Author: Wesley White

42 ⁵ The sons of Israel came to buy grain, among others who also came,  since the famine had spread to the land of Canaan.
     ⁶ As for Joseph, he was governing over the land and he was the one selling grain to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers arrived and bowed down to him, their faces to the ground. ⁷ When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended he did not recognize them. He spoke harshly to them and said to them, “Where have you come from?”
     And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
     ⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You’ve come to see the land’s vulnerability.”
     ¹⁰ They said to him, “No, Lord, your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all sons of one man. We are honest. Your servants have never been spies.”
     ¹² He said to them, “No! You’ve come to look for the land’s weakness.”
     ¹³ They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
     ¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is just as I’ve said to you. You are spies! ¹⁵ Thus will you be tested by Pharaoh! You shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you to bring your brother, while the rest of you will remain as prisoners. Your words will be tested, whether there is truth in you or not. As Pharaoh lives, you are certainly spies.”
     ¹⁷ He put them all in custody for three days.

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Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to purchase needed food. Genesis reports that it was the sons of Israel who arrived in Egypt. These two designations for one person will continue down the ages as representative of pre- and post-Eden, of the interpenetration of saint and sinner or G*D and ’adam or a moment where past and future negotiate their connection.

There was no thought given by the brothers to also look for Joseph, even though that may well have been their fear when Jacob was sending them forth—they did not want to accidentally bump into Joseph.

Well, Joseph would have himself micromanaging the distribution of the grain. After all, isn’t he the center? When the time comes, will the brothers see what they don’t want to see?

It is reported that Joseph recognized his brothers. The same word for recognition is now used regarding Joseph as it had been asked of Jacob regarding Joseph’s blood-stained tunic and of Judah when asked about what he had left with Tamar.

Joseph’s head was as high with his golden collar as it had been in his fancy tunic. That aura of importance is universal and might have been caught by the brothers but for the cultural dynamic of humility and their downward-looking shame at having to buy rather than be self-sufficient as a tribe.

Joseph speaks as harshly to his brothers as they had done to him when they sold him from one pit to another. After close interrogation, mention is made of the youngest brother, Benjamin, Joseph’s full brother.

A test is set up that Joseph will administer in the name of Pharaoh. The test is of the solidarity of the brothers. Can they work together? Trust one another? Risk for one another?

With the accusation of being spies hanging over them, they are put in a dungeon for three days to think about their response to Joseph’s demand.

41  ⁵³ There came an end to the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁴ The seven years of famine started to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in every land, but in the land of Egypt, there was bread. ⁵⁵ When the land of Egypt felt the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Whatever he says, do!” ⁵⁶ The famine was in all the land. Joseph opened all of the stores of grain and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine grew stronger in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ All lands came to Egypt, to Joseph, because the famine grew stronger everywhere.
     42 ¹ When Jacob saw there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you fearful? ² He said, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy some for us so that we may live and not die.” ³ So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers because he thought, “Lest harm comes to him.”

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Just like that, more than seven years of prosperity based on bountiful harvests, come to an end. Without the warning of dreams or a Farmer’s Almanac, the collapse would have been sudden and catastrophic.

The famine in all the lands was overwhelming. Only Egypt had bread because of the stored grain. It was as if a Noahic flood did not come again as fire, but famine. The one working a plan to save a people is Joseph. Admittedly it is first a saving of himself and the Egyptians. While we don’t hear about the storehouses being a vehicle to save animals, two-by-two, we learn that it is Egypt, as a whole, which corresponds to the ark.

Like Noah feeding the animals, Joseph controls the distribution of grain to those who come from anywhere and everywhere for sustenance. It would, indeed, be an uncountable amount of grain that was stored over seven years now being rationed out.

Back in Canaan, Jacob, like the rest of the world, recognized the unproductive land around him and paid attention to news that Egypt had grain to sell.

Practical Jacob quickly sends ten of his remaining sons to Egypt to bring back provisions for the family and flocks. Readers, though, do not hear about the slaughter of the flocks as there was nothing to feed them (imagine the logistics of transporting grain for a prosperous herdsman such as Jacob). The more quickly they act, the less expensive the grain will be—remember the rules of supply and demand.

In sending his sons, Jacob recognizes there is danger in doing so. Readers find this out as Jacob’s thoughts are recorded as his keeping Benjamin back lest harm befalls him.

