PREFACE
In this post we are going to take you through an amazing literary journey transitioning from Joseph (Yosef) at the end of Breishit (Genesis) through the Rise and Fall of Moshe (Moses) to and from Leadership of the Jewish people. We will explore delicate literary techniques of the Holy Scriptures that add new dimensions to an age old story that we thought we knew but really didn’t. I will be providing my translations and interpretations that will make the story come alive. Let’s begin.
CLOSING BREISHIT (GENESIS) WITH JOSEPH (YOSEPH) ASCENDING TO VICEROY
Let’s begin by exploring the technique of the Holy Scriptures that I call “Threading”., This is where one episode shares a “thread” which is often subtle with its predecessor.
We begin with Breishit (Genesis) Chapter 37:19. Mockingly the brothers say “Here is this master of dreams. Let’s kill him”. And the thread is that exactly the interpretation of dreams which threatens to kill Joseph will ultimately save his life with his interpretation of the dreams of the butler and bake which leads to his correct interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams which propels Joseph to the second highest position in Egypt. In verse 23 the brothers strip him naked, take his coat of multi-colors, throw him into the pit with no food or water and out of spite the brothers sit down and begin to eat not thinking of sharing any of it with Joseph. In verse 29 Reuven returns and sees that Joseph is gone. So he tears his clothes which was then a sign of mourning. But pay attention to the role of clothing through the story. Then in verse 31 the brothers take Joseph’s multi-colored shirt, slaughter a young goat, and dip the coat into the goat’s blood. In verse 32 they send the coat with the blood stains to Jacob and ask if he recognizes it. Jacob says he recognizes it and comes to the conclusion that a wild animal ate Joseph. And in vers34 Jacob also tears his clothes as a sign of mourning. The chapter concludes with Joseph being sold to Potifar who is in charge of the cooks., Note the connection to the baker (baker and cooks may not be exactly the same but close enough).
Next in chapter 38 we have the story of Tamar (Judah’s daughter in law) and we will do a different post on her. So now chapter 39:1 which repeats the last verse about Potiphar being a minister of Pharoah, head of the cooks, and he is “an Egyptian man who receives Joseph from the hand of the Ishmaelites. ” Note the similarity of the language here to what we will see later in Exodus 2:11. We now read how successful Joseph is and how the benefits Potiphar and closes in verse 6 saying how good looking Joseph is. In verse 7 Potiphar’s wife sees how good looking Joseph is and immediately propositions him. Joseph proceeds to explain his ethics and moral position over several verses as she persists in trying to seduce him day after day continuously. In verse 11 no one else is in the house and she grabs Josephs shirt and rips it off of him. In verse 12 Joseph leaves the shirt in her hand and runs outside. So now we connect Joseph’s shirt in the story of the brothers throwing him into the pit with the story of Potiphar’s wife using the shirt to have Joseph thrown in prison. As such we see that the Torah actually created the “Wardrobe Malfunction” 3700 years before Janet Jackson got around to it. In verse 20 the Bible tells that they threw Joseph “into the imprisoned of the prisoners for imprisonment” using three variations of the same word for prison to convey exactly how bad this place was. Usually the Bible suffices with two variations and three is left to show that the matter is not just true but proven. See the interpretation of 3 days for each of the dreams of the butler and baker and the outcome is verified proof of the accuracy of Josephs interpretation. Also 3 days before Revelation at Mount Sinai is the proof of the mightiness of the Lord. In chapter 40 we read about the dreams of the butler and baker and the outcome as mentioned before.
Then thr thread continues to chapter 41 where Pharaoh now has has his dream with 7 sheaths of corn and 7 cows. So in Chapter 41:14 Pharoah has Joseph pulled from the pit, shaved, and given clean clothing. This is built on a reversal of what the brothers did to Joseph and will lead to Joseph’s ascension to power. And the next thread is that the focus of the dreams is the impending famine which also connects back to why the brothers had to stray so far from their home. We have come full circle. And now we reach the conclusion of this episode with the anointment of Joseph to Viceroy, his getting a new name, and wife., Pharoah names Joseph as “Tzofnat Pa’aneach” which literally means “Decoder of Encrypted”. צפנת פענח.
Now to a brief digression into the beauty of Hebrew. In Hebrew most word have a 3 letter root and one then conjugates the root into all the classic verb, adjective, and adverbial form with enormous regularity and scope. So in the Hebrew above we have 3 letters going from right to left as the root: TZ F and N and root means encrypted. So if we now look to the Hebrew word TZaFoN the capitals are the respective Hebrew letter and the vowels are lower case. This word means “North” because if you have a magnetic compass and can determine where the North is you have also determined the location of East, West, and South and solved everything. The word for compass in Hebrew is “maTZ P eyN again built on the same letters. And finally maTZ PooN is conscience or your moral compass. Note that Semitic languages are generally very consistent and regular unlike English where the past tense of GO is WENT and so forth.
