Joseph in Egypt
Understanding the Hyskos presence
may be key to understanding the Joseph narrative in Genesis. We cannot date
Joseph precisely, but the most likely setting for Joseph is as the Hyskos began
to take control of all of Egypt about 1650. We know that a brisk Semitic slave
trade was happening in Egypt during the era of the patriarchs. In some ways,
Joseph was just one more of those many slaves (Genesis 37:26). However, if the
Egyptian court Joseph encountered was really a Hyskos Egyptian court, then he
would have been sold into the household of an Egyptianized Semitic official. It
seems all the more likely that he would be made the chief steward of a Semitic
house, or a house which had a close alliance to a Semitic king. Once he was
raised to power by the Egyptian king (ostensibly to the office known as vizier),
much of the Joseph story works quite well in a Hyskos setting. . . . the Hyskos
seem to have gained control of Egypt at least partially, if not largely,
through economic means. The story of Joseph accepting all kinds of payments, including
land, from the Egyptians in exchange for grain may very well be an account of
how the Hyskos came to power (Genesis 47:13-26). Many other elements of the
Joseph story work well if we posit a court with many Egyptians but controlled
by a Semitic group, such as the tension between Semites and Egyptians that is
evident when his brothers dined with Egyptians (Genesis 47). However, while the
setting fits the story, we must be clear that we have no way of proving or
disproving this hypothetical reconstruction.
Whether or not the Joseph story
fits into the Hyskos time period, we can be sure that the Egyptian Middle Kingdom
slowly collapsed just as a foreign group within its midst slowly rose. To one
degree or another, Egypt would be ruled by foreigners for about one hundred
years. This would leave an indelible impression on the Egyptians’ collective
memory and would shape much of their future policy as they overcame this
foreign domination. (Kerry M. Muhlestein, “Egypt’s Middle Kingdom and Second
Intermediate Period,” in A Bible Reader’s History of the Ancient World,
ed. Kent P. Jackson [Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, Brigham Young
University, 2016], 76)
