poetry:
Joseph (1) was the favored son of Isaac; out of jealousy his
brothers meant to kill him, but he was rescued and enslaved
by the Egyptians. He became a favorite of Pharoah, and
when his brothers were about to die of hunger, he invited them
into Egypt.
Joseph (2) was the man who became the husband of Mary.
According to more extravagant legend he was Jesus's uncle and actually took his nephew to England to help with the tin mines he had established.
Glastonbury is said to be the birthplace of
Christianity in England. Blake was very
cognizant of that; it led to these lines in the
prologue to The Book of Milton:
"And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!"
In Genesis
37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children,
because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.
37:4 And when his brothers saw that their father loved him
more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not
speak peaceably to him.
37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come to his
brothers, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat
of many colors that was on him;
37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the
pit was empty, there was no water in it.
37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up
their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of
Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing
spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if
we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let
not our hand be on him; for he is our brother and our flesh.
And his brothers were content.
PLATE 55 of Jerusalem:
"the Eternal Man Walketh among us, calling us his Brothers & his Friends:
Forbidding us that Veil which Satan puts between Eve & Adam
By which the Princes of the Dead enslave their Votaries
Teaching them to form the Serpent of precious stones & gold
To sieze the Sons of Jerusalem & plant them in One Mans Loins
To make One Family of Contraries: that Joseph may be sold
Into Egypt: for Negation; a Veil the Saviour born & dying rends."
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