וַיִּקְרָ֨א פַרְעֹ֣ה שֵׁם־יוֹסֵף֮ צָֽפְנַ֣ת פַּעְנֵ֒חַ֒ וַיִּתֶּן־ל֣וֹ אֶת־אָֽסְנַ֗ת בַּת־פּ֥וֹטִי פֶ֛רַע כֹּהֵ֥ן אֹ֖ן לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיֵּצֵ֥א יוֹסֵ֖ף עַל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
Pharaoh then gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him for a wife Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. Thus Joseph emerged in charge of the land of Egypt.—
Asenath daughter of Potifera [as a notarikon] Aleph - On, the place where she grew up.
Samech - She was hidden because of her beauty.
Nun - She groaned and cried out that God should save her from the hand of Potifera. Tav - She was innocent/pure in her actions.
Asenath means "the one belonging to Neith," the Egyptian creator goddess.
This name sounds familiar! Where have we seen it before? Oh yeah...right here...
פוטי פרע — POTIPHERAH — he is identical with Potiphar. And he is called Potipherah (pherah meaning, disturbed or cut) as he became naturally castrated, since he desired Yosef for male intercourse (Sotah 13b).
(א) וְיוֹסֵ֖ף הוּרַ֣ד מִצְרָ֑יְמָה וַיִּקְנֵ֡הוּ פּוֹטִיפַר֩ סְרִ֨יס פַּרְעֹ֜ה שַׂ֤ר הַטַּבָּחִים֙ אִ֣ישׁ מִצְרִ֔י מִיַּד֙ הַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר הוֹרִדֻ֖הוּ שָֽׁמָּה׃
(1) When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain Egyptian, Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
His name is a little different in each place. In the first verse, it is spelled without an ayin at the end, while in the second it has an ayin at the end. And that leads to a play on words.
Saris can mean both a eunuch and/or a courtier or chamberlain. In any case, the double meaning here is one of the unusual words that gives rise to the trope that he could not have his own children (and that he also was sexually attracted to Joseph, as was his wife, whom the midrash also describes as barren.
The Torah: A Woman's Commentary, p. 239-40
Joseph's marraige to a woman of Egyptian descent is an example of exogamous marraige, that is, marraige outside the patrilinnial (male line) kinship group. This prefigures Moses' marriage to a foreign woman (Exodus 2:21)and is in stark contrast to the post-exilic marriage restrictions.
But what if she was not from outside of Jacob's family? Hmmm....
And Pharoh called the name of Joseph "The man who reveals mysteries." And he gave him Asenath, whom Dinah had borne to Shechem, and the wife of Potiphera prince (Rabba) of Tanis had brought up, to be his wife. And Joseph went forth ruler over the land of Mizraim.
(א) כתיב, וּבָא הַבַּיִת וְסָמַךְ יָדוֹ עַל הַקִּיר וּנְשָׁכוֹ הַנָּחָשׁ (עמוס ה, יט). וכשבא יעקב לארץ אחוזתו שבארץ כנען נשכו הנחש, ואי זה הוא הנחש, זה שכם בן חמור שהיתה בתו של יעקב יושבת אוהלים ולא היתה יוצאה לחוץ מה עשה שכם בן חמור הביא נערות משחקות חוצה לו מתופפות ויצאה דינה לראות בבנות הארץ המשחקות ושללה ושכב עמה והרתה וילדה את אסנת ואמרו בני ישראל להורגה שאמרה עכשו יאמרו בכל הארץ שיש בית זנות באהלי יעקב.
(1) JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
"And went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and the serpent bit him" (Amos 5:19). When Jacob went into his house in the land of Canaan the serpent bit him. || And who was the serpent? This was Shechem, the son of Chamor. Because the daughter of Jacob was dwelling in tents, and she did not go into the street; what did Shechem, the son of Chamor, do? He brought dancing girls who were (also) playing on pipes in the streets. Dinah went out to see those girls who were making merry; and he seized her, and he slept with her, and she conceived and bore Asenath. The sons of Israel said that she should be killed, for they said that now people would say in all the land that there was an immoral daughter in the tents of Jacob.
