The present article aims to make a psychoanalytical approach to the person of Joseph and his brothers. The text here can be found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Joseph and his brothers

I will highlight some excerpts from the selected text for the purpose of study and deepening.

The text follows: "Jacob stayed in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived. This is the story of Jacob's family. When Joseph was a young man of seventeen, he was tending sheep and goats, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, who were his father's wives. And Joseph would tell his father about the wrong things his brothers did. Jacob was already old when Joseph was born and so he loved him more than all his other sons.

Jacob had a long, long-sleeved tunic made for Joseph. His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than they loved them, so they hated him and were rude when they spoke to him. Once Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers. That's when they got angrier at him, because he said: "Listen, I'm going to tell you about the dream I had. I dreamed that we were in the field tying sheaves of wheat.

Suddenly my bundle stood upright, and your bundles stood around mine and bowed down before it. Then his brothers said, "Do you mean you are going to be our king and rule over us? And they hated him even more because of his dreams and the way he told them. Then Joseph dreamed again and told this dream to his brothers as well. He said, "I had a dream.another dream.

Still on the text of Joseph and his brothers

This time the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down before me. When Joseph told this dream to his father and brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What does this dream that you had mean? Are your mother, your brothers and I going to kneel down before you and put our faces to the ground? Joseph's brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about the case. One day Joseph's brothers brought their father's sheep and goats to the pastures near the city of Shechem. Then Jacob said to Joseph, "Come here.

I will send you to Shechem, where your brothers are tending the sheep and the goats. I am ready to go," answered Joseph. Jacob said, "Go there and see if your brothers and the animals are doing well, and bring me news. Then from there, from the valley of Hebron, Jacob commanded Joseph to go to Shechem, and he went. When he arrived there, he went walking through the field. Then a man saw him and asked, "What are you looking for? I am looking for my brothers," answered Joseph, "they are out there, in some pasture, tending the sheep and the goats.

The man answered, "They have already left here. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan. Then Joseph went to look for his brothers and found them in Dothan. They saw Joseph from afar and, before he could get close, began to make plans to kill him. They said, "Here comes the dreamer! Come, let's kill him now. Then we will throw his body into a dry well and say that a wild animal devoured him. Then we will see how his dreams turn out.

Reuben, Joseph and his brothers

When Reuben heard this, he wanted to save him from his brothers and said, "Let's not kill him. Don't shed blood. You can throw him into this well here in the desert, but don't hurt him. Reuben said this because he planned to save him from his brothers and send him back to his father. When Joseph arrived at the place where his brothers were, they tore from him the long, long-sleeved tunic that he was wearing.

Then they took it and threw it into the well, which was empty and dry, and sat down to eat. Suddenly, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites passing by, coming from Gilead and going to Egypt. Their camels were loaded with perfumes and spices. Then Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and then hide his death? Instead of killing him, let's sell him to these Ishmaelites. After all, he is our brother, he is of our blood. The brothers agreed.

When some Midianite traders passed by, Joseph's brothers took him out of the well and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bars of silver. And the Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the well and saw that Joseph was not inside, he tore his clothes as a sign of sorrow. He went back to where his brothers were and said, "The boy is no longer there! And now what am I going to do? Then the brothers killed a young goat and with the blood they stained Joseph's tunic.

The sign of sadness

Then they brought the tunic to his father and said, "We found it there, is it your son's tunic? Jacob recognized it and said, "Yes, it is my son's tunic! Surely some wild animal tore it to pieces and devoured it. Then, as a sign of sorrow, Jacob tore his clothes and put on mourning garments. And for a long time he mourned for his son. All his sons and daughters tried to console him, but he would not be consoled and said, "I will mourn for my son until I go and meet him in the world of the dead. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer and captain of the guard of the king of Egypt" (BIBLE, Genesis, 37, 1-36).

And Joseph would tell his father of the wrong things his brothers did. The families of biblical times were not made of saints and holy men, we can already start our study like this, reader. The Israelite homes were never perfect. The Bible shows the innumerable tensions that took place there, from mistreatment, conflicts, in short, aspects that can be seen in any culture. We can even explain some situations that have occurred: opposition between parents and children, sibling rivalry, narcissism, selfishness, tensions, etc.

It is the death drive, that is, the human being and his destructive nature. Joseph lived in a family where the father, culturally speaking, was of great relevance and authority. We can even bring in Freud's concept of the primal horde, in other terms, an omnipotent male who owns the females. It is worth remembering that Joseph's birthplace was polygamous, but the head of the family was owed discipline and respect.

Lord of the family, Joseph and his brothers

The lord of the family, for example, could divorce his wife with great ease, but the woman did not have the same right, just observe the biblical teaching: "When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it will happen that if he does not find favor in her eyes because he finds something indecent in her, he will write her a letterof divorce, and shall give it into his hand, and shall send her out of his house" (BIBLE, Deuteronomy 24. 1).

