On Joseph the Patriarch

1. A Father's Love and the Seeds of Envy

We are instructed, then, what sort of affection ought to belong to parents for the sake of their children. It is sweet to love one's children; and more intensely, more sweetly loved: but often paternal love itself, unless it keeps moderation, harms the children; if either too much indulgence relaxes love, or the preference of one turns the rest away from the affection of kinship. More is gained for a son to whom the love of his brothers is gained. This is the more distinguished munificence of fathers, this the richer inheritance of sons. Let equal favor join the children whom equal nature has joined. Devotion knows no gain of money, in which there is loss of devotion. Do you wonder if quarrels arise between brothers over a farm or a house, when because of a tunic envy blazed up among the holy sons of Jacob?

2. Jacob's Favor and the Coat of Many Colors

What then? Is Jacob to be blamed because he preferred one to the rest? But we cannot take away from parents the liberty of loving more those whom they believe to deserve more; nor ought we to cut off from children the zeal of pleasing more. In short, Jacob also loved him more, in whom he foresaw the greater tokens of virtues; so that the father seems not so much to have preferred a son, as a prophet a mystery: and deservedly he made him a coat of many colors, by which he might signify that he was to be preferred to his brothers by the garment of diverse virtues.

3. The Dream of the Sheaves

Then, while still a boy, divine grace shone forth in him. For he dreamed that when he had bound sheaves, as it seemed to him in the vision, with his brothers, his sheaf rose up and stood erect: and the sheaves of his brothers, turning, worshipped his sheaf. In this, surely, the future resurrection of the Lord Jesus was revealed, whom, when the eleven disciples saw him at Jerusalem, they worshipped, and all the saints, when they shall rise again, will worship, bringing forward the fruits of good works, as it is written: They shall come indeed with exultation, bearing their sheaves. Whence the brothers, although through envy they denied credence to the dream, yet expressing its interpretation in their own words, answered him: Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? For that vision signified a King to come, whom all flesh of humankind would worship with bended knee.

4. The Dream of the Sun, Moon, and Stars

He saw, moreover, another dream, and told it to his father and his brothers, that the sun and the moon and eleven stars worshipped him. Whence his father rebuked him, saying: What is this vision that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brothers come and worship thee upon the earth? Who is he whom parents and brothers worshipped upon the earth, but Christ Jesus, when Joseph and his mother, together with the disciples, worshipped him, confessing the true God in that body, of whom alone it was said: Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all ye stars and light? But what does the rebuke of the father signify, except the hardness of the people of Israel, from whom Christ came according to the flesh, whom to this day they do not believe to be God, nor are willing to worship as Lord, because they know him to have been born of themselves?

They hear, then, his responses, but do not understand: they themselves read that the sun and moon praise him, and they refuse to believe that this was said of Christ Jesus. And so Jacob is deceived by another's figure, but is not deceived in his own love. Paternal devotion in him does not err; but the affection of a people destined to err is expressed.

1. Joseph Sent to Seek His Brothers

The Patriarch, then, did not disbelieve so great a dream, seeing that with a twofold oracle he was prophesying both alike; that he might represent both the person of the just man and of the people, since the Son of God was to come upon earth, who would be both loved by the just and denied by the faithless. He saw, therefore, the mysteries of the future Incarnation, who was sending his son to his brothers, that he might see whether the sheep were faring rightly. Which sheep did God already at that time seek in the zeal of the Patriarch, if not those of whom the Lord Jesus himself said in the Gospel: I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel? And he sent him, it says, into Sichem, which by interpretation means shoulder, or back, that is, to those who did not turn to the Lord, but fled and turned themselves away from his face; which is the property of the sinner. Cain went out from the face of God.

And the Prophet says: Thou wilt make them turn their back. But the just man does not turn himself away from the Lord, but runs to meet him, saying: My eyes are ever toward the Lord. And to Isaiah, when the Lord said, Whom shall I send? He offered himself willingly, saying: Here. And Simeon waited that he might see the Christ of the Lord, and after he had seen him, since he had seen the remitter of sins, and the redeemer of the whole world, as if relieved from sin, he asked to be released from the use of this flesh, saying: Now, Lord, dismiss thy servant in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And Zacchaeus first found there the privilege of his own commendation, in that he climbed up into a tree in order to see Christ.

So Joseph was sent by his father to his brothers, sent rather by that Father who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all: by that Father of whom it is written: God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

2. Joseph Wanders in Search of His Brothers

And Joseph wandered, because he could not find his brothers. Not without reason did he wander, who was seeking those who had wandered; for the Lord acknowledges those who are his own. Finally, Jesus too, wearied from his journey, sat upon the well. He was wearied, because he was not finding the people of God whom he was seeking; for they had gone forth from the face of the Lord. For he who follows fault goes out from Christ. The sinner goes out, the just man enters. In the end Adam, as a sinner, hid himself; but the just man says: Let my prayer enter into thy sight.

3. The Brothers Plot Against Joseph at Dothan

Joseph found his brothers in Dothaim, which signifies defection. For where is he who forsakes God, if not in defection? Nor is it strange that they were falling away, who did not hear him who said: Come to me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Joseph came, then, into Dothaim: And they saw him coming from afar, before he drew near to them, and they raged, to kill him. Justly they were far off, who were in defection, and therefore they raged, because Christ had not drawn near to them. For if the figure of Christ had drawn near to them, they would surely have loved a brother: but they who were plotting parricide could not be near. Behold, they say, that dreamer comes: now, then, come, let us kill him. Were not these the words of men who were contemplating a parricidal sacrilege? As Solomon says of these very ones: Let us take away the just man, for he is of no use to us.

4. The Brothers Mock Joseph's Dreams

And they added, in Genesis: And we shall see what his dreams will profit him. This is written of Joseph, but was fulfilled of Christ, when the Jews said in his passion: If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusteth in God; let him now deliver him, if he will. Were the brothers themselves so wicked as to kill their brother? And whence came the merits of such great patriarchs, that the Law should designate the Tribes of the whole people by their names? How do names of devotion and marks of crime agree together? Thus these men also, in the figure of the people, were laboring, not through the fault of their own mind. Hence all the envy, hence the meditation of parricide: envy through the figure, devotion through the affection.

5. The Blessings of Judah and Joseph

Finally, Reuben and Judah, keeping the pious rights of brotherhood, desired to free him from the hands of the rest, and deservedly Judah is preferred by the paternal blessing, when it is said to him: The sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, and he himself shall be the expectation of the nations. This surely applies to Christ alone, to whom it was reserved to be worshipped by his brothers, and to be awaited by the nations, that he might wash his robe in wine by the passion of his own body, because he stained his flesh with no blemish of sin. Asher too did not think that this applied to himself. Asher's bread is fat, and he himself shall be with princes. But what of Joseph himself, to whom it was said: My son Joseph is to be enlarged, my son is to be enlarged: my zealous son, my youngest son, return to me?

Against whom, taking counsel together, they spoke evil, in whom the blessing prevailed over the blessings of the enduring mountains, and the desires of the everlasting hills. Whom did they understand to be signified in him, but that one who, surpassing the merits of all, above the desires of all the saints, should hold the summit of immense power, whom none could equal in desire? The envy in the patriarchs, then, is compensated by grace, since they are both excused from fault, and consecrated by the gift of revelation. For it is not so blameworthy to have said the things that belong to the people, as it is blessed to have seen the things that belong to Christ. They took on the person of a sinning people, that they might receive the grace of the redeeming Lord. Certainly grace abolished the fault, but fault did not diminish grace.

