Genesis: 1a 1b 1c 1d 2a 2b 2c 2d 3 4a 4b 4c/5 6a 6b 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25a 25b 26a 26b 27 28a 28b 29 30a 30b 31a 31b/32a 32b 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44a 44b 45 46 47a 47b 48 49 50
44:1 VA YETSAV ET ASHER AL BEITO LEMOR MAL'E ET AMTECHOT HA ANASHIM OCHEL KA ASHER YUCHLUN SE'ET VE SIM KESEPH ISH BE PHI AMTACHTO
וַיְצַו אֶת אֲשֶׁר עַל בֵּיתוֹ לֵאמֹר מַלֵּא אֶת אַמְתְּחֹת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֹכֶל כַּאֲשֶׁר יוּכְלוּן שְׂאֵת וְשִׂים כֶּסֶף אִישׁ בְּפִי אַמְתַּחְתּוֹ
KJ (King James translation): And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.
BN (BibleNet translation): And he instructed the house-steward saying, "Fill the men's sacks with grain, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth...
Are we reading a second version of the same tale, or does this actually take place twice. The steward, or even possibly Yoseph himself through the steward-interpreter, admitted to them in 43:23 that he had put the money in their sacks, which makes the trick less likely to be successful on repetition. And why would he want to put his beloved Bin-Yamin through this sort of terror, and inflict this on his father?
44:2 VE ET GEVIY'I GEVIY'A HA KESEPH TASIM BE PHI AMTACHAT HA KATON VE ET KESEPH SHIVRU VA YA'AS KI DEVAR YOSEPH ASHER DIBER
וְאֶת גְּבִיעִי גְּבִיעַ הַכֶּסֶף תָּשִׂים בְּפִי אַמְתַּחַת הַקָּטֹן וְאֵת כֶּסֶף שִׁבְרוֹ וַיַּעַשׂ כִּדְבַר יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר
KJ: And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
BN: "And put my goblet, the silver goblet, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his corn money." And he carried out to the word what Yoseph had instructed him.
Is he by any chance seeking to teach his brothers still another lesson?
The silver goblet being of course the wine "becher". But also a devining tool; pieces of gold or silver would be thrown into the liquid in the goblet - wine or water - and the movements of the liquid presaged forthcoming events. See verse 5 below for confirmation.
[Just as a side-note; English has both "divine" and "devine", and both sides in the argument insist that the other is a mis-spelling. Actually they are two completely different identical words (read that last phrase as intentional), "divine" coming from the Latin "divus", meaning the deity, "devine" coming from the Norman-French "deviner", meaning "to guess" or "to deduce". So Yoseph's cup is both, because the act of devination becomes the act of divination (there is also the Latin "divinus", rooted in "divus" and meaning... "to devine") when the "deducing", like the dream-interpreting, is undertaken in the name of the deity by a priest.]
[Just as a side-note; English has both "divine" and "devine", and both sides in the argument insist that the other is a mis-spelling. Actually they are two completely different identical words (read that last phrase as intentional), "divine" coming from the Latin "divus", meaning the deity, "devine" coming from the Norman-French "deviner", meaning "to guess" or "to deduce". So Yoseph's cup is both, because the act of devination becomes the act of divination (there is also the Latin "divinus", rooted in "divus" and meaning... "to devine") when the "deducing", like the dream-interpreting, is undertaken in the name of the deity by a priest.]
HA KATON: Another oddity of Masoretic pointing - though on this occasion the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox texts all concur. We would expect HA KATAN (קָטָן) as in Genesis 44:20 (though elsewhere in that chapter KATON is also used). The word occurs in this form a number of times in the Tanach, but its meaning is variable. Exodus 18:22 uses it simply to mean "small", but elsewhere (cf Genesis 1:16, 1 Kings 3:7 et al), as here, it is clearly a means of conveying the comparative form ("smaller", "younger", or here "youngest").
44:3 HA BOKER OR VE HA ANASHIM SHULCHU HEMAH VA CHAMOREYHEM
הַבֹּקֶר אוֹר וְהָאֲנָשִׁים שֻׁלְּחוּ הֵמָּה וַחֲמֹרֵיהֶם
KJ: As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.
BN: As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.
