Asenath
{{Redirect|Osnas|the Russian doctor and soldier|Leo Osnas}}
{{short description|Biblical figure}}
{{Infobox saint|name=Aseneth|image=Asenath.jpg|caption=Asenath from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum|titles=the Fair|feast_day=Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (Eastern Orthodox)
13 December{{cite web|title=Asenet (Asenat)|url=https://deon.pl/imiona-swietych/asenet-asenat,854|access-date=2021-12-12|website=DEON.pl|language=pl}} (Roman Catholic) |honored_in=Eastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church}}
File:Joseph meets Asenath (Asenath throws the Idols out of the Tower))-Bode museum- Berlin.jpg
Asenath ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|s|ᵻ|n|æ|θ
}}, {{Hebrew Name|אָסְנַת|ʾŎsnát|ʾĀsnaṯ}};{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Geoffrey |title=The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. |publisher=Open Book Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1783746767}} Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, Asenéth) is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman.{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Egyptian woman Asenath in the Bible|url=https://www.womeninthebible.net/women-bible-old-new-testaments/asenath/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831091235/http://www.womeninthebible.net:80/women-bible-old-new-testaments/asenath/ |archive-date=2016-08-31 |access-date=18 November 2020|website=}} She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
There are two Rabbinic approaches to Asenath. One holds that she was an Egyptian woman who converted to marry Joseph. This view has her accepting God before marriage and then raising her two sons in the tenets of Judaism. This presents her as a positive example of conversion to Judaism and places her among the devout women converts. The other approach argues she was not Egyptian by descent but was from the family of Jacob. Traditions that trace her to the family of Jacob relate that she was born as the daughter of Dinah.{{Jewish Encyclopedia |inline=1 |title=1905-asenath}} Dinah was raped by Shechem and gave birth to Asenath, whom Jacob left on the wall of Egypt, where she was later found by Potiphar.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} She was then raised by Potiphar's wife and eventually married Joseph. However, in Genesis Rabbah 80:11{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Radak_on_Genesis.34.26.1&lang2=bi&p3=Bereshit_Rabbah.80.11&lang3=en&w3=all&lang4=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}} she is not stated to be Dinah's daughter; rather, Dinah's rape resulted in her giving birth to Shaul, the son of Simeon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&with=Commentary&lang2=en&p3=Bereshit_Rabbah.80.11&lang3=en&w3=all&lang4=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34.26?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Radak_on_Genesis.34.26.1&lang2=bi&w2=all&lang3=en|title=Genesis 34:26|website=www.sefaria.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}
Asenath's importance is related to the birth of her two sons, who later become forefathers of two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
Name
Her name is believed to derive from the Ancient Egyptian js.tj-(n)-n(j)t, meaning "belonging/she belongs to Neith". Neith was an Egyptian goddess.{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-bible|title=Asenath: Bible {{!}} Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org|access-date=2019-09-05}}{{Cite web |url=https://bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/14069/ |title=Asenat |date=July 2020 |website=Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (WiBiLex) |last=Theis |first=Christoffer |publisher=Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft |publication-place=Stuttgart |language=de }}
"Asenath" or "Osnat" is a commonly used female first name in present-day Israel.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3847875/jewish/Popular-Jewish-Hebrew-Girl-Names.htm|title=Popular Jewish (Hebrew) Girl Names - Chabad.org|accessdate=July 15, 2024}}
Portrayal
Asenath is mentioned in three verses of the Bible, all in the Book of Genesis. First appearing in Genesis 41:45, Asenath is said to have been given by the Pharaoh to Joseph as a wife.{{Cite journal|jstor=43301987|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43301987.pdf|last1=Aptowitzer|first1=V.|title=Asenath, the Wife of Joseph: A Haggadic Literary-Historical Study|journal=Hebrew Union College Annual|year=1924|volume=1|pages=239–306}} Here, she is referred to as the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Gk. Heliopolis).{{Cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Ernest Walter |year=1918 |title=Joseph and Asenath - Translations of Early Documents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYDYAAAAMAAJ&dq=asenath+potipherah&pg=PR6}} Genesis 41:50 says that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. The firstborn was named Manasseh and the second Ephraim.{{Cite web|title=FAMILY BENEDICTION: THE ROLE OF ASENATH IN REMBRANDT"S JACOB BLESSING|url=https://repository.library.fresnostate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/191670/FamilyBenediction.pdf?sequence=1}} Later, in Genesis 46:20, Joseph and Asenath are mentioned in the family of Jacob; the verse says that in Egypt, Joseph had two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore to Joseph.
