Pt3 The Temptation and Trial of Joseph in Genesis 39: From Potiphar's House to the High Priest's Ephod (Sotah 36a-b)

This is the third and final part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here; the outline for the series can be found at Part 1.

Joseph, the Royal Polyglot: Language, Oaths, and Power

R' Ḥiyya bar Abba citing R' Yoḥanan - Astrologers Challenge Joseph's Authority (Genesis 41:44)

When Pharaoh appointed Joseph over Egypt, his astrologers¹ objected to elevating a slave bought for 20 silver pieces.²

Pharaoh replied that Joseph showed signs (גנוני) of royalty.³

אמר רבי חייא בר אבא, אמר רבי יוחנן:

בשעה שאמר לו פרעה ליוסף:

״ובלעדיך לא ירים איש את ידו וגו׳״,

אמרו איצטגניני פרעה:

עבד שלקחו רבו בעשרים כסף

תמשילהו עלינו?!

אמר להן: גנוני מלכות אני רואה בו.

R' Ḥiyya bar Abba says that R' Yoḥanan says:

When Pharaoh said to Joseph:

“And without you no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 41:44),

Pharaoh’s astrologers said:

a slave whose master bought him for 20 silver coins

You will appoint to rule over us?!

He said to them: I perceive royal characteristics [ginnunei malkhut] in him and see that he was not initially a slave.

Joseph’s Language Test; Divine Intervention Through a Letter (Psalms 81:6)

To prove royal lineage, the astrologers said Joseph must know all 70 languages.⁴

The angel Gabriel tried to teach him,⁵ but Joseph initially failed.

Gabriel added a letter “heh” (ה - H)—from God's name (YHWH)—to Joseph’s name, transforming it to Yehosef.⁶

With this divine augmentation, Joseph succeeded, as hinted in Psalms 81:6.

אמרו לו: אם כן, יהא יודע בשבעים לשון

בא גבריאל,

ולימדו שבעים לשון.

לא הוה קגמר.

הוסיף לו אות אחת משמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא

ולמד,

שנאמר:

״עדות ביהוסף שמו

בצאתו על ארץ מצרים

שפת לא ידעתי אשמע״

They said to him: If that is so and he is a child of royalty, he should know the seventy languages that all kings’ children learn.

The angel Gabriel then came

and taught him the seventy languages,

but he could not learn all of them.

Gabriel then added one letter, the letter heh, to Joseph’s name from the name of God,

and then he was able to learn the languages,

as it is stated:

“He appointed it in Joseph [Yehosef] for a testimony,

when he went forth against the land of Egypt,

the speech of one that I did not know I heard” (Psalms 81:6).

Joseph Outspeaks Pharaoh

The next day, Joseph answered Pharaoh fluently in every language, then switched to Hebrew,⁷ which Pharaoh did not understand.

When Pharaoh asked to learn it, he could not, and he begged Joseph to keep it secret.

Joseph agreed and swore an oath.

ולמחר,

כל לישנא דאישתעי פרעה בהדיה, אהדר ליה.

אישתעי איהו בלשון הקדש,

לא הוה קא ידע מאי הוה אמר.

אמר ליה: אגמרי.

אגמריה, ולא גמר.

אמר ליה: אישתבע לי דלא מגלית.

אישתבע לו

And the next day, when he appeared before Pharaoh,

in every language that Pharaoh spoke with him, he answered him..

Joseph then spoke in the sacred tongue, Hebrew,

and Pharaoh did not know what he was saying.

Pharaoh said to him: Teach me that language.

He taught him, but he could not learn it.

Pharaoh said to him: Take an oath for my benefit that you will not reveal that I do not know this language.

He took an oath for his benefit.

The Oath Reemerges (Genesis 50:5)

Years later, Joseph asked to bury his father in Canaan, as per his father’s oath.

Pharaoh resisted, but Joseph warned he could also nullify the oath made to Pharaoh.

Fearing exposure, Pharaoh allowed him to go, saying: “Bury your father as he made you swear.”

כי אמר ליה ״אבי השביעני לאמר״,

אמר ליה: זיל איתשיל אשבועתך.

אמר ליה: ואיתשיל נמי אדידך?!