6. The Selling of Joseph for Silver

And that we may recognize that this whole mystery pertains to the people and to the Lord Jesus: Come, he says, let us sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. What does the interpretation of the name Joseph hold, except that it signifies divine grace, and the expression of the most high God? Who then is sold, but he who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant? For we would not have bought him, had they not sold him. Him whom his own sold wickedly, strangers bought worse. They sold a sweet odor to merchants, they bought from betrayers. Judas sold him, the Ishmaelites bought him, who by the Latin interpretation signify those who hate their God. Therefore in one place we find Joseph bought for twenty gold pieces, in another for twenty-five, in another for thirty; because Christ is not worth the same estimate of price to all. To some less, to others more.

The buyer's faith is the increase of the merchandise: to the more devout, God is more precious; to the sinner, the Redeemer is more precious. He too is worth more to whom more grace is given: but also he to whom much has been forgiven is worth more; because he to whom more is remitted, loves more, just as the Lord himself declared in the Gospel concerning that woman who poured ointment upon his feet, and washed them with tears, and wiped them with her hair, and dried them with kisses, of whom he said to Simon: Wherefore I say to thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, the same loveth less. Sometimes the differences in price express not only quantity, but also a number's signification; as you have concerning the ointment which the Lord recalled was poured out for his burial, as it is written, Judas saying: This might have been sold for three hundred pence.

By which number is expressed not quantity, but the sign of the cross, it seems. So here too the diversity of either twenty or thirty gold or silver pieces bears the indication either of doubled or of tripled perfection. For twenty-five gold pieces, the number of the jubilee, which is the number of remission, signify the most precious portion. There too, that you may notice the figure of the Lord's passion, Judah the patriarch says: Let us deliver Joseph to the Ishmaelites, but let not our hands be laid upon him. And well had he said above: But lay no hands upon him. This is what the Jews said in the Lord's passion: It is not lawful for us to put any man to death; that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, signifying by what death he should die.

7. Joseph Stripped of His Tunic

Already then the sign of the future cross was prefigured; and likewise that he was stripped of his tunic, that is, he was stripped of the flesh which he assumed, with a beautiful diversity of virtues. Therefore his tunic, that is, his flesh, was stained with blood, not his divinity: and the garment of flesh could not take away from him the immortality of life. This tunic the Jewish beasts stained with blood, those of whom he says: Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves.

8. The Empty Pit

As for the fact that the pit was dry, what wonder is it if the pit of the Jews has no water, they who forsook the fountain of living water, and made for themselves broken cisterns? And that you may know this to be a true mystery, the Lord himself says of himself: They have laid me in the lower pit, in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

9. Spices, Resin, and the Power to Heal

Those therefore buy Christ who bring sweet odors, the incense with which they perfume the altars of a devout mind. Whence David also says in Greek in this manner: κατευθυνθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου. The resin also, by which broken marbles are joined together, is a spiritual resin which solidifies the fractures of your soul, and connects what is torn apart, and binds together what is loosened. For this spiritual resin strengthens, and joins together certain broken members of the soul, so that they may be united without harm. Finally Jeremiah seeks this resin, to heal Babylon, if it can be healed, saying: Take resin for her corruption, if so she may be healed. We have treated Babylon, and she is not healed. The Synagogue is not healed, because this resin has migrated to the Church. Therefore merchants came from Gilead, that is, from the possession or dwelling of the testimony, transferring their wares to the Church, that this resin might heal the sins of the nations. Of whom it is said: Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

Sincere faith is resin. Peter applied this, when he said to the lame man: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk; and deservedly he rose up, and walked. He had this when he said to the paralytic: Aeneas, the Lord Jesus Christ healeth thee: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose, and made his bed. He had this, when he said to the dead woman: Arise in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the deceased arose. By the tempering of this resin, those stones from which the Lord is able to raise up sons of Abraham are joined together. By the medicine of this resin the lame man is raised up, the paralytic is restored, the dead is revived.

10. The Bloodied Tunic and Jacob's Mourning

The fact also that they sprinkled his tunic with the blood of a kid, seems to signify that by false testimonies they attacked and brought into disgrace him who bestows on all the forgiveness of sin. To us he is a lamb, to them a kid. To us the Lamb of God was slain, who took away the sin of the world; to them a kid, whose errors he heaped up, whose crimes he accumulated. And therefore he says: Fill ye up the measure of your fathers. Deservedly Jacob, lamenting the loss of his posterity, wept as a father for a lost son, mourned as a prophet the destruction of the Jews. Finally he even tore his garments: which we read was done in the passion of the Lord by the high priest, in whom it was not a private person, but the office of a public duty.

And the veil of the temple was torn; that the profaned mysteries, the people stripped of their saving garments, the divided kingdom might be shown by such signs to be destined for destruction; because every kingdom divided shall easily be destroyed. And truly divided, when that which was Christ's began also to be the devil's. For they could not remain undivided who separated the Son from the Father.

1. Joseph Sold to the Chief of the Cooks

Joseph therefore was sold, led into Egypt, bought by the chief of the cooks. Not an idle person, who would cook the raw things of foods, that souls might feast on the sweetness of faith. For no food is sweeter than knowledge and doctrine. There was before in Egypt a raw perfidy, which no ardor of divine knowledge, and no desire of true knowledge had softened, which the fiery words of the Lord had not cooked through. Joseph was sold in Egypt, because Christ was to come to those to whom it was said: You are sold for your sins. And therefore he redeemed with his own blood those whom their own sins had sold. But Christ, sold, is held by the price of sin through the assumption of the condition, not of the guilt; for he himself committed no sin. Therefore he contracted our debt by a price, not by his own money; he took away the handwriting, he removed the moneylender, he stripped off the debtor; alone he paid what was owed by all.

It was not lawful for us to depart from servitude. He took this upon himself for us, that he might drive away the servitude of the world, restore the liberty of paradise, bestow the new grace of the honor of his fellowship. This concerning the mystery.

2. True Freedom Even in Servitude

But as for what pertains to the moral sense, since the Lord our God wills all to be saved, he gave through Joseph consolation also to those who are in servitude: he assigned a teaching; that they might learn that even in the lowest condition character can be superior, and that no state is exempt from virtue, if each one's soul recognizes itself; that the flesh is subject to servitude, not the mind; and that many little servants are freer than their masters, if, placed in servitude, they think they must abstain from servile deeds. Every sin is servile, innocence is free. Whence the Lord also says: Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. For how is not every miser a servant, who sells himself for a small profit of money? He fears everything, lest he lose what he has heaped up, he who has heaped up things not to be used, to keep with greater peril what he sought with greater effort. How is he not a beggar, to whom what he possesses is little?

For even if he seems rich to me, he is needy to himself: nor does he console his wishes with testimonies, he who does not know how to believe what he desires. But how is not he also a servant, who is subject to lust? First he burns with his own fires, and is scorched by the torches of his own breast. To such the prophet rightly says: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled. He takes on every fear, he lies in wait against the sleep of each one: that he may possess one desire, he becomes the servant of all. He therefore serves this wretched servitude indeed, who makes masters for himself, who himself wishes to have those whom he fears. For nothing is so characteristic of servitude as to fear always.

