Elisha ben Abuyah Profile picture
Nov 30, 2021 7 tweets 6 min read Read on X
In last week's #Torah portion, we were introduced to a character named Potiphar.

We run into a character this week with a simillar name that ended up creating a lot of confusion.

So here's a short thread to show how confusing it is!

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

1/7 Image
The #Torah calls Potiphar a chief chef. But most commentators don't like that. Some say he was a butcher (the text doesn't indicate that).

And because of the importance of a different Poti-phera, some hold that he was the chief executioner.

(Imagination)

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

2/7 Image
The #Torah also calls Potiphar a eunuch. Again, many commentators are uncomfortable with this. After all, he was married. And the other Poti-phera had a daughter.

So some claim it just means that he was an important official, with his genitals intact!

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

3/7 Image
It is clear that these are two different characters. The LXX (a Greek interpretation) doesn't help by naming them the same!

Here we see the differences in spelling.

There are also differences in roles.

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

4/7 Image
Here, we see that the Torah has the priest of On (who "On" was is unknown) had the daughter, not the chef.

And Joseph marrying an Egyptian woman made some commentators go crazy! (or crazier).

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

5/7 Image
It is fun to read that the names "Manesseh" and "Ephriam" are not only puns, but will be names used by later writers as metaphors for places of idolatry.

"Messiah ben Joseph" was originally one who would mislead others (perhaps an anti-Christian polemic).

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

6/7 Image
So in closing, Potiphar and Poti-Phera were two different characters.

The latter may have had a sort of theophoric in his name, "Pharaoh".

The attempt to merge the two is an attempt to consolidate different stories.

It fails.

#Mikeitz
#EBAMeme

7/7 Image

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More from @Elishabenabuya

Oct 31, 2021
[thread]

Let's talk a little bit about the #Torah story where Isaac pretends that his wife is his sister.

It is not only directly lifted from the story of Abraham, but seems oddly inserted in the timeline.

#EBAMeme
#Toldot

1/6
Previously, we are told that Rebecca was barren for 20 yrs (25:21), then she was pregnant with twins, and it was such a painful time, she walked to visit Yahweh to get some advice.

#EBAMeme
#Toldot

2/6
Years go by, and the twins grow up. And there's this strange story, full of puns, about Esau selling his birthright.

#EBAMeme
#Toldot

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Oct 2, 2021
(Due to a holiday, I didn't get to post much about Gen 1-6, so here's a late thread about Adam's WIVES.)

Because of contradicting narratives in the Torah-anthology, legends were invented.

The result is more entertaining than the myths themselves.

#Bereishit
#EBAMeme

1/9
First up, we have Lilith. Because Gen-1 says man and woman were created at the same time, and Gen-2 changed that, we get a story about a mate who declared she was equal, wanted to be on top during coitus, so Adam hated her, and God disposed of her:

#Bereishit
#EBAMeme

2/9
Next, to answer why Adam had to sleep while God made a women, we have the story of Adam being grossed out when he watched God making one, all that blood and organs, and wouldn't touch her

So God got rid of her!

#Bereishit
#EBAMeme

3/9
Read 9 tweets
Oct 1, 2021
This week, we begin reading Genesis...again.

So let's talk about the two creation myths (Gen1 and Gen2-3).

It is clear, upon examination, that these myths were never intended to be read as history.

To do so requires a lot of apologetics (dishonesty).

#Berashit
#EBAMeme

1/4
There are two different styles of writing between the Gen1 and Gen2-3 myths.

While the first is from a song writer who was more concerned with rhyming than grammar, the second is from a humorist who was more interested in puns and sexual imagery.

#Berashit
#EBAMeme

2/4
The song of creation is beautifully crafted, and is full of visual/sound rhyming, parallelisms, cadence, and repeats.

This is not how one communicates history.

This is how one communicates legends through art.

#Berashit
#EBAMeme

3/4
Read 4 tweets
Jul 12, 2021
In this week's #Torah portion, we are introduced to several supernatural entities, one of which is called "Rephaim".

Keep in mind that "Rephaim" is older than the OT and is an appropriated word from the Canaanites.

So what were they in ANE literature?

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

1/5
In ANE religions lie the OT, death was dreary and undesirable. It is a lonely existence unless you were deserving in life, meaning, a great hero or leader. In such a case you could serve the Gods, interact with the living, making you one of the Rephaim.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

2/5
We see this from the author of the Divine War story in Genesis 14 or Joshua 9-13, where the Rephaim of the Goddess Ashteroth are participants.

And in Job where the Rephaim are mentioned as being distinct from the other residents of Sheol.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

3/5
Read 5 tweets
Jul 11, 2021
This week begins the Book of Deuteronomy. It's a collection of narratives with views/legends that are distinct from the others, and are often are at odds with Gen-Num.

Deuteronomy also has several anachronisms that could only have been written much later.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

1/4
The opening verses of Deut. provides us with a list of places that the other books didn't mention,, but where the Hebrews apparently traveled, but the point of view is from someone in the future living in Israel.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

2/4
Ibn Ezra, one of the more honest classical Jewish commentators, notes that these anachronisms could not have been written by Moses, but won't cross the line into true heresy!

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

3/4
Read 5 tweets
Oct 27, 2020
Here's a short thread about Hagar who appears in Genesis 16 and 25.

As with Sarai, we don't have any background information in the text. Legends say she was a princess, an Egyptian. And another says that she became Abraham's wife after Sarah died.

1/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
The plain text tells us that she was a slavegirl, a shifcha. We see this term also apply to Bilha and Zilpah, who served Rachael and Leah:

2/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
Sarai cannot get pregnant, and has Hagar fulfill her duties as an intermediary birther, which she immediately regrets and hates the haughty pregnant slave:

3/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
Read 5 tweets

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