JUBILEES CHAPTER 36 ~ 40

WEEK 32 JUBILEES 36

1 And in the sixth year of this week [2162 A.M.]
Isaac called his two sons, both weak
Esau and Jacob, and they came
To him, and he gave them his claim,
“My sons, I’m going in the way
Of my fathers, and to the gay
Eternal house where fathers lay.
2 “Therefore bury me near the bones
Of Abraham my father’s zones,
In the double cave in the field
Of Ephron the Hittite revealed,
Where Abraham purchased a tomb
To bury in, and in that room
Which I dug for myself, there too
Bury me. 3 “This I command you,
My sons, that you practise the right
And uprightness in the earth’s light,
So that YHWH may bring upon you
All that YHWH said that he would do
For Abraham and for his seed.
4 “And love one another with speed,
My sons, your brothers as a man
Who loves his own soul as he can,
And let each seek in what he may
Benefit his brother in sway,
And act together on the earth,
And let them love each other’s worth
As their own souls. The idol thing,
I command and adjure your wing
To reject them and hate them too,
And love them not whate’er you do,
For they are full of grand deceit
Deceiving those who at their feet
Worship them and also who bow
Down to them. 6 “But remember now,
My sons, YHWH God of Abraham
Your father, and how I too am
His worshipper, and served Him in
Righteousness and joy without sin,
That He might multiply you and
Increase your seed upon the land
As the stars of heaven in a crowd,
And establish you tall and proud
Upon the earth as righteous plant
Not rooted out, nor become scant,
Unto all ages and always.
7 “And now I’ll make you swear in lays
A great oath, for there is no oath
Which is greater before you both
Than it by the name glorious
And honoured and great and for us
Splendid and wonderful and mighty,
Which created the heavens flighty
As well as the whole earth down pat
And all things there together, that
You will fear Him and worship at
His altar. 8 “And that each will love
His brother with affection’s shove
And in his righteousness, and that
Neither will desire evil spat
Against his brother from this time
For ever all the days you climb
That you may prosper in your deeds
And not be destroyed like dead weeds.
9 “And if either of you devises
Evil against his brother’s guises,
Know that from now on everyone
That devises evil for fun
Against his brother shall fall in
His hand, and shall for all his sin
Be rooted out of living land,
And his seed destroyed from his band
Under heaven. 10 “But on the day
Of trouble and cursing in sway,
And wrath and indignation’s way,
With flame, devouring fire as He
Burned Sodom, so likewise will He
Burn his land as well as city
And all that’s his, and he shall be
Blotted out of the book freely
Of the workings of humankind,
Not be recorded there to find
In the book of life, but in that
Which is appointed to the fat
Destruction, and he shall depart
Into eternal bitter smart,
So that their condemnation may
Always be renewed in hate’s sway
And in cursing and in their wrath
And in torment and in the path
Of indignation and in plague
And in disease for every ague.
I say and bear witness to you,
My sons, according to the view
Of judgement which shall come upon
The man who wishes to have drawn
An injury to his brother.”
12 And he divided all his verre
Between the two on that day and
He gave the larger portion grand
To him that was the first-born, and
The tower and all that was about,
And all that Abraham possessed
At Beer Sheba. 13 And he confessed
“This larger portion I will give
To the firstborn a place to live.”

To the last Isaac will favour the son,
The elder son, when everything is done,
Despite prophetic knowledge that he must
Because of violence cast down to dust.
It all comes from the fact that Esau’s look
And temper remind him of whom he took
As idol from the day of birth, the brother
Ishmael, whose hand was always against other,
And who lived by the bow on desert sand.
The problem was the likeness at the stand
Was superficial. Esau himself knew
No flaw in his nature would break curfew.
But Ishmael for his wildness was a man
Whose heart was knit to brother’s without plan.

