A Diviner Ascends: The Biblical Joseph Story in Light of Historical Sources from Esarhaddon's Reign

This dissertation advances a new theory concerning the background of the biblical Joseph Story (Gen 37–50) by comparing it to historical and literary sources connected to the Neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 BCE) of the Sargonid Dynasty. Multiple parallels between the Joseph Story and Sargonid sources, it is argued, suggest that the biblical text remembers something of Esarhaddon’s milieu, much like other ancient literary texts that recall events of the Sargonid period. These parallels revolve around two major themes in the Joseph Story: Joseph as leader and Joseph as diviner, especially in Gen 37, 40, and 41. Joseph’s rise to leadership parallels that of Esarhaddon, recounted in the preface to the royal inscription Nineveh A, known as Esarhaddon’s apology. Both younger sons favored by their fathers and envied by their brothers, Esarhaddon and Joseph each experience symbolic deaths before rising to power. At this point their stories diverge: Esarhaddon’s vengeance and cruelty contrast Joseph’s forgiveness of and provision for his brothers. Two Neo-Assyrian sources pertain to Joseph’s role as a diviner, the letters written to Esarhaddon by the diviners Kudurru and Nabû-ušallim (SAA 10 160 and YBC 11382). These sources invite comparison between Joseph’s experience of false imprisonment and release for the purpose of performing divination and the similar experiences of the Neo-Assyrian diviners. Likewise, the literary setting of the Joseph Story is populated by characters that appear at home in the court of the Sargonids and activities that evoke a Mesopotamian backdrop, such as Joseph’s divinatory technique. Through analogy to texts like the Story of Ahiqar and Papyrus Amherst 63, it is argued that the Joseph Story falls within the same literary legacy of the Sargonid period as the Aramaic literature from Egypt.