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She has seen her sister Leah bear Jacob three sons (presumably within three years), and can no longer take the pain of being the barren wife. When Rachel did not have any children, she became upset. But Israel refused saying, "but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he," a declaration he made just as Israel himself was to his firstborn brother Esau. Soon, the family took up residence in the town of Bethel and later moved to Hebron. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please consider supporting this ministry, which is offered free of charge in order to help newcomers understand Biblical context and develop good spiritual fruit. The levirate marriage was for the purpose of providing a woman with offspring and so if a man was already married, he could still perform the levirate function and she would be provided for with her dead husbands share of the inheritance, which then belongs to her son (or daughter, because the Torah also says that if a man dies and has only daughters they can inherit so that his name and inheritance will not pass from Israel). 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. (note that the second wife is only permissibly taken in response to barrenness), [146] If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid-servant as wife and she bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants. Ultimately, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard (Genesis 37:36, Genesis 39:1). Joseph likely also has this status because he is the eldest child of Jacob's favorite (deceased) wife, Rachel . There are numerous mentions of Joseph in Bah' writings. [53] These come in the forms of allusions written by the Bb and Bah'u'llh. Isaac had one wife. Before he died, he made the children of Israel swear that when they left the land of Egypt they would take his bones with them, and on his death his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. Joseph had his father embalmed, a process that took forty days. Unaware of this secondary intention, the others obeyed him first. Joseph became the slave of Potiphar a very high official in Egypt. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and he said; "Take Mary home as your wife.". "[43] The story has a lot in common with the biblical narrative, but with certain differences. [16] Joseph requested that the cup-bearer mention him to Pharaoh to secure his release from prison,[17] but the cup-bearer, reinstalled in office, forgot Joseph. Thus, Israel was able to bless the Pharaoh. 8, 10). The Haran controversy wrestles with the question of how long Abraham's grandson Jacob lived in Haran. I smiled. [47] But in Islam they returned leaving behind Benjamin because the mizzen bowl of the king was found in his bag. Stories about Jacob in the Bible begin at Genesis 25:19. When Jacob calls his wives to him in Gen thirty-one only Leah and Rachel are named. It is described in the Quran as the 'best of stories'. Who was the angel of I think some translators/editors have erred when they separate the two sections. well, that did go well. How many wives did Abraham have? Could Paul have been saying that the husband and wife need to be one (Hebrew echad) instead of limiting a man to one wife? Joseph was born the 11 th of 12 sons to his father Jacob. In Egypt, Joseph's character was antithetical to that of all the other slaves. If later he is disgusted with her (after all, she was from a pagan nation), he cannot treat her as a slave and simply sell her away but must treat her as he would treat a divorced wife. Then he prepared a great ceremonial journey to Canaan leading the servants of the Pharaoh, and the elders of the houses Israel and Egypt beyond the Jordan River. After they mentioned a younger brother at home, the Vizier (Joseph) demanded that he be brought to Egypt as a demonstration of their veracity. Israel declared that they would be heirs to the inheritance of the house of Israel, as if they were his own children, just as Reuben and Simeon were. Joseph was the first son of Rachel and Jacob, and the 11th of Jacob's 12 sons (Genesis 30:22-24). 17:1; 1 Ne. Deut 21:15 says that if a man has two wives, one loved and one unloved that he cannot disinherit the child of the unloved wife doesnt this say that men can have two wives? That night, Joseph ordered his steward to load the brothers' donkeys with food and all their money. The two principle sources are the Yahwist and the Elohist versions, with a few details included as well from the Priestly source. during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, to a later time during the Hyksos Era (16481540 B.C.E. [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. After relaying his prophecies, Israel died. Joseph was made a ruler over Egypt second to Pharoah. Though Manasseh was the older brother, Jacob placed his right hand on Ephraim, the younger, and gave him the greater blessing. Joseph or Yosef (Hebrew: , Arabic: , Yusuf; "The Lord increases") is a major figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). [28] Impressed with Joseph's interpretations, Pharaoh appoints him as second-in-command (Gen 41:41). The story concludes by Joseph praying, "My lord you have indeed bestowed upon me of the sovereignty and taught me something of the interpretation of dreams- the (only) creator of heavens and the earth! Old and nearly blind, Jacob is overwhelmed with joy, saying: "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too" (Gen 48:11). Seeing only the powerful minister who controlled their lives and fortunes, they "bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground" (Gen. 42:6), thus fulfilling in part his earlier prophetic dream. Now why? (7-14) Genesis 29:17. 