But that man in any condition of servitude is always free, who is not captured by the love of the world, who is not held by the chains of avarice, who is not bound by the fear of crime, who calmly regards present things, whom future things do not terrify. Does it not seem to you that this one rules in servitude: while that one serves in freedom? Joseph served, Pharaoh reigned: this one's servitude was more blessed than that one's kingship. Finally the whole of Egypt would have collapsed from famine, had it not subjected its kingdom to the counsel of a little servant.

3. The Blessing Brought by Faithful Servants

Little servants therefore have whereof to glory in their origin: Joseph too served. Those who from freedom have come into servitude through some necessity have whereof to console themselves. They have what to imitate, that they may learn that their condition can be changed, not their character: that there is liberty even among home-born servants, and constancy even in servitude. Masters too have what they may hope for through good servants. Abraham found a wife for his son through a home-born servant. The Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and the blessing of the Lord came upon all his substance, both in house and in fields. And, it says, he turned over all that he had into the hands of Joseph. We observe that the things which the masters could not govern, the little servants governed.

1. Joseph's Beauty and Self-Mastery

But why should I set forth what this little servant, who governed a private household, has of the ordering that he ruled a kingdom? Greater still is that he ruled himself before others; and though he was comely in appearance, and exceedingly beautiful of face, he did not turn the charm of his countenance to another's injury, but preserved it for his own grace: reckoning himself the more beautiful, if he should be proved more comely not by the loss of chastity, but by the cultivation of modesty. That true beauty is that which does not capture other men's eyes, nor wound weak minds, but wins the judgment of all, being to no one a snare, but to himself a glory. Now if some woman looked upon him with wanton eyes, the crime is hers alone who looked wrongly, not his who did not wish to be seen wrongly; nor is there fault in the fact that he was seen.

It was not in the power of the little servant not to be seen: the husband ought to have watched his wife's eyes. If he feared nothing about his spouse, this one supposed it was a testimony of chastity, not a relaxation of carelessness. Yet let men learn to be wary even of women's eyes. For even those who do not wish to be loved are loved. Finally Joseph was loved, who despised the one who loved him. And well did Scripture excuse him, saying: His master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, that is, he did not show himself off, nor did he catch her unwary: but she cast her nets, and was caught in her own snare. She scattered her own snares, and was caught in her own bonds.

2. Joseph's First Refusal of Temptation

And she said to him: Sleep with me. The first weapons of an adulteress are the eyes, the second are words. But he who is not caught by the eyes can resist words. Defense is available, where the affection is still free. Therefore it is written that he refused. First then he overcame in the encounter of the mind, repelling the attacker as it were with the shield of the soul: then he brandished speech like a spear, that he might call her back to herself. And he said to his master's wife. Rightly she is called his master's wife, not "the mistress" herself, since she could not extort what she wished to command. For how is she a mistress, who did not have the effect of ruling, who did not maintain the discipline of a mistress, who offered to her little servants the incitements of lust?

He was truly the master, who did not take up the torches of the one who loved him, who did not feel the chains of the seductress, whom no dread of death terrified, who preferred to die free of crime, rather than choose partnership in criminal power. That man is free, who thought it shameful not to return a favor. Finally he does not excuse himself as one timid, nor is he wary as one fearful of danger: but as a debtor of his master's kindness and of his own innocence, he flees the crime of ingratitude, and shudders as a just man at the stain of sin and the contagion of guilt. The adulteress hurled a third dart by the persistence of her importuning: but Joseph did not listen to her. After the first words you have what to beware of. Lust is not only slippery, but also shameless, importunate, wanton, and the adulteress has nothing to be ashamed of. She who did not grieve at the first losses of modesty lies in wait, that she may capture.

3. Joseph Excused for Remaining at His Duty

Finally, at the outset of her office and entrusted duty, the witnesses and household servants having been removed, she seized him, saying: Sleep with me. Joseph is excused by the testimony of Scripture, because he could not desert the service entrusted to him by his lord. For it is not enough that, being secure in himself, he entered the inner parts of the house as one who could not be caught: the just man ought to have taken care not to give occasion to the raging woman, and that his innocence should perish through her sin. But since he saw the wife of his lord to be hostile to him, he ought also to have been on guard against offending his lord by neglect of duty: he thought this to be, as yet, only boldness of speech, not of seizure.

4. Joseph Flees, Leaving His Garment Behind

He is excused for having entered; he is praised for having escaped, nor did he value the garments of the body more than the chastity of the soul. He left as not his own what the adulteress held in her hands, and he judged as belonging to another what could have been seized by the touch of the shameless woman. Yet great was the man who, though sold, knew not the servile disposition; being loved, he did not love in return; being asked, he did not consent; being seized, he fled. When he was accosted by the wife of his lord, he could be held by his garment, but he could not be captured in mind; nor did he even long endure her words, judging it a contagion if he should linger longer, lest through his hands the incitements of the adulteress's lust should pass over to him.

And so he stripped off his garment, shook off the crime, and, leaving behind the spoils by which he was held, he fled despoiled indeed, but not naked, since he was more covered by the garment of modesty. For no one is naked except him whom guilt has stripped bare. Indeed we have above that Adam, after he had by transgression forsaken the commandments of God, and had contracted the heavy debt of sin, was naked. Whence he himself says: I heard thy voice in Paradise, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself. For he understood himself to be naked, who had lost the fillets of divine protection. And therefore he hid, because he did not have the garment of faith, which indeed he had laid aside by transgressing. You see a great thing. That man was naked who did not lose his tunic: this man was not naked, who stripped off the garments which he left in the hands of the adulteress.

The same Scripture affirms the one to be naked, and denies it of the other. And therefore this man rather despoiled himself than was made naked, since he kept the incorrupt garments of the virtues, stripping off the old man with his deeds, that he might put on the new man, who is renewed according to the image of his Creator in knowledge. But that other man remained naked, who could not clothe himself again, stripped of the singular spoil of virtue. Whence he received a tunic of skin, because a sinner could not have a spiritual one. Joseph, therefore, left his garments, and laid bare the shamelessness of the adulteress, which afterward could not remain hidden.

5. Joseph Falsely Accused and Imprisoned

Finally she went out, and herself published abroad the attempted adultery, raising her voice; because, the garments having been left behind, the Hebrew had fled. She herself, therefore, was proclaiming what she ought to have concealed, so that by fabricating a crime she might harm the innocent. But the just man knew not how to accuse; and therefore the shameless woman did this with impunity. Her, then, I would call truly stripped bare, even though keeping another's garments, since she had lost all the veils of chastity; him I would call sufficiently adorned, sufficiently defended, whose voice was not heard, while his innocence spoke. Thus afterward Susanna, while she was silent at the judgment, spoke better by an oracle; and therefore she deserved the defense of a prophet, she who sought not the aid of her own voice. Him, therefore, I would call the more blessed when he was cast into prison; because he was undergoing martyrdom for the sake of chastity.

For good is the gift of purity; but of lesser merit when it incurs no danger: but where it is defended even at the risk of safety, there it is crowned more fully.

6. Joseph's Imprisonment and God's Care for Him

The case unheard, the truth unexamined, Joseph is sent into prison as if guilty of the crime: but the Lord did not desert him even in prison. Let not the innocent be troubled, when they are attacked by false accusations; when, justice being oppressed, they are handed over to prison. God visits his own even in prison; and therefore there is more help where there is more danger. But what wonder if Christ visits those placed in prison, who has recorded that he himself is shut up in prison in his own, as it is written: I was in prison, and you did not come to me? Where does divine mercy not penetrate? Joseph found such favor, that he who had been shut up in prison should rather himself keep the bars of the prison, should be granted the office by gift, should be entrusted by the keeper of the keys with power over all those confined. And so Joseph not only did not feel the prison, but also lightened the hardship of the prison for others.

