Dr. Alice C. Linsley Taken together, the biblical data indicat Asenath or Asnat combines two ancient Egyptian words: The Kushites are the Nilo-Saharan peoples who contributed their binary worldview to the ancient Afro-Asiatic world . Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army. Heliopolis is Biblical On and was an Ainu shrine. pot'-i-far (poTiphar; compare Egyptian Potiphera (Genesis 39:1 f)): A high Egyptian official who became the master of Joseph. Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; The supreme ruler of ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the 'king' in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty. Their relationship is first mentioned in Genesis 41:45. Once he accurately interprets these dreams he is well on the road to prosperity and self-sufficiency, as Pharaoh places him in charge of all of Egypt for the coming feast/famine cycle. Potiphar bought Joseph as a slave. Some scholars think this could be the same person as Potiphar. After Joseph's brothers sell him to the Midianites, they take him down to Egypt. He spent Genesis 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bare unto him. Rashi: Potiphera - This is Potiphar, and he is called Potiphera because he was castrated, since he bought Joseph to sleep with him. Who is this Mark in Colossians 4? Vote Up . For example, here is the verse at Genesis 39:1; 'As for Joseph, he was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, a court official of Pharao. Maybe, but the rubber meets the road, literally, with the funeral procession for his father Jacob, which we'll read two weeks hence. What follows is a general consideration of beauty as the Good. Thank you for subscribing to emails from ReformJudaism.org! At various stages of his life, Joseph was a slave, a prisoner, and a national leader. Joseph and Potiphar: The Named, the Neutered, and the Neutralized, Dr. Panken's excellent commentary on the naming, neutering, and neutralizing of Joseph's father-in-law Potiphar opens the door for us to ask, what becomes of Joseph with. Are cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and bitpay the begining of one world government in the book of Revelation? First, we can grapple with a few potential readings of Joseph's newly bestowed Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah. Is the devil was man, and if so will he be saved? They may or may not be the same person. In the Book of Jubilees, she is said to be given to Joseph to marry by Pharaoh, a daughter of Potiphar, a high priest of Heliopolis, with no clarification as to whether or not this Potiphar is the same Potiphar whose wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. However, I will be The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphar's wife's name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions - thus the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha from Jami's Haft Awrang "Seven thrones". Potiphar (his name a derivate of Potiphera meaning that he was given by Ra) was an Egyptian official, serving the Pharaoh of the Exodus, as his captain of the guard. 4 What happens to Joseph and Potiphars relationship? ( Ge 37:36; 39:4) Potiphar purchased Joseph from the traveling Midianite merchants and, observing what a good servant Joseph was . It has been suggested that Potipherah was a prince, not only a priest. (Founded 21 March 2007). All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED. The story became a very common subject in Western art during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, usually depicting the moment when Joseph tears himself away from the bed containing a more-or-less naked figure of Potiphar's wife. The view that the names Potiphar and Potiphera refer to men of high rank is supported by the stela of Potiphera in Cairo Museum. Who was Joseph's boss? . According to one view, Abraham remarried after the death of Sarah and had a total of three wives: Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah. Earth's history. As a result of Potiphar's inappropriate male actions toward Joseph, the angel Gabriel castrated him as an act of divine justice, rendering him unable to continue such predatory activities. Noun. About Us. Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy structure of Abraham's Horite people reveals that the rulers had two wives. How many children did Mary and Joseph have? Now, the student of Egypt can do some real homework regarding the time of this so-called pharaoh! Dr. Panken's excellent commentary on the naming, neutering, and neutralizing of Joseph's father-in-law Potiphar opens the door for us to ask, what becomes of Joseph withhisnew name, family, and occupation? He is supposed by some to have been the same "captain of the guard" who promoted Joseph in prison, Genesis 37:36; 39:23. Two of Joseph's brothers . The Eastern Orthodox Church, which names Josephs first wife as Salome, holds that Joseph was a widower and betrothed to Mary, and that references to Jesus brothers were children of Joseph from a previous marriage. In the Bible, Pharaoh honors Joseph by giving him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On (LXX: Heliopolis; Gen 41:45). "I pray, when I play pharaoh at White's, that the cards fall as they have come to my . 'captain of the guard'), and likewise saris, 'eunuch' of Pharaoh.. Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy structure of Moses' family reveals the distinctive pattern of the Horite ruler-priest caste. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply.See Wiktionary Terms of Use for details. Did Potiphars wife not only try to seduce him day by day, but perhaps even year by year? ESV. The names Potiphar and Potiphera are very similar. Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.Morbi adipiscing gravdio, sit amet suscipit risus ultrices eu.Fusce viverra neque at purus laoreet consequa.Vivamus vulputate posuere nisl quis consequat. Josephs Egyptian wife. An Egyptian court official and chief of Pharaoh's bodyguard. There are no Hebrew words that come close to it. This precise situation is described by the Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 13b: And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, bought him [Joseph]. Potiphar puts Joseph in prison. Required fields are marked *. She is the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50; 46:20). She was Potiphera's daughter. It is later mentioned in Genesis 41:50 that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. The form "Potiphar" is probably an abbreviation of "Potiphera"; the two are treated as identical in the Septuagint, and are rendered or . Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Potiphar. The first was a ha Alice C. Linsley Abraham, Moses , Samuel, and David were all Horite Hebrew as evidenced by the common marriage and ascendancy pattern Alice C. Linsley Sela was the capital of Edom. 39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and l Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, m had bought him from the n Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. Do you know any good scholars who specialise in the book of Judges? O Bellinzona, Switzerland is a place of extraordinary beauty. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Pleasecontact the AskTheRabbi Support team. Rabbi Aaron D. Panken, Ph.D., serves as president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. So, "If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. The stela is certainly an interesting lead. Potiphar is the only Egyptian of status who would harbor a grudge against Joseph, given their prior history. But who, exactly, is this Potiphera Priest of On? This Hannukah, let's celebrate our freedom by recognizing that remaining true to ourselves and engaging in our communities doesn't have to be an either/or choice. I have an issue I'd like to resolve from chapters 19 to 21 concerning the rape and murder of the Levite's concubine. . These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. 1070-945 BC), but quite possibly later . But Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Narbonne, France, ca. Azeez's wife declares her purpose to imprison Joseph unless he yield to her solicitations. Radak's point is quite valid, for it is hard to imagine any impetus for Pharaoh to have learned or utilized Hebrew pre-Joseph. Still, our speculation is based on verifiable patterns in Genesis.Also, you are lifting up something that many Americans don't understand about slavery in the ancient world. Following the custom of his Horite forefathers, Abraham had two wives. She promised to kill her husband, so that she could marry Joseph. Potipherah /ptfr/ was a priest of the ancient Egyptian town of On, mentioned in the Genesis 41:45 and 41:50. . That said, rabbinic interpretation is not authoritative for Christians.The standard interpretation is that Potiphe-re is a corruption of Ap-Ophis-Ra. The story is first related in Quran 12:21-35: An Egyptian purchases Joseph and proposes to adopt him. Rav said: He bought him for himself [that is, for his own sexual purposes], but [the angel] Gabriel came and castrated him and then Gabriel came and mutilated him (ufeir'o), for originally his name is written Potiphar but afterwards Potiphera. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Why did Herod like to listen to John the Baptist, who criticized Herods lifestyle? Joseph is not the only one of our ancestors to engage in an exogamous marriage; indeed, this kind of union can be a successful way to bring people into our group. Welcome to Sharing Culture! Poti-phera (3 Occurrences). . . The supreme ruler of ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the 'king' in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty. it is clear that Potiphar was a powerful person . His name means he whom Ra has given. First is that the time of Joseph is between 1900 and 1950 BC. Joseph was one of Jacobs 12 sons. It is certainly a functional name that does describe well a key role Joseph fulfills. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Lost your password? These Genesis stories were written, not by Moses, but by the Patriarchs pre-dating Moses. Asenath was the daughter of POTI PHERA, the governor of On. Clarify In this reading, Joseph is nothing but . The line of tradition that might be the most readily coherent with the marriage patterns shown by your overall research on the "Ancestors of God" is the one that says Asenath was actually the daughter of Dinah, and because she was not wanted, she got sold into slavery in her youth, just like Joseph did. to Potiphar's wife, it is possible to argue for a reading that suggests that Joseph's sin is not that he contemplated sleeping with Potiphar's wife, but that he refused to do so. Meaning: a priest of On / Potiphar is a shortened form of "Potiphera" in Hebrew. Joseph seeks protection from God who hears his prayer and turns aside their snares but Joseph is imprisoned notwithstanding his innocence. Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? The word came to be used metonymically for the Egyptian king under the New Kingdom (starting in the 18th dynasty, 15391292 bce), and by the 22nd dynasty (c. Egypt was continually governed, at least in part, by native pharaohs for approximately 2500 years, until it was conquered by the Kingdom of Kush in the late 8th century BC, whose rulers adopted the traditional pharaonic titulature for themselves. Is he the same Mark in Acts 15? Why did Jesus associate with disreputable people? It does not store any personal data. Maybe Potipher purchased Asenath on one slave dealing caravan and then came back through Shechem a few years later to see if he could bargain for more, whereupon he came upon Joseph's evil brothers who were ready to make a deal? In Parshat Miketz, Genesis 41, the pharaoh gave Joseph the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, to marry. 2 o The L ord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest of On. The bible teaches that human beings are to be servants of God and of no one else. EMMY NOMINATIONS 2022: Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series, EMMY NOMINATIONS 2022: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series, EMMY NOMINATIONS 2022: Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series, EMMY NOMINATIONS 2022: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie, EMMY NOMINATIONS 2022: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie. She requested from Joseph to teach her the word of his God and that she and her husband would change to his God if Joseph did her wish. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email. This is the single extra-Biblical occurance of the name. Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph. . They were the ones taken as slaves. In Biblical Names the meaning of the name Potiphar is: Bull of Africa, a fat bull. However, now we believe that Mary and Joseph were both in their teens when Jesus was born, around sixteen and eighteen respectively. Preside Pangaea, Rodinia, Columbia, and Kenorland, Bible and Archaeology by Frederic G. Kenyon. see) or an unsuccessful attempt to form an Egyptian name on the same lines. She gives birth to two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Asked May 10 2016 Report, May 11 2016 He also gave him a wife, whose name was Asenath. I do believe that Potifre refers to the office of a devotee of Re however. The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphars wifes name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions thus the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha from Jami s Haft Awrang (Seven thrones). Was John the Baptist conceived via an immaculate conception? 40 Is potiphar and potiphera the same person? Does God gives us political leaders or do we vote them by choice? As you write, some are of the opinion that they are one and the same person. NLT. What is the story of Joseph and his brothers. Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph. In another early text, The History of Joseph the Carpenter, which was composed in Egypt between the 6th and 7th centuries, Christ himself tells the story of his step-father, claiming Joseph was 90 years old when he married Mary and died at 111. 6[Doubleday: New York, 1992]). You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. When forty years of age, Joseph married a woman called Melcha or Escha by some, Salome by others; they lived forty-nine years together and had six children, two daughters and four sons, the youngest of whom was James (the Less, the Lords brother). Everything we know about Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, comes from the Bible, and mentions of him are underwhelming. The universally acceptable interpretation of Potiphera is that it is from the Egyptian Pa-di-Pre, "the gift of the (god) Re," a well-known type of name (Pa-di-DEITY), and in fact attested just once on a stela in Cairo Museum, attributed to the 21st Dynasty (=ca. According to the Hebrew Bible, Potipherah ( / ptfr /, Hebrew: P fera) was a priest of the ancient Egyptian town of On, [1] mentioned in the Genesis 41:45 and 41:50. Potiphera was a priest of Ra (the Egyptian god of the sun) who was based in On (also known as Heliopolis). Potiphar and Potiphera. Believers and non-believers can see it as an illustration of the need to keep trying and persevere. There is no definitive answer to your question! Matthew Miller Genealogy for Potiphar . He is the maternal grandfather of the Israelite patriarchs Manasseh and Ephraim. Potiphar . Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army. H e lived in Egypt, and his daughter Asenath became Joseph's wife (Gen. 41:45). See more. How many wives did Joseph in the Bible have? Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. Should the explanation in Genesis on how God created plants before the sun affect the understanding of creation? Asenath is the daughter of Potiphera and a wife of Joseph (41). There is no further information about Potiphar or his wife. One has already been given in Exod 2,21 which describes Moses marriage with Zipporah, the daughter of a priest of Midian, who bears him two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (Exod 2,22; 18,3). Our team has collected thousands of questions that people keep asking in forums, blogs and in Google . (Mark 2:15). What happens to Joseph and Potiphars relationship? Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Answer (1 of 11): No. Potipherah was the priest of On and Joseph ended up marrying his daughter Asenath. Potiphar, the Buyer of Joseph. Dream a Little Dream, and Then Interpret It, Israel in Egypt: From Valued Subjects to Persecuted Minority, On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah: The Meaning of Our Miracle - Parashat Mikeitz, Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA).