Reference number: 78J / 2727

Origin: Flanders-Oudenaarde

Period: 17th century

Provenance: Private Collection

This tapestry is surrounded by its original border decorated with fruit and plants.

The Book of Genesis tells that Joseph is one of Jacob's twelve sons and the first of Rachel's two sons. He is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, but becomes the most powerful man in Egypt alongside Pharaoh. When famine struck the land, he brought the children of Israel into Egypt, where they settled in the land of Goshen. He is the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, whose descendants will give two of the 12 tribes of Israel, those of Ephraim and Manasseh.

According to the biblical account, Joseph is the favorite son of his father, Jacob. His father probably passed on the love he had for his favorite wife Rachel, who died when Benjamin was born, to their first son. The father's preference, which manifests itself in the form of a tunic given as a gift to his seventeen-year-old son, leads to jealousy among Joseph's half-brothers. All the more so as Joseph tells them, one after the other, about the two dreams he has been having. In the first one, eleven sheaves from the fields (representing his eleven half-brothers) bow before Joseph's sheaf of wheat. In the second dream, eleven stars (representing his eleven brothers), the sun (Jacob?) and the moon (Leah?) bow down before Joseph. The account of these two dreams only increases the brothers' jealousy.

One day when Joseph joins his brothers who have gone to graze the flocks, the brothers plot against him. The eldest, Ruben, does not want Joseph to be killed. Instead, he will be robbed and thrown down a well. Judah offers to sell Joseph to a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants. But some Ishmaelite merchants, who pass by, pull Joseph out of the cistern. They sell him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who take him to Egypt. His brothers used the tunic and lamb's blood to make their father Jacob, who was inconsolable, believe that Joseph had died.

Joseph married in Asnah, and had two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. After seven years of abundance during which Joseph organizes the constitution of reserves, famine falls on the whole region and leads the surrounding populations to come and get supplies in Egypt. Jacob sent all his sons, except Benjamin, to buy grain. Joseph recognizes them, but his brothers do not recognize him because he has changed a lot with age and now looks like a viceroy of Egypt. He had his ten brothers accused of spying and imprisoned Simeon to force the others to return with Benjamin, the last of the brothers. When they return to Egypt, Joseph is moved to see his little brother again. He sends them back together but has a cup placed in Benjamin's bag to accuse them of theft. Judah devotes himself so that Benjamin can return to their father. Seeing that his brothers have learned their lesson, Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, then he forgives them (it was God who brought me here). He invites his father and all his family to come and settle in Egypt.

On the eve of his death, Jacob's heart was filled with joy, and he said to Joseph:

"I can die now, my son, for I have seen you. »

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