Asenath

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Name	, Asenath
Gender	Female
Person ID	I42468	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

Family Joseph , b. 1801 BC/1792 BC d. 1691 BC/1536 BC

Children 2 sons

	1. Manasseh , b. 1769 BC/1536 BC
	2. Ephriam , b. 1767 BC/1536 BC

Family ID F21648 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 24 Jan 2022

Notes

Genesis 41:45 Mother of the Birthright Tribe of Ephraim. Resource: Young Women's Journal - May 1927 pp 311-316 "The Wife of Joseph" Her Romance by James H. Anderson Chapter I- Who was Joseph? Who was his wife? Her name and country? What interest have twentieth century maidens in knowing? Romance when connected with history becomes closely related to fact. Otherwise it may be mere fiction. So history must be prologue to this romance, to connect with the facts. "The wife of Joseph" lived ages ago--about forty centuries. Does she still live in her fair daughters of today? Mother Eve lived longer ago than that distant time. So did those Hebrew patriarchs' wives, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and others. Yet they live in their daughters of this age--the fairest of the fair among the maidens of the twentieth century. The three herein named were noted for their beauty and their intellect. Their maternal ancestor, the first woman, "mother of all living" also was beautiful--and good. Joseph was the boy with the "coat of many colors," whose dream incited the jealous enmity of some of his brothers. As a man, he stands before mankind an example of wisdom, purity, courage, and integrity. A "dreamer," his interpretation of dreams brought him to the post of prie minister in the most powerful nation of his day--Egypt under the Pharaohs of the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, B.C. Egypt then had a variety of peoples and aces. There were descendants of Ham, of Japheth, of Shem. There were Canaanites, Phenicians, Chaldeans, Semites, and others. The Hebrews and most of the Chaldeans were Semites, but the Hebrew branch early developed a family apart from the Chaldeans, and in time were the chief factors in the Semitic race. As Egypt had notable cities, centers of racial classes of population, so those various people congregated by themselves in different cities. The national worship was heathenism, the chief god being the god of the Pharaoh, or king. In that nation's chief city, the people were mainly "Canaanites by birth"; a portion of that race also dwelling in the land of Canaan. The city of Baal-bec, known in Greek history as Heliopolis (city of the sun) in what is now Syria, was occupied principally by those of the semitic race. Another "city of the sun" (Greek, Heliopolis) dominated by those of the semitic race is known in the Bible as the city of On, and also as Beth-shemesh (Jer. 43:13), house of the sun). Their household idols or gods represented the sun and other heathen deities. The city of On, located near the present site of Cairo, was beyond the boundaries of the nation's capital city, which was reserved mainly for the ruling race among the Egyptians. Potiphar (belonging to the sun, that is, the Egyptian ruling class) was the captain of the king's guard to whom Joseph was sold (Gen. 37:36). Potipherah (not belonging to the sun) was the prince or priest of On (Gen. 41:45)--the translated Hebrew word meaning either prince or priest. The vital point made here is that On or Beth-shemesh and Baalbec were occupied b people of the Semitic race and not of the Hamitic race; and as the semites were more closely known to the Greeks by their associations than were the Egyptians proper, the population of the cities of On and Baal-bec were classed by the Greeks as one--Semitic worshipers of Egypt's national gods. It will be remembered that Abraham's father, Terah, also was a worshiper of the same gods, while Abraham was not. Therefore, the wife of Joseph, being the daughter of Potipherah of On, was a Semite, or Hebrew, racially. With her father's household, as a young woman she was a worshiper of the Egyptian gods; that was her training. Her name was Asenath (favorite of the Most High); translated into a modern English name it would be Grace. She is mentioned in the Bible three times, and on each occasion she is designated as the mother of Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The Latter-day Saints being chiefly of the tribe of Ephraim, the twentieth century maidens of Joseph's lineage have in "the wife of Joseph" an interest of genealogical descent. She is their maternal ancestor. On her son Ephraim the Prophet Jeremiah (31:7, 9) says: "For thus saith the Lord, ... I am the father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born." That is the setting of history. Now the romance. It is found in the old British archives in the city of London. There are several versions, some of them savoring of Judaism, and some Christianity. They appear in Latin, Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, Slavonic, Ethiopic, and Arabic. The oldest and freest from possible interpolations is an early Hellentistic-Jewish text, which compares Asenath to Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel. The custodian has identified it by the modern and ponderous title: "Joseph and Asenath--the Confession and Prayer of Asenath, Daughter of Pentephres the Priest." The story says her mother's name was Dinah. The romance itself, of which only the essential portions can be given here, has details of magnificence, splendor, orientalism, idolatry, conversion, love, mariage, and spirituality, which make of it a rhapsody in those respects. It is eloquent in its delineation of the spotless and sublime characters of Joseph and Asenath. The maiden is described as "of eighteen years, tall and comely, and beautiful to behold exceedingly beyond every virgin upon the earth" (in the city of her residence). Further, she "bare no likeness to the daughters of the Egyptians, but was in all points like the daughters of the Hebrews, being tall as Sarah and comely as Rebekah, and beautiful as Rachel. The fame of her beauty spread abroad into all that land, so that all the sons of the princes and the satraps desired to woo her, nay, and the sons of kings also, all young men and mighty, including Pharaoh's firstborn son. And there was great strife among them because of her, and they essayed to fight against one another." As with her fair daughters of today, this array of suitors did notput her in a mood to marry quickly, but the reverse; for "she set at nought and scorned every map." With her seven virgins she shut herself up in a tower, or building of more than one story, containing ten rooms, and adjoining her father's palace. Within this building of more than one story, containing ten rooms, and adjoining her father's palace. Within this building "gods of the Egyptians, whereof was no number, gold and silver, were fixed, and all these Asenath worshiped, and she feared them, and she performed sacrifices to them every day." Joseph then was premier of Egypt. He was directing the gathering of corn in the seven years of plenty in Egypt, preparatory to the seven years of famine foreshadowed in Pharaoh's dream. Of his coming into the district to collect corn (American wheat), he sent notice to the maiden's father, who responded, "Blessed be the Lord God of Joseph, because my lord Joseph hath thought me worthy." Joseph's Lord God was recognized as not on the list of heathen Egyptian gods. A great banquet was prepared, and Asenath "hasted toher chamber where her robes lay, and put on a fine linen robe made of crimson stuff and interwoven with gold." Like mother of 1720 