Till Shiloh Comes

by Gilbert, Morris

  “I cannot go, husband. I am in the manner of woman and so weak I cannot rise from my bed.”

  Potiphar glared at her and argued stringently, but in the end he had to give up. He left her room, and when he encountered Ufa, he said, “The Lady Kesi will not be going to the celebration. I want you to stay with her, since all the other servants will be taking part.”

  “Of course, master,” Ufa said. He smiled and thoughts began to occur in his mind. He knew it was not Kesi’s time of the month, for he kept track of such things. She’s planning something, he thought. An oily smile moved across his lips. We will see what the dear lady is up to….

  ****

  Joseph was so busy with the preparations for the sun festival that he put Lady Kesi out of his mind. He would be making an appearance, and he dressed in a rather modest garment. This was the tenth year since he had been snatched from the pit, and now at age twenty-seven he had been thoroughly immersed in the Egyptian way of life. With certain reservations, he participated in the feast and shared in some of the outlandish customs of the people. As the head steward of an important man in Pharaoh’s government, this was necessary.

  He had left for the festival before the others and was not aware that Kesi was staying home. He spent all afternoon coaching the servants in their responses to the rather complicated ceremony Pharaoh had devised.

  In the middle of the festivities, he received a note from one of the house servants. He opened it and saw Lady Kesi’s handwriting: Come at once. I am in danger.

  Joseph questioned the servant, who was a rather stupid old man and could not tell him much. He had strong misgivings about going back home, but he knew he could do nothing but obey his mistress. He rushed away concerned, although he could not imagine what danger could have come to the lady or why she had remained at home. When he entered the house he was greeted at once by Kesi.

  Lady Kesi’s eyes looked unnaturally large and bright. She had applied quantities of black antimony to her brows and lashes with her pencil, and her mouth was painted and sensuous. She wore a garment of the thinnest royal linen, which revealed her contours, and from her hair came the odor of cypress. There was nothing subtle about her intentions as she put her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. “I have been waiting for you. Come, you will lie with me, Joseph. I am dying with love for you!”

  Joseph panicked as he realized he’d been ambushed. Instead of seeing the loveliness of the woman who clung to him, he searched frantically for a means of escape. With a short, sharp cry of distress he whirled, and as he did, Kesi’s hands caught at his tunic. The garment ripped from his shoulders as he fled the room.

  As the object of Kesi’s unquenchable desire fled, she began to scream. She ripped the upper garment into shreds, and wrath flowed out of her in place of the lust that had been there. “Help me! Will nobody help me! I’ve been attacked!”

  Almost at once Ufa appeared. He had lurked in the shadows, watching and listening, and knew exactly what the truth was, but he now rushed to her side, feigning concern. “Mistress, are you harmed?”

  “Yes! I have been attacked by that vile Hebrew! Go, Ufa, stop him! Beat him! Tie him up! He will die for this outrage!”

  Ufa cried out, “The beast! I will see to it, mistress.” He rushed from the room and called to the two men he had kept back from the festival. “Joseph has attacked the mistress. We must seize him.” Ufa grabbed a heavy beating stick, and the three of them ran straight to Joseph’s quarters, where he had gone to put on another garment. They hurried in and grabbed him. Ufa lifted the stick and brought it down on Joseph, intending to smash his skull. Joseph managed to twist so that it struck him on the shoulder instead.

  “Stop this, Ufa!” he cried. But he had no chance to do other than cry, for the two servants were on him, beating him to the ground. He heard Ufa’s orders: “Seize him! Tie him up!” And as his hands were bound behind him, he realized with utter clarity that he was the lamb in his dream who had wandered into the jaws of a wild beast.

  ****

  Asenath came immediately when she heard of the outrage her friend had suffered. She comforted Kesi, who wept and ripped her own garments, embellishing her story with each retelling.

  Asenath held her and eventually found the courage to ask the question she had difficulty putting into words. “Did he actually have his way with you?”

