Joseph in Genesis Trivia Quiz

First, some family background. Joseph was born to a family that already had a complex structure. His father, Jacob (later to be known as Israel), a grandson of Abraham and Sarah, already had at least 11 older children (there could have been more who were not named). He had two wives, Leah and her sister Rachel, both Jacob's cousins, and two concubines (each of them a servant to one of his wives). His first children whose names are recorded in Genesis were ten sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun) and one daughter (Dinah). Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin were the only two children of Rachel, Jacob's favourite wife, and they became his favourite children.

Jacob's favouritism was clearly obvious to everyone, and the famous coat was one example among numerous other acts. The Hebrew 'ketonet passim', describing the garment, is usually translated as a long coat of many colours, but the RSV chose the alternative translation used here, a long robe with sleeves. This coat represented Jacob's intention to have Joseph become his heir as leader of the family, and (understandably) his older half-brothers resented it.

Joseph himself seems to have seen himself as the top dog in the family, as witnessed by the two dreams he describes to his brothers in Genesis 37:1-11. In the first dream, the bundles of grain the brothers gathered in the field bowed down to Joseph's. In the second dream, the Sun, the Moon and eleven stars all bowed down to Joseph. This was bit too much even for Jacob, who rebuked Joseph for suggesting that even his parents would bow down in front of him.

When Joseph was about 17, his brothers (technically, as described above, half-brothers, but that will get burdensome to keep repeating) had had enough, and some of them hatched a plot to get rid of him when he was sent to meet them in a distant field. The first idea was to kill him and blame a wild beast, but one of the brothers (Reuben) convinced them to merely strip off his robe and throw him into a pit (from which he could later be rescued and sent safely home). Then along came a caravan of traders, and another brother, Judah, suggested they sell Joseph to the traders, who would carry him far away to be be sold as a slave. The brothers then bloodied Joseph's coat, and took it to their father to report that he was dead.

Genesis 37:36 states that the Midianite traders took Joseph to Egypt, where he was sold to be a slave in the household of Potiphar, a captain of the Pharaoh's guard. Chapter 38 is about Judah, but Chapter 39 returns to the story of Joseph.

Joseph was clearly a highly capable manager, as he rose to a position of importance in Potiphar's household, eventually completely running the show (Genesis 39:1-6). Then it all fell apart, because Potiphar's wife took a fancy to the 'handsome and good-looking' young man.

When he persisted in refusing her advances, she eventually framed him for sexual assault, and Joseph found himself imprisoned.

Jail actually turned out pretty well for Joseph - once again his managerial skills (or the Lord's protection) found him organising things, and he seems to essentially have had the run of the place (Genesis 39:21-23). And then the dreams came into play once again, but this time it was the dreams of others that he was able to interpret, explaining their meaning when others were puzzled by the symbolism.

The Pharaoh's butler and his baker had both managed to get themselves sent to jail, and Joseph was assigned the task of providing for their needs. The butler's dream was about a vine that blossomed and produced three bunches of grapes, which he gave to Pharaoh; Joseph interpreted this to mean that in three days the butler would be free and restored to his former position. The baker's dream saw him carrying three cake baskets on his head, with birds eating out of the top one; Joseph said that this meant he was going to be hanged in three days. And so it happened. (Personally, I have always wondered what each of them had done, to earn such different fates.)

After Joseph had been in jail for two years, the Pharaoh had several puzzling dreams, and couldn't find anyone to explain their significance for him until the baker, recalling at last his promise to remember Joseph's help, suggested he might be able to help. Indeed he could! Joseph explained that the two dreams were both metaphors for the same upcoming event - a period of seven years with bountiful harvests, to be followed by seven years of famine. Joseph then advised the Pharaoh to plan accordingly, stockpiling reserves during the good years on which the people could draw in the lean years.

Pharaoh was clearly impressed, as he immediately announced that Joseph was the man for the job, and put him in charge of the land. He also gave him a good Egyptian name and married him to the chief priest's daughter. During the first seven year period Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph managed things so well that the storehouses were overflowing by the time the famine began, and people came from all around to get grain (Genesis 41:37-57).

