The Book of Mormon elaboration on "the coat of Joseph" (Alma 46:24) coordinates well with apocryphal accounts and provides the biblical scholar with additional information on the famed "coat of many colors" which was given to Joseph by his father, Jacob. The Bible does not mention what happened to Joseph's coat after it was smeared with blood by Joseph's brothers and taken to Jacob, but according to the Book of Mormon, the coat was preserved, and, miraculously, part of the coat never decayed. The Book of Mormon account is partially substantiated by the following story by the great Moslem historian, Muhammad ibn-Ibrahim ath-Tha'labi, concerning what took place when Joseph finally met his brothers in Egypt:
And when Joseph had made himself known unto them (his brethren) he asked them about his father, saying, "What did my father after (I left)?" They answered, "He lost his eyesight (from weeping)." Then he gave them his garment (gamis, long outer shirt). According to ad-Dahak that garment was of the weave (pattern, design) of Paradise, and the breath (spirit, odor) of Paradise was in it, so that it never decayed or in any way deteriorated (and that was) a sign (omen). And Joseph gave them that garment, and it was the very one that had belonged to Abraham, having already had a long history. And he said to them, "Go, take this garment of mine and place it upon the face of my father so he may have sight again, and return (to me) with all your families." And when they had put Egypt behind them and come to Canaan their father Jacob said, "Behold, I perceive the spirit (breath, odor) of Joseph, if you will not think me wandering in my mind and weakheaded from age . . ." (for he knew that upon all the earth there was no spirit (breath, odor) of Paradise save in that garment alone . . . And as-Sadi says that Judah said to Joseph, "It was I who took the garment bedaubed with blood to Jacob, and reported to him that the bear had eaten Joseph, so give me this day thy garment that I might tell him that thou art living, that I might cause him to rejoice now as greatly as I caused him to sorrow then." And Ibn-Abbas says that Judah took the garment and went forth in great haste, panting with exertion and anxiety. . .and when he brought the garment he laid it upon his face, so that his sight returned to him. And ad-Dahak says that his sight returned after blindness, and his strength after weakness, and youth after age, and joy after sorrow.
[Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, pp. 187-188]
According to Thomas Valletta, in this account, we not only have the preserved remnant of the garment sent by Joseph to his father to show he was alive, and the torn one mingled with blood which Judah took to his father as evidence of Joseph's death, but we also have a tradition that the one preserved once belonged to Abraham. This peculiar garment had in it the "weave" and "breath" of Paradise. Here is evidence of what might be a symbolic use of garments to represent the covenants of the Lord. Israel traced their covenants with God back to Abraham (Exodus 2:24; Leviticus 26:42; 2 Kings 13:23; 1 Chronicles 16:16; Psalms 105:9; Acts 3:25; 7:8). In this apocryphal story Joseph's garment, which once belonged to Abraham, is preserved through Joseph. The evidence of Paradise in the garment's "weave" and "breath" may reflect the "coats of skins" with which God clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:21) [Thomas R. Valletta, "The Captain and the Covenant," in The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word, p. 238]
“The Coat of Joseph”
Incidental facts related in conjunction with the mention of "the coat of Joseph" (Alma 46:24) not only provide the biblical scholar with additional information on the famed "coat of many colors," but coordinate very interestingly with apocryphal accounts. According to Joseph McConkie, the biblical account tells us that Jacob made Joseph a "coat of many colours" (Genesis 37:3) and that this added to the envy of his brothers. The marginal reading in our old missionary Bible indicates that "colours" could have been translated "pieces," while more modern translations render it "long, sleeved robe" (NEB) or "coat with long sleeves" (JB), all of which suggests that our story has not been fully told. . . .
Writing about the myths and legends of the Old Testament, Theodore H. Gaster says:
What Joseph received from his father is described in original Hebrew as a "coat of pasaim." . . . Now, pasaim is the plural of the word pas, which normally means "length, extension." The Greek Septuagint and some of the other ancient translators took this to mean a garment made out of various lengths of different materials--that is, a kind of quilted or patch work tunic, and it is from this interpretation that the familiar "coat of many colors" is derived. What was really intended, however, was a coat which was extra long and extended to the ankles. (Myth, p. 216)
The late Professor Speiser . . . describes the garment as a "ceremonial robe." . . . According to the view of later authors, Joseph's coat was the holy tunic of the priest." . . . Among the Jews, there are a number of traditions to this effect. Along with the phrase "garments of light," these traditions refer to the garments given by God to Adam as the "celestial garments," the "priestly garments," or "high-priestly garments," which were said to have "supernatural qualities" and to be the garments worn by Adam and his descendants when offering sacrifices (Legends 5:103-4). Such traditions also hold that these were "the priestly garments worn by the firstborn who performed the priestly service before Aaron's time" (ibid. 5:283).
