  JACOB AND JOSEPH Appearances of these Names in Babylonian and Egyptian Records. “The Tale of the Two Brothers”; Its Bearing on the Story of Joseph in Genesis. Letters to a Ruler Like Joseph. The Seven Years of Famine. Inscription Showing Preparation for Famine. 1. Jacob. Three different men in Babylonia at the time of the Hammurapi dynasty bore the name Jacob-el. Thus, in the reign of Apil-Sin, the fourth king of the dynasty (2161 to 2144 B. C.), two witnesses, Shubna-ilu and Yadakh-ilu gave their father’s name as Yakub-ilu, or Jacob-el.[427] In the same reign a witness to another document, one Lamaz, had a Jacob-el as his father.[428] In the reign of Sin-muballit, the next king, a witness named Nur-Shamash was also the son of a Jacob-el.[429] In the reign of the great Hammurapi, the next king, a witness named Sin-erbiam gave his father’s name simply as Yakub,[430] or Jacob. This last is clearly a shortening of Jacob-el. These men all lived from 75 to 190 years before the Babylonian Abraham, whose documents are discussed in Chapter IX. In connection with these names it should be noted that Thothmes III of Egypt, who made extensive conquests in Asia between 1478 and 1446 B. C., records the name of a city which he captured in Palestine as Ya-‘-k-b’-ra, the Egyptian equivalent of Jacob-el.[431] It does not seem a rash guess to suppose that in the period when intercourse between Babylonia and Palestine was frequent and immigration from the former country to the latter was in progress, some Babylonian bearing this name migrated to Palestine, settled there and that a city was named after him. Many parallels to this may be found in the names of places in the United States and Canada. That this place name in Canaan had some connection with the name of the Patriarch Jacob is probable, though just what that connection was it is impossible in the present state of our knowledge to say. A Babylonian business document of the time of the first dynasty of Babylon has among its witnesses a man named Yashub-ilu, or Joseph-el.[432] In the list of places which Thothmes III of Egypt conquered in Palestine there is one Ya-sha-p’-ra, which many scholars have taken to be Joseph-el, though Prof. W. Max MÜller[433] thinks it rather is equivalent to Yesheb-el, meaning “where God dwells.” In view of the clear Babylonian equivalence, however, it seems probable that it is Joseph-el. If so, it probably became a place-name in Palestine because some important Babylonian who bore the name settled there, just as we have supposed Jacob-el did. Some scholars hold that it is connected with the name of the Patriarch Joseph in some way, but what that connection was, we cannot now say. 3. The Tale of the Two Brothers.[434] Once there were two brethren, of one mother and one father; Anpu was the name of the elder, and Bata was the name of the younger. Now, as for Anpu, he had a house, and he had a wife. But his little brother was to him, as it were, a son; he it was who made for him his clothes; he it was who followed behind his oxen to the fields; he it was who did the plowing; he it was who harvested the corn; he it was who did for him all the matters which were in the field. Behold his younger brother grew to be an excellent worker; there was not his equal in the whole land; behold the spirit of a god was in him. Now after this the younger brother followed his oxen in the daily manner; and every evening he turned again to the house, laden with all the herbs of the field, with milk and with wood, and with all things of the field. And he put them down before his elder brother who was sitting with his wife; and he drank and ate, and he lay down in his stable with the cattle. And at the dawn of day he took bread which he had baked, and laid it before his elder brother; and he took with him his bread to the field, and he drave his cattle to pasture in the fields. And as he walked behind his cattle, they said to him, “Good is the herbage which is in that place”; and he listened to all that they said, and he took them to the good place which they desired. And the cattle which were before him were exceeding excellent, and they multiplied greatly. Now at the time of plowing his elder brother said unto him, “Let us make ready for ourselves a goodly yoke of oxen for plowing, for the land has come out from the water; it is fit for plowing. Moreover, do thou come to the field with corn, for we will begin the plowing in the morrow morning.” Thus said he to him; and his younger brother did all things as his elder brother had spoken unto him to do them. And when the morn was come, they went to the fields with their things; and their hearts were pleased exceedingly with their task in the beginning of their work. And it came to pass after this that as they were in the field they stopped The youth went to the stable; he took a large measure, for he desired to take much corn; he loaded it with wheat and barley; and he went out carrying it. She said to him, “How much of the corn that is wanted, is that which is on thy shoulder?” He said to her, “Three bushels of barley, and two of wheat, in all five; these are what are upon my shoulder:” thus said he to her. And she conversed with him, saying, “There is great strength in thee, for I see thy might every day.” And her heart knew him with the knowledge of youth. And she arose and came to him, and conversed with him, saying, “Come stay with me, and it shall be well for thee, and I will make for thee beautiful garments.” Then the youth became like a panther of the south with fury at the evil speech which she had made to him; and she feared greatly. And he spake unto her, saying, “Behold thou art to me as a mother, thy husband is to me as a father, for he who is elder than I brought me up. What is this wickedness that thou hast said to me? Say it not to me