Meaning Hebrew "may God add" or "he will add" (the name given to Rachel's firstborn, Genesis 30:24).
Figure Eleventh son of Jacob; sold into Egypt; rose to second-in-command (Genesis 37-50).
Traditions CATHOLICORTHODOXANGLICANPROTESTANT
In the Christian tradition
Joseph is the favored son of Jacob and Rachel whose story spans the last fourteen chapters of Genesis, from his sale into Egyptian slavery to his eventual reconciliation with his brothers. Christian tradition has long read Joseph as a figure of Christ. The name is shared with Joseph the husband of Mary in the New Testament.
The Joseph cycle (Genesis 37-50) is the longest sustained narrative about a single figure in Genesis, and its themes (the betrayal by brothers; the descent and rise; the eventual reconciliation; "what you intended for evil, God intended for good," Genesis 50:20) have shaped Christian theological reading of providence and reconciliation across the centuries. The figure has been read as a type of Christ from the patristic period onward. The name itself is shared with Joseph the husband of Mary, the more frequent association in modern Christian families; many parents who name a child Joseph are honoring both figures at once. The Catholic Calendar commemorates the Patriarch Joseph alongside other Old Testament forefathers; the Orthodox calendar includes him in the Sunday of the Forefathers before the Nativity.