13When they went the second time Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and Josephs origins were revealed to Pharaoh. (Acts 7:9-13). Did Jacob have 4 wives? The sons by Leah (Jacob's first wife) were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun. With Reuben and Judah's persistence, they persuaded their father to let Benjamin join them for fear of Egyptian retribution (Genesis 42:2943:15). She then had three more sons: Simeon, Levi and Judah. 'He shall add';[1] Standard: Ysef, Tiberian: Ysp; alternatively: ,[2][3] lit. This makes Jesus related to Adam, both as the son of God and . Jacob's partiality to Rachel was the source of a great deal of hostility and scheming among Jacobs's wives and concubines (see Genesis 30). It was a very large company." Joseph was fully trusted by his master, Potiphars wife took a fancy to Joseph, but he refused to sin with her. To Joseph, he gave a portion more of Canaanite property than he had to his other sons; land that he fought for against the Amorites. They betrayed him by. The brothers were frozen and could not utter a word. Unbeknownst to them, Joseph had also returned their money to their money sacks (Genesis 42:128). The first born of this union is still his firstborn even after he marries another woman, loves her, and has children with her. This also created rivalries between their sons. "All Pharaoh's officials accompanied himthe dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egyptbesides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. Manasseh, Ephraim are between 19 and 26. Joseph Born in the wilderness, he was the youngest son in the family. Glad to hear from you Brian, I have received many heartbreaking messages from women whose husbands seem to think they can force them into this lifestyle when they havent even bothered to look at whether or not the reasons that existed then still exist now, which of course they do not. 84, xl. 21 . 4. [54], This article is about the Joseph of the Book of Genesis. Now we get to your verse if he sends her away and she has provided him with children despite the fact that he hates her he cannot treat her sons with contempt when it comes time to give the inheritance. Yes, the Bible does indicate that Jacob had more than one daughter. His brothers' jealousy grew when Joseph told them of his two dreams (Gen. 37:11) in which all the brothers, as well as his parents, bowed down to him. She gave birth to Joseph, one of the most important figures of the Old Testament, who saved the nation of Israel during a famine. Bible References: Rachel's story is told Genesis 29:6-35:24, 46:19-25, 48:7 . Both were born after their mothers had been barren for a long time. God blessed Leah with a firstborn son named Reuben. Joseph! pseudo-Jonathan), protecting her from the lustful eyes of Esau (Gen. R. 78:13). It is later mentioned in Genesis 41:50 that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. 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. This caused a stir amongst the brothers. More rabbinical literature has been generated concerning him than any of the other sons of Jacob, and he is also a significant figure in Islamic tradition. They also discovered that all of their money sacks still had money in them, and they were dismayed. After being beaten by his brethren, Joseph was thrown by Simeon into a pit, among serpents and scorpions; but Joseph prayed to God and the reptiles retired to their holes (Targ. Joseph is 56 and Benjamin is about 40. He worked under the Egyptian official Potiphar but was freed and became the chief adviser (vizier) to the Egyptian Pharaoh. 118b); they were given to lust, while Joseph was chaste and resisted temptation. How many sons did Jacob have with bilhah? The story tells of two servants of Pharaoh's household who were in jail with Joseph and asked him to interpret their dreams. Mary and Joseph ended up in Bethlehem where the birth took place. [31] However, punishment could not have been avoided because of her class status and limited public knowledge of her scheme. His father then remarked, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive." As Bilhah and Zilpah were almost undoubtedly purchased by Laban as young girls from fathers who either needed to pay debts or who could not afford to provide dowries, this term does make sense again, these were women of a special class. When they were brought to Joseph's house, they were apprehensive about the returned money in their money sacks. This is great, Tyler. [g] Then he had their donkeys prepared with grain and sent the other brothers back to Canaan. After his phenomenal rise to power, as he is passing through the street one day, his attention is attracted by a beggar woman whose bearing shows traces of former greatness. She also bore Benjamin and was a faithful wife to Jacob. What is a forbidden marriage in the Bible? Afterward, Joseph's family personally met the Pharaoh of Egypt. 