Hyksos & Feast - Genesis 41:45-54

41:45-54 - There is some significant geopolitical information that comes into play at this point in the story, most of it is explain by TB from Torah Class so we’ll be relying heavily on that. The first point that needs to be made is that in order to cement Joseph’s new position of power, Pharaoh gives him a new name which is Zaphnath-paaneah, which is translated into Egyptian as meaning “he who is called life,” and “gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-perah priest of On.” I always wondered why marrying outside of the lineage was so off limits, but Jospeh did it because he had no choice, to refuse Pharaoh would have been a big problem, plus, there were no other women there of his lineage. Or was there?

TB mentions repeatedly, and I’ve heard it in other LDS places as well, but at the time of Joseph, Pharaoh wasn’t Egyptian, but instead was Semitic, meaning a descendant of Shem, just like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Initially, back in chapter 39 when we learn that Joseph was sold to Midianites as a slave, and is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar, “an Egyptian,” TB asks why it was such a big deal that Potiphar’s nationality was mentioned. They were in Egypt, it would make sense that the people there would be Egyptians, but in fact that was not the case.

TB notes, “long before Israel became a sovereign nation, Egypt was conquered; and it found itself under the control of non-Egyptians… Egypt was attacked, and routed, by Bedouins… Semites… who had come from the area of Arabia and Syria! The war was not a result of any dispute between Egypt and these Semites, but but simply because these Bedouins wanted what Egypt had. And these Semite rulers controlled Egypt for around 2 centuries; that’s right, Semites, sons of Shem, cousins of Israel, sat as Pharaoh on the throne of Egypt… not Egyptians. The Egyptians called these foreign rulers of Egypt the Hyksos. Hyk means ‘king’ and ‘sos’ means shepherd… so these foreigners were known as the ‘Shepherd Kings.’”

There are several reasons why this is important information at this point. First, it might explain why Joseph was so easily trusted with leadership positions, or why Pharaoh “seemed to have little trouble giving Jospeh, a foreigner, a Hebrew, an Israelite, such an incredible amount of authority over Egyptians; for the best current evidence is that the Pharaoh was NOT an Egyptian; both he and Joseph were Semites.”

Secondly, it explains why the Israelites ended up living in the land of Goshen when they were enslaved. TB quotes a private Egyptian citizen who said while recording Egyptian history, “Unexpectedly from the regions of the East, came men of unknown race. Confident of victory they marched against our land. By force the took it, easily, without a single battle. Having overpowered our rulers they burned our cities without compassion, and destroyed the temples of the gods. All the natives were treated with great cruelty for they slew some and carried off the wives and children of others into slavery. Finally they appointed one of themselves as king.”

These conquering hoards came through Egypt and burned everything to the ground, and they finally found a place that they liked in the Sais area, “he rebuilt it and made it very strong by erecting walls and installing a force of 240,000 men to hold it.” This place served as this Semite Pharaoh’s capital, so naturally, that’s where Pharaoh’s second in command would live and do business out of, eventually bringing his family there and already having 240,000 Semites there are soldiers. This is the place where not only did the quarter of a million Semite soldiers settle, but eventually all the children of Israel did as well.

Thirdly, when we talk about the woman that Joseph married and who bore him at least two sons, even though she is the daughter of a heathen priest, she is still Semitic, meaning that she was well within the Abrahamic Covenant. TB suggests that she is Egyptian, but I’ve heard it said by LDS scholars that she was Semitic and had a rightful place in the family lineage. I like the idea of someone, a woman, who was considered a genetic “outsider” still being allowed to participate in the “chosen” lineage of people, like how now people are “adopted” into the tribe of Israel. But when we consider that God even ensured that Judah fathered the child through whom the Savior was born, with a Semite woman, Tamar, it makes more sense that God would have gone out of his way to ensure that Joseph’s children, through whom the covenant went, would have Semite parentage.

But even though they were Semitic, there is no suggestion that they worshiped Israel’s God, but instead were surely governed religiously by the reigning concept of polytheism that was popular at the time. In fact, Joseph’s wife wasn’t just some random woman who just happened to be available for marriage, but instead was what TB called “a princess of Egypt.” This is because her father was the “priest of the Temple of On… the city of the Sun God. At the time, this temple was to honor the god Re, later called Atum-Re; Re was the highest Egyptian deity. Later, the city of On… about 7 or 8 miles north of Cairo… would come to be known as Heliopolis, city of the sun. So, Joseph married the daughter of the priest of the Sun God, Re.”

Fourth, the fact that the Egyptian people were being ruled by foreigners, and cruel foreigners at that, sets the stage for how the handling of the abundance and then famine is going to shape the history of Israel for the rest of time. As far as the Egyptian citizens are concerned, there is a hostile force as their overlords, and now they have levied a 20% tax on them, and I don’t care who you are, 20% tax is a lot, even though as a single mom, I pay more than that but whatever. Joseph could shout from the rooftops all day long “I’m storing this for you so you don’t starve when the famine comes in 7 years!” Not only would they probably not believe him, but they would see him as a foreigner of the lineage of the Bedouins ruling them and conflate him as one of those who are taking advantage of him.

I think it’s safe to say that Joseph has not shown any inclination toward greed up to this point, I’m sure he’s done well for himself but not at the expense of anyone else. Unfortunately for him, Pharaoh doesn’t share that level of humanity, and during the seven years of abundance the 20% tax allowed “Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.” Joseph’s wife gives birth to two boys, the first called Manasseh and the second called Ephraim. Both of these boys were born during the time of abundance, then the time ran out “and the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.”