And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-pa'aneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
Zaphnath-paaneah. The imposition of other names upon persons promoted to high offices, or placed in new circumstances, appears to have been a practice of the Egyptians in common with the Babylonians, derived in both cases from an Assyrian, or, it may be, a patriarchal source. The name given by Pharaoh to Joseph has been variously interpreted, 'a revealer of secrets.' The Septuagint, which may be presumed to have with fidelity transmitted the genuine form of the Egyptian name, has Psonthomfaneech, according to Jablonski ('Opusc.,' 1: p. 207-216) and Rosellini ('Mon. Storici,' 1:, p. 185), which signifies 'the salvation or saviour of the world,' or, according to Jerome, 'the sustainer of the age.' [`This,' says Gesenius, 'in Hebrew letters would be properly expressed by patsnat pa`neeach; but the letters -pats- (of the first word) are transposed, in order to bring it nearer to Hebrew etymology.' Osburn ('Mon. Hist.,' 2:, p. 89), gives an entirely different signification to this compound name.] 'The first half, Tsaphnath, signifies,' according to him, 'near to (one with) Neith, the goddess of wisdom,' the exact echo of Pharaoh's address in conferring it on him (Genesis 41:39, last clause). The other half of the name refers to Joseph's acquittal from the false charge under which he had suffered imprisonment: "Paaneah" - `he who flees from adultery'-a title borne by one of the courtiers of a former Pharaoh ('Mon. Hist.,' 1:, p. 301).
And he gave him to wife Asenath, [Septuagint, Aseneth] - a name derived, according to Jablonski ('Opusc.,'
ii., p. 208), either from Asshe-Neith, 'the worshipper of Neith, or from As-Neit,' 'she belongs to Neith' [the Atheenee of the Greeks, and Minerva of the Romans].
Daughter of Poti-pherah, [Septuagint, Petefree] - a variation of Potiphar. It was an official title (Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt,' 4:, p. 301). Pet-ph-re, 'he who worships (offers to the sun.' But Dr. Hincks ('Eng. Rev.,' p.
101) explains it by Phont-Phra, priest of the sun.
Priest, х koheen (H3548)]. The Chaldee Targum translates the word here, and in Psalms 110:4, by a term that denotes prince or chieftain (cf. 2 Samuel 8:18 with 1 Chronicles 18:17; 1 Kings 4:5; 2 Kings 10:11, where it is applied to counselors of the king. No obstacle existed to Joseph's marriage with a lady of this family, because there were no castes in Egypt. The priests formed the highest order of nobility. But there was no absolute separation between them and other classes.
Of On, х 'Own (H204) or 'On (H204)]. The Hebrew form of the name is only a transcript of an ancient Coptic word, which, according to Champollion, comes from a root signifying 'to enlighten.' On = light, was the original Mizraimite name of the god worshipped in the temple; hence, called Beth-aon; the Aven of Ezekiel 30:17; Amos 1:5; the Bethshemesh of Jeremiah 43:13 [where, in the Septuagint, it stands Oon]; Arabic, Ain Shems. This place was the center of the worship of Ra or Re, the sun-god, the chief deity in the Egyptian astro-mythological Pantheon. Its hieroglyphic name was Re-ci, house, or abode of the sun (Wilkinson's 'Modern Egypt and Thebes,' vol.1:, p. 293.
The Septuagint in this place translates it Eelioupolis, 'the city of the sun' (cf. Josephus, 'Antiquities,' b. 2:, ch.
vi., sec. 1). 'It was, says Wilkinson in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch. 4, 8, 'the great seat of learning and the university of Egypt; and that it was one of the oldest cities is proved by the obelisk of Osirtasen-first of the twelfth dynasty. Its site is still marked by its massive, though now crumbling walls, supposed to have been reared by the hands of the Hebrew bondmen (Exodus 1:11, Septuagint). And yet it was comparatively small. 'Heliopolis was the Oxford of ancient Egypt;' or rather, perhaps, the college, gathered round the temple of the Sun, as Christ Church round the old cathedral or shrine of Frideswide' (Stanley, 'Jewish Church,' p. 87). It stood on the eastern bank of the Nile, a little north of Memphis, and is identified with the modern town Keliub, the same as Heliopolis. 'The province in which it stands is also named Keliubie (Kelyubiyah), and answers to the ancient nomos (prefecture) of Heliopolis; bounded by the Nile and its Pelusiac branch on the west and north' (Rennell's 'Geography of Herodotus,' p. 495).
In looking at this profusion of honours heaped suddenly upon Joseph, it cannot be doubted that he would humbly yet thankfully acknowledge the hand of a special Providence in conducting him through all his chequered course to almost royal power; and we who know more than Joseph did, can not only see that his advancement was subservient to the most important purposes relative to the Church of God, but, learn the great lesson that a Providence directs the minutest events of human life.