Gen_36:1-43; Gen_37:1-36; Gen_38:1-30; Gen_39:1-23; Gen_40:1-23 w:1-23
Pgs. 119-128
Ch. 37-40
SECTION IX.
VAYESHEV.
XXXVII.AND Jakob dwelt in the land of the habitation of his father, in the land ofKenaan. These are the generations of Jakob. Joseph was a son of seventeenyears; he kept the flock with his brothers; and he had been brought up with thesons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpha, the wives of his father; andJoseph brought their evil report to his father. But Israel loved Joseph morethan all his sons, because he had in him a wise son, and he made him avariegated robe.[1] <l > And his brothers saw that theirfather loved him better than all his brethren, and they hated him, and were notwilling to speak with him peaceably. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and showed itto his brothers, and they hated him the more.[2] <l > And he said to them,Hear now this dream which I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves inthe midst of the field, and lo! my sheaf arose and became upright, and, behold,your sheaves stood around and worshipped my sheaf. And his brothers said tohim, Is it thy fancy reigning to reign over us? or a shultan, dost thou thinkto govern us? And they added yet to hate him for his dreams and for his words.And he dreamed yet another dream, and described it to his brothers, saying,Behold, I have dreamed a dream again; and lo, the sun, and the moon, and elevenstars worshipped me. And he described it to his father and to his brethren; andhis father rebuked him[3] <l > and said to him, What dream is thisthat thou hast dreamed? Am I and thy mother and thy brothers to come andworship thee on the earth? And his brothers envied him; but his father kept theword. And his brothers went to tend the flock of their father in Shekem. AndIsrael said to Joseph, Do not thy brothers tend the flock in Shekem? Come, Iwill send thee to them. And he said. Behold me. And he said to him, Go now, andsee the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and return meword. And he sent him from the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shekem. And a manfound him, and, behold, he wandered in the field. And the man inquired of him,saying, Whom seekest thou? And he said, I look for my brothers: show me, I beseechthee, where they feed. And the man said, They have gone hence; for I heard themsay, We will go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found themin Dothan. And they saw him from afar; and before he came nigh, they devisedagainst him to kill him. And they said, a man to his brother, Behold, thismaster of dreams cometh. And now, come, we will kill him, and cast him into oneof the pits; and will say an evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall seewhat will be the end of his dreams. And Reuben heard, and delivered him out oftheir hands, and said, Let us not slay his life. And Reuben said, Do not shedblood; cast him into this pit in the wilderness, but stretch not forth a handagainst him,-that he might deliver him from their hands to bring him backto his father. And it was when Joseph had come to his brethren that they tookoff his robe, the variegated robe which was upon him, and they took him andcast him into the pit; but the pit was empty, no water was in it. And theyreclined to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, aband of Arabaee[4] <l > were coming from Gilead, with theircamels bearing spices,[5] <l > and resin,[6] <l > andmyrrh,[7] <l > to go down to Mizraim. And Jehudasaid to his brethren, What gain[8] <l > should we have by killing our brotherand covering his blood? Come, and we will sell him to the Arabaee, and our handshall not be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethrenhearkened to him. And there passed by Midianite men, (gabree Mid-ya-naee,)merchants, and they drew and lifted upJoseph from the pit, and sold Joseph to the Arabaee for twenty of silver; andthey brought Joseph into Mizraim. And Reuben returned to the pit, and, behold,Joseph was not in the pit. And he rent his clothes, and returned to his brethren,and said, The youth is not; and I, whither shall I go? But they took Joseph’srobe, and killed a kid of the goats, and dabbled the robe in the blood. Andthey sent the variegated robe, and they brought to their father, and said, Thishave we found; know now whether it is the robe of thy son, or not. And he knewit, and said, It is my son’s robe; an evil beast hath devoured him: slain,slain is Joseph! And Jakob rent his clothes, and wrapped sackcloth upon hisloins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons, and all his house,arose to comfort him; but he refused to take comfort, and said, For I will godown unto my son, mourning into Sheol. And his father wept for him. And theMidianites sold him in Mizraim to Potiphar, a prince of Pharoh, chief of thekillers.
