The lineage of the Jews from the old testament is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob whose name was changed to Israel had 12 sons from several wives. Joseph was the youngest son from his favorite wife Rachel. Because Joseph was his fathers favorite, he gave Joseph a coat of many colors. The 11 other sons were jealous and it caused Joseph rough treatment from his jealous brothers. His brothers were out tending the sheep. Joseph’s father asked him to take food to his brothers and see how they were doing. The brothers saw him a ways off and they became angry at him for being his father’s favorite. They threw Joseph into a deep pit while they decided what to do with him. I thought, “What would be the rudest thing that you could do to your brother that you had just thrown in a deep pit?” I reasoned it would be to sit on the edge of the pit and dangle your feet mockingly in the pit. Some of his brothers were so angry they wanted to kill him. They finally decided on a more profitable option. They sold their brother into slaver
Joseph’s Pit
This print started out much shorter than the final version. As I looked at it, the pit was just not deep enough. I added more black but it still wasn’t deep enough. I then doubled the amount of black. There are hidden faces in the side of the pit of Joseph looking up at his brothers along with the brother dangling his feet in the pit. I can’t imagine the pain and confusion Joseph felt as he looked back on his brothers who had sold him.
The Coat is Returned 1
The Coat is Returned 2
The brothers then take Joseph’s coat, smear it with sheep’s blood and take it back to their father. They didn’t lie to him. They tell him they found the coat and they think it might be Joseph’s. Of course, their father is beside himself with grief. The brothers kept their secret for 20 years.
I made 2 prints of “The Coat is Returned”. The first one shows the brothers presenting the coat to their father who has fainted with grief. It is illustrative that there are not many unanswered questions. It is straightforward. The second print is a bright red coat on the floor with a black background. On the background are red hand marks. There are a lot of unanswered questions with regards to this image. What is the meaning of the red hand prints? What happened to the coat and many other questions?
Joseph is honorable and he gets sold to a man of great wealth where he quickly rises to the position over the whole household. The man’s wife has wandering eyes and tries to get Joseph to sleep with her. She grabs Joseph by his coat but Joseph slips out of his coat and escapes. The wife however tells her husband that Joseph attacked her and she has his coat as proof. The husband sends Joseph to jail. In jail, he is given the opportunity to interpret dreams for two of the inmates. One dream ends badly as Joseph said it would and the other interpretation gets the inmate back in Pharaoh’s graces. As he is going back into Pharaoh service, Joseph tells him to put in a good word with Pharaoh. Pharaoh has had a dream that his wise men can’t interpret and Joseph is brought in. He tells Pharaoh that there will be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph that he gives Joseph the task of managing Egypt’s resources.
Stranger in a Strange Land
He makes Joseph the second most powerful man in Egypt. He gives him a wife and a ring on his finger and great power. For 7 years, Joseph stores away plenty. When the 7 years of famine come Joseph is ready. The famine is terrible and as people run out of food, Joseph is happy to sell them grain. When the people run out of money, Joseph trades cattle for grain and when the cattle are gone he trades property for grain which makes Pharaoh extremely rich.
Meanwhile Joseph’s family is suffering because of the famine and they go to Egypt to get food not realizing the person that is in charge of the food is their younger brother who they sold into slavery. As soon as Joseph sees his brothers he realizes that they have changed and he forgives them. Joseph is reunited with his father Israel and his 12 brothers and they all go to Egypt to live. The Israelites prosper in Egypt for hundreds of years and their numbers are large enough that the pharaoh gets scared and forces them all into slavery.
The Hyksos people had ruled Egypt for 400 years and were originally shepherds, the lowest rung on Egypt’s social ladder. When they were finally overthrown, the Egyptians were so embarrassed that they had been ruled for so long by shepherds they tried to erase any reference to the time period. If here is no record of the time it never happened. That is why there is no tomb or monument to Joseph. The last image is a portrait of Joseph in the throes of being erased. Behind the figure is text from the Egyptian book of the dead. It is titled “My Name is Joseph.”
He would want to be remembered as Joseph not by his Egyptian persona.
My Name is Joseph
This post is large and I wanted to give an explanation. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and were talking about the images of Joseph. One of the sisters said she had never heard of Joseph or his story. I thought if she had never heard the story there would be others so I include some backstory as context.