44:4 HEM YATS'U ET HA IR LO HIRCHIYKU VE YOSEPH AMAR LA ASHER AL BEITO KUM REDOPH ACHAREY HA ANASHIM VE HISAGTAM VE AMARTA AL'EHEM LAMAH SHILAMTEM RA'AH TACHAT TOVAH
הֵם יָצְאוּ אֶת הָעִיר לֹא הִרְחִיקוּ וְיוֹסֵף אָמַר לַאֲשֶׁר עַל בֵּיתוֹ קוּם רְדֹף אַחֲרֵי הָאֲנָשִׁים וְהִשַּׂגְתָּם וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם לָמָּה שִׁלַּמְתֶּם רָעָה תַּחַת טוֹבָה
KJ: And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
BN: And when they had left the city, but were not yet gone very far, Yoseph said to his steward, "Get up, go after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good?..
Which city? We know that he married a woman from On (Heliopolis), and we assume from the story of Poti-Phar's wife that he was first in Memphis (15 miles south of today's Cairo); but if this was Hyksos then he is now in either Avaris or Amarna; and if it is pre or post Hyksos he would be in Thebes.
The pursuit echoes and parallels Lavan's pursuit of Ya'akov (Genesis 31:18 ff); in both cases they are seeking the return of a sacred object.
44:5 HA LO ZEH ASHER YISHTEH ADONI BO VE HU NACHESH YENACHESH BO HARE'OTEM ASHER ASIYTEM
הֲלוֹא זֶה אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁתֶּה אֲדֹנִי בּוֹ וְהוּא נַחֵשׁ יְנַחֵשׁ בּוֹ הֲרֵעֹתֶם אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם
KJ: Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
BN: "'Is this not the cup in which my lord drinks, the one with which he reads the oracles? You have committed a wickedness in doing this.'"
NACHESH (נחש): "to divine", or "to devine", as you prefer; linked in Yehudit to the word for "snake" because the snake was the oracular beast identified with Diana Nemorensis and other goddesses of the sacred grove - the serpent of Eden in the Yisra-Eli story, Apepi in the Egyptian. Very interesting that he drinks from the same cup in which he devines - what, does he read the tea-leaves? Or the sediment anyway? Nor is that comment facetious, because this is a significant clue to what the story may originally have been about. The twelve constellations have gone to the sun for an oracle, just as in Yoseph's childhood dream?
NACHASH recurs in another important Egyptian context - Mosheh's banner was called Nechushtan; it was a depiction in brass of the serpent of Creation, elsewhere known as Tehom or Tiamat (go back to the notes on the Creation, the entire Ophis-Marduk-Tehom legendarium. Snakes are never just snakes in Bible stories.) Can someone please explain to me why Nechushtan, the Bronze Serpent, was less offensive, less idolatrous, less a sin, than the making of the Golden Calf?
HARE'OTEM: A wickedness, rather than a crime? Which is to say,a moral-spiritual offense, or a legal one?
44:6 VA YASIGEM VA YEDABER AL'EHEM ET HA DEVARIM HA ELEH
וַיַּשִּׂגֵם וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה
KJ: And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.
BN: And he overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.
44:7 VA YOMRU ELAV LAMAH YEDABER ADONI KA DEVARIM HA ELEH CHALILAH LA AVADEYCHA ME ASOT KA DAVAR HA ZEH
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו לָמָּה יְדַבֵּר אֲדֹנִי כַּדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה חָלִילָה לַעֲבָדֶיךָ מֵעֲשׂוֹת כַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה
KJ: And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing:
BN: And they said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to have done such a thing...
CHALILAH (חלילה): that lovely onomatopoeic word that is usually coupled with CHAS - "god forbid"! We have to throw out the English translation though. They are saying "god forbid", and the point is, after the steward's admission about the money last time, they now realise the extent of Yoseph's power, and even if they haven't twigged that he's playing games with them, they know they've done nothing wrong, must think they are being persecuted, and fear death at every moment. So Yoseph's revenge is completed, not in the flesh, but in the heart and in the mind and in the soul. Revenge that can engender repentance and redemption - a far finer message than mere revenge. Yet there is also cruelty in what he is doing - cruelty to dad and full-brother.
44:8 HEN KESEPH ASHER MATSA'NU BE PHI AMTECHOTEYNU HESHIYVONU ELEYCHA ME ERETS KENA'AN VE AYCH NIGNOV MI BEIT ADONEYCHA KESEPH O ZAHAV?
הֵן כֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר מָצָאנוּ בְּפִי אַמְתְּחֹתֵינוּ הֱשִׁיבֹנוּ אֵלֶיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וְאֵיךְ נִגְנֹב מִבֵּית אֲדֹנֶיךָ כֶּסֶף אוֹ זָהָב
KJ: Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold?