XXXVIII. And it was at that time that Jehuda went down from hisbrethren, and turned aside to an Adulamite man whose name was Hira. And Jehudasaw there the daughter of a merchant man whose name was Shuva, and he took herand went in with her; and she conceived and bare a son, and he called his nameHer; and she conceived again, and bare a son, and called his name Onan. And sheadded again, and bare a son, and called his name Shelah; and he was in Kezibwhen she bare him. And Jehuda took a wife for Her his firstborn, and her namewas Tamar. And Her the firstborn of Jehuda was evil before the Lord, and theLord caused him to die. And Jehuda said to Onan, Go in with the wife of thybrother, and associate with her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onanknew that after his name the seed would not be called; and it was that when hewent in with the wife of his brother, he corrupted his way upon the earth thathe might not raise up seed unto his brother; and what he did was evil before the Lord, and he caused him alsoto die. And Jehuda said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain awidow in thy father’s house until Shelah my son be grown up. For he said, Lesthe also die like his brothers: and Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.And after many days the daughter of Shuva, Jehuda’s wife, died: and Jehuda wascomforted; and he went up to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hira theAdulamite his friend unto Timnath. And it was shown to Tamar, saying, Behold,thy father-in-law cometh to Timnath to shear his sheep. And shelaid aside the dress of her widowhood, and covered herself with a mantle (or alarge veil), and adorned herself,[9] <l > and sat in the dividing of Aynin[10] <l >which is in the way to Timnath. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and shehad not been given to him for a wife. And Jehuda saw her, and thought that shewas an outcast, because she had covered her face. And he declined to her by theway, and said, Give me now to go in unto thee; for he did not know that she washis daughter-in-law. And she said, What wilt thou give me, thatthou mayest come to me? And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats fromthe flock. And she said, If thou wilt give me a pledge until thou send. And hesaid, What is the pledge that I shall give thee? And she said, Thy seal-ring,and thy scarf,[11] <l > and thy staff that is in thy hand.And he gave to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. And shearose, and went, and put off the veil from her, and dressed herself in thedress of her widowhood. And Jehuda sent the kid of the goats, by the hand ofhis friend the Adulamite, to receive the pledge from the hand of the woman; buthe could not find her. And he inquired of the men of the place, saying, Whereis the harlot who was in Aynin upon the way? And they said to him, There is noharlot here. And he returned to Jehuda, and said, I could not find her; the menof the place also said there is no harlot there. And Jehuda said, Let her takeit to her, lest we be in contempt: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast notfound her. And it was three months, and it was showed to Jehuda, saying, Tamarthy daughter-in-law hath committed fornication, and, behold, she iswith child by fornication. And Jehuda said, Bring her out, and let her beburned. And she was brought out. And she sent to her father-in-law,saying, By the man to whom these belong I am with child. And she said,Acknowledge now, whose are these, the seal, the scarf, and the staff? AndJehuda acknowledged and said, She is justified in having conceived from me,because I have not given her Shelah my son. And he added not again to know her.And it was the time of her giving birth, and, behold, twins were in her womb.And it was in giving birth that one of them put forth a hand; and the midwife tookand tied scarlet upon his hand, saying, This came the first. And it was when hehad drawn back his hand that his brother came forth: and she said, How muchgreater strength is with thee, that thou hast prevailed! And she called hisname Pharets. And afterwards came forth his brother who had the crimson on hishand, and she called his name Zarah.
