THE JOSEPH DEBATE
Did Joseph really exist? Maybe, or maybe not. What we do know for certain is that from 2,000 B.C.E. to about
1,700 B.C.E. the Israelites were nomads wandering between Egypt and Babylon. Perhaps it was hunger; perhaps it was
Abraham smashing the idols and getting King Nimrod happy, but as some point around 1,700 B.C.E. the Israelites
ended up in two places, Canaan and Egypt. Lucky for them it was not just any part of Egypt. It was the Nile Delta
where the Nile runs into the Mediterranean Sea. This land was fertile as all the minerals that were taken from the
Mountains far into Africa floated down the Nile and were finally deposited in the Delta. This land was called Goshen.
There the Israelites raised crops and tended sheep.
If Joseph did exist and if he was an advisor to a Pharaoh, he may have been an advisor to a Hittie Pharaoh. As you
know the Hitties were a civilization who lived in what is today present day Turkey. They perfected the making of iron
into weapons and tools. This was to prove to be a tremendous advantage to them and eventually they conquered Egypt.
No doubt that when the Hittites ruled Egypt they looked to the Israelites to help them run the place. After all, the
Israelites were foreigners to the land just like the Hittites. This may explain why the Israelites after doing so well in
Goshen were suddenly made slaves. In other words once the regular Egyptians learned how to make Iron weaJ1ons, they
drove the Hittites out of Egypt. Even though the legend tells us that Joseph was a fair Viceroy, and tried to ease the
people's troubles during the seven lean years of the famine, many Egyptians may have resented the Israelites for ruling
Egypt with the Hittites. Will this debate every be solved? Probably not. But let's go back in time to a Talmud academy in
Babylon in 450 C.E. and listen in as the students debate just this point.
Simeon: Who says that you have to read the Torah exactly as it is written?
Benjamin: As I have told you, we Jews as a people are scattered all over the known world. If we each start
making up our own interpretations we won't be able to stick together.
Simeon: That's just silly. You read history. I know you do. I see the history books in your room. You know that the
Hittites with their iron weapons invaded Egypt.
Benjamin: I know this, but that doesn't mean that I can't accept the story of Joseph as it is written. In fact there is
nothing in the story of Joseph that goes against your theory of the Hittite invasion.
Ruth: What are you two arguing about now.
Simeon: Benjamin does not want to accept the fact that Joseph did not exist. That the whole legend is a means of
explaining how the Israelites came into Egypt as a result of the Hittite invasion.
Benjamin: I didn't say that.
Deborah: Simeon, why are you always so hard on Benjamin. Our teachers tell us that it is always important to
accept debate on these stories.
Ruth: That's right we should think of what is important.
Simeon: The important thing is that a warrior armed with an iron weapon can defeat a warrior armed with a bronze
weapon.
Deborah: Is that really all that is important?
Simeon: What do you mean?
Deborah: The Joseph story stands for certain principles that Jewish people do believe in. The first is that even though
you are a stranger in a strange land you should look to treat people fairly.
David: And further, Joseph looked after his brothers who were in need. Jewish people believe very strongly in family
obligation. You are supposed to look after other family members, indeed, other Jews in time of need.
Ruth: That's right. In the ancient world, even today, when a Jewish person sees another Jew being held as a slave, the
free Jew is to work to gain the freedom of his "brother" who is a slave.
Simeon: So, this still doesn't prove that Joseph existed.
David: But it does confirm parts of the story. Look, even you would admit that the Israelites in Canaan would not
have to go into Egypt all at once.
Deborah; That's right they would have no idea how they would be treated, or whether they would have land to graze
their sheep and raise crops.
Ruth: Surely you would admit that it is no coincidence that the Israelites received a choice piece of land in Goshen.
That does fit in with the Joseph story, you know Joseph being a Viceroy to Pharaoh so that he could give the Israelites
a choice piece of land.
Simeon: Well I suppose so.
David: Don't you think that would have caused resentment if the Israelites got the land through their connections
with the Hittites even if Joseph was a fair and just Viceroy?
Simeon: It does make some sense to me.
Deborah: See there the telling of one story does not mean that the other story cannot also exist.
Benjamin: I do not believe that there is only one type of Jew. What I do believe is that we all should respect the good
values represented in the Joseph story. I believe that family obligation is important, not giving up your identity in a
strange land, and through hard work advancing yourself and your family.
Ruth: I think that even Simeon can agree with that. Come on Simeon what do you say.
Simeon: Well maybe I should say that the Joseph story reveals many things to us. But it cannot replace science or
archaeology. It's a summary of how things happened.
Ruth: No one is saying that you should give up tradition of the Abraham story of questioning and thinking
things through.
Simeon: Okay Benjamin if I agree that the Joseph story has merit as a story about what is important and about values.
Will you agree that I am still as Jewish as you?
Benjamin: (With a warm smile) I think that something can be worked out.