Potiphar

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Potiphar
pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ
in hieroglyphs

Potiphar (/ˈpoʊtiːfɑːr/; Hebrew: פּוֹטִיפַר/פּוֹטִיפָר, romanized: Pōṭīp̄ar/Pōṭīp̄ār; from Late Egyptian: pꜣ-dj-pꜣ-rꜥ, lit. 'he whom Ra gave') is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. His name possibly indicates the same figure as Potiphera (Hebrew: פוטיפרע).

Potiphar is the captain of the guard for a pharaoh who is said to have purchased Joseph as a slave and, impressed by his intelligence, makes him the master of his household. Potiphar's wife, who was known for her infidelities, took a liking to Joseph and attempted to seduce him. When Joseph refused her advances and ran off, leaving his outer vestment in her hands, she retaliated by falsely accusing him of trying to rape her, and Potiphar had Joseph imprisoned.

What happened to Potiphar after that is unclear; some sources identify him as Potipherah, an Egyptian priest whose daughter, Asenath, marries Joseph. The false accusation by Potiphar's wife plays an important role in Joseph's narrative because had he not been imprisoned, he would not have met the fellow prisoner who introduced him to Pharaoh. Likewise, the fate of Potiphar's wife is unclear but some sources say she was stricken with illness.

Rachel Adelman suggests that both Potiphar and his wife were sexually attracted to Joseph and tried to use him for their own purposes. But Potiphar's attempts were thwarted via castration, according to Talmudic legend. She believes the story is a criticism of Jewish assimilation since foreigners like Potiphar and his wife would seduce Jews to sin.

The medieval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives Potiphar's wife's name as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions - hence the Persian poem, titled Yusuf and Zulaikha, which also has Persian miniatures of the couple, from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones").

The story became prevalent in Western art during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, usually depicting the moment when Joseph tears himself away from the bed containing a more or less naked figure of Potiphar's wife.

Religious references

Tying Potiphar or Joseph accurately to a particular pharaoh or period is difficult. According to the Jewish calendar, Joseph was purchased in the year 2216, which is 1544 BC, at the end of the Second Intermediate Period or the very beginning of the New Kingdom. The Torah in which the story appears (before the Bible and the Quran) was the earliest written of the three: c. 600 BC during the Babylonian Exile. According to the documentary hypothesis, the story of Potiphar and his wife is credited to the Yahwist source and stands in the same place as the stories of the butler and the baker and Pharaoh's dreams stand in the Elohist text.

A similar story is found in the Tale of Two Brothers, where the wife of Anpu tries to seduce his brother Bata.

Islam

The story is related in Quran 12:21–35. The Aziz (an honorific referring to Potiphar) purchases Joseph and proposes to adopt him. When Joseph reaches a mature age, the Aziz's wife attempts to seduce him, but he resists her seduction. To avoid blame, she instead accuses Joseph of attempting to rape her. However, since she had ripped his shirt from behind while he ran away, Joseph's innocence was proven to the Aziz, who condemns his wife. Therefore, the immoral conduct of the Aziz's wife becomes known in the city. On seeing Joseph's beauty, chaos is caused amongst the wives of other Egyptian chiefs, which prompts the Aziz to imprison him.

Cultural references

Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1655.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ulmer, Rivka (2009-12-15). Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110223934.
  2. ↑ “The Egyptian Sun-God Ra in the Joseph Story.” Vetus Testamentum 36, no. 4 (1986): 417–418.
  3. ↑ Genesis 16–50 (Word Biblical Commentary; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
  4. ↑ Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50 (Word Biblical Commentary; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
  5. ↑ Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18–50 (New International Commentary on the Old Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995).
  6. ↑ "Potiphar – JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  7. ↑ "Joseph". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Adelman, Rachel (2022). "Potiphar and His Wife Desire Joseph". TheTorah.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2024.
  9. ↑ Wherry, Elwood Morris (1896). A Complete Index to Sale's Text, Preliminary Discourse, and Notes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Bibliography