Vayechi -- Yosef's Bones, Cheops, Job and a Coffin in Egypt

[Rebbe]

BRI International Internet Yeshiva Parashah Notes, January 7, 2012

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"I teach nothing new but all things original" -- Rebbe

Parsha Vayechi (and he lived)
Genesis 47.28-50.26
Haftorah 1 Kgs 2.1-12   (Sephardi)

I always attempt to make the biblical revelation relevant to us today. Especially is this the case when we are dealing with historical references in the Bible that many of us overlook. Sometimes such relevance can take our breath away when we piece together seemingly unrelated texts to create a fabric of heavenly revelation.

It is mentioned almost in passing and at the very conclusion of the scroll of Genesis that "Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years of age: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt" (Gen 50.26). Scholars point out, correctly, that Genesis begins with God and concludes with man, it begins with the creation of the heavens above and ends with mention of a coffin here below in Egypt.

Joseph died and was buried at the ripe old age of 110 years. His body is embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. Later, his bones are extracted from that coffin, after a period of around 144 years, and taken with the fleeing Israelites (Ex 13.19) to the Promised Land where they are again interred (Josh 24.32). So important was this incident that the unknown author of the letter to the Hebrews records it (Heb 11.22) as a act of faith on Joseph's part.

Question: Where were Joseph's remains located while Israel sojourned in Egypt? And, is it important to know?

Answer: All we are told is that they were placed in a coffin. As no mention is even made of the site it must have been common knowledge to everybody at that time. Indeed, I will show in a moment that it was known by every Egyptian and every Israelite. And, the removal of his body answers one of the great questions every historian and archeologist has asked. To what am I referring?

To answer this latter question please turn with me to the book of Job -- in chronological terms probably the earliest scroll included in the Bible. What has Job to do with Joseph? Here is where research gets riveting if not downright exciting.

What do we know about the patriarch Job? Not a great deal according to biblical scholars. Indeed, many Jewish scholars claim he is nothing more than a fiction of genius created by a pious editor to explain the problems associated with the existence of evil in the world. But let's see what the Word of the living God has to share with us about Job. We will discover he certainly was a genius, although not the sort that Jewish scholars insist upon.

Firstly, the Torah is very explicit in telling us that Levites alone were permitted to sacrifice. Yet, the record of the book of Job informs us that Job personally sacrificed periodically (Job 1.5; 42.8).

Therefore, Job must have lived prior to the giving of the Mosaic law to Israel at Sinai. This one fact helps us to date him.

Secondly, Job was a royal personage, otherwise he would not have written the following: "Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not expire when I came out of the womb?....Then had I been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves. Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver" (Job 3.11-15).

Job does not associate his impending death with that of the common everyday human being! He speaks rather of an internment with royalty. He even makes mention of "kings who build desolate places for themselves." And, of course, this was certainly the case with Egyptian pharaoh's. As for desolate places think "Valley of the Kings"!

But as for his mention of royalty, Job further testifies: "Unto me men waited to listen to me, and kept silence when I gave counsel and advice. After my words they spoke not again and upon them my sentences dropped. They waited for me as for rain and opened their mouths as for showers. If I laughed at them did they believe? They turned not from the smile on my face! I chose their course, presiding as CHIEF, and stood as king of my legions, and I led them where I chose" (Job 29.21-25).

Whoever Job was, he certainly was a prominent figure and he had power, and he was not afraid to exercise it!

Third, Job remains for some reason hidden in the Bible. Most Christians fail to realise that Job is first mentioned in Genesis 46.13. He is the son of Isaachar one of the twelve sons of Jacob (or Israel). In 1 Chron 7.1 he is known as Iashub (pronounced something like ee'ar'shyuub) or Yashub.

Being a son of Isaachar places this mysterious character chronologically prior to the Exodus. But how far back did he live? Well, for one thing, Job was an associate of Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 2.11). In fact, Eliphaz fathered the Temanites (Gen 36.11) and therefore Job had to have lived in the immediate generation subsequent to that of Esau the twin brother of Jacob. For, Eliphaz was the son of Esau (Gen 36.10).

Fourth, and intriguingly, this now brings Joseph into the story. Joseph and Eliphaz had to have been related. Of course! They were first cousins. And, not only is this the case, but Joseph and Job had to have been contemporary.