  Lady Kesi’s eyes were swollen with weeping. “He would have, but I screamed and fought him like a beast. I clawed him with my fingernails and tried to bite him, but if Ufa had not come, he would have possessed me.”

  “I knew he was an evil man!” Asenath cried vehemently. “Now we will see justice done.”

  Justice was indeed meted out that very day. The household of Potiphar gathered together in the courtyard to observe Joseph’s sentence. Asenath sat next to Lady Kesi, holding her friend’s hand.

  It was a strange group, for all of the servants trusted and loved Joseph and despised Ufa. Most of them also knew that it was Lady Kesi herself who had burned with desire for Joseph. The household gossip system kept them all informed, and they were well aware of the gifts she had poured on Joseph and of the melting looks she gave him.

  Potiphar stood and cried out, “Bring in this man Joseph!”

  Asenath was staring avidly, as was everyone else. Joseph came in with his hands bound and wearing only a loincloth and an apron. His body was terribly wounded and bruised by the beating he had taken. She kept her eyes on him; then he turned suddenly and their gazes met. Asenath could not fathom what was going on in his mind. She had formed a bad opinion of the man from the very beginning, but could not define why she disliked him so much. Now she tried to find some satisfaction in his downfall, but to her dismay she felt pity creeping into her heart instead. She could not breathe a word of this to Kesi, of course, who was calling out, “My lord, give me justice!”

  Potiphar lifted his hand for silence and spoke. “I have brought you here for judgment, Joseph,” he said sternly. “You have betrayed my trust in the most terrible way. What went through your mind to do such a thing?” But then he shook his head. “Do not answer. We know the truth. The mistress has told me of your attack on her, and now I shall pronounce your sentence.”

  Lady Kesi was staring. Her lips were opened, and her eyes wild. “Death! It must be death!” she cried.

  Potiphar ignored her, and at that moment Joseph, who had purposed to say nothing in his own defense, saw something in his master’s eyes. He’s known about his wife all this time!

  As Joseph’s eyes locked with Potiphar’s, he knew he had found the truth. How could Potiphar have not known what was going on in his house?

  Potiphar let the silence run on. Nobody spoke or moved. Then he addressed Joseph. “You are fortunate that your attack on my wife did not come to the uttermost end. If it had, you would have been thrown to the crocodiles. But I do pronounce this sentence on you. You will be taken to the prison at Khari-de-Sun, where you will no longer belong to me but to Pharaoh.”

  Kesi’s voice broke out in a wild cry. “You call this justice, my husband?”

  Potiphar turned and moved toward his wife. She flinched at the frightening look in his eyes, then closed her mouth and dropped her head, not making another sound.

  Asenath did not understand what was happening, for she had fully expected Joseph to be staked out to the crocodiles, a most horrible death. Earlier, she would have welcomed this, but now she thought there might be more to this story than anyone supposed. She turned and faced Joseph, who was watching Potiphar and his wife. His eyes lifted and his gaze met hers. Neither of them spoke, and then Potiphar said, “Take him away. I no longer want him in my house.” Joseph was seized and marched out of the room, and the door closed behind them. Then Potiphar said in a low voice, “Wife, you will never speak of this again. Do you understand me?”

  Kesi was trembling, and her voice was a mere whisper. “Yes, my lord, I will obey.”

  And so the drama was over,
but Asenath remained disturbed by it all. She could not understand how this slave had aroused such strong feelings in her. She tried to put them away and purposed to herself, I will never think of him. I thank the gods he’s out of my life forever!

  Part Three

  The Prison

  Chapter 13

  The prison where Joseph was sent was called Khari-de-Sun, meaning “Place of the Doomed Ones.” Prisoners at Khari had no political power or money to buy their way to freedom, so most of them were there for life.

  The acacia-wood burden boat that ferried Joseph upriver to Khari was designed mainly for transporting goods up and down the Nile. Ufa had been put in charge of Joseph, and he spent the long journey doing everything in his power to make the time as unpleasant as possible for the prisoner. Joseph tried to distract himself by watching the boat’s crew. Four oarsmen stood on a raised platform on the forward deck, two crewmen worked the ropes and sails, and a steersman attended the tiller.

