Exploring a retrospective narrative in Genesis 45:1–15

Abstract

The text of Genesis 45:1–15 belongs to the composition of Joseph’s narrative. This literary unit has an affinity with Genesis 37 that records the filial crime of Joseph’s brothers against him (Joseph) as they intend to solve their conflict through a heinous act. The literary composition of Genesis 45 has been studied by commentators and scholars of the Old Testament from diverse perspectives. However, none of the scholars have studied the text from the standpoint of a retrospective narrative. A retrospective narrative is a literary technique expressed in a literary construct when a narrator flashes back to a past event, recreates the discourse and brings the episode into the present.

Contribution: This article contributes to scholarship as it argues that the literary unit of Genesis 45:1–15 is encoded in a device of a retrospective narrative. This is found in verses 4–8 of the pericope as the narrator artistically recreates the filial crime of the brothers against Joseph in Genesis 37 when they sold him into slavery.