One might ask: Why would the Rabbis assume that she would conceive after only having had sex one time. One could answer that perhaps because she is Leah's daughter, and Leah was known for being extremely fertile, conceiving first, easily and over and over again for many years.
ד״א לקחה כדי לפרסם שלא שכב את אמה. וי״א על ידי שגדלה בביתו נקראת בתו, כמו שמצינו במשה רבינו דכתיב אלה בני בתיה בת פרעה לפי שגדלתו נקרא על שמה.
כדאיתא במדרש בת דינה משכם היתה ובקשו להרגה בני יעקב אבינו, בא יעקב אבינו ותלה לה קמיע בצוארה וגירשה מביתו והחביאה עצמה בין הקוצים והברקנים ועל שם הסנה נקראת אסנת ובא גבריאל והביאה למצרים לפני אשת פוטיפר וגדלתה
וכשבא יוסף למצרים יצאו כל הנשים לראותו מחמת יופיו כדכתיב בנות צעדה עלי שור וכל אחת זורקת לו חפץ או תכשיט וזו לא היה לה מה לזרוק וזרקה לו הקמיע שבצוארה, ונסתכל בו יוסף שהיתה בת בתו של יעקב ונשאה לו לאשה.
Still another interpretation: Joseph’s wife was called: “the daughter of Potiphar,” only because he had raised her. There was no biological connection with Potiphar. ...In Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (chapter 38) according to which this was the daughter of Dinah who had been raped by Sh’chem, her very name suggesting that she was the product of rape. Having been raised in the house of a high official such as Potiphar, and bearing his name, would help to remove any stigma from her.
According to the Midrash, she was Dina's daughter from Shechem, and Jacob's sons wanted to kill her. Jacob came and placed a charm around her neck, sent her from his house, and hid her among some cactuses and similar prickly plants, so that when found she was named Asenat according to where she had been found, סנה, “s'neh/thornbush.” The angel Gavriel came and brought her to Egypt, presented her to the wife of Potiphar where she was raised.
When Joseph was paraded after his ascension to power and all the young women of Egypt crowded around him to admire his being so handsome (Gen. 49:22), and throwing flowers at him, Asenath, who had no flowers, threw her charm at him. When Joseph took a look at the inscription on that charm, he realised that she was the daughter of his half sister Dinah, and decided to marry her.
בת פוטיפרע. והלא בת דינה היתה, ושמענו כשבא יעקב אבינו משכם, כתב על טס של זהב, כל מה שאירע להם עם חמור בן שכם, וכשילדה דינה את אסנת, נתן הטס על צוארה, והשליכה בחומת מצרים, אותו היום יצא פוטיפר לטייל עם נעריו והגיעו עד לחומה, שמע קול בכיית ילוד, אמר אל נעריו הביאו לי את הילד הזה, וראה את הטס ואת המאורעות, אמר פוטיפר לעבדיו זאת הבת בת גדולים היא, הוליכוה לביתי והביאו לה מינקת, ובעבור שגדלה נקראת בתו...
Daughter of Potiphera. Was she not the daughter of Dina! We have heard that when Jacob arrived from Shechem, he wrote on a golden plate all that had happened with Hamor son of Shechem. When Dina bore Asenath, he put the plate around her neck, and sent her to the border of Egypt. That same day, Potifar went out to walk with his servants, and arrived at the border. He heard the sound of an infant crying. He said to his servants, "Bring this child to my house." He saw the plate and what had happened, and he said to his servants that this child is the daughter of great people. They took her to his house and brought her a wet nurse. And because he raised her, she is called his daughter...
Asenath's Major parallels to Moses:
- After their birth, someone is trying to kill them. (Moses - Egyptians; Asenath - Jacob's sons)
- Someone hides the infant in or near Egypt to help them avoid certain death. (Yocheved; Jacob)
- Someone Egyptian finds the infant and understands why this child was abandoned. (Potifar; Pharaoh's daughter)
- The child is adopted and raised in their household and called their child.
- A wet-nurse is summoned for both infants.