  One afternoon Joseph was sitting with his back against the forward mast, his arms bound tightly to it. The ship was going past Memphis, and he knew from overhearing the talk of the boatsmen that they would reach the prison that evening.

  As the ship sailed on, he studied the life of the Nile, observing the hippopotamus herds in the water and crocodiles swarming the banks. White ibises sailed gracefully overhead. The Nile made a green, twisting ribbon down through the arid desert of Egypt. On both sides the floods had deposited thick, black alluvial soil for a distance of several miles. These sections were carefully cultivated and controlled with canals and irrigation ditches that had to be dug again each year. The engineers figured out exactly who would get how much water from the Nile. Woe be it to any man who displeased them and consequently did not get his share, for it meant starvation for him and his family.

  Joseph sat listlessly thinking of the other boat trip he had made ten years earlier when the Midianite trader had brought him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar. That journey had seemed like an eternity ago to him! He had been without hope then, but his life in the house of Potiphar had become tolerable as he rose to a level of respect and authority among the servants. Even though he still mourned the loss of his family, he had been living a reasonably comfortable life in Egypt. But now that life had been destroyed, and here he was heading toward a future that seemed even more hopeless than a life of slavery. He was weak with hunger and thirst. The dry tissues of his mouth craved water, which Ufa doled out to him sparingly. He tried not to imagine what his life at the prison was going to be like, for it only caused him to despair. He was well aware of the prison’s evil reputation for devouring its inmates.

  He thought of his youth when he had been the spoiled darling and pet of his father. And he thought often of his prideful behavior toward his father and brothers. Though he had often cried out to God for mercy and forgiveness, he had never ceased to regret his sins against his family.

  He looked down at his slave’s hip apron, the same the crew wore, and he thought with sadness of all the finery he had worn in Potiphar’s house. He thought of the curled wig, the enamel collar, the armbands and necklace of red and gold, and the fine linen tunic Lady Kesi had ripped from him as he fled her embraces. The memory was bitter.

  Ufa’s ugly face suddenly appeared before him. “Well, I see you are asleep! Good that you are asleep, prisoner, for you will get little of that in Khari-de-Sun! I have a letter here from the master with orders for the prison to work you until you are merely bones crumbling under the sands.”

  Ufa squatted down in front of Joseph, his eyes burning with hatred. He had hated Joseph from the time the young Hebrew had first gained favor in Potiphar’s house. The keenest joy of his life had come on the day when Joseph’s dark hour of judgment had fallen. The only thing that would have given Ufa more pleasure in seeing Joseph punished for the lies about his behavior with the mistress would have been if he himself had engineered it. As it was, he had informed Potiphar that he was suspicious of the pair but had been unable to get sufficient evidence to prove it to the master.

  “Ah, you’re not so high now. Not so mighty, eh?” Ufa gloated. “Where is all your pomp and ceremony now? You had all the servants fooled, but you never fooled me. I knew you were an evil man from the first time you came to our house.”

  Joseph sat quietly staring into Ufa’s face, making no reply. He had not spoken one word to him on the entire journey. It enraged Ufa that Joseph never cried out or begged for mercy when he was mistreated, and now he said roughly, “Unfortunately, I have to feed you. I am not allowed to let you starve.”

  Joseph did not move as Ufa reached into a bag and pulled out a coarse chunk of bread and tried to stuff it into Joseph’s mouth. His mouth was so dry he could not swallow it, however, and with a curse, Ufa got a water bag and squirted a small stream into Joseph’s mouth, which only made Joseph choke.

  “It gives me great pleasure to know that you will die in this place,” Ufa spat. “I am sick of you. This gives me even greater pleasure than if you had been staked out for the crocodiles—although it would have been fun to watch those black monsters devour you alive! But never fear, Khari will make you pay for your crime much more slowly.”