Though the story of Joseph's coat is still shrouded in some mystery, it is evident that it was more than a mere expression of his father's favoritism. It bespoke Joseph's position of superiority over his brothers; it apparently announced that the coveted birthright was to be his. The "coat" given to Joseph by Jacob was a priesthood garment, and may in some way have been related with Joseph's ability to dream dreams and speak by way of revelation which, in the chronology of the Bible story, he then commenced to do. [Joseph F. McConkie, Gospel Symbolism, pp. 30-33] [See the commentary on Alma 46:12]
According to Thomas Valletta, another story from the same Moslem source documents the garment's symbolism of the covenant. As Dr. Nibley paraphrases it: "Joseph's brethren bring his torn garment to their father as proof that he is dead, but Jacob after examining the garment ('and there were in the garment of Joseph three marks or tokens when they brought it to his father') declares that the way the cloth is torn shows him that their story is not true" (Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 218). Moroni quotes a prophecy of Jacob, the Old World patriarch whose name was changed to Israel: "Even as this remnant of garment of my son [Joseph] hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son [Joseph] be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment" (Alma 46:24). The rent garment symbolized the covenants of God to preserve a posterity unto Jacob and Joseph. While those of Joseph who reject the covenants through apostasy and dissension shall perish, God will preserve a remnant of the seed of Joseph (compare Ether 13:6). Moroni says it could very well be that "the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which shall perish as his garment, are those who have dissented from us." In fact, he forewarns, "it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ" (Alma 46:27). [Thomas R. Valletta, "The Captain and the Covenant," in The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word, pp. 238-239]
“Jacob Saw That a Part of the Remnant of the Coat of Joseph Was Preserved and Had Not Decayed”
According to Hugh Nibley, when the Persians were converted to Islam they had been fire worshipers before. They knew nothing of the prophets [of the Bible]. Islam is based on the Bible. The prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are constantly mentioned in the Koran. They had never heard of them. They didn't know who they were. So the great Tha' labi made a famous commentary. This is the account of the prophets, how to explain them. . . . He made this survey at the end of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century so the Persians would know what they were talking about when they read the Koran, who the prophets were and what they did. . . .
After the time of the Romans in the year A.D. 70, when Jerusalem fell, most of the Jews fled to the one safe place, the very tolerant and receptive Persian empire. They fled to the Persian Empire at the time and were accommodated there. So there you find settlements of the Jews. What Tha' labi did was to go out and visit these old settlements where he could find the old-fashioned Jews and ask them for stories about the prophets. They would tell him, and he was very careful to document who his informers were. Sometimes he would go back five to eight generations to find out where a story came from. But this is what the Jews used to tell before the fall of the temple, and this is one of the stories that Tha' labi picked up. It's a very important one. He explains this story of the garment of Joseph.
He is talking here about the shirt of Joseph and the two things. This is what he says: "And when Joseph made himself known to his brethren, he asked them about his father. 'What happened to our father, Jacob?' " He was in Egypt and he was the important man. The brethren had been brought before him, and he said, "What happened to my father after I left?" They said, "He lost his eyesight from weeping." Then Joseph gave them the garment. He had the good half of the garment with him. That's the part that clung to him and he still wore. Joseph handed them the garment, which is called the qamis. Our word chemise comes from that. "And this garment was the garment of the Garden of Eden. It had the weave and the pattern of the janna." That is the Garden of Eden. It is usually rendered just as paradise, before man fell. "It had in it the breath of the garden." . . . The half [Joseph] had was the part that "never rotted, never decayed, and its threads never deteriorated. That was its true state." It kept its true state. There were two parts. " . . . the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed," whereas the other half [retained by Jacob and his other sons] "shall perish even as the remnant of his garment" . It [the part retained by Jacob and his other sons] was decayed and rotten (see Alma 46:24). . . . "Joseph gave that [preserved] garment to them, and this was a garment that had belonged to Abraham."
