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.
