Asenath (28 page)

Authors: Anna Patricio

"Welcome to Egypt," my father said stiffly. He looked like he was biting into a sour fruit.

"I am honoured to meet you, my lord and lady," Jacob said as warmly as ever. "Your daughter is an outstanding young woman."

Mother gave him a friendly smile. "We are delighted to have you here, Jacob. The Delta is a beautiful place. We hope you will find it to your liking."

"I am sure we will. Your king and your people have been most kind to us."

Joseph to my parents, "Holinesses, Asenath and I will actually be accompanying them there later. Would you like to come with us?"

"No!" Father shouted. At a look from Mother, he added, "I, ah, I have duties at the temple. I bid you good day." He hurried off.

Mother gave us an apologetic smile. "I must go with my husband now. Take the very best of care."

Her eyes met mine. We shared a look.
Father
.

After my parents left, Joseph and I dismissed our chariots. We did not want to appear so haughty riding while everyone else walked. We began to head toward the Hebrews' new settlement.

"Asenath, I hope you will like dinner tonight," Jacob said. "We will be having lamb cooked in the Canaanite fashion."

"I look forward to it, my lord," I said. "I have never had lamb before. Joseph told me it is quite good."

I did not mention that sheep were an abomination to the Egyptians as they represented everything that was filthy and barbaric. This did not matter to me though. Not especially as my family was Hebrew.

"You may address me as
Abba
," Jacob said. "That means 'Father' in our tongue."

"Thank you." I smiled. "Joseph told me that too. He actually taught me some Hebrew. Unfortunately I know only a few phrases. My boys are quite good at it though. Joseph schooled them from an early age."

"So what do you do in life?" my father-in-law asked. "How do you spend your days?"

I told him about how I used to be a royal tutor, but resigned from it after my first son was born. Now, I was a full-time wife and mother.

The whole time, the brothers hovered nearby, listening. Joseph and Dinah meanwhile were engrossed in their own conversation.

After some time had gone by, my husband announced, "We are here."

We paused to gaze upon the land called
Goshen
. Sure enough, just as my husband said, the land barely had a trace of urban life. It was rich and lush—it looked to have been spared from the famine. The air was cool. The soil was moist and black. In the distance, the streams of the Nile Delta shimmered.

"This is wonderful," Jacob said. "Truly a gift from the Lord. Adonai has blessed us through you, Joseph."

The patriarch turned to face his enormous family. In a booming voice that dwarfed his frail bent frame, he said, "Praise be to Adonai, from whom all blessings flow. Praise be to Elohim, who watches over his people,
Bene Yisrael
. Praise be to El Shaddai, who is the faithful keeper of promises. Praise be to the Lord our God, Adonai."

"Praise be to Adonai!" the Hebrews echoed.

We continued our descent into Goshen. In no time, the Hebrews were completely settled in. Tents were erected, flocks were fenced in and delicious cooking smells wafted through the air.

Later, we were gathered around an enormous bonfire. I tasted the lamb. It was richer than the food of Egypt. A generous amount of herbs had been used. It was a bit overwhelming but delicious.

Sometime after we had satisfied ourselves with the exotic cuisine, Dinah said, "So Asenath, how did you and my brother meet?"

I gave my husband a mock shocked look. "You haven't told them?"

He grinned. "I thought it would sound better coming from you. You are, after all, the artistic half of us."

I shook my head, though I was smiling. Then I looked at my in-laws. Their eyes were now focused on me and I grew a bit nervous being at the centre of attention.

"All right," I said, hesitating. "Well, it happened in the most unusual circumstances. Though Joseph says there are no coincidences and I agree."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Sometime later, I stood on the deck of our barque, looking out at the Nile. Joseph and I had managed to escape together once more.

It was now sunset. Above me loomed a wondrous lavender sky streaked with pale pink clouds. In the horizon, the colours melted into a sheer red. The whole world was bathed in soft rosy glows. Even the river rippled pink, reflecting the sky above. All was quiet except for the waves lapping against the barque.

