The Quran

Preface

وَقالَ المَلِكُ ائتوني بِهِ أَستَخلِصهُ لِنَفسي ۖ فَلَمّا كَلَّمَهُ قالَ إِنَّكَ اليَومَ لَدَينا مَكينٌ أَمينٌ

Yusuf Ali

So the king said: “Bring him unto me;¹ I will take him specially to serve about my own person.” Therefore when he had spoken to him, he said: “Be assured this day, thou art, before our own presence, with rank firmly established, and fidelity fully proved!²

Joseph had not yet appeared before the king. The king’s order in the same terms in verse 50 above had led to a message from Joseph and the subsequent public proceedings with the ladies. Now that Joseph’s innocence, wisdom, truth, and trustworthiness had been proved, and confirmed by the splendid tribute of the courtier’s wife, and Joseph’s own manly bearing before the king, the king was much impressed, and took him specially to serve about his own person as his trusty and confidential Wazir. If, as is probable, the 'Aziz had by this time died (for he is never mentioned again) Joseph succeeded to his office, and he is addressed as 'Aziz, in verse 78 below. But Joseph got more than his rank and powers, as specially selected to carry out a great emergency policy to meet the very difficult times of depression that were foretold. He was given plenary powers and the fullest confidence that a king could give to his most trusted and best-proved Wazir or Prime Minister, with special access to his Person, like a Grand Chamberlain. (R).
Who was this Pharaoh, and what approximate date could we assign to him? He was probably a king of the Hyksos Dynasty, somewhere between the 19th and the 17th century B.C. See Appendix 4, on Egyptian Chronology and Israel (printed after S. 7).