On the other hand, Erich Gruen insists that these arguments completely miss Artapanus’ humor and thus his major motivation. He argues that Artapanus did not intend for his readers to take his imaginative tale literally, since anyone familiar with the biblical stories would quickly recognize his fantastical additions and manipulations. Instead, Gruen insists that Artanpanus playfully teases the pharaohs and exaggerates the accomplishments of the Jewish patriarchs to “comic proportions” in order to demonstrate his own self-confidence as a diaspora Jew. It is this sense of comfort that he aimed to give his Jewish readers.