“There was a wise man who was called Jesus…Pilate condemned him to be crucified…His disciples…reported that he appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive.” —Josephus (about AD 37-100) Antiquities of the Jews. Understanding Jesus, page 279.
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"Joseph and Mrs. Potiphar, a rip-off story?"
EVIL EYE. An Egyptian woman with lust her in eyes for a younger man. That's the shared storyline in the ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers along with the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Some have wondered if one story feeds off the other.
THERE’S AN OLD EGYPTIAN STORY about a married cougar of a woman trying to seduce a young man. Some students of the Bible have wondered out loud if that’s where the Genesis writer got his idea for the similar story of Joseph and the wife of Potiphar, “captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt” (Genesis 39:1).Relax. Most Bible experts say it’s too much of a stretch.
Joseph, you might remember, didn’t get along with his 10 big brothers because he was a spoiled, tattletale bragger. So his brothers did what we would all like to do with some of our relatives. They sold him.
Potiphar bought him.
In all of the Bible, only Joseph and his mother Rachel are described as drop-dead gorgeous. “Joseph was well-built and handsome, and Potiphar’s wife soon noticed him. She asked him to make love to her” (Genesis 39:6-7).
Later, the Mrs. didn’t ask. When she hit on him that time, she grabbed him. Joseph ran.
It was a hit and run.
The Mrs. cried rape.
Potiphar didn’t seem to believe his wife’s story – that a handsome and intelligent young man decided it would be a good idea to rape his slave-master’s wife. So he merely put Joseph in prison, a token punishment that would protect his wife’s reputation.
Tale of Two Brothers is an ancient Egyptian tale that dates to at least 1200 BC, about the time many scholars say Moses lived. (Tradition says Moses wrote Genesis, though many Bible experts say the book was compiled from a collection of stories many centuries after Moses.)
In this Tale of Two Brothers, a young brother named Bata lives with his older brother Anpu and Anpu’s wife. They farm and herd cattle.
Anpu’s wife makes a move on young Bata. He had come in from the field to get some corn seed to plant. She’s sitting there brushing her hair.
“Stay and play with me,” she said, not referring to checkers or any other games people play fully clothed.
“You are like a mother to me,” he replied.
That’s not what you say to a cougar.
Furious with him, she decided to destroy him. So she beat herself with a slab of fat. Then she told her husband that little bro beat her when she refused to have sex with her.
Big bro grabbed a knife and when after little bro, who was in the stable.
Fortunately, a talking cow warned little bro: “Your older brother is waiting for you in the dark. He has a knife to kill you. Run.”
Long story short, the brothers find themselves separated by a canal infested with crocodiles. That gives little bro time to tell big bro what really happened.
Little bro then swears he is telling the truth. Instead of swearing on a Bible, he swears on “his flesh,” a polite way of referring to male parts. He cut them off where he stood and tossed them in the canal.
Then he fainted.
Big bro couldn’t help little bro. So he went home, killed his wife with a knife, and fed her to the dogs.
Tale of Two Brothers goes on, until both brothers rule the country.
Most Bible experts seem to agree that beyond the storyline of the cougar seducing a young man and then taking out her anger on him, there’s not much of a link to the Genesis story.
Just so you know.
The Bible: A History in a new edition
This book won the NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR award when it was published in England. Lion Books is now releasing a text-only edition. That brings the cost down so more folks can afford it.
It comes out next month, in May. Amazon has made it available for pre-ordering.
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"Is there a seventh heaven?"
GO TO THE LIGHT. Artist Hieronymus Bosch (about 1450-1516) captured this scene in a painting called “Paradise: Ascent of the Blessed.”
ONE HEAVEN IS NOT ENOUGH. Some people want more.It’s probably Paul’s fault.
He gets everybody confused when he says, “I know a believer in Christ who was taken up to the third heaven 14 years ago,” (2 Corinthians 12:2).
Paul was talking about himself. Most Bible experts say they’re pretty sure about that.
As for what he meant by the “third heaven,” one guess is that he was talking about the place where God lives.
Some Jews taught there were three heavens:
Sky, where the birds hang out.
Outer space, where the planets and stars hang out.
Paradise, where God and the angels hang out. And hopefully me after I’ve worn out my bone bag.
If those Jews were right, then there’s just one Heaven with a capital H and a five-star rating on a four-star scale. Everything else is just a Dew Drop Inn.
Some of the writings outside the Protestant Bible talk about seven heavens – all of them celestial.
The Jewish Talmud, a collection of Bible commentary, history, and laws, includes some teachings that say there are seven heavens. But they read like a stretch. I’ll give you just the first three as a sampling.
First Heaven: Velon, “where the sun will never set” (Isaiah 60:20).
Second Heaven: Raḳi’a, “God placed them [sun, moon, stars] in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth” (Genesis 1:17).
Third Heaven: Sheḥakim, where God uses millstones to grind manna for his people. “God gave a command to the clouds, and he opened the doors in the skies. From heaven he sent grain that they called manna” (Psalm 78:23-24).
I’d give you the rest, but come on. Why bother?
It’s hard enough to believe in the one heaven that Jesus told us about. Seven heavens hurt my head.
And these seven seem based on a bug-eyed reading between the lines of the Bible – while smoking, drinking, or chewing something my mother would not approve of.
I’m all for creativity, but let’s keep it real.
Here’s what I know about heaven. I want to see it for myself.
Random book winner this week
Susan Girdis.
I give away one free book a week to a randomly selected subscriber to my free blog and quarterly newsletter.
Susan is random this week.
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Joseph and Mrs. Potiphar, a rip-off story?
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