ואף על גב דלא ניחא ליה,

אמר ליה:

״עלה וקבר את אביך

כאשר השביעך״

Years later, when Joseph said to Pharaoh: “My father made me swear, saying” (Genesis 50:5) that I would bury him in Eretz Yisrael,

Pharaoh said to him: Go request the dissolution of your oath.

Joseph said to him: And should I also request dissolution for the oath that I took for your benefit?!

And consequently, even though Pharaoh was not amenable to letting Joseph go,

he worried that Joseph would then request dissolution for the oath that he had taken for his benefit, and Pharaoh therefore said to him:

“Go up and bury your father

according to what he made you swear” (Genesis 50:6).

Appendix 1 - R' Ḥanina ben Gamliel’s Alternative Division of the Names of the Tribes on the Ephod

Sotah.36a.14-36b.3

R' Ḥanina ben Gamliel’s Alternative Division (Exodus 1:2-4)

R' Ḥanina ben Gamliel disagrees with the division⁸ of the tribes based on the Book of Numbers.⁹

He says the stones reflected the order in the Book of Exodus¹⁰ verses 1:2–4.

One stone bore the sons of Leah (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun).

The second stone had Rachel’s two sons (Joseph and Benjamin) at the top and bottom (respectively), and the handmaids’ (שפחות) sons (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher) in the middle.

רבי חנינא בן גמליאל אומר:

לא כדרך שחלוקין בחומש הפקודים,

חלוקין באבני אפוד,

אלא כדרך שחלוקין בחומש שני.

כיצד?

1. בני לאה --

   1. כסידרן,

2. בני רחל --

   1. אחד מכאן,

   2. ואחד מכאן,

3. ובני שפחות --

   1. באמצע

R' Ḥanina ben Gamliel says:

The names of the tribes were not divided on the stones of the ephod

the same way that they were divided in the list found at the beginning of the Book of Numbers (Numbers 1:1–15).

Rather they were divided the way that they were divided in the 2nd book, i.e., the Book of Exodus (Exodus 1:2–4).

How were they written?

1. On one stone, the names of the sons of Leah were written

   1. in the order of their birth: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

2. On the other stone the sons of Rachel were written:

   1. One, Benjamin, was written on this side, i.e., at the bottom of the list,

   2. and one, Joseph, was written on that side, i.e., at the top of the list.

3. And the children of the handmaids, i.e., Bilhah and Zilpah, who were Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher,

   1. were written on the 2nd stone in the middle.

“According to Their Birth” Reinterpreted

Since according to R' Ḥanina ben Gamliel the names weren’t strictly in birth order, “according to their birth” is reinterpreted:

It means the names were written as Jacob originally named them (e.g., Reuben), not in the collective tribal form used by Moses.¹¹

ואלא מאי אני מקיים ״כתולדתם״?

כשמותן שקרא להן אביהן,

ולא כשמות שקרא להן משה:

1. ״ראובן״, ולא ״ראובני״,

2. ״שמעון״, ולא ״שמעוני״,

3. ״דן״ ולא ״הדני״,

4. ״גד״ ולא ״הגדי״

But rather, if their names were not written in the order of their births, then how do I establish the meaning of the phrase: “According to their birth” (Exodus 28:10)?

It means that their names were written according to the names that their father, Jacob, called them,

and not according to the names that Moses called them:

On the stones it said

1. Reuben, and not Reubenites;

2. Simeon, and not Simeonites;

3. Dan, and not Danites;

4. Gad, and not Gadites

Appendix 2 - Homiletic Readings of Genesis Verses in Biblical Order

Genesis 35:18 - Benjamin's Name

• The name "Benjamin" (בנימין) is spelled in full with two letter yods on the ephod

• This is consistent with the verse "his father called him Benjamin" where the name appears with the extra yod

• This explains how the tribal names on the ephod reached exactly 50 letters total

Genesis 37:2 - Joseph's Potential

• "These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph" suggests Joseph was meant to parallel Jacob

• The verse is interpreted to mean Joseph was destined to have 12 tribes descend from him, just as Jacob did

• This potential was not fully realized because of the incident with Potiphar's wife, when "his semen was emitted from between his fingernails"

