Kejadian 43:19

43:19 So they approached the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.

Kejadian 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ¹  what will you give me since ²  I continue to be ³  childless, and my heir ⁴  is ⁵  Eliezer of Damascus?” ⁶ 

Kejadian 24:2-10

24:2 Abraham said to his servant, the senior one ⁷  in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh ⁸  24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise ⁹  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ¹⁰  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. 24:4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives ¹¹  to find ¹²  a wife for my son Isaac.”

24:5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me ¹³  to this land? Must I then ¹⁴  take your son back to the land from which you came?”

24:6 “Be careful ¹⁵  never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. ¹⁶  24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ¹⁷  promised me with a solemn oath, ¹⁸  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ¹⁹  before you so that you may find ²⁰  a wife for my son from there. 24:8 But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, ²¹  you will be free ²²  from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” 24:9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes. ²³ 

24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. ²⁴  He journeyed ²⁵  to the region of Aram Naharaim ²⁶  and the city of Nahor.

Kejadian 39:4-5

39:4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. ²⁷  Potiphar appointed Joseph ²⁸  overseer of his household and put him in charge ²⁹  of everything he owned. 39:5 From the time ³⁰  Potiphar ³¹  appointed him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed ³²  the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that he had, both ³³  in his house and in his fields. ³⁴ 

Kejadian 44:1

The Final Test

44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

[15:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  ² tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  sn For the custom of designating a member of the household as heir, see C. H. Gordon, “Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets,” Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 2:21-33.

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  ⁶ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[24:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term זָקֵן (zaqen) may refer to the servant who is oldest in age or senior in authority (or both).

[24:2]  ⁸ sn Put your hand under my thigh. The taking of this oath had to do with the sanctity of the family and the continuation of the family line. See D. R. Freedman, “Put Your Hand Under My Thigh – the Patriarchal Oath,” BAR 2 (1976): 2-4, 42.

[24:3]  ⁹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.

[24:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because you must not take.”

[24:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for to my country and my relatives you must go.”

[24:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and take.”

[24:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “to go after me.”

[24:5]  ¹⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the construction is emphatic; the infinitive absolute precedes the imperfect. However, it is difficult to reflect this emphasis in an English translation.

[24:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “guard yourself.”

[24:6]  ¹⁶ tn The introductory clause “And Abraham said to him” has been moved to the end of the opening sentence of direct discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the land of my birth.”

[24:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

[24:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “his messenger.”

[24:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before you and you will take.”

[24:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “ to go after you.”

[24:8]  ²² sn You will be free. If the prospective bride was not willing to accompany the servant back to Canaan, the servant would be released from his oath to Abraham.

[24:9]  ²³ tn Heb “and he swore to him concerning this matter.”

[24:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and every good thing of his master was in his hand.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, explaining that he took all kinds of gifts to be used at his discretion.

[24:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and he arose and went.”

[24:10]  ²⁶ tn The words “the region of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:10]  sn Aram Naharaim means in Hebrew “Aram of the Two Rivers,” a region in northern Mesopotamia.

[39:4]  ²⁷ sn The Hebrew verb translated became his personal attendant refers to higher domestic service, usually along the lines of a personal attendant. Here Joseph is made the household steward, a position well-attested in Egyptian literature.

[39:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “put into his hand.”

[39:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and it was from then.”

[39:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:5]  ³² sn The Hebrew word translated blessed carries the idea of enrichment, prosperity, success. It is the way believers describe success at the hand of God. The text illustrates the promise made to Abraham that whoever blesses his descendants will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).

[39:5]  ³³ tn Heb “in the house and in the field.” The word “both” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[39:5]  ³⁴ sn The passage gives us a good picture of Joseph as a young man who was responsible and faithful, both to his master and to his God. This happened within a very short time of his being sold into Egypt. It undermines the view that Joseph was a liar, a tattletale, and an arrogant adolescent.