B.C., like daughters of 1927 A.D. The story describes with all the detail of a modern society article the magnificence of her toilette, and adds that the names of her Egyptian gods were engraved on her jewelry, "both on the bracelets and the stones." But there are times when one never knows what a girl is going to do, not even her parents. This was done of those times. Asenath was bidden by her father to sit between him and her mother when Joseph should come. Then the father, with that lack of diplomacy which ever haunts the genus pater in his love for his lovely child, "spilled fat on the fire." He went on: "Dearest child! Lo, Joseph, the mighty one of God, cometh to us today. This man is the ruler of all the land of Egypt. He worshipeth God, and is discreet, and a virgin as thou art today, and a man mighty in wisdom and knowledge, and the spirit of the Lord is upon him, and the grace of the Lord is with him. Come, dearest child, and I will give thee over to him to wife, and thou shalt be to him for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridgroom forever." Just think, modern daughters, of Asenath--pass before the mirror with your sweetness, and beauty, and finery--think of your father imagining that "wisdom, and knowledge, and grace of the Lord" are supreme qualities for a husband, as compared with a polished exterior and a kingly title! This father had not seen Joseph theretofore (he had heard of him), or recognized the real graces that would capture a favorite daughter's love, when princes and sons of princes had laid their hearts at her feet. Asenath was angry. She defied her father. She stormed, "Wishest thou to give me over as a captive to an alien and a fugitive, and one that hath been sold? Is not this the son of the shepherd from the land of Canaan? Nay, but I will be married to the king's firstborn son, for he himself is king of all the land." Then, as in all romances that end rightly, something happened. This tirade was cut short by the sudden appearance of a young servant, who announced: "Lo, Joseph standeth before the door of our court." Asenath turned, and "fled from the face of her parents and went up into the loft (in her tower), and stood at the great window looking east to see Joseph coming into her father's house." The story gives a wonderful description of the magnificent entourage of Joseph, who was seated in the second hariot of Pharaoh. It says he was "clad in a tunic white and rare, and the robe that was thrown around was purple, made of fine linen interwoven with gold, and a golden wreath was upon his head, and round his wreath were twelve choice stones (for the twelve sons of Jacob), and above the stones were twelve golden rays, and in his right hand a royal staff, which had an olive branch outstretched, and there was abundance of fruit thereon." It was a picture of oriental splendor. Father Pentephres' arguments were in total eclipse. All the household of the prince of On made obeisance to Joseph--all save Asenath, whose curiosity now had overcome her anger. She was peeping from an upper window! Chapter II Asenath was a sensible girl, as are all sincerely religious girls, even in matters of the heart. (Note the story: She was filled with grief and remorse, for the sight of Joseph's personal beauty, even more than his stately splendor, touched her heart. Bursting into tears, and kneeling at the window, she exclaimed: "Alas, me miserable! Where now shall I, the wretched one, go away? Or where shall I be hidden from his face? Or how shall Joseph the son of God see me? For that I have spoken evil things about him. And how may the God of Joseph he gracious to me, because in ignorance I have spoken wicked words against him? Now he hath come to us as the sun from heaven, and he entereth our house today, and he shineth unto it like light upon the earth But I am foolish and bold because I scorned him and spoke evil words about him, and didnot know that Joseph is a son of God. For who among men will ever beget such beauty, or what woman will give birth to such light? Now, therefore, let my father give me to Joseph for a handmaid and a bond woman rather, and I will be in bondage to him forever." It was in an age when bondge was an order in civil life. As to Joseph, he was received and feted, and shown about the grounds. Of a sudden he looked up, and saw Asenath at the window gazing at him, he not knowing who she was. Recalling past experience, and his father's injunction to his sons to "keep yourselves from strange women," Joseph gave the peremptory command, "Let that woman depart from this house." Then spake her father: "Nay, she is my daughter, a virgin hating everyman, and she is they sister." It is an oriental custom for the host to refer to his daughter as the sister of the guest. Joseph's tone was changed. "If she is your daughter and a virgin," said he, "let her come, for that she is my sister, and I love her today as my sister." Upon this polite and perhaps diplomatic speech, the mother of Asenath went up into the loft and constrained her daughter to come down, introducing her to Joseph and saying, "As thy brother, he also is a virgin even as thou today, and hateth every strange woman, even as thou hateth every strnage man." Asenath greeted Joseph, "Hail, Lord, blessed of God Most High"; to which Joseph responded, "God who quickeneth all things shall bless the damsel." Asenath's eyes filled with tears, "and Joseph, when he saw her weeping, pitid her exceedingly, for that he was mild and merciful, and one who feared the Lord. He lifted up his right hand above her head and blessed her, saying, Lord God of my father Israel, the Most High and the Mighty God, bless Thou this virgin also, and number her with Thy people whom Thou chosest before all things were made, and let her enter into Thy rest forever." Joseph departed from the city; but his blessing had taken deep root in the maiden's heart. She retired to her room, and wept over her idolatry and unworthiness. The story goes on: "She took all her gods that were in her chamber, the gods of gold and silver whereof there was no number, and brake them up into fragments and cast them through the window to poor men and beggars. And again Asenath took her royal dinner and fatlings and the fish, and the heifer's flesh, and all the sacrifices to her gods and the vessels of the wine of libation, and cast them all through the window that looked north, as food for the dogs; and she took sackcloth and girded her loins, and spinkled ashes on her head. This Asenath did nof seven days, not tasting aught whatever." In her contriteness of spirit she found little sympathy from her family. Her father and mother declared, "Asenath is not our daughter"; and all her relatives "came to hate her because she had destroyed their gods." She gave herself over to prayer, in which she cast herself unreservedly upon the God of the Hebrews, whom the declared she "knew to be a true God, and a living God, and a merciful God, and pitiful and long-suffering." She declared her love for Joseph, and prayed, "Keep him salfe in the wisdom of thy grace, and commit me to him for an handmaid and a bondwoman, that I may wash his feet and make his bed, and minister to him and serve him, and I will be a bondwoman to him for the times of my life." Her conversion was sincerely wholesouled. All Egypt knew of Joseph having interpreted the dream of the king, for all Egypt was giving grain conformably with the application thereof. It was now Asenath's turn to dream. In that dream an angel appeared, saying, "Aseneth, I am the chief captain of the Lord, commander of the host of the Most High. Stand upon thy feet, that I may speak to thee my