• Instead, his legacy continued through Benjamin's 10 sons

Genesis 39:11-12 - Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

• "When he went into the house to do his work" - R' Yoḥanan interprets this to mean both Joseph and Potiphar's wife intended to sin

• Rav and Shmuel disagree: one says Joseph came to do literal work, the other says he came for sexual purposes

• "And there was none of the men of the house there within" - The school of R' Yishmael explains it was a festival day when everyone went to worship idols

• Potiphar's wife feigned illness to stay behind and seduce Joseph

• "And she caught him by his garment" - At this critical moment, Jacob's image appeared to Joseph

• The image warned that Joseph's name would be among his brothers' on the ephod stones unless he sinned

• This appearance helped Joseph resist temptation and sanctify God's name in private

Genesis 41:44 - Joseph's Appointment

• When Pharaoh said "without you no man shall lift up his hand," his astrologers objected

• They questioned elevating a slave purchased for 20 silver pieces

• Pharaoh replied that Joseph showed signs of royalty

• The astrologers demanded Joseph know all 70 languages as proof of royal lineage

• Gabriel taught Joseph but initially failed until adding the letter "heh" from God's name to Joseph

Genesis 46:21 - Benjamin's Sons

All of Benjamin's ten sons were named in reference to Joseph:

1. Bela (בֶּלַע) - Joseph was "swallowed" (נבלע) among the nations

2. Becher (בֶּכֶר) - Joseph was Rachel's firstborn (בכור)

3. Ashbel (אַשְׁבֵּל) - God (אל) sent Joseph into captivity (שבאו)

4. Gera (גֵּרָא) - Joseph "dwelt" (גר) as a stranger

5. Naaman (נַעֲמָן) - Joseph was pleasant (נעים)

6. Ehi (אֶחִי) - "My brother" (אחי)

7. Rosh (רֹאשׁ) - "My leader" (ראשי)

8. Muppim (מֻפִּים) - Joseph didn't see Benjamin's wedding canopy (חופה)

9. Huppim (חֻפִּים) - Benjamin didn't see Joseph's wedding canopy

10. Ard (אַרְדּ) - Either Joseph descended (ירד) to other nations, or his face resembled a rose (וורד)

Genesis 48:16 - Fish Imagery

• Jacob blessed Joseph's children: "And let them grow [ve-yidgu] into a multitude"

• R' Yosei ben Ḥanina interprets this: Just as fish underwater are protected from the evil eye, so too are Joseph's descendants

Genesis 49:22 - Joseph as a Fruitful Vine

• "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain [alei ayin]"

• R' Abbahu reinterprets this as "those who rise above the evil eye [olei ayin]"

• This verse is cited as proof that the evil eye has no power over Joseph's descendants

Genesis 49:24 - Joseph's Restraint

Multiple phrases from this verse are interpreted:

• "And his bow abode firm" - R' Yoḥanan explains this means Joseph's sexual urge returned to its normal state

• "The arms of his hands were made supple" - He dug his hands into the ground and his semen was emitted between his fingernails

• "By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob" - Jacob's support in this trial led to Joseph's name being engraved on the ephod

• "From there, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" - From this act of self-control, Joseph earned his leadership role

Genesis 50:5-6 - Joseph's Oath

• Joseph appeals to Pharaoh to bury his father in Canaan based on an oath

• Pharaoh suggests Joseph get the oath dissolved

• Joseph counters that he could also get his oath to Pharaoh dissolved (referring to his earlier promise not to reveal Pharaoh's inability to learn Hebrew)

• Fearing exposure, Pharaoh permits Joseph to go bury his father

Appendix 3 - Gabriel in Talmudic literature as the Jewish people’s guardian archangel

Gabriel Saving Biblical Figures from Furnaces: Abraham from Nimrod’s Furnace, and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from Nebuchadnezzar’s Furnace (Pesachim 118a-b)

Pesachim.118a.20-118b.1

God Rescues Abraham Directly

Gabriel volunteers to save Abraham when Nimrod throws him into a furnace.¹²

ויש אומרים:

״ואמת ה׳ לעולם״ גבריאל אמרו.

בשעה שהפיל נמרוד הרשע את אברהם אבינו לתוך כבשן האש

אמר גבריאל לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא:

רבונו של עולם!

