|
Jacob's
Seventieth Descendant
by John P. Pratt
Applying
strict logic to an account in Genesis leads to discovering a startling
hidden treasure in the scriptures. Our science editor gives the
answer to the scriptural puzzle presented last month.
In last month's
article, "Hidden Treasures in the Scriptures" we looked at what
appears to be a first class logic puzzle in the Book of Genesis
(Gen. 46:5-27). At first the problem looks like a simple mistake:
the record implies that Jacob had seventy descendants when he arrived
in Egypt, and yet only sixty-nine appear to be listed. Now let's
look at the solution, which indeed has been a hidden treasure in
the scriptures. The answer is important because it is strong evidence
from the Bible of a Jewish tradition that has been thought by scholars
to be merely a fanciful fabrication. Not only does it add to our
knowledge of Biblical history, but the solution likely affects your
genealogy because Jacob's seventieth descendant is likely to
be your own ancestor!
The problem,
which is given in full in last month's article, arises from the following two apparent
inconsistencies in the Biblical record. Jacob had four wives, and
the number of descendants of each is given along with a list of
their names. The first problem is that it claims Leah had 33 living
descendants, but only 32 names are listed with her. Secondly, it
makes a big point that 66 descendants made the trip to Egypt with
Jacob, and that Joseph and his two sons were already there, for
a total of seventy. Both statements seem to be missing somebody,
so the question arises whether it is possible to reconcile all the
statements.
Most modern
scholars assume that Moses wrote the Book of Genesis himself, or
that it was written down centuries after Moses from oral traditions.
Thus, they tend to overlook human "errors" and usually don't even
mention this problem at all. On the other hand, ancient Jewish commentators
studied every word of Genesis because they understood that the entire
book was given as a revelation from God to Moses. Therefore, any
apparent inconsistency demanded a real explanation. Although it
does not appear that they deduced the correct solution, it is instructive
to review the solutions which they offered.[1]
Ancient
Solutions
One solution
given by Jewish commentators near the time of Christ was that Jacob
is to be counted with the 69 to bring the total to 70. This is also
the usual solution given by modern Bible commentators, if they mention
the problem at all. That solution will not work, however, because
the numbers of descendants given for each of the four wives do indeed
add up to seventy (Leah 33, Zilpah 16, Rachel 14, Bilhah 7), so
clearly it was not the author's intent to include Jacob himself
in the count. Other solutions were that another son of Dan, or that
Asher's daughter Serah, or even that the Holy One of Israel would
complete the count.
The best ancient
solution was probably deduced as follows. First, Leah had 33 descendants
but only 32 are listed as making the trip, so the missing descendant
must be from Leah. Second, 66 made the trip, 3 were already in Egypt,
and yet the total in Egypt when Jacob arrived in Egypt was 70. Therefore,
one might have been born just as they crossed the border into Egypt.
The proposed person was Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who was Levi's
daughter and Leah's granddaughter (Exo. 2:1, 6:16-20). That answer
should technically be disqualified on at least two counts. First,
the puzzle states that Jacob took with him all of his sons' daughters,
so that should include her, even if carried in the womb. Secondly,
the Bible specifically states that Jochebed was born to Levi after
he arrived in Egypt (Num. 26:59). That did not stop the commentator
from inventing this detailed description of her birth, which is
clearly a tailor-made solution to our problem:
"Such
was the manner of Jacob's arrival in Egypt. He came with his whole
family, sixty-nine persons they were in all, but the number was
raised to seventy by the birth of Jochebed, afterward the mother
of Moses, which took place when the cavalcade had advanced to the
space between the one and the other city wall."[2]
Why should
Jochedbed, rather than any other unnamed infant, be chosen for this
very clever solution to the problem? She was a particularly good
candidate because she was said to be very old at the time of Moses
birth. There is a tradition of uncertain origin that she was 130
years old at his birth.[3] That's forty years older than Sarah at
the birth of Isaac! In any case, if she were 130, and if Moses was
80 when he delivered Israel from bondage (Exo. 7:7) then the total
stay in Egypt would have been 210 years (if she had been born as
they entered). That is close to the traditional 215 years for the
stay in Egypt.[4] When the apocryphal Book of Jasher was compiled
from Jewish traditions, this commentary had become so well accepted
that Jasher explicitly states that Jochebed "was born unto them
in their going down to Egypt" (Jasher 59:9), a rare example of actually
changing the Biblical record that she was born after they arrived
in Egypt. Moreover, the length of the sojourn in Egypt according
to that book was cut from 215 years down to 210 years (Jasher 81:3,
compare Ex. 12:40), apparently just to fit this very solution to
this puzzle.
The Solution
Now let us turn to what I propose is the real solution, which does
not require any additional information or Biblical background to
see, but which can be deduced only from the information given in
the "puzzle" itself. In other words, it could be deduced if all
the names were changed to fictitious names, so that the puzzle could
be solved independent of the rest of Biblical history.
