The Legends of the Jews, vol 2 | Page 4

IN PRISON PHARAOH'S
DREAMS JOSEPH BEFORE PHARAOH THE RULER OF EGYPT
JOSEPH'S BRETHREN IN EGYPT JOSEPH MEETS HIS
BRETHREN THE SECOND JOURNEY TO EGYPT JOSEPH AND
BENJAMIN THE THIEF CAUGHT JUDAH PLEADS AND
THREATENS JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN JACOB
RECEIVES THE GLAD TIDINGS JACOB ARRIVES IN EGYPT
JOSEPH's KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY JACOB'S LAST WISH

THE BLESSING OF EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH THE BLESSING
OF THE TWELVE TRIBES THE DEATH OF JACOB THE SONS
OF JACOB AT WAR WITH THE SONS OF ESAU ZEPHO KING
OF KITTIM THE NATIONS AT WAR JOSEPH'S MAGNANIMITY
ASENATH THE MARRIAGE OF JOSEPH KIND AND UNKIND
BRETHREN TREACHERY PUNISHED THE DEATH AND
BURIAL OF JOSEPH
I
JOSEPH
THE FAVORITE SON
Jacob was not exempt from the lot that falls to the share of all the pious.
Whenever they expect to enjoy life in tranquillity, Satan hinders them.
He appears before God, and says: "Is it not enough that the future world
is set apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this world,
besides?" After the many hardships and conflicts that had beset the path
of Jacob, he thought he would be at rest at last, and then came the loss
of Joseph and inflicted the keenest suffering. Verily, few and evil had
been the days of the years of Jacob's pilgrimage, for the time spent
outside of the Holy Land had seemed joyless to him. Only the portion
of his life passed in the land of his fathers, during which he was
occupied with making proselytes, in accordance with the example set
him by Abraham and Isaac, did he consider worth while having lived,[1]
and this happy time was of short duration. When Joseph was snatched
away, but eight years had elapsed since his return to his father's
house.[2]
And yet it was only for the sake of Joseph that Jacob had been willing
to undergo all the troubles and the adversity connected with his sojourn
in the house of Laban. Indeed, Jacob's blessing in having his quiver full
of children was due to the merits of Joseph, and likewise the dividing
of the Red Sea and of the Jordan for the Israelites was the reward for
his son's piety. For among the sons of Jacob Joseph was the one that
resembled his father most closely in appearance, and, also, he was the
one to whom Jacob transmitted the instruction and knowledge he had
received from his teachers Shem and Eber.[3] The whole course of the
son's life is but a repetition of the father's. As the mother of Jacob
remained childless for a long time after her marriage, so also the
mother of Joseph. As Rebekah had undergone severe suffering in

giving birth to Jacob, so Rachel in giving birth to Joseph. As Jacob's
mother bore two sons, so also Joseph's mother. Like Jacob, Joseph was
born circumcised. As the father was a shepherd, so the son. As the
father served for the sake of a woman, so the son served under a
woman. Like the father, the son appropriated his older brother's
birthright. The father was hated by his brother, and the son was hated
by his brethren. The father was the favorite son as compared with his
brother, so was the son as compared with his brethren. Both the father
and the son lived in the land of the stranger. The father became a
servant to a master, also the son. The master whom the father served
was blessed by God, so was the master whom the son served. The
father and the son were both accompanied by angels, and both married
their wives outside of the Holy Land. The father and the son were both
blessed with wealth. Great things were announced to the father in a
dream, so also to the son. As the father went to Egypt and put an end to
famine, so the son. As the father exacted the promise from his sons to
bury him in the Holy Land, so also the son. The father died in Egypt,
there died also the son. The body of the father was embalmed, also the
body of the son. As the father's remains were carried to the Holy Land
for interment, so also the remains of the son. Jacob the father provided
for the sustenance of his son Joseph during a period of seventeen years,
so Joseph the son provided for his father Jacob during a period of
seventeen years.[4]
Until he was seventeen years old, Joseph frequented the Bet
ha-Midrash,[5] and he became so learned that he could impart to his
brethren the Halakot he had heard from his father, and in this way he
may be regarded as their teacher.[6] He did not stop at formal
instruction, he also tried to give them good counsel, and he became