ארד ואצנן

ואציל את הצדיק מכבשן האש

And some say that

the angel Gabriel recited: “And the truth of YHWH endures forever” (Psalms 117:2)

The Talmud elaborates:

When the evil Nimrod threw our father, Abraham, into the fiery furnace,

Gabriel said before God:

Master of the Universe!

I will descend and cool the furnace,

and I will thereby save the righteous Abraham from the fiery furnace.

God declines, stating that as both He and Abraham are “unique” (יחיד), it is fitting that He act directly.

אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא:

אני יחיד בעולמי

והוא יחיד בעולמו,

נאה ליחיד להציל את היחיד

God said to him:

I am unique in my world

and Abraham is still unique in his world.

It is fitting for the unique to save the unique.

Therefore, God Himself went down and saved him.

However, Gabriel is promised future merit: he will save three of Abraham’s descendants.¹³

ולפי שהקדוש ברוך הוא אינו מקפח שכר כל בריה,

אמר: תזכה ותציל שלשה מבני בניו

And as God does not withhold (מקפח) reward from any creature who sought to perform a good deed,

He said to Gabriel: You will merit the rescue of three of his descendants under similar circumstances.

Gabriel Rescues Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 3)

Generations later, when Nebuchadnezzar casts Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into a furnace, ‘Yurkamo’ (יורקמו)—the angel of hail (שר הברד)—offers to extinguish the fire.

דרש רבי שמעון השלוני:

בשעה שהפיל נבוכדנצר הרשע חנניה מישאל ועזריה לתוך כבשן האש,

עמד יורקמו שר הברד לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא,

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

ארד ואצנן את הכבשן

ואציל לצדיקים הללו מכבשן האש

R' Shimon HaShiloni taught:

When the evil Nebuchadnezzar threw Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace,

Yurkamo, the ministering angel of hail, stood before God,

and said before Him:

Master of the Universe!

I will go down and cool the fiery furnace,

and I will save these righteous ones from the fiery furnace.

Gabriel objects: a water-based rescue would be expected and unimpressive. As the angel of fire, he proposes to cool the fire from within and intensify it outside, creating a “miracle within a miracle.”

אמר לו גבריאל:

אין גבורתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא בכך

שאתה שר ברד,

והכל יודעין שהמים מכבין את האש

אלא, אני שר של אש ארד

ואקרר מבפנים, ואקדיח מבחוץ,

ואעשה נס בתוך נס

Gabriel said to him:

The strength of God will not be evident in this manner,

as you are the minister of hail,

and everyone knows that water extinguishes fire.

Your action would not be regarded as a great miracle.

Rather, I, the ministering angel of fire, will descend,

and I will cool the furnace from within, and I will burn it from the outside, to consume those who threw the three righteous men into the furnace;

and I will thereby perform a miracle within a miracle.

God approves, and Gabriel fulfills his earlier reward.

At that moment, Gabriel recites Psalms 117:2, “The truth of YHWH endures forever” (affirming the long-term fulfillment of God’s promise).

אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא: רד!

באותה שעה פתח גבריאל ואמר:

״ואמת ה׳ לעולם״

God said to him: Descend!

At that time Gabriel began praising God and recited:

“And the truth of YHWH endures forever” (Psalms 117:2), as God fulfilled His promise to him from more than a thousand years earlier.

Vision, Sin, and Judgment: Angelic Intervention and Ezekiel’s Temple Visions in Ezekiel 8 and 10 (Yoma 76b-77a)

Yoma.76b.12-77a.3

Daniel’s Angelic Visitor and Its Impediments (Daniel 10:12); Elders offering incense to foreign gods, and 25 men facing east, worshipping the sun with their backs to the Temple (Ezekiel 8)

The Talmud asks what the angel means by telling Daniel, “I have come due to your words” (Daniel 10:12).

The Talmud answers by citing Ezekiel’s vision of 70 elders worshipping idols in the Temple (in Ezekiel 8), suggesting that Israel’s sin had delayed or impeded angelic activity.

Daniel’s merit alone allowed the angel to arrive.

Ezekiel is shown a series of abominations in the Temple: elders offering incense to foreign gods, and 25 men facing east, worshipping the sun with their backs to the Temple.

