Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/306

Rh The Book of Genesis

288

Joseph as a slave almost without hesitation, and with only two of them willing to speak a mild word on his behalf, and with no thought of the grief they must thereby cause

aged father. awful

their

self to the

Now lot of

one of them

is

ready to yield him-

Egyptian slavery,

order that the

in

other brother might be saved from the very fate of Joseph,

and

that

their

father might be

spared the renewal of his

grief. It

were

futile to

attempt to record

excellence of the Joseph story.

of narrative and dramatic art

world's

the

literature.

whenever one of the narration, is

it

is

due entirely

It

is

stories

all

Suffice

it

to say as a piece

stands in the forefront of

it

not of

the points of artistic

without significance that the

Bible

is

selected

almost invariably this story of Joseph.

for

This

to the realization, largely unconscious, of its

surpassing merit as a piece of narrative literature.

But

this

very fact raises the question of the historical

truth of the story. is

that the story

is

And

the answer, established by science,

and beautiful romance through

a noble

and through, with very little historical basis. We know from Egyptian monuments that there dwelt in ancient Palbefore the entrance of the tribes of

estine,

land,

small

a

clan

or

tribe,

may very well be a may have continued

Josepli tribe

which

was

Israel

called

into

contraction of this name. to dwell

advent of the great body of

tiie

in

tribes

Palestine of

Israel,

the

Joseph-cl.

until

This the

and may

have become incorporated with them, and thus the name may have become current in Israel. But there is not the least corroborative evidence that there was ever an actual man Joseph, who played the role of the hero of the

Joseph

story.

On certain

the other hand, documents found* in

man named Yanhamu, who

political

somewhat

life

under

Amenophis

similar to that

wliich

Egypt

tell

of a

held a position in Egyptian

IV

(1375-1358,

Joseph

liolds

in

B.

C),

the story. \n