God richly bless you my sis. Isaac had one wife. Answer (1 of 10): If you are talking about Jacob (Israel)'s son Joseph, then he had one wife. Joseph is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Qur'an, suras vi. Joseph would have been approximately six years old . Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37). The two halves of Manasseh were often treated as two separate units in the biblical account. Tsaphenath Paneach", "Allusions to the Joseph Narrative in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts: Foundations of a Biblical Type", The Story of Joseph in the Babi and Baha'i Faiths, "The New Media Bible: Book of Genesis (Video 1979)", "Jewish religious life in the Persian period", The Composition of Genesis 37: Incoherence and Meaning in the Exposition of the Joseph Story, "The Odyssey and the myth of Joseph; Autolykos and Jacob", "Strange Bedfellows: Politics and Narrative in Philo", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_(Genesis)&oldid=1142074895, 1979, New Media Bible Genesis Project (TV)-cap. of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife, Jacob, before he died, gave his blessing to Josephs two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ISBN links support NWE through referral fees, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Joseph,_son_of_Jacob&oldid=1017043, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, More recently, Joseph figures prominently in Anita Diamant's novel. R. 14:16). Jacob with Ephraim and Manasseh. The first group identified, are Joseph's brothers when Judah brings up the idea of selling Joseph in verses 26 and 27. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Sarah was ninety when Isaac was born and Abraham was 100 years old (21:5). Her maid Bilhah is ancestor of two more ( Gen 35:25; Gen 46:23-24). When we look at Jacobs situation, the >description< of it and how much sorrow and dysfunction followed, it's not for us to overlook all that and consider it as a prescription to do to our own family! Indeed the name Potiphar may even be a version of Merenptah's name (Poti = Ptah, Phar = Pharaoh). Full Bible Timeline - section on the life of Jacob. Joseph was born the 11 th of 12 sons to his father Jacob. Since Joseph and Benjamin were born from Rachel, this test was necessary to reveal if they would betray Benjamin as they did with Joseph when he was seventeen. 36). 14. Who was Jacob's first wife? The first mention of Ishmaelites (Yishma'elm) is in verse 25. His brothers did not understand his spirituality and saw him as a threat. He is also a type of manly beauty; so that one often finds the expression "a second Joseph," meaning one extraordinarily beautiful. Even John Calvin, sometimes hailed as the father of modern grammatico-historical exegesis,[39] writes "in the person of Joseph, a lively image of Christ is presented. He is the favourite son of the patriarch Jacob, and his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, where he eventually ends up incarcerated. In Jewish tradition, Joseph was the progenitor of the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, named for his two sons. It was because of his virtue that the children of Israel passed over the Red Sea and the Jordan dry-shod (Gen. R. 84). 3. Jacob's wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. I pray you will be preserved by our maker. Others consider the story a semi-independent novella, which has been independently added to the biblical record. His father then remarked, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive." So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel commanded him to do. As Joseph had foreseen, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up a great abundance of grain in granaries built for the purpose. Joseph did very well with Gods help. (obviously would not happen to a wife). Angered by his running away from her, she made a false accusation of rape, and thus assured his imprisonment[d] (Genesis 39:120). He stored up in Egypt all the gold and silver of the world, and it was carried away by the Israelites when they left Egypt. Joseph is between 39 and 56 years old. Joseph or Yosef (Hebrew: , Arabic: , Yusuf; "The Lord increases") is a major figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. . What is Jacob's new name? 11Then a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, causing great affliction. So Joseph was reunited with his family, Stephen provided a brief summary of Josephs Story, Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter When Joseph and his mother bowed to Esau (Gen. 33:7), Joseph shielded his mother with his body (Targ. (clearly, the reference to a second wife shows that the concubine is not a wife), [145] If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife. which references passages that point to Jacob having "daughters" (plural, more than one) such as Genesis 37:34-35. : > 1. Levirate marriage served two functions that a mans name would not cease to go forward and that a woman would not be bereft of support. www.simplybible.com Copyright Ron Graham 2001 2018, "the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh", "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, said confidently that the children of Israel would leave Egypt. When Rachel did not have any children, she became upset. Esau. Moreover, Inter. They stopped at Atad where they observed seven days of mourning. Then they informed their father that the Vizier demanded that Benjamin be brought before him to demonstrate that they were honest men. Could Paul have been saying that the husband and wife need to be one (Hebrew echad) instead of limiting a man to one wife? Moses threw a pebble into the water there and cried out: "Joseph! 