Joseph’s story, seemingly about benefiting Pharaoh (and, of course, himself) begins to be turned into a story about Jacob/Israel and his descendants. The ark was a place of darkness for the year it rode the waters. That was child’s play in contrast to the unknown hundreds of years the Israelites spent in Egypt—first as Egypt’s savior and then as Egypt’s slaves.

41  ⁴⁶ Joseph was 30 years old when he stood in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and passed through all the land of Egypt. 
     ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance, the land produced handfuls. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food of those seven years in the land of Egypt and placed the food in cities. The food from the fields round each city, he placed within it. ⁴⁹ Joseph piled up grain like the sand of the sea, exceedingly much, until they ceased counting because it was beyond measuring. 
     ⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Joseph before the year of famine arrived. Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On bore sons for him. ⁵¹ Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh/He-Who-Makes-Forget, meaning: God has made-me-forget all my hardships, all my father’s house. ⁵² The name of the second he called Ephraim/Double-Fruit, meaning: God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

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After Joseph’s birth as the firstborn of Rachel, we next hear of him at seventeen (a tattle-tale and recipient of a marvelous tunic). He may not have made it to eighteen before being sold to Egypt. Now Joseph is thirty, a promising age. He already knows how to curry favor with Jacob and goes on to do the same with Potiphar (and wife?), a dungeon warden, royal wine steward, and Pharaoh. 

Along the way, his administrative talents have grown to the point where Hebrew people would see him as the practical ruler of mighty Egypt and rescuer of his family in a time of famine. That’s our boy! 

At thirty-seven, Joseph is the receiver of more seeds of grain than the grains of sand in the seas. This is a variant on the promise to Abraham that his seed would be more numerous than such sand and the stars in the sky. 

Readers can now take their place in the grand debate of people vs. property. Which is stronger? Healthiest? And why? 

In the seven years between his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream and the projected famine, Joseph has shifted the economic base of Egypt from rural to urban and has two sons by Asenath. The first son marks Joseph’s separation from his heritage. He desires to forget past hardships and family. This is assimilation imagery and will make it difficult to be a leader among his tribe should such an opportunity arise. 

Given his prestigious appointment by the Pharaoh, why remember being stripped, thrown into a pit, and sold into slavery? Why remember those days avoiding Potiphar’s wife? Why remember those years in the dungeon? Won’t his present prosperity be the best banisher of past problems?

Asenath’s second son is named Ephraim, fruitful in this land of affliction, land where he ended after being cast out from his family. Being Top Dog and richer than anyone should remove any lingering memories. Wealth aplenty will show all those who thought they could take advantage of Joseph or bury him in a pit.

Joseph should be feeling pretty good, right about now. Yet these names reveal how tightly the past has a hold on him.

41  ³⁷ Joseph’s words seemed good to Pharaoh’s eyes and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his servants, “Could we find another like him, in whom there is a spirit of a god?” ³⁹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since a god has made all this known to you, no one is as discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You will be over my house, and your word will be obeyed by all my people. Only by the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I give you authority over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴² Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, had him dressed in linen clothes, and he put a golden collar around his neck. ⁴³ He had Joseph ride in the chariot of his second-in-command, and they called out before him, “Abrekh! / Attention!” In this way, Pharaoh installed Joseph over the entire land of Egypt. 
     ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh. Without you, no man shall raise a hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh renamed Joseph, Zaphenath-Paneah/God-Speaks-and-Lives, and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On/Heliopolis.
     Then Joseph’s influence went out over the land of Egypt.

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Joseph’s take on Pharaoh’s dream landed well. They saw a change in climate before it arrived. Not every people will give credit to dreams when the pressure of constant profit blinds them to its first source—nature.

The very set-up of an autocracy (revealed in many different political structures, including democracy) is always looking for that one person who can run things to “my” benefit. This can lead to remarkable leaders who come to such a time as theirs. It can also lead to mountebanks and scoundrels who steal from each and every sucker.

Pharaoh cuts to the chase and says the one who solved his dream shall be the one to solve the revealed problem.

Again, Joseph-the-Administrator rides to save-the-day. Joseph leaves from playing warden to playing prime minister. We are not told about Potiphar and whatever demotion this might mean for him (and his wife).