Since the predicted famine covered the known world, Jacob's family back in Canaan was feeling the pinch, and decided to seek assistance from the rumoured abundance to be found in Egypt. Jacob insisted that only the older sons, Joseph's half-brothers, make the journey, as he wanted to keep the youngest (now the only child left from his favourite wife, Rachel) with him and not send him on a dangerous journey. Joseph, now described as 'governor over the land (Genesis 42:6) was the man they had to see - and they duly bowed down before him as that early dream had predicted.

Although Joseph recognised his brothers, they did not recognise him - hardly surprising, as the youth they sent off into slavery would have born little resemblance to the powerful man with whom they were dealing. And Joseph spoke to them in Egyptian, through an interpreter, so they did not know he understood what they were saying. Joseph accused them of being spies, then had them put in jail to convince them that they had to bring Benjamin, the youngest member of the family, to Egypt.

After his brothers had a taste of prison, Joseph instructed them to leave one as a hostage (Simeon), while the rest went back to Canaan with the grain they bought, and bring their youngest brother back with them to Egypt. He quite confused them by having the money they paid for their grain put inside the bags with the grain - when they discovered this, they were concerned that they were being framed for stealing the grain, and their resolve to return with Benjamin was strengthened. However, Jacob was having none of it, even when Reuben offered his own sons as a surety for Benjamin's safety.

Then, as described in Chapter 43, they used up the food that had been brought on the first visit to Egypt, and the brothers refused to go again, saying they dared not try to see the lord with whom they had been dealing unless they brought with them their youngest brother.

When they finally set off with Benjamin in the company, they took some tasty foods (don't ask how they managed this in the midst of a devastating famine) and also double the money they had taken the first time for purchasing grain - just in case they had to pay again for the first batch. When they arrived, Joseph reassured them that the money must have been a miracle, as he had been duly paid, and organised a feast for them. And Benjamin got all the best bits.

After the feast, Joseph arranged for his brothers to have their sacks filled with grain (and, once again, their money included in the sacks), and he had a silver cup (distinctive, identifiable as his personal cup) placed in Benjamin's sack along with the grain and money. Then, after they had travelled a while, he sent a steward after them, to accuse them of theft and bring them back. Knowing they had not stolen anything, they protested their innocence, and were appalled to find the cup. Returning to Joseph, they begged for mercy, but he said that the one in whose sack the cup had been found must stay with him as a slave, while the rest could go home.

The brothers could not face their father without Benjamin, and Judah offered to stay in his place (with some lengthy pleading). Finally, Joseph gives in and reveals himself as their brother, saying that they need not feel guilty about having sent him into slavery, as it was clearly God's plan so that the family could be saved from starvation. He then instructed them to go fetch the rest of the family to come to Egypt, as there were still five years of famine to be weathered (Genesis 45:1-15).

The brothers returned with the news that Joseph was still alive, and in a position of such standing that the Pharaoh had invited the whole family to move to Egypt and settle in Goshen, described as 'the best in the land'. They brought with them cartloads of gifts (one wonders why, since they were expected to then have to carry it all back to Egypt again!) as confirmation of the good reception they could expect. Jacob was overjoyed, and packed up the whole tribe (remember, he had twelve children, who had spouses, children and households of their own - 66 people, according to Gen 46:26) and moved to Egypt.

There they settled and prospered with their cattle - and over the following years of famine, Joseph prospered from the sale of all the grain he had stockpiled on Pharaoh's behalf.

Jacob's death occurred after he had been in Egypt for seventeen years (Genesis 47:28). On his deathbed, he formally blessed and adopted Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48), before making his final blessing of all his sons and explaining exactly where he wanted to be buried (Genesis 49).

When Jacob had died, Joseph arranged to have him embalmed, and officially mourned by the people for seventy days. Then he received permission from Pharaoh to return the body to Canaan, to the spot Jacob had selected for his tomb. The journey included much formal mourning before its final conclusion.

Joseph returned to Egypt, and lived a long life, dying at the age of 110. He was placed in a coffin in Egypt (Genesis 50:22-26), but made his brothers promise to bury him in Canaan. When a new Pharaoh no longer honoured Joseph's descendants and Moses led them out of Egyptian slavery, he took Joseph's bones with them (Exodus 13:19). They are said to have been buried at Shechem, a site in the part of Canaan that was allocated to the Tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 24:32).