(1:1) Part One: Ancient Voices

Joseph wore the robe.

The robe said he was the chosen one, the golden boy. It meant that he never had to wonder if his father loved him. It was the promise of a charmed life.

When his ten older brothers walked into the tent, their dad might have asked them how the flocks were doing or if they had completed their chores. When Joseph walked into the tent, their father’s eyes would light up and his face would beam.

Joseph was the son their dad would brag about in the pub. Joseph was allowed to stay up later, play longer, work less and get away with more than any of them. Joseph wore the robe. But every time he wore it, his brothers died a little inside. The robe became a reminder to them that they will never be loved by their father the way Joseph was loved.

John Ortberg: If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out Of The Boat. c.2001 Zondervan.

The Journey to Egypt: The going down into the pit.

John Ortberg’s commentary to this familiar story introduces us to several theological themes. These include sibling rivalry and jealousy, the endurance and resilience required while facing life's storms, resisting temptation that comes in the high and low periods of our lives, the demonstration of grace and compassion through our actions and finally, God’s intended deliverance for believers.

Our line of enquiry travels a parallel path and our themes are the social, economic and political background to this story’s setting which may establish this as a true record of history (and perhaps, for some, a confirmation of Gods existence), or whether it is just a moral tale.

While this investigation may help to affirm or reaffirm faith, my documentary's purpose is also to introduce how the ancients thought and what motivated them to build, destroy and shape their world. This is the world we experience through the remains of monumental architecture, archaeological excavation and fragmentary pieces of literature. Literature such as this story, that will be our guide today. I should restate that the documentary explores many themes of which our concern here is to expand on only one or two of them.

Joseph’s change of clothes.

Then one day Joseph was attacked by his brothers. They tore his coat, cast him down a dry well, then made him as a slave and sold him to a traveling caravan who took him to Egypt.

Penniless, powerless, friendless and homeless, Joseph was about to learn what each of us sooner or later comes to know: Your heart is revealed and your character is forged when life does not turn out the way you planned it. [1]

Kethoneth passim, the Hebrew phrase used to describe this garment can be interpreted in different ways; “A long coat with stripes,” “A coat with long sleeves,” or as the Greek translation of the Old Testament states a, “Coat of many colours”. Joseph had received a hand tailored long coat made out of fine wool (some translations suggest silk), while his elder brothers were dressed in off cuts. What made the coat an explosive matter in the family was not just that it was expensive. It was a garment of status. This was an open, visible, in-your-face expression of favouritism. The beautiful robe became the death shroud for the family.

Evidence for the existence of these colourfully robed people comes from the decorated tomb wall of Khnumhotep II, at Beni Hassan in Egypt. The register shows a group of 37 Asiatics bringing a consignment of lead sulphide used for eye paint into Egypt. The royal scribe Neferhotep is shown presenting a document to the “Overseer of the Eastern Highlands,” Khnumhotep, on behalf of these asiatics entering his district.

The document can actually be read. Professor Kenneth Kitchen translates it as;

Year 6 of King Sesotris II; a note of the Asiatics of the land of Shutu (Moab) brought by the son of the Governor Khnumhotep, with the mascara. Their total 37. [2]

K.A.Kitchen. On the reliability of the Old Testament. pp 636. 2003 Wm B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co.

Early in the second millennium B.C.E. we have some evidence that Egypt and the Southern Levant were important trading partners, trading produce, technology and expertise in the same way as a modern trade delegation would undertake business today. The document being offered to Khnumhotep could also be considered as an entry visa, suggesting that Egypt had already established some form of boarder control. [3]

Trade and Produce.

The coat itself represents one of the commodities traded. The central Jordan valley region, extending east from Pella (Tabaqet Fahl) along the Jezreel valley, beyond Beit She’an, is known from various sources to have been a centre for linen production. Wool provided by local sheep supplied local looms, the remains of which have been found in excavated villages close to Pella. [4]

These, together with a large amount of textile production related tools suggest textile production was on a larger scale to that needed for local consumption. This surplus was no doubt of economic significance, being used as a medium of exchange for coveted goods such as copper from Cyprus and exotic ceramics, foodstuffs and cosmetics from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. [5] [6]

Other products such as ceramics, would have also contributed to Pella’s economic rise. The excavations at nearby Tell el-Hayyat have revealed a nearly complete kiln. Potters living in Pella’s surrounding communities utilised the local clays to create specialised ceramics. These craftsmen throughout the local area are thought to have formed inter- community workshops to meet the rising demand from both local and inter-regional consumers. The fine ceramics they created may have been the objects for export, but these beautiful pots may have also been containers for other expensive goods such as wine, oil and honey.

Pella’s economic rise is reflected in the building of its Migdol temple around 1650 B.C.E. The economic investment required for its build, together with its size and the increase in the number of settlements in the surrounding district, indicates a sizeable growth in the population during the Middle Bronze Age Period. But Pella’s religious practices also highlight that the community was gaining some cohesion through the pursuit of a henotheistic belief. Some of the ceramic ware was being used for religious practice.

Textiles and ceramics were always in demand. They were not only used to provide warm clothing and to store and transport goods, but also as adornment. As we have seen in our story of Joseph, clothes demonstrate wealth, position and power.

Two impressions of the Migdol temple at Pella c. 1600 B.C.E.
The ground plan and overlying debris evidence gained from the excavations, rarely provide enough information for a positive reconstruction of the upper sections of a building. There is some debate as to whether the Migdol temple courtyard was covered or open to the elements.

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Part One: Ancient Voices.: The following links reveal the Genesis connection to part one’s geographic and historic overview.
Part Two: Egypt’s Golden Age.: The following links explore the tensions behind Exodus and investigate Israel’s exit route.
Part Three: The Great Migration.: The following links reveal the remaining pieces of Egyptian evidence and retrace the Exodus route.

(1:1) Part One: Ancient Voices

See Joseph, Moses and Egypt’s Three Kingdoms on:

Part One: Ancient Voices.

Part Two: Egypt’s Golden Age.

Part Three: The Great Migration.