words." Then follows a decription that the messenger was "like unto Joseph, in robe and wreath and royal staff, save that his face was as lightning, and his eyes as the light of the sun, and the hair of his head as of the flame of a burning torch and his hands and feet like iron shining from fire." The story recounts that this messenger said: "Be of good cheer, Asenath, the virgin and pure; lo, the Lord God hath given thee today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridegroom forever. And no ore henceforth shalt thou be called Asenath, but thy name shall be City of Refuge, for that in thee many nations shall seek refuge, and they shall lodge under thy wings, and many nations shall find refuge, and they shall lodge under thy wings, and many nations shall find sheltr by thy means, and upon thy walls they who cleave unto God Most High shall be kept secure." Speaking of Joseph, the visitor said, "Put on a wedding rob, and adorn thyself as a good bride, and ake thyself ready to meet him, for lo! he himself cometh to thee today, and will see thee and rejoice." When Asenath arose in the morning and preented herself to the household, it is said that her face shone with a "great and comely beauty." Soon a servant announced: "Joseph standeth before the doors of the court." He was admitted, and "Joseph stretched out his hands and embraced and kissed Asenath, and Asenath Joseph, and they ecame afianced bride and bridegroom. Joseph said, "Let one of the virgins come and wash my feet (an eastern custom at that time), but Asenath replied, Nay, my lord, for that henceforth thou art my lord, and I am thy handmaid; thy feet are my feet, and thine hands mind hands, and thy soul my soul, and another shall not wash thy feet." Her parents and kindred came in, and her father sought to betroth Asenath to Joseph, but the latter said, "I go tomorrow to Pharaoh the king, for that he himself is my father, and appointed me ruler over all this land. I will speak unto him now concerning Asenath, and he will give her to me to be my wife. So her father said, Go in peace." Genesis, 41:45: "And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah" (which in Coptic signifies a revealer of secrets, or, Theman to whom secrets are revealed), "and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." The romance is not yet ended. The story describes a wedding of oriental magnificence. It tells of the subsequent birth of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of the coming of the patriarch Jacob, before whom Asenath, when she saw him, "marvelled and fell down, and made obeisance on her face on the earth." Later, so the story goes, there was a plot to kill Joseph and seize Asenath, engaged in by Pharaoh's son, in the culmination of which there appears Joseph's younger brother Benjamin, described as "a strong lad of about nineteen years, and upon him was ineffable beauty and might as of lion's whelp, and he also was one who feared God exceedingly." Benjamin's timely help protected Joseph and saved Asenath. He wounded Pharaoh's son with a stone throws at him; and the prince's co-conspirators were put to death by Pharaoh, for having led his son into trouble. The story then tells how Joseph "reigned alone in Egypt forty-eight years," and of him and Asenath living happily together, "glorifying and praising God." This closes the romance, summerized here from a much more detailed account. The translation of the Hellenistic-Jewish text as preserved appears to have been made with great care. Allowing for discrepancies in repeating the tory from century to century, it is a notable feature that, upon a critical comparison with the record of Joseph's career as given in the Book of Genesis, there is neither anachronism nor contradiction. The text preserved is said to be of not later than the second century A.D., and may be earlier; so that it is one of the oldest manuscripts in existence, whatever the authenticity of its recital; and it answers succinctly some inquiries concerning the character of this noble woman, maternal ancestor of the tribal descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim. In any event, it must be conceded that the romance of "The wife of Joseph" is a beautiful story, beautifully told. -------------------------- ASENATH Fair and Faithful, Beloved and Beautiful, Chaste and Cherished, Daughter of God, Daughter of the Covenant, Wife of Joseph, Mother of Ephraim and Manasseh, Our Grandmother, Mother of the Birthright Tribe of Ephraim. Since my youth I have loved the story of Joseph who was sold as a slave into Egypt by his older brothers (half brothers) at the age of 17. Joseph was the favorite son of his father Jacob and the first son of his mother Rachel for whom Jacob labored 14 years to claim as a wife. Joseph received the birthright as Rachel's firstborn when Ruben, Leah's firstborn, committed his evil transgression and deception. For the same reasons Joseph was so loved by his father, he was hated by his brothers. They plotted to kill him; they cast him in a pit and then decided to profit from their evil deeds by selling him as a slave into Egypt. They then deceived their father by ripping and bloodying Joseph's coat of many colors and suggesting that a wild beast had killed Joseph. Joseph was my favorite character in the Old Testament. He was a choice Seer, Prophet, and Patriarch who prophesied of the birth of another Joseph - another choice Seer and Prophet who would be born some 3500 years later. Joseph of Egypt grew into adulthood alone in a strange land. He was a slave. He had no father to guide him to find a virtuous and worthy wife of the covenant race. Despite the many tribulations and temptation, Joseph remained faithful and true to the teachings of his parents and his God. We who are descendants of that Joseph of olden times also love the stories of his mother Rachel and his grandmother Rebekah. They were the ideals of womanhood. Every mother (and father) of their noble linage have prayed, plead, and prepared for daughters (and daughters-in-law for their sons) who would be, and live, as they did --- pure, chaste, faithful, obedient, worthy, honorable, and chosen of God. The story of Asenath is another choice story of love and loneliness, commitment and covenant keeping, truth, tenacity, and testimony. I first learned to love the story of Asenath during my pre-teen years as it was told and retold to me by my mother. She often told stories of Joseph and Asenath when I asked her to tell another story of Joseph. To me it was just another of the simple and beautiful "Bible Stories for LDS Youth". But what do we know about Asenath, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Ephraim and Manasseh? Was she like unto Rachel and Rebekah? Why do we not know more about her since we know about her husband and her sons? These and other questions keep coming into my mind and since my teen years I have pondered, searched and even prayed for more knowledge and understanding. Here are some of the thoughts, ideas, facts, impressions, and "burnings in my bosom" I have found, seen, felt, and remembered over the years. To understand Asenath's story, one needs to know important and essential events of the history of mankind and God's dealings with mankind during the generations both before and after Joseph and Asenath lived on the earth. The Book of Genesis covers a period of 2300 years after the fall. Thirteen chapters or 30% of Genesis details the life of Joseph who lived only 110 years. The period from Adam to Noah is known as "The Age of the Patriarchs". Every person on the earth is a direct descendent of Adam and each of the patriarchs down through Noah. From