CYOA: Genesis 37-50 – The Egyptianization of Joseph

I have been sticking my head into Empire again. It is nice to be enveloped in an academic topic again. The reason for this is an up coming lecture. I have been asked to give a lecture on developing a hermeneutic of Empire, specifically in relation to Colossians. Maybe it is just the nerd inside of me, but this gives me great purpose in life. It gives me a reason to manage my time and a goal of producing something. The enjoyable side effect of having an academic goal is that I get to sick my head into a bunch of different books, find the gems, and synthesis them into a coherent presentation (wow I truly am a nerd). So on my desk is a stack of books relating to Empire, and in my spare time I have been watching the series Rome by HBO (probably the best depiction of the inter-testamental period ever created). All of that rambling to say that when Joseph came up as this weeks topic for Choose Your Own Adventure, I knew exactly what I had to write.

One of the gems I found while sticking my face into many books was an alternative interpretation of the Joseph story. Walter Brueggemann, in his book “Out of Babylon”, borrows from Leon Kass, saying that the trajectory of Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt is effectively Joseph’s “Egyptianization”. That is to say, Joseph becomes corrupted by the drive, imagination, and worldview of Empire. Joseph is effectively an example of accommodating to empire with minimal defiance. Thus, Joseph ought to be seen as a weak example of remaining faithful to a worldview requiring one to keep a unique identity in the face of Empire.

This is how I see Joseph as I reread the story through the lens Brueggemann offers.

First off, one cannot blame Joseph completely for his actions and his accommodation to Empire. He was socially conditioned by his father to feel exceptional, as “Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons” 37:2. Therefore, it only makes sense that when Joseph is treated exceptionally by Pharaoh later on, it would only seem natural to accept and accommodate, just as he would have done to his father in his youth. Furthermore, when he invokes policies of exceptionalism, they may be rooted in this upbringing.

I see Joseph’s transformation/slide into Egyptianization as follows:
Gen 39:2 “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered” (39:2) is a statement showing Joseph has not yet accommodated
Gen 40:15 “for I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews”. In this statement Joseph continues to keep a unique identity
Gen 41:14 “shaved and changed” – first accommodation to the physical appearance of an Egyptian
Gen 41:16 doubles back to God
Gen 41:41-5 Joseph is in charge, this is not inherently badt – but then he accommodates in dress, jewellery, show (chariots and criers), name (Zaphenath-Paneah. Names show having power over, thus Joseph is put under the power of Egypt and Pharaoh rather than Israel and God), and marriage.
Gen 41:51 Names his son Manasseh, to forget, “forget all my trouble and my father’s household” – Here Joseph goes beyond accommodation to denial of his former identity. Joseph invokes God on his side, but it is not the narrator like it was earlier (39:2).
Gen 41:56-57 Joseph’s economic power play is hard on the peasants and benefits Pharaoh. A monopoly and totalizing of industry is always hard on the most poor.
Gen 42:8 Joseph is so thoroughly Egyptianized that his brothers do not recognize him.
Gen 42:23 Joseph uses deception and façade rather than honesty like he did when he was in Potiphar’s house.
Gen 43:32 Joseph’s food is notably distinct from that of his Hebrew brothers. “Because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians”.
Gen 44:5,15 Joseph’s cup was used for divination, notably something Hebrews would not do. (Keep in mind this text was most likely written down in its final form during Babylonian/Persian exile, therefore reading later (historical) jewishness into the text in not necessarily erroneous)
Gen 45:10 “…and all you have” Joseph wants his family to totally commit to Egypt as well.
Gen 47:12-13 Exceptionalism, a trait of empire, everyone else is hungry yet the exceptions are fed
Gen 47:13 What may have started with good intentions, now sucks all the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan
Gen 47:15-21 Joseph exploits his position and the people, thereby allowing/forcing them into slavery
Gen 47:22 further exceptionalism for the priests
Gen 47:26 Joseph is credited with creating the economic dominance of the Pharaoh, by giving back the land to the peasants with a “1/5 per year to pharaoh” caveat
Gen 50:14 Joseph returned to Egypt after burying Jacob
Gen 50:22 Joseph stayed in Egypt

It is common knowledge that the Israelites end up in Egypt because of Joseph, but I, for one, never really asked why? Why did they not leave once the famine was over? This reading of the text is the first reading (I have encountered) that hedges a bet at the question Why? Why is answered by over accommodating to the Empire. This accommodation with very little defiance is the reason the Israelites find themselves in need of an exodus.

It is a telling tale. A tale of over accommodation to empire. A tale that once revealed can be seen throughout scripture as the reason Israel finds themselves in exile. Maybe this too is our current story. Are we living a story of accommodation without even realizing it? Brian Walsh, another subversive writer, I am reading, would say absolutely! We have become numb to the accommodation of our minds to the imagination of Empire. We have lost the subversive imagination of a Biblical perspective. Our Worldview has become static, static like the Empire rather than dynamic like a living God. That comes as a challenge, a challenge to keep one’s worldview dynamic and to re-enter the difficult spectrum of when to accommodate and when to be defiant.

The struggle of when to accommodate and when to be defiant (because there are no black and white answers) Brueggemann sums up in an adaptation of the famous serenity prayer of Reinhold Neibuhr:

Give me the dignity to accommodate,
When accommodation is the only option;
Give me the courage to resist,
When identity depends on it;
Give me the wisdom to know when to resist and when to accommodate.