The Talmud highlights the phrase “their backs to the Temple” to infer an added layer of disgrace—they exposed themselves and defecated toward the Holy of Holies, indicating their deliberate contempt for God.

מאי: ״ואני באתי בדבריך״?

היינו דכתיב: ״ושבעים איש מזקני [בית] ישראל ויאזניהו בן שפן עומד בתוכם עומדים לפניהם ואיש מקטרתו בידו ועתר ענן הקטורת עלה״.

״וישלח תבנית יד ויקחני בציצת ראשי ותשא אותי רוח בין הארץ ובין השמים ותבא אותי ירושלימה במראות אלהים אל פתח שער הפנימית הפונה צפונה אשר שם מושב סמל הקנאה המקנה״,

״ויבא אותי אל חצר בית ה׳ הפנימית והנה פתח היכל ה׳ בין האולם ובין המזבח כעשרים וחמשה איש אחוריהם אל היכל ה׳ ופניהם קדמה והמה משתחוים קדמה לשמש״

Apropos the verses from Daniel, the Talmud asks: What did the angel mean when he said to Daniel: “And I have come due to your words” (Daniel 10:12)?

From this, it seems that the angel was able to come only because of Daniel.

The Talmud answers: This is as it is written:

“And there stood before them 70 men of the Elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan (יאזניהו בן שפן), standing in the midst of them, each man with his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up” (Ezekiel 8:11).

Ezekiel saw the Elders of the house of Israel worshipping foreign gods.

“And the form of a hand was put forth, and I was taken by a lock of my head; and a spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that faces northward where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes jealousy” (Ezekiel 8:3).

“And he brought me into the inner court of YHWH’s House, and behold at the opening of the Entrance Hall of the Sanctuary of God, between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs toward the Temple of YHWH, and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east” (Ezekiel 8:16).

ממשמע שנאמר ״ופניהם קדמה״,

איני יודע שאחוריהם אל היכל ה׳?

אלא, מה תלמוד לומר ״אחוריהם אל היכל ה׳?

מלמד ש:

היו פורעין עצמן

והיו מתריזין כלפי מטה

The Talmud explains: From the fact that it is stated “and their faces toward the east,”

is it not clear that their backs were to the Sanctuary, which is in the west?

Rather, what is the meaning when the verse states “their backs toward the Temple of YHWH”?

This teaches that

they would uncover themselves

and defecate downward, toward the Shekhina.

The verse used a euphemism to refrain from vulgar language.

God’s Rejection of Michael’s Intercession

God tells the angel Michael that Israel has sinned. Michael pleads on behalf of the righteous minority, but God rejects the plea, asserting that the good are culpable for failing to rebuke the wicked.

אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למיכאל:

מיכאל!

סרחה אומתך

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

דיי לטובים שבהם

אמר לו: אני שורף אותם ולטובים שבהם

God said to Michael, the ministering angel of the Jewish people:

Michael!

your nation has sinned (see Daniel 10:21).

Michael replied:

Master of the Universe!

may it be enough for the good people among them to save them from destruction.

God said to him: I will burn them and the good among them because the good do not rebuke the wicked.

God commands Gabriel to take coals from beneath the cherubim and scatter them over Jerusalem—a symbolic act of destruction (Ezekiel 10:2,7)

(See Ezekiel 10.)

מיד: ״ויאמר (לאיש) לבוש הבדים ויאמר בוא אל בינות לגלגל אל תחת לכרוב ומלא חפניך גחלי אש מבינות לכרובים וזרוק על העיר ויבא לעיני״

מיד: ״וישלח הכרוב את ידו מבינות לכרובים אל האש אשר בינות הכרובים וישא ויתן אל חפני לבוש הבדים ויקח ויצא״

Immediately, God spoke to Gabriel: “He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said: Go in between the wheelwork and beneath the cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter them over the city; and he came before my eyes” (Ezekiel 10:2).

Immediately: “And the cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubs into the fire that was between the cherubs, and took and put it into the hands of him that was clothed in linen, who took it and went out” (Ezekiel 10:7).