- Both save the Jewish people (Asenath saves Joseph; Moses does the Moses thing)
(50) Before the years of famine came, Joseph became the father of two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, bore to him. (51) Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, meaning, “God has made me forget completely my hardship and my parental home.” (52) And the second he named Ephraim, meaning, “God has made me fertile in the land of my affliction.”
אפילו כן רצה להרגו עד שבאת אסנת בסתר אל פוטיפרע ונשבעה לו וספרה האמת. אמר לה [הקב"ה] חייך הואיל ואת לומדת עליו זכות שבטים שאני מעמיד ממנו על ידך הם באים.
[From Legends of the Jews: Asenath had saved Joseph's life while she was still a babe in arms. When Joseph was accused of immoral conduct by Potifar's wife and the other women and,] even his master wanted to kill him, until Asenath came to Potifar privately, and she swore to him and told him the truth. And the Holy Bountiful One said to her, "As you live, because you tried to prove Joseph's innocence, you shall merit that the tribes that will come from him will be by your hand."
Joseph and Asenath
During Hellenistic times, Jews composed apocrophal romance Joseph and Asenath, to explain how Joseph came to marry a woman who wasn't Israelite. In it, a young virgin named Asenath meets Joseph when he stopped by the home of Pentephres (Potiphera, Asenath's father) during his travels for the Pharaoh. Asenath converts before marrying Joseph. Aseneth immediately falls for Joseph, and her parents encourage the two to kiss. Joseph is hesitant to kiss a woman who seats the sacrificial meat of idols. Aseneth responds by throwing her idols away, fasting, praying and humbling herself. Joseph then agrees to marry her.
Joseph and Aseneth, chapter 1:6-9
6. And Pentephres had a virgin daughter of about eighteen years of age, tall and beautiful and graceful, more beautiful than any other virgin in the land. 7 And she was quite unlike the daughters of the Egyptians, but in every respect like the daughters of the Hebrews. 8 And she was as tall as Sarah, and as beautiful as Rebecca, and as fair as Rachel; and this virgin's name was Aseneth. 9 And the fame of her beauty spread through all that land, even to its remotest corners; and all the sons of the lords and of the satraps and of the kings sought her hand in marriage, young men all of them.
Joseph and Aseneth 24
TL;DR Pharaoh's son and the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah plot to kill Pharaoh and Joseph. P's son to take power and to marry Asenath. Bilhah and Zilpah's sons to remove Joseph whom they think is going to remove them from the family and from their inheritance.
Joseph and Aseneth, 25
Big Idea: Asenath convinces the brothers to stop the cycle of violence that is happening, and thereby essentially saves the Yisrael from self-destruction. Like Joseph does, but in this version fails to do, and how Moses does later over forty years.
And Naphtali and Asher said to Dan and Gad, "Why must you plot again against our father Israel and against our brother Joseph? For God looks after him as if he were the apple of his eye. Did you not once sell Joseph as a slave, and to-day he is king of the whole earth, and its savior, and gives us grain? And now, if you make plots against him again, he will call upon the God of Israel, and he will send fire from heaven, and it will burn you up, and the angels of God will fight against you." Then Benjamin valiantly fought against Pharoah's son, and killed him. The sons of Bilhah (Naftali and Dan) and Zilpah (Gad and Asher) fell on their faces repenting, and fled into the woods. Leah's sons (Judah, Reuben, Levi, Simion, Issachar and Zebulun) strode after them to kill them, but Aseneth spoke up on their behalf:
Chapter 28
And Aseneth said to them, "Spare your brothers and do them no harm, for God has shielded me and reduced the swords in their hands to dust, and they melted away like wax before the fire. 11. Surely this is enough for us that God is fighting for us: so spare your brothers." 12. And Simeon said to Aseneth, "Why should our mistress plead for her enemies? No! We will cut them down with our swords, because they have plotted evil against our father Israel and against our brother Joseph now on two occasions, and they have plotted against you to-day." 14. And Aseneth said to him , "No brother, you must not repay evil for evil to your neighbour, for God will avenge this outrage." 15. And after this Simeon bowed to Aseneth; and Levi came to her, and he kissed her right hand and blessed her. 16. Thus Aseneth saved the men from their brothers' wrath, so that they did not kill them.