  Joseph finally managed to swallow the bread without responding to Ufa’s taunts in the least. In frustration, Ufa slapped Joseph three times on both cheeks. “I’d like to take a cane to you—and I may yet. Why don’t you try to escape and give me an excuse?” When Joseph remained silent, Ufa got up with a curse of disgust, walked to the aft, and began speaking with the steersman.

  Joseph breathed a sigh of relief for the momentary reprieve. He closed his eyes and thought of his little brother, Benjamin. He would be a young man now. Of all his memories, Joseph’s memory of Benjamin was the sweetest. So he put his head back against the mast, swaying with the craft as it sliced through the water, and thought of his lost brother.

  ****

  The prison had been designed for misery. It consisted of a collection of mud buildings, irregular in shape, thrown together on a peninsula on the eastern shore of the Nile. The buildings included barracks, stables, and storehouses clustered around a tower that served as the residence of the governor of the prison. All of this was enclosed by a high wall of unbaked bricks from which jutted out bastions and platforms. The landing bridge and the fortified gate admitted the boat, and Ufa shouted that he was bringing a prisoner with him.

  A squad of tough-looking soldiers came to meet the boat. Ufa stepped onto the wharf, addressed himself to the soldier in charge, and gave an evil report of the prisoner.

  “He’s a crafty one and not to be trusted,” he spat out, motioning toward Joseph. “It would be well if you beat him now while I’m here. Just give him a taste of what he’s going to get from now on.”

  The officer gave Ufa a sour look. “We don’t take our orders from anyone except the governor. Now, be off with you.”

  Ufa turned and marched back to the boat disgusted, accompanied by two of the soldiers. As they untied Joseph’s bonds, Ufa cried out, “Better keep him tied. He’s vicious.”

  One of the soldiers grinned crookedly, exposing a mouthful of broken teeth. “Where is he going to run to, fellow? Now, on with you.”

  Joseph stepped out of the boat onto the wharf, each arm grasped by a soldier. He never looked back but heard Ufa cursing him, praying for his death.

  The officer in charge said roughly to Joseph, “Well, come along. The governor wants to meet all new prisoners. What’s your name?”

  “Joseph.”

  “What are you, a Hittite?”

  “No, a Hebrew.”

  “All the same,” the officer grunted. “The rest of you go back on duty. I’ll take this violent criminal.” He wore a bronze sword at his side and laughed as he added, “He won’t be escaping from this place, will he?”

  The officer led Joseph through the busy prison yard where many prisoners were working and a smaller group of soldiers were watching them. As they cro
ssed the open space, Joseph prayed silently, O God, I am in your hands. I know you have made me for a purpose, and I await, O mighty everlasting God, to see what it is.

  ****

  Joseph accompanied the soldier inside the tower and walked down a corridor into a large room where a stocky figure seated at a table waited for them. He wore a brown wig and had dark eyes that he fixed on Joseph. His beard was thick, and he appeared totally uninterested in this new prisoner. “Who is this, Captain?”

  “He comes from the house of Potiphar. Here is the letter that accompanied him. His name is Joseph.”

  “The house of Potiphar, eh?” A flicker of interest came to the governor’s eyes as he took the letter. He then addressed the prisoner. “I am Governor Rashidi. You will please me, or things will go badly for you.” He waited for Joseph to answer, and when Joseph merely bowed, he grunted and opened the letter. He read it and then laughed.

  The captain who had brought Joseph in asked, “Is it amusing, sir?”

  “It is rather.” Rashidi turned to look at Joseph, his eyes closing slightly as he studied him. Grinning, he turned and said, “Well, Captain, we get mostly murderers here—revolutionaries, robbers, defilers of the gods—but this fellow is ingenious. He has committed a new crime.”

  “A new crime? I didn’t think there were any,” said the captain with a smile.

  “Well, Joseph here has found one. He is guilty of endeavoring to plow in his master’s field. I refer to Potiphar’s wife, the Lady Kesi.”

  The captain laughed shortly. “And Potiphar did not have his flesh stripped from his bones?”

  “Apparently the prisoner was not particularly successful. He merely attempted to force himself on the lady. Is that right, prisoner?”