3) Levi was the third of Jacob and Leah's children. Confronting Pseudo-archaeological memes Pt 4: Was Byblos the Goddess of Writing? I love reading and studying from you. God punished him, therefore, by setting against him Potiphar's wife (Gen. R. 87:3). The story of Yusuf and Zulaikha was a favorite love song in the Near East. R. 1:7). Jacob, Hebrew Yaaqov, Arabic Yaqb, also called Israel, Hebrew Yisrael, Arabic Isrl, Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. The favoritism Israel showed Joseph and the plot against him by his brothers were divine means of getting him into Egypt. In the Elohist version it is Rueben intervenes on Joseph's behalf, while in the Yahwist version it is Judah that saves him. But you'd be wrong. He is also a type of manly beauty; so that one often finds the expression "a second Joseph," meaning one extraordinarily beautiful. Tap the title above, next to the arrow, to go to thatlesson with a link back to thispage. The eleventh son of Jacob and elder of the two sons Rachel (Genesis 30:23, 24). 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. [48] Similarly, the eldest son of Jacob had decided not to leave the land because of the oath taken to protect Benjamin beforehand. This tendency, although greatly diminished, was followed throughout late antiquity, the Medieval Era, and into the Reformation. So if someone is pushing polygamy, know that according to Paul (an expert in the Law and in the Scriptures) they have disqualified themselves for leadership rendering their opinion merely an opinion. 16Their remains were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham, for a price in silver, purchased from the children of Hamor in Shechem. (Acts 7:14-16). (Genesis 46:134). Jacob is between 130 and 147 years old. JOSEPH. You are my Guardian in this world and in the Hereafter. Cushan and Midian are equated with each other, as are tents and curtains and affliction and trembling. There is much confusion about the word Cush in Scripture the first being that it does not actually refer to Ethiopia at all but instead a region more in the Sudan. He is Jacob's favorite (Genesis 37:3). 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. He wept so loudly that even the Egyptian household heard it outside. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out and they produced grapes. Esau took a third wife to please his father Isaac (Genesis 28:6-9). Why did Jacob go to paddan? The family prostrated before him hence the fulfilment of his dream aforetime.[52]. He Was the Son of Isaac. The motif of dreams/dream interpretation contributes to a strong story-like narrative. Thats an interesting word, because although the lemma is the same isha as I discussed above neshe is tied in to the idea of a debt. 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. How many children did Mary have after Jesus? (Genesis Rabbah 84:22). His story is told in . Modern critics have made various estimates of the historical worth of these narratives of Joseph. We passed on to Zilpah, and they noticed it again Gad is Leahs son!, Very good, I smiled. which references passages that point to Jacob having "daughters" (plural, more than one) such as Genesis 37:34-35. Joseph is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Qur'an, suras vi. Jacob also had some daughters, but the Bible gives the name of only one of them. 11Then a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, causing great affliction. of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife, Jacob, before he died, gave his blessing to Josephs two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In the ancient Near East, according to the laws of many of the surrounding nations, a woman had two years to bear a child to her husband and if she didnt, she could legally be divorced. She became angry and told lies about him, so he was put in jail. In the second dream, the sun (father), the moon (mother), and eleven stars (brothers) bowed to Joseph himself. Jacob is 147 years old. In the midrash, the selling of Joseph was part of God's divine plan for him to save his tribes. He withdrew to his chambers and wept. So they named this spot Abel Mizraim. 34), and a whole chapter Yusuf (sura xii.) The children of Israel remembered their oath, and when they left Egypt during the Exodus, Moses took Joseph's bones with him. Judah appealed to the Vizier begging that Benjamin be released and that he be enslaved in his stead, because of the silver cup found in Benjamin's sack. Joseph was sworn to do as his father asked of him. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's interpretation and gave him authority to carry out the suggested policy (Gen. 41:46). Joseph occupies a very important place in Rabbinical literature, and no patriarch was the subject of so many Midrashic traditional narratives. Isaac and Rebecca's son Jacob was sent there to avoid the wrath of his brother Esau. [5], In rabbinic tradition, he is considered the ancestor of a second Messiah called "Mashiach ben Yosef", who will wage war against the forces of evil alongside Mashiach ben David and die in combat with the enemies of God and Israel. Joseph interpreted this dream as the cup-bearer being restored as cup-bearer to the Pharaoh within three days. Laws of Hammurabi: [144] If a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife. Scripture doesn't tell us much about Asenath, the wife of Joseph, the son of Jacob. Really Bilhahs and Zilpahs lives would have looked bleak but they would have accepted it as their lot in life in ancient times people firmly believed that their conditions and station in life were pre-determined by the gods and hardly worth complaining about or trying to get out of. 