Zaphenath-Paneah

Joseph is one of my heroes. His story in Genesis has always fascinated me. He went through so many difficult trials, but he held on to his faith, however distant God sometimes seemed to be. He was thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused and thrown into prison for years for a crime he didn't commit, and so much more. Through all of it, he clung to the hope that God would save him, and he was attentive when two servants of the Pharaoh, and later the Pharaoh himself, needed their dreams interpreted. He rose from prison to become Zaphenath-Paneah, Pharaoh's second in command, and he saved the nation of Egypt and his own family from a severe famine. He also forgave his brothers who turned his world upside-down.

Growing up in the Philippines has given me a perspective of living in a culture different from my parents'. Joseph was a third culture kid (TCK) like me, though our experience was obviously different. In some ways I can identify with the adjustments in being a part and product of the culture where I live and also that of where I'm from. Where even is "home"? One thing that gets me is a detail that I think is often overlooked... When Joseph was confronting his brothers as governor, he was speaking Egyptian, working through a translator. They had no idea he could understand them. He didn't speak to them in Hebrew until he revealed himself to them. The story evokes strong emotions for me, and I wasn't even there. I think one of the saddest parts of the story is that even though Joseph forgave his brothers, they never forgave themselves.

I wrote this poem October 10, 2010. In researching, I learned a few things:

• Zaphenath-Paneah is the anglicized spelling of the Hebrew approximation of his Egyptian name. Thus, scholars disagree on the exact meaning of his name. Here I used three possibilities from different scholars, in italics.
• It is likely that the -ath in his new name was the hieroglyph ankh (ቶ), the Egyptian concept of life, immortality and more. 
• I knew the meanings of some of the names, but I learned more when researching. In the poem, most of the italicized bits are the meanings of people's names. Joseph = "may he add"; Jacob = "he grasps the heel"; Potiphar = "one belonging to Ra"; Benjamin = "son of my right hand"; Moses = "drawn from the water"

I searched for more information on this painting,
but couldn't find any information on who painted it.
If anyone knows, I would love to credit the artist.

A dreamer of dreams

A boy with a promise of a bright future
Brothers bowing before him
Father and mother paying homage to their son

Joseph bar-Jacob.
May he add to the son of he who grasps the heel.

A young man hurled in a pit
Ripped from his parents
Sold and taken to a foreign land
A slave in the captain’s court.

Joseph, slave of Potiphar.
May he add to the one belonging to Ra.

Framed for a horrible crime
Thrown, innocent, into prison
Interpreting dreams for his fellows
Forgotten by the one released.

So much promise, dreaming, love
Such pain, betrayal, anguish
Forgotten for years
Wallowing in prison

Ankh slowed to a boring and endless crawl
God seemed silent and distant
Where was the hope of release?
Why such betrayal and slander?

Brought before the Pharaoh himself
New dreams to interpret
Seven years of plenty
And seven years of famine

And so Joseph, son of Jacob
Slave of Potiphar
Prisoner of Egypt
Received a new name.

Zaphenath-Paneah.

“The god sees, and he lives.”
Through all of it, God watched
God trained His child through love,
Through pain, through trials.
God saw Joseph, and Joseph lived.

“A revealer of hidden things and an opener of things to come.”
A man who, with the help of God, could reveal the meanings of dreams
Who foresaw his ascent, an execution, a restoration to service,
Seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.

“One who furnishes the nourishment of life.”
Suddenly pardoned and made governor
Stored wheat to preserve Egypt through the famine
Nourished and saved millions of lives.
One who so recently yearned for greater ankh
Suddenly named as one who provided ankh

****

Brothers who lived with the guilt of selling their brother
For all they knew, he could be dead
But just to be sure, they had killed a goat
And smeared the blood on their brother’s coat
Bringing a fictional tale of woe to their heartbroken father

Famine in Canaan
Few crops and dwindling herds
News of a surplus of grain saved up in Egypt
And so ten brothers left their father’s house
Leaving the youngest behind
And traveled to buy grain
From the exalted Governor of Egypt:
Zaphenath-Paneah.

Framed for spying on Egypt
Cringing in fear before the wrathful governor
Thinking the Egyptian governor could not understand,
They cried out in Hebrew
Regretting their treatment of their brother and father
And they wondered why the exalted Egyptian Zaphenath-Paneah ran out of the room in tears.

One thrown in prison while the rest were sent home
To bring their youngest brother
And prove their honesty

And so came Benjamin to Egypt
The imprisoned brother freed
And the son of Jacob’s right hand framed
For stealing a priceless golden cup.

Terrified brothers fell at the feet of Zaphenath-Paneah
In fulfillment of a dream, bowing at his feet
Begging to spare the life of their brother
And keep their father from dying of grief

And so the great Zaphenath-Paneah told all his servants to leave
The brothers wondered what was about to happen
When the interpreter, their only means of communication,
Walked out of the room.

