Save the World

Joseph's story has four key elements which are repeated in many other scriptural, secular and historical stories:

Sent away
Trials
Triumph
Save the World


The Book of Mormon:


Ether 13:7
 7 For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of ^aEgypt, even so he died there; wherefore, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph that they should ^bperish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph that he should perish not. 

Jesus Christ:



 3 Nephi 9:21
21 Behold, I have come unto the world to bring ^aredemption unto the world, to save the world from sin.


The Jewish Nation:


Adam and Eve
 


Abraham



18 And in thy ^aseed shall all the nations of the earth be ^bblessed; because thou hast ^cobeyed my voice.

Abraham Lincoln:
 

Martin Luther King, Jr.:

 

World War II Generation:

 

Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings):

 

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars):

 

Harry Potter:

 

Superman:
 

Other examples of this pattern? 

Am I in the place of God?

1. Gen. 30: 2
     2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in ^aGod’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 

    

    
2. Gen. 50: 19
     19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 

    

   Rachel accuses Jacob because she has not had any children (Joseph); Jacob replies that he does not have control over these things.

    

   Joseph's brothers fear his wrath; Joseph comforts them by telling them that what has happened has been God's will.

Family disbanding after the death of the parent

Genesis 50:15-17

  15 ¶ And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, ^aJoseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

  16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

 

  17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, ^aForgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph ^bwept when they spake unto him. 

 

 

Joseph's brothers fear that Joseph will turn against him after their father dies.  Joseph reassures them.

 

The division between the sons of Jacob comes much later, during the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam (1 Kings 12/2 Chronicles 10)

 

Following the death of their father Lehi, Nephi's brothers seek to kill him, and the family splits in two. (2 Nephi 5:2-7)

2 But behold, their ^aanger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life.

 3 Yea, they did murmur against me, saying: Our younger brother thinks to ^arule over us; and we have had much trial because of him; wherefore, now let us slay him, that we may not be afflicted more because of his words. For behold, we will not have him to be our ruler; for it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to ^brule over this people.

  4 Now I do not write upon these plates all the words which they murmured against me. But it sufficeth me to say, that they did seek to take away my life.

  5 And it came to pass that the Lord did ^awarn me, that I, ^bNephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me.

  6 Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also ^aZoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the ^bwarnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words.

  7 And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents. 

 

 

 

Younger Son

Despite the custom of primogeniture, the younger son consistently prevails over the older:

Abram, Haran and Nahor (unclear on who was the eldest, but Haran and Nahor had posterity long before Abram).

Ishmael/Isaac

Esau/Jacob

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun/Joseph

Manasseh/Ephraim



Pharez/Zarah--twins struggling in the womb (like Jacob and Esau); Zarah puts his hand out first and has a scarlet thread wrapped around it, then Pharez is born first.  Pharez becomes the ancestor of David and the kings of Israel.

Prevailed

 Genesis 32:28

 28 And he said, Thy ^aname shall be called no more Jacob, but ^bIsrael: ^cfor as a ^dprince hast thou ^epower with God and with men, and hast ^fprevailed.

Genesis 48: 7-10

7 And Jacob said unto Joseph, When the God of my fathers appeared unto me in Luz, in the land of Canaan; he sware unto me, that he would give unto me, and unto my seed, the land for an everlasting possession.
8 Therefore, O my son, he hath blessed me in raising thee up to be a servant unto me, in saving my house from death;
9 In delivering my people, thy brethren, from famine which was sore in the land; wherefore the God of thy fathers shall bless thee, and the fruit of thy loins, that they shall be blessed above thy brethren, and above thy father's house;
10 For thou hast prevailed, and thy father's house hath bowed down unto thee, even as it was shown unto thee, before thou wast sold into Egypt by the hands of thy brethren; wherefore thy brethren shall bow down unto thee, from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins forever; 

Also, the birth of Naphtali, Genesis 30:8:
  8 And Rachel said, ^aWith great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name ^bNaphtali. 

Jacob's family overcoming his favoritism of Rachel

The story of Joseph can be seen as caused by Jacob and his favoritism of Rachel over Leah.

Jacob favored Rachel, therefore, he favored Rachel's children.

Because Jacob favored Rachel's children, his other sons became jealous of Joseph.

Because Jacob's other sons were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt.

Because Joseph was in Egypt, he had experiences which ultimately led him to great power and authority.

 

 Joseph tries his brothers, and claims Benjamin will have to stay with him.

Judah, who was the one who came up with the plan to sell Joseph, now offers himself in the stead of Benjamin.