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. . As Jacob's name became synonymous with all Israel, so that of Joseph was eventually equated with all the tribes that made up the northern kingdom. When they met, they embraced each other and wept together for quite a while. He was the son of Leah, Jacob's first wife. Some of those women were also married to friends of his.Nov 11, 2014 For Jacob however, a time came when his parents urged him to leave Canaan . When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, the king asked him for a sign by which he might know that his interpretation was true. 36). Joseph understood what they were saying and removed himself from their presence because he was caught in emotion. In the Qayyumu'l-Asma', the Bb refers to Bah'u'llh as the true Joseph and makes an analogous prophecy regarding Bah'u'llh suffering at the hands of his brother, Mrz Yahy. 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 . "Give me children, or I shall die," she says to Jacob (Genesis 30:1). As they approached Egyptian territory, Judah went ahead to ask Joseph where the caravan should unload. The words do not share the same lemma and so are unrelated. The musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is about Joseph's story. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. J. M. Sel. Shechem was in the land which was allocated by Joshua to the Tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of the House of Joseph, after the conquest of Canaan. | Fact Sheet Index | Servants of Grace Apologetics, Mishpatim in Context: Selling your daughter into slavery? The "seven lean years" has been taken to refer to a Middle Eastern famine documented at that time. Jacob's favoritism for Joseph made his half-brothers so jealous that they were ready to murder him (see Genesis 37). (Gen 50:7-9). Jacob became greatly distressed, feeling deprived of successive sons: Joseph, Simeon, and (prospectively) Benjamin. Joseph wept as they spoke and told them that what had happened was God's purpose to save lives and the lives of his family. "[40], In addition, some Christian authors have argued that this typological interpretation finds its origin in the speech of Stephen in Acts 7:9-15, as well as the Gospel of Luke and the parables of Jesus, noting strong verbal and conceptual collocation between the Greek translation of the portion of Genesis concerning Joseph and the Parable of the Wicked Tenants and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Deceptively, Joseph also ordered the steward to put his silver cup in Benjamin's sack. The first mention of Ishmaelites (Yishma'elm) is in verse 25. Rachel had the perfectly acceptable legal recourse in those days to provide her husband with a surrogate, and according to the laws of the surrounding nations, any child borne by the concubine would be counted as coming from her which is exactly why Rachel, and not Bilhah, named the boys. 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. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Now Jacob had twelve sons. Then Joseph is summoned to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh himself. The genealogy of Jesus in the New Testament traces Jesus' ancestry lineally, from Abraham to David, and then from David to Jesus. When Rachel had successfully provided Jacob with an heir, Leah felt her position was tenuous. The time of the promises to Abraham spans the generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 139a; Gen. R. 94:25). The Vizier broke down into tears. So Genesis 30 is what I was teaching my boys yesterday morning. It was the first successful production in the career of Andrew Lloyd Webber. As with Bilhahs offspring, Zilpahs children are claimed and named by Leah as her own. Judah, too, counseled against murder and convinced the brothers to sell Joseph to a company of Ishmaelite merchants, who bought him in exchange for 20 shekels of silver. Leah. 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. Cause me to die as a Muslim and join me with the righteous" (Qur'an 12:101). 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. 10God saved Joseph from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. She named him Joseph. Joseph was called into his father's house and Israel pleaded with his son that he not be buried in Egypt. Nice going! He admonished and forgave them, he sent also his garment which healed the patriarch's eyes as soon as it was cast unto his face. 18A new Pharaoh arose in Egypt, who knew nothing of Joseph. Israel (Jacob) agreed to his son's invitation to move to Egypt and began the journey to see Joseph. [35] This tendency is represented in John Chrysostom who said that Joseph's suffering was "a type of things to come",[36] Caesarius of Arles who interpreted Joseph's famous coat as representative of the diverse nations who would follow Christ,[37] Ambrose of Milan who interpreted the standing sheaf as prefiguring the resurrection of Christ,[38] and others. 