XXXIX. ButJoseph was brought down into Mizraim, and Potiphar, a chief of Pharoh, a chiefof the killers, a Mizraite man, bought him from the hand of the Arabaee who hadbrought him down thither. And the Word of the Lord was the helper of Joseph,and he became a prosperous man, and was in the house of his Mizraite master.And his master saw that the Word of the Lord was his helper, and that all thathe did the Lord prospered in his hand. And Joseph found favour in his eyes, andhe served him. And he appointed him over his house, and all that he had hedelivered into his hand. And it was from the time that he appointed him overhis house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the house of theMizraite for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that hehad, in the house and in the field. And he left all that belonged to him in thehand of Joseph; and he knew of nothing that was with him, except the breadwhcih he ate. Now Joseph was of goodly appearance, beautiful in aspect. And itwas after these things that the wife of his master lifted up her eyes toJoseph, and said, Lie with me. But be refused, and said to his master’s wife,Behold, my master knoweth not what is with me in the house, and all that hehath he hath delivered unto my hand; there is no one in this housegreater thanI, and be hath not prohibited anything from me but thyself, because thou arthis wife: and how can I do this great wickedness and become guilty before theLord? And it was when she spake with Joseph daily that he would not hearken toher to lie with her, or be with her. And it was about this day that he cameinto the house to examine the writings of his affairs, and no man of the men ofthe house was there in the house. And she laid hold of his garments, saying,Lie with me. But he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and went forth intothe street. And she called to the men of her house, and spake to them, saying,See, he brought us a Hebrew man to mock at us. He came in to me to lie with me;and I cried with a high voice. And it was when he heard that I lifted up myvoice and cried, he left his robe with me, and fled and went forth into thestreet. And she let his robe remain with her until his master came into hishouse. And she spake with him these words, saying, The Hebrew servant whom thoubroughtest us came in to me to mock at me. And it was when I lifted up my voiceand cried, he left his robe with me and fled into the street. And when hismaster heard the words of his wife which she spake with him, saying, Accordingto these things hath thy servant done to me, his anger waxed strong, and hismaster took Joseph, and delivered him to the house of the bound, where theprisoners of the king were bound; and he was there in the house of the bound.But the Word of the Lord was the helper of Joseph, and showed him mercy, andgave him favour in the eyes of the captain of the prison. And the captain ofthe prison gave into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who were in the houseof the bound, and all that they did there was done according to his word. Thecaptain of the prison saw no fault in his hand, because the Word of the Lordwas his helper, and that which he did the Lord made to prosper.
XL. Andafter these things the cup-bearer and the baker of the king of Mizraimoffended their master, the king of Mizraim. And Pharoh was angry with two ofhis chiefs, with the chief of the cupbearers and with the chief of the bakers.And he gave them into ward in the house of the captain of the executioners(killers) in the house of the prison, the place where Joseph was confined. Andthe captain of the executioners appointed Joseph with them, and he ministeredto them, and they were certain days in ward. And they dreamed a dream, both ofthem, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretationof his dream, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Mizraim, who wereconfined in the house of the bound. And Joseph came to them in the morning, andsaw them, and, behold, they were melancholy. And he asked the chiefs of Pharohwho were with him in ward, in his master’s house, saying, Why are your facesevil to-day? And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there isno interpreter of it. And Joseph said to them, Are not interpretations frombefore the Lord? Relate it now to me. And the chief of the cupbearers relatedhis dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me,and in the vine were three branches: and it was, as it sprouted, it producedbuds, and, having flowered, ripened clusters of grapes. And the cup of Pharohwas in my hand; and I took grapes and expressed them into Pharohs cup, and gavethe cup into Pharoh’s hand. And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation:the three branches are three days. At the end of three days, Pharoh willremember thee[12] <l > and restore thee to thy service, andthou wilt give the cup into Pharoh’s hand, according to thy former custom whenthou wast cupbearer to him. But let remembrance of me be with thee when itshall be well with thee, and do me favour, I beseech thee, and remember mebefore Pharoh, and deliver me from this prison. For I was verily taken by fraudfrom the land of the Hivraee, and here have I done nothing evil that I shouldbe imprisoned. And when the master of the bakers saw that he had interpretedpleasantly, he said to Joseph, I also (was) in my dream, and, behold, threebaskets of confectionery[13] <l > were upon my head, and in the upperbasket were all (sorts of) food for Pharoh, the work of the baker; and thebirds ate them from the basket that was on my head. And Joseph answered andsaid, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days; atthe end of three days will Pharoh remove thy head from off thee, and will hangthee upon a gibbet, and the birds will eat thy flesh from off thee. And it wason the third day, the day of the nativity of Pharoh, that he made a feast forall his servants and he took the, head[14] <l > of the chiefcupbearer and the head[15] <l > of the chief of the bakers in themidst of his servants. And he restored the cupbearer to his office, and he gavethe cup into Pharoh’s hand. And the chief of the bakers he hanged, as Josephhad interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, butforgat him,
[1] Or, (Kitona da-passei,) "a robe of pieces," i.e. coloured ones. Hebrew, Ketonath passim. In the treatise Negaim xi. 7, we have pispesin, "small pieces." Castel defined the Chaldeeroot pesa, "to expand,"and the Hebrew noun pisyona,"extension." Hence, some would render Kitona da-passei, "a long robe;" or, as Gesenius does theHebrew, "a garment reaching down to the extremities." CompareJonathan and the Jerusalem Targum on the verse. The Samaritan reads as theHebrew. The Peschito has Kutino da pedyotha, "a fringed garment;" the LXX. "avarious robe."
[1] "Added to hate him."
[1] Sam. Vers. "was angry withhim."
[1] Heb and Sam. "Ishmaelites."
[1]Sheaph, "balsam." Heb. and Sam. nekoth, "spicery." LXX. "perfumery."Aquila, storax.
[1]Quetaph, "gum." Heb. tsere, probably opobalsamum.
[1]Letom.Heb. lot, "the gum of the cistus." LXX. stacte.
[1] Lit. "What mammon?"
[1] Sam. Vers. "changed herself."
[1]B’pharashoth Aynin, "in a conspicuous (?) branching of theroad." The Sam. Vers. has "in the gate of Chasbim."
[1]Shosheph, "a handerchief," sudarium.
[1] Sam. Vers. "will take up thyreckoning, or account."
[1]Cheiru, (Heb. chori,)"white bread."
[1] Sam. Vers. "the account."
[1] Sam. Vers. "the account."
[1] <l > Or, (Kitona da-passei,) "a robe of pieces," i.e. coloured ones. Hebrew, Ketonath passim. In the treatise Negaim xi. 7, we have pispesin, "small pieces." Castel defined theChaldee root pesa, "toexpand," and the Hebrew noun pisyona, "extension." Hence, some would render Kitonada-passei, "a long robe;" or, asGesenius does the Hebrew, "a garment reaching down to theextremities." Compare Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum on the verse. TheSamaritan reads as the Hebrew. The Peschito has Kutino da pedyotha, "a fringed garment;" the LXX. "avarious robe."
[2] <l > "Added to hate him."
[3] <l > Sam. Vers. "was angry withhim."
[4] <l > Heb and Sam. "Ishmaelites."
[5] <l >Sheaph, "balsam." Heb. and Sam. nekoth, "spicery." LXX. "perfumery."Aquila, storax.
[6] <l >Quetaph, "gum." Heb. tsere, probably opobalsamum.
[7] <l >Letom. Heb. lot, "the gum of the cistus." LXX. stacte.
[8] <l > Lit. "What mammon?"
[9] <l > Sam. Vers. "changedherself."
[10] <l >B’pharashoth Aynin, "in a conspicuous (?) branching of theroad." The Sam. Vers. has "in the gate of Chasbim."
[11] <l >Shosheph, "a handerchief," sudarium.
[12] <l > Sam. Vers. "will take up thyreckoning, or account."
[13] <l >Cheiru, (Heb. chori,)"white bread."
[14] <l > Sam. Vers. "the account."
[15] <l > Sam. Vers. "the account."