1. The Egyptian Woman's False Accusation

The author, then, of this injury is the woman and the eunuchs; but a woman of the Egyptians, who was accustomed to exchange wanton talk with men, to provoke the modest, to pursue those who fled, to press hard upon the bashful, since she could not defend her own vices, accused the innocent, adding perfidy to perfidy, holding what belonged to another, and herself condemning others, setting no bound to her fury. For what was the cause of her cruelty, except that she saw her desires resisted, and her wishes cheated of the forbidden consent? Behold, on account of which the prison is opened, that it may receive the innocent: chains are loosed for the guilty, that they may be laid upon the faithful: the adulterers of truth are let go, that he who refused the adultery of faith may be shut in.

2. The Chief Butler's Dream Interpreted

But what shall I say of these eunuchs? Who ought to be an example to other eunuchs, in that their position is fragile and slight, and all their hope rests in the will of the king, for whom a light offense is the highest peril: while their success is but a paltry service. One boasted that he was overseer of the wine, the other that he was overseer of the bakers. Both gave offense, and being sent into prison, and commended to holy Joseph by the very keeper of the prison keys, when they had been there several days, they saw a dream; and when Joseph came again to visit them, he found them sad and troubled in mind; because they were troubled by the dream, whose interpreter they could not find. Is not the interpretation of dreams through God, he said? Tell it to me, then. And the chief butler told his dream.

There was a vine before me: and in the vine three roots; and it, bearing blossoms, brought forth ripe clusters of grapes: and Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. And I took it, and pressed it into the cup, and gave the cup into the hands of Pharaoh. And Joseph said to him: This is its interpretation: The three roots are three days. Yet three days, and Pharaoh will call to mind your headship, and will restore you to your former office, and you shall give the cup into the hands of Pharaoh. But remember me for yourself, when it shall be well with you, and you shall show mercy upon me, and you shall remember me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this prison; for I was stolen away by theft out of the land of the Hebrews, and here I have done no evil, but they put me into the pit of this prison.

3. Worldly Power Compared to a Dream

The dream of the other I do not care to tell. You remember, surely, my words, that even then I shrank from entering upon its interpretation; whose outcome I shrink from, whose death I dread exceedingly. Let us speak first of this one, who, if he seemed blessed when he was overseer of the wine, and believed this to be the highest peak of all power, that he gave the cup to the king. This was his glory, this his magnificence in this age: cheated of this he grieved; restored to it he rejoiced. But this is a dream, and all the power of this age is a dream, not truth. Indeed, in a dream he saw his headship restored to him.

And Isaiah says that such men are, who delight in this age in prosperous things, like one who in sleep eats and drinks, and seems to himself, while he sleeps, to be filled with food or drink: but when he awakes, he begins to hunger the more; and then he understands how empty was that food and drink of the dreamer: so he who sleeps in this age, and does not open his eyes to the divine mysteries, as long as he is weighed down by the sleep of the body, thinks this worldly power to be of some moment, as though he sees it in sleep: when he shall awake, he perceives how empty is the pleasure of this age.

4. Joseph as a Type of Christ

Consider now that true Hebrew, that interpreter not of a dream, but of truth and of a most clear vision, who came from that fulness of the Godhead, out of the liberty of heavenly grace, into this bodily prison, whom the enticement of this age could not change, whom no corruption of worldly pleasure could overthrow, who, being tempted, did not fall, being desired, did not desire in return, and at last, seized by a certain adulterous hand of the Synagogue by the garment of the body, put off the flesh, and ascended free from death. The harlot brought a false accusation, when she could not hold him whom the prison did not terrify, whom the powers below did not detain: nay rather, from the place to which he had gone down as if to be punished, thence he set others free: where the bonds of death held them fast, there he himself loosed the bonds of the dead.

5. The Butler's Ingratitude After His Restoration

Consider, then, this Hebrew saying to that chief of the eunuchs, who had incurred royal displeasure, whom he had restored to his office: Remember me for yourself, when it shall be well with you: and you shall show mercy upon me, and you shall remember me. He repeated it a second time for this reason, because he knew that he would not recall what injury he had escaped, once he had recovered his power. He therefore admonished him a second time, because he had freed him a second time; so that if the memory of the former benefit did not hold him, he might at least undergo that of the latter, and not despise the author of his salvation, nor violate it by faithless treachery. But, what is worse, forgetfulness of a benefit quickly creeps in with prosperity. Restored to his office, he was not mindful of the interpreter, but forgot him.

But even if he forgot, Christ did not forget: but spoke to him, and through a little servant spoke to him, saying: Remember me for yourself, that is, remember, at least by regard for your own office, what you have heard. But even if you have now forgotten, you shall remember me; that you may escape danger, you who have forgotten the benefit. Yet, puffed up by power, he did not remember. And how great was this power, where it was but the service of wine! Behold whence all his boasting; because he was chief of the eunuchs who served wine to the royal cups.

6. Two Years Pass Before Remembrance

And it came to pass, it says, after two years. I am mistaken about this time of our eunuch, unless even the days agree; because after two years he recovered his office, and did not remember, but was reminded. For he learned that even kingship itself in this age was a dream, he who had not believed his own dream: he learned too that kingdoms are dreams, and that their powers are not perpetual. But let sorrow quickly pass over this point, lest by very recollection it grow raw again: nor does it delight me to recall even my own words, which at that time either grief poured forth, or the insult of the Church wrung from me.

7. The Butler's Late Confession of Sin

Being reminded, then, by his king's dream, he says: I remember my sin. Late, indeed, is this, but would that it were a true confession! After the sin you confess what you ought to have guarded against before the sin. How quickly had you forgotten: Remember me. You know indeed that this was the word at that time: but you had ears deafened by the pride of power, and, drunk with wine, you did not hear the words of sobriety. Even now remember me, you who confess your sin late. You who ask a little servant of Christ, why do you deny the Lord? Be drunk now, not with wine, but with the Holy Spirit. Remember what he suffered, with whom you slept your sleep, and dreamed your dream. And he too was an overseer, an overseer of the king's banquets, which pertained to the work of the bakers. He believed himself exalted, because he had royal bread in his power: he did not know how many windings this power had.

He threatened others, he himself soon to be delivered up to the utmost punishment; nor did he heed him who, though a little servant of the Lord, yet spoke an oracle: that by the command of that very king, in whom he so greatly flattered himself, he would lose his head, to be left as food for birds. Even this example ought to have called you back, that you should not trust perfidy.

8. Doeg and Haman as Warnings to the Proud

There are also other examples of the pride and fragility of royal ministers, which the history of a later time contains. And Doeg was an overseer, and an overseer of the king's animals for the training of mules, that is, of the animals of the eunuchs. This man too accused the priest of the Lord, and by deceit stirred up the king against the priest's danger, and this man was a Syrian. Do I lie, when both the country and the deeds agree? Haman too, himself an overseer of the king's chamber, while he strove with wicked rashness to invade the churches of the Lord and to despoil and persecute the faithful people, paid for his sacrilege with grievous punishments.