20. Bilhah, they replied. Joseph is represented as a perfectly righteous man (tzadik gamur) and as the counterpart of his father Jacob. Thank you. At last Rachel was able to have a child. He received the same name as two great prophets, one past and one future: Joseph of Egypt and the Prophet Joseph Smith. Posted by Tyler Dawn | Nov 19, 2015 | Biblical Context Studies, Women's issues | 6 |, (Note: Yes, I do understand that it is actually called polygyny when a man has multiple wives, and polygamy can be either male or female but for purposes of using a familiar term to everyone I am simplifying this by calling it polygamy). Because she was now barren (for whatever reason), she was in the legal position to give her own maidservant to Jacob as another woman, concubine. Taking 130 and subtracting it from Joseph's age of 39 means Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born. Sarah died when she was 127 (23:1) - so Abraham would have been 137 and Isaac would have been 37. Her name was Dinah. So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? (Genesis 48:122). His prophetic powers are sited as an example of "faith" in Hebrews 11:22. Joseph interpreted this dream as the baker being hanged within three days and having his flesh eaten by birds. In Genesis 29:31-30:24 the birth of twelve of Jacob's children is recorded. To sum up, true Biblical (as well as ancient Near Eastern) polygamy (having more than one wife on purpose) was really limited to Kings, and that was historically for the purpose of creating alliances and safety for the kingdom. 2. The cup-bearer's dream was about a vine with three branches that was budding. The Pharaoh honored their stay and even proposed that if there were any qualified men in their house, then they may elect a chief herdsman to oversee Egyptian livestock. 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. 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). The Gadites would later be described as, "brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years after his arrival (Genesis 47:28). What is Jacob's new name? Joseph correctly predicted their futures: one would be reinstated in his post while the other would be executed. This article incorporates text from the 19011906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. Joseph then told him that the queen, who was about to be delivered of a child, would give birth to a son, but that at the same time another of the king's sons, two years of age, would dieall of which came to pass exactly as Joseph predicted. the time has come for the Israelites to be rescued from their oppressors; come up and do not cause us any further delay!" Christian Apologetics & Intelligence Ministry, Tyler Dawn How Many Wives did Jacob Have? | Bible Topics Elkannah had two women but again, one of them was barren so I suspect that Peninah was a concubine. In the Yahwist version Joseph is sold to Ismaelites, while in the Elohist (E) narrative it is Midianites who buy him. The majority opinion of the rabbis is that Joseph always kept in mind his father and brothers. Then Israel laid his left hand on the eldest Mannasseh's head and his right hand on the youngest Ephraim's head and blessed Joseph. Israel is another name for Jacob as, son of Isaac as. He then sent them away with grain, retaining Simeon as a hostage (Gen. 42:1-25), while ordering them not to return without Benjamin, the only one of his brothers born of Joseph's own mother, Rachel. Joseph and Asenath. Others consider the story a semi-independent novella, which has been independently added to the biblical record. In addition to honoring him, there was a strong tendency in the patristic period to view his life as a typological precursor to Christ. A fourth group in verse 36 is named in Hebrew as mdanm that is properly identified as Medanites. Although they had betrayed him in the past, Joseph greeted them . His estranged brothers later reunited with him when they came to Egypt to buy grain during a famine, and thus Joseph became the central figure to lead the children of Israel (Jacob) during their course of exile in Egypt. Both were met by angels at various times (Gen. R. 84:6; Num. Some believe that he built the city of Memphis, and that he was instrumental in building the obelisks and pyramids. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and this made Leah sad. [44] In the Quran the brothers ask Jacob ("Yaqub") to let Joseph go with them. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. 13. I have written six books on the ancient Near Eastern and First Century context of Scripture, including a family curriculum series. Sign me up for that! The steward put them at ease, telling them not to worry about the money, and brought out their brother Simeon. (Genesis 49:3350:14), After their father died, the brothers of Joseph feared retribution for being responsible for Joseph's deliverance into Egypt as a slave. The cupbearer took this opportunity to inform the king of Joseph's gift and recommended his services. According to the Documentary Hypothesis Joseph's toy is a combination of two or more versions which were later combined into the current narrative. Bah' commentaries have described these as metaphors with the garment implying the recognition of a manifestation of God. We can have a conquering faith in Jesus though we are tested by many tribulations.