Joseph Got What He Deserved: Say #4
July 13, 2022
We mentioned in an earlier post that we have an unnatural affection for the musical works of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. “Jesus Christ Superstar” is a glorious composition lyrically and musically (even if we do not completely embrace Tim Rice’s modernist humanist take on Jesus the Messiah). But our favorite opus of theirs is not that one. Rather, we are very, very much in the “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour® Dreamcoat” camp. A breezy, funny, rocking re-telling of the Patriarchal narrative from Genesis about Jacob, his dysfunctional family, and the story of their arrival in Eqypt is an extremely entertaining show. Not only did we write this paragraph as a paean to that show, which we love, it also provides some context for this post about one of the Bible words which our English translators render as “say” or “said”.
You probably know the story, but if you do not, it might be a good idea to check it out. It happens in the first book of the Bible, beginning in about chapter 24 with the story of Jacob’s parents. But the bits which concern Joseph and “to say” take place in chapter 37. (Oh, do read all 50 chapters because they set the stage for every other story in both Jesus’ Bible and the ones written after He died.)to get the whole sense of it!)
Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son by his favorite wife. He had eleven brothers and one unfortunate sister (poor Dinah), as well as three step-mothers (is that the term you would used to describe his father’s other wives? We dunno. It’s a weird, strange, jarring story). Joseph is called a dreamer: he receives dreams and visions from G-d, and he also interprets them. This makes him a prophet. It’s those dreams and his willingness to talk about them that got him into trouble with everyone (but it also got him out of trouble, too, so “all’s well that ends well”).
Let’s let the Text tell us the story, from Genesis 37:5-10:
“Joseph had a dream, and when he TOLD it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream I had: we were binding sheaves of corn out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered round mine and bowed down to it.’ His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
“Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, ‘What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?’ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”
You will note that some form of the word “to say” or “to tell” is used in the passage cited. In fact, in eight different places there is some form of say or tell, but only one of them – the one in verse 5, in fact – is marked with upper case, and that is the word we are going to explore. And in exploring its nuances of meaning, we will have a clearer picture of why his brother reacted the way they did (well, they already hated Joseph for being a tattletale and resented him for being the favorite son; this incident may have put them over the edge).
The word used in verse 5 – he told it to his brothers – is the Hebrew verb NAGAD (נָגַד). It makes 370 appearances in the Text, beginning in Genesis 3:11 (And he said, ‘Who TOLD you
that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’) and ending with Isaiah 36:22 (“Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.”) What is interesting about this word is primary definition.
Look at another use in Isaiah 7:2: “Now the house of David WAS TOLD, ‘Aram has allied itself with[a] Ephraim’; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”
How would you tell the entire household? Would you whisper it into one ear and ask them to pass it along? Or would you broadcast it, loudly for all to hear? Picture the old world town criers who made public pronouncements, ringing their bells and shouting their news. When the house of David was told (NAGAD), it was in a voice loud enough for the entire royal court to hear at once.
The primary meaning of NAGAD is “to be conspicuous”.
So now, let’s return to Joseph the Dreamer. He did not just tell his brothers in an understated way about his dream. No. Joseph made the dream CONSPICUOUS. The spoiled little brat BRAGGED about his dreams loudly and proudly. No wonder they hated the insufferable little cretin.
NAGAD is used in Genesis 9, when Ham told his brothers about his father Noah’s drunken nakedness. “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and TOLD his two brothers outside.” Noah’s anger at his son, who made Noah’s shame conspicuous enough for even the eavesdropping Canaan to hear, makes more sense when you consider the Hebrew text.
NAGAD also used when Judah is told about the pregnancy of his daughter-in-law Tamar in Genesis 38:24: “About three months later Judah WAS TOLD, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.’” It is not too difficult to imagine this news being conveyed in loud, broadcast tones for all to hear, based on Judah’s response: “Judah said, ‘Bring her out and let her be burned to death!’” Public sin deserves public judgment.
Joseph did not just tell his family about his dreams. He broadcast his coming superiority in terms loud enough and proud enough for all to hear. NAGAD – occurring 370 times and most often translated as “tell” – means quite a bit more than simply “to tell”.
Getting behind the English to reveal the Hebrew also gives you new insights into the motives of the primary actors in G-d’s story.
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