1. Joseph Brought Before Pharaoh

But let us return to that chief butler, who, as if drunk with much wine, forgot for a long time the author of his benefit: yet at length, so that he might provide the king with an interpreter, not as one grateful, but as one shrewd, he related the sequence of what had happened. This being known, the king likewise, when he had ordered him to be summoned, and, drawn out of the prison, asked him whether he could interpret a dream for him. Delighted with his explanation, he removed the injury, he conferred honor. See, then, whether these things do not agree with present matters. Injury was inflicted before he was known by the king: favor was returned when he became known to the king. Thus the king is free of blame; because both that injury which the holy man suffered was foreign to him, and that favor which he received belongs properly to the king.

2. Interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream

Now his dream, and its interpretation, are of this kind: Whatever, he says, God does, he has shown to Pharaoh. The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years. Pharaoh's dream is one. And the seven lean cows, which came up after them, are seven years; and the seven lean ears, blasted by the wind, are seven years. There shall be seven years of famine. But the word which I said: Whatever God does, he has shown to Pharaoh. Behold, seven years are coming of great abundance in the whole land of Egypt. But there shall come after them seven years of famine, and the abundance shall be forgotten in all Egypt: and the famine shall consume the whole land, and the abundance of the land shall not be known because of the famine that is to come after, for it shall be exceedingly severe. And as for the dream being repeated to Pharaoh twice, it is because the word from God shall be true, and God will hasten to accomplish it.

3. Warning Against Neglecting God in Abundance

The dream was old, the events new. The former things were consumed by the latter: and where before there had been abundance of plenty, there arose want of all things. Now if anyone had given such counsel to this king, that he should reserve something of the earlier abundance for the later age of his reign, an ample overflow of bounty would have redounded also upon the remaining time. But the immoderate outpouring of the earlier age left even the later times destitute, and men, plundering everything, were unwilling to employ any Joseph.

And though I am not Joseph (for who could claim that), yet I have cried out that those fat cows signified not only wantonness but also neglect of due reverence toward God (for of the wicked it is said: Fat bulls have beset me; and of the people of the Jews it is written: He grew fat, and thick, and was enlarged, and forsook him who made him), and therefore that dream of worldly abundance could not be perpetual: that a time would come when a harsh famine would succeed these things.

4. Ephraim and the Meaning of the Lean Ears

Nor do I think this dream was shown to one or two, but was set before all; because the seven years of this world, fat and rich with worldly abundance, are to be swallowed up by those ages which are to come, in which there is perpetual rest and the observance of the spiritual law, which Ephraim, that tribe fruitful to God among the fathers, keeps. The good cow is not that one distended with bodily udder, but abounding in spiritual milk and grace, upon the beauty of whose neck God says he sits, as it is written: Ephraim is a heifer taught to love victory. But I passed over upon the beauty of her neck (Hosea, 11). Therefore let not the oil of the sinner make fat our head, nor should false fruits delight us, lest it be said also of us: You have sown impiety, and reaped its iniquities. You have eaten false fruit, because you trusted in your chariots.

Nor does it move me that it has lean ears, blasted by the wind; because David too was better then, when he wasted away like a spider's web: and a contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God; and those turn out more excellent whom the evil spirit has harassed with grievous injuries in this world.

5. The Mystical Meaning of Joseph's Honors

Hence I think Joseph deserved mystical rewards all the more, because he spoke of mystical things. For what does the ring placed on his finger mean, unless that we should understand that the priesthood of faith was conferred upon him, that he himself might seal others? What does the robe, which is the garment of wisdom, mean, unless the tribute of the primacy of prudence paid to him by that heavenly king? The golden chain seems to express good understanding. The chariot also signifies the lofty summit of merits. And who is he who took a wife from among the Gentiles, if not he who gathered to himself the Church from the nations, and received from her a son Manasseh, through whom he forgot all the sorrows he had suffered because of the sacrileges of the Jews? He also received another son, Ephraim, through whose progress it became clear that the humility assumed in the flesh did not humble the divinity, but rather heaped up glory.

6. Christ Opens the Storehouses of Wisdom

Finally, whoever suffered famine was sent to Joseph. Who are these, if not those of whom it is said: They shall turn back at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs? Now the famine was not of one place, but of the whole earth; because there was none that did good. Therefore the Lord Jesus, having compassion on the world's fastings, opened his storehouses and laid open the hidden treasures of the knowledge and wisdom of heavenly mysteries; that no one might lack food. For Wisdom said: Come, eat my bread. And therefore it is said by that one alone: The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing, who is satisfied by Christ. Christ therefore opened his storehouses, and sold, not for money of bronze, but seeking the price of faith and the payment of devotion. And he sold not to a few in Judea, but sold to all, that he might be believed by all nations.

7. Buying the Bread of Life Without Silver

And all the regions came into Egypt to Joseph to buy; for the famine had prevailed. For all are hungry whom Christ has not fed. Let us therefore buy the food by which we can drive off hunger. Let no one be held back by regard for his own poverty, let no one who has no silver be afraid. Christ does not seek silver, but faith, which is more precious than silver. Indeed Peter bought it, who had no silver. Silver, he says, and gold I do not have: but what I have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise, and walk. And the prophet Isaiah says: You who thirst, go to the water; and whoever have no silver, go, buy, and drink and eat: buy without silver and without price wine and fat. For he did not seek a price from us, who paid for us the price of his own blood; for he redeemed us not with gold and silver, but with precious blood.

Therefore you owe that price by which you were bought; and even if he does not always demand it, you nonetheless owe it. Buy for yourself, therefore, Christ not with what few have, but with what all have. All have it by nature, few offer it out of fear. What Christ demands back from you is his own. He himself gave life to all, he himself offered his death for all. Pay for the author what by law you are bound to pay. This is no small contract. Not all see it easily. Finally, those virgins in the Gospel, whom the coming bridegroom shut out, were therefore left outside, because they did not buy oil for sale. Hence it is said to them: Go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. And not without reason is that merchant praised, who sold all that he had, and bought the pearl.

1. Jacob Sends His Sons to Buy Grain

And Jacob said to his sons: Why are you idle? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: go down there, and buy us food. Jacob did not say this only once; he says it daily to all his sons, who come tardily to the grace of Christ: Why are you idle? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Of this grain is the seed that rises again. Whoever therefore endures hunger ought to ascribe it to his own sluggishness. Behold, he says, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. The young are usually accustomed to hear something more quickly than the old, since, being placed outside, they go about among many things. But this trade the elder hears first—but that elder in whom is the longstanding gray hair of faith. The elder understands first—but that elder in whom there is venerable old age, and the age of old age is an unblemished life.

2. Benjamin Kept Back as a Type of Paul

Nor do all undertake this trade, but only the sons of Jacob, and those of more advanced age. Therefore ten go, the younger does not go. His father did not send him: Lest, he said, some infirmity befall him. Benjamin, the younger, was still liable to infirmity. As patriarch, Benjamin is read of; but by him, of the tribe of Benjamin, Paul was prefigured. Rightly did Jacob have doubt about his infirmity. Indeed, he was made infirm, that he might be healed: he suffered blindness, but this infirmity was unto salvation. Indeed, that blindness brought light.