In place of his embroidered cloak, Joseph now has a fancy ring, fine linen clothes, and a golden collar that lifts up and sets off his handsome face. He rides in the limousine of his day with escorts sirening his presence. His word becomes law in the land.

Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, and now Joseph becomes Zaphenath-Paneah (G*D Lives and Speaks Here). [Note: This interpretive meaning of Z-P identifies Joseph as G*D—a dangerous equivalency.

A wife is given him who is not from Mesopotamia, but On (later names Heliopolis—a place where the Sun is worshiped). Joseph is set at the center of Egyptian life. Will he be unassimilated and returned to his family of origin to become its center?

41  ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years. The dream is one. ²⁷ The seven lank and ugly cows, arising after them, are seven years. The seven empty ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, are seven years of famine. ²⁸ It is just as I told Pharaoh: what God is about to do has been shown to Pharaoh. ²⁹ Seven years are coming of great abundance throughout the entire land of Egypt. ³⁰ After them, seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will ravage the land. ³¹ The abundance will be forgotten because the famine that follows will be so very heavy. 
     ³² The repetition of the dream occurred to Pharaoh twice means God has determined it so and is hastening its arrival. ³³ “So, Pharaoh should find a discerning and wise man and give him a central place in the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Then Pharaoh should appoint overseers of land and enlist the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty. ³⁵ Collect all the food of the good years that are coming and pile up the grain under Pharaoh’s hand as provisions for the cities and keep it under guard. ³⁶ This food will be a reserve for the seven years of famine in the land of Egypt that the land will not perish in the famine.”

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Joseph’s assessment of there only being one dream takes disparate symbols and lines them into linear time. It would make no difference if the dreams were about seven animals, seven plants, or seven heavenly stars. The importance is what “seven” refers to. Joseph sees the number in terms of time. Time is a mechanism of control whereby we move toward a claimed “center.”

Readers might suspect that it has been seven years since the time Joseph is placed in a pit by his brothers. Here is a vision of a next seven years until the whole of Egypt is thrown into a pit of famine. Joseph’s experience of failure in having his proclaimed good-time-for-him continue-to-roll may sensitize him to acknowledging the need to figure out how a present blessing might have life to it beyond a moment. What actions of his might have led him to the center of his family—beyond his claiming in the crassest of terms that he would be that center?

Of interest is a question of how many times we need to receive a message before it catches our attention. Some say there need to be seven different presentations before an event clicks in, and we will attend to it. Some say more; some say less. Whatever the number, there will also be a follow-up question about responding.

If television is watched, how many exactly-the-same commercials are seen in an hour’s program? Is the watcher then programmed to buy? Are they put off and committed to never buying? What makes the difference?

Here, Pharaoh’s dream is not really for him but a way to bring Joseph back into the story. At question is leadership in the tribe of Jacob’s sons. Is Joseph’s potential in Egypt going to help his first dream of sheaves gathered around him? Will his interpretation of Pharaoh’s twice-told single-dream and action based on it lead him back to Jacob, Reuben, Levi, Judah, …, and Benjamin? Will it lead them to him here in Egypt?

41  ¹ After two years of days, Pharaoh dreamt. He was standing at the Nile, when ² out of the Nile came seven cows, fair to look at and fattened, grazing on the reeds. ³ Then, another seven cows came up after them to the bank of the Nile. These looked terrible, scrawny, and stood beside the first on the bank of the Nile. ⁴ Then the foul-looking, emaciated cows ate up the seven fair and fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 
     ⁵ He went back to sleep and had a second dream. Seven ears of grain on a single stalk were fat and healthy. ⁶ Then, seven ears of grain, measly and parched by the east wind, sprouted after them ⁷ and the scrawny ears swallowed up the seven full and fair ears. Then Pharaoh woke up and woke up to the dream. 
     ⁸ In the morning, his spirit pounded, and he summoned all of Egypt’s soothsayers and his wise advisors. Pharaoh recounted his dreams to them, but none could interpret them for Pharaoh.
     ⁹ Then the chief wine steward spoke to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my prior error. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was furious with his servants and put me under arrest by the commander of the royal guard—both me and the chief chef. ¹¹ We both dreamt a dream one night, he and I, and each of our dreams needed its own interpretation. ¹² A Hebrew lad, a servant of your chief steward, was with us. We recounted our dreams to him, and he interpreted our dreams, giving us an interpretation for each dream. ¹³ Each interpretation came to pass: I was restored to my position, and he was impaled.”
     ¹⁴ Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph. He was quickly brought from the dungeon. He shaved, changed clothes, and came before Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I dreamt a dream, but no one can interpret it. I have heard that you only need to hear a dream, and you know its meaning.”
     ¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, “Not I! God will answer Pharaoh for your benefit.”
     ¹⁷ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile. ¹⁸ Seven fat and fair cows arose out of the Nile and grazed on the reeds. ¹⁹ Then, seven other cows, wretched, gaunt, and foul-looking clambered up after them. I’ve never seen such disgusting cows in all the land of Egypt.²⁰ Then the bony, spindly cows ate up the first seven, fat cows. ²¹ They entered their bellies, but no one could tell for they appeared as sickly as they first did. Then I woke up. ²² I went to sleep again and saw in my dream seven ears of grain on one stalk, full and healthy. ²³ Then, seven hardened and scraggly ears, parched by the east wind, sprouted after them. ²⁴ The thin ears swallowed up the healthy ears. I told the soothsayers … none could tell me the meaning.”
     ²⁵ Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dream is one. God has announced to Pharaoh what is to happen. ²⁶ The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears of grain are seven years. The dream is one.