In the Book of Jubilees, generally considered to be apocryphal, Asenath is said to be given to Joseph to marry by the Pharaoh,{{Cite web|url=https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3092832/1/EBR%20online_%20Marriage%2C%20Ancient%20Egypt.pdf|title=Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 17 (pages 991 to 994)|accessdate=July 15, 2024}} a daughter of Potiphar, a high priest of Heliopolis, with no clarification as to whether or not this Potiphar is the same Potiphar whose wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. While in the Midrash and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, she is said to be the daughter of Dinah, Joseph's sister, and Shechem, born of an illicit union, described as either premarital sex or rape, depending on the narrative.{{Cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-midrash-and-aggadah|title=Asenath: Midrash and Aggadah | Jewish Women's Archive|website=jwa.org}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/40.htm|title=Jubilees 40|website=www.pseudepigrapha.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 38. A later-date apocryphal publication written in Greek, believed to be a Christian document, called Joseph and Aseneth, supposedly details their relationship and their 48-year long reign over Egypt; in it, Asenath weds Joseph, whose brothers Dan and Gad plot to kill him for the sake of Pharaoh's son, who wants Asenath to be his wife, only for their efforts to be thwarted by Joseph's younger brother Benjamin.{{cite journal |last=Ahearne-Kroll |first=Patricia |title=Biblical Profile: Aseneth of Egypt |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |date=Summer 2022 |volume=48 |issue=2 |page=27 |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/department/biblical-profile-aseneth-of-egypt/}}
Depictions
File:The Repentance of Aseneth.png|This painted image, which is part of a 1475 painted Flemish manuscript of unknown origin, shows Aseneth repenting.{{Cite web|title=The Repentance of Aseneth (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4155/unknown-maker-the-repentance-of-aseneth-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}} This image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth rejecting her pagan religion and repenting so that she may marry Joseph.{{JewishEncyclopedia|title=Asenath, Life and Confession or Prayer Of |last=Kohler|first=Kaufmann|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1905-asenath}}
File:Aseneth Offering Bread, Wine, and Honey to an Angel.png|This painted image, which is part of a 1475 Flemish manuscript, shows Aseneth offering honey, wine, and bread to an angel.{{Cite web|title=Aseneth Offering Bread, Wine, and Honey to an Angel (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4156/unknown-maker-aseneth-offering-bread-wine-and-honey-to-an-angel-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-04|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}} This image was likely inspired by an apocryphal text that describes Aseneth being visited by an angel after she rejects paganism and offering the angel bread and wine. In turn, the angel gives Aseneth a honeycomb.
File:Aseneth Requesting the Angel's Blessing of Seven Young Women.png|This image from a 1475 Flemish manuscript shows Aseneth asking for an angel's blessing for seven young women.{{Cite web|title=Aseneth Requesting the Angel's Blessing of Seven Young Women (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/4157/unknown-maker-aseneth-requesting-the-angel%27s-blessing-of-seven-young-women-flemish-about-1475/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en}} The image is likely inspired by an apocryphal text in which Aseneth, while being visited by an angel after converting from paganism, asks the angel to bless her seven slaves.
File:Rembrandt - Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph - WGA19117.jpg|This Rembrandt work shows Aseneth standing with her husband, Joseph, and her sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as her father-in-law, Jacob, blesses her sons.{{Cite web|title=Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database|url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r//rembrand/15oldtes/21oldtes.html|access-date=2020-11-05|website=www.wga.hu}}
File:Jacob's Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh.jpg|This image from an illuminated manuscript dating back to the 6th century shows Jacob blessing Joseph and Aseneth's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, while Joseph and Aseneth look on.{{Cite web|last=Zdansky|first=Hannah|date=February 28, 2018|title="Of hiest God, Asneth, blessed thu be": Female Readers and The Storie of Asneth|url=https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/tag/aseneth/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 10, 2020|website=Medieval Studies Research Blog}}
File:The Birth of Ephraim.jpg|This mosaic in the Venetian Basilica di San Marco shows a midwife presenting the newborn Ephraim to Joseph. Aseneth and Manasseh are also present.
Veneration
References
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External links
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- [http://www.piney.com/DocEgJosAsen.html Text of Joseph and Asenath] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202173950/http://www.piney.com/DocEgJosAsen.html |date=2019-02-02 }}
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Category:Ancient Egyptian women
Category:Converts to Judaism from paganism
Category:Book of Genesis people
Category:Women in the Hebrew Bible
Category:Christian saints in unknown century
Category:Roman Catholic royal saints
Category:Eastern Orthodox royal saints