14 And Esau said “I’ve sold to Jacob
And given my birthright to Jacob,
To him let it be given, and
I have not a word, understand,
To say about it, it is his.”
15 And Isaac said “My blessing is
Upon you, my sons, and upon
Your seed this day, and at its dawn,
For you have given me my rest,
And my heart is not pained in quest
About the birthright, lest you should
Work wickedness instead of good.
16 “May the Most High God bless the man
That works righteousness by His plan,
Him and his seed for ever.” 17 And
He ended blessing and command,
And they ate and drank before him,
And he rejoiced because a trim
And single mind was between them,
And they went out before his hem
And rested that day and they slept.
18 And Isaac slept on his bed yet
That day rejoicing, and he slept
Eternal sleep, and died well set
One hundred and eighty years old.
He completed twenty-five bold
Weeks and five years, and his two sons
Esau and Jacob left their guns
To bury him. 19 And Esau went
To the land of Edom forspent,
To the mountains of Seir to live.
20 But Jacob lived not fugitive
In Hebron’s mountains, in the tower
Of the land of sojournings hour
Of his father Abraham, and
He worshipped YHWH with all his heart
And by the visible command
As he measured in days his part.

Pretence of generosity gave seed
To trouble brewing for the holy breed.
If Esau had taken what father gave
Instead of pretending before his grave
That his heart was above the greed of paw,
All things afterward might have gone by law.
Jacob would have quietly acquiesced
To father’s will, he had been duly blessed.
Contracts with hidden plots must always fail.
But men still bow before the golden veil.
Beloved, Isaac well knew what was to come,
And tried to manipulate Esau’s rum,
But Esau in his brave hypocrisy
Cast aside the wealth that could make him free.

21 And Leah his wife died fourth year
Of the second week to appear
Of the forty-fifth jubilee, [2167 A.M.]
22 And he buried her faithfully
In the double cave near Rebekah
His mother to the left of Mecca,
The grave of Sarah, mother of
His father and always his love
And all her sons and his sons came
To mourn for his wife Leah’s fame
With him and comfort him for loss,
And for waves of sorrow that toss,
23 For he was lamenting her for
He loved her very much in store
After Rachel her sister died,
For she was perfect and beside
Upright in all her ways and she
Honoured Jacob, and faithfully
All the days that she lived with him
He did not hear from her mouth grim
Or harsh word, for she was gentle
Peaceable, upright, honourable
24 And he remembered every deed
She’d done during her life with speed
And he lamented her exceeding
For he loved her with his heart bleeding
And with all his soul and his need.

Betrayed by father to be hidden bride,
And hated by her sister in her pride,
Leah quietly went about her tasks
With virtue, and that’s all that her life asks.
The humble round of keeping to Your law,
Beloved, in everything she did and saw,
Became before she died her victory.
She gained the love of Jacob as surely
As perseverance knows a life well lived.
The hope given to all the fugitived
Is future victory where virtues rise.
So Leah turned beautiful despite eyes.
Beloved, give me the patience of the just
And lead me to love’s victory from dust.

JUBILEES 37

1 On the day Isaac, Jacob’s father
And Esau’s, died, [2162 A.M.] heard to their bother
The sons of Esau that Isaac
2 Had given the portion of the sack
Of the elder to younger son,
Jacob, then their anger’s begun.
And they strove with their father, saying
“Why has your father given for playing
Jacob the portion of the elder
And passed over you, who are elder
And Jacob younger?” 3 And he said
To them “Because I sold my bled
Birthright to Jacob for a small
Mess of lentils, and that was all,
And on the day my father sent
Me to hunt and catch provident
Game and bring him something that he
Should eat content and then bless me,
He came with guile and brought my father
Food and drink, and my father rather
Blessed him, put me under his hand.
4 “And now our father by command
Has made us swear, me and him both,
That we shall not devise an oath
Against each other, but in love
And peace each with his brother shove
And not make our ways be corrupt.”
5 And they said to him as abrupt,
“We’ll not listen to you to make
Peace with him, but for our strength’s sake
We are greater than he, and we
Are more powerful far than he,
We shall go against him to kill,
And destroy him and his sons’ fill.
And if you will not go with us,
We’ll do you hurt for all the fuss.
6 “And now hearken to us, let us
Send to Aram, Philistia
And Moab and Ammon to jaw,
And let us choose us valiant men
Who are ardent for battle’s glen,
And let us go against him and
Do battle with him at his hand,
Exterminate him from the earth
Before he grows stronger in worth.”

I mark, Beloved, how Esau’s words can be
Interpreted two ways under the tree.
He could mean to inspire his sons to war
By speaking of the guile that Jacob wore.
He could sincerely warn them not to go
Against their uncle for bellicose show.
Like oracle divine, his words confuse
His sons who will not listen to his views.
The Scripture and the prophecy confess
In dark sayings the listener’s address,
And show the evil heart in action bent
To fulfil its lusts wherever it’s sent.
Beloved, create in me the good and true
As I read from Your word what I should do.