3. The Mystery of Grain from Egypt

We have received the history; let us learn the mystery. Without Benjamin the patriarchs first went forth: without Paul the apostles. Neither of the two came first, but, being summoned by the first ones, made the reward of those who preceded him richer by his coming. There is, he says, grain in Egypt, that is, where the famine is greater, there the abundance is greater. Great is the grain in Egypt. Indeed God the Father also says: Out of Egypt I have called my Son (Hosea xi, 1). From that seed came that fruitfulness. Nor could there have been a harvest, unless the Egyptians had first sown the grain. There is therefore grain which no one before believed existed. In this grain the patriarchs traded. And they indeed brought silver: but the good Joseph gave grain, and gave back the silver. For Christ is not bought with money, but with grace. Your price is faith. By this the divine mysteries are bought. And this grain is carried by that ass, unclean before under the law, but now clean under grace.

1. Reuben and Judah Intercede for Benjamin

Yet Benjamin, the younger, was held back; and still clung to his father's affection. He was held by the bonds of the law, by paternal custom. The famine grew stronger, because it came late. Two intercede for him, Reuben and Judah, that is, humility and confession. By these sureties he deals with his father, to these he is entrusted, of whom one was the firstborn, the other raised up again. The Law belongs to the firstborn, the Gospel to the one raised up again. By these Benjamin the younger is led, and comes accompanied by good scents, carrying with him resin, by which the stones of marble are joined together; because by his own preaching, as by a spiritual resin, he himself would join together living stones: carrying also honey, by which the harmful matter of a wound is eaten away from within without any bitterness of cutting.

Such indeed was Paul's preaching, that it might destroy corrupt affection, and drain away corrupted humor by the sting of his disputation, wishing rather to burn the inward parts of a sick mind than to cut them. Incense of prayer, and cassia, and myrrh, are shown by the prophet David to be signs of burial, saying: Myrrh and aloes and cassia from your garments. For Paul came to preach the cross of the Lord, the ever-green holm oak, and nuts whose shell is harder, the fruit more tender: and rightly the priestly rod of Aaron was of nut wood, and the staff of Jeremiah of the same kind. And who would doubt that the double silver too is no idle gift, since both the life of the Patriarch and the speech of the Apostle continually grow green in the sinners of each; and the eloquence of the saints, like silver tried by fire, shines with the brightness of wholesome precepts?

Nor without reason do they mention double silver, in whom the coming of Paul was prefigured, who rewarded presbyters laboring in word and doctrine with double honor.

2. Joseph Welcomes Benjamin and His Brothers

And Joseph saw them, and Benjamin his brother by the same mother. Now the Hebrews are seen, and are seen by Christ, who is the true Joseph, when they come together with the type of Paul: and he speaks to them mild and gentle words, that they may take food together. But above, because they came without Benjamin, he indeed recognized them, but turned himself away from them, as it is written: And he spoke harshly to them, because they did not recognize him by whom they were recognized. By Paul's merit, then, they made progress, whom the Lord Jesus, as a younger brother born of the same mother, loved more than the other brothers. Let the Jews take note whom they denied as Lord, who even when crucified, nevertheless, as sprung from their synagogue as from the same parent, loves them more, if only they should recognize, even late, the author of their salvation. But being conscious of their own offenses, they do not believe that Christ's mercy is so great that he forgives sin, remits injury.

And so it was prefigured in the patriarchs what they would be like. They were invited to grace, called to the banquet of the saving table; and they suspected that a false charge was being prepared against them, that snares were being laid.

3. The Brothers Hesitate to Seek Grace

And they began to want to plead their case with the man who was over the house, at the door of the house. They still hesitate to enter, and prefer to be justified by their own works, wishing to establish their own case rather than to receive grace, and therefore they are refuted at the gates. But whoever awaits the fruit of the virginal womb, and the inheritance of the Lord, negotiating for the reward of sonship, will not be ashamed at the gate: but at the departure from this life he drives back the enemy; lest, as he hastens toward higher things, one conscious of graver guilt should stand in his way.

4. Moses and the Apostles as Faithful Stewards

Hence the steward of the house answered them mystically. And who this is, understand when you read of Moses, faithful in all his house. For the stewards of the house are Moses, Peter and Paul, and the other saints; but Christ alone is the Lord. It is written that Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of the things that were to be spoken: but Christ as a son over his own house, which house we are, if we hold fast the freedom and glory of hope.

5. The Steward's Assurance of God's Gift

Here then the steward answered them: God be gracious to you, do not fear; for your God and the God of your fathers gave you treasures in your sacks; but your money I have received as good. For they had said: We found the money of each one of us in our sacks, we have brought back our money by weight. O great mysteries, and clearly expressed! This is to say: Why are you puffed up? Why do you so often claim to have your own money in your sacks? For what do you have that you have not received? But if you have received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it? Now you are satisfied, you have been made rich, because you believe you have money: but the God of your fathers gave you the money. He is your God, he is the God of your fathers whom you denied. But he forgives, he indulges, he receives you back if you return.

He it is who does not seek your money, but gives his own. He himself gave you money in your sacks. Now your sacks have money, who had had mud; and therefore he is yours who says: You have loosed my sack, and clothed me with gladness. Christ is the gift of gladness, he himself is your money, he your price. The Lord Jesus does not exact from you the price of his grain, he does not seek the weight of your silver. Your silver is reprobate, the silver of the sack is not good.

6. Spiritual Silver Given Without Loss

Your silver I have accepted as approved; that is, it is not that material silver, but your spiritual silver, approved, which as sons of Jacob you brought with faithful devotion, which is given without loss, and is reckoned without any expense: since by such a price the detriment of death is excluded, the gain of life is acquired.

1. The Symbolism of Noon in Sacred History

And they prepared gifts, until Joseph should come in at noon. The faith of Paul hastened at noon. Before he was blind, afterward he began to see the light of justice; since he who reveals his way to the Lord, and hopes in him, the Lord also will bring forth his justice like the light, and his judgment as the noonday. And to Abraham, when God appeared at the oak of Mambre, it was noon, to whom eternal light shone from the presence of the Lord. It is noon when the true Joseph enters into his house to dine. For then the day shines more, when we celebrate the sacraments.

2. Joseph's Feast and His Gracious Welcome

And they brought in, it says, gifts to him. We bring in gifts, he sets forth the feast. He says: Set the loaves, which only the Hebrews take, the Egyptians cannot eat. But before the feast, what great condescension! What a moral instruction is the use of that assiduousness and of that grace! Still, on account of the calumny which they thought was being made against them by Joseph, the brothers were suspicious: he invited them to dine, their feeling wavered: his grace persevered: he is the first to call, the first to ask: How do you fare?

3. Joseph Inquires After His Father's Health

And again he said: Is your father, the elder, well? It belongs to the one greater to draw the lesser into conversation, to give confidence of speech, to ask not only about themselves, but also about their parents.

4. Titles of Honor and Humility in Their Answer

They answered him: Your servant our father is well. He called him the elder, that he might honor him: they named him a servant, that they might pay the homage of humility; because old age is seen to be of honored dignity, but boyhood appears subject, and nearer to modesty than to pride.

5. Joseph's Gaze Falls First on Benjamin

And lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin his brother by the same mother. It is a moral point, that those whom we love, we see before others; and those whom the intention of the mind holds first, the gaze of the eyes strikes upon. Since often, being occupied in mind about other things, we do not see those whom we have before our eyes: so is our sight directed with the mind as guide. Therefore holy Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, whom he held in mind, whom he sought with his eyes: in whose absence he had scarcely seen his brothers, because seeing profited nothing: nor content only to have seen him, he asked as if he did not know: Is this your younger brother? It is the custom and grace of love, that we hold those dear to us not only with the eyes, but also with speech. Joseph had recognized his beloved: but he asked so that the voice might sound forth the one whom his mind held.

