Joseph the father-Ruler Type. Relative Lack of Racial Prejudice.
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Are you a leader?
Do people like you?
In times of stress and in emergencies do you usually know what to do before any of the others?
Do you sometimes give guidance to others?
Have you been described as having "paternal" characteristics i.e. fatherly?
Do you like members of the opposite sex whose phenotype coloring is different from your own?
All other things being equal do you have less racial prejudice than others?
Genesis (NLT) 41:
37 JOSEPH'S SUGGESTIONS WERE WELL RECEIVED BY PHARAOH AND HIS OFFICIALS. 38 SO PHARAOH ASKED HIS OFFICIALS, 'CAN WE FIND ANYONE ELSE LIKE THIS MAN SO OBVIOUSLY FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD?' 39 THEN PHARAOH SAID TO JOSEPH, 'SINCE GOD HAS REVEALED THE MEANING OF THE DREAMS TO YOU, CLEARLY NO ONE ELSE IS AS INTELLIGENT OR WISE AS YOU ARE. 40 YOU WILL BE IN CHARGE OF MY COURT, AND ALL MY PEOPLE WILL TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU. ONLY I, SITTING ON MY THRONE, WILL HAVE A RANK HIGHER THAN YOURS.'
Not only was Joseph exceptional he also looked it.
He was a "Leader" type. People listened to him.
Joseph automatically took charge of any situation he was involved in.
41 PHARAOH SAID TO JOSEPH, 'I HEREBY PUT YOU IN CHARGE OF THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT.' 42 THEN PHARAOH REMOVED HIS SIGNET RING FROM HIS HAND AND PLACED IT ON JOSEPH'S FINGER. HE DRESSED HIM IN FINE LINEN CLOTHING AND HUNG A GOLD CHAIN AROUND HIS NECK. 43 THEN HE HAD JOSEPH RIDE IN THE CHARIOT RESERVED FOR HIS SECOND-IN-COMMAND. AND WHEREVER JOSEPH WENT, THE COMMAND WAS SHOUTED, 'KNEEL DOWN!' SO PHARAOH PUT JOSEPH IN CHARGE OF ALL EGYPT. 44 AND PHARAOH SAID TO HIM, 'I AM PHARAOH, BUT NO ONE WILL LIFT A HAND OR FOOT IN THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL.'
The expression "KNEEL DOWN" ("BOW THE KNEE") is translated from the Hebrew "Avreich" which could be derived from a word-root meaning "bow the knee" BUT it may also be a title and so the word is explained. It is (as is found often in Scripture) a play-on-words.
In Hebrew the letter "beit" is pronounced as either "b" or "v" depending on the sentence structure, i.e. the sounds are interchangeable.
The letters used are ABRC. AB means "father;" BRC means "bend down;" RC means "king."
Putting then together we get "AVRECH" connoting "Bow down to the one who is a father to the King."
Joseph was given the T itle connoting "Father to the King." Joseph was probably younger than Pharoah yet there was something paternal about him. People trusted him and sought his guidance amd dorection.
Rabbinical Commentators took the term "Avrech" as a title connoting an "Av-rach" (father-ruler) and related to the Aramaic "rica" meaning ruler connected to the Germanic "reich" or rulership.
In Hebrew the letter "beit" is pronounced as either "b" or "v" depending on the sentence structure, i.e. the sounds are interchangeable.
"Ab" or "Av" means "father".
45 THEN PHARAOH GAVE JOSEPH A NEW EGYPTIAN NAME, ZAPHENATH-PANEAH. HE ALSO GAVE HIM A WIFE, WHOSE NAME WAS ASENATH. SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF POTIPHERA, THE PRIEST OF ON. SO JOSEPH TOOK CHARGE OF THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT. 46 HE WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN SERVING IN THE COURT OF PHARAOH, THE KING OF EGYPT. AND WHEN JOSEPH LEFT PHARAOH'S PRESENCE, HE INSPECTED THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT.
ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH meaning "Revealer of Secrets," i.e. hidden-things : - he will solve or open up, reveal solution (PAANEAH). to hidden matters (ZAPHNATH).
Joseph revealed the future and uncovered concealed matters. He gave explanations. There was something scientific about Joseph. he wanted to know the answers.
Do you like mysteries? Historical Controversies?
Are you into Conspiracy Theories? Most Conspiracy Theories are harmful. I have seen them result in psychological disturbances. They are often produced by sick minds and make those who believe in them sick like themselves. Nevertheless occasionally some of them here and there do come up with some insights. If they did not they would not be adhered to. Perhaps it is a sign of dependance from Joseph to be attracted by them?
Who knows if the histrionic paranoia associated with followers of Conspiracy Theories is not one of the negative concomitants of being descended from Joseph? A pseudo-occupational hazard?