This is an important link in the chain of chronological events. Joseph is recognised by scholars as being identified in Egyptian history as Prime Minister Souf or Saf-hotep ("Saf the servant"). He had ordered the construction of the famed Egyptian Pentagon (known today as the Labyrinth) and he utilised the assistance of his twelve brothers to bring this mammoth project into a fruition. This was achieved under Pharaoh Amenemhet III who was Pharaoh of Upper Egypt (Wathen's Antiquities, 142).

Joseph was known by Pharaoh as "Zaph-nath-paaneah" meaning "Saf, the man in whom secrets dwell" (Gen 41.45). Joseph, the Bible informs us, was a mystic who not only dreamed the future (and caused family upsets) but possessed a silver chalice which divined secrets (Gen 44.2). It gave Joseph unparalleled knowledge and wisdom (Gen 44.5,15). Edomite cultures borrowed Israelite knowledge and perverted it into the "golden cup" of "filthiness" and "porneia" -- detached from original Israelite authority and highly anti-Jewish in thought and application (Rev 17.4).

Now this is vital! Egypt in those days had two separate realms -- Upper and Lower Egypt, and Pharaoh's were more often than not contemporary with each other rather than reigning successively. The Pharaoh of Lower Egypt -- when Amenemhet III ruled Upper Egypt -- was Zoser, the builder of the step pyramid (Budge, A History of Egypt, II, 9). Zoser left evidence of a drought of seven years which occurred in the days of Souf or Joseph.

He noted, "My heart is in great anxiety, for in my time the Nile has not overflowed for a period of SEVEN YEARS" (Cambridge Ancient History 1, 309,310).

An Egyptian account of the calamity of seven years drought can be found on the rocks of the island of Sehel, at the First Cataract. A modern translation of it may be found in Biblical Archaeology by G. Ernest Wright, page 56. The account reads as follows:

"Year 18 ...I was in distress on the Great Throne, and those who are in the palace were in Heart's affliction from a very great evil, since the Nile had not come in my time for a space of seven years. Grain was scant, fruits were dried up, and everything which they eat was short ...The infant was wailing; the youth was waiting; the heart of the old man was in sorrow ... The courtiers were in need. The temples were shut up ...Everything was found empty" (Tr. by J. A. Wilson in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. B. Pritchard, 31.)

Souf or Saf (Jo'seph), according to translations made by Budge, is called to the palace of Pharaoh of lower Egypt precisely due to his capacity as a prophetic dreamer (Budge's Egypt 11, 43). Joseph was 30 years of age upon entering his service (Gen 41.46).

Eratosthenes wrote that the Egyptians considered Souf (Suphis) ruthless and described him as a "money-getter" or "trafficker" (W. G. Waddell, Fragment 17, Manetho, 219). Clearly they did not appreciate his intervention to save the nation. Of course, this was their opinion after the seven year drought was over.

Whatever the case in relation to Souf's own public personality rating, this mystic died at the ripe age of 110 years exactly as did Joseph. That they were one and the same individual cannot be questioned. But wait! There is more!

The historian Herodotus (5th century BCE) states the builders of the Great Pyramid were shepherds (Euterpe #128). The Egyptians were decidedly not shepherds. In fact, they held such people in the utmost contempt. The Bible confirms this fact.

"And Joseph said unto his brethren...I will go up, and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father's house...are come unto me; and the men are shepherds...And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That you shall say, Thy servant's trade hath been about cattle...for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians" (Gen 46.31-34).

Professor Rawlinson grants us an insight into Souf's employer. Souf, or Joseph, was "chief of [over] the works of Khufu" (Rawlinson's Egypt, X1V).

And who was Khufu? Khufu was the Pharaoh who built the greatest architectural achievement of the ancient world. The Greeks spelled and pronounced his name "Cheops." Khufu was a foreign king whose domain extended into Egypt. He was not an Egyptian. He "was of a different race" (Wathen's Arts and Antiquities of Egypt, 54). A damaged but unique ivory statuette of Cheops was unearthed at Abydos, Egypt. This is the only likeness of Cheops in existence. His facial features are distinctly non-Egyptian.