7 And their father said to them, “Do
Not go and do not make war to
Him lest you fall before him too.”
8 They told him, ‘This is just your way
Of acting from youth to this day,
And you are putting your neck under
His yoke. 9 “We’ll not listen in wonder
To these words.” And they sent to Aram,
And to their father’s friend ‘Aduram,
And they hired along with them one
Thousand fighting men for the fun
Of war. 10 And there came to them from
Moab and from the children come
Of Ammon, those who were hired, one
Thousand choice men, and also from
Philistia, one thousand choice
Men of war, and from Edom’s voice
And from the Horites one thousand
Chosen fighting men sword in hand,
And from the Kittim mighty men
Of war. 11 And they said once again
To their father, “Go forth with them
And lead them, else we’ll tear your hem.”
12 And he was filled with wrath and anger
Seeing his sons forcing haranguer
To make him to go before to lead
Them against brother Jacob’s seed.

Esau was nearly man enough to own
His duty to his swearing and the throne
Of father and mother. His anger rose
Against his sons for their deceitful pose.
And yet the seed of his anger the while
Was not completely righteous without guile.
The disrespectful threatening in style
Made up his anger more than what he chose.
Beloved, I do not ask You to help me
To overcome anger and do sweetly.
But let my anger when it comes to light
Be based alone on mercy and the right,
Not blinded by a mercenary plight,
Nor by one-sided perceptions I see.

13 But after he remembered all
The evil lying hidden pall
In his heart against Jacob his
Brother, and he remembered fizz
For the oath which he had sworn to
His father and his mother true
That he’d devise no evil crew
All his days against Jacob too,
His brother. 14 Now besides all this,
Jacob did not know nor dismiss
That they were coming against him
To battle, he was mourning grim
For Leah, his wife, until they
Approached near to the tower to slay
With four thousand soldiers and men
Chosen for war. 15 And Hebron’s men
Sent to him saying “See, indeed
Your brother’s come against your seed,
To fight you, with four thousand set
With the sword, and they carry met
Shields and weapons,” for they loved Jacob
More than Esau. So they to wake up
Him told him, for Jacob was more
Liberal and more merciful
Than Esau. 16 Jacob would put store
Not in their words to believe till
They came near to the tower to kill.

The easily justified selfish part
That fed Esau’s anger opened his heart
And showed what was hidden beneath the cart
Of hypocrisy in Esau’s domain.
He was almost unconscious of the train
Of evil impearled in his inner stain.
That evil might have been sequestered but
For public-based virtue instead of gut.
Beloved, let not my personality
Be scintillating, applauded and free,
Defined by what those around me may be,
But instead let my character and soul
Find in Your Decalogue both start and goal,
Even if I must thus pass on the toll.

17 And he closed the gates of the tower,
And he stood on battlements’ scour
And spoke to his brother Esau
And said “Noble’s the comfort’s paw
By which you’ve come to comfort me
For my dead wife. Is this the free
Oath you swore to your father and
Again to your mother at hand
Before they died? You’ve broken oath,
And on the moment that your troth
Was sworn to your father were you
Condemned.” 18 And then Esau in view
Answered and said to him, “Hear me,
Neither men nor earth’s beasts freely
Have any oath of righteousness
Forever valid to confess,
But every day they work the way
Of evil to each other’s sway,
And how each may his own foe slay.
19 “And you hate me and mine forever.
And there’s naught for us but to sever
The tie of brotherhood with you.
20 “Hear these words I declare to you.
If the boar can change its skin and
Make its bristles as soft as wool,
Or if it can cause horns to stand
Out on its head like the horns full
Of a stag or a sheep, then I
Will observe the brotherhood tie
With you, and if the breasts divide
Themselves from their mother to hide,
For you are no brother to me.
21 “And if the wolves make peace to be
With the lambs so as not to slay
Or do them violence a day,
And if their hearts towards them are good,
Then there shall be peace as it should
In my heart towards you. 22 “And if lion
Becomes the friend of ox to lie on
A bed of peace with him, and if
He is bound under one yoke stiff
With him and ploughs with him, then I
Will make peace with you by and by.
23 “And when the raven becomes white
As the raza, then know I quite
Have loved you and shall make my peace
With you. You’ll be rooted in piece
Out, and your sons shall be plucked out,
And there shall be no peace but rout
For you.” 24 And when Jacob saw that
His heart was evil where he sat,
And with all his soul to slay him,
And that he had come springing grim
Like the wild boar which comes upon
The spear that pierces it when drawn,
And does recoil from it, 25 so then
He spoke to his own and his men
That they should strike him and again
All his companions in the glen.

