called Yarimuta, which some have tried (but on the slenderest grounds) to identify with the biblical Goshen (Wi. Forschungen, iii. 215; Je. ATLO, 3913). The references imply that he had control of the state-granaries; and complaints are made of the difficulty of procuring supplies from the high-handed official; in particular, it is alleged that the people have had to part with their sons and their daughters, and the very woodwork of their houses, in return for corn (see Knudtzon, El-Amarna Tafeln, p. 407). That this historic figure is the original of some features in the portrait of Joseph (a combination first suggested by Marquart, and approved by Wi. Che. Je. al.) is conceivable enough; though definite points of contact are very restricted, and the historical background of Yanḫamu's activity has completely faded from the biography of Joseph.
An equally striking, and equally unconvincing, parallel is pointed out by Eerdmans (Vorgeschichte Israels, 68) from a much later period—the end of the 19th dynasty,—when, according to the Papyrus Harris, Arisu ('I-'ir-sw), a Syrian, "in years of scarcity" which followed "the abundant years of the past," "made the whole land tributary to himself alone" (see Petrie, Hist. iii. 134). The resemblance vanishes on closer inspection. Arisu is simply a Syrian chief, who, in a time of anarchy, gets the upper hand in Egypt by the help of his companions, oppresses the people, and engages in a crusade against the native religion. To say that "the circumstances of this time correspond in all respects [ganz und gar] to the statements of the Joseph-stories," is a manifest exaggeration.
XLVII. 28-XLVIII. 22.—Jacob's last Interview ·with Joseph (J, E, P).
The death-bed scenes of Jacob are described in great detail by all three narrators, because of the importance of the dying utterances of the last ancestor of all Israel. There are four main incidents: (1) Jacob's charge to Joseph with regard to his burial (28-31); (2) the blessing of Joseph and his two sons (48); (3) Jacob's oracles on the future of all the tribes (491-28); and (4) his instructions regarding his burial in Machpelah (29-33).—The first two may be conveniently treated together.
Sources.—The triple thread of narrative is shown by the three beginnings:
4728 (P), 4729 (J), and 481 (E). To P belong 4728 483-6: note the
chronology and syntax of 4728, the connexion of 483f. with 356a. 11. 12;
(
Hebrew characters), 3; (Hebrew characters), 4; (Hebrew characters), 4; (Hebrew characters), 4; (Hebrew characters), 5.—Equally decisive are
the indications of J in 4729-31; (Hebrew characters), 29. 31; (Hebrew characters), 29; (Hebrew characters), 29 (242);
(Hebrew characters), 29 (2449 3211); (Hebrew characters), 30.—The analysis of 481. 2. 8-22 is more
doubtful: formerly the passage was treated as a unity and assigned to