Khufu or Cheops, oddly enough in view of the horror and contempt Egypt had for shepherds, was himself a shepherd. And, he constructed the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. And, not only so, but Herodotus tells us he "closed the temples and prohibited the Egyptians from offering sacrifices" (History 11, 124). Herodotus tells us further that the Great Pyramid took 20 years to build, much of it during the time of the seven-years' famine when labor was readily available. Josephus confirms this. He tells us that the Egyptians set the Israelites to "build pyramids" (Ant 11, ix, 1).

Manetho, the Egyptian historian, also relates "He [Cheops or Khufu] was arrogant toward the gods, but repented and wrote the Sacred Book...a work of great importance" (Wathen's Antiquities 268; Budge's Egypt 11, 31).

A sacred book?

Cheop's was not only known as Khufu but also Saaru or Shaaru (Petrie's History of Egypt 1, 37). Saaru is another name for "the inhabitants of Mt Seir" (Rawlinson's History of Egypt  XXII).

Khufu, or Cheops, was a foreign king from Mt Seir (Petra) who exercised power in Lower Egypt during and after the time of Joseph. Mt Seir was famous in history as the Land of Uz (Clarke's Commentary 111, preface to Job). Uz was a descendent of Seir the Horite (Gen 36.28).

Now who was considered "arrogant toward the gods" and repented and wrote a Sacred Book? None other than Job! The ancient Greeks called Job, Cheops -- pronouncing the name "hee-obe." In German he is called "hee-ope."

Cheops is simply an alteration of Job.

Job left a great monument in stone. Bildad, one of his friends, taunted Job: "You that tear yourself in your anger! Shall the earth be forsaken of you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?" (Job 18.4 Jewish tr).

The earth would not be forsaken of Job even if he were to die? Of course! The rock monument he built would remain, it would not "be removed out of its place." Its still there in the desert today, a monument to the genius of Job -- a huge rock in a desolate place that cannot be moved.

Job 38.4-6 presuppose that Job was a great builder.

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare if you have understanding! Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the sockets thereof sunk? Or who lay the corner stone [cap stone] thereof?"

Now read it again in comparison with the architectural wonder of the ancient world built by Job and the point made by God is poignant!

We could paraphrase what God said: "Yes Job, you may have laid the foundations of the Great Pyramid but where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Yes, you prepared the astonishing measures on the pyramid in Egypt but who determined the measures of the earth and stretched the line upon it? Yes, you fastened down in sockets the foundations of the pyramid, but whereupon are the foundations of the planet fastened? Yes, you settled the cap stone in gold and shining marble atop the pyramid, and covered the stones of the pyramid with white marble -- but I laid the corner stone of the earth!"

If we look at Job 1.3b we read in most Bibles, "this man was the greatest of all the men of the East" -- and "the greatest" must mean something if words mean anything! The LXX has "He was also a man of illustrious birth among the people of the East." Surely, "illustrious birth" must also mean something profound. Knox renders it: "in all the East none was Job's rival."

Moreover, we find that the three friends of Job (who made appointments to see him -- Job 2.11b) were all kings! Again the LXX states: "Eliphaz the KING of the Thaimanites, Baldad the SOVEREIGN of the Sauchaeans, and Sophar the KING of the Minaians."

What reason would kings and sovereigns have in visiting a commoner with an ugly disease? And for regents, sovereigns and kings to make an appointment with a low-born commoner would be an utter nonsense!

Job built the Great Pyramid. In it, there is a sarcophagus -- a coffin -- which is empty. Historians proffer that it has never been used. Well, how do they know this? The answer is they're simply guessing. The reason they believe it's never been used is that there was no evidence when it was finally rediscovered of a past forced entrance into the tomb by thieves and looters. But this in no way suggests it was never originally occupied. In fact, there was a royal personage whose corpse lay in that tomb until Israel left Egypt. That corpse was Joseph's. Highly respected, second in line over Lower Egypt next to Pharaoh Zoser, the body of Joseph was accorded huge respect. Joseph remained in the tomb of Cheops until the advent of a Pharaoh "who knew not Joseph" (Ex 1.8).

While Job (Cheops or Khufu) was never to occupy his own tomb, his contemporary Joseph did.

It is written, "Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years of age: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt" (Gen 50.26).

"For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow" (Job 8.8,9).

"Chazak! Chazak! Ve'nit chazek" - "Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened!"