And so for the first time, the great Zaphenath-Paneah spoke to them in Hebrew
And gave them news that filled them with wonder and fear
God heard, and Joseph was still alive.
God sent His child to reveal what was to come,
To preserve the lives of Egypt
And of his own family.

And so the children of Israel flourished and became a great nation
They lived in Egypt for 400 years
God saw them, and they lived
And God sent a new child, drawn from the water
To bring His children back to Canaan
And with them came the sarcophagus
Of Zaphenath-Paneah.

Photo taken at the
African Burial Ground National Monument,
New York, by Sean Ghazala
Public Domain

O Holy Night

The French and German forces were facing off during the Franco-Prussian War. The fighting was fierce, when a lone French soldier jumped out of his trench, unarmed. Both sides stared, astonished, as the soldier started to sing:

     "Minuit, chrétiens, c'est l'heure solonelle 
     Où l'Homme Dieu descendit jusqu'à nous
     Pour effacer la tache originelle
     Et de Son Père arrêter le courroux.
     Le monde entier tressaille d'espérance
     En cette nuit qui lui donne un Sauveur
     Peuple à genoux, attends ta délivrance.
     Noël, Noël, voici le Rédempteur
     Noël, Noël, voici le Rédempteur."

     ("Midnight, Christians, is the solemn hour
     When the God descends on us as a man
     To erase the original stain (sin)
     And to stop His Father's wrath.
     The whole earth trembles (or thrills) with hope
     In this night which gives them a Savior
     People on your knees, wait for your deliverance.
     Christmas, Christmas, here is your Redeemer
     Christmas, Christmas, here is your Redeemer")

The Frenchman continued on to sing all three verses of Cantique de Noël (French for "Christmas Song", not to be confused with The Christmas Song)

When he was finished, a German infantryman came out of hiding and began to sing Martin Luther's words:

     „Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her.

     Ich bring’ euch gute neue Mär,

     Der guten Mär bring’ ich so viel,

     Davon ich sing’n und sagen will.“ 

     (More or less, "From heaven above, I come forth.

     I bring you good news,

     Of that good news I bring,

     I want to tell it in song.")

Thus began a 24-hour period of peace between the sides, starting that Christmas Eve in 1871.

Back up 24 years to 1847. A parish priest in a small French town needed a poem for his Christmas mass, and he turned to a local poet named Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure. Not a churchgoing man himself, Mr. Cappeau felt honored nevertheless, and used the Gospel of Luke as his inspiration to write a poem while on a trip by coach to Paris. He tried to imagine what it would be like to be in Bethlehem over 1800 years earlier, witnessing the birth of Jesus.

When he finished his poem, Cappeau realized that a poem was not enough. This needed to be set to music. So he turned to his friend Adolphe Charles Adams, a man of Jewish descent. This was particularly awkward for Adams, since, as a Jew, he didn't even celebrate Christmas, nor did he believe that Jesus was the Son of God. However, he humored his friend and set the poem to music. I have to say he did an excellent job of it.

The song was initially popular in France. However, as it declined in popularity, an American writer by the name of John Sullivan Dwight discovered the song and translated it into English. "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians) became "O Holy Night." As Dwight was a strong abolitionist, the third verse was particularly meaningful to him. The song became especially popular in the North during the Civil War, as many Americans sang:

     Truly He taught us to love one another.

     His law is love, and His gospel is peace.

     Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,

     And in His name, all oppression shall cease.

     Sweet hymns of praise in joyful chorus raise we

     With all our hearts, we praise His holy name!

     Christ is the Lord! Let ever, ever praise we!

     His power and glory evermore proclaim!

     His power and glory evermore proclaim!

(Emphasis mine, to show which line was particularly meaningful to Dwight.)

O Holy Night also has the distinction of being the first song in history to be broadcast over the airwaves, on Christmas Eve 1906. 

For more details, you can read Ace Collins' The Amazing Story of 'O Holy Night', which is where I learned the above information.

***

In English (and in French, though the singable English translation is not literal), the first verse reflects on that night when Christ came to earth as a baby. The world had been waiting for millenia, mired in sin, in need of a Savior. That night finally came, and with a thrill, hope was born. The world rejoiced in its Savior, as a new era began. Fall on your knees and listen to the angels sing! What a holy night!

The second verse (not in the video above) seems to be the story from the perspective of  Cappeau, the observer and poet. They are standing beside the manger "with glowing hearts" to see their baby Savior. Soon, the wise man come "from Orient land" and join them in their adoration. "The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger, in all our trials born to be our friend." He understands our needs and is familiar with our weakness. Bow before Him.

The third verse is quoted above. Christ has come out of love to bring us peace. He will break our chains, since he has taken on the yoke of a slave, and as the Son of God, He is our brother. Another interpretation of that line would be that slaves are just as human as anyone else, and God will break the chains that bind people who He created in His image. In any case, He will put an end to oppression. What can we do but sing hymns and songs of praise? Christ, our Savior, has come. Proclaim his power and glory forever!

