- The use of cows as symbols for years, verso known Egyptian motif appearing in texts from the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BCE).
- The names Potiphar/Potiphera and Asenath were genuine Egyptian theophoric names (combining the names of Egyptian deities). Potiphar was based on per typical Saite Period construct combining the name of the Egyptian god Re. Asenath includes the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, durante per typical construct common from the New Kingdom periodo onesto the Ptolemaic period, although the goddess’s popularity increased considerably during the Saite period mediante the Sbocco (664-332 BCE).
- The 40 days embalming process (describing Jacob’s death mediante Gn 50:2) was well documented sopra Egypt from the New Kingdom onwards.
- The “agrarian reforms” sopra Gen -26 describe the exemption of the temples from royal taxation, a practice that was documented from the 8 th century BCE onwards.
Despite the fact that the Egyptian elements per the story represent many different eras, Redford concluded that the composition of the Joseph story should be dated preciso the Saite period, between 640 and 425 BCE, as some of the details could not predate that period.
The Continuity of Egyptian Culture
This inability preciso identify one specific era per Egyptian history that could provide the historical sostrato preciso the Joseph story is the result of an inherent trait of ancient Egyptian culture – its continuity.
This makes it very difficult onesto date verso biblical story based on the Egyptian elements it includes. Alternatively, scholars may date the story by asking when and how Egyptian traditions found their way into the Hebrew Bible.
As biblical research grows more concerned with questions of transmission processes along the Egypt-Israel axis, an old preoccupazione has reemerged – could the Joseph story have been written by someone living sopra the Jewish migrazione mediante Egypt?
Per Diaspora Annuncio
The “migrazione novella” genre was first noted with relation to the books of Esther and Daniel. Both describe one man’s rise esatto power sopra per foreign land, a story revolving around per royal courtaud, and culminating with the successful integration of the foreigner within local elites. The background sopra both books is the exiled Jewish population and both display considerable knowledge of the trapu, its officials and customs.
The underlying message of both Daniel and Esther is that one can survive and even thrive per the dispersione setting. Therefore, these books were probably written sopra exile, for the exiles. Per 1975, the biblical scholar Arndt Meinhold first suggested that the Joe narrative scheme of per dispersione racconto arnesi sopra the Egyptian court.
The Egyptian Migrazione
The intenzione of a Jewish dispersione sopra Egypt, compiling its own inspirational literature, is compelling. However, for the most part, the Egyptian migrazione before the Persian period (5 th -4 th centuries BCE) has remained invisible esatto Egyptologists. For example, con Jer 44:1, the prophet addresses Judeans that reside in the land of Egypt at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph and mediante the land of Pathros. Most Egyptologists agree that the first three place-names can be identified as Tell Qedua (northern Sinai), Tell Defeneh (12 km west of the Suez Canal) and Memphis. Nevertheless, these sites have not yielded remains that attest puro their foreign Judahite/Israelite element https://datingranking.net/it/the-perfect-match-review/ during the 6 th century BCE, the period of Jeremiah’s prophecies.
Perhaps too few Judahite and Israelite settlers were durante Egypt puro leave a significant mark. But it should not be surprising that some settled there after the destruction of Judah; trade relations between Egypt and Judah/Israel were maintained throughout the first millennium BCE, and those trade relations may have also led to the migration of smaller groups onesto Egypt, particularly after the destructions of Samaria (722 BCE) and Jerusalem (586 BCE).