If Joseph was such an important figure in Egypt, why is there no mention of him in Egyptian history?

Possibility No 1

Maybe there is.

The movie “The Mummy” followed a tale of Imhotep, the chancellor to the Egyptian Pharaoh Djoser, who comes back to life, to terrify those entering the pyramids.

 

 

Imhotep was a real chancellor and second in charge to Pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep’s legend bears a striking resemblance to the Bible Joseph. They were both commoners who rose to second in command by conquering a seven year famine through interpretation of dreams from God. Both married into Egyptian ‘royalty’.

Pharaoh Djoser

Djoser, was the second king of the 3rd dynasty (c. 2650–c. 2575 BC) of ancient Egypt, who undertook the construction of the earliest important stone building in Egypt. His reign, which probably lasted about 19 years, was marked by great technological innovation in the use of stone architecture. He died 2649 BC or 2611 BC (uncertain). This image is from his ‘step pyramid’, the first pyramid ever built in Egypt.  Djoser’s step pyramid

This painted limestone statue of Djoser, is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue.

 

 

Statue of Djoser

 

This great respect he commanded is most notably expressed in this famous Step Pyramid. Originally, the Pyramid grew under the guidance and design of Imhotep to become the tallest structure of its time and a tourist attraction which drew people from all parts of the land.

Once he assumed the throne, he almost instantly began commissioning his building projects. He ruled during an age of advances in civilization on the Nile such as the construction of architectural monuments, agricultural developments, trade, and the rise of the cities. Although not new, under Djoser’s reign cities became more numerous and the architecture more ornate. Djoser’s pyramid complex alone is the best example. Ornamentation was taken to a much higher level and symbols used to remind people of the blessings of the gods.

The Famine Stele

The Famine Stele is an inscription from the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332-30 BCE), over 2000 years after Djoser’s rule, which tells the story of how the king saved his country. Boldface highlights parallels to the Joseph story. A shortage of the Nile flood in 2,700 BC led to a seven-year famine, leaving Egypt in a state of extreme distress.                                                                                      The Famine Stele

The king was perplexed as grains were insufficient,  seeds dried up, people robbed each other, and temples and shrines closed. Looking for an end to his people’s suffering, the king consulted his architect and prime minister, Imhotep, commanding him to dig for a solution in the old sacred texts. Obeying the king’s order, Imhotep headed to a temple where he discovered the solution. He visited the Temple of Khnum and saw the granite, precious stones, minerals, and building stones in disrepair. Khnum, the god of fertility, was believed to have created mankind from clay. On the day following his meeting with Imhotep, the god Khnum, came to the king in his dream, promising to end the famine and to allow the Nile to flow again if Djoser restores the temple of Khnum. Consequently, Djoser executed Khnum’s wishes. Once the new temple of Khnum was completed after 7 years, the famine ended. Djoser and Imhotep were hailed as heroes.

The modern-day ruins of the Khnum Temple date from Djoser’s reign and so the Famine Stele has been accepted by some as history but interpreted by others as legend. As the stone dates from over 2,000 years after Djoser’s reign, the actual significance of the inscription lies in how Djoser was remembered by his people; whether the event actually happened as described or not. The Famine Stele attests to the honor and high esteem with which Djoser was regarded thousands of years after his reign.

Imhotep

Imhotep was commissioned to build the King’s pyramid. In Djoser’s time, Imhotep was of such importance and fame that he was honoured by being mentioned on statues of king Djoser in his necropolis. Djoser was so impressed with the resulting pyramid that he allowed Imhotep’s name to be inscribed within the tomb—something incredibly rare in Egyptian history.

Many years after his death, he was considered to be high priest of the sun god Ra. Very little is known of Imhotep as a historical figure, but in the 2,000 years following his death, he was gradually glorified and then deified.      Statue of Imhotep in the Louvre

Traditions from long after Imhotep’s death treated him as a great author of wisdom texts and especially as a physician. No text from his lifetime mentions these capacities and no text mentions his name in the first 1,200 years following his death. Apart from the three short contemporary inscriptions that establish him as chancellor to the Pharaoh, the first text to reference Imhotep dates 1000 years after his life, and addressed to the owner of a tomb, and reads: “The wab-priest may give offerings to your ka. The wab-priests may stretch to you their arms with libations on the soil, as it is done for Imhotep with the remains of the water bowl.” It appears that this libation to Imhotep was done regularly, as attested on papyri associated with statues of Imhotep until about 664–332 BC.

It seems there was a slow evolution of the memory of Imhotep among intellectuals from his death onward. This cult is so distinct from the offerings usually made to commoners that the epithet of “demi-god” is likely justified to describe the way Imhotep was venerated well after his time.

The first references to the healing abilities of Imhotep occur some 2,200 years after his death.