Seth through Methuselah, each was ordained a high priest and each was blessed at that great gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman by Adam, including Methuselah's son Lamech who had been ordained a high priest by Seth. Each of these patriarchs was a "prophet, a seer, and a revelator" as was also Noah's son Shem. Each held all the keys of the holy priesthood and each, except for Enoch and Lamech, became the presiding high priest on the earth. Each a righteous holy prophet and a valiant, faithful witness of Jesus Christ. During the age of the patriarchs the average length of a man's life was over 905 years. The 10 generations spanned 2006 years. Shem, the son of Noah, lived 610 years. However, following the flood and due to disobedience, apostasy, wickedness, and weakened heredity; a man's life span over the next 13 generations was greatly reduced. From the 12th to the 23rd generation, the average life span was only 250 years. Noah was a great patriarch who lived for 500 years before the flood and 450 years after the flood. Yes, Noah lived almost up to the time of Abraham even though Abraham was Noah's great (even 10 times great) grandson. Noah had three sons who were born and married before the flood. They were Shem, Japeth, and Ham. Japeth was the oldest but the birthright to the priesthood was given to Shem. Shem's descendants are known as the "Children of the Promise", Japeth's descendants are the "Children of Adoption" who would receive the blessings of the priesthood through Shem's posterity. Ham's descendants were known as the "Children of Rejection" because through disobedience and unfaithfulness they were denied the blessings of the priesthood until a later time. During the generations between Noah and Abraham, yet while Noah still lived, another event occurred that had a great effect on both Joseph and Asenath. As the descendents of Noah "multiplied and replenished" the earth, many of them rejected the teachings of Noah and Shem. Many ceased believing in Christ and refused to keep His commandments. They created gods of their own and began committing great evils. Filled with pride and vanity, they thought themselves greater than God. They commenced in building a tower that would be so tall that God could not destroy them with another flood. Oh the vanity of man! God simply "confused" their tongues. They no longer had a common language. They could no longer understand each other. They could no longer communicate. They divided into families, groups, and tribes; and scattered to the far regions of the earth. Abraham has revealed to us his great desire to obtain the "blessings of the fathers" because his ancestors had not been valiant in the testimony of Jesus. Asenath was a young girl descended from one of the sons of Shem, the Great High Priest and son of Noah. Her father was one of the Hyksop or Shepherd Kings/priests who held and honored the holy priesthood after the order of the Son of God. He worshiped the Celestial God and was the high priest of the city of On, a city of Shem, also known as the city of the Sun (Heliopolis in Greek). The non-Semitic majority of Egyptians believed Asenath's father Potipherah "worshiped the sun". Those Egyptians who worshiped cats, bats, alligators, sticks, stones, or the Pharaoh, could not comprehend the Celestial and Eternal God. Since the sun is a celestial (light bearing) sphere, the sun was a symbol that represented the Most High God. Most of these Hyksos or Shepherd Kings/priests had been taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ from their youth. They worshiped Him, they knew Him. Their ancestors had been faithful and diligent in keeping His commandments. They had retained the rights belonging to the fathers" and were rightful heirs of the "holy priesthood after the order of the Son of God." Asenath's father held the holy priesthood and blessed his family in righteousness. It is an important and interesting insight that four hundred years later Moses would flee Egypt and seek shelter among the descendants of one of these shepherd king/priests. Moses would marry one of their daughters (like Joseph) and receive the holy priesthood from his father-in-law. In the Bible, Asenath is mentioned only three times: Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potiepharah, priest of ...On... Genesis 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of the famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potiepharah priest of ... On bare unto him. Genesis 46:20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potiepharah priest of On bare unto him. One reason so little is known about Asenath is because the Bible is mainly a record of the house of Israel as recorded and preserved by the house of Judea or the Jews. Over the centuries and through many periods of apostasy they, and later, the Christian custodians of the Holy Scriptures have edited out or deleted many "plain and most precious" truths. This happened both during Old and New Testament times and ever since they crucified the Lord and Savior. The rabbinical and "Christian" record keepers have rationalized, distorted and deleted many precious truths and many beautiful and simple facts as they sought to justify their erroneous beliefs. The earliest and most persistent information concerning Asenath is found in the texts and tales found in the rabbinical Apocrypha. These texts try to rationalize how "an Egyptian of ignoble berth" became the matriarch of two of the twelve tribes of Israel. Why did her son Ephraim, who was "half Egyptian" by linage and also Egyptian by place of birth, and, also, the younger son, receive the blessing of the birthright tribe? Centuries after Asenath, Jews would accept the conversion of Ruth ("...thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God." [Ruth 1:16]) because Ruth was a Edomite, a descendant of Lot - the nephew of Abraham - and also because she had come to trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel and also because "all the city (of Bethlehem) doth know that thou are a virtuous woman." (Ruth 2:12 & 3:11) The rabbis from Joshua to more modern times have had a much harder time justifying, or even explaining, the supposed "conversion" of Asenath who they perceived as a gentile, a pagan, and an idolater. In the Jewish Apocrypha the rabbis raise the questions: "Why would an upstanding Jewish patriarch marry the daughter of a pagan priest, and how could it be justified? How could two of the eponymous tribes be descended from an outsider, otherwise prohibited by 'Jewish Law?'" (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Redirected from "Joseph and Asenath"]) Even within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is some confusion and lack of knowledge concerning Asenath. For example, in an article in the Ensign (Sept. 1980) titled "Joseph, Model of Excellence" the writer states: Joseph claimed Israel as his homeland, his wife, our grandmother, Asenath was not only Egyptian, but a daughter of an Egyptian priest. Ephraim and Manasseh, then, were both half-Egyptian. In the January 1981 Ensign a comment by a reader suggests: In his article entitled "Joseph, Model of Excellence" (Sept. 1980 p. 9) the author writes that Joseph's wife, Asenath, "was not only Egyptian, but a daughter of an Egyptian priest," thus conveying the idea that her two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were of "half-Egyptian" blood. If that were so, then both of them would have been of a linage which at that time "could not have the rights of Priesthood. (Abr. 1:27) Actually, the Pharaoh of Joseph's time was not Egyptian by blood, but was of the Hyksos, a nomadic people