Joseph's life as an adult

Even if many details were lost in the oral transmission between the generations of his writing in the Bible, and even if the story did not actually take place (according to the book The Beginning of Israel), there are educational elements in the story of Joseph, the only one of the sons of Jacob whose life history is detailed

Joseph is the only one of Jacob's sons to whom a large part of the book of Genesis is dedicated. There is no biographical reference to any of his brothers. Why? The impression is created that Joseph can also be considered one of the fathers of the nation. Not three fathers but four. It is difficult to know what were the motives of the author or authors of Genesis in an extensive description of Joseph's life. In any case, this is a wonderful story of a boy who underwent a tremendous transformation. The low point when he was on the verge of death turned into a brilliant career. When he was 30 years old he was appointed Minister of Finance of the Egyptian Power and he was not Egyptian.

Joseph's talents

How did Yosef get to this position and quickly? The explanation for this can be found in three places:
A. Chapter 2:5-XNUMX in the house of Potiphar: "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and all that he did, the Lord was doing by his hand. And Joseph found favor in his eyes, and he served him, and put him in charge of his house, and everything he had he gave into his hand. And from that time he put him in his house and all that he had, and Yahweh blessed the house of Egypt because of Joseph, and Yahweh blessed all that he had in the house and in the field."
on. Chapter 21:23-XNUMX in the prison: "And Jehovah showed Joseph mercy and gave him grace in the eyes of the warden of the prison. And the warden of the prison put into Joseph's hand all the prisoners in the prison, and he would do everything that they were doing. The warden of the prison does not see everything From his hand the Lord is with him and what he does the Lord succeeds.
third. Chapter Ma 39-42 upon his appointment as the head of the state's treasury "And Pharaoh said to Joseph, after God had informed you of all this, there is none wise and wise like you. You will be over my house, and all my people will be at your mouth. Only the throne will be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Behold, I have given you over the whole land of Egypt.
From these things it becomes clear that Joseph was unusually talented. These talents began to be externalized from the moment he arrived at Potiphar's house. He could not bring these talents to expression in his father's house, either because he was young or because of the attitude of his brothers. towards him At Potiphar's house he was actually the administrative manager of the place. In order to externalize these skills, one must have a dynamic nature, be a person who is constantly on the move, initiate things and not sit quietly on the watch. Potiphar noticed this and transferred the management of the household to him. This position requires great maturity, responsibility and a great deal of integrity and let's not forget that Joseph was only a boy when he arrived at Potiphar's house. These qualities were also manifested in the prison and a few years later also in the Pharaoh's house. In addition to this, he is also endowed with sharp intuitions and prophetic ability. This can be seen in the way he solved the dreams of the master of the bakers, the master of the wineries and the Pharaoh himself, interpretations that did come true one by one and also his personal dreams that he dreamed when he was 17 years old. Dreams that he told his brother and because of this he almost met his death.
In these examples a theological question arises. According to the scripture, the senior Egyptians with whom Joseph was in contact saw that God was helping them and their religion was different and they were not monotheists. How to reconcile this contradiction? They did see that Yosef was blessed with talents, but the reference to Yosef's talents being from God came from the person who recorded or recorded the story of Yosef. That was their perspective.

From the prison to Pharaoh's house

How long was Joseph in prison? A possible solution to this question can be found in four places. In chapter Ma 46 it is said "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and Joseph went out from before Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt." After Joseph's imprisonment, it is said in chapter 1:3-1: "And it came to pass after these things, that the king of Egypt and the baker sinned against their masters, the king of Egypt, and Pharaoh whipped two of his eunuchs, the chief of the brewers, and the chief of the bakers, and delivered them to the guard of the house of the chief of the cooks, to the prison, a place where Joseph was confined "In chapter Ma 12 it is said: "And two years came to an end, and Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he was standing on the hill" and in verse XNUMX the minister of the harvest told Pharaoh about Joseph. who solved his own dream and that of the master baker "And there with us is a Hebrew boy who worked for the master cook and we will tell him and he will solve our dreams for us as his dream has been solved."

From the words of the minister of agriculture, it can be understood that he and the minister of bakers were banned some time after Yosef's imprisonment. If we take into account that the journey of the Midianites to Egypt after Joseph was sold to them lasted several months, then Joseph was more or less eighteen years old and according to what is said at the beginning of chapter Ma, Pharaoh dreamed his dreams two years after the release of the Minister of Finance, Joseph was 20 years old. The meaning of this is that Joseph was appointed to his high position at this age, unlike what is said in chapter 46, which is not possible. No person, no matter how talented, is appointed to a ministerial position at such a young age. At this age, no one has either life experience or public experience. It could be that Yosef was really released two years later from prison, moved to Pharaoh's house where he held senior positions until he reached the age of 30, or that the date in chapter Ma 1 is wrong and should be written "And there shall be an end of twelve years".

