Queries & Comments

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Joseph and Esarhaddon— Connections?

Not Convinced Tales Are “Parallel”

I am a new and avid reader of BAR. My background is in story and writing, and I study folktale and literary theory, which is why I really enjoyed Eckart Frahm’s article, “Surprising Parallels Between Joseph and King Esarhaddon” (BAR 42:03). But I’m not yet convinced (though I could be) that the parallels suggest that one story came from the other.

At present, I agree more with the author’s statement that “[o]ne could argue they reflect little else than the universal nature of the theme of fraternal rivalry.”

Too Many “Maybes”

In the May/June issue Eckart Frahm makes some interesting parallels between Joseph and Esarhaddon, except for:

1. Jacob, his sons and the rest of his family didn’t move to Egypt until after the sons went to Egypt to get grain for a starving family back in Canaan. In fact, he resisted going there all during the many times the brothers were going back and forth. Finally, when Joseph revealed his true identity, Jacob agreed to take the family to the land of Goshen (the northeast corner of Egypt).

2. Jacob didn’t work for Laban for 20 years to get Rachel as his wife, only 14.

3. Joseph did die in Egypt, a natural death, but Frahm gives us no proof that Esarhaddon died there, only that he died in a campaign to Egypt. It’s a long way from Assyria to Egypt.

The two full paragraphs on page 49 may be excluded in their entirety from the discussion. They include: “there is no proof,” “suggest,” “remains unclear,” “may have,” “seems to have been,” “can easily imagine,” “probably” and finally a “seem to have been.” Let me be clear about this. There is no objection to attempting to put together “what really happened” from known facts, but I do have an objection to excogitation from a series of “maybes” and “probablies.”

Prof. Greenstein Sees Common Fugitive Hero Story Pattern

In his article, distinguished Assyriologist Professor Eckart Frahm compares the Biblical narrative of Joseph to the autobiographical accounts of Assyrian King Esarhaddon, a younger son and successor of Sennacherib, who reigned from 680 to 669 B.C.E. Finding a number of points in common—particularly that of sibling hatred—Frahm suggests “that the author(s) of the Joseph story borrowed a number of key motifs from the story of Esarhaddon’s rise to power.” This suggestion entails a relatively late date for the Joseph story.

Biblical scholars have been comparing the pattern of the story of Esarhaddon to Biblical narratives for decades. I recently published a study (in John J. Collins, T.M. Lemos and Saul M. Olyan, eds., Worship, Women, and War: Essays in Honor of Susan Niditch, Brown Judaic Studies 357 [Providence, RI: Brown University, 2015]) delineating a widespread ancient Near Eastern and Biblical narrative pattern, using 14 points of comparison, in which a leader or leading figure must flee, or be removed, from home; spends a period of time in exile; returns home in triumph at the prompting of a god(dess); and establishes or renews a cult(ic practice). In most cases the hero is a younger son. This “fugitive hero pattern,” as I call it, is first attested in the Egyptian story of Sinuhe (c. 1900 B.C.E.); it lies behind the story of King Idrimi from northern Syria (c. 1450); it occurs in the Hittite narrative of King Hattushili III (c. 1275), who, like Joseph, was removed and did not flee of his own accord; and, in the first millennium B.C.E., it is found in the stories of Esarhaddon and of the Babylonian king Nabonidus. Among the Biblical stories that conform to the pattern are Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David—and several others in part.

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In one of the optional sequences in the pattern, the hero marries the daughter of his host abroad. This occurs in the stories of Jacob, Moses, David and—with a variation—Joseph (he marries the daughter of Potiphera, whose name is nearly identical to that of his Egyptian master Potiphar, whose wife tries to seduce Joseph), as well as in the stories of Sinuhe and Hattushili (with a variation). It does not occur in either of the later Mesopotamian narratives—those of Esarhaddon and Nabonidus. It is therefore very improbable that the contours of the Joseph story were borrowed from Esarhaddon’s, which lacks the typical sequence of marrying the host’s daughter. Most of the similarities between the narratives of Joseph and Esarhaddon are explained by their construction according to the fugitive hero pattern. My analysis suggests that this narrative pattern originated in the Levant and reached Mesopotamia, probably by way of Aram, to which both Esarhaddon and Nabonidus were connected.

Professor Porten Questions Use of Image

It’s indeed a mystery where Eckart Frahm (“Surprising Parallels Between Joseph and King Esarhaddon”) turned up the nice Aramaic fragment on page 49 of his article. It has nothing to do with Aḥiqar. It is the left edge of a letter fragment and was published by E. Sachau and may be found in Bezalel Porten and Ada Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt—volume 4: Ostraca and Assorted Inscriptions, page 18 bottom. Were I to venture a guess why it was cited for Aḥiqar, I would say because line 1 reads, as an opening epistolary blessing, “[May the gods seek after] the welfare of my brother at all [times].” The letters of “my brother” are the same as the first three letters of the name Aḥiqar, namely aleph, ḥet, yod.

BAR: Opinions Diverge

BAR Issue Withheld from Prisoner

Greetings. I had for some time wondered why I missed the January/February 2016 issue of BAR. It was withheld because on page 42 there is an image that is “sexually explicit” and contains “frontal nudity.” I’m clueless to what appeared on page 42. But I know from multiple past issues that it couldn’t have been anywhere near to the term of “purposeful eroticism” and hence contraband.

You’re right.—Ed.

BAR Back Issues Wreaking Havoc

I write with some annoyance, perhaps even anger, because I have purchased the DVD of your back issues. My anger is because I was not warned that this DVD was addictive. When I get medicine, the box is covered with all kinds of warnings, but you did not put a single warning on this DVD. My apartment has become much dirtier, my sink became066 full of dishes waiting to be washed, and my health was even endangered as I was so wrapped up in the DVD that I forgot to catch my transportation to the grocery store.

I recently had my 86th birthday. Mr. Shanks, I believe we were born in the same year, 1930, which must have been a vintage year.

Pastor Won’t Renew

I am not renewing our church’s subscription to BAR. We all want to go where true archaeology leads us and let the findings be what they are, but when people start sharing their opinions about the Bible without evidence, it becomes too much to take. What evidence proves that Eve was taken from Adam’s penis (“Creating Woman,” BAR 42:02)? I have learned that you can always find someone somewhere who is willing to say, “This Hebrew word means this or that,” without any proof!

Correction

Photo Credit

The photographs of the jug and silver hoard in Archaeological Views: “A Silver Lining at Abel Beth Maacah” (BAR 42:04) should have been credited to archaeological photographer Gabi Laron. Additionally, Hazor is located 30 kilometers (18.6 mi) south of Abel Beth Maacah, not 30 miles.

Joseph and Esarhaddon— Connections?