Genesis 41:1

Gen. 41. The history of Joseph's advancement in Egypt, etc. "The Apis and Serapis of the Egyptians seems to signify Joseph, because, 1. It was the mode of the Egyptians to preserve the memories of their noble benefactors by some significative hieroglyphics, or symbols; and the great benefits which the Egyptians received from Joseph in supplying them with bread-corn, is aptly represented under the form of an ox, the symbol of a husbandman. Thus Suidas (in Serapis) tells us, "that Apis, being dead, had a temple built for him, wherein was nourished a bullock, the symbol of a husbandman." According to which resemblance also, Minutius, a roman tribune, was in very like manner honored with the form of a golden ox, or bull. 2. Joseph is compared to a bullock in Scripture, Deuteronomy 33:17. "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." 3. The same may be evinced from the names Apis and Serapis, for Apis seems evidently a derivative from [the Hebrew word for] Father, as Joseph styles himself, Genesis 45:8. "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God; and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." As for Serapis, it was the same with Apis, and also a symbol of Joseph, which Vossius collects from this: 1. It had a bushel on its head, as a symbol of Joseph's providing corn for the Egyptians. 2. From the etimon of Serapis, which is derived either from [the Hebrew word for] an ox, or from [the Hebrew word for] a prince, and Apis, both of which are applicable to Joseph." Gale's Court of Gen. p. 1. b. 2. c. 7. p. 93, 94.

Gen. 41:14