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Two years after being forgotten by the wine steward, Pharaoh has a dream that seems to have gotten the better of all who were consulted about its meaning. Such intractable mysteries take on a life of their own. They are talked about in multiple settings.

At some point, the wine steward heard Pharaoh rehearsing his dream. The wine steward’s experience in the dungeon, his dream there, and Joseph were recalled by him. In this time of perplexity, with all the regular avenues of interpretation turning out to be dead ends, the wine steward risks disappointing Pharaoh one more time and being thrown back into the pit of the dungeon. He speaks, beginning with his own past troubles and how stepping outside regular interpretive channels heralded an interpretation that came to pass.

The wine steward overstates his case as Joseph’s interpretation was revelatory, not causal.

With nothing left to lose, Pharaoh follows the lead of his wine steward and calls for Joseph. After making himself presentable by shaving (an Egyptian fashion, not his bearded Canaanite tradition), Joseph comes into the presence of the Pharaoh to hear what he has been puzzling over for awhile.

Joseph’s first act is to distance himself from blame, in case Pharaoh does not like what he hears. Joseph places G*D in the position of responsibility for interpretation.

Joseph’s first work is to simplify the dreams for the different images to all fit together in an over-arching storyline that might be of benefit to Pharaoh. If Pharaoh can see an advantage, Joseph may also be able to take advantage and benefit himself by leveraging himself to a larger central location than the administrative core of the dungeon.

40  ¹ After these events, the wine steward and the chef for the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief wine steward and the chief baker, ³ and he put them under arrest in the house of the chief of the royal guard in the dungeon where Joseph was imprisoned. ⁴ The dungeon warden assigned Joseph to wait upon them. 
     After they had been under guard for some time, ⁵ both of them dreamt a dream one night, and each man’s dream had its meaning—wine steward and chef of the king of Egypt who were imprisoned in the dungeon. ⁶ When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were frowning. ⁷ He asked the Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces dejected today?”
     ⁸ They answered, “We’ve dreamt a dream, but there’s no one to interpret it.”
     Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell your dreams to me.”
     ⁹ The chief wine steward recounted his dream to Joseph: “In my dream, a vine was right in front of me, ¹⁰ and on the vine were three tendrils. Then it budded, blossoms appeared, and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ I took the grapes and crushed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s palm.”
     ¹² Joseph said to him, “This is the dream’s interpretation: The three tendrils are three days. ¹³ In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand like you did when you were his wine steward. ¹⁴ Keep me in mind when it goes well with you. Kindly remember me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this house. ¹⁵ For I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and I’ve done nothing to be thrown into this pit.”
     ¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was for good, he said to Joseph, “And in my dream, there were three baskets on my head. ¹⁷ In the topmost basket, there was all manner of baked goods for Pharaoh, but birds were eating from the basket on my head.”
     ¹⁸ Joseph responded, “This is the dream’s interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you and impale you on a pole, and the birds will peck your flesh from you.”
     ²⁰ In three days, it was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he made a great feast for all his servants. Before all of his servants, he lifted up the head of the chief wine steward and the chief chef. ²¹ He restored the chief wine steward to his stewarding, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s palm once again. ²² But the chief chef he impaled, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³ But the chief wine steward did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

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Success for Joseph is not contingent upon location. In Canaan, among family—his dream indicates success. In Egypt, among a new family—he experiences promotion. In response to a demotion to a dungeon—he manages the other prisoners.

