Ah, the great novella begins at last. I do love this story.
Some odds and ends - obviously 2 sources here - one calls Joe's dad Jacob, one calls him Israel.
A couple of times (v. 5 and v. 8) we are told that his brothers "hated Joseph even more". You might recall I posted about the meaning of Joseph's name a few weeks ago. Joseph (יוֹסֵף) yosef, is connected with the verb meaning to add or increase or do again (יספ) y-s-f.
Well, when we are told that the brothers hate Joseph even more, we hear vayosifu (וַיּוֹסִפוּ), "they do again/increase yet to hate" -- in other words, they hate him even more!! And it sounds just like Joseph's name.
The traditional coat of many colours is probably an ornamented tunic of some kind.
And Potiphar! What is Potiphar's job? He is a eunuch or courtier (סְרִיס) seris, and his title is "sar hattabbachim". Sar (שַר) is usually chief or prince (think of sarah, princess), but t-b-ch (טבח) is slaughter! Which means the word gets used for both cooks and butchers, and guards and executioners!!!
According to Speiser, sar hattabachim (prince of cooks) is chief steward, whereas rav (captain or official) hattabbachim would be the captain of the guard. I was unconvinced until he mentioned that a title (including "eunuch" of course) can be 'as far removed from its original connotation as, say, "Lord Chamberlain".' (p.291-2, Genesis)
Interesting.
The story of Joseph appears to pause in Chapter 38 for the story of Tamar - but if you've read The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter, you might see it a bit differently. Will I have the energy to re-read his chapter on Tamar before reading Genesis 38 in Hebrew? Stay tuned....
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