6. Joseph Weeps in Private and Restrains His Emotion

Finally he did not wait to be answered: but he immediately blessed him, and was disturbed by the fruit of his desire. But his bowels were moved; because the freedom of embracing him whom he had desired was being deferred. Finally, Entering into the storeroom, he wept, and washed his face, and restrained himself. The stings of great love quickly prick the heart, unless the reins of desire are loosened. Joseph was overcome by feeling, was held back by counsel: reason contended with love. He wept, that he might temper with tears the ardor of pious love. This is according to the moral sense.

7. Paul as the Younger Brother in the Mystical Interpretation

But mystically. The Lord Jesus saw Paul, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and he said: Is this your younger brother? He is still called younger, who did not yet bear the mature age of dear faith, who had not yet grown into a perfect man, into that measure, as he himself says, of the age of the fullness of Christ. Finally he is read as a young man only there, where he kept the garments of those stoning Stephen. And therefore he wished Philemon to be like not his youth, but his old age, as he wrote: I rather beseech you, since you are such a one as Paul the aged. Therefore he preaches that younger widows are to be avoided, not on account of age, but on account of a certain wantonness of budding faults, and immaturity of virtue. But otherwise, the praise of chastity is greater in a young man than in an old man.

But I think it is not far from the truth that we should understand this: that since Paul had this, and shuddered when rebuked; that blindness had befallen him, yet he began to draw near, saying: Lord, what do you wish me to do; therefore he was called younger by Christ, so that he who was being called by grace might be excused from fault, because it belonged to a slippery age. Finally Christ saw him, where the light shone round about him. And because young men are recalled from vice more by fear than by reason, he applied the goad, and being moved to pity, warned him, lest he kick against the goad.

8. The Washing of the Face and Paul's Greater Portion

But he was troubled, as you have in the Gospel, because he troubled himself in spirit, when he raised Lazarus; and there he wept, that he might first wash with his tears the faults of the dead man. But he wept within himself, and washed his face. The blindness of Paul is the weeping of Christ: he washes his face, where his lost light is restored to him. Christ washes his face, where Paul was baptized, through whom the Lord Jesus might be seen by many. And therefore at the feast his portion was made fivefold greater, in that he had, above the others, to be preferred not only in prudence of mind, but also in bodily warfare, and in the grace of chastity.

1. The Brothers' Feast and Paul's Sober Inebriation

And they drank, and were made drunk together with him. From the beginning of the faith a greater privilege is conferred on Paul, of whom it was said to Ananias: Go, for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles. From the beginning he is made drunk with a drunkenness, but a sober one; so that he himself might say with the saints: And your cup which inebriates, how excellent it is!

2. The Silver Cup Hidden in Benjamin's Sack

And the silver cup is inserted into his sack alone. Benjamin did not know this: Paul was being deceived, but was being called. He is sent after him in the morning. For the night of blindness had gone before, the day of faith was drawing near.

3. The Order of Inspection and Choice by Divine Judgment

The sacks of each one are first inspected in order. Divine Scripture teaches you a moral lesson. In order they had first sat down at the feast before him, the firstborn according to his age. You see that place is to be given to the elder. Again the sacks of each one are examined in order, that you may know that Paul was chosen by heavenly judgment. He examined the others, he preferred this one. In no other's sack was the silver cup found, but in his alone. What does it mean that it was inserted into the sack? Joseph indeed made them drunk in order to deceive them: he sent the cup that by a pious deceit he might recall the brother whom he loved: but divine mysteries shine forth.

4. The Silver of Nature and of Grace

Christ finds in us this silver, which he himself has given. We have the silver of nature, we have also that of grace. Nature is the work of the Creator: grace is the gift of the Redeemer. And even if we cannot see the gifts of Christ; yet he gives, and works secretly, and gives to all: but to keep it and not lose it belongs to few. Yet he does not give all things to all. Wheat is given to many, the cup to one, who is endowed with the prophetic and priestly office. For not all, but the Prophet says: I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.

5. Ananias Loosens the Sack and Frees Paul from the Law

In the body of Paul, then, the discourse of heavenly doctrine already shone forth, since he was learned in the law. But because he was not yet subject to the justice of God, the cup was within the sack, doctrine within the law, the lamp within the midst. Nevertheless Ananias was sent, who should give the blessing, lay on his hand, loosen the sack: the sack being loosed, the silver shone forth, and as the scales fell away like certain bonds of the sack, at once he saw. His unbelief was his bond: his release was made to be faith. And therefore, as one loosed from the sack, that is, with the veil of the law laid aside which is placed over the heart of the Jews, converted to the Lord, free from the bond, having obtained the grace of liberty, he says: We therefore, with unveiled face beholding the glory of God, are being transformed into the same image. For with the shoe of the law loosed, he preached the Gospel with bare foot of free speech.

The Jews held him, and desired to hinder him: but when the silver shone in his sack, they rent their garments, and turned back. For Paul's free preaching for Christ stripped bare the people of the Jews, and cut off all their grace.

6. Turning Back from Christ and Fear for the Father

And therefore they turned back, who before could not see. Those who lose Christ turn back. Finally also in the Gospel, when they were seizing the Lord Jesus to death, turning back they fell to the ground. Rightly did they turn back, who from that heavenly grace were falling back into earthly ruin. They did not wish, therefore, morally, to return without the brother; mystically, to return without Paul: for if he were lost, they declared that the old age of the father of the people would be brought to grief.

7. Judah's Plea to Remain and Joseph's Weeping

And therefore Judah desired to remain with Joseph, lest he should see the evils which would befall his father, that is, he was already foreseeing, and wished to avert the evils which were to come upon the people of the Jews. But since this free preaching itself was not yet present in that figure among the princes of the people of the Jews, Joseph wept, that is, in him Jesus wept.

1. Joseph Declares Himself and Christ Declares His Identity

And he ordered all to withdraw, that he might be recognized by his brothers. For he had come, as he himself says, only to the sheep that were lost of the house of Israel. And lifting up his voice with weeping, he said: I am Joseph; does my father yet live? This is, he stretched out his hands to a people not believing and gainsaying: seeking neither legate nor messenger, but the Lord himself wishing to save his people: I who was speaking, behold, I am here, he says. And: I have become manifest to those who did not seek me, I appear to those who did not ask for me. What else, then, did he cry out at that time, but: I am Jesus, when, the princes of the Jews asking, Are you the Son of God?

He answered: You say that I am; when he said to Pilate: You say that I am a king; for this I was born, that I might bear witness to the truth; when to the high priest saying: I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God, he replied: You have said. Amen I say to you, henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. This, therefore, is what he says: I am Joseph, I am of divine power. Does my father yet live? That is, I do not deny the father, I acknowledge my brothers, if either you recognize a brother, or the father his son. Does my people, therefore, yet live, from whose people's family I have chosen a brother for myself?

2. Christ's Nearness Through the Incarnation

Come near to me; because I have drawn near to you, and I have drawn near even to this point, that through the assumption of flesh I might make myself a sharer of your nature. Do not flee even from the sharer of your fellowship, if you do not recognize the author of salvation.