Imhotep is among the few non-royal Egyptians who were deified after their death. The location of his tomb remains unknown, despite efforts to find it. Secondary evidence also suggests that Imhotep was an accomplished physician. Mythology of later centuries considered Imhotep a god or demigod of medicine.

As stated, legend also connects Imhotep to Egypt’s rescue from a seven-year famine. Inscriptions, carved many centuries later during the reign of Ptolemy, credit Imhotep with ending a long drought connected to the lack of flooding of the Nile River. Imhotep’s deliverance of Egypt involved his interpreting a dream from one of the Egyptian gods and counseling the Pharaoh on the best way to make amends with the offended deity.

Was Imhotep the Bible Joseph?

We come back to our original question, why is there no monument to Joseph?

The location of Imhotep’s self-constructed tomb remains unknown, despite efforts to find it.

Why?   [Gen 50:25.  And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”   ²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.“    Exodus 13:19  Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”]

Is this why Imhotep’s tomb remains a mystery?

After Imhotep’s death, others copied his wise sayings and took credit for them. As these sayings were passed down through several generations, instead of being attributed to Imhotep, they were attributed to Ptahotep, “the voice of” the Egyptian creator, “Ptah”. Thousands of years later, several papyruses are found which purport to be copies of “The Instruction of Ptahotep”.

At the end of these manuscripts, the writer states that he is near death, having lived 110 years and that he received honors from the king exceeding those of the ancestors, in other words, he received the most honors ever given a man by a pharaoh. And we know that Joseph died at the age of 110 years.

Joseph	Imhotep
Second in command to Pharaoh [Genesis 41:39-40]	Second in command to Pharaoh Djoser
Began as a commoner (slave)	Began as a commoner
Lived to be 110 years old. [Gen 50:26]	Lived to be 110 years old.
Great architect and builder [Gen 41:56 storehouses]	Great architect and builder
Seven years of famine – fed the people	Seven years of famine – fed the people
Interpreter of the Kings dreams	Interpreter of the Kings dreams
The King consults Joseph over the famine [Gen 41:33-35]	The King consults Imhotep over the famine
Joseph takes control [Gen 41:41-43]	Imhotep takes control
Noted for wisdom [Gen 41]	Noted for wisdom
Zaphnath-paaneah (savior of our age) physician servants [Gen 50:2]	Was a physician
Married into the priesthood of On [Gen 41:45]	Married into the priesthood of On
Knowledge of astrology [Gen 44:5]	Knowledge of astrology
Became an educated man	Became an educated man and medical writer
Overseers of works	Overseers of works
Tomb site unknown [Gen 50:26 – body taken to Canaan, not his tomb]	Tomb site unknown

While history describes Imhotep as a deeply religious man, his devotion was not to the God of Israel, but to Ptah, one of many Egyptian deities. However, no details of Imhotep’s life are recorder until some 2000 years after his death. His worship of Yah may well have been substituted for an Egyptian God Ptah over that time.

The Bible does not mention Joseph’s involvement in architecture, particularly not of a tomb for the Pharaoh, though this does not necessarily mean he had no such duties.

The connection between Imhotep and Joseph, in the seven-year famine is stronger. Imhotep cured the drought by improving the worship of a particular Egyptian deity; Joseph used his God connection to prepare the people for a long famine. But again, 2000 years of folk tale telling may have changed this to support Egyptian deities.

Biggest difficulty: Imhotep and Djoser lived somewhere around. 2650–c. 2575 BC. Joseph lived about 1850 BC. How can we account for this?

However, a new timeline has recently been established:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23947820

Previous records suggested the pre-Dynastic period, a time when early groups began to settle along the Nile and farm the land, began in 4000BC. But the new analysis revealed this process started later, between 3700 or 3600BC. The Palermo Stone is inscribed with the names of early Egyptian kings. The team found that just a few hundred years later, by about 3100BC, society had transformed to one ruled by a king.

Dr Dee told the BBC World Service program ‘Science in Action’ : “The time period is shorter than was previously thought – about 300 or 400 years shorter. Egypt was a state that emerged quickly – over that time one has immense social change.

So, if we mover the time of Djoser forward by 400 years:

Imhotep and Joseph are much closer, but still significantly different. Ancient timelines are notoriously unreliable – so it’s possible that they were the same.

Conclusion:
In short, it is likely that folklorists adapted Joseph’s story in order to credit Imhotep with shepherding Egypt through a famine. Two thousand years of ‘Chinese whispers’ could have conflated the stories of Joseph with Imhotep, so that the character that emerged 2000 years later was a mix of the two. Politics of the time make this even more likely, as the inscription mentioning Imhotep, Djoser, and the famine partly establishes a claim for certain territories in the region. So, there ya go!

Possibility No2

See “Why do people believe?”

https://reneweddayafterday.home.blog/2020/12/30/why-do-people-believe/