Abdullah's Side of the Story

There is a French proverb that goes something like this: "In order to judge, you have to listen to both sides."

Makes sense, doesn't it? Most normal people would even say that it is common sense. However, how often do we actually do that? How often do we look beyond the commonly accepted narrative of an event, and really see what lies on the other side of it? Our perception of myth, legend, and religion is rife with one-sided accounts that we invariably take for granted. But dark tales hide even darker truths, and the truth we are not looking at tells a tale about our own prejudices and preconceptions. The hero is good because we've always seen him as such; but was the ogre really an evil man-eater? What if we looked at the tale from the perspective of the ogre? Would what we see make the hero look a lot less heroic? Would looking at the tale from the ogre's perspective serve as the slap in the face that will wake us up from a long and deceitful sleep?

In short, I believe that it would - provided people are willing to put aside their hero-worship and let the light shine on what their hero-tale is so deftly directing attention away from. Towards this end, I would like to present Biblical Myths From The Other Side.

Abdullah (not his real name) lives in the land that we now know of as 'Ancient Egypt'. He has his own little patch of land, on which he harvests enough crop to feed his family, and also earn a few extra pieces of silver by selling whatever tiny surplus remains. Abdullah is educated for a rural Egyptian; he has learned basic reading and writing, as well as some arithmetic, and now he supplements his meager income through keeping the local records of crops harvested, taxes paid, and a number of other, lesser bookkeeping needs that only someone with his education can tend to.

Abdullah is doing well by ancient Egyptian standards - at least for someone living in a rural backwater. But, Abdullah is concerned by news coming from the capital of late. He has heard that a new councilor has been appointed at the royal court, by all accounts a scheming social climber who somehow has managed to worm his way into Pharaoh's good graces. The reputation of this man, a foreigner by the barbaric name of 'Joseph', is a disastrously evil one. It is said that he is a slave from Canaan, a man so vile and repugnant that he thought nothing of dishonoring his master's own wife after his master showed him favor. It is said that this 'Joseph' speaks with the tongue of a snake, and performs evil magics with which he seeks to enslave and usurp the authority of Pharaoh himself.

Abdullah is very, very concerned, indeed. At the behest of this 'Joseph', taxes have been greatly increased this year. The lie is that there has been a huge harvest, and that the people of Abdullah's district can well afford the extra burden. The truth is, even with the generous harvest (and, by all means not a harvest nearly so large as this 'Joseph' has apparently been telling Pharaoh) the taxes are even more of a burden than in years past. If this keeps up, Abdullah fears many people will lose their lands as they will be unable to pay these cruel taxes and still be able feed themselves. If that should happen, the farmers will be forced to eat seed that must be put aside for new sowing season, and a famine will occur where there is no drought!

Abdullah can do nothing, not even raise his voice in protest over what is happening. He is only a peasant, and this 'Joseph' has the Pharaoh's ear. Abdullah knows something is not right, some larger plan is afoot, yet he is unable to understand what the nature of it is... .

A few years have passed, during which Abdullah's concerns have deepened. Despite good harvests, the land is on the brink of agricultural collapse. Almost everything the farmers harvest is taken away. In these years of plenty, when there is no drought, and no invasion of locusts, the people now eat only one meal a day. In times past, such good harvests would have been met with banquets, and the children would all be fat-cheeked. Now everyone's eyes are dull, and all groan under the weight of Joseph's taxes. There is even word that in one distant region, a fertile province called 'Goshen', the weight of the tax has been such that the land has been abandoned by farmers unable to pay what was demanded of them... .

Ah, now there have been some bad harvests, as always happens after a long span of good harvests. Abdullah has seen worse in his lifetime, but the taxation policies of Joseph have brought rural Egypt into desperate straits. The farmers have not the reserves that they would have had, were they left to their old ways. Egyptians understand the rhythm of their land, know how to manage the ebb and flow of feast and famine. Never before has a Pharaoh reached out with the intent of gathering these things within his own control. Not until Joseph.

A strange mythos is being woven around the actions of the man Joseph, and the person weaving it is Joseph himself. Abdullah clearly sees that things are not as Joseph claims them to be. It disturbs him even more that Pharaoh appears to be blind to what Joseph is doing. Or maybe Pharaoh is not; Abdullah does not know. He only knows that Joseph has told Pharaoh a lie about the land of Goshen, and brought foreigners from Canaan in to settle on the plots, and in the homes, that he has ripped from the people who once dwelt there.

More years pass, and Abdullah is livid with rage! All the grain that Joseph stole from the peasants is now being sold back to them at greatly inflated prices! The peasant's own grain! In order not to starve, everyone must now sign over their homes and their plots of land! Only to be given back the very grain they themselves grew, harvested, and handed over to Pharaoh without any thought of recompense! Abdullah is helpless to do anything but stand helplessly by as every piece of land in Egypt is extorted from its owner by Joseph! Soon, he too will be a landless serf, forced to work what was once his own freely held land on Pharaoh's behalf. From freeman to slave, all because of Joseph! And not just his own land, every piece of land in Egypt! When Joseph is done, not one piece of Egyptian land will belong to its rightful owner... .

For those people reading this who are unaware, the biblical story of Joseph, and the 'ten years of abundance, followed by ten years of famine' reflects and actual event in Egyptian history. The event is the take-over of the peasants' land by Pharaoh, and the turning of freemen into serfs. Why does the bible glorify such an event, and make the Hebrew 'Joseph' into a gallant hero? Propaganda, dear readers. Propaganda that we still swallow unquestioningly today.

Image: Pixabay