BN: "Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks, we brought it back to you from the land of Kena'an. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord's house?..
Again from the icon: this frieze must show Bin-Yamin with the divining cup, followed by Bin-Yamin, bound presumably, or in the dungeon: thus Bin-Yamin and Yoseph are identified as father-son or co-priests or tanist-twins or some-such: both Osher (Osiris) anyway.
44:9 ASHER YIMATS'E ITO ME AVADEYCHA VA MET VE GAM ANACHNU NIHEYEH LA ADONI LA AVADIM
אֲשֶׁר יִמָּצֵא אִתּוֹ מֵעֲבָדֶיךָ וָמֵת וְגַם אֲנַחְנוּ נִהְיֶה לַאדֹנִי לַעֲבָדִים
KJ: With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.
BN: "With whichever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be our lord's bondmen."
And of course, again iconotropically, we can deduce that the story has no Yisra-Elite component whatsoever, that the figures identified as 12 tribes, Jacob etc are not.
ANACHNU NIHEYEH LA ADONI: Confusion in my translation. The Yehudit says "my lord", not "out lord". Only one of the brothers is speaking, though we are not told which. Yet verse 7 told us that "they answered", and the response is presented in that manner.
Once again the use of dramatic irony by the narrator. The reader-listener knows precisely where the cup is, and understands immediately that all of Ya'akov's fears are now in the balance, because yet again the brothers have held out a foolish and unnecessary hostage to fortune.
But the irony extends beyond that, because Avadim - whether servants or slaves or merely hired workers - is what all of them will become, and remain for the next several generations, very shortly afterwards: the Mosheh story
44:10 VA YOMER GAM ATAH CHE DIVREYCHEM KEN HU ASHER YIMATS'E ITO YIHEYEH LI AVED VE ATEM TIHEYU NEKIYIM
וַיֹּאמֶר גַּם עַתָּה כְדִבְרֵיכֶם כֶּן הוּא אֲשֶׁר יִמָּצֵא אִתּוֹ יִהְיֶה לִּי עָבֶד וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ נְקִיִּם
KJ: And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless.
BN: And he said, "Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my bondsman; and you shall be blameless."
Again it sounds like something Yoseph would have said, but not the steward, unless the steward were speaking solely as interpreter, which would require him to have brought the brothers back, and he has not yet done that (see verse 13); for himself, does he even have the authority to make them bondsmen, let alone "his" bondsmen (unless bondsmen here means "prisoner")?
44:11 VA YEMAHARU VA YORIDU ISH ET AMTACHTO ARTSAH VA YIPHTECHU ISH AMTACHTO
וַיְמַהֲרוּ וַיּוֹרִדוּ אִישׁ אֶת אַמְתַּחְתּוֹ אָרְצָה וַיִּפְתְּחוּ אִישׁ אַמְתַּחְתּוֹ
KJ: Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.
BN: Then they hastened, and every man took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack.
What happened to the second "Et"?
Which scene of course completes the parallel of Lavan searching for his stolen teraphim (Genesis 31:18 ff). But do they not suspect the steward of having planted the goblet, as he planted the money last time?
44:12 VA YECHAPES BA GADOL HECHEL U VA KATON KILAH VA YIMATS'E HA GAVI'A BE AMTACHAT BIN-YAMIN
וַיְחַפֵּשׂ בַּגָּדוֹל הֵחֵל וּבַקָּטֹן כִּלָּה וַיִּמָּצֵא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּאַמְתַּחַת בִּנְיָמִן
KJ: And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
BN: And he searched, beginning with the eldest, and leaving off at the youngest; and the goblet was found in Bin-Yamin's sack.
Ooh the tension!
44:13 VA YIKRE'U SIMLOTAM VA YA'AMOS ISH AL CHAMORO VA YASHUVU HA IRAH
וַיִּקְרְעוּ שִׂמְלֹתָם וַיַּעֲמֹס אִישׁ עַל חֲמֹרוֹ וַיָּשֻׁבוּ הָעִירָה
KJ: Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city.
BN: Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded up his ass, and they returned to the city.
Wonderfully melodramatic story-telling, even despite the constant internal errors.
End of seventh fragment; Maphtir.
44:14 VA YAVO YEHUDAH VE ECHAV BEITAH YOSEPH VE HU ODENU SHAM VA YIPLU LEPHANAV ARTSAH
וַיָּבֹא יְהוּדָה וְאֶחָיו בֵּיתָה יוֹסֵף וְהוּא עוֹדֶנּוּ שָׁם וַיִּפְּלוּ לְפָנָיו אָרְצָה
KJ: And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground.