I think it puts an interesting twist on it that had never occurred to me before, that Cappeau wrote the poem as he imagined what it might have been like to observe the birth of Jesus so long ago. The first verse remembers what we have come through, the pain and bondage that sin has caused through the years as we have yearned for the prophesied Messiah to come. Now, in the second verse, here we are watching prophecy being fulfilled. All that painful time has culminated into this moment, this holy night when he has finally arrived. The third verse looks forward to when He will victoriously break the chains of sin and death, freeing us from bondage. Jesus fulfilled some of that when He died on the cross and rose again, and He will fulfill the rest when He returns.

Jesus is our Savior! Praise Him! Whatever bondage we are in, He can save us. He has conquered sin and death. As Dr. SM Lockridge so eloquently put it, "That's my King!"


First and third verses:

First and second verses:

Harriet Tubman

As February is Black History Month, I thought I'd feature some of the black heroes who have made our country what it is today. As I already did a post on Martin Luther King, Jr., I won't be doing another...but there are so many more amazing people that need to be remembered. I can guarantee I won't get to all of them this month, but I'll see how many we can do. (I also expect I'll be doing posts on Lincoln and Washington this month in honor of their birthdays.)

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross (Minty for short) in March of 1822. During her childhood, she was hired out to several masters who beat and abused her. At one point, she was sent to a local dry-goods store to get some supplies. There, she met a slave who had left his master without permission. The other slave's master asked young Minty to help him restrain the slave, and when she refused, the angry slaveowner threw a 2-pound weight at the fleeing slave. It missed the target and instead hit Minty in the head, breaking her skull. She was returned to her master, who let her rest without medical care for two days and then sent her back out into the fields to work, still bleeding. Her injury would haunt her for the rest of her life. She suffered from headaches and seizures as a result. She also had many visions and dreams that she believed were revelations from God (and I don't doubt it), and may also have been related to her injury.

As a slave, she held onto her faith in God and to biblical promises of freedom. In 1840, her father was freed, and when she consulted a white lawyer, it was discovered that her mother should also have been freed...but her family's masters had ignored that bit in a former master's will, and Minty couldn't afford to challenge it in court.

In about 1844, Araminta Ross married a free black man named John Tubman, and soon after their marriage, she changed her first name to Harriet. This complicated matters as a free man married a slave. The couple began praying for Harriet's master, first that God would change his heart and free her, and when that didn't seem to be happening, that God would take her master out. A week later, her master died, and she regretted her prayer. Her master's widow started work on selling off the slaves, and Harriet decided that "there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." On September 17, 1849, she escaped with her brothers Harry and Ben, but her brothers began to have second thoughts about escape, and they returned, bringing her along.

She later escaped by herself, using the Underground Railroad. She traveled by night, using the North Star as her guide, and stayed with friendly people, many of them Quakers, who secretly helped many slaves to escape. She would later describe her arrival in Pennsylvania thus: "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."

Harriet spent the next while helping to free members of her family, going back and forth between Pennsylvania and Maryland. Her efforts earned her the nickname Moses by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. As the North became more and more dangerous to escaped slaves due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she began helping fleeing slaves to go further north to Canada. She especially worked on this during the winter months, when the nights were longer.

She had an intense faith that God would protect her, and she had several close calls when passing former masters...but she was a quick thinker and managed to hide in plain sight (at one point pretending to read a newspaper - since she was known to be illiterate, her former master didn't figure that was her). She would often use spirituals as coded messages.

She later worked with abolitionist John Brown, who called her General Tubman. Brown believed in a more violent method of freeing slaves, but they both had similar goals, and both looked to God for protection. Brown would later be caught and hanged for treason.

During the Civil War, Tubman urged President Lincoln to free the slaves in the South. Partway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which Tubman saw that as a step in the right direction. She even had a strategic part in guiding a troop of Yankee soldiers in an assault on Southern plantations. During the war, her aid to the Northern army helped to free hundreds of slaves - and many of the freed men joined the Union Army.

After the war, she married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis in 1869 (her first husband had been killed several years earlier), and they adopted a girl named Gertie.

Later in life, Tubman worked alongside Susan B. Anthony and others in the fight for women's suffrage.

Around the turn of the century, she joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and in 1903 she donated a parcel of land to the church to found a home for elderly folks. The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged opened on June 23, 1908. Due to her childhood injury, she had to undergo brain surgery in the 1890s, and she became a patient in her own Home for the Aged in 1911. On March 10, 1913, she died of pneumonia, quoting her Savior Jesus to the people in the room: "I go to prepare a place for you." She was buried with full military honors.

---

Some quotes from Harriet Tubman:

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

"I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves."

"I grew up like a neglected weed - ignorant of liberty, having no experience in it."

"I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."

"I would fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me."

"Lord, I'm going to hold steady onto You and You've got to see me through."