When Joseph bought up every private field in Egypt during the second year of famine, he left one class untouched. (Genesis 47:22) says he did not buy the land of the priests because "Pharaoh gave them a portion." The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan tells a sharper, more personal reason: "because they had considered him innocent at the time when his master was seeking to put him to death, and they had delivered him from the judgment of death."
The priests of Egypt, the Targum reveals, had once saved Joseph's life.
Rewinding to the House of Potiphar
The scene referenced here is the accusation of (Genesis 39), when Potiphar's wife falsely claimed Joseph had attacked her. In the plain Torah text Joseph is simply thrown in prison — which is strange, because by Egyptian law such an accusation carried the death penalty. Why was he spared?
The aggadic tradition, preserved in <a href='/categories/midrash-rabbah.html'>Midrash Rabbah</a> at Bereishit Rabbah 87 and developed in the Testament of Joseph, answers that a council of priests reviewed the evidence. They examined the torn garment, noticed the tear was at the back rather than the front, and determined that Joseph had been fleeing rather than attacking. Their verdict: innocent. Their recommendation: imprison for the sake of Potiphar's honor, but do not execute.
Joseph spent twelve years in the dungeon. But he spent them alive. And he never forgot.
The Long Memory of Gratitude
Two decades later, as vizier of Egypt, Joseph held absolute economic power during the famine. He could have settled scores with the house of Potiphar. He could have confiscated temple estates. Instead, he drew a quiet line around the priestly class and said: not them. They had done right by him when he was powerless. He would do right by them when he was powerful.
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, whose final form was shaped between the 4th and 8th centuries CE, holds this up as a pattern for Jewish behavior in exile. The righteous do not forget the people in a foreign culture who treated them fairly. When the lever of fortune swings, the tzaddik uses it to reward those who showed mercy when mercy was rare.
A Contract Written in Decency
The takeaway reaches into our own century. Every Jewish community in exile has had a handful of outsiders who stood up for it — neighbors, judges, officials. The Joseph model says: remember them. Name them. Protect them when your own fortunes turn. The priests of On kept their land because, one afternoon years before, they had told the truth about a Hebrew slave.