who swept into Egypt from the Arabian peninsula. The Hyksos were a Semitic people, which madethem distant reltives of Joseph and his family. Asenath was a descendant of these Semitic Hyksos, not the Egyptian. *(see note at end of paper) The Ensign Editor replies: The language used does permit confusion. Yes, Asenath was of the Semitic Hyksos people who were ruling Egypt in the days of Joseph. However, because they had conquered Egypt and were living there for a number of generations, it is also appropriate to identify them as Egyptians, just as it is possible to identify U.S. Citizens of Danish or German or English extraction as Americans. The author was discussing national homeland boundaries, nor (sic) racial origin or lineage. Yes, Asenath was an Egyptian and both of her sons were Egyptians because they were all born in Egypt. Asenath was not a Jew, nor was she a Hebrew (a descendant of Eber, a great grandson of Shem and ancestor of Abraham. Asenath was however, also a descendant of Shem, the Great High Priest and son of Noah. The oldest apocrypha record concerning Asenath dates back as far as 200B.C. This tale was first translated and published in English during the 1800's. Its first publication in America was in a condensed form in the Young Woman's Journal, a publication of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Later it was published in a more detailed account in Ten Women of Olden Days by Elder James H. Anderson. Both of these documents are found in the LDS Church History Library. *(see attachments) These ancient apocryphal myths and mystic accounts attempts to explain why the future patriarch of the birthright tribe marries a heathen, the daughter of a pagan priest. Why would such a union - forbidden by Jewish Law - reap a double blessing from God? Why would two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel emerge from this "forbidden" union? Why would "an upstanding Jewish patriarch marry the daughter of a pagan priest, and how could it be justifiable? How could two of the eponymous tribes be descended from a union with an outsider, otherwise prohibited by the Jewish Law?" (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Redirected from Joseph and Asenath]) *Did not "Jewish Law" begin to emerge some 400 years after Joseph and Asenath were married? They say Asenath, an idolatrous virgin, had rejected numerous princes and satraps including Pharaoh's firstborn son. She likewise rejected Joseph although he was the vicar or prime minister of all Egypt. She viewed him unworthy, a former prisoner, a slave who was sold, the son of a shepherd of unknown lineage and religion, and of a foreign culture and tongue. They say Asenath was likewise repulsed by Joseph. They say he believed her to be an idolatrous pagan of foreign gods and an amoral temptress. He wanted nothing to do with a strange woman who, he had been told, bowed down before deaf and dumb idols. There follows 29 chapters of strange, uncertain, mystical, and magical events that appear to have some sort of connection to initiation in mystery religions." One rabbi even suggests that Asenath was actually the daughter of Joseph's sister Dinah, conceived through her rape by Sachem. (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer [ed. Higger]) The name Asenath is now quite popular in modern day Israel and the Near East. The apocrypha tale of "Joseph and Asenath" is now accepted as "the living example of many people who converted to Judaism in ancient times." (Nehor Deah, Miketz/Joseph and Asenath) A quick check on the internet will reveal in excess of 1400 accounts and interpretations of the story, each adding to the mystic and mythical tale of those who are ever searching, but never coming to the truth. * * * * * The stories my mother told of Joseph and Asenath contained nothing of these mythical mysteries, but told the story of two virtuous and worthy gospel-taught individuals who were raised in isolation within an idolatress society. Both retained their virtue and innocence, both remained pure and true. Both resisted and rejected suits from worldly and unworthy partners. Both grew in faith and knowledge of their Lord and Savior, the Most High God, and both remained true to the faith their parents had given them in their youth. When they first met, Joseph did not want even the appearance of a relationship with one whom he had been told was an idolatress pagan princess, no matter how beautiful and fair and gracious she might be. Asenath wanted nothing to do with a former slave of unknown religion, linage, and heritage. In the book: TEN WOMEN OF OLDEN DAYS, the fifth chapter, "Asenath, Mother of the Birthright Tribe" begins: "Be of good cheer, Asenath, the virgin and Pure: Lo, the Lord have given thee today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridegroom forever." (Anderson, James H., TEN WOMEN OF OLDEN DAYS, p. 48; also in YOUNG WOMEN'S JOURNAL, "The Wife of Joseph", May 1927, p 315) Much like another Joseph (of Nazareth) and his espoused bride Mary, it would require a revelation to each of them, even an angelic visitor from God, to convince each of them of the worthiness of the other and of their eternal destiny. * * * * * ASENATH Fair and Faithful, Beloved and Beautiful, Chaste and Cherished, Daughter of God, Daughter of the Covenant, Wife of Joseph, Mother of Ephraim and Manasseh, Mother of the Birthright Tribe Ephraim, Our Grandmother. MAY WE SO HONOR AND LOVE HER, NOW AND FOREVER! Bernard M. Johnson 5336 S 3100 W Roy, Utah 84067 bernie.thrive@gmail.com 801 - 529-3902 completed 9/12/2010 (*note: Yes, Asenath was a distant relative of Joseph and his family. Since Asenath was not a Hebrew - a descendant of Eber - she was at least nine generations removed from Joseph. We do know both Asenath and Joseph were descendants of Shem, the son of Noah, who was 12 generations senior to Joseph.) ------------------------------------------------- TEN WOMEN OF THE OLDEN DAYS. Asenath, Mother of the Birthright Tribe. "Be of good cheer, Asenath, the virgin and pure: Lo, the Lord hath given thee today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridegroom forever. And no more henceforth-shalt thou be called Asenath, but thy name shall be City of Refuge; for that in thee many nations shall seek refuge, and they shall lodge under thy wings, and many nations shall find shelter by thy means, and upon thy walls they who cleave unto God Most High shall be kept secure." Such was the prophetic word that came to Asenath, mother of the sons of Joseph who had been sold into Egypt, and who received the birthright blessing. The Bible records that the "birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel" (I Chron. 