I note well, my Beloved, that Esau takes
The evolutionary argument at stakes
To justify his abandonment of
The oath sword to his dad and mom in love.
Survival of the fittest is a stroke
Of genius perhaps, but it does convoke
No thought original, modern, or fair.
Darwin’s motive was not science with care,
But finding in the natural order bare
Justification for the British throne
To sway as far as Hindu grief and stone.
It justifies oppression of the race
Still since it has been firmly set in place.
Save me, Beloved, from what myths may condone.

JUBILEES 38

1 After that Judah spoke to Jacob,
His father, and told him to wake up,
“Bend your bow, father, and send out
Your arrows and cast down the stout
Enemy and kill all the foes,
And may you have the power that throws,
For we shall not your brother slay,
For he is such as you today,
And he is like you, let us give
Him this honour, when not to live.”

Judah’s view is the chivalrous one that
Hints at the noble art of war at bat.
More honour’s for the dead that have been slain
By their own peers than by the younger thane.
More honour and more honour fits the bill
When men look out for finer ways to kill.
The slaying that takes place in look and word
Is contained not by virtue but the stirred
Pressure of the opinions that make up
The expectations of both ewe and tup
That regulate what greed and lust in touch
With cruelty are best in just how much.
The consciousness of Your presence alone
In human breast can keep from cracking bone.

2 Then Jacob bent his bow and sent
Out the arrow, the arrow went
And struck Esau, his brother on
His right breast and slew thereupon.
3 And again he shot arrow out
And hit ‘Adoran who was stout,
The Aramaean on the left
Breast, and drove him back with the heft
And killed him. 4 And then went the sons
Of Jacob out, they and their runs
Of servants, dividing into
Companies on the four sides due
Of the tower. 5 And Judah went out
In front, and Naphtali about
And Gad with him and fifty men
With him on the south side again
Of the tower, and they slew all they
Found before them, not one to stay
Escaped. 6 And Levi and Dan and
Asher went forth on the east hand
Of the tower, and fifty men stand
With them, and they slew fighting men
Of Moab and Ammon again.
7 And Reuben and Issachar and
Zebulon went out on north hand
Of the tower, and fifty men too,
And they slew the fighting men’s crew
Of Philistines. 8 And Simeon
And Benjamin and Enoch won,
Reuben’s son, went out on the west
Side of the tower, and fifty best
With them, they slew of Edom and
Of the Horites four hundred grand,
Stout warriors, and six hundred fled,
And four of Esau’s sons unbled
Fled with them leaving father there
Lying dead, as he’d fallen where
Is the hill in ‘Aduram’s land.
9 And the sons of Jacob pursued
After them to mountains bedewed
Of Seir. And Jacob buried his
Brother upon the hill which is
In ‘Aduram, and he returned
To his house. 10 Jacob’s sons as earned
Pressed hard upon Esau’s sons in
The mountains of Seir for their sin,
And bowed their necks so they became
Servants of Jacob’s sons for blame.

If this be Your word, my Beloved in state,
What justifies Jacob’s killing the mate?
Does self-defence alone justify war?
If so, there’s always excuse to be sore,
And the whole prohibition’s just facade,
And there’s no god but political god.
Or does the prophecy of Isaac’s sight
That Esau’s attack would make Jacob right
In striking down the foe? Prophetic fate
Cannot release responsibility.
Allowance by prophet or divine guide
Itself conflicts with the tug of the tide
Of Decalogue, but may shed light when slaying
Is of two evils the one least betraying.