There are no longer feelings of jealousy because of favoritism; rather, there is a willingness to sacrifice.

Ultimately, Jacob, too, appears to repent of his favoritism. He commands his sons to bury him beside Leah, not Rachel, in the grave of his fathers (Genesis 49:31)

31 There they ^aburied Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

Potiphar's Wife and Tamar

• Juxtaposed in Genesis 38 and 39
• Contrast Morality of Joseph and immorality of Judah
• Identified by a worn token
• Joseph was also represented as dead to his father by his coat in Genesis 37
• Joseph's story is paralleled in Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers, Anubis and Bata

Potiphar and the Prospered Master

Jacob and Laban

Joseph and Potiphar

Here Am I

 

הנני

Here am I

 

יהוה

Lord, Adonai, YHWH, Tetragrammaton

 

אהיה

 I Am

Willingness to be Present

To fulfill that which you are commanded to do

Take on the name of the Lord

Here am I: 

Repeated by

  Abraham

  Isaac

  Esau

  Jacob

  Joseph

  Moses

  Samuel

  Amalekite who killed Saul

  David

  Isaiah 

LDS scripture:

  Jesus/Jehovah

  Satan

1. Gen. 22: 7, 11
     7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
         •  •  •
     11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
2. Gen. 27: 1, 18
     1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
         •  •  •
     18 ¶ And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
3. Gen. 31: 11
     11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.
4. Gen. 37: 13
     13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
5. Gen. 46: 2
     2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
6. Ex. 3: 4
     4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
7. 1 Sam. 3: 4-6, 8, 16
     4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
     5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
     6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
         •  •  •
     8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
         •  •  •
     16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
8. 2 Sam. 1: 7
     7 And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I.
9. 2 Sam. 15: 26
     26 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
10. Isa. 6: 8
      8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

1. Moses 4: 1
     1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
2. Abr. 3: 27
     27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

  

Dreams

Dreams and Interpretation of Dreams

Daniel
Lehi
Freud, others

The Coat

Coat of Many Colors or Coat of Long Sleeves?

The Garment of Adam
Adam
Seth
Methuselah
Noah
Ham
Nimrod
Esau
Jacob
Joseph

Jasher 27:10
10 And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped; and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod's father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed them in his house.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/27.htm

Power, status, birthright

Timeline

Timeline:

0------Adam

130---b. Seth

235---b. Enos

325---b. Cainan

395---b. Mahalaleel

460---b. Jared

622---b. Enoch

687---b. Methuselah

874---b. Lamech

930---d. Adam

1042--d. Seth

1052--Zion is fled

1056--b. Noah

1140--d. Enos

1235--d. Cainan

1290--d. Mahalaleel

1422--d. Jared

1506--b. Japheth

1548--b. Shem

1556--b. Ham

1651--d. Lamech

1656--d. Methuselah, Flood

1658--b. Arphaxad

1693--b. Salah

1723--b. Eber

1757--b. Peleg

1787--b. Reu

1819--b. Serug

1849--b. Nahor

1878--b. Terah

1948--b. Abram, Nahor and Haran

1958--b. Sarai

1996--d. Peleg

1997--d. Nahor

2006--d. Noah

2010 or 2023--Abram, Sarai and Lot depart from Haan

2026--d. Reu

2034--b. Ishmael

2048--b. Isaac

2049--d. Nahor

2085--d. Sarah

2088--Isaac marries Rebekah

2096--d. Arphaxad

2108--b. Esau and Jacob

2123--d. Abraham

2126--d. Salah

2148--Esau marries Hittite wives

2158--d. Shem

2179--Jacob goes to Haran

2186--Jacob marries Leah and Rachel

2187--d. Eber

2187-2198--Births of Jacob's first ten sons
2199--Birth of Joseph
2216--Joseph sold into Egypt
2227--Joseph interprets dreams of butler and baker
2228--d. Isaac
2229--Joseph comes before Pharaoh
2229-2236--Seven years of plenty
2236-2243--Famine in the land
2238--Jacob comes to Egypt
2255--d. Jacob
2309--d. Joseph
2588--b. Moses

2668--Moses goes before Pharaoh, Exodus

2708--d. Moses, Israel enters Canaan

Joseph: Introduction

English 6770: Folklore and the Bible

29 February 2016

Ryan Reeder

JOSEPH

OUTLINE/Topics:

Timeline The Coat
Dreams
Here am I
Potiphar and the Prospered Master
Potiphar's Wife and Tamar
Jacob's family overcoming his favoritism of Rachel
Prevailed
Younger Son
Family disbanding after the death of the parent
Am I in the place of God?
Save the World