In his role as acting warden, Joseph watches two recent prisoners, Pharaoh’s wine steward and chef.

Each has a dream that puzzles them. As they frown in concentration to figure out the significance of their dream, Joseph asks them to recount their dream.

In Egypt, dreams are so significant that schools of interpretation are established, and people treat dreams as factual (not fake reality) that need a “scientific” explanation. Joseph posits, from his monotheistic heritage, that G*D will reveal a dream’s meaning with no need for a degree in dreamology.

The chief wine steward takes Joseph up on his assertion and relates his dream.

“Hooray! In three days you’ll have your job back. Tell Pharaoh about me when you are back on the job.”

Encouraged by this response, Pharaoh’s chef relates his dream.

“Woe! In three days you’ll be food for the birds.”

The third day was Pharaoh’s birthday. A feast was held, and the head of both the wine steward and the chef were lifted up. The head of the wine steward was once again held high as he served Pharaoh. The head of the chef was held high by a pole as food for the birds.

Each dream proceeded to come true, as Joseph said. Note that there is nothing miraculous about these interpretations as Joseph had come to know the steward and chef as well as being in a position to know other scuttlebutt such as Pharaoh’s birthday and leaked information.

However, Joseph’s hope of coming to the attention of Pharaoh and being lifted out of this pit of a prison found no immediate satisfaction.

39  ¹² She grabbed him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled outside. ¹³ When she realized that he had left his garment in her hand and run outside, ¹⁴ she called out to the people of her house and said to them, “Look! My husband brought us a Hebrew to mock us. He came to me to lie with me, but I called out in a loud voice. ¹⁵ When he heard me raise my voice and call out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” ¹⁶ She kept his garment beside her until his master returned home, ¹⁷ and she spoke to him the same: “The Hebrew slave came in to me, the one you brought us, to play around with me; ¹⁸ but when I raised my voice and called out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
     ¹⁹ When his master heard his wife’s words, “Things like this are what your slave has done to me,” he became incensed. ²⁰ Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison where the king’s prisoners were held. 
     While he was in jail, ²¹ YHWH was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² The dungeon warden placed in Joseph’s hands all of the prisoners in the dungeon. Whatever had to be done there, he did it. ²³ The prison warden saw to nothing under Joseph’s supervision, because YHWH was with him and whatever he did, YHWH made succeed.

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Potiphar’s wife is as cunning as Joseph. With household member’s gone, she acts. Not only does she say, “Come in to me,” she grabs and holds on to his tunic until Joseph wriggles out of it and flees. Calling out until someone comes, she explains that her husband brought this foreign Hebrew to ridicule loyal Egyptians by teasing them with their sexuality. She goes on to declaim her innocence and show Joseph’s garment as proof he had taken it off to lie with her.

Keeping the garment close to her until her husband returned, she retold her story, complete with physical evidence in her hand.

Twice, Joseph had garments taken from him; twice, Joseph had lies told about him—his “death,” his “honor.”

Potiphar becomes angry with Joseph. They both had a good thing going until this claim of sexual misconduct. As a result of Potiphar’s anger, Joseph is thrown in prison, another pit, a dungeon. Even if it were a white-collar prison with water and food, it is, nonetheless, a pit.

G*D, it is claimed, still favors and protects Joseph as he befriends the warden and demonstrates his ability to manage the other prisoners. Just as with Potiphar, Joseph finds the lever of power—enhancing those in power. In this case, Joseph is able to remove the drudgery of wardening from the warden. As long as the warden could coast, Trusty-Joseph became the acting warden. Once again, Joseph moved to the center of his situation and proved an excellent administrator.

At question is what Joseph is learning that will bring him to the center of tribal leadership. Does G*D smoothing your way give a false sense of accomplishment and set up privilege that is for self alone?

