Was the Joseph Story Written per Egypt During the Persian Period?

Egyptologists have long searched the details of the Joseph story for clues onesto when the story was written. Does the Jewish experience as per diaspora community in Egypt hold the clue onesto the story’s origin?

Egyptology and Bible Studies

From its very beginning, the field of Egyptology was interested, if not obsessed, with Egypt’s role con the Hebrew Bible. The wealth of Egyptian records vis a vis the dearth of contemporary Israelite or Canaanite straordinario-biblical records, encouraged Egyptologists puro provide the historical background for the holy scriptures.

Exemplifying this obsession is the New York Public Library bibliography, listing an astounding 182 works on Egypt and the Bible by the year 1924. Another 97 works were listed by 1941. Among these are the works of notable Egyptologists such as,

• Emmanuel de Rouge (1811-1872, France),
• Francois Chabas (1817-1882, France),
• Wilhelm Spiegelberg (1826-1890, Germany),
• (Henri) Edouard Naville (1844-1926, Switzerland),
• Gaston Maspero (1846-1916, France),
• Wilhelm Max Muller (1862-1919, Germany),
• Sir Alan Gardiner (1879-1963, England).

The main objective of these studies was esatto verify the biblical accounts. This was neither masked nor veiled but explicitly proclaimed mediante such titles as Abraham Yahuda’s: The Accuracy of the Bible. The Stories of Joseph, the Exodus and Genesis Confirmed and Illustrated by Egyptian Monuments and Language.

Joseph durante (which) Egypt?

Considering its Egyptian settings and the many Egyptian elements durante the narrative, the story of Josephs’ descent puro Egypt and his subsequent ascent to Egyptian governance has been one of the major focal points of inter-disciplinary studies of the Hebrew Bible. Many studies have highlighted the genuine ancient Egyptian aspects per it and provided parallels preciso the names, titles, customs and motifs – all taken from the vast records of ancient Egypt.

However, the exact historical setting of the composition of the Joseph story continues onesto elude scholars as they debate its

connection sicuro Egypt of the imperial evo durante the second millennium BCE or puro the much later, Saite and Ptolemaic periods in the late first millennium BCE. Two important studies exemplify the range of approaches.

New Kingdom Egypt (1550-1070) – Jozef Vergote

Durante his 1959 study, the Flemish Egyptologist, Jozef Vergote (1910-1992), summarized and confirmed the broad consensus that the Joseph story reflected an intimate knowledge of Egypt during its imperial period, known as the New Kingdom. During this period, Egypt controlled considerable regions durante the Levant, and saw the integration of several Semitic-named individuals into Egyptian administrative offices. Identifying a proto-type for Joe was therefore verso plausible timore.

Saite Egypt (664-525) – Donald Redford

Two decades later, verso study by the Canadian Egyptologist and archaeologist, Donald Redford (b. 1934), revolutionized our view of Joseph’s Egypt through per critical and comprehensive study of the Egyptian “coloring” mediante the Joseph’s story. Redford made use of all Ancient Egyptian sources, without confining his research to New Kingdom Egypt or earlier periods. In doing so, Redford noted that some Egyptian elements per the Joseph story appeared quite late durante the Egyptian superiorita, and although they could have represented earlier times as well, the critical mass of his comparanda pointed esatto per date mediante the first millennium.

This was niente affatto doubt also the result of Redford’s dialogue with contemporary views on biblical redaction and compilation as they were perceived in Europe, rather than in the US.

Customs from verso Saite Egyptian Context

Redford’s study notes that many of the so called Egyptian practices sopra the Joseph story were not exclusive to Egypt and could also be found durante other Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Such were the trade caravans, the presence of Asiatic slaves, traditions and titles associated with the royal trapu, etc. Nevertheless, Redford focuses attention on some elements in the Joseph https://datingranking.net/it/internationalcupid-review/ story that are purely Egyptian: