What Do We Know about Asenath in the Bible?

Most people know Genesis is the first book in the Bible (although many scholars believe the book of Job was written first). Genesis is a book of beginnings (Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”), and the word Genesis means creation or generation. In Genesis 37, we meet Joseph, Jacob’s twelfth son, and his first by Rachel, Jacob’s most beloved wife. His was the beginning of the historical narrative (Genesis 37-50) which reveals the circumstances that led to the Jewish peoples’ first captivity (Egypt); Asenath is part of the narrative.

Asenath is known for being Joseph’s wife and bearing Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s two sons.

Who Is Asenath in the Bible?

Asenath was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On (or Heliopolis), and her Egyptian name means gift of the sun god. The Hitchcock Dictionary of Bible Names, however, says her name means peril, or misfortune. 

Through a series of God-ordained events, Joseph was elevated to the role of second only to the Pharaoh. According to Answers in Genesis, the Pharaoh of Egypt who appointed Joseph to a position of authority was Sesostris I (and Joseph is possibly identified as Mentuhotep in Egyptian records). Among the “gifts” Joseph received from Sesostris I was Asenath, who was given in marriage to Joseph (Genesis 41:15). Asenath bore Joseph two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Asenath’s name also identifies her as a worshipper of Neith, since the first part of her name denotes belonging to or she belongs to. Neith (Net, Nit, Neit) was the goddess of war and weaving.

Asenath’s father, Potiphera, had the duties of an Egyptian priest from the town of On. His name means he whom Ra has given (Ra being a chief Egyptian god). The term—priest—may also have included the role of governor. Priests “served” the gods of the temple with food and water and saw to other temple tasks. Their focus was on the gods, and they did not serve as counselors to people.

As such, Asenath would have been steeped in the rituals of Egyptian god worship. The ancient Egyptian culture also revered pharaohs as gods, therefore Asenath would have been obedient to Pharaoh’s commands.

What Can We Learn from Asenath?

The Scriptures give us little information beyond mentions in Genesis 41:45, 50 and 46:20. 

Obedience: Asenath, as a worshipper of Neith, would of course submit to the Pharaoh, whom the Egyptians revered as a god. The Bible does not specify the details of the marriage arrangement, only that Pharaoh gave her to Joseph. In ancient days, arranged marriages were the norm, and to have been in a union as wife to the second-in-charge after Pharaoh would have garnered incredible status. Not to mention she may have been part of the royal line. But these thoughts are simply speculation. We must rely on what the Scriptures have told us and leave it at that.

Possible belief via proximity: Joseph, though unwillingly immersed in Egyptian traditions and culture, remembered his past and his God. When confronted by the dreams of the Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker, Joseph said, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8). Later, when he was sent to Pharaoh to interpret his troubling dream, Joseph was quick to answer Sesostris I’s request to decipher it, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16). 

Because Joseph displayed his fear and reverence for God so openly, it is possible to conclude Joseph introduced Asenath to Yahweh. Surely Asenath was privy to the Pharaoh’s words to his servants about Joseph, “‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?’ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you’” (Genesis 41:39-40).

Upon the birth of his first-born son, “Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction’” (Genesis 41:51-52). Asenath was witness to what the Pharaoh decreed, was the closest person to Joseph, and bore his children. It is possible she came to know God, although the Bible does not say so. Our thoughts about it are only conjectures based on our knowledge of human relationships.

Is There Any Other Tradition with Information about Asenath?

An interesting teaching (at most a thought/conjecture because it is not supported by Scripture) stems from the teachings of the Talmud, a generic term for the documents which serve as commentaries on the first writing of rabbinic law (ca. 200 AD and published by Rabbi Judah). 

Said rabbinic texts have two theories regarding Asenath, both seeking to give credibility to her position as Joseph’s wife and mother of Ephraim and Manasseh, two of the twelve tribes of Israel. The first concept poses Asenath as an ethnic Egyptian who converted in order to become Joseph’s wife. The second theory maintains Asenath was not an ancestral Egyptian but instead was from the lineage of Jacob directed by God to be in Egypt and so become a suitable wife for a Hebrew. 

The second concept states she was the daughter of Dinah as a result of Dinah’s rape by Shechem. Jacob’s sons wanted to kill the child, but Jacob inscribed God’s name on a gold plate and hung it around the child’s neck and sent her away. Further, the story continues that God sent the archangel Michael to bring her to Potiphera’s house, where he found her, assigned a wet nurse to her, and “adopted” her as his own.

Both scenarios would make her an acceptable family member and her sons worthy as Jacob’s descendants, according to men. The conjectures are preposterous, though, for God will use whom He will as His chosen ones. Look at Ruth, for example (Ruth 1:4). She, a Moabitess, whose race was forbidden from entering the assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3), was in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Ruth 4:17-22).

Another interesting twist. Asenath’s story was re-written as an ancient Greek romance sometime between 100 – 200 A.D. under the title, Joseph and Asenath.

Outside of Canaan, Egypt is the most mentioned place in the Bible. Israel and Egypt shared a border, as they do to this day. As such, a possibility of shared ideas and beliefs is possible, as well as traditions and stories. We, as imaginative people, long for completed stories. Questions are raised such as, What happened to Asenath? Why did she marry Joseph? Was she a believer in God? Did Jacob’s other sons (tribes) accept Manasseh and Ephraim because of Asenath being their mother?

Photo credit: Unsplash/Simon Matzinger

Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody. She writes fiction and nonfiction. In addition to writing for the Salem Web Network, Lisa serves as a Word Weavers’ mentor and is part of a critique group. She also is a member of BRRC. Lisa and her husband, Stephen, a pastor, live in a small Ohio village with their crazy cat, Lewis.