Rav Ḥana bar Bizna citing R' Shimon Ḥasida - Cooling of the Coals and Partial Mercy

Rav Ḥana bar Bizna, quoting R' Shimon Ḥasida, states that the punishment was mitigated only because the coals cooled while being passed from the cherub to Gabriel.¹⁴

אמר רב חנא בר ביזנא, אמר רבי שמעון חסידא:

אילמלא לא נצטננו גחלים מידו של כרוב לידו של גבריאל

לא נשתיירו משונאיהן של ישראל שריד ופליט

Rav Ḥana bar Bizna said that R' Shimon Ḥasida said:

If it were not for the fact that the embers cooled as they were passed from the hand of the cherub to the hand of Gabriel, instead of Gabriel taking the embers directly himself as he had been told,

not a remnant or a refugee of the enemies of the Jewish people, a euphemism for the Jewish people themselves, would have survived.

The cooling of the embers limited the punishment.

Appendix 4 - On the Division of the Torah into Five Books, and the terms ‘Pentateuch’ and ‘Chumash’

See Wikipedia, “Chumash (Judaism)“, section “Etymology“:

The word ḥumesh has the standard Ashkenazi Hebrew vowel shift of ḥomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books; by synecdoche, it came to mean the five fifths of the Torah.

The modern […] pronunciation ḥumash is an erroneous reconstruction based on the assumption that the Ashkenazic accent, which is almost uniformly penultimately stressed, had also changed the stress of the word.

ḥumesh preserves the original stress pattern and both pronunciations contain a shifted first vowel.

In early scribal practice, there was a distinction between a Torah scroll containing the entire Pentateuch on a parchment scroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound in codex form, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity. The term ḥomesh strictly applies to one of the latter.

Thus, ḥomesh B'reshit strictly means "the Genesis fifth", but was misread as ḥumash, B'reshit and interpreted as meaning "The Pentateuch: Genesis", as if ḥumash was the name of the book and Bereshit the name of one of its parts.

Compare the misunderstanding of "Tur" to mean the entirety of the Arba'ah Turim.

And see Hebrew Wikipedia, “חומשי התורה“, section “חלוקת התורה לחומשים“, my translation:

The Division of the Torah into Five Books

According to biblical scholar Baruch Jacob Schwartz, by the time of the Torah’s final redaction, it had become too large a literary work to be written on a single scroll. As a result, its contents were divided into five parts. (E.B. on this, see my "Counting Words and Rolling Scrolls: Word Counts of the books of the Hebrew Bible, in the Context of the Ancient Use of Scrolls As Writing Material”.)

Each part was written on a separate scroll and called a ḥomesh (literally, 'a fifth'). The collection of the five ḥomashim became known as the ḥamisha ḥumshei Torah ('Five Fifths of the Torah'), which together comprise the complete text of the Torah […]

In Tannaitic literature, the names of four of the five books are cited: Sefer Avraham Yitzḥak Yaakov (also known as Sefer HaYashar), Torat Kohanim, Ḥomesh HaPekudim, and Mishneh Torah.

Among the Amoraim of Eretz Yisrael, they were referred to by their opening words (=incipits): Sefer Bereshit, Sefer Shemot, Sefer Vayikra, Sefer Bamidbar, and Sefer Devarim.

The Book of Psalms was also divided into five sections, and the five scrolls (Ḥamesh Megillot) may have also been called ḥomeshim when written together in a single scroll.

As a result of this division, the full text of the Torah came to be referred to as the ḥamisha ḥumshei Torah.

And see Elaine Goodfriend, “Why Is the Torah Divided into Five Books?“, at The Torah.com, section “Five-Part Division in Second Temple Literature“:

The 2nd century B.C.E. Letter of Aristeas (which tells the origins of the Septuagint Pentateuch translation), refers to the books and “rolls” (τὰ τεύχη) of the Jews, i.e., treating the Torah as plural. Nevertheless, it does not specify the number five.

Five Books

The earliest reference to the five-fold division of the Torah (for him, the Greek LXX) is made by the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus (ca. 25 B.C.E.- 50 C.E.), in the opening of his On Abraham, in which he notes that the Torah has five books […]

Several decades later, Josephus, who died in 100 C.E., speaks of the devotion of Jews to their sacred books and explains:

“For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us . . . but only 22 books… and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death.”