BN: And Yehudah and his brothers came to Yoseph's house, and he was still there; and they fell on the ground before him.
Why the specific reference to Yehudah? Why does he assume the leadership here, when Re'u-Ven is the eldest? Or is this again post-exilic redaction? And the fact that the tale of Yehudah and Tamar was snuggled in between the Yoseph fragments - does this infer that there was once an entire book of Yehudah, which became absorbed into this one?
Describing it as Yoseph's "house" makes for splendid litotes, as though it were some suburban 3-bedroom with hydrangeas in the front garden; his "minor palace", one has to presume; or quite possibly his temple.
44:15 VA YOMER LAHEM YOSEPH MA HA MA'ASEH HA ZEH ASHER ASIYTEM HA LO YEDA'TEM KI NACHESH YENACHESH ISH ASHER KAMONI
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם יוֹסֵף מָה הַמַּעֲשֶׂה הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם הֲלוֹא יְדַעְתֶּם כִּי נַחֵשׁ יְנַחֵשׁ אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר כָּמֹנִי
KJ: And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?
BN: And Yoseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I will always devine it?"
Again the divination reference - is devining a facet of dream-interpretation? There is a deliberate irony in this of course. Trouble with his brothers started with his oracles, and now he uses the oracles back against them. But also he has managed to devine without having the devining cup to do so, precisely because it has been planted in Bin-Yamin's luggage. Does this render all his dream-interpretations somewhat disingenuous?
44:16 VA YOMER YEHUDAH MAH NOMAR LA ADONI MAH NEDABER U MAH NITSTADAK HA ELOHIM MATSA ET AVON AVADEYCHA HINENU AVADIM LA ADONI GAM ANACHNU GAM ASHER NIMTSA HA GAVI'A BE YADO
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוּדָה מַה נֹּאמַר לַאדֹנִי מַה נְּדַבֵּר וּמַה נִּצְטַדָּק הָאֱלֹהִים מָצָא אֶת עֲוֹן עֲבָדֶיךָ הִנֶּנּוּ עֲבָדִים לַאדֹנִי גַּם אֲנַחְנוּ גַּם אֲשֶׁר נִמְצא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּיָדוֹ
KJ: And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.
BN: And Yehudah said, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? Ha Elohim have found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord's bondmen, both us, and him too, in whose hand the cup is found."
We can safely assume that there is a second version of the story in which Re'u-Ven says something not dissimilar.
The use of AVADEYCHA (עבדיך) is intriguing. Sometimes we have to read it as "worshippers", at others as "slaves", but here it is clearly "your servant", which is a form of respectful address and not a declaration of indenture.
NIMTSA HA GAVI'A BE YADO: But wait a minute - yet another internal contradiction. Yehudah uses the present tense to infer the future - "in whoever's sack the sup turns out to be found", and Yoseph endorses this in the next verse. But in verse 12 the cup was found in Bin-Yamin's sack, and this is why they are here now, arested, brought back.
NIMTSA HA GAVI'A BE YADO: But wait a minute - yet another internal contradiction. Yehudah uses the present tense to infer the future - "in whoever's sack the sup turns out to be found", and Yoseph endorses this in the next verse. But in verse 12 the cup was found in Bin-Yamin's sack, and this is why they are here now, arested, brought back.
44:17 VA YOMER CHALILAH LI ME ASOT ZOT HA ISH ASHER NIMTSA HA GAVI'A BE YADO HU YIHEYEH LI AVED VE ATEM ALU LE SHALOM EL AVICHEM
וַיֹּאמֶר חָלִילָה לִּי מֵעֲשׂוֹת זֹאת הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר נִמְצָא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּיָדוֹ הוּא יִהְיֶה לִּי עָבֶד וְאַתֶּם עֲלוּ לְשָׁלוֹם אֶל אֲבִיכֶם
KJ: And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.
BN: And he said, "Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the goblet has been found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, go back in peace to your father."
CHALILAH LI: Does not mean "far be it from me", which is a relatively weak expression. See note to verse 7.
Once again we have to question Yoseph's psychological judgement. Whatever anguish he may be causing his brothers, does he not understand how much more anguish it will be for Ya'akov, when he hears that his worst fears have come to fruition? It's actually amazing that it doesn't kill him.
End of scroll; and one of the very few times that a truly Dickensian cliff-hanger ending occurs.
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