11 And they sent to their father asking
Whether they should make peace in tasking
With them or kill them. 12 And Jacob
Sent word to his sons on the hub
That they should make peace, and they made
Peace with them, and placed where they stayed
The yoke of servitude on them,
So they paid tribute of a gem
To Jacob and his sons always.
13 And they continued in their pays
Of tribute to Jacob until
The day that he went down to fill
In Egypt. 14 And the sons of Edom
Have not yet got quit in their freedom
Of the yoke of servitude which
The twelve sons of Jacob in pitch
Imposed on them until this day.
15 And these are the kings that held sway
In Edom before there reigned there
Any king over the folk fair
Of Israel [until this day] in
The land of Edom, land of sin.

Make peace with killer if there is a chance,
Even if prophecy at the last glance
Foretells the downfall of the fateful horde.
Make peace with enemy and thus be lord
Of lust and anger and thereby be free.
Make peace with the blind groping to agree
To balances of power until the dance
Bring within sword-reach backside of the stance:
Gore lets the crown fall to the hateful bored.
Make peace for commerce’ sake before the gun
Held to protect the caravan in sun.
Make peace and keep down prices, better yet
Make peace and agree on high prices set.
More swells the town hall of the grateful stored.

16 And Balaq, son of Beor, reigned
In Edom, and his city gained
The name of Danaba. 17 And then
Balaq died, and Jobab in den,
The son of Zara of Boser,
Reigned in his stead, in Edom there.
18 And Jobab died, and ‘Asam, of
The land of Teman, reigned above.
19 And ‘Asam died, and ‘Adath, son
Of Barad, who slew Midian
In the field of Moab, reigned in
His stead, and the name of his bin
Was Avith. 20 And ‘Adath died, and
Salman, from ‘Amaseqa’s land,
Reigned in his stead. 21 And Salman died,
And Saul of Ra’aboth beside
The river then reigned in his stead.
22 And Saul died, and Ba’elunan,
The son of Achbor, being led
Reigned in his stead as best he can.
23 And Ba’elunan, the son of
Achbor died, and ‘Adath for love
Reigned in his stead, 24 and the name of
His wife was Maitabith, the daughter
Of Matarat, who was the daughter
Of Metabedza’ab. 25 The sum
Is kings who ruled land of Edom.

Edomite kings have names that here recur
And with a strangeness generations purr
In likeness’ nomenclature to a burr.
But two names unknown strike a curious note
Repeated in the list as though by rote,
And yet revealing matriarchal vote.
Maitabith is the daughter of not man
But woman, Metabedza’ab for clan.
Without a special claim to beauty or
To cunning in the way she kept the floor
Of the women’s domain, these two appear
As though within their rights to cast a fear
On mankind. Bless their kind or churlish hearts
For raising the profile of girlish arts.

WEEK 33 JUBILEES 39

1 Jacob lived in the land where his
Father had spent his life and biz,
In the land of Canaan, that is.
2 These are Jacob’s generations.
And Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons,
Was seventeen years old when they
Took him down into Egypt’s sway,
And Potiphar, Pharaoh’s eunuch,
The chief cook bought him for a look.
3 And he set Joseph over all
His house, the blessing of YHWH’s call
Came upon the Egyptian’s house
Because of Joseph at a douse,
And YHWH prospered him in all that
He did. 4 And the Egyptian fat
Committed everything into
The hands of Joseph, he saw YHWH
Was with him, and that the Lord blessed
And prospered him in all the rest.
5 And Joseph was a handsome lad
[And very fine, indeed, not bad],
And his master’s wife lifted up
Her eyes and saw Joseph at sup,
And she loved him and besought him
To lie with her, tackle and trim.

I always thought there was not sympathy
Enough for Potiphar’s life on the spree.
A lot of rich ladies bored with their time
Want to take on a lover for a crime
Even with virile husband as a spouse.
Just think about this poor woman in house
Alone with eunuch for a husband mouse?
If she loved Joseph, it was hard to blame
Her for the fact, considering her name
As wife of Potiphar. Second excuse
Is found in him being slave for abuse.
So she thought she had legal right to share
The labours of his flesh dressed or laid bare.
So many people think their rights are fair.

6 But he did not give up his soul,
And he remembered YHWH, the whole
Speech which Jacob, who was his father,
Used to read when he came to pother
Among the words of Abraham,
That no man should for hide nor ham
Do fornication with a dam
Who has a husband, that for him
The punishment of death and grim
Has been ordained in heaven before
The Most High God, such sin in store
Will be recorded against him
In the eternal books undim
Always before YHWH at the door.
7 And Joseph remembered these words
And refused to stir up her curds.

