Legends of the Jews, Volume 2 — Chap. 1-15 – Joseph

JOSEPH'S KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY

Jacob and his family now settled in the land of Goshen, and Joseph provided them with all things needful, not only with food and drink, but also with clothing, and in his love and kindness he entertained his father and his brethren daily at his own table.

[330] He banished the wrong done to him by his brethren from his mind, and he besought his father to pray to God for them, that He should forgive their great transgression.

Touched by this noble sign of love, Jacob cried out, "O Joseph, my child, thou hast conquered the heart of thy father Jacob."

[331] Joseph had other virtues, besides.

The title "the God- fearing one," borne only by him, Abraham, Job, and Obadiah, he gained by reason of his kindness of heart and his generosity.

Whatever he gave his brethren, he gave with a "good eye," a liberal spirit.

If it was bread for food, it was sure to be abundant enough, not only to satisfy the hunger of all, but also for the children to crumble, as is their habit.

[332] But Joseph was more than a helper to his family.

As a shepherd pastures his flock, so he provided for the whole world during the years of famine.

The people cursed Pharaoh, who kept the stores of corn in his treasure chambers for his own use, and they blessed Joseph, who took thought for the famishing, and sold grain to all that came.

[333] The wealth which he acquired by these sales was lawful gain, for the prices were raised, not by him, but by the Egyptians themselves.

[334] One part of his possessions, consisting of gold and silver and precious stones, Joseph buried in four different places, in the desert near the Red Sea, on the banks of the Euphrates, and in two spots in the desert in the vicinity of Persia and Media.

[335] Korah discovered one of the hiding- places, and the Roman emperor Antoninus, the son of Severus, another.

The other two will never be found, because God has reserved the riches they hold for the pious, to be enjoyed by them in the latter days, the days of the Messiah.

[336] The remainder of Joseph's possessions he gave away, partly to his brethren and their families, and partly to Pharaoh, who put them into his treasury.

[337] The wealth of the whole world flowed into Egypt at that time, and it remained there until the exodus of the Israelites.

They took it along, leaving Egypt like a net without fish.

The Israelites kept the treasure until the time of Rehoboam, who was deprived of it by the Egyptian king Shishak, and he in turn had to yield it to Zerah, the king of Ethiopia.

Once more it came into possession of the Jews when King Asa conquered Zerah, but this time they held it for only a short while, for Asa surrendered it to the Aramean king Ben-hadad, to induce him to break his league with Baasha, the king of the Ten Tribes.

The Ammonites, in turn, captured it from Ben-hadad, only to lose it in their war with the Jews under Jehoshaphat.

Again it remained with the Jews, until the time of King Ahaz, who sent it to Sennacherib as tribute money.

Hezekiah won it back, but Zedekiah, the last king of the Jews, lost it to the Chaldeans, from whom it came to Persia, thence to the Greeks, and finally to the Romans, and with the last it remained for all time.

[338] The people were soon left without means to purchase the corn they needed.

In a short time they had to part with their cattle, and when the money thus secured was spent, they sold their land to Joseph, and even their persons.

Many of them would cover themselves with clay and appear before Joseph, and say to him, "O lord king, see me and see my possessions!"

And so Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, and the inhabitants became his tenants, and they gave a fifth of their ingatherings unto joseph.

[339] The only class of the people permitted to remain in possession of their land were the priests.

Joseph owed them gratitude, for they had made it possible for him to become the ruler over Egypt.

The Egyptians had hesitated to make him their viceroy, because they shrank from choosing a man accused of adultery for so high an office.

It was the priests that made the suggestion to examine Joseph's torn garment, which his mistress had submitted as evidence of his guilt, and see whether the rent was in front or in back.

If it was in back, it would show his innocence—he had turned to flee, and his temptress had clutched him so that the garment tore.

But if the tear was in front, then it would be a proof of his guilt—he had used violence with the woman, and she had torn the mantle in her efforts to defend her honor.

The angel Gabriel came and transferred the rent from the fore part to the back, and the Egyptians were convinced of Joseph's innocence, and their scruples about raising him to the kingship were removed.

[340] As soon as the Egyptians learnt of the advantageous position of the priests, they all tried to prove themselves members of the caste.

But Joseph investigated the lists in the archives, and determined the estate of every citizen.

The priests were favored in another way.

Beside remaining in possession of their land, they received daily portions from Pharaoh, wherefore God said, "The priests that serve idols receive all they need every day, how much more do the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are My priests, deserve that I should give them what they need every day."

[341] The rest of the inhabitants of Egypt, who had to part with their land, were not permitted to remain in their native provinces.

Joseph removed them from their own cities, and settled them in others.

His purpose herein was to prevent the Egyptians from speaking of his brethren derogatorily as "exiles the sons of exiles"; he made them all equally aliens.

[342] For the same reason, God later, at the time of the going forth of the Israelites from Egypt, caused all nations to change their dwelling-places about, so that the Israelites could not be reproached with having had to leave their home.

And, finally, when Sermacherib carried the Jews away from their land into exile, it also happened that this king first mixed up the inhabitants of all the countries of the world.

[343] JACOB'S LAST WISH

In return for the seventeen years that Jacob had devoted to the bringing up of Joseph, he was granted seventeen years of sojourn with his favorite son in peace and happiness.

