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Among the biblical heroes of ancient Israel, the personality of Joseph, son of Jacob, stands out as one of particular interest and appeal. Why should this be so? Joseph does not have the impressive, somewhat daemonic power of Abraham and Jacob, men who stood in terrifying intimacy to God Himself. Nor does he have the romantic aura of such figures as David and Solomon, the kingly heroes of Israel in the days of its greatness.
What, then, is the basis of the universalty of response that Joseph has evoked in so many people throughout the centuries? Is his just another “success” story of a country boy who made good? This element certainly adds to the appeal but would hardly be a sufficient explanation of such long-term popularity. It seems to the writer that Joseph, because of his very human qualities, offers many opportunities for identifications. The conflicts that he goes through and the feelings he experiences touch upon familiar areas in many people's lives. Yet a number of scholars, particularly in the period when “modern biblical criticism” came into vogue, tended to regard Joseph, together with the other early leaders of Israel, as generic figures representing tribes rather than individual personalities. Joseph was therefore looked upon as symbolizing the “Joseph tribe,” one of the groups of ancient Hebrews which migrated to Egypt. (1)
More recent tendencies in biblical scholarship favor the older view that these heroes of the Bible could have been, and probably were, actual historical figures. (2) It should be an interesting problem, therefore, to see whether a psychoanalytic approach to the study of Joseph as a personality may help to determine whether he has psychological validity as a real person. To what extent did Joseph's behavior stem