“Pentateuch”

The first time the Greek word “Pentateuch” is used in reference to the Torah is the middle of the second century C.E., in a Greek epistle written by the Gnostic Christian philosopher Ptolemy to a female believer named Flora:

“First, you must learn that the entire Law contained in the Pentateuch of Moses was not ordained by one legislator—I mean, not by God alone, some commandments are Moses’, and some were given by other men.” […]

And ibid., section “Five-part Structures in Tanakh“:

Another early indication of the five-part division of the Torah is the five-part structure of other biblical works such as Psalms, whose five-part structure is best explained as mimicking the Torah […]

The rabbis of the Roman period interpreted the five-part arrangement as corresponding to that of the Torah, as is evident from Midrash Tehillim, (also known, as Midrash Shocher Tov) […]

The book of Proverbs can be divided into five parts based on its superscripts […]

The Mishnaic tractate Avot had five sections in its original core […]

The book of Job has speeches by five persons in addition to God.

And ibid., section “Maximal Scroll Length“:

Some have suggested that the technology available to the ancients made a full-length Torah scroll impossible, with Genesis (the longest book of the Torah) representative of maximum scroll length.

But this seems to be incorrect. As Menachem Haran has noted, Chronicles, which was considered a single book in antiquity, is 25% longer than Genesis, and it would have been written on one scroll […]

[S]croll length is a possible explanation for why the Torah is divided into more than one book, but it does not explain why five.

And see there in the continuation at length on word count and the thematic splits of the five books.

1. איצטגניני.

The etymology of this word isn’t clear, it may come from Latin signum (“sign, mark, symbol”, i.e. divine sign), see Hebrew Wikipedia, “אצטגנין“, section “גיזרון“.

“Pharaoh’s astrologers” are a common trope in the Talmud, see search results here.

2. As stated in Genesis.37.28:

ויעברו אנשים מדינים סחרים

וימשכו ויעלו את־יוסף מן־הבור

וימכרו את־יוסף לישמעאלים בעשרים כסף

ויביאו את־יוסף מצרימה

When Midianite traders passed by,

they pulled Joseph up out of the pit.

They sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites,

who brought Joseph to Egypt.

3. מלכות - and must not have been born a slave.

4. As was expected of royal heirs.

I quote this section in my discussion of the Talmudic trope of the 70 languages, here: “Appendix – The Concept of the Seventy Languages as Representing All Global Languages in the Talmud“, section “Joseph’s Divine Linguistic Mastery: Gabriel’s Intervention and the Seventy Languages (Sotah 36b)“.

5. Gabriel in Talmudic literature is the Jewish people’s main archangel. See my discussion in the appendix to this piece, “Appendix 3 - Gabriel in Talmudic literature as the Jewish people’s main archangel“.

6. The same thing is said earlier in the sugya, based on the same verse in Psalms: that a letter from the name of God was added to Joseph’s name; see there.

7. לשון הקדש - Lashon Hakodesh.

8. In Part 1 of this series.

9. חומש הפקודים - literally: “ ‘Fifth’ [=Book] of the Census”.

On this term, see my appendix at the end of this piece: “Appendix 4 - On the Division of the Torah into Five Books, and the terms ‘Pentateuch’ and ‘Chumash’”

10. חומש שני - literally: “Second ‘Fifth’.

11. E.g., “Reubenites” - ראובני - Reuveni.

On this linguistic form, called a demonym in linguistics (“a word that identifies a group of people—inhabitants, residents, natives—in relation to a particular place“), see my extended note in my piece “Abba” at my Academia page.

12. On this, see my recent piece, “Roasted in Nebuchadnezzar’s Furnace: The Fall of Two Minor False Prophets and Joshua the High Priest, based on Jeremiah 29 and Zechariah 3 (Sanhedrin 93a)“, and the appendix there.

13. Meaning, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, as discussed in the next part.

For more on this story in the Talmud, see two-part “Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and the Fiery Furnace in the Talmud: Aggadic Expansion of Daniel 3 (Sanhedrin 92b-93a)“, final part here.

14. I.e. this cooling spared complete annihilation.

For the continuation of this sugya, see my “Heavenly Politics: Gabriel, Dubiel, and the Persian Tax Regime (Yoma 77a)“.