The wicked experience sorrow after joy; the pious must suffer first, and then they are happy, for all's well that ends well, and God permits the pious to spend the last years of their lives in felicity.

[344] When Jacob felt his end approach, he summoned Joseph to his bedside, and he told him all there was in his heart.

He called for Joseph rather than one of his other sons, because he was the only one in a position to execute his wishes.

Jacob said to Joseph: "If I have found grace in thy sight, bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt.

Only for thy sake did I come down into Egypt, and for thy sake I spoke, Now I can die.

Do this for me as a true service of love, and not because thou art afraid, or because decency demands it.

And when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt bury me in their burying-place.

Carry me out of the land of idolatry, and bury me in the land where God hath caused His Name to dwell, and put me to rest in the place in which four husbands and wives are to be buried, I the last of them."

Jacob desired not to be buried in Egypt for several reasons.

He knew that the soil of Egypt would once swarm with vermin, and it revolted him to think of his corpse exposed to such uncleanness.

He feared, moreover, that his descendants might say, "Were Egypt not a holy land, our father Jacob had never permitted himself to be buried there," and they might encourage themselves with this argument to make choice of Egypt as a permanent dwelling- place.

Also, if his grave were there, the Egyptians might resort to it when the ten plagues came upon them, and if he were induced to pray for them to God, he would be advocating the cause of the Lord's enemies.

If, on the other hand, he did not intercede for them, the Name of God would be profaned among the heathen, who would say, "Jacob is a useless saint!"

Besides, it was possible that God might consider him, the "scattered sheep" of Israel, as a sacrifice for the Egyptians, and remit their punishment.

From his knowledge of the people, another fear was justified, that his grave would become an object of idolatrous veneration, and the same punishment is appointed by God for the idols worshipped as for the idolaters that worship them.

If Jacob had good reasons for not wanting his body to rest in the soil of Egypt, he had equally good reasons for wanting it to rest in the Holy Land.

In the Messianic time, when the dead will rise, those buried in Palestine will awaken to new life without delay, while those buried elsewhere will first have to roll from land to land through the earth, hollowed out for the purpose, until they reach the Holy Land, and only then will their resurrection take place.

But over and beyond this, Jacob had an especial reason for desiring to have his body interred in Palestine.

God had said to him at Beth-el, "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed," and hence he made every endeavor to "lie" in the Holy Land, to make sure it would belong to him and his descendants.

[345] Nevertheless he bade Joseph strew some Egyptian earth over his dead body.

[346] Jacob expressed these his last wishes three times.

Such is the requirement of good breeding in preferring a request.

In the last period of Jacob's life, one can see how true it is that "even a king depends upon favors in a strange land."

Jacob, the man for the sake of whose merits the whole world was created, for the sake of whom Abraham was delivered from the fiery furnace, had to ask services of others while he was among strangers,[347] and when Joseph promised to do his bidding, he bowed himself before his own son, for it is a true saying, "Bow before the fox in his day," the day of his power.

[348] He was not satisfied with a simple promise from Joseph, that he would do his wish; he insisted upon his taking an oath by the sign of the covenant of Abraham, putting a hand under his thigh in accordance with the ceremony customary among the Patriarchs!

[349] But Joseph said: "Thou treatest me like a slave.

With me thou hast no need to require an oath.

Thy command sufficeth."

Jacob, however, urged him, saying: "I fear Pharaoh may command thee to bury me in the sepulchre with the kings of Egypt.

I insist that thou takest an oath, and then I will be at peace."

Joseph gave in,[350] though he would not submit to the ceremony that Eliezer had used to confirm the oath he took at the request of his master Abraham.

The slave acted in accordance with the rules of slavery, the free man acted in accordance with the dictates of freedom.

[351] And in a son that thing would have been unseemly which was becoming in a slave.

[352] When Joseph swore to bury his father in Palestine, he added the words, "As thou commandest me to do, so also will I beg my brethren, on my death-bed, to fulfil my last wish and carry my body from Egypt to Palestine."

[353] Jacob, noticing the Shekinah over the bed's head, where she always rests in a sick room, bowed himself upon the bed's head,[354] saying, "I thank thee, O Lord my God, that none who is unfit came forth from my bed, but my bed was perfect."

[355] He was particularly grateful for the revelation God had vouchsafed him concerning his first-born son Reuben, that he had repented of his trespass against his father, and atoned for it by penance.

He was thus assured that all his sons were men worthy of being the progenitors of the twelve tribes, and he was blessed with happiness such as neither Abraham nor Isaac had known, for both of them had had unworthy as well as worthy sons.

[356] Until the time of Jacob death had always come upon men suddenly, and snatched them away before they were warned of the imminent end by sickness.

Once Jacob spoke to God, saying, "O Lord of the world, a man dies suddenly, and he is not laid low first by sickness, and he cannot acquaint his children with his wishes regarding all he leaves behind.

But if a man first fell sick, and felt that his end were drawing nigh, he would have time to set his house in order."

And God said, "Verily, thy request is sensible, and thou shalt be the first to profit by the new dispensation," and so it happened that Jacob fell sick a little while before his death.

[357] His sickness troubled him grievously, for he had undergone much during his life.

He had worked day and night while he was with Laban, and his conflicts with the angel and with Esau, though he came off victor from both, had weakened him, and he was not in a condition to endure the hardships of disease.

[358]