how many wives did joseph son of jacob have

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. In the Elohist version it is Rueben intervenes on Joseph's behalf, while in the Yahwist version it is Judah that saves him. In Canaan, Rachel gave birth to Jacob's final son, Benjamin, but, tragically, she died in childbirth. Short answer: Jacob worked 7 years for Laban before he married his two wives, Leah and Rachel.Long answer: Jacob worked 7 years to pay . I think some translators/editors have erred when they separate the two sections. When the steward caught up with the brothers, he seized them and searched their sacks. [50] He thus charged his sons to go and inquire about Joseph and his brother and despair not of God's mercy. In one Talmudic story, Joseph was buried in the Nile river, as there was some dispute as to which province should be honored by having his tomb within its boundaries. What is Jacob's new name? Well, thats what I thought for many years as well and it was no wonder I was looking through a lens colored by modern movies, television shows, and ten years spent living in uber-Mormon southern Idaho. Josephs ability to interpret dreams got him out of jail and into great favour with Pharoah. Hope that makes sense. The composition of the story can be dated to the period between the 7th century BCE and the third quarter of the 5th century BCE, which is roughly the period to which scholars date the Book of Genesis. 23 Leah's sons were Reuben (Jacob's first-born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 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. The Wives of Jacob's Sons (xxxiv. And as for Jacob, he never intended to have any other wife but Rachel and only ended up in this polygamous situation because of trickery he chose to be a polygamist because it would seem that a man who was willing to work a grand total of fourteen years for a woman evidently could not imagine living without her. "Pharaoh called Joseph by the name Tzafnat-Pa'neach and gave him as his wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. . 5. Joseph settled Jacob's growing clan with Pharaoh's blessing in the Land of Goshen (Gen. 47:29). [49] When Jacob learned their story after their return, he wept in grief till he lost his eyesight because of sorrow. His story is told in . [29] Maimonides comments that even the villager in Shechem, about whom Joseph inquired his brother's whereabouts, was a "divine messenger" working behind the scene.[30]. The baker's dream was about three baskets full of bread for the Pharaoh, and birds were eating the bread out of those baskets. 15So Jacob moved down into Egypt, and lived there till he died, as did our fathers. They also discovered that all of their money sacks still had money in them, and they were dismayed. At the age 30, Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis. Joseph became the slave of Potiphar a very high official in Egypt. Is Polygamy Really Biblical? She also bore Benjamin and was a faithful wife to Jacob. As Joseph had foreseen, seven years of plenty came, during which he stored up a great abundance of grain in granaries built for the purpose. The favoritism Israel showed Joseph and the plot against him by his brothers were divine means of getting him into Egypt. Joseph was brought from prison to interpret the king's dream. Zulaikha is the wife of Kitfir (the Biblical Potiphar), through whose accusations Yusuf is thrown into prison. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), Even by the God of your father who shall help thee; and by the Almighty who shall bless thee With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lieth under, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The word until speaks of a change to the first action . This caused a stir amongst the brothers. This mandate lasted until the days of Moses (Genesis 47:2031). The name of Reuben's wife is 'Ad 1 and the name of Simeon's wife is 'Adb'a, a Canaanite; 1 and the name of Levi's wife is Mlk, 2 of the daughters of Aram, of the seed of the sons of Terah; and the name of Judah . [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. He was Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first. 24 Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin. 119a; comp. It is later mentioned in Genesis 41:50 that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. . The two principle sources are the Yahwist and the Elohist versions, with a few details included as well from the Priestly source. He then tested them further, by accusing Benjamin of theft. 42-45), Jacob, his sons, and all of his descendants moved to Egypt to be with Joseph. As with Bilhahs offspring, Zilpahs children are claimed and named by Leah as her own. The genealogy of Jesus in the New Testament traces Jesus' ancestry lineally, from Abraham to David, and then from David to Jesus. (Genesis 47:147:12) The family was then settled in Goshen. He had fallen ill and lost most of his vision. The majority of modern scholars agree that the Joseph story is a Wisdom novella constructed by a single author and that it reached its current form in the 5th century BCE at the earliest. She was no longer the mother of all of Jacobs children Rachel had a child now and she was the one who was truly regarded, by Jacob, as his wife. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. The Bible states that this name was given to Jacob as by God later in his life: "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (Genesis 32:28 . By way of background, the Bible tells us that God created the first man, Adam, out of dust, and then created Eve out of Adam's ribs (Genesis 2:7,22). In the Qur'an a whole chapter (sura xii) is devoted to Joseph; and Islamic commentators add many details to this "best of stories.". Joseph was then summoned. The community seems to confuse quite often what is description vs prescription. There are numerous mentions of Joseph in Bah' writings. Rav Huna adds one more sale by concluding that after the Medanites sold him to the Egyptians, a fifth sale occurred when the Egyptians sold him to Potiphar. The majority opinion of the rabbis is that Joseph always kept in mind his father and brothers. which references passages that point to Jacob having "daughters" (plural, more than one) such as Genesis 37:34-35. Because the Pharaoh had such a high regard for Joseph, practically making him his equal,[23] it had been an honor to meet his father. [c] Thereafter the guilty brothers painted goat's blood on Joseph's coat and showed it to Jacob, who therefore believed Joseph had died (Genesis 37:1235). Modern critics have made various estimates of the historical worth of these narratives of Joseph. Joseph disguised his identity and devised a plot to bring the rest of the family to him: He accused them of being spies and imprisoned them for three days. These are the generations of Jacob. In the time of the Exodus, Serah, daughter of Asher, showed Moses where the coffin was sunk. 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. So Joseph supplied them Egyptian transport wagons, new garments, silver money, and twenty additional donkeys carrying provisions for the journey. Here, Potiphar's wife (called Zuleika in later tradition) tried to seduce Joseph, which he refused. Yet, from this answer in Quora. Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years after his arrival (Genesis 47:28). | Fact Sheet Index Abraham had one wife, and then only took a concubine when she was still barren at 80; he took a second wife only after the death of his first. The cup-bearer took those grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. Christian Apologetics & Intelligence Ministry, Tyler Dawn How Many Wives did Jacob Have? From the various midrashim, a wondrous story emerges: You see, when Shechem abducted Dinah, she became pregnant with his child. Is Polygamy Really Biblical? Judah is the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob and his first wife, Leah: his full brothers are Reuben, Simeon and Levi (all older), and Issachar and Zebulun (younger), and he has one full sister, Dinah. After they mentioned a younger brother at home, the Vizier (Joseph) demanded that he be brought to Egypt as a demonstration of their veracity. When Joseph and his mother bowed to Esau (Gen. 33:7), Joseph shielded his mother with his body (Targ. In Genesis 29:31-30:24 the birth . As for kings - marriages were largely about political alliances (especially with . How many sons did Jacob have with bilhah? Unaware of this secondary intention, the others obeyed him first. Simeon in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature). New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article You can also subscribe without commenting. , romanized: Rl, lit. [41], Joseph (Arabic: , Ysuf) is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Quran, suras vi. is devoted to him, the only instance in the Quran in which an entire chapter is devoted to a complete story of a prophet. The word used by for echad in the LXX (Septuagint, the authorized Greek translation of the Tanach OT) and the NT (ie. 26 Leah's servant Zilpah's sons were Gad and Asher. Here is the list lifted from my answer to Who was Joseph in the Bible? The reason that Joseph selected Simeon may have been that the latter was the eldest after Reuben, who was spared by Joseph in return for his interference on Joseph's behalf many years before (Gen. xxxvii. Moses, led there by an ancient holy woman named Serach, was able by a miracle to raise the sarcophagus and to take it with him at the time of the Exodus. He became the second most powerful man in all Egypt. [28] Impressed with Joseph's interpretations, Pharaoh appoints him as second-in-command (Gen 41:41). It simply was a rarity. Similar theories are propounded to explain confusion in the narrative's parallel accounts of his slavery and imprisonment, as well as his and reunion(s) with his brothers, with Benjamin present in one, and absent in another. After Jacob's death, Joseph received the Pharaoh's permission to travel with a great caravan to Canaan in order to bury the patriarch. He also equipped a considerable army, with which he marched to help the Ishmaelites against the Tarshishites (Gen. R. 90:5). ", "The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had brought up from the land of Egypt, they buried at Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor". When Rachel had successfully provided Jacob with an heir, Leah felt her position was tenuous. Rabbah l.c). Joseph was the first son of Rachel and Jacob, and the 11th of Jacob's 12 sons (Genesis 30:22-24). According to Legend of the Jews, the name of Potiphar's wife is Zuleikha and when she was enticing Joseph to give up to her sinful passion, God appeared unto him, holding the foundation of earth (Eben Shetiyah), that He would destroy the world if Joseph touched her. 84, xl. The text says that they are Jacobs wives, and yet wives would retain ownership over their own children, so how can they be actual wives?. Sarah was ninety when Isaac was born and Abraham was 100 years old (21:5). Joseph Born in the wilderness, he was the youngest son in the family. The "seven lean years" has been taken to refer to a Middle Eastern famine documented at that time. (Gen 50:7-9). Genesis 31:38-41. 