Genesis 37:36

Midianites Heb. Medanites. This verse, from E, resumes the narrative from Genesis 37:29.

Potiphar An Egyptian name, denoting "the gift of Ra," the sun-god. It appears as "Potiphera," Genesis 41:45; Genesis 46:20. LXX Πετεφρῆς, Lat. Putiphar, reproducing the Egyptian Pedephrç= "he whom the sun-god gives."

officer Lit. "eunuch." Probably a word used to denote an official about the court. Heb. saris, LXX σπάδων, Lat. eunuchus. Some Assyriologists prefer the derivation from ša rêši= "he who is the head." But there seems to be no sufficient reason to call in question the meaning which the word has in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. The class to which the sarisbelonged has always infested Oriental courts, and the name was therefore likely to acquire a general significance as "a court official." Cf. 2 Kings 18:17 (Rab-saris); Jeremiah 39:3; Jeremiah 39:13; Daniel 1:3.

Pharaoh i.e. the king of Egypt. The title, but not the personal name, of the sovereign: see note on Genesis 12:15.

captain of the guard Heb. chief of the executioners, and, as such, having charge of the prisoners (Genesis 40:3-4; Genesis 41:12). Cf. "captain of the guard," 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 41:10; Jeremiah 43:6; Jeremiah 52:12; Daniel 2:14. Another very possible rendering is "chief of the butchers" (cf. Genesis 40:2, "chief of the bakers"), the officer over the men who killed the animals for the food of the king's house, and one of the principal officials in an ancient court. The Heb. word in the sing. is "cook" in 1 Samuel 9:23-24, i.e. the man who killed the animal for food and cooked it.

If so, the rendering of the LXX ἀρχιμάγειρος, "head cook," "head of the kitchen department," is nearer the truth than that of the Lat. magister militum.