5:1). "The birthright was Joseph's" says the Bible chroni- cler (v.2). It came to Ephraim and his descendants, for, in the blessing bestow-ed by the Patriarch Jacob, "he set Ephraim before Manasseh," who was the elder (Gen. 48:20). The Prophet Jeremiah asserts the same order: "For thus saith the Lord. I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born" (31:7,9). Asenath (meaning a favorite) is mentioned by that name but three times in the Bible, once at the marriage to Joseph who had become prime minister in Egypt, and twice as the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. The Jewish historian Josephus says of her that she was a person of "very high quality," and that she was "the daughter of Petephres, one of the priests of Heliopolis" (Antiq.II, 6:1) . Some writers have said that Asenath was the daughter of Potiphar, to whom Joseph was sold as a slave. But neither the Bible nor contemporary history justify this conclusion. The names are distinct, both in Hebrew and in English, and differ in spelling, pronunciation, and meaning. The calling of both men, as well as their residence, was far apart. The Bible (Gen. 39:1) says Potiphar was an "officer of Pharaoh," but that Asenath was "the daughter of Potipherah priest of On." The Egyptian capital which was the headquarters of the king or pharaoh and the city of On, or Heliopolis, were cities miles apart. There ate three syllables in Pot-i-phar, meaning "belonging to the sun," with accent on the first. The other name, po-tiph-e-rah, has four syllables with accent on the second, and means "not belonging to the sun," that is, not of the Egyptian ruling class. Josephus refers to "Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was chief cook to Pharaoh" (Antiq. II 4:11), as the one to whom Joseph had been said and whose wife made the difficulty that put Joseph into prison; but he names the father of Asenath as "Petephres, one of the priests of On;" while a Hellenistic-Jewish manuscript of not later than the second century A.D., now in the old British archives in the city of London, says "Asenath, daughter of Pentephres the priest." The English historian Bloxam, after thorough inquiry, says: "Asenath would, therefore, appear to have been a Shemite princess, not an Egyptian." M. H. Gayer, whose research goes back to the very ancient writings called "the Chinese Shu King" collected at the time of Confucius (500 B.C.) and composed of fragments of history "back to the time of Noah," says in his valuable and erudite book, "The Heritage of the Anglo-Saxon Race," that "according to canonical law, handed down from their father Abraham, Israel was forbidden to intermarry with the surrounding heathen nations. Joseph was scarcely the man to break such a law, nor that God would change the divine economy to permit the Birthright people to come of Egyptian stock."' To this agrees the Book of Abraham 1:27. Gayer further points out that the sons of Shem "eventually ruled as Priest-kings at Heliopolis, or On, the city of Shem. Quarrels broke out between the brothers. One founded a dynasty at Memphis; the other two went south and founded the dynasties of Coptos and Elephantine. These kings reigning simultaneously were the celebrated Hyksos or Shepherd Kings, all of Shemite descent, quite a different race from the native Egyptians. They worshiped one God, under the name Ra, or Osiris, or Shem, the names each applying to the same God. Their high priests were invariably princes of the blood royal; and Potipherah, the father of Asenath, must therefore have been a prince. The genealogy of Joseph's wife is both interesting and important, for she was the mother of Ephraim and Manasseh, the representative leaders of the whole Anglo-Saxon Race." The Bible says of Abraham's wife Sarah, "the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair" (Gen. 12:14). It also says of Isaac's wife Rebekah, "the damsel was very fair to look upon" (Gen. 24:16). Of Jacob's wife it records: "Rairl was beautiful and well favored" (Gen. 29:17). The English translation of the very ancient manuscript concerning Asenath describes her just before she met Joseph as "of eighteen years, tall and comely, and beautiful to behold. . . She bare no likeness to the daughters of the Egyptians, but was in all respects like the daughters of the Hebrews, being tall as Sarah, and comely as Rebekah, and beautiful as Rachel. The fame of her beauty spread abroad into all that land." Shall we ask whence comes the beauty, intellectual, physical, spiritual, of the daughters in this age of those women of ages past? Compared with any and every other race, are not latter-day Israel's mothers and daughters the fairest of the fair among the maidens of the twentieth century? "Not one of Flora's brilliant race A form more perfect can display: Art ceuld not feign more simple grace, Nor nature take a line away." And who shall say from all that has gone before and that now portrays itself that there was not in the Birthright tribe a divine purpose, "That man, where'er he walks, may see At every step, the stamp of God!" In history, two cities are known by the Greek name Heliopolis (city of the sun) as well as by other names. These are Baal-bec in what is now Syria, and the city of On, Egypt, also called Bethshemesh (house of the sun) in the Bible (Jer. 43:13). The Greek name was applied because of the people of Shem who were sunworshipers. Asenath's parents were Semites and sunworshippers; so was Asenath in her youth, and a devout one, too. Her story is chiefly in the ancient Hellenistic-Jewish manuscript named, which copy is the oldest and freest from possible interpolations. It has been published in England, but its first publication in America, in condensed form, was in the Young Woman's Journal of May, 1927, to which reference may be made. The title inscribed on this old manuscript is "Joseph and Asenativ--the Confession and Prayer of Asenath, Daughter of pentephres the Priest." Asenath's mother's name is given as Dinah. In addition to the personal description of Asenath quoted, this reoord says she was exceedingly fair beyond every virgin in the city where she dwelt, and that "all the sons of the princes and the satraps desired to woo her, nay and the sons of kings also, all young men and mighty, including Pharaoh's first born son. And there was great strife among them because of her, and they essayed to fight against one another." In this state of affairs she was like the comely sensible eighteen-year-old girl of today, among latter-day Israel; "she set at naught and scorned every man." She was devout and cheerful in worship. In conformity with the custom of her people, with her seven virgins at stated times she shut herself up in the second story of the building adjoining her father's palace, where "gods of the Egyptians, whereof was no number, gold and silver, were fixed, and all these Asenath worshiped, and she feared them, and she performed sacrifices to them every day." It was the worship followed by Torah, Laban and numbers of her race at that time. Joseph now appears upon the scene. It was the first year of the seven years of plenty. He came to the city of On. He was not popular among the people at that time, as he was exacting a heavy tax. His Lord God was recognized as not on the list of Egyptian gods, and few people had use for this new tyrant. But he had the favor of Pharaoh, and the leaders among the people recognized it. When nearing On, he sent notice to Asenath's father that he would lodge with him. It was a great honor to Potipherah, who responded, "Blessed be the Lord God of Joseph, because my lord Joseph hath thought me worthy." He was not praising the god of Pharaoh. Potipherah prepared a great banquet, as was seemly. He was proud of his beautiful daughter, and would have her near the guest of honor at the banquet, for her advancement as well as his own. He bade her hasten "to her chamber where her robes lay, and put on a fine linen robe made of crimson stuff and interwoven with gold." Surely, if the kings and princes and nobles of the land were enraptured with her, this great man Joseph, who then was without a wife, would be, thought the father. He saw for his lovely child the highest honor that could come to her in the greatest and most powerful nation of that age. When Asenath presented herself, her father, delighted with her appearance, spoke lovingly: "Dearest child! Lo, Joseph, the mighty one of God, cometh to us today. This man is the ruler of all the land of Egypt. He worshipeth God, and is discreet, and a virgin as thou art today, and a man mighty in wisdom and knowledge, and the spirit of the Lord is upon