Joseph INSPECTED THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT. He was thorough. Are you like this?
47 AS PREDICTED, FOR SEVEN YEARS THE LAND PRODUCED BUMPER CROPS. 48 DURING THOSE YEARS, JOSEPH GATHERED ALL THE CROPS GROWN IN EGYPT AND STORED THE GRAIN FROM THE SURROUNDING FIELDS IN THE CITIES. 49 HE PILED UP HUGE AMOUNTS OF GRAIN LIKE SAND ON THE SEASHORE. FINALLY, HE STOPPED KEEPING RECORDS BECAUSE THERE WAS TOO MUCH TO MEASURE.
50 DURING THIS TIME, BEFORE THE FIRST OF THE FAMINE YEARS, TWO SONS WERE BORN TO JOSEPH AND HIS WIFE, ASENATH, THE DAUGHTER OF POTIPHERA, THE PRIEST OF ON. 51 JOSEPH NAMED HIS OLDER SON MANASSEH, FOR HE SAID, GOD HAS MADE ME FORGET ALL MY TROUBLES AND EVERYONE IN MY FATHERS FAMILY. 52 JOSEPH NAMED HIS SECOND SON EPHRAIM, FOR HE SAID, GOD HAS MADE ME FRUITFUL IN THIS LAND OF MY GRIEF.
A Midrash describes Joseph as looking like his father and being very fair like a "Germani" (Midrash, Beishit Rabah, "VaYaeshev," 86;3 "Everywhere a Germani sells a Cushi. Here (in the case of Joseph being sold as a slave) the Cushi sells a Germani!" A "Germani" in Talmudic terminology (according to Maimonides), meant a very fair person like someone from the North in the time of the Midrash i.e. the Later Roman Empire.
The Ancient Egyptians were mainly of Mediterranean type but sometimes darker and also intermixed with Subsaharan Africans
The wife of Joseph was an Egyptian. Nowadays we no longer use the old methods of racial classification but these methods are still considered pertinent to a degree. In Forensic science they make use of them. The problem is that environmental effects over a long period of time influence physical features. At all events according to the old methods people of British origin are 50% of Mediterranean type and 50% Nordic. The earliest skull shapes of Britain in its earliest civilized period were said to be identical with Egyptian ones.
The Egyptian culture was a very advanced one. There is a tendency to downplay it possibly due to unconscious prejudices.
Martin Bernal wrote a very important work Black Athens. In it he demonstrates the importance of Ancient Egypt and ancient Semitic civilization (i.e. Hebrew?) on Greek civilization. He shows how sheer racial prejudice caused objective scholars to ignore the evidence that Ancient Greece took much of its civilization from Egypt and the Middle East. Replies have been made to the claims of Bernal and perhaps he did exaggerate but it is hard to escape the impression that he had made a valid point. Bernal was only saying what the Greeks themselves admitted.
The problem is that Afrocentrist racial Black African enthusiasts now want to ascribe EVERYTHING to the Black Man and to classify everyone as BLACK.
This is the opposite extreme.
At all events Joseph was probably fair like many North Europeans and his wife was Egyptian. His descendants could therefore turn out either way or in intermediate form.
Do you have a relative lack of Color Prejudice? This should be found among descendants of Joseph.
In our book "Joseph" and in several articles on our web-sites we have gone into detail concerning the names "Ephraim" and Manasseh" and their significance.
https://britam.org/Genesis/Gen41to44Mikaet.html
If you or your ancestors come from areas where Ephraim was predominant then the chances that you descended from Ephraim are greater.
And to too, regarding Manasseh.
We identify the USA as dominated by Manasseh. Britain and British offshoots are more pertinent to Ephraim though many from Ephraim are also found in America and in other Israelite areas.
I once met a girl from Finland who told me how in her village they kept Jewish Customs in their marriage ceremonies.
As far as she knew this was peculiar to her village though additional evidence indicated that in Finland it was widespread.
We identify the Finns as from Issachar, Many people in Finland agree with that. The girl in question however insisted she descended from Ephraim.
See Also:
Joseph in Egypt. Why was Joseph sold by his brothers? Was there some justification for this?
The Story of Joseph. What Can we learn from it?
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/bible/biblehistory/joseph.html
Boith Britain and America were instrumental in the Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade. At the time in question however it was acceptable to enslave people including members of one's own race. Eventually, the British Navy, with the encouragement of the USA, stopped Slave Trade on the High seas. Britain later emancipated the slaves in its colonies. The USA fought a fratricidal war over it. In the American Cival War Ephraim was dominant on the Confederate side, Manasseh was for the Union.
The Idenifying Characteristics of Ephraim and Manasseh will be discussed (God willing) further on in this series.