1653. In the second year of famine,[20] Joseph's half brothers were sent to Egypt to buy goods. During this period of famine, Joseph's brothers, except for Benjamin, also came down to Egypt to buy grain. He then gave his blessing upon all of his sons, and the blessing he gave to Joseph was the greatest of all: Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh multiplied to become two separate tribes of Israel. Genesis 35:21-27 gives a list of Jacob's sons and the various woman he had them with. They commemorate him on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before Christmas) and on Holy and Great Monday (Monday of Holy Week). Tap the title above, next to the arrow, to go to thatlesson with a link back to thispage. Muhammad is believed to have once said, "One half of all the beauty God apportioned for mankind went to Joseph and his mother; the other one half went to the rest of mankind. The word used by for echad in the LXX (Septuagint, the authorized Greek translation of the Tanach OT) and the NT (ie. The money they had brought was double what they had offered on the first trip. According to Josephus, Reuben tied a cord around Joseph and let him down gently into the pit. Now why? Genesis 41:45 says that after Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh 45 Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. Pharaoh made Joseph governor over Egypt and all Pharaohs house. Because Joseph the Dreamer predicts the future by analyzing dreams, alternative Jewish tradition claims that he practiced divination using this silver cup as the steward charged[33] and as Joseph himself claimed in Genesis 44:15.[34]. Jacob became greatly distressed, feeling deprived of successive sons: Joseph, Simeon, and (prospectively) Benjamin. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Thus, Israel was able to bless the Pharaoh. 25 Rachel's servant Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali. Israel (Jacob) agreed to his son's invitation to move to Egypt and began the journey to see Joseph. 14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. "-Genesis 41:45. (Genesis 37:35, Common English Bible). Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. 1:26). It has also been suggested that there are similarities between the rise to power of Joseph, and Manethos' tale of Osarseph, who was Syrian born, and rose to be Vizier of Egypt, beginning his career under Pharaoh Merenptah and his son Seti II. Joseph's wife is considered to be an Egyptian. It was during this return to Egypt that Joseph disclosed his real identity to his brothers. Joseph is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on 26 July. | Servants of Grace Apologetics, Mishpatim in Context: Selling your daughter into slavery? Jacob also had some daughters, but the Bible gives the name of only one of them. As the king's appointed viceroy, Joseph built himself a magnificent palace, placing in it a great number of slaves. [6], The Bible offers two explanations of the name Ysf: first it is compared to the Hebrew root (-s-p), meaning "to gather, remove, take away":[7] "And she conceived, and bore a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach" (Genesis 30:23);[8] Ysf is then identified with the similar root (y-s-p), meaning "to add":[9] "And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son." If, however, to the sixty-six Stephen added the wives of Jacob's sons', he could have legitimately reckoned Jacob's household as numbering seventy-five, instead of seventy. The cup-bearer took those grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. As Jacob's favorite son, he received from his father a coat of many colors, which made his brothers jealous to . Even though I never watched either Big Love or Sister Wives, I knew about people who lived like this and I will bet that anyone who lives in certain parts of certain western states can tell you the same thing. The Hebrew word translated as "tender" means "soft, delicate, or lovely.". The Haran controversy wrestles with the question of how long Abraham's grandson Jacob lived in Haran. 18:7, 19; 2 Ne. They returned with a wolf, but when Jacob began to reproach the beast for its cruelty, the wolf answered, in human language, that she had not committed the crime, and that she herself was searching for her lost cub. 20-21). Upon their return to Egypt, the steward of Joseph's house received the brothers. Joseph would have been approximately six years old when his family returned from Haran to Canaan. Joseph was the first son of Rachel and Jacob, and the 11th of Jacobs 12sons, Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, Joseph became the slave of Potiphar a very high official in Egypt. Answer (1 of 13): There are thirteen persons in the Bible who bear the name Joseph. I had no idea about what dyadic social identity was all about, or concubinage, and although I did understand the importance of political marriages (Solomon did NOT need that many alliances, just sayin) I was way too caught up in idea that black Mormons (not meaning color, but it was just what they were called in my neck of the woods) represented a sort of an ideal Biblical model for what was going on in ancient times. Abraham married Sarah, who was his niece; Isaac married Rebekah, who was his first cousin once removed; and Jacob married Leah and Rachel, who were his first cousins. Joseph named his eldest Manasseh ('to forget' in Hebrew) because "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household," while his younger son was named Ephraim ('to be fruitful') "because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." (Genesis 41 . Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years after his arrival (Genesis 47:28). With Reuben and Judah's persistence, they persuaded their father to let Benjamin join them for fear of Egyptian retribution (Genesis 42:2943:15). [45] Joseph is thrown into a well, and was taken as a slave by a passing caravan. People just cherry pick with the descriptions to determine prescriptives without studying out the matter. Joseph was 11th of 12 sons of a wealthy nomad Jacob and his second wife Rachel. The warden put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners,[14] and soon afterward Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer and chief baker, who had offended the Pharaoh, were thrown into the prison. 