RT Article
T1 A missing meal of reconciliation: The consumption of food as deficient motif in the Joseph story and its resolution in Jubilees and Josephus
JF Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
VO 33
IS 4
SP 317
OP 336
A1 Rabel, Magnus 1996-
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1891025325
AB Food plays an important role in the Joseph story. Although other themes offer valuable insights as well, the theme of table fellowship is at the heart of the story’s main theme because sharing a table and what is on it shows mutual recognition and signifies thus much more than the mere consumption of food. In the Joseph story, we have two occurrences of joint meals: Gen 37:25 and Gen 43:31–34. Whereas the first is a clear sign of Joseph’s isolation and the rupture of the brothers’ relationship, the second meal cannot be understood as an actual meal of reconciliation as some do. In order to make table fellowship a coherent theme from isolation to inclusion, the Joseph story in Genesis lacks a third meal of peace and reconciliation at which the brothers are reunited. However, if we look across canonical boundaries, we find that Jubilees as well as Josephus’s Antiquities incorporate this third meal into the story. In this way, the biblical story is continued productively, and the theme of table fellowship, which is anticipated in Genesis, is expanded into a comprehensive motif.
K1 Rewritten Bible
K1 Reconciliation
K1 Motif
K1 Jubilees
K1 Josephus
K1 Inclusion
K1 Genesis
K1 Fortschreibung
K1 Food
K1 Exclusion
DO 10.1177/09518207231217243