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. 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 Amidah and the New Testament I: Long Prayers and Vain Repetitions? popularly referred to as a "coat of many colors." Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's interpretation and gave him authority to carry out the suggested policy (Gen. 41:46). After Joseph rejected the attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce him, she accused him of attempted rape, and he was cast into the state prison (Gen. 39:40), where he became the most trusted inmate and remained for at least two years. Manasseh, Ephraim are between 19 and 26. 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). And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. They may have been: (1) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph (the most natural inference); (2) sons of the Mary named in Mark 15:40 as "mother of James and Joses", whom Jerome identified with the wife of Clopas and sister of Mary the mother of Jesus; or (3) sons of Joseph by a former marriage. I have written six books on the ancient Near Eastern and First Century context of Scripture, including a family curriculum series. After the (presumed) death of Joseph, we read, "All of his [Jacob's] sons and daughters got up to comfort him . At the end of that period, the Pharaoh had a strange dream which none of his advisers could interpret. Joseph ordered the steward to go after the brothers and to question them about the "missing" silver cup. So, did Jacob have four legally wedded wives? Both were met by angels at various times (Gen. R. 84:6; Num. The true faith in Jesus Christ stands the test and wins victory. After correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, however, he rises to second-in-command in Egypt and saves Egypt during a famine. Bah' commentaries have described these as metaphors with the garment implying the recognition of a manifestation of God. Both the term "Joseph" and the term "Ephraim" were also frequently used by the biblical writers to refer to the norther tribes generally or to the later northern kingdom, usually called Israel. Joseph's half-brothers were jealous of him; (Genesis 37:1820) wherefore, in Dothan, most of them plotted to kill him, with the exception of Reuben,[12][13] who suggested to have Joseph thrown into an empty cistern, intending to rescue Joseph himself. [46], In the Bible, Joseph discloses himself to his brethren before they return to their father the second time after buying grain. Thank you for your VERY well done teaching. This would not be a true case of polygamy, because his intention was not to have two wives, but to provide for his sister-in-law it was considered a mitzvah towards the dead brother as well as to the woman to refuse to do this for her at her request would be to deprive her of her rights within the family. 18:7, 19; 2 Ne. The sons by Leah (Jacob's first wife) were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph ensured that the storehouses were full and that all produce was weighed. ), and as recently as the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah about 1200 B.C.E. I smiled. The Gadites would later be described as, "brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. According to the Old Testament, Jacob was the younger twin brother of Esau, who was the ancestor of Edom . [42] Joseph is said to have been extremely handsome, which attracted his Egyptian master's wife to attempt to seduce him. After the events of (Gen Ch. One opinion holds that the Holy Spirit dwelt in Joseph from his childhood until his death (Pirke R. El. Joseph placed his brothers in prison for three days. To add to the distinction within the family, in chapter thirty-seven, when Joseph goes tattling on his brothers, it specifically mentions that they are the sons of the neshe Bilhah and Zilpah. the time has come for the Israelites to be rescued from their oppressors; come up and do not cause us any further delay!" Moses threw a pebble into the water there and cried out: "Joseph! (clearly, the reference to a second wife shows that the concubine is not a wife), [145] If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife. Deceptively, Joseph also ordered the steward to put his silver cup in Benjamin's sack. 20-21). (Genesis 30:24).[10][11]. Cause me to die as a Muslim and join me with the righteous" (Qur'an 12:101). Since in the Bible, unlike in later Jewish law, ethnic identity is determined by the father, the fact that their mother is not an Israelite does not affect their status . When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, the king asked him for a sign by which he might know that his interpretation was true. Why did Jacob go to paddan? 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. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. When he regained control of himself, he returned and ordered a meal to be served. He even forced them to throw out their babies to die. 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).