Egyptian traditions, names, titles and stories changed only very little over time
- The use of cows as symbols for years, verso known Egyptian motif appearing mediante texts from the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BCE).
- The names Potiphar/Potiphera and Asenath were genuine Egyptian theophoric names (combining the names of Egyptian deities). Potiphar was based on per typical Saite Period construct combining the name of the Egyptian god Monarca. Asenath includes the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, in per typical construct common from the New Kingdom era preciso the Ptolemaic period, although the goddess’s popularity increased considerably during the Saite period in the Sbocco (664-332 BCE).
- The 40 days embalming process (describing Jacob’s death mediante Gn 50:2) was well documented durante Egypt from the New Kingdom onwards.
- The “agrarian reforms” sopra Gen -26 describe the exemption of the temples from royal taxation, verso practice that was documented from the 8 th century BCE onwards.
Despite the fact that the Egyptian elements sopra the story represent many different eras, Redford concluded that the composition of the Joseph story should be dated to the Saite period, between 640 and 425 BCE, as some of the details could not predate that period.
The Continuity of Egyptian Culture
This inability to identify one specific era per Egyptian history that could provide the historical retroterra preciso the Joseph story is the result of an inherent trait of ancient Egyptian culture – its continuity.
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