Joseph and Asenat
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The font Josef und Asenat (also: Joseph und Asenath ) is an ancient Jewish double novella or novel that can be counted among the pseudepigraphs . The main character is the Egyptian Asenat , whom Gen 41,45 EU names as the wife of the archfather Joseph .
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Story of Asenat's Penance (Chapters 1-21)
Asenat is the beautiful daughter of the high priest of On and lives with her seven virgins, who were born on the same day as her, secluded and chaste in their parents' house. The action begins on the "fifth day of the second month, in the first year of the seven fat years" (1,1), when Joseph, who, according to his dream interpretation, has become the second man after Pharaoh , comes to On. Asenat's father decides to give him his daughter as a wife. Asenat, who has already rejected Pharaoh's eldest son, initially protests against the marriage to a Hebrew shepherd, but when she sees Joseph, she falls in love with the “Son of God” (6.2). But Joseph, just as virgin as Asenat, only wants to see her as his sister. When she comes to greet her new “brother”, he refuses to kiss her, an unclean pagan, but blesses her (chap. 8) and announces his return in a week.
Asenat withdraws to her apartment. She smashes her idols and throws their precious material from the window to the poor. Then she puts on mourning clothes and throws ashes on her head, fasts for seven days and asks the One God of Israel for his mercy. In response to her long prayer (chapters 12-13), the Archangel Michael appears to her in Joseph's form. He instructs her to replace the mourning clothes with a white robe. When she returns, he praises her for her penance , proclaims God's forgiveness and gives her a new name: City of Refuge (15 : 7). He then shares a honeycomb with her , which miraculously finds itself in her pantry (chapters 14-17). By enjoying this heavenly honey, she is blessed with immortality (16: 14-16). Then the archangel creates bees from the honeycomb, which settle on Asenat. Michael releases the bees and burns the honeycomb. Before he goes to heaven in a fiery chariot, he also blesses her seven friends.
Asenat puts on bridal jewelry at the angel's instruction. When Joseph returns, they become engaged. “And Joseph kissed Asenath and he gave her life spirit. Then he gave her a second spirit of wisdom. Thirdly, he kissed her tenderly and gave her the spirit of truth ”(19:11). Pharaoh celebrates the wedding for them.
Story of Asenath's rescue (chapters 22-29)
The second part of the story takes place a few years later, "in the second year of famine, on the twenty-first of the second month" (22.2). Asenat had two sons when Joseph's family came to Egypt to flee the famine. While Asenat greets Joseph's father Jacob and his brothers, the once rejected son of the Pharaoh sees them. He tries to bribe Joseph's brothers Simeon and Levi to take revenge on Joseph and still win Asenat, but Simeon and Levi threaten him to avenge Joseph as they exterminated the inhabitants of Shechem as revenge for the rape of their sister Dina (Chapter 23). Pharaoh's son then brings four other half-brothers of Joseph, the sons of Jacob's concubines, to his side (chap. 24). But the prophet Levi sees in the spirit the danger that Asenath threatens and rushes to her aid with the other brothers - while Joseph is devoting himself to the grain distribution. During the battle that followed, the six brothers alone defeated 2,706 enemies (27.6). The youngest, Joseph's full brother Benjamin , described as a godly hero , succeeds in throwing the decisive stone that incapacitates the pharaoh's son. At Asenat's prayer, the enemy brothers are also disarmed. Then she reconciles the brothers again (chap. 28) and gets them to forgive the son of the pharaoh too. However, the latter dies from his injury and the pharaoh installs Joseph in his place as sole ruler. At the end of his life Joseph hands over the government to the younger son of the Pharaoh (chap. 29).
Lore
The story has been called Joseph and Asenat since the 19th century. The oldest version of the story, entitled The Story of Joseph the Righteous and his wife Asenat, is ancient Syriac and dates from the 6th century. Overall, the story has been handed down under various, mostly very detailed headings in 16 Greek manuscripts from the 10th to 19th centuries as well as seven translations from the 6th to 18th centuries, including one each in Latin, Armenian and Middle English. There is a long and a short version, none of which can be clearly identified as the older one. A basic Greek script on which these manuscripts are based could date from the 4th century.
