As with the other cycles of narrative in Genesis, the Joseph cycle is brilliantly put together.
Before we come to the details of it, let us note some of the major motifs which hold it together as well as link the cycle to the previous once.
We have already noted in the introduction to Gen 38 how the author uses the motif of recognition to tie the two cycles together. But this motif goes further back as well as forward, beginning with Isaac, who failed to recognise that the son who came to him for his blessings, wrapped in a garment of skin, was not his elder son and, in so doing, disenfranchised Esau and made Jacob the inheritor of the covenant blessing. With no model of what it means to be a father who would love his children evenly, Jacob's own family deteriorated into a highly divided pack, and his own prejudiced love towards Josheph would lead to another cycle of tragic divisions as bad as his own with Esau. The sales of Joseph by his brothers created a "death" in their father which refused to heal; it set off another cycle which was resolved only when Joseph recognized his brothers but his brothers did not recognize him. But that resolution was only partial; they were gathered-again in Egypt but were they "together"? Ultimately the author leaves the question un-answered, but he hints at the significance of the question by re-utilizing the motif of the garments.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2022