Suddenly, I felt strong arms wrap around me from behind. I turned around.

A pair of lips met mine.

I responded to them. I drew back to see Joseph tenderly smiling at me.

"I thought you would be here." He nuzzled me.

"Of course."

He kissed me again. "I was confident we would be able to have this sort of opportunity. That is why I suggested we leave the boys behind."

"Aren't you the sly one?" I teased.

He laughed softly.

Wrapped in our embrace, the two of us watched as the pyramids and sphinx came into view. Their brilliant facades glowed against the sky, which was darkening into the ethereal blues and violets of twilight.

Joseph turned to me. In the waning light, I saw a look about his face.

It was a look he reserved only for me.

We needed no words.

His lips were soon upon my neck. He placed a trail of tiny kisses around it, then travelled downwards.

A searing, rapturous,
glorious
heat came over me. I pressed eagerly to him, offering all of myself to him. My fingers dug into his muscled back. I gasped and writhed as his firm warm body quivered against me.

Then when we retreated to our cabin, we came together with much want, much need and much fervour. As I gave myself to him, I received just as much in return. Deep into the night, deep inside our secret mysterious realm, we found each other in the shadows of our dreams, in the whispers of the night sky and in the echoes of the ancient river.

Later, I rested my head against his moist bare chest. I listened to the beating of his heart. It was ever so rapid.

I looked up at him. He placed a tender hand to my cheek.

"Are you crying, my love?" he whispered.

"Yes, but these are tears of happiness. If only you knew how you complete me."

"My love." Joseph gently brushed some strands of hair from my face and kissed me full on the mouth. "No words can ever give justice to the depths of my love for you."

He kissed me again. "I am yours forever, Asenath."

"As I am yours forever, Joseph."

Message from the Author

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed my take on the life of Asenath.

The story of Joseph is one of my favourites in the Bible. Sometime ago, I came to wonder why so much is known about him, while hardly anything is known about the woman he married. As a matter of fact, whenever I tell people I have written about Asenath, the most common remark I get is, "I didn't even know Joseph had a wife!" So if you thought that, you are not alone. Even I did not know of Asenath's existence until later on in my life.

Curiosity about Joseph's Egyptian spouse drove me to research. The results were scarce. Probably the most exhaustive source I came across was the first century Greek text
Joseph and Asenath
which, by the way, was the inspiration for the garden scene. But like this novel, it is fiction.

I then began to imagine what this mysterious priestess might have been like. I desired to give a voice to this tiny, obscure name from the pages of Genesis. I envisioned what kind of life she must have lived. How her personality was like. And how she must have felt upon her marriage to Joseph. After all, one of the few things we know about her is that she was given in marriage to Joseph as his reward for interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. And because so little is known of Asenath, I felt at ease to stretch my imagination as far as possible.

I invite you to visit my blog at
www.annapatricio.blogspot.com
. Feel free to contact me. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for being a part of my debut novelist adventure.

Ankh, weneb, sedjet
—life, health and prosperity!

Sincerely,

Anna Patricio

About the Author

Anna Patricio is a lover of ancient history, with a particular interest in Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome. She is also intrigued by the Ancient Near East, though she has not delved too much into it but hopes to one day.

She undertook formal studies in Ancient History at Macquarie University. She focused mostly on Egyptology and Jewish-Christian Studies, alongside a couple of Greco-Roman units, and one on Archaeology. Though she knew there were very limited job openings for ancient history graduates, she pursued her degree anyway as it was something she had always been passionate about.

Then, about a year after her graduation, the idea to tackle historical fiction appeared in her head, and she began happily pounding away on her laptop. Asenath is her first novel.

Recently, she travelled to Cairo, Israel, and Jordan. She plans to return to Egypt soon, and see more of it. In the past, she has also been to Athens and Rome.

Anna is currently working on a second novel which still takes place in Ancient Egypt, but hundreds of years after Asenath.

She maintains a blog at
http://annapatricio.blogspot.com