50 Fun Facts About Joseph (Son of Jacob)

Which gift from Jacob did Joseph's jealous brothers later dip in goat's blood and carry home?

A coat of many colors marked Joseph as the favorite, so his brothers stripped it off him before selling him and used it to convince Jacob that he was dead.

For how many pieces of silver did Joseph's brothers sell him to traders heading for Egypt?

At 20 pieces of silver the sale was a compromise: one brother argued there was no profit in killing Joseph when they could sell him instead.

In the dream Joseph explained for Pharaoh, which seven fat creatures were eaten by seven thin ones?

Cows came first, then a second dream repeated the warning with heads of grain, and Joseph said the doubling meant God had settled the matter and would act soon.

In Joseph's second dream, what bowed down to him alongside the sun and the moon?

Eleven stars bowed in the dream, and this time even Jacob scolded Joseph, asking whether his father, mother and brothers were really going to kneel before him.

When his brothers first came to Egypt to buy grain, what did Joseph accuse them of being?

Spies was the charge, and Joseph used it to test them: he kept one brother in custody and demanded they come back with the youngest to prove their story.

Which leader carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt, keeping a promise made generations earlier?

Moses took the bones along at the Exodus because a dying Joseph had made his family swear not to leave his remains behind in Egypt.

Which composer turned Joseph's story into a pop cantata for a London school with lyricist Tim Rice?

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote it as a 15-minute piece for a school choir, and it grew into a full-length musical that reached the West End and Broadway.

After walking free from prison, how did Pharaoh's cupbearer repay Joseph's request to be remembered?

Forgot him is the Bible's blunt verdict, though Joseph had asked only to be mentioned to Pharaoh; the cupbearer's memory came back when the king had dreams no one could explain.

Where did Joseph's brothers throw him while they sat down to eat and decided his fate?

Into an empty pit they threw him, a hole with no water in it, and while he was down there a caravan bound for Egypt came into view.

Which symbol of authority did Pharaoh hand Joseph along with fine linen robes and a gold chain?

His signet ring came off Pharaoh's own hand, and with it Joseph, hurried out of a dungeon earlier that day, was set over all the land of Egypt.

Which wife of Jacob, long unable to have children, finally became the mother of Joseph?

Rachel was the wife Jacob loved most, which helps explain why her firstborn became his favorite; she later died bringing her second son into the world.

By what other name, given after a night of wrestling, does Genesis call Joseph's father Jacob?

Israel is the name the Joseph story keeps switching to for Jacob, and it passed from him to the nation descended from his twelve sons.

According to Genesis, why did Jacob love Joseph more than all his other children?

Born in his old age is the reason Genesis gives, and Jacob's open favoritism left the other brothers unable to speak a friendly word to Joseph.

What did the teenage Joseph bring home to Jacob after tending the flocks with his brothers?

A bad report about his brothers is the first thing Joseph does in the story, so the family tension was simmering before any special gift or dream arrived.

In Joseph's first dream, what belonging to his brothers gathered around and bowed to his own?

Their sheaves bowed to his in the field, and the brothers got the point at once, asking whether he really meant to reign over them.

What did Joseph's brothers lead Jacob to believe had killed his favorite son?

A wild animal was the cover story the brothers agreed on before Joseph even reached them, and Jacob supplied it himself when he saw the blood.

Which eldest brother talked the others out of killing Joseph, secretly planning to bring him home?

Reuben meant to rescue Joseph later, but the sale went ahead without him, and he tore his clothes in grief when he came back and found his brother gone.

Which brother proposed selling Joseph and later offered himself as a slave to spare the youngest?

Judah made both speeches, and the second, a plea to stay behind so that their father would not lose another son, moved Joseph to tears and to reveal who he was.

Which traders, their camels loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, bought Joseph from his brothers?

Ishmaelites on the road from Gilead to Egypt made the purchase, and Genesis also calls the merchants Midianites in the same breath.

What did Jacob put on around his waist while mourning Joseph for many days?

Sackcloth was the rough fabric of grief, and Jacob refused every attempt at comfort, saying he would go down to the grave still mourning his son.

Which post did Potiphar, the Egyptian who bought Joseph, hold in Pharaoh's service?

Captain of the guard meant the royal prison stood in Potiphar's own house, the very place where Joseph would later be locked up.

What did Potiphar place in Joseph's hands after seeing that everything he did prospered?

His entire household ran so smoothly under Joseph that Potiphar stopped thinking about anything except the food on his own plate.

What reason did Joseph give Potiphar's wife for refusing her advances day after day?

It was a sin against God, Joseph told her, and a betrayal of the master who had trusted him, and she kept pressing him day after day until he fled.

What did Potiphar's wife hold on to as false proof that Joseph had attacked her?

His cloak stayed in her grip when Joseph ran from the house, and she kept it beside her until her husband came home to hear her version.

Which fruit did Pharaoh's cupbearer dream of pressing, a dream Joseph read as a promise of freedom?

Grapes grew on a vine with three branches in the dream, and Joseph read the branches as three days until the cupbearer would be serving Pharaoh again.

In the dream Joseph read for Pharaoh's baker, which creatures ate from the baskets on his head?