The author is unknown. The first editor, Pierre Batiffol , considered Joseph and Asenat to be a Christian work of the 4th century, for which numerous motifs could speak, such as the mention of the bread of life, consecrated chalice and holy anointing oil (8.5; 15.5; 19.5) or the sign of the cross , which the angel draws over the honeycomb in some manuscripts, including the oldest Syrian one. Today's researchers mostly suspect a Jewish origin. It is difficult to determine the milieu even more closely. Dating to the first century is considered likely. The vocabulary is heavily influenced by the Septuagint .
Theology and environment
Joseph and Asenat requires knowledge of the biblical story of Joseph ( Gen 37, ff EU ). The novella explains why the patriarch Joseph, a pious son of Jacob-Israel , contrary to the rules later formulated by Ezra and Nehemiah , was able to marry a pagan and the daughter of an idol priest. Asenat thus becomes the prototype of a proselyte . Her new name, city of refuge , fits in well with this , where many peoples should take refuge in God.
It is one of the few texts of this time that has a woman as the main character. Joseph, although praised piously and wisely as the “Son of God” in the highest tones, appears more as a passive secondary person. Their beauty is elaborate - Asenat in no way resembled Egyptian virgins; Rather, she resembled the daughters of the Hebrews everywhere; she was as slim as Sara , as blooming as Rebekah , as beautiful as Rachel . (1,5) - described, as well as their entire environment. This description not only testifies to the joy of decorating the scarce biblical basis, but is also strongly symbolic. The description of Asenat's apartment (chap. 2) is reminiscent of the description that Philo of Alexandria gives of the human body, the house of the soul. Asenat is therefore understood, like the paternal mothers in Philo, as an allegory for the soul. In other places too, for example with Joseph's blessing or when the angel addresses the virgin as equal to a man (15.1), there are strong echoes of Philo, which speaks to the assignment of the scriptures to Hellenistic Judaism , possibly in the Egyptian diaspora . The emphasis on the fear of God, chastity , repentance and love of enemies could also point to an emergence in the environment of the Essenes .
The bee scene (Chapter 16), which suggests an initiation in an ancient mystery cult , appears particularly mysterious . Maybe it's a Christian addition.
The novella shows numerous similarities to the Hellenistic wills of the twelve patriarchs . There, too, Joseph's chastity and brotherly love are emphasized, while his half-brothers, the sons of the maidservants Bilha and Silpa , are judged negatively.
literature
Editions and translations
- Paul Rießler : Old Jewish literature outside the Bible , Augsburg 1928, pp. 497-538.
Secondary literature
- Angela Standhartinger : The image of women in Judaism in the Hellenistic period. A contribution based on "Joseph and Aseneth" (= work on the history of ancient Judaism and early Christianity, vol. 26). Brill, Leiden 1995, ISBN 90-04-10350-3 .
- Christoph Burchard : Art. Joseph and Asenath . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE), Vol. 17, 1988, pp. 246-249.
- Dieter Singer : Ancient Judaism and the Mysteries. Religious-historical studies on "Joseph and Aseneth" (= Scientific studies on the New Testament, Series II, Vol. 5). Mohr, Tübingen 1980, ISBN 3-16-142871-4 .
- Christian Wetz: Eros and conversion. Anthropological and religious-historical studies on “Joseph and Aseneth” (= Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus / Studies on the Environment of the New Testament, Vol. 87). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-525-54007-7 .
Web links
- Asenath homepage of Mark Goodacre / Duke University (English) with a large bibliography
Remarks
- ↑ a b Cf. Burchard, 247.
- ^ Pierre Battifol: Le Livre de la Prière d'Aseneth , Studia Patristica: Etudes d'ancienne littérature chrétienne, I-II (Paris: Leroux, 1889-90)
- ↑ a b c d Asenath in: Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ So Gideon Bohak: Joseph and Aseneth and the Jewish Temple in Heliopolis . Atlanta, Ga .: Scholars Press, 1996 (Early Judaism and Its Literature 10)
- ↑ See Wetz, p. 15
- ↑ Philo: Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Μωυσέα κοσμοποιίας - About Creation 119 ( Greek text / English translation )
- ^ Josef-Josefsgeschichte at WiBiLex
- ↑ Michael Tilly : Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.