39  ¹ Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, chief steward, an Egyptian man, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down.
     ² YHWH was with Joseph so that he became a man of success while he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that YHWH was with him, and with everything he did, YHWH made his hand succeed. ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. He put him in charge of his house, and everything belonging to him he placed in his hands. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he had, YHWH blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake. YHWH’s blessing was upon everything he had in house and field. ⁶ He left everything that was his in Joseph’s hands and, with him there, paid no attention to anything except the bread he ate.
     Joseph was fair of form and pleasant to view. ⁷ After a while, his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Lie with me!”
     ⁸ He refused, saying to his master’s wife, “My master has no concern with anything in the house while I am here. Everything he has he has placed in my hands. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I and has withheld nothing from me except you, his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 
     ¹⁰ She continued to coax Joseph, day after day, and he refused to listen to her, to lie by her, to be with her.
     ¹¹ It happened one day that he came into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were in the house….

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Plots have a way of thickening.

Joseph was brought to Egypt as a commodity. Presumably, he was bought for more than the 20 pieces of silver for which he was sold. Perhaps the Ishmaelites earned half again what they paid and brought his price the betrayal level of 30 pieces of silver? The dreamer of being the main “sheaf” is well out of his expected center.

One way back to the center is to become indispensable to the center. The author(s) of Genesis record that Joseph became a successful servant. He learned the levers of power in this Egyptian context. The author(s) claim that YHWH stood behind Joseph and was the source of his success. We are not told that Joseph understood this source of his growing success.

His learning paid off. After some time, he was put in charge of Potiphar’s house and all in it.

Joseph’s master understood that which benefited him and how Joseph seemed to have a golden touch regarding the administration of resources. It didn’t hurt that he was good-looking. Joseph is described in the same words that were used of his mother, Rachel. Beauty, according to cultural norms, is a resource and power that gives opportunity. It may have been Joseph’s looks that first caught his master’s eye.

It is this same beauty (like his embroidered tunic) that raised Joseph up, and that will lay him low.

His master’s wife was part of the household. She initiates a proposal for a sexual encounter different in purpose than the one Tamar set up. Potiphar’s wife is the one who says, “Come in to me.” Joseph has an extended excuse to counter the short command.

At question is the use of authority. Joseph, as a male servant, carries more weight than Potiphar’s unnamed wife. 

Day after day, this request and rebuff went on. Joseph became cunning in his avoidance of these encounters.

One day, of course, when no one else was around, words became action….

38  ²⁴ About three New-Moons later Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played-the-whore, and what’s more she is pregnant from whoring.”
     Judah said, “Take her out. Let her be burned!”
     ²⁵ As she was being taken out, she sent a message to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Do you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are?”
     ²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I am, for I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
     ²⁷ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb! ²⁸ As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand and said, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But when he was drawing his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breach you have made. So this is how you have burst forth!” And he was named Perez/Breach. ³⁰ Afterward, out came his brother, on whose hand was the scarlet thread. And he was named Zerah/Shining.

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It appears that sending Tamar back to her father does not remove her from the authority of Judah. When he learns that Tama is pregnant, the immediate charge is that she conceived by way of prostitution (one of a few ways women on their own could survive).

In an instant, Judah pronounces judgment in only two Hebrew words: “Take-her-out!” “That-she-be-burned.” For Judah, there can be no extenuating circumstance. This provides the excuse Judah needs to pay her back for the deaths of Er and Onan, and to further protect Shelah.

As Tamar is taken out to be burned, she appeals her case by sending the seal, cord, and staff to Judah with the message that she is with child by the owner of these items.

Judah recognizes them and stops the proceedings with the recognition that her right to a child by a son of Judah has been met by Tamar’s going to the source—Judah himself. If Shelah is withheld, Tamar is still family and cannot be put to death.

Remembering this interruption may have come before Judah interceded on behalf of Joseph-of-the-Pit, readers may store this self-awareness and ability to see more than his own righteousness as positive leadership qualities.

Again we have a twin story and issues of who is firstborn. Zerah-of-the-Scarlet-Thread parallels Esau the Red—firstborns who are displaced from their position.

Jacob secures his blessing through his trickery of Esau and Isaac. Perez overtakes Zerah in the process of his being born and bursts through. As Jacob’s grandson, Perez becomes the one through whom will come (spoiler alert) the kings of Judah—particularly David and a non-king named Jesus.

Such is the strange story of Judah and Tamar, and levirate marriage. Responsibility to the larger family is not an easy lesson for Judah.