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Exodus says that a new king who did not know Joseph rose over Egypt, giving no reason for the change. Jubilees fills this narrative gap by adding a war with Canaan in which the old pharaoh is killed and a stronger king takes his place.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 1:8
Hebrew Bible
6 and in time Joseph and his brothers and all that generation died. 7 The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them. 8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt. 9 He said to his people, “Look at the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are!
Jubilees 46:7
Pseudepigrapha
6 He made them swear about his bones because he knew that the Egyptians would not again bring him out and bury him on the day in the land of Canaan, since Makamaron, the king of Canaan — while he was living in the land of Asur — fought in the valley with the king of Egypt and killed him there. He pursued the Egyptians as far as the gates of Ermon. 7 He was unable to enter because another new king ruled Egypt. He was stronger than he, so he returned to the land of Canaan, and the gates of Egypt were closed with no one leaving or entering Egypt. 8 Joseph died in the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, during its second year [2242]. He was buried in the land of Egypt, and all his brothers died after him.
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Notes and References
... The insertion of a war story offers an opportunity to explain the postponement of Joseph's funeral in Canaan. He also uses this war story to examine the rise of a new king. The text of Exodus 1:8 looks straightforward. However, the failure of the writer to mention the death of the previous king and his subsequent succession led the author of Jubilees to introduce a story in which the old king died in the war between Egypt and Canaan and in which a new king was appointed. ...
van Ruiten, Jacques T.A.G.M.
"Between Jacob's Death and Moses' Birth: The Intertextual Relationship between Genesis 50:15-Exodus 1:14 and Jubilees 46:1-16" in Hilhorst, Anthony; Puech, Emile; Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C. (ed.) Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martinez
(pp. 479-480) Brill, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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