again. For I will not tell it to any man, for I will not let it be uttered by the mouth of any man.” He lifted up his burden, and he went to the field and came to his elder brother; and they took up their work, to labor at their task. Now afterward, at eventime, his elder brother was returning to his house; and the younger brother was following after his oxen, and he loaded himself with all the things of the field; and he brought his oxen before him, to make them lie down in their stable which was in the farm. And behold the wife of the elder brother was afraid for the words which she had said. She took a parcel of fat, she became like one who is evilly beaten, desiring to say to her husband, “It is thy younger brother who has done this wrong.” Her husband returned in the even as was his wont of every day: he came unto his house; he found his wife ill of violence; she did not give him water upon his hands as he used to have, she did not make a light before him, his house was in darkness, and she was lying very sick. Her husband said to her, “Who has spoken with thee?” Behold she said, “No one has spoken with me except thy younger brother. When he came to take for thee corn he found me sitting alone; he said to me, ‘Come, let us stay together, tie up thy hair’: thus spoke he to me. I did not listen to him, but thus spake I to him: ‘Behold, am I not thy mother, is not thy elder brother to thee as a father?’ And he feared, and he beat me to stop me from making report to thee, and if thou lettest him live I shall die. Now behold he is coming in the evening; and I complain of these wicked words, for he would have done this even in daylight.” And the elder brother became as a panther of the south; he sharpened his knife; he took it in his hand; he stood behind the door of the stable to slay his younger brother as he came in the evening to bring his cattle into the stable. Now the sun went down, and he loaded himself with herbs in his daily manner. He came, and his foremost cow entered the stable, and she said to her keeper, “Behold thy elder brother standing before thee with his knife to slay thee; flee from before him.” He heard what his first cow had said; and the next entering, she also said likewise. He looked beneath the door of the stable; he saw the feet of his elder brother; he was standing behind the door, and his knife was in his hand. He cast down his load to the ground, and betook himself to flee swiftly; and his elder brother pursued after him with his knife. Then the younger brother cried out unto Ra Harakhti,[435] saying, “My good lord! thou art We need not follow the story further. Those who wish to do so are referred to Petrie’s Egyptian Tales. From this point onward, it contains many mythological features. This story, in the form in which we have it, was written for Seti II (1209-1205 B. C.) of the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty, while that monarch was still crown prince. Scholars of all shades of opinion have recognized in it a striking parallel to the story of Joseph in the house of Potiphar, in Genesis 39:1-20. Joseph, like the younger brother of this tale, was trusted with everything about his master’s place; Potiphar’s wife, like the sister-in-law of the tale, tempted Joseph; Joseph, like the younger brother, resisted temptation; and Potiphar’s wife, like the sister-in-law, charged him with the crime which he had been unwilling to commit. Scholars of the critical school regard this as the original of the story in Genesis. While they recognize that it is a theme which is not confined to Egyptians and Hebrews (compare for other parallels Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, II, 303, ff.), the fact that the theme of the Biblical story is laid in Egypt leads them to think it extremely probable that there is a connection between the two. Conservative scholars on the other hand hold that in all probability there was more than one such scandal in Egypt, and account for the likeness by the similarity which would naturally present itself in such cases, holding that the Egyptian tale has no bearing on the credibility of that in Genesis. 4. Letters to a Ruler Like Joseph. Among the letters in the Babylonian language and script found at El-Amarna in Egypt in the winter of 1887-1888,[436] many of which were written to Amenophis III and Amenophis IV, Kings of Egypt, 1411-1357 B. C., by Egyptian vassals in Palestine and Syria, there are two which were written to a Semite named DÛdu (David), which show that this Semite held at the Egyptian court a position 1. To DÛdu, my lord, my father, 2. speaks Aziru, thy son, thy servant: 3. at the feet of my father I fall. 4. Unto my father may there be health! 5. O DÛdu, truly I have given (i. e., done) 6. the wish of the king, my lord, 7. and whatever is the wish 8. of the king, my lord, let him send 9. and I will give (do) it. 10. Further: see, thou art there, 11. my father, and whatever is the wish 12. of DÛdu, my father, send it 13. and I will indeed give (do) it. 14. Behold, thou art my father and my lord 15. and I am thy son. The lands of the Amorites 16. are thy lands, and my house is thy house, 17. and whatever thy wish is, 18. send, and I 19. shall behold, and verily will give (do) it. 20. And see, thou in the presence of 21. the king, my lord, sittest. 22. ............ enemies 23. words of slander 24. before my father, before 25. the king, my lord, have spoken, 26. but do thou not count them just! 27. And behold thou in the presence 28. of the king, my lord, as a dignitary (?) 29. sittest .................... 30. and the words of slander 31. against me do not count true. 32. Also I am a servant of the king, my lord, 33. and from the words of the king, my lord, 34. and from the words of DÛdu, my father, 35. I shall not depart forever. 