167 THE CONTINUITY OF THE NON-PRIESTLY NARRATIVE about Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph’s brothers requires that the reader know who these characters are and why they are important in Is- rael’s history). The entire narrative is built on the premise that Joseph’s descent to Egypt and rise to power there paved the way — through the behind-the-scenes workings of divine providence — for the rest of Jacob’s family to migrate to Egypt. This premise is relevant in the history of Israel only as the explanation for how Is- rael — the entire nation — found themselves in Egypt, which in turn is the prelude only to the exodus tradition. At the end of the non-priestly Joseph story we find explicit an- ticipatory references to the exodus. First, there is Jacob’s final state- ment to Joseph, in Gen 48,21: “I am about to die; but God will be with you [pl.] and bring you back to the land of your fathers” 10. This statement presumes that Jacob’s sons will not be able to leave Egypt without God’s help. Second, there is the narrator’s notice in Gen 50,22 that “Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt” 11. Suffice it to say that were this the end of an independent patriarchal narrative, it would leave the reader with the glaring question of how it is that Israel now resides in Canaan rather than This passage is identifiably non-priestly because of its dependence on 10 Gen 48,1, in which Joseph is told that Jacob is ill, along with the notice of Jacob’s failing eyesight in 48,10. Gen 48,21 is the non-priestly doublet of P’s similar statement in 49,29. Furthermore, the notion of God “being with” an individual or Israel as a whole, using the preposition ‘im, is exclusively non- priestly (see Gen 21,22; 26,3.28, etc.). In fact, P uses the preposition ‘im only three times in total: Gen 23,4 [2x] and Lev 15,33. This verse connects back to 50,14, where Joseph and his brothers return 11 to Egypt after burying Jacob; the two verses form the bookends to the dia- logue between Joseph and his brothers in 50,15–21, which contains not only references to the non-priestly stories of the sale of Joseph in Genesis 37 and the interactions between Joseph and his brothers in Egypt, but also the sem- inal thematic statement of the non-priestly Joseph story: “Although you in- tended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result — the survival of many people” (50,20). Most important, this dialogue can take place only in Egypt, not in Canaan, for it is only in Egypt that Joseph has the power to say “I will sustain you and your children” (50,21; see 45,11; 47,12); it thus requires the notice in 50,14 that the family has returned to Egypt. In addition, 50,14 mentions “all those who had gone up with him to bury his father”, which can refer only to the Egyptians who accompanied Joseph and his family in 50,7.9; according to P, only Joseph and his brothers brought Jacob back to Canaan for burial. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati