Potipherah
Priest of the ancient Egyptian town of On
According to the Hebrew Bible, Potiphera (/pɒˈtɪfərə/, Hebrew: פּוֹטִי פֶרַע, romanized: Poṭi-p̄eraʿ) was a priest of the ancient Egyptian town of On, mentioned in the Genesis 41:45 and 41:50. He was the father of Asenath, who was given to Joseph as his wife by the Pharaoh, (41:45) and who bore Joseph two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim.
His name means "he whom Ra has given".
01Biblical source
Pharaoh then gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him for a wife Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. Thus Joseph emerged in charge of the land of Egypt.
02Theories
It has been noted that Potipherah served as a priest in Ra's most important cult center. A Jewish legend makes him the same person as Potiphar, whose wife was in love with Joseph and whose false accusation got him thrown in prison.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Potipherah”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Meister der Josephsfolge 002.jpg by Master of Affligem, Public domain
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