Joseph and his amazing technicolor funboat

From www.thebricktestament.com

The story of Joseph is one of my favourites from the whole bible. It comprises the latter part of the Book of Genesis, and most authorities agree that it was a fairly late addition. Although Kenneth Kitchen (a formidable expert in Egyptology) places the events in the New Kingdom, around 1400BCE, many Egyptologists feel that the case is much more persuasive for placing the main events and characters in a Late Period setting, around 600BCE. There are many details of the story that seem out-of-place in the New Kingdom.

As a novella, it is a real beauty, with (in my opinion) some strong stylistic linkages to Egyptian stories such as Sinuhe (much earlier - Middle Kingdom). It is clearly written in a novel-like form; my feeling is that this was an original Egyptian story that has been adapted for a Hebrew readership. Perhaps "Joseph" was originally a country boy from the North-Western delta, or he could indeed have been an Asiatic from the North-East. Little literary motifs in the story scream "Egypt!", and part of me wonders if somewhere in the desert there may be a jar with a hieratic document containing the original story. Maybe if we found that, we would know who the Pharaoh was (annoyingly, the bible mentions very few Pharaohs by name, making it difficult to contextualise some of the stories).

Any of you have any favourite stories? Incidentally, this is one story where I think an atheist can get just as much enjoyment as a theist. See? We don't *lose* anything - we *gain*! :-)