Joseph's relationship with women

In chapter 6 verse 30 it is said about Joseph that he was beautiful in appearance and beautiful in appearance. It can be assumed that he was the object of the admiration of many women and the conclusive evidence of this is Potiphar's wife who tried to seduce him without success. Joseph was extremely wise and did not use his beauty to pursue women. If he did serve in the Pharaoh's palace until his ministerial appointment, he probably had many opportunities to obtain any woman he desired. It is likely that he had dating women, but it was done in a minor way. What can support this hypothesis is his marriage at a mature age when he was XNUMX years old, when Pharaoh married him Asenat daughter of Puti Pharaoh Cohen On. It should be noted that this was a marriage with a daughter of the upper class befitting Joseph's status.

Chronological landmarks in Joseph and Jacob

Close to his marriage, "And the land was made in seven days, two seven years, into handfuls. And he gathered all the food for seven years that had been in the land of Egypt, and he gave food in the cities, food of the field of the city, which he gave in its environs. And Joseph gathered a great deal of blue sea water until he stopped counting because there was no number. And Joseph gave birth to two sons Before the year of famine comes, which Asnat daughter of Puti gave birth to him, he became a priest. (Mab 47-50). The seven years of abundance began when Joseph was 30 years old and ended when he was 37 years old and then his children were born. As mentioned, the famine period lasted 7 years and ended when Yosef was 44 years old.

Regarding Yosef's second meeting with his brothers after they returned with Benjamin, Yosef tells them: "Now do not be sad and do not be angry in your eyes because you have sold me. Here I am for a living. God has sent me before you. For it has been two years of famine among the land and another five years when there is no plowing or harvest" (Matthew 5 -6). Since the 7 years of fasting ended when Yosef was 37 years old, the conclusion is called for that Yosef was 39 years old at the time of this meeting with his brother. If we take into account the first trip of the brothers to Egypt, the return to their father Jacob and the second trip, it seems that the first meeting between them was more or less when Yosef was 38 years old.

According to the scriptures, Jacob lived his last seventeen years in Egypt, since he was 130 years old when he came down from Egypt. Confirmation of this is found in chapter Psalm 8-9 when Pharaoh asks him his age and he answers: "And Jacob said to Pharaoh, two days of my life are thirty and one hundred years." According to this, Yosef was born when Jacob was 92 years old. Is this even possible? If we go back to chapter L. 25 where it is said that immediately after the birth of Yosef, Jacob asked Laban to return to his country, the land of Canaan, and that Yosef was born at the end of the 14th year of his stay in Laban's house, the conclusion is drawn that Jacob began worshiping Laban when he was 72 years old. It is a bit hard to believe For a person at such an age to start working in field work, which by its nature is hard physical work, and will allow those who employ him, even if he is his relative, to take advantage of him in such a disgraceful way. The only possibility to solve this problem is that the story of Yosef's wonderful life is not made of one piece, but of several sources that have been passed down from generation to generation and with the passage of time inevitable chronological disruptions have occurred in them since it is an oral tradition and not a written tradition.

Yosef the economist

From the way he managed the drought period, it can be seen that Joseph acted very wisely and that he was also a careful economist. When the famine began to spread throughout the country, "and there is no bread in all the land, for the famine was very heavy, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan hung because of the famine, and Joseph collected all the money that was in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan with the scraps that they were breaking. And Joseph brought the money to Pharaoh's house. And the money was orphaned from the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, and they came All the Egyptians said to Joseph, "Give us bread, and why should we die against you, because there is zero money?" And Joseph said, "Take your money, and I will give you nothing in your money." money. And they brought their provisions to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in the form of horses and in the form of cattle and in donkeys, and they ate bread in all their provisions that year" (Ps. 13-17). Yosef actually nationalized the public's money. This is indeed a clear act of a centralized regime, but it was probably the only option to prevent too many financial expenses. It seems that his fear was that due to the increase in hunger, the public would buy whatever was available to overcome the expected famine, which could have led to price hikes, inflation (it is hard to believe that at that time economic expressions existed, but the understanding of the phenomena these expressions describe did exist). And so he could monitor the movement of the money. When the public began to demand bread to break the hunger he had to pay in sheep. In fact, this is a move that led to barter, bread for sheep and the sheep was probably used for meat production, all of this under the supervision of the state. A similar move took place in the second drought year (Psalm 18-20). In addition, Yosef took a particularly drastic step. "And the people he transferred to the cities from the end of the border of Egypt to its end" (Psalm 21). He moved populations from place to place according to the changes in the yield of the land. It is likely that this procedure took place throughout the drought years. At the end of this difficult period, the public began to slowly receive their money back. A regulation that Joseph instituted following the drought is a grain tax if it can be defined this way and as the scripture indicates: "And Joseph said to the people, I have bought you today and your land and Pharaoh is your seed and you sowed the land, and it was in the grain and you gave a fifth to Pharaoh and four hands shall be for the seed of the field and for you to eat and to be happy in your homes and eat and cultivate them" (Ps. 23-24). This is actually equivalent to the income tax and the amount of the tax is uniform for all 20%. It seems that Joseph drew conclusions from what was customary before. He established a tax levy that would allow the state to function even in emergency situations. This is the tax rate he deems appropriate in terms of grain stock reserves. Later on in verse 26 it is said: "And he made it a law to this day on the land of Egypt for Pharaoh." It can be seen that this law was valid long after the days of Joseph, at least until the days when the story of Joseph's life was written down.