Joseph clearly has a concept that differs
From Potiphar’s wife’s cloak and dagger stiffers.
He seems to think his body’s work belongs
To his owner, but soul has its own songs
Inscribed upon the tablets in the sky.
His soul is his and none to question why.
And yet what he reserves is not the soul
But body bought and paid for at the toll.
This only can be known from Your law’s word,
And Your law still remains to the heart stirred.
I find wherever I turn for a light
Someone opposes Decalogue at sight,
Without a thought but that he must break yoke
That binds him to its freedom at a stroke.

8 And she besought him for a year,
But he refused and would not hear.
9 But she embraced him and held him
Fast in the house, she might force him
To lie with her, and closed the doors
Of the house, held him fast in stores,
But he left his cloak in her hands
And broke off out through the door’s bands
And fled away from where she sat.
10 And when the woman there saw that
He would not lie with her, and she
Lied about him before his master,
Saying “Your Hebrew servant faster,
Whom you love, sought to force me so
That he might lie with me in stow,
But when I lifted up my voice
That he fled, left his garment choice
In my hands when I held him, and
He broke out through the door to stand.”
11 And the Egyptian saw the cloak
Of Joseph and the broken oak,
And he heard the words of his wife,
And threw Joseph into the rife
Prison where prisoners were kept
Whom the king put away unwept.

If Potiphar had had a tool himself
He might have put Joseph to death like elf
For the crime to his wife, but as it was,
Gaol was enough to control Joseph’s paws.
The wife of Potiphar was just a gem,
A treasure to be kept in costly hem
To show Potiphar’s state as high official.
He did not really care for the initial
Attraction that she bore to any man.
He kept her prisoner as ruler can.
Beloved, You are a Lover without tool
To lay upon my soul in Lover’s rule,
Yet I am kept a treasure in Your house
Satisfied more than any honoured spouse.

12 And he was there in gaol, and YHWH
Gave Joseph favour in the view
Of the chief of the prison guard
And compassion in his regard,
For he saw that YHWH was with him,
And that YHWH made all that in trim
He did to prosper. 13 And he gave
All things into his hands, though slave,
And the chief of the prison guard
Knew of nothing that was unbarred,
For Joseph did everything there,
And the Lord perfected his care.
14 And he remained there for two years.
And in those days Pharaoh appears,
King of Egypt was angry with
His two eunuchs, not for a myth,
With the chief butler, and the chief
Baker, who it seems was a thief,
And he put them in ward, the house
Of the chief cook, in prison house
Where Joseph was kept. 15 And the chief
Of the prison guards for relief
Appointed Joseph to serve them,
And so he then served before them.
16 And they both dreamed a dream, the chief
Butler and the chief baker, thief,
And they told it to Joseph. 17 And
As he made them to understand
So it happened to them, and Pharaoh
Restored the chief butler in barrow
To his office and the chief baker
He killed, as Joseph told dream maker.
18 But the chief butler, he forgot
About Joseph in prison’s lot,
Although he had informed him what
Would come about, and what would not,
And he did not remember him
Informing Pharaoh how the trim
Joseph told him, but forgot him.

The simple fact is Joseph was the kind
To make himself useful to those who mind.
Bilhah loved him not only for the view
Of timely muscle and a pleasant hue,
But for the fact he jumped to do his share
And more to take the weight off from her care.
He was not just a pretty boy and nice,
But always knew what to do in a trice
Without petition or command, and so
Wherever he was the work was not slow.
That’s what endeared Joseph to everyone
And made them sad when he left for the fun.
Beloved, Your blessing added to his share
Was nothing else but what he made out fair.

