the seal ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s, presented him with a royal linen apron, and hung a golden chain around his neck. He then pronounced: ‘I name you Zaphenath-Paneah’—which means
Through him the Living God speaks
—‘and no man in my dominions shall dare lift a hand or move a foot without your leave!’ Pharaoh also lent Joseph a conveyance second in splendour only to his own chariot of state. The people hailed him as ‘Abrech’, and he ruled over all Egypt, though still in his thirtieth year. Joseph’s officers now bought up surplus grain and pulses, and stored them in the provincial granaries.
⁴⁰⁰

(
d
) Then, because Joseph would accept no praise, but gave God the credit for whatever he had spoken or done wisely, and because he looked modestly down when young Egyptian women admired his beauty, God rewarded him with long life, prosperity, and a peculiar gift enjoyed by his descendants: immunity from the evil eye.
⁴⁰¹

(
e
) By Pharaoh’s favour, Joseph married Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. She bore him two sons, the first of whom he named ‘Manasseh’, saying ‘God has made me
forget
my sufferings and my exile!’; and the second ‘Ephraim’, saying ‘God has made me
fruitful
, despite affliction!’
⁴⁰²

(
f
) According to some, however, Asenath was the bastard daughter of his sister Dinah, adopted by Zuleika and Potiphar, whom they identify with Potiphera. Asenath, they explain, accused Zuleika to Potiphar of having lied; whereupon Potiphar gave her in marriage to Joseph, by way of admission that he had done no wrong.

Others deny the identity of Potiphera with Potiphar; or of this
Asenath with Dinah’s daughter, and say that Pharaoh’s eldest son was Joseph’s rival for Asenath’s love.
⁴⁰³

***

1
. The historical basis of this myth seems to be the rise, under the eighteenth-dynasty Pharaohs Amenhotep III, and Amenhotep IV, of a Semitic general named Yanhamu, who is mentioned in the Tell-Amama letters as controlling the granaries of Yarimuta (or ‘Jarmuth’—
Joshua
XII. 11) and governing the Egyptian domains in Palestine. He was not the first Palestinian to hold high office under the Pharaohs: Thotmes Ill’s armour-bearer Meri-Re and his brother, the priest User-Min, were Amorites; and later Pharaoh Merneptah’s Chief Spokesman was Ben Matana, a Canaanite. This Yanhamu had a high-ranking colleague, Dudu, the Hebrew form of which is
Dodo, Dodi
, or
Dodai
—a name occurring in 2
Samuel
XXIII. 9, 24, and in
Judges
X. 1, etc.—and may well have been a Hebrew himself. When, in the Amarna letters, Syrian authorities petition Pharaoh Amenhotep IV for armed help, they add that Yanhamu is acquainted with their circumstances. Ribaddi, King of Gebal, begs Pharaoh to tell Yanhamu: ‘Ribaddi is under your authority, and whatever evil the King of the Amorites does him, will harm you too.’ Ribaddi later asks that Yanhamu shall be sent with an army to his assistance. Yanhamu had brought Yakhtiri, the commandant of Joppa and Gaza, and apparently his fellow-countryman, to the Egyptian court while still a child. Yanhamu may have been a slave; we learn from the Amarna letters that Syrians and Palestinians sometimes sold their children for corn at Yarimuta.

2
. According to
Genesis
, Pharaoh gave Joseph ‘garments of linen’ but, this being no particular honour, the royal apron, or
shendit
, is evidently intended.

3
. There was nothing against Pharaoh’s promoting a minister as his Viceroy. Ptahhotep (about 2500
B.C.
), known as ‘Pharaoh’s double’ substituted at times for his absent master, using all the royal titles and being entrusted with the Great Seal. The office of ‘Director of Granaries’, though usually distinct from that of Viceroy, was important enough to be held by royal princes. This same Ptahhotep, in his
Maxims
, insists on the prime need of keeping the granaries well stocked against years of famine. One such famine is recorded in a Beni-Hasan cave-inscription on the tomb of Amene, a feudal prince of the Middle Empire. Amene had made due provision for this famine and, it is claimed, did not afterwards exact arrears
of produce from the farmers when favourable rises of the Nile had given them heavy crops of wheat and barley. One Baba, a nobleman of the seventeenth (Hyksos) dynasty, whose tomb is at El-Kab, mentions a famine that lasted many years. Some historians identify this with Joseph’s famine—but details of the
Genesis
story reflect either an earlier or a later date than the Hyksos period.