The idea of a garment of many colors is an invention. If you look in your Bible every time it mentions many colors the word colors (even in the commentary) is in italics because it is put in there by modern editors. It's found in no ancient source. It's not a garment of many colors at all. A garment of certain marks is the term that's used here. We'll see what it is in a second. This garment had belonged to Abraham, and it already had a long history. It's history was lengthy because it went back to the Garden of Eden, you see. That's the garment; it's the only one. Just as we treat the story of Cain and Abel, we trivialize this. We say, "Joseph was the youngest kid, so his father favored him and gave him a pretty garment of many colors." There is no mention in any ancient source of a garment of many colors. That's an invention of modern editors trying to explain it. But here it was, the garment he gave him. It was the garment of the priesthood. No wonder they were jealous of him, they being the elder brothers and he the younger in the patriarchal line coming down from Abraham. This garment had belonged to Abraham and had come down to Joseph instead of to the other brethren. . . .
"And he [Joseph] said to them [his brethren], 'Go with this very garment and place it upon the face of my father, and his sight will return to him.' " It's a miraculous garment. "And then come back to me and bring all the family with you." . . .
Then Judah says, "It was I who took the shirt which was dipped in blood to Jacob, and it was I who reported to him that Joseph had been eaten by a bear." That's what caused him such terrible sorrow. He asked Joseph, "Therefore, to atone for that let me be the one to take the sound part to him." Another source tells us that Judah says "It was I who took the shirt that was dabbled in blood and gave it to Jacob and made him cry his eyes out; therefore, it is only right I should be permitted to take this whole part of the shirt to him that his rejoicing in receiving it may be as great as his sorrow was in receiving the other, and joy would follow sorrow." Notice that his [Jacob's] joy would be a great as his sorrow was. It says here [in Alma 46:25], "Now behold, this giveth my soul sorrow; nevertheless, my soul hath joy." It's the same story he [Tha' labi] is telling here. The only person that reports this anywhere is Tha' labi. You won't find it in the Talmud. You won't find it in the Midrash or the Mishnah. You won't find it in the Bible. Where did Joseph Smith pick it up? He tells us it was an old story, familiar to the Nephites. He [Moroni] says here [in Alma 46:24] "Let us remember the words of Jacob." He [Moroni] is telling the same story [as Tha' labi] here. . . .
". . . [So Judah and his brethren returned to their homeland.] . . . And when they had turned their faces toward Canaan and finally arrived there, their father, Jacob said to them, 'Behold, I detect in this garment the odor.' " [The Arabic word here is ] Riha . . . The Hebrew word ruakh is the Spirit, the Holy Ghost. The same word in Arabic is riha. . . . This means [Jacob said] "I detect, I perceive, I note" . . . (He's blind, you see) . . . "the odor, the spirit, the smell of Joseph, if you do not think me out of my head from old age and a bit barmy." . . . (And this is an important thing.) "When they placed it upon the face of Jacob, he smelled also the smell of the Garden of Eden. For behold there is not in all the earth another garment that has that smell in it." This is a unique thing; this is the garment. "For there is not in any other garment on earth of the winds of the Garden of Eden, unless it is in this one garment." So you can see why the brethren were so jealous; it was the garment of the priesthood. The commentator says he [Jacob] recognized that it was Joseph's garment by feeling it first because it had three marks in it. . . . Of course, they couldn't have been colored marks because he was blind when he felt the marks. He recognized it as belonging to his son Joseph. . . .
Now let's see what we left out here. Oh, the garment was rent. There's no tradition anywhere that the garment was rent, except the Arabs again have a famous story: A student was working for a master as an apprentice, and they said to him, "Does your master feed you well? Does he care for you well?" The student says, "Verily, if my master owned a house full of needles and Jacob came to him and begged for the use of a needle for one hour that he might sew up the torn garment of his son Joseph, he would refuse to lend it to him. That's the kind of man I'm working for." The point is that [the story] takes for granted the torn garment that Jacob wanted to sew up, that Joseph's garment was torn in two parts. The one part was spoiled, and one part never rotted. It belonged to Abraham, and it went back to Adam. In the tradition it was the garment of the garden, and it had the marks on it. That's why Jacob recognized it, and that's why the brethren were jealous obviously. It was the greatest favor he could possibly give him. This is a great thing. Here we get something in the Book of Mormon that really "sews things up."
[The story] says all this happened on Jacob's death bed. . . . This is very important here because Moroni says, "Let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death . . ." (Alma 46:24). [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, pp. 60-63]
Note* The significance and symbolism of the entire story surrounding Joseph's life (as apparently taken from the brass plates--also included in the Inspired Version) is central to the covenant promises contained in the Book of Mormon. The reader is referred to the commentary on the ancient patriarch Joseph contained in Lehi's blessing to his son Joseph in 2 Nephi 3, as well as the additional commentary here in Alma 46. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]