him, and the grace of the Lord is with him, Come, dearest child, and I will give thee over to him to wife, and thou shalt be to him for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridegroom forever." Already the mantle of his knowledge of Abraham, in history, and of the worship of the true God, was becoming a halo to that father, who was of the same family line from Ncah as were Joseph and his kindred. Asenath yet was imbued with the worship of Egyptian gods. She had no liking for this man of another God. She had no wish to be the bride of one whose ancestry was no higher than sprang from a shepherd from the land of Canaan. She would wed in her own class - that of royal blood. She stormed! In forceful language she defied her father; "Wishest thou to give me over as a captive to an alien and a fugitive, and one that hath been sold?" How those bitter words pierced the heart of the ambitious and loving parent! Asenath went on: "Is not this the son of the shepherd from the land of Canaan? Nay, but I will be married to the king's firstborn son, for he himself is king of all the land." Think not that in that earlier day woman was mere chattels! This was her challenge: She would give up neither her idolatry nor her social ambition to become "a captive to an alien and a fugitive!" The interview was out short by the appearance of a young servant with the announcements "Lo, Joseph atandeth before the door of our court." Asenath turned and "fled from the face of her parents and went up into the loft (her worship room), and stood at the great window looking east to see Joseph coming into her father's house." Her father was signally defeated. Yet, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." The supreme and all-wise Father knows how to reach the heart of His daughters who are devout and sincere, as was Asenath. Joseph came in the gorgeous "second chariot" of Pharaoh; he was arrayed "in vestures of fine linen," with all the badges of royal approval and power (Gen. 41:41-44). It was a magnificent entourage--a wonderful scene of oriental splendor. Asenath looked. Gently she pushed the curtain farther aside, to get a better view. She saw her father's household make obeisance to the man whom she had despised, and, to her mind, lost. This beautiful young woman, impulsive and courageous, also was pure, and good, and great. She truly loved God, though she did not then know Him as afterwards she came to know. He had reached her inmost soul. The magnificent cavalcade, with all its rich trappings, was as nothing to her. To Asenath there was only this wonderful young man, then about thirty years of age, "of admirable virtue and presence divine," as the chronicler relates. She burst into tears, and fell to her knees, in anguish and prayer. Those on the ground below caught a glimpse of her at the window. But as for her, in grief and remorse her heart was touched by a love which she had never before known. She mourned and prayed: "Alas, me miserable: Where now shall I, the wretched one, go away? Or where shall I be hidden from his face? Or how shall Joseph the son of God see me? For that I have spoken evil things about him. And how may the God of Joseph be gracious to me, because in ignorance I have spoken wicked words against him? Now he hath come to us as the sun from heaven, and he entereth our house today and he shineth unto it like light upon the earth. But I am foolish and bold because I spurned him and spoke evil words about him, and did not know that Joseph is a son of God. For who among men will ever beget such beauty, or what woman will give birth to such light? Now, therefore, let my father give me to Joseph for a handmaiden and a bondwoman rather, and I will be in bondage to him forever!" Who will say that without the scene of anger with her father this greater result could have been attained? Her idolatry was wholly swept away! She was a fully converted believer in and worshiper of the God of Joseph, the true and living God; in her extremity He had accomplished what man could not do. Joseph now had something to say. When a boy, his father had placed upon his sons the injunction to "keep yourselves from strange women." As he entered the palace of the priest, he glanced up and saw Asenath kneeling at the window, quickly he gave the peremptory command, "Let that woman depart from this house," The father had to explain, right there, for his child's sake; "Nay," said he, "she is my daughter, a virgin hating every man, and she is thy sister." The explanation satisfied; it was an oriental custom for the host to refer to his daughter as the sister of the guest. Joseph's tone was changed. "If she is your daughter and a virgin," said he, "let her come, for that she is my sister, and I love her today as my sister." The mother of Asenath went upstairs immediately and brought her daughter. She introduced her to Joseph, and said, "As thy brother, he also is a virgin as thou today, and hateth every strange woman, even as thou hateth every strange man." Pale and trembling from her recent experience and the excitement, yet more beautiful than ever, Asenath greeted Joseph graciously, "Hail, lord, blessed of God Most High," With a benign smile Joseph responded, "God who quickeneth all things shall bless the damsel." Against her efforts to appear calm, tears streamed down her cheeks. The chronicler goes on, "and Joseph, when he saw her weeping, pitied her exceedingly, for that he was mild and merciful, and one who feared the Lord. He lifted up his right hand above her head and blessed her, saying, Lord God of my father Israel, the Most High and the Mighty God, bless Thou this virgin also, and number her with Thy people whom Thou choosest before all things were made, and let her enter into Thy rest forever." Who will visualize that scene in its divinely solemn aspect as it touches her daughters of today? And the blessing prayed for, "let her enter into Thy rest forever"-- the rest of the Almighty One, "which rest is the fulness of His glory" (Doc. & Cov, 84:24). Joseph departed from the city; but for Asenath the curtain did not fall. She retired to her room, and wept over her unworthiness and past idolatry. The chronicler relates: "She took all her gods that were in her chamber, the gods of gold and silver whereof there was no number, and brake them up into fragments and cast them through the window to poor men and beggars. And again, Asenath took her royal dinner and the fatlings and the fish, and the heifer's flesh, and all the sacrifices to her gods and the vessels of the wine of libation, and cast them all through the window that looked north, as food for the dogs; and she took molecloth and girded her loins and sprinkled ashes on her head. This Asenath did for seven days, not tasting aught whatever." Her conversion was perfect. No sympathy came from her family. She was to them just a foolish girl, who had thrown away her best opportunity in life, and now was rejecting the religious teachings they had given her. Her father and mother declared, "Asenath is not our daughter;" and all her relatives came to hate her because she had destroyed their gods. She.gave herself over to earnest prayer, in which "she cast herself unreservedly upon the God of the Hebrews," whom she declared she "knew to be a true God, and a loving God, and a merciful God, and pitiful and long-suffering." She also declared her love for Joseph, and prayed, "Keep him safe in the wisdom of Thy grace, and commit me to him for a handmaid and a bondwoman that I may wash his feet and make his bed, and minister to him and serve him, and I will be a bondwoman to him for the times of my life." Joseph was a dreamer, in the