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VaYeshev

Rabbi Yehuda Henkin

Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar-Pharaoh's official, the chief executioner, an Egyptian--bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. (Bereishit 39:1)

Q. Who was Potiphar?

A. The Torah calls him ish mitzri, "an Egyptian," which seems a strange description. He was a high-ranking official in Egypt--what else would he be, other than an Egyptian? But in fact, historical circumstances made Potiphar's nationality noteworthy.

For a century, Egypt was ruled by Asiatic shepherd-warriors called Hyksos.(1) During this period Joseph was sold into Egypt, and the Torah relates that his buyer was a native Egyptian even though the rest of the Egyptian royal court were Semitic foreigners. The Torah would not give us this information, however, if it did not help explain other parts of the story.

For example, it explains why Potiphar was sar hatabachim, chief executioner and head of the prison service.(2) If there is one position that foreign rulers prefer to leave to a native, it is that of executioner-better that the populace focus its anger and hatred on him and not on them. The same principle led Polish landowners to employ Jews as tax collectors.

Potiphar's singular status also explains what happened later. When Potiphar's wife failed in seducing Joseph, "She called to the men of her house and said, 'See, he brought us a Hebrew to mock us. He came to me to sleep with me, and I cried out loudly' " (39:13-14).

It's a remarkable statement, for two reasons. First, it is unusual to call one's servants to complain to them about one's husband, their master. Second, she used insulting language; "See, he brought us a Hebrew." She was equally abrasive when Potiphar himself arrived: "She spoke to him in the same vein, saying 'the Hebrew slave you brought us came to have relations with me' " (v. 17). And why did she say "brought us," in the plural?

The answer is that Potiphar was an Egyptian, but his wife was not. She was a member of the foreign ruling class. When she called l'anshei beitah, "the men of her house,"(3) she was summoning her relatives--not her servants.

That is why she could be so insulting to her husband: she outranked him. She accused him of mocking the Semitic ruling class by purchasing a Hebrew Semitic slave.

The Torah relates: "When his master heard his wife's words which she said to him, 'your slave did these things to me,' he was angry." Potiphar was furious--at his wife, not at Joseph. Had he suspected Joseph he would have executed him, or at least left him to rot in a dungeon. As it was, he placed Joseph in a comfortable prison where royal prisoners were kept (40:3).

However, although Potiphar did not believe his wife, he could not release Joseph after his wife accused him of ridiculing the ruling class. Only Pharaoh, the king and head of this class, could do so.

Thus Joseph, who had dreamt that he would rule his brothers, found himself utterly without control, dependent on people and politics having nothing to do with him.

Notes

1. Dr. J. H. Hertz, Pentateuch and Haftorahs, pp. 394-95, and Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. Hyksos. Cf. Shemot 1:8-10: "A new king," "his people," and "our enemies," reflecting the end of Hyksos rule, and my Equality Lost: Essays in Torah Commentary, Hakachah, and Jewish Thought, chap. 4.

2. See Bereishit 40:3; 41:10.

3. As opposed to anshei habayit, "the men of the house" i.e., servants, in verse 11. "House" in the sense of family is commonplace in Scripture.