1. We are told
66 descendants made the trip to Egypt, that Joseph and his two sons
were already in Egypt, but that the total number in the House of
Jacob on arrival was 70. The first possibility is that Jacob is
the 70th person.
2. Jacob cannot
be the 70th person because the totals for each of the four wives
adds up to 70, so Jacob is not included in the count.
3. The person
must be Leah's descendant because she had 33 and only 32 are listed
with her name.
4. Because
only 66 made the trip, the 70th person must have been in Egypt already
(or perhaps born at the moment they crossed the Egyptian border!?).
5. Except for
Joseph and his two sons, Jacob brought with him all his sons and
his sons' sons and his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and also
all of his great-grandchildren. At first, this wording might sound
like a verbose way to state that Jacob brought all of his descendants
with him except for Joseph and his two sons. But closer inspection
shows that the list fails to include his daughters' children. Jacob
only had one daughter, so the missing descendant must have been
his daughter Dinah's child. There are many such examples in the
scriptures where it looks like the Lord is going on with needless
detail, when actually great truths are hidden in what is not
said. Every word which proceeds forth from his mouth is carefully
chosen.
6. Now for
the surprise. The Bible states, "These are the names of the children
of Israel," (Gen. 46:8), and there are indeed 70 names which follow.
The seventieth name, which appears to be extra, is that of Asenath,
the wife of Joseph. Her name is given in the verse about those who
were already in Egypt, so that brings the total names to four of
those who didn't make the trip.
7. But wait.
Weren't we explicitly told that none of the wives of the twelve
sons of Jacob were included in the count? So isn't Joseph's wife
Asenath disqualified because of that? It is this point which convinced
me that these verses qualify as a truly classic logic puzzle. The
best puzzles have misleading clues, designed to make the puzzle
difficult, such as we saw in point 5 above in the way the list of
those making the trip was worded. A careful reading shows that the
puzzle stated that none of the wives is included in the count of
the 66 who made the trip (Gen. 46:26). So all of the wives but one
are disallowed! The wording expressly allows Asenath to be the seventieth
descendant. Such misleading and yet technically correct statements
are the bread and butter of logic puzzles.
8. Thus, the
solution to the puzzle is that Joseph's wife Asenath is the seventieth
descendant of Jacob, being the daughter of Dinah.
Now let's look
at Hebrew and Christian traditions which support this conclusion.
The Hebrew
Tradition
But could
Asenath really have been Dinah's daughter? To the best of my knowledge,
this solution to the puzzle has never been published until now.
No one has noticed that these verses in an obscure list of genealogy
imply that Joseph's wife, the mother of the tribe who inherited
the blessing of the firstborn of Israel, is also of the house of
Israel. Could that really be true?
It turns out
that it has long been a Jewish tradition that Asenath was the daughter
of Leah's daughter Dinah by Shechem, a prince in the land of Canaan
(Gen. 34:2). It has been thought by scholars that this tradition
was no more than a fabrication. It was supposedly invented to explain
the otherwise embarrassing fact that Joseph married an Egyptian
woman, when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all given strict commands
to marry in their own family lineage. It has always seemed strange
to me, however, that a legend was invented to legitimize Joseph's
wife's lineage by making her the illegitimate daughter of Dinah
and someone from Canaan. Here is one of the many variations of this
tradition:
"Dinah
was already pregnant by Shechem, an bore him a posthumous daughter.
Her brothers wished to kill the child, as custom demanded, lest
any Canaanite might say 'The maidens of Israel are without shame!'
Jacob, however, restrained them, hung about his granddaughter's
neck a silver disk on which were engraved the words 'Holy to God!',
and laid her underneath a thorn bush -- hence she was called
'Asenath'. That same day Michael, in the shape of an eagle, flew
off with Asenath to On in Egypt, and there laid her beside God's
altar. The priest, by name Potipherah, seeing his wife was barren,
brought up Asenath as his own child.
"Many
years later, when Joseph had saved Egypt from famine and made a
progress through the land, women threw him thank-offerings. Among
them was Asenath who, having no other gift, tossed Joseph her silver
disk, which he caught as it flew by. He recognized the inscription
and, knowing the she must be his own niece, married her."[5]
In a less miraculous
version of this tradition, Jacob himself placed the infant Asenath
"near
the wall of Egypt. On the same day Potiphar was taking a walk, accompanied
by his retinue, and approached the wall. He heard the child weeping
and commanded his followers to bring it to him. When he noticed
the tablet and read the inscription he said to his followers, "This
child is the daughter of eminent people. Carry it into my house
and procure a nurse for it."[6]
It is clear
from how different these two traditions are that much of these stories
are the interpolations of men. All of these legends agree, however,
on the core idea that Asenath was the daughter of Dinah and Shechem.
The uncertainty seems to be on just how she came to arrive in Egypt
and to be adopted by Potipherah.
Another clue
is that Joseph is tied to Shechem is that Joseph was buried at Shechem
(Joshua 24:32). Why was he buried there, when Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob were buried together in Hebron? Shechem later became part
of the inheritance of the tribe of Manasseh, Joseph's son. Now let
us turn to early Christian traditions about Joseph and Asenath.