inspirational sense (Gen. 37:5-11). He also was an interpreter of inspirational dreams (Gen. 40:5-19; 41:15-32), as all Egypt knew, and as the record is preserved to the world to this day. It was now Asenath's turn to experience a remarkable dream. In it an angel appeared, as the chronicler relates it, saying to her, "Asenath, I am Michael, the chief captain of the Lord, commander of the host of the Most High. Stand upon thy feet, that I may speak to thee my words." (See Doc. & Cov. 88:112,115; 107:54; Dan.12:1; Rev. 12:7.) She said that this messenger was "like unto Joseph, save that his face was as lightning, and his eyes as the light of the sun, and the hair of his head as of the flame of a burning torch, and his hands and feet like iron shining from fire." What a reminder is this description of a still more glorious appearing of the Just One in this age (Doc. & Cov.110:1,2): Read again the message in that dream, and note its fulfilment to many nations through the descendants of Joseph and Asenath in this age and for centuries past: "Be of good cheer, Asenath, the virgin and pure: Lo, the Lord hath given thee today to Joseph for a bride, and he himself shall be thy bridegroom forever. And no more henceforth.shalt thou be called Asenath, but thy name shall be City of Refuge; for that in thee many nations shall seek refuge, and they shall lodge under thy wings, and many nations shall find shelter by thy means, and upon thy walls they who cleave unto God Most High shall be kept secure." There was one besides Asenath who had not forgotten the introduction of Potipherah's daughter to Egypt's premier, and that was Joseph himself. He came again, this time for a purpose differing from that of the first visit. The messenger in the dream had said "today," not a distant date. When Asenath arose in the morning after her dream, and presented herself to the household, the chronicler says "her face shone with a great and comely beauty;" and well it might with such a joy. Scarcely had she entered the room when a servant announced, "Joseph standeth before the doors of the court." Upon his admittance and formal greetings, the chronicler goes on: "Joseph stretched out his hands and embraced and kissed Asenath, and Asenath Joseph, and they became affianced bride and bridegroom. Joseph said, Let one of the virgins come and wash my feet (the custom in that age), but Asenath replied, Nay, my lord, for that henceforth thou art my lord, and I am thy handmaid; thy feet are my feet, and thine hands my hands, and thy soul my soul, and another shall not wash thy feet." Truly it was a sublime betrothal of the parents of the Birthright tribe in Israel! Potipherah asked the privilege of giving his daughter to Joseph in marriage, but Joseph deemed it wisdom to have a royal betrothal in the Egyptian capital, so all the nation should know, and replied, "I go tomorrow to Pharaoh the king, for that he himself is my father (official superior), and appointed me ruler over all this land. I will speak unto him concerning Asenath, and he will give her unto me to be my wife. So her father said, Go in peace." It was as Joseph said; and as to the time of the marriage ceremony the Bible (Gen. 41:45) makes this record: "And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah" (which in Coptic signifies a Revealer of secrets, or The man to whom secrets are revealed), "and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." The romance may have reached a culmination, but the history is not at an end. To Joseph and Asenath during the remaining years of plenty, and before the seven years of famine were entered upon (Antiq.II, 6:1), there were born two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph's brother Benjamin was about twenty years younger than Joseph. The latter was a slave in the household of Potiphar when Benjamin was born. In the second year of the famine Benjamin would be about nineteen years of age, and Manasseh and Ephraim six and four years respectively. Jacob said of these "they shall be mine," and of the other children of Joseph and Asenath "they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance" (Gen. 48: 5,6). Nor can Joseph's brother Judah, fourth son of Leah, be overlooked at this time. Judah had gained the "sceptre" of temporal rule when he "prevailed above his brethren" (I Chron. 5:l) by saving Joseph from death by effecting his sale to the Ishmaelites (Gen. 37:27,28). In the distress of Joseph's brethren in Egypt, Benjamin was held because of the golden cup, and Judah again intervened. To rescue Benjamin from what he supposed might be death, it is related by the historian Josephus (Antiq. II, 7:9) that Judah pleaded with Joseph: "If, theretore, thou resolvest to slay him (Benjamin), I desire thou wilt slay me in his stead, and send him back to his father; or, if thou pleasest to retain him with thee as a slave, I am fitter to labor for thy advantage in that capacity, and, as thou seest am better prepared for either of those sufferings." In this Judah again "prevailed above his brethren" and maintained his right to the sceptre "until Shiloh come" (Gen. 49:10). When Asenath saw Jacob upon the arrival of himself and family from Canaan, she "marvelled and fell down, and made obeisance on her face to the earth. Soon after this, as related in the ancient document quoted, the son of Pharaoh engaged in a plot to kill Joseph and seize Asenath. He had been disappointed in not gaining her for his wife, and now was determined to secure her in another way. When Joseph was absent, her house was assailed by the prince and his co-conspirators, and Asenath and her children were in dire straits. Joseph's younger brother Benjamin was abiding with the family of Joseph. The chronicler describes him as "a strong lad of about nineteen years, and upon him was ineffable beauty and might as of a lion's whelp, and he also was one who feared God exceedingly." Benjamin engaged in a desperate battle with the would-be abductors and murderers, and was about overcome when he managed to hurl a stone at Pharaoh's son, wounding that prince severely in the head. At this mishap to their leader, the marauders withdrew, and later the prince's co-conspirators were put to death by Pharaoh, for having led his son into trouble. For forty-eight years Joseph "reigned alone in Egypt," and he and Asenath lived happily together, "glorifying and praising God." Now, of the Birthright tribe, Ephraim. As the father of Ephraim and Manasseh saved Israel from the famine by his work in the seven years of plenty, so the "firstborn son" Ephraim had a destiny of saving before him in his progeny. The property succession was not transferred from Manasseh; hence Lehi, a "descendant of Manasseh" (Alma 10:3) took and held possession of the additional land area promised to Joseph (Gen. 49:26), America, the "land of promise." But to Ephraim, in the latter days, is culminating the birthright blessing of salvation to the nations. In seven years, from May 15, 1829 (Doc. & Cov. Sec. 13), to April 3, 1836 (Doc.& Cov.110:11-16), "the keys of this dispensation" were committed to Ephraim. Of his brethren it is said "they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, My servants" (Doc. & Cov.133:30); and they shall "be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephrata. .....Behold this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows" (Doc. & Cov. 133:32,34)". Truly, a wonderful blessing: And a wonderful woman is this Mother of Israel's Birthright tribe for its special tribal calling in the earth today. "Come, 0 thou house of Jacob, come, To worship at His shrine, And, walking in the light of God, with other beauties shine."