36. But when the king, my lord, does not love me, 37. but hates me, 38. then I—what shall I say? II[438] 1. To DÛdu, my lord, my father, 2. speaks Aziru, thy servant: 3. at the feet of my lord I fall. 4. Khatib has come 5. and has brought the words 6. of the king, my lord, important and good, 8. and my land and my brethren, 9. the servants of the king, my lord, 10. and the servants of DÛdu, my lord, 11. are very, very glad, 12. when there comes 13. the breath of the king, my lord, 14. unto me. From the words 15. of my lord, my god, my sun-god, 16. and from the words of DÛdu, 17. my lord, I shall not depart. 18. My lord, truly Khatib 19. stands with me. 20. I and he will come. 21. My lord, the king of the Hittites 22. has come into Nukhashshi, 23. so that I cannot come. 24. Would that the king of the Hittites would depart! 25. Then truly I would come, 26. I and Khatib. 27. May the king, my lord, my words 28. hear! My lord, I fear 29. on account of the face of the king, my lord, 30. and on account of the face of DÛdu. 31. And now by my gods 32. and my angels verily I have sworn, 33. O DÛdu and nobles 34. of the king, my lord, that truly I will come. 35. And so, DÛdu 36. and the king, my lord, and the nobles, 37. “Truly we will not conceive anything 38. against Aziru that is unfavorable,”— 39. even thus may ye swear 40. by my gods and the god A! 41. And truly I 42. and Khatib are faithful servants of the king. 43. O DÛdu, thou shalt truly know 44. that I will come to thee. The Aziru of these letters was the chieftain or petty king of the Amorites, who were living at the time to the eastward of Phoenicia, between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. The way in which he addresses DÛdu is significant. DÛdu is classed continually with the king. Aziru fears to offend DÛdu as he fears to offend the king; the words of DÛdu are of equal importance with those of the king. DÛdu clearly occupied a position of power with the king of Egypt similar to that ascribed to Joseph in Genesis 41. Moreover, DÛdu is a Semitic name; vocalized a little differently, it becomes David. The king to whom this letter was written was Amenophis III or 5. The Seven Years of Famine. The following inscription was found cut on a rock between the island of Elephantine and the First Cataract, and was first published by Brugsch in 1891. It is written in hieroglyphic characters, and was apparently inscribed in the reign of Ptolemy X, 117-89 B. C. It relates how King Zoser, of the third dynasty, who began to reign about 2980 B. C., nearly 2,800 years before the inscription was written, appealed to Khnum, the god of Elephantine, because of a famine. The part of the text which interests us is as follows:[439] “I am very anxious on account of those who are in the palace. My heart is in great anxiety on account of misfortune, for in my time the Nile has not overflowed for a period of seven years. There is scarcely any produce of the field; herbage fails; eatables are wanting. Every man robs his neighbor. Men move (?) with nowhere to go. The children cry, the young people creep along (?). The aged heart is bowed down; their limbs are crippled; they sit (?) on the earth. Their arms are ........ The people of the court are at their wits’ end. The store-houses (?) were built, but .......... and all that was in them has been consumed.” As Brugsch[440] saw, this inscription gives a graphic account of the suffering caused by seven such years of famine as are said to have occurred in the time of Joseph (Gen. 41:30, 54, ff.). It cannot be the same seven-year famine as that referred to in Genesis, as it is placed several centuries too early to coincide with the time of Joseph. As the inscription is about 2,800 years later than the event it describes, its historical accuracy might be questioned, but it is probable that it was a renewal of an earlier inscription. But even if its historical accuracy be impugned, it witnesses to a native Egyptian tradition that such famines were possible. Inscription of Baba of El-Kab[441] “The chief at the table of the sovereign, Baba, the risen again, speaks thus: I loved my father; I honored my mother; my brothers and sisters loved me. I went out of the door of my house with a benevolent heart; I stood there with refreshing hand; splendid were my preparations of what I collected for the festal day. Mild was (my) heart, free from violent anger. The gods bestowed upon me abundant prosperity upon earth. The city wished me health and a life of full enjoyment. I punished the evil-doers. The children who stood before me in the town during the days which I fulfilled were—great and small—60; just as many beds were provided for them, just as many chairs (?), just as many tables (?). They all consumed 120 ephahs of durra, the milk of 3 cows, 52 goats, and 9 she-asses, a hin of balsam, and 2 jars of oil. “My words may seem a jest to the gainsayer, but I call the god Mut to witness that what I say is true. I had all this prepared in my house; in addition I put cream in the store-chamber and beer in the cellar in a more than sufficient number of hin-measures. “I collected corn as a friend of the harvest-god. I was watchful in time of sowing. And when a famine arose, lasting many years, I distributed corn to the city each year of famine.” The Baba who wrote this inscription lived under the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, about 1500 B. C., or a little before. Brugsch pointed out many years ago that Baba’s concluding statement forms an interesting parallel to the conduct of Joseph as told in Gen. 41:47-57. Baba claims to have done for his city, El-Kab, what Joseph is said to have done for all Egypt. His statement affords striking evidence of the historical reality of famines in Egypt, and of such economic preparation for them. |
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