Joseph

Joseph, in the Hebrew Bible, son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel. As Jacob’s name became synonymous with all Israel, Joseph’s was eventually equated with all the tribes that made up the northern kingdom of the Israelites. Although Joseph is an important figure in the Bible, he is not accorded the position of patriarch, unlike his forefathers Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. According to tradition, his bones were buried at Shechem (located near modern Nablus), oldest of the northern shrines (Joshua 24:32). His story, told in Genesis (37–50), relates his enslavement and rise to prominence in Egypt. In the text Joseph is notable for his multicolored coat, his prophetic dreams, his skill at dream interpretation, as well as his divinely provided success at every turn.

Dreams, brothers, and a colorful coat

Since Joseph is the first son of Jacob’s favored wife Rachel, he is the favorite of Jacob’s 13 children. To show his favor, Jacob makes Joseph an ornate coat of many colors. Joseph’s 11 brothers, however, despise him and are jealous of his favored position. The brothers’ animosity worsens when Joseph relates to them a dream in which the brothers, represented by sheaves of grain they were binding, all bowed down to his sheaf of grain. Another dream of Joseph’s, in which the Sun, the Moon, and 11 stars bowed to him, further exacerbates their jealousy and contempt.

Later in the account Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers, who are grazing their flocks near Shechem. The jealous brothers see him and plot to kill him, although Reuben, the first son of Jacob’s wife Leah, tempers their plans. They instead throw Joseph into a dry well and take his special colorful coat. When a caravan of Midianites, also identified in the text as Ishmaelites, passes by, the brothers sell Joseph into slavery, and the caravan transfers him to Egypt. The brothers slaughter a goat, dip Joseph’s coat in the goat’s blood, and bring the coat to Jacob, who becomes distraught over the supposed violent death of his beloved son—assumed to be a wild animal’s doing.

Life in Egypt

The Ishmaelites sell Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of the Pharaoh’s guard in Egypt. Potiphar observes that Joseph is successful in his endeavors and favored by God, so the Egyptian gives the Israelite additional responsibilities that result in still further flourishing. Potiphar’s wife, however, attempts to seduce Joseph, and he refuses her advances. She falsely accuses the enslaved Hebrew of trying to force himself on her.

Falsely imprisoned in Egypt for attempting to sexually assault Potiphar’s wife, Joseph nevertheless retains his divine favor, is given responsibilities in the jail, and becomes recognized for his knack for dream interpretation. Two years later Pharaoh begins to have incomprehensible dreams and learns that the imprisoned Joseph is gifted at dream interpretation. Joseph reads Pharaoh’s dreams as foretelling that God will send Egypt—and surrounding regions including Joseph’s native Canaan—seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Joseph advises Pharaoh to store grain during the time of abundance in order to feed everyone during the time of famine. Impressed by this counsel, Pharaoh elevates Joseph to second-in-command.

During the time of famine, Joseph’s brothers—excluding the youngest Benjamin, Rachel’s other son and Joseph’s only full brother—come to Egypt desperate to buy food, and they indeed bow before him, as Joseph’s dream had predicted. Joseph recognizes them, but they do not recognize him, and he speaks to them through a translator. He accuses them of being spies, orders them to return with their youngest brother, and holds Simeon in jail until they return. After a trip back to Canaan, the brothers return again to Egypt with Benjamin, reluctantly sent by Jacob. After multiple emotional interactions, during which he often hides his weeping, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. Jacob eventually joins them, and the Israelites settle in Goshen in Egypt. Jacob’s family remains in Egypt, where they grow and prosper. Later in life Joseph forgives his brothers for their mistreatment of him. Nearing death at age 110, Joseph foresees that his descendants will eventually return to Canaan, the land promised by God to his forefathers. As the Book of Exodus continues the story, a subsequent pharaoh oppresses the Israelites. As the Israelites escape enslavement in Egypt, Moses takes Joseph’s bones with him to bury at Shechem in Canaan, which the Israelites do only at the very end of the Book of Joshua.

Reception and legacy

The story of Joseph, often called a novella, is a carefully wrought piece of literary craftsmanship. Though it features the personality of Joseph, it is introduced (Genesis 37:2) as the “history of the family of Jacob.” Throughout the narrative, Joseph’s emotions are described as he journeys from egotism to sadness to forgiveness while navigating interpersonal situations, thus giving the story, according to some interpreters, a strong psychological dimension. Authorities agree that parts of the story show dependence upon the ancient Egyptian “Tale of Two Brothers,” but in characteristically Hebrew style, the narrator in Genesis has ignored the mythical and magical motifs in the Egyptian tale, and the focus of the outcome is placed on its meaning for the whole house of Jacob (Israel).

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The purpose of the story, on one level, is to relate the preservation of the lineage of Israel. Its people survive despite their own foolishness and wickedness, indeed, ironically, in part because of these. The story is told as a testimony to the operation of divine providence. Joseph’s comment to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 sums up its religious moral: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” But while God turns the provocations of the spoiled son and the jealousy and deceptions of his brothers to good account, the final positive outcome is due to the faithfulness of Joseph, true to Israel’s ideals under all circumstances and ever mindful of his obligations to his people.

In addition to the themes of divine favor and lineage, some interpreters have read other messages in Joseph’s account. According to some commentators, Joseph serves as a model for the “court Jew,” the Jewish assistant or counselor to royalty who finds a place of importance within a political structure while also acting to rescue and help his people. For some Christian readers, however, Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers at the end of the narrative (Genesis 50, the last chapter of Genesis) is the paramount takeaway message.

Over the centuries, the story of Joseph has been retold in literary and dramatic forms. George Frideric Handel wrote an oratorio titled Joseph and his Brethren, which was first performed in 1744. In the 1930s German novelist Thomas Mann wrote a series of four books called Joseph and His Brothers (German: Joseph und seine Brüder) that adapt the biblical narrative into a novelistic bildungsroman. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice teamed up in the 1960s to produce the popular musical adaptation of the story, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which opened in the West End in 1973 and on Broadway in 1982. A direct-to-video version of the musical was released in 1999 starring Donny Osmond as Joseph and Richard Attenborough as Jacob. Noted poet and translator Stephen Mitchell retold the story as a modern novel in Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness (2019), which fills out the story with psychological depth and emphasizes the theme of forgiveness.