Who were the priests of On? Was Joseph wrong to marry the daughter of a pagan priest (Genesis 41)?

On, or the city of the sun, Heliopolis, where in earlier days resided Potipherah, the prince — priest of the sun, and the father of Joseph's wife, was the great seat of learning in Egypt, and the place of its first college. There astronomy and all branches of science were studied, and the priests of On were for generations famed for their attainments. The city stood on the eastern bank of the Nile, not far from Pithom and Rameses, and there it is probable Moses became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. On, as its name implies, was devoted to the sun, and hence its worship.

The 'city of the Sun,' in Egypt. Poti-pherah, the father of Asenath, Joseph's wife, was priest of the city. Gen. 41:45, 50; Gen. 46:20. It is regarded as the same as BETH-SHEMESH in Jer. 43:13, and as AVEN in Ezek. 30:17; and is supposed to be alluded to in Isa. 19:18; see margin. Identified with the ruins of Heliopolis, 30 8' N, 31 23' E: about ten miles N.E. of Cairo. On has been found in the inscriptions as AN and AN-T.

The priest of On, or Heliopolis, whose daughter Asenath became Joseph's wife. Gen. 41:45, 50; Gen. 46:20.

Asenath

Asenath herself is presented as 'the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On' (v. 45). This is in great contrast with Rebecca where Abraham had insisted that only one of his family would be suitable as a bride for Isaac. Whereas Rebecca illustrates the fact that the church is the one 'called-out' ('ecclesia') from her surrounding in order to travel and to meet Isaac at the end of her journey, Asenath illustrates a different truth. Asenath is the Gentile, the stranger to the promises of Israel. She gives a picture of the church as the bride that has come from among the Gentile nations and not from Israel exclusively.

Verse 11 tells us of Solomon's relations with Pharaoh's daughter: "And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house which he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy to which the ark of Jehovah has come." Many have thought that Solomon's union with the daughter of the king of Egypt was an act of unfaithfulness to the prescriptions of the law. Forgetfulness of the typical meaning of the Word may lead to such mistakes. Would we say that Joseph was unfaithful in marrying Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Gen. 41: 50)? that Moses was unfaithful in marrying Zipporah, daughter of the priest of Midian (Ex. 2: 21)?

Did not some of Bethlehem-Judah take wives of the daughters of Moab, and that, too, without rebuke? Did not Joseph, in his marriage, deviate from the holiness of Abraham, and Moses from the ordinances of the law? Was not Rahab, though a daughter of the uncircumcised, adopted of Judah, and so conspicuous in the ancestry, after the flesh, of David's Lord? And did not Samson take to wife a woman of Timnath, that belonged to the Philistines?

The people of God were not in due order on the occasions of those strange events; and this is the moral vindication. The light of divine wisdom in divine dispensation becomes the judge, rather than ordinances. The Jews were now in the dispersion. Joseph, if we please so to express it, is in Egypt again, Moses in Midian, and the sons of Bethlehem-Judah in Moab; and Esther is as much unrebuked for going in unto the king of Persia, as Joseph for marrying Asenath, or Moses for marrying Zipporah, or Mahlon for marrying Ruth; and each and all of them stand without reproach or judgment before God in these things, just as David did when he ate the showbread. Nay, these things were of God, as Samson's marriage with a Philistine woman seems distinctly to be so recognized (Judges 14:4).

Now God points out the blemish in this reign to us. It was not the marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, for this was indispensable if Solomon were to be a type of Christ in His government. Joseph in his time had contracted a similar union; the sons who issued therefrom had given their names to two of the tribes of Israel after having received the blessing of the patriarch, the father of this people. What is more, Solomon had acted according to the thoughts of God toward this Gentile wife, and Chronicles is careful, as we have seen before, to show us that the king did not give her a place of immediate nearness to the ark of the covenant and the city of the son of David. Thus it was not on account of this union that blame fell upon Solomon; as a millennial type, he, "the light of the nations," of necessity went beyond the ordinary relationships of a king of Israel. Also the Word sets Pharaoh's daughter in a place that is distinct from the other strange wives (v. 1).

This union recalls that of Joseph with an Egyptian bride, the daughter of the priest of On, but their typical meanings differ. Joseph, rejected by his brothers, before making himself known to them, finds a wife and sons in Egypt among the nations according to that which is said of Christ in Isaiah 49:5-6: "Though Israel be not gathered … I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Joseph's marriage typifies the relationship of a rejected Christ with the Church, and it brings before us the posterity which He acquires outside the promised land before taking up his relationship with His own people again.

But Pharaoh not only gave to Joseph a full and glorious name — he gave him a wife as well, "Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest (or prince) of On." And this Gentile wife, given to Joseph during the time of his separation from his brethren, is a most beautiful and unmistakable type of the Church given to Christ, to be His bride, during this the time that He is lost to His brethren after the flesh — the Jewish nation. There are seven such types of the Church (if we include Rachel) in the Old Testament Scriptures: Eve, Rebekah, Rachel, Asenath, Zipporah, Abigail, and Solomon's queen, the daughter of Pharaoh. They form a most interesting group, and would, I believe, amply repay a detailed study. Let us take the briefest glance at them:

Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnaph-paaneah, which means in Coptic language “revealer of secrets,” but in Egyptian, “Savior of the world” (v. 45). Both are appropriate as applying to Christ, for He has revealed the Father and the Father's counsels, and by virtue of His great sacrifice on Calvary He is indeed the Savior of the world. As to the wife Joseph was given, Asenath, we are told almost nothing, except that she was a daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. But she is typical of the church, a Gentile bride, being united to the Lord Jesus at a time when He has been rejected by Israel.