84, xl. Answer and Explanation: Joseph has one wife, Asenath the daughter of Potiphar the priest of On, whom he marries in Egypt. The problem lies in the fact that the Hebrew word for wife, isha, is also the generic word for woman (we see this same phenomenon in Greek), and so Bilhah and Zilpah were given to Jacob as women who were there for the express purpose of bearing children otherwise known as concubines. Genesis 31:38-41. The merchants, meanwhile, brought Joseph to Egypt, where he was sold to Potiphar, an "officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" (Gen. 37:36). The words do not share the same lemma and so are unrelated. How many children did Mary have after Jesus? . [51] The remaining verses describe the migration of Jacob's family to Egypt and the emotional meeting of Jacob and his long lost son, Joseph. Jacob was tricked into polygamy (Genesis 29:20-30) and later received two additional wives bringing the grand total of four wives (Genesis 30:4, 9). He was also the first born of his mother Rachel, whom his father loved more than any of his wives and made Joseph Jacob's favorite son (Genesis 29-30:24; Genesis 37:1-4). Convinced of his brothers' repentance and overcome with emotion, Joseph finally revealed himself to them. 17As the time of the promise drew near, the promise that God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. When Jacob calls his wives to him in Gen thirty-one only Leah and Rachel are named. For the New Testament Joseph, see, Another possible translation is "coat with long sleeves" (. How many kids did Mary have? Because the 12 sons of Jacob became the 12 tribesGod's covenantal peoplethe 12 stones on the high priest's breastplate of course represent God's promise to them ( Genesis 28:12-15 ). Recall that Jacob was born in the land of Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham, and where Jacob's father Isaac was born and lived his entire life. Simeon had six sons, all of whom migrated to Egypt (Gen. xlvi. 51 Joseph called the name of the first-born Manas'seh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." 52 The name of the second he called E'phraim, "For God has . Yet, from this answer in Quora. [24] Its redaction history may have included a first "Reuben version" originating in the northern kingdom of Israel and intended to justify the domination by the "house of Joseph" over the other tribes, this was followed by a later "Judah-expansion" (chapters 38 and 49) elevating Judah as the rightful successor to Jacob, and finally various embellishments so that the novella would function as the bridge between the Genesis and the story of Moses and the Exodus.[25]. The scene is a fitting resolution to Jacob's own drama, in which his father, Isaac, had been old and blind when Jacob himself deceived deceived him in order to obtain his blessing, meant for Esau. We passed on to Zilpah, and they noticed it again Gad is Leahs son!, Very good, I smiled. Is Polygamy Really Biblical? Families desperately needed heirs, and the dyadic social identity of a woman depended on her being not only a wife, but also a mother it simply didnt matter if your husband loved you best, if you had no children Rachel knew that (so did Sarah, Rebekah, Hannah and Elizabeth). He is the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Joseph. well, that did go well. It served a specific societal function within a context that no longer exists (much like the need for Levirate marriage). Simeon in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature). Although they had betrayed him in the past, Joseph greeted them . 10God saved Joseph from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph did very well with God's help. The word until speaks of a change to the first action . Great article Tyler! He could not control himself any longer and so he sent the Egyptian men out of the house. 'ewe') was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the . The story begins in Canaan - modern day Palestine, Syria and Israel - around 1600 to 1700 BC. I want to point out something obvious about Joseph's wife Asenath I think many of us have a tendency to skip over without giving it much thought. Who was Leah's 4th son? 13When they went the second time Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and Josephs origins were revealed to Pharaoh. (Acts 7:9-13). The later reunion of Joseph with Jacob (Israel), though anti-climactic after two previous reunions with his brothers, is one of the most poignant in the Bible. Jacob's concubine Bilhah gave birth to Dan . Half of Manasseh's tribe settled east of the Jordan, while the other half settled west of it. Elkannah had two women but again, one of them was barren so I suspect that Peninah was a concubine. When Joseph's half-brothers reached home after selling him, Jacob ordered them to arm themselves and capture the beast that had supposedly killed Joseph. 12Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, so he sent our fathers there for the first time. According to another tradition, Joseph placed the gold and silver in three hidden treasuries, of which one was discovered by the Israelite villain Korah; one by the Roman Antoninus, son of Severus; and one yet undiscovered, which is being kept for the righteous in the future world (Pes. However there are two separate lands related to the epithet Cush. Kusiteand Kusan are both used and they are spelled almost exactly the same the only difference being a tav vs a nun at the end of the word. It was the first successful production in the career of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I smiled, and told them to listen again. Sign me up for that! Thus, "Joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought.". The motif of dreams/dream interpretation contributes to a strong story-like narrative. Joseph had his father embalmed, a process that took forty days. After the (presumed) death of Joseph, we read, "All of his [Jacob's] sons and daughters got up to comfort him . The favoritism Israel showed Joseph and the plot against him by his brothers were divine means of getting him into Egypt. The other polygamists in Scripture were Lamech (a descendant of Cain who killed a guy) and Esau (who well he was Esau, nuff said) we dont see any of the twelve sons of Jacob having mutliple wives, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, the Judges (not even Sampson) or the prophets.