The Christian
Tradition
A rather
different story is told in the apocryphal book Joseph and Asenath,
which was a highly respected book of early Christianity.[7] A principal
theme is Asenath's total conversion to Joseph's religion, facilitated
by the appearance of an angel who looked like Joseph (J&A 14:9).
While this
book says nothing about Asenath not being the literal daughter of
Potipherah, it has many clues that the author knew her true lineage,
but also wanted to keep it a secret. Remember, that during past
ages, it was a huge disgrace to have been an illegitimate child,
so the motive for keeping her lineage secret is obvious. Here are
some clues that the author of Joseph and Asenath knew who
Asenath really was.
1. The point
is made that Asenath does not look anything like other Egyptian
women, but that she was "slender like unto Sarah, beautiful like
Rebekah, and radiant in appearance like Rachel."[8] Stating that
she looked exactly like the three wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
all of whom were from Abraham's family, has a pretty clear implications
about her true lineage, without giving details.
2. The author
gives the ages of both Asenath and Joseph's brother Benjamin correctly,
as being 18 years old at the time when Joseph was 30 (J&A 1:4, 27:2).
That matches the Hebrew tradition perfectly,[9] although that information
is not in the Old Testament.
3. Asenath
goes into a soliloquy where she states that she is "an orphan, and
desolate and abandoned and hated" (J&A 11:3). Such a surprising
declaration is justified by explaining that she means only that
she expects to be rejected by her Egyptian parents when she denounces
their gods. The evidence that she really was a rejected orphan makes
it much more understandable that such an unusual statement would
be included.
4. The story
speaks of Asenath's "foster father." He does not appear to be Potipherah,
but rather a steward (J&A 18:2), but it is interesting that the
story includes her foster father.
Thus, there
are many clues that the author of the Joseph and Asenath knew who
she really was. Much of the rest of the book appears to be interpolation
and fabrication, or what we might call today a "historical novel."
The great success of recent historical novels seems to be that they
are set in a true historical setting. Similarly, it appears that
the author of Joseph and Asenath wrote the account to be consistent
with all of the historical setting of which he was aware.
Conclusion
If it
is acknowledged that there really is a true logic puzzle purposely
included in Genesis 46, then it is an important discovery because
it elevates the tradition of Asenath's true lineage from being a
mere fabrication to being indicated by scripture. But one cannot
prove that the logic puzzle was in the mind of the author of Genesis.
It could be argued that the puzzle is not there at all, that it
is rather just a coincidence that two errors just happen to indicate
that Asenath is of the House of Israel. Anyone taking that position,
however, should explain why Asenath's name is in the genealogy list
at all, especially in light of the explicit statement that none
of the wives is included in the count. This point and all of the
other unusual wording can best be explained by recognizing that
Genesis does indeed contain all the information necessary to deduce
that Asenath, the mother of the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh,
was the daughter of Dinah of the house of Israel.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Larry Walker for introducing me to the
Asenath traditions which helped me to solve the puzzle, and David
Barker for helping to research the subject.
References
1. Neusner,
Jacob, Genesis Rabbah, The Judaic Commentary to the Book of Genesis,
A New American Translation (Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press,
1985). Vol III, pp. 319-324.
2. Ginzberg,
Louis, The Legends of the Jews, (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication
Society of America, 1948), vol II, p. 122.
3. For example
see The Book of Jasher (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Artisan Sales,
1988), which implies that Jochebed was 130 at Moses birth (Jasher
59:9, 68:2, 68:11, 73:1-2).
4. The 430
years mentioned in Exo. 12:40 was interpreted to be 215 years from
Abraham's entering Canaan until Israel entered Egypt, followed by
another 215 years in Egypt. See the Jewish historian Josephus in
Antiquities, XIV.xv.2.
5. Graves,
Robert & Patai, Raphael, Hebrew Myths (New York: Greenwich
House, 1964), p. 237. See also Ginzberg, op. cit., II: 38.
6. V. Aptowitzer,
"Asenath, the Wife of Joseph," Hebrew Union College Annual (New
York: Ktav Publishing, 1924), Vol. I, pp. 239-255.
7. Burchard,
C., "Joseph and Asenath," in Charlesworth, James H., The Old Testament
Pseudepigrapha (New York: Doubleday, 1985), 195 states, "Joseph
and Asenath is one of the best attested and most widely distributed
books included in this collection."
8. Joseph and
Asenath 1:8, translation from Ginzberg, op. cit., II:170.
9. For example,
Jubilees 30:2 says Dinah was 12 at the time of her union with Shechem.
Joseph and Dinah were the same age, which would make Joseph about
twelve years older than Asenath, so Asenath being 18 when Joseph
was 30 makes sense. And Benjamin was born at Bethlehem shortly after
the incident at Shechem, as the family traveled to Hebron (Gen.
35:18).
Click
here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.
© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
|