Renewing the relationship between Yosef and his family

The meetings between Yosef and his brothers who came to Egypt to break bread are dramatic and charged and unlike usual the text gives a detailed description of the conversations that took place between them. Yosef initially alienates them out of a desire to take revenge on them for what they did to him, but not for long. He could no longer stand the emotional stress he was under and he identified himself to them: "And he gave out his voice in tears and the Egyptians heard and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph, my father is still alive, and his brothers could not torture him because they were afraid of him. And Joseph said to his brothers, please come to me and they will come And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold me from Egypt, and now do not grieve and do not be angry in your eyes because you have sold me, for here I am sent by God before you" (Ma 2-5). It is not difficult to guess the status that Yosef and his brothers stood in. How charged the meeting was and the storm of emotions that Yosef was engulfed in can be seen in the chapter Ma verse 1 where it is said: "And Yosef could not resist all those standing over him and he called out every man above me and no one stood with him when Yosef was introduced to his brother." When Joseph felt that the tension in him was very high, he asked everyone who witnessed the conversation between him and his brother, i.e. all the people of the palace who were present at the event to leave and the reason for this is understandable. Yosef wanted the family meeting to be intimate, between him and his brother only. Despite his state status, Yosef was a very sensitive person who also knew how to externalize feelings. Despite what his brothers did to him in his childhood, he felt himself one of them, one of the big family and he had memories of his childhood. The ones he especially missed were his brother Benjamin (Mab 15, 20 Mag 29-34, 30) and his father (Mag 28).

The interesting thing about the story of the meeting between Yosef and his brother is in the description of the shared meal. "And the firstborn sat before him as his firstborn, and the young as his youth, and the people were astonished one at another" (Mag 33). Joseph seated them at the table in order of age from the oldest to the youngest. Despite his seemingly cold and alienated attitude (meaning even before he revealed himself to them), Yosef gives them hints as to who he is, but they don't understand it. It is possible that Joseph gave them additional hints that the scripture does not refer to. When he saw that those hints did not help he exposed himself to them. It is possible to learn something from this about the way he conducts negotiations and conversations with his interlocutors wherever they may be. to give hints to make it easier for those talking to him. Only if that didn't help would he reveal what was on his heart

When the ice broke within the family and after Jacob also arrived at Beit Yosef, Yosef brings his father together with Pharaoh. Jacob's excitement was extremely high. Here in the twilight of his days he gets to see his beloved son whom he thought he would never see again. And his relief was great when he saw the status to which Joseph had reached, and he was Jacob personally meeting Pharaoh, the leader of his power. Probably one of the things that Jacob thought about during his meeting with Pharaoh was about Rachel. I wish she was now alive and would be satisfied with the success of her son Yosef.

Yosef takes another very important step. He gives his family members a piece of land where they can live a permanent life, without being on wandering trips and takes care of their economy. Yosef is not a man of accounts and does not hold grudges for a long time. After the father's death, his brothers feared that from now on Joseph would take revenge on them for what they had done to him. But he does not act like that. He also knows how to transcend and see things in broad contexts and not least with a historical perspective. In his answer to his brothers after they were afraid of what was expected of them, he says: "Do not look, for I am the ass of God. And you thought evil of me. God thought good, so that on this day He made to revive a great people, and now do not look. I myself will save you and your people and comfort them and speak to their hearts" (v. 19- 21).

Despite his high status and despite the fact that he adapted to himself the lifestyles of the country that adopted him into its heart, Yosef also knows how to maintain a family tradition. He asks his father to bless his sons and Jacob agrees to the request, because he does not need any great comfort from that. A man who has gone through so many hardships gets to bless his grandchildren, the children of almost the oldest. Before giving the blessing, Jacob placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, Joseph's younger son, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, the eldest son. Yosef comments on this to his father and he refuses. Reasoning that "he (Ephraim) will also be a nation and he will grow, but his younger brother will grow from him and his seed will be full of Gentiles". (Mach 19). If we want, we can see this as a kind of parallel to the blessings that Isaac gave to Esau and Jacob. The main blessing is not necessarily given to the firstborn.

Summary

If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can be regarded as the fathers of the nation as those from whom the nation of Israel began to grow, Joseph represents something that is different and no less important. Joseph is the first state figure described in the Bible. He was indeed in the service of a foreign kingdom, but in the way he behaved he represents what should be according to the scriptures when the people of Israel reach their own country. Those who will hold public positions should be people of stature, vision, patience, behave with political and economic wisdom and above all be human beings.