wife, still in love, visits him in prison. As in the Bible, in prison he
prophetically interprets the dreams of two fellow convicts. When one is
released, he asks that he remind their master of his fate. The released
prisoner forgets him until the king needs dream interpretation. Joseph
interprets the dream correctly and thereby saves Egypt from famine. His
previous suffering is undone: he comes to power and his brothers bow
before him. In the Talmudic narration and commentary, Joseph marries
his master’s daughter.^7 In some post-Quranic renditions, the wife repents,
eventually marries Joseph, and they have children.
The Quranic story appears abridged in comparison with the Talmudic/
biblical one. The dreams of Joseph and his rule over Egypt, central to the
Jewish theme of deliverance, are synoptic. The retelling emphasizes the
incomprehensibility of the wisdom of God to man:“God always prevails in
his purpose, though most people do not realize it”(Q12:2).^8 The Quranic
version focuses more on the seduction than earlier sources, clearly indicat-
ing his shared temptation:
The woman in whose house he was living tried to seduce him: she bolted the doors
and said,“Come to me,”and he replied,“God forbid! My master has been good to
me; wrongdoers never prosper.”She made for him, and he would have succumbed
to her if he had not seen evidence of his Lord–We did this in order to keep evil and
indecency away from him, for he was truly one of Our chosen servants. (Q12:23–
24)^9
In contrast, earlier renditions of this story contrast her lust with his purity.
The second-century BCETestament of Josephdepicts the wife as consumed
by evil lust and frenzy.^10 Thefirst-century BCEBook of Jubileesand the
first-century CEPhiloset masculine virtue against feminine vice to juxta-
pose Hebrew virtue with foreign dissipation. The Genesis Rabbah huma-
nizes the sexual desires of the wife, but also compares her behavior to the
harlot in Proverbs 7:6–20.^11
Despite some sympathetic readings foreshadowing the Quranic text, the
Bereshit/Genesis that became canonical among Christians emphasizes the
theme of vice.
And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon
Joseph; and she said:“Lie with me.”(^7) According to one Jewish commentary, one of the reasons that the wife is so besotted with
Joseph is her misinterpretation of an astrological prophecy that she would have descendants
through Joseph. Ginzberg, 1946 : 44.
(^8) Abdel-Haleem, 2004 : 144. (^9) Abdel-Haleem, 2004 : 146. (^10) Gur-Klein, 2001.
(^11) Levinson, 1997 : 272.
226 The Transgressive Image