The image of the father has always existed in human history, since ancient times. An image placed in gods by human beings, to placate their helplessness in the face of a hostile world. The Greek patriarchal gods were provided with paternal attributes, but let's go back to Joseph and his peculiarities: certainly Jacob contributed significantly to Joseph's personality The young man was brought up in a culture where the term father was synonymous with god.

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The father, god, was the breadwinner of the family, he also provided for the education of the children. Often he taught his offspring himself. Well, we can imagine the Jewish home, so to speak, as a Mount Olympus, inhabited by a god, that is, the father. Certainly the respect Joseph had for his father was like a daily devotion, a search for the ideal ego, where the revelations of his brothers' faults were his continuous prayers and sacrifices on Mount Olympus.

A perfectionist superego

With a perfectionist superego in meeting Jacob's narcissistic demands. Ambivalence inhabited young Joseph's heart, in summary, what happened between the brothers were mixed games of love and hate; envy, jealousy, among others. There is a displacement of libidinal or aggressive impulses, which would be directed towards Jacob. Joseph's father, god, was his norm fundamentally, in other words, Jacob was the limiter of the dyad between Joseph and his mother, and the limitation birthed Joseph's god.

Jacob was already old when Joseph was born, so he loved him more than all his other sons. Joseph was an exemplary son to Jacob, excellent in the art of herding goats and sheep. He loved his son, everything he taught Joseph. The Jewish people saw the child as a kind of status, yes, those who didn't have one were looked upon with a certain suspicion: what is God's reason for not having blessed so-and-so with children?

There was even a prayer of thanksgiving to God for not giving birth to daughters in the family. Joseph's mother, the reader, died during the birth of Benjamin, the young man's brother. We have Joseph experiencing a first loss in his existence, that is, Jacob assumes a role aso delicate: paternal and maternal function.

The family nucleus of Joseph and his brothers

Therefore, Jacob had a hard time removing his son from the phallic phase. It is an important phase of the human being, it is the time of the constitution of the family's sense of belonging. The child is part of the family nucleus, he has a place in the family and that he has the love of his parents. He loved him more than all his other sons, so much so that his father gave Jacob a long, multicolored robe.

Such a garment represented all that was noble, a garment worn only by great leaders. Jacob fed Joseph's narcissism: "Listen, I am going to tell you the dream I had. I dreamed that we were in the field tying sheaves of wheat. Suddenly my sheaf stood upright, and your sheaves stood around mine and bowed down before it [...]" (BIBLE, Genesis, 37. 6-7).

Joseph dreams that he is recognized by his family by bowing. In the Jewish context, only slaves bowed before their master. It was also the recognition of someone very important. And Joseph's brothers are angry, that is, a feeling of frustration dwells in each of them. In fact, anger was the feeling chosen by the brothers so that they would not have to face other fears: fear, insecurity, lack of affection, etc.

Joseph aspired to be king

Joseph aspired to be king, to have power, to be a king with a scepter in the shape of a phallus. Then Jacob said to Joseph, "Come here, I will send you to Shechem, where your brothers are tending the sheep and the goats. I am ready to go," answered Joseph. Jacob said, "Go there and see if your brothers and the animals are doing well, and bring me news. God sent the king to see how the slaves were treating the animals, we can re-read the verse like this.

The king with the scepter, phallus, in hand, wielded and held by the heights of narcissism. "They saw Joseph from afar, and before he came near, they began to make plans to kill him" (BIBLE, Genesis, 37. 18). The siblings as a group with nullified personalities and constituting a new social order and functioning. They are willing to structure a new morality and logic that accepts no faults, all conditioned to the same objective: to put an end to the person of Joseph.

What occurred was a sibling rivalry, the brothers were having destructive feelings, death was the way for the son who had all the perks granted by his father. Fear of scorn was the fuel for such rivalry. When Joseph arrived at the place where his brothers were, they tore from him the long, long-sleeved tunic that he was wearing.

An empty, dry well

Then they picked him up and threw him into the well, which was empty and dry. Behold, the brothers' hatred took shape: an empty well, dry and deep.

You see, reader, there is a symbolic dimension in the figure of the well, that is, it carries the symbol of anguish, a cutting function, a tear in Joseph's reign. The phallus was placed on the earth and thrown into the depths of a pit.

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The prince had his narcissism undermined and castrated, the omnipotent king became a slave to the death drive coming from his brothers. The well was another experience of loss for the young man, an experience extended to Egypt: anguish, suffering and castration.

Conclusion

I decided to approach the young Joseph up to verse thirty-six, the following subjects of the text are also very rich in psychoanalytic content. You who are now reading the text: do you accept the challenge?

Continue the research, not that this article will conclude the verses covered here, the first part of the study, no, the text worked here throbs for more knowledge.

What else can Joseph's well present to us? What is in its depth? Find out and tell us.

References

BIBLE. portuguese. study bible. almeida study bible reviewed and updated. são Paulo: biblical society of Brazil, 2006.

This article was written by Artur Charczuk ( [email protected] ), a pastor and psychoanalyst in Rio Grande do Sul, a pastor who psychoanalyzes and a psychoanalyst who pastors.