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  • From: Bearpecs AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Gen. 39:1 Potiphar's title
  • Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 23:35:08 EDT


Friends,
I am forwarding from another email list, with permission, the email below
related to Genesis 39:1, specifically the reference to Potiphar. I include
the
whole email for context without any intent of beginning a discussion of the
philosophical issue raised. The piece I hope to get some insights about is
Potiphar's title (or is it just a description?) and translation thereof.
Thanks


In a message dated 7/9/2003 1:13:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

> I have a question for all of you. I know that, traditionally, Potiphar's
> wife was seen as a wanton woman whose only motivation seems to have either
> been lust for Yosef or something equally devious.
>
> However, when I first read about Yosef's enslavement in Egypt and about
> Potiphar in the Vulgate, it has this to say:
>
> igitur Ioseph ductus est in Aegyptum emitque eum Putiphar eunuchus
> Pharaonis
> princeps exercitus vir aegyptius.
>
> In the KJV, and most dependent translations thereof, it says that Potiphar
> is just a high-ranking man in the king's court. The Vulgate, however,
> suggests (as I'm sure you don't need to read Latin to get the gist of) that
> Potiphar
> is Pharaoh's eunuch!
>
> That puts Mrs. Potiphar in a whole different light. Just because men tend
> to act more openly and aggressively on their sexual tendencies does not
> mean,
> of course, that women do not have their own. How do you think you would
> treat the newcomer in your household, in her stead, if you had been married
> for
> some time to a man who couldn't satisfy your very natural, necessary needs?
>
>
> This doesn't excuse Mrs. P, of course, but it does make her, in my eyes, a
> sympathetic character to whom I can relate. I'm wondering if Jerome's
> Vulgate
> is the only translation in which this version of Potiphar's title appears?
>




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