Birds pecking at the bread were the bad omen, and Joseph had to tell the baker that within three days Pharaoh would have him hanged.

On what occasion did Pharaoh free his cupbearer and hang his baker, just as Joseph had foretold?

His own birthday feast, held on the third day after the dreams, is where Pharaoh dealt with both men in front of all his servants.

What did Joseph do, besides changing his clothes, before being rushed from the dungeon to Pharaoh?

Shaved and freshly dressed, Joseph went straight from the dungeon to the court, where he told Pharaoh the power to explain dreams was God's, not his.

Joseph told Pharaoh that the seven good heads of grain in his dream stood for seven what?

Years of plenty would give way to a famine so severe that the good times would be forgotten, Joseph warned, and he advised storing food while the harvests lasted.

Which Egyptian woman did Pharaoh give Joseph as a wife, later the mother of his two sons?

Asenath was the daughter of Potiphera of On, and Pharaoh arranged the marriage in the same breath as he gave Joseph a new Egyptian name.

Which brother did Joseph have tied up and held in Egypt until the others returned with the youngest?

Simeon was bound before their eyes, and he stayed a prisoner until the brothers came back on their second trip and the steward brought him out to them.

Why did Joseph's brothers speak freely in front of him in Egypt, unaware that he understood them?

He used an interpreter to keep up the act of a foreign governor, so the brothers openly confessed their guilt over him, and he had to turn away to weep.

Which brother shared both parents with Joseph and got five times more food at his table?

Benjamin was the only brother who shared Joseph's mother, and the sight of him sent Joseph hurrying to a private room to weep before the meal.

What astonished Joseph's brothers about how they were seated at his table in Egypt?

In birth order, firstborn to youngest, is how the brothers found themselves placed, an arrangement no stranger should have known, and they looked at one another in amazement.

What silver object did Joseph have hidden in his youngest brother's grain sack as a final test?

A drinking cup, which the steward said his master also used for divination, turned up in the sack and gave Joseph grounds to keep the boy as a slave.

After finally telling his brothers who he was, what did Joseph immediately ask them?

Whether his father was alive was the first thing Joseph asked, in the same breath as naming himself, and his brothers were too terrified to answer.

In which part of Egypt did Joseph settle Jacob's family and their flocks during the famine?

Goshen kept the family close to Joseph, and he drove out there in his chariot to meet Jacob, weeping on his father's neck for a long time.

What sight finally revived Jacob's spirit when he would not believe that Joseph was ruling Egypt?

A convoy of wagons was the proof: Jacob's heart went numb at the news, but once he saw them he said it was enough and that he would go and see his son before he died.

What parting advice did Joseph give his brothers as they set off to fetch Jacob from Canaan?

Not to quarrel on the way was a shrewd send-off for men heading home loaded with gifts and a long-kept secret about their brother.

Which occupation, detested by Egyptians, did Joseph coach his brothers to admit to before Pharaoh?

Shepherds were shunned by Egyptians, and Joseph turned that to his family's advantage: the answer won them a district of their own with pasture for their flocks.

Whose land did Joseph leave untouched when he bought up Egypt's fields for Pharaoh in the famine?

The priests kept their land because Pharaoh already gave them a food allowance, so they never had to sell; everyone else ended up handing a fifth of each harvest to the crown.

Which younger son of Joseph did Jacob bless ahead of his firstborn brother Manasseh?

Ephraim's descendants would be the greater people, Jacob insisted when Joseph protested, and he adopted both grandsons as his own sons.

What did the nearly blind Jacob do with his hands while blessing Joseph's two sons?

Crossed them is what he did on purpose, so that his right hand rested on the younger boy; when Joseph objected, Jacob refused and said he knew what he was doing.

Near which town did Joseph catch up with his brothers and their flocks, only to be seized?

Dothan was a second stop: Joseph first went where his father had sent him, found no one, and was redirected by a stranger who had overheard the brothers' plans.

What purpose did Joseph tell his frightened brothers God had in letting them sell him?

To save many lives was the good Joseph saw in it; the brothers, fearing revenge once Jacob was dead, had fallen down before him and offered to be his slaves.

In which town were Joseph's bones finally buried, on land Jacob had once bought?

Shechem received the bones after the long journey out of Egypt, and the plot became part of the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.

By what Arabic name does the Quran know Joseph, devoting a whole chapter to his story?

Yusuf is honored as a prophet in Islam, and the Quran tells his life in full and in order within that one chapter, while other prophets' stories are scattered across several.

Which Egyptian name did Pharaoh give Joseph when he put him in charge of the whole land?

Zaphenath-Paneah was part of a complete Egyptian makeover: new clothes, a wife from a leading family and a ride in Pharaoh's second chariot.

Where in Canaan did Joseph and his brothers bury Jacob, on land Abraham had bought?

The cave of Machpelah already held Abraham and Isaac, and a dying Jacob made Joseph swear an oath not to leave him buried in Egypt.

Which German novelist retold Genesis at epic length in the four-part Joseph and His Brothers?

Thomas Mann worked on the four novels for sixteen years, and he placed Joseph in the Egypt of the Amarna period, the age of the pharaoh Akhenaten.