Encyclopedia entry · Person
Joseph
Curator's research file
Subject · person
Joseph
Identity
- Name meaning
- Remover or Increaser (Hebrew: 'Asaph / Yoseph — from Rachel's wordplay: 'God has taken away my reproach' and 'May the LORD add another son,' Gen. 30:23–24)
Family
- Parent(s)
- —
- Spouse
- —
- Children
- —
- Tribe / people
- —
Era & origin
- Era
- Patriarchal period, c. 1746–1636 BC
- Region
- —
- Contemporary of
- —
Role
- Role
- Son of Jacob and Rachel; patriarch of Israel; vizier of Egypt; ancestor of two of Israel's tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh)
- Notable for
- Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob and the firstborn of Rachel, rose from enslaved prisoner to second-in-command over all Egypt through a life marked by suffering, faithfulness, and providential rescue.
Scripture
- First mention
- Gen 37:3–4
- Most cited
- Genesis 37
Network
- Referenced by
- 112 entries
- Voices
- —
Early Life and the Coat
Joseph was born in Padan-aram (Mesopotamia) and was roughly six years old when his family returned to Canaan, eventually settling near Hebron. By the time he was seventeen, his father Jacob's open favoritism had already poisoned his relationship with his older brothers. The famous 'coat of many colors' — more precisely, a long, full-sleeved tunic of the kind worn by children of nobles, or possibly a patchwork of many-colored pieces — was the visible symbol of Jacob's preference, and it became a flashpoint for his brothers' growing resentment. When Joseph shared two dreams in which his brothers (and even his parents) bowed down to him, their hatred intensified: *'His brothers said to him,
Key passages
See also
Source · AI-drafted from public-domain sources (Smith's 1884, Easton's 1897), synthesized + modernized; auto-verified for fidelity. Final gospel.bot review recommended.
