Potiphar

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Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, by Guido Reni 1631

Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1655.

Potiphar (or Potifar) (Hebrew: פּוֹטִיפַר / פּוֹטִיפָר, Modern Potifar Tiberian Pôṭîp̄ar / Pôṭîp̄ār ; Egyptian origin: p-di-p-rʿ ; "he whom Ra gave.") is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph.

Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave. Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her, accuses him falsely of attempting to rape her. Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, where he comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners.

Potiphar's wife is not named in either the Yahwist or Elohist stories. The mediaeval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives it as Zuleika, as does the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha (from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones")). For more on the nameless in the Holy Bible, please see List of names for the Biblical nameless.

Historical evidence

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There is no mention in Egyptian history or archaeology of this person, making it difficult to place him or Joseph accurately to a particular pharaoh or time period.

According to the Biblical scholarship, the story of Potiphar and his wife derives from the Yahwist source, and stands in the same place that the stories of the butler and the baker and Pharaoh's dreams stand in the Elohist text. By casting Joseph as a victim of seduction and of false witness, the text suits the Yahwist's purpose of denigrating Joseph, the Yahwist being a southern writer and Joseph a northern hero. This may also be the reason for the description of Potiphar as a eunuch (saris), with a sexually dissatisfied wife. It has been argued that the term saris may also refer to any royal official (particularly a military official). However, it was certainly possible for a eunuch to have a wife.^{[original research?]}

The Elohist tradition still makes mention of a man named Potiphar (corrupted as Potipherah), but in that tradition, Potiphar is simply a priest of On, whose daughter Joseph marries. It is possible that the northern view of Potiphar, the view the Elohist records, is where the Yahwist derived the name and motif of the sexual connection with Joseph.^{[original research?]}

Cultural references

• In The Divine Comedy, Dante sees the shade of Potiphar's wife in the eighth circle of Hell. She does not speak, but Dante is told by another spirit that, along with other perjurers, she is condemned to suffer a burning fever for all eternity.
• In the John Sayles film Matewan, Will Oldham plays a young minister boy who preaches the story of Potiphar to his small town.
• In Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Potiphar is featured as a tycoon of ancient Egypt and his wife is portrayed as being a man eater. Both feature in the song "Potiphar".

Bibliography

1. The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt, Ahmed Osman, Bear & Co. 1987

See also

• Yusuf and Zulaikha