Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/579

 JOSEPH

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JOSEPH

personal attendant. He was next entrusted wnth the superintendence of his master's house, a most exten- sive and responsible charge, such as was usual in large Egyptian households. With Yahweh's blessing, all things, "both at home and in the field", became so prosperous under Joseph's management that his mas- ter trusted him implicitly, and "knew not any other thing, save the bread which he ate". While thus dis- charging with perfect success his manifold duties of majoT-domo (Egyp. mer-per). Joseph was often brought in contact with the lady of the house, for at that time there was as much free intercourse between men antl women in Egypt as there is among us in the present day. (Oftentimes she noticed the youthful and hand- some Hebrew overseer, and carried away by passion, she repeatedly tempted him to commit adultery with her, till at length, resenting his virtuous conduct, she accused him of those very criminal soUcitations where- with she had herself pursued him. The credulous master believed the report of his wife, and in his wrath cast Joseph into prison. There also Yahweh was with His faithful servant: He gave liim favour with the keeper of the prison, who soon placed in Joseph im- plicit confidence, and even committed to his charge the other prisoners (xxxix, 2-23). Shortly after- wards two of Pharaoh's officers, the chief butler and chief baker, having incurred the royal displeasure for some reason imknown to us, were put in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. They also were placed uniler Joseph's charge, and as he came in to them one morning, he noticed their unusual sad- ness. They could not catch the meaning of a dream which each had had during the night, and there was no professional interpreter of dreams near at hand. Then it was that Joseph interpreted their dreams correctly, bidding the chief butler to remember him when re- stored to his office, as indeed he was three days after, on Pharaoh's birthday (xl). Two years rolled l)y, after which the monarch himself had two dreams, the one of the fat and lean kine, and the other of the full and the withered ears. Great was Pharaoh's per- plexity at these dreams, which no one in the realm could interpret. This occurrence naturally reminded the chief butler of Joseph's skill in interpreting dreams, and he mentioned to the king what had hap- pened in his own case and in that of the chief baker. Summoned before Pharaoh, Joseph declared that both dreams signified that seven years of plenty would im- mediately be followed by seven years of famine, and further suggested that one-fifth of the produce of the years of plenty be laid by as a provision for the years of famine. Deeply impressed by the clear and plau- sible interpretation of his dreams, and recognizing in Joseph a wisdom more than human, the monarch en- trusted to him the carr\nng out of the practical meas- ure which he had suggested. For this purpose he raised him to the rank of keeper of the royal seal, invested him with an authority second only to that of the throne, bestowed on him the Egj'ptian name of Zaphenalh-paneah (" God spoke, and he came into life"), and gave him to wife Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphares, the priest of the great national sanctuary at On (or Heliopolis, seven miles north-east of the modern Cairo).

Soon the seven years of plenty predicted by Joseph set in, during which he stored up corn in each of the cities from which it was gathered, and his wife, Asen- eth, bore him two sons whom he called Manasses and Ephraim, from the favouraljle circumstances of the time of their birth. Xext came the seven years of dearth, during which by his skilful management Jo- seph saved Egj-pt from the worst features of want and hunger, and not only Egypt, but also the various countries around, which had to suffer from the same grievous and protracteil famine (xli). Among these neighbouring countries was counted the land of Cha- naan where Jaeol:) had continued to dwell with Jo-

seph's eleven brothers. Having heard that corn was sold in Egypt, the aged patriarch sent his sons tliither to purchase some, keeping back, however, Rachel's second child, Benjamin, " lest perhaps he take harm in the journey". Admitted into Joseph's presence, his brothers failed to recognize in the Egyptian grandee before them the lad whom they had so cruelly treated twenty years before. He roughly accused them of be- ing spies sent to discover the undefended passes of the eastern frontier of Egypt, and when they volunteered information about their family, he, desirous of ascer- taining the truth concerning Benjamin, retained one of them as hostage in prison and sent the others home to bring back their youngest brother with them. On their return to their father, or at their first lodging- place on the way, they discovered the money which Joseph had ordered to be placed in their sacks. Great was their anxiety and that of Jacob, who for a time refused to allow his sons to return to Egypt in com- pany with Benjamin. At length he yielded under the pressure of famine, sending, at the same time, a present to conciliate the favour of the Egj-ptian prime minister. At the sight of Benjamin Joseph under- stood that his brothers had told him the truth at their first appearance before him, and he invited them to a feast in his own house. At the feast he caused them to be seated exactly according to their age, and he hon- oured Benjamin with "a greater mess", as a mark of distinction (xlii-xliii). Then they left for home, un- suspecting that at Joseph's order his divining cup had been hidtlen in Benjamin's sack. They were soon overtaken, charged with theft of that precious cup, which, upon search, was found in the sack where it had been hidden. In their dismay they returned in a body to Joseph's house, and ofl'ered to remain as his bondmen in Egypt, an olTer which Joseph declined, declaringthat he would only retain Benjamin. Where- upon Juda pleads most pathetically that, for the sake of his aged father, Benjamin be dismissed free, and that he be allowed to remain in his brother's place as Joseph's bondman. Then it was that Joseph dis- closed himself to his brothers, calmed their fears, and sent them back with a pressing invitation to Jacob to come and settle in Eg\-pt (xliv-xlv, 24).

It was in the land of Gessen, a pastoral district about forty miles north-east of Cairo, that Joseph called his father and brothers to settle. There they lived as prosperous shepherds of the king, while in their misery the Egyptians were gradually reduced to sell their lands to the Crown, in order to secure their subsistence from the all-powerful prime minister of Pharaoh. And so Joseph brought it to pass that the former owners of landed property — with the exception, however, of the priests — became simple tenants of the king and paid to the royal treasury, as it were, an annual rent of one-fifth of the produce of the soil (xlvi, 2S-xlvii, 26). During Jacob's last moments, Joseph promised his father that he would bury him in Chanaan, and caused him to adopt his two sons, Manasses and Ephraim (xlvii, 25-xlviii). After his father's demise, he had his body embalmed and buried with great pomp in the Cave of Machpelah (I, 1-14). He also allayed the fears of his brothers who dreaded that he should now avenge their former ill-treatment of him. He died at the age of 110, and his body was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egj'pt (1, 15-25). Ultimately, his remains were carried into Chanaan and buried in Sichem (Exod.,xiii, 19; Josue,xxiv,.32).

Such, in substance, is the Biblical account of Jo- seph's career. In its wonderful simplicity, it sketches one of the most beautiful characters presented by Old- Testament history. As a lioy, Jo.seph has the most vivid horror for the evil done by some of his l)rothers; and as a youth, he resisis with unflinching courage the repeated and pressing .^ohcitations of his master's wife. Cast into prison, he chsplays great power of endurance, trusting to God for his justification. When