JUBILEES 40

1 And in those days Pharaoh dreamed two
Dreams in one night concerning view
Of a famine which was to be
In all the land, and he awoke
From his sleep and called in to see
All the interpreters of dreams
That were in Egypt, at a stroke,
And magicians too, as it seems,
And told them all of his two dreams,
And they could not interpret them.
2 The chief butler ad hominem
Remembered Joseph and spoke up
Of him to the king in his cup,
And he brought him out from the gaol,
And he told his two dreams in tale
Before him. 3 And he said before
Pharaoh that his two dreams in store
Were one, and he said to him then,
“Seven years shall come on all men
In which there shall be plenty over
All the land of Egypt in clover,
And after that seven years of famine,
Such a famine has not seen shaman
In all the land. 4 “And now let Pharaoh
Appoint overseers to harrow
All the land of Egypt, and let
Them store up food in each place met
Throughout days of abundant years,
And there will be food for the fears
Of seven years of famine, and
The land will not perish in hand
Through the famine, for it will be
Very severe, hard as can be.”

Why did You, my Beloved, in divine grace
Look upon Egypt to save them in race
From starvation? It seems Your starting place
Was Jacob’s tribe, and You plotted to save
His progeny from damnation and grave.
I recollect the dreary day there was
A famine on Ethiopian cause,
And You gave no warning at all to split.
That country’s filled with readers of Your writ,
Both Qur’an and the Bible, but You chose
To ignore harsh famine’s warning to those.
Perhaps the reason was that famine came
From curing tobacco for Europe’s claim,
And could have been avoided without shame.

5 And YHWH gave Joseph favour and
Mercy there before Pharaoh’s hand,
And Pharaoh said to his servants,
“We shall not find such a wise lance
And discreet man as is this man,
For the spirit of YHWH’s in plan
With him.” 6 And he appointed him
The second in all his kingdom
And gave him authority grim
Over all Egypt, and in sum
Caused him to ride the chariot
Second in honour to the glut
Of Pharaoh. 7 And he put on him
Fine linen garments, and for trim
He put a gold chain on his neck,
And a herald proclaimed in beck
‘ ’El ‘El wa ‘Abirer,’ and placed
A ring on his hand and made graced
Ruler over all his house, and
Magnified him, and made him stand
Saying to him, “Only the throne
Shall make me greater than your own.”
8 And Joseph ruled over the land
Of all Egypt, and all the princes
Of Pharaoh, all his servants’ quinces,
And all who did the king’s business
Loved him, he walked in uprightness,
For he was without pride, without
Arrogance, and he was without
Respect of persons, and did not
Accept gifts, but he judged in lot
Of uprightness all the land’s plot.

They lie who say Joseph was arrogant
With his new coat and caused his brothers’ rant.
He always treated them with the same glow
Of helpfulness and humble duty’s show
As he did courtiers in Egyptian row.
It was his innocence in the design
That made him without suspicion divine
His coming greatness and report the line
That roused his brothers’ jealousy and wrath.
He always toed a proudless, humble path.
A curse on those who do not recognize
The grace and beauty of sweet Joseph’s eyes.
That very spirit still oppresses those
Too innocent to rise up and oppose.

9 The land of Egypt was at peace
Before Pharaoh for the surcease
Of Joseph, for YHWH was with him,
And gave him favour and the vim
Of mercy for all his relations
Before all those who knew him and
Those who heard concerning his stations,
And Pharaoh’s kingdom was well set,
And there was no accuser met
And no evil person at hand.

A close examination of the face
Of the images of Egyptian race
Of kings will show the benign lip and eye
Far different from the Alexandrine cry
To the horizon. Eyes of early kings
Of Egypt cut in stone with heavy wings
Still brood in secret loving of the folk.
They do not seek the far horizon’s stroke,
But in mercy look down upon the dust
Of the petitioner with a hand just.
Egypt’s become a symbol of the way
One people would enslave another’s tray,
But compared to the world at large since then,
It’s still a land of the very best men.

10 And so the king called Joseph’s name
Sephantiphans, and gave in claim
To Joseph a wife, daughter of
Potiphera, daughter to love
Of the priest of Heliopolis,
The chief cook. 11 And it was on this
Day that Joseph stood before Pharaoh,
He was thirty years old like arrow
[When he stood there before the Pharaoh].
12 And so in that year Isaac died.
And it happened as Joseph tried
To interpret his two dreams, just
As he had said, there were in trust
Seven years of plenty in all
The land of Egypt, bin and stall,
And the land of Egypt produced
Abundantly, one measure loosed
Eighteen hundred measures of corn.
13 And Joseph gathered food unworn
Into each city until they
Were full of corn and until they
Could no longer count it nor measure
So full and rampant was the treasure.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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