3. Joseph Forgives His Brothers as Christ Grants Peace

And they came near, it says, to him, and he said: I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor let it seem hard to you that you sold me hither: for God sent me before you to preserve your life. What fraternal affection, what sweet brotherliness! That he even excused a crime akin to parricide, saying that it was of divine providence, not of human impiety; since he was not delivered up to death by men, but sent by the Lord unto life. What else is that intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ, who surpassed all brothers in loving-kindness, who, set upon the cross, said on behalf of the people: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do? What else is that greeting of holiness in the midst of his disciples, saying: Peace be to you: I am here; be not afraid?

And when they were troubled and affrighted, and supposed that they saw a spirit, he said again to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see: for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. These mysteries, then, destined for later times, were already revealed then.

4. The Same Words Spoken by Joseph and by Christ

Finally, these very words are expressed, so that we may understand that it is the same one who spoke before in Joseph, and afterward in his own body; since he did not even change his words. For then he said: Be not grieved. And below: Go up to my father, and tell him: Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of the whole land of Egypt. And in the Gospel he says: Be not afraid. Go, tell my brethren that they should go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. And below he says: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth, that is to say: it was of divine disposition that I should receive power, not of human bitterness. He who enumerates the reward does not cast up the crime.

5. Preserving Life Fulfilled in the Great Commission

Now what is contained in Genesis: For God sent me before you to preserve your life, he renders in the Gospel, saying: Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For this is the reward and life of the saints, that they redeemed others also.

6. The Promise of Abiding Presence

Note also this, that it is not written idly in Genesis: And you shall be near me, you and your sons, and your sons' sons. For this is what he said in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the end of the world.

7. Joseph Embraces Benjamin as Christ Embraces Paul

How evident too is that mystery, that as though every command had been fulfilled, Joseph embraces his brother Benjamin, and fell upon his neck, just as also, the Gospel having been fulfilled, Christ embraces Paul with certain arms of his mercy; that he might raise up, as it were from the neck to heaven, one bent down by inward opinion. Whence also he, raised up by Christ, says: But our conversation is in heaven.

1. Pharaoh's Joy and the Robes Given to the Brothers

And Pharaoh rejoiced, that Joseph had recognized his brothers. Whence also the word was spread abroad in Pharaoh's house. And he urged the holy Joseph to invite his brothers to come with their father: and he commands their sacks to be filled with wheat, and wagons to be given. Whence comes this humanity in a barbarian, unless that great mystery was thereby shown, that the Church no longer envies when the Jews are redeemed, and the Christian people rejoice at this union, and help with what resources they can, and send those who preach the kingdom of God, that they may be summoned the more speedily? To whom are given two robes apiece.

2. Paul Receives Gold Coins and Five Robes

And he assigns this to Paul, when he draws out his words, to whom three hundred pieces of gold, and five robes of different colors are conferred by Christ. He who preaches the cross of Christ has three hundred pieces of gold. And therefore he says: For I judged not myself to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And rightly he receives gold coins, because he was preaching not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit. But he receives five robes, either the manifold disciplines of wisdom, or because, caught by no allurements of the bodily senses, where others found danger, there he held victory; he who surpassed all pleasures of the flesh by singular continence and virtue, whose talent and zeal no weakness of body could dull, who, while being in the body, did not know that he had a body.

Finally, caught up into paradise, whether in the body, or out of the body he knew not, he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter: who, lastly, savored of nothing earthly upon earth, as he himself teaches, saying: For we are the good odor of Christ unto God, in them that are saved.

3. The Two Robes Given to the Other Preachers

Paul, therefore, excels, and his portion abounds beyond measure: but nevertheless the other preachers also have their own grace. They receive two robes apiece. What are these? Surely those about which you ought not to doubt, since you have read that it was said of Wisdom: She made double garments for her husband. One is mystical, the other moral. But not all are apostles, not all prophets, not all pastors, not all works of power, not all have the grace of healings, not all speak with tongues. Where merits differ, rewards differ.

4. Gifts Sent Ahead to the Father

And gifts are sent ahead to the father. The son honors the father. Christ invites his people with promises, invites them with gifts. Those asses, once useless and laborious, now useful, carry these gifts: they carry, in a figure of Christ, gifts, being about to carry, in the Gospel, the giver of gifts.

5. Do Not Be Angry Along the Way

He dismissed his brothers, and they departed. And Joseph said to them: Do not be angry along the way. How well he teaches that anger must be guarded against, since it can even separate brothers who love one another: and that discord must most especially be shunned along the way, where the very company of the journey ought to have a fellowship of inviolable grace. But what else does our Lord Jesus, about to depart from this body, say when he was sending away his disciples, but that they should not be angry along the way, saying: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you? For where there is peace, anger has no place, discord is banished, dissension is put to flight. This, then, is what he says: My peace I give to you; that is, Do not be angry along the way.

And note that he does not say "on this road" merely, that is, in this course of the whole of life indignation must be avoided, because anger often brings even the innocent into guilt: for while we are angry beyond what is just, and wish to restrain another's sin, we commit graver sins. Therefore the Apostle says: Not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath, that is, let us turn aside from it, lest it seize us. Whence the Lord Jesus, sending his disciples to preach the gospel, sent them without gold, without silver, without money, without a wallet, without a staff, that is, so that he might take away both the incitements to strife and the instruments of vengeance.

6. Jacob Learns Joseph Lives, and the Apostles' Preaching

And they went up, it says, out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father; and they told him, saying: Joseph your son is alive, and he himself is ruler over the whole land of Egypt. What is the land of Canaan? That which wavered. What, then, is so evident as that the times of the apostles are designated here? Who, having entered the wavering synagogues of the Jews, preached the power of the Lord Jesus, as we have it in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter saying: This Jesus God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being exalted, therefore, by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you now see and hear. We observe surely how he says that he both lives and is prince of the whole earth, he who, opening his storehouses, grants abundance of spiritual grace to all.

These things the apostles said, but the Jews did not believe: but laid hands on them, but thrust the preachers of salvation into custody.

7. Jacob's Renewed Faith, a Figure of Belief in the Resurrection

Whence also it is written of Jacob: His heart fainted; for he did not believe them. He fainted at the disposition of an unbelieving people, but after he came to know the deeds of Christ, softened by such great benefits and works, he took heart again, saying: It is enough for me, if my son Joseph is yet alive: I will go, and see him before I die. The first and greatest foundation of faith is to believe in the resurrection of Christ. For whoever believes that he is risen, hastens eagerly to seek him, approaches with devotion, and reveres God with inmost mind. For he believes that he himself shall not die, if he believes in the author of the resurrection.

1. Israel's Sacrifice at the Well of the Oath

And Israel, rising up, came to the well of the oath, and offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. Rightly is he raised up who hastens to Christ. Faith precedes devotion. First he raised himself up, afterward he offered sacrifice. For he offers sacrifice well who has sought out the knowledge of divinity.

2. God's Vision to Jacob and the Call of the Nations

And God said to Israel in a vision by night, saying: Jacob, Jacob. And he said: What is it? And the Lord said: I am the God of your fathers, do not fear, go down into Egypt; for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will bring you back forever. How is it that they do not understand what they themselves read; and deny Moses whom they praise, since they will not believe his writings? What is more evident than that in this passage they are invited to pass over to the holy Church of God, and that they who before were confined within the narrow bounds of Judea should migrate to the people of God, who, gathered from the whole world, from all nations and peoples, has become a great nation? Finally, their sound has gone out into all the earth. The people of the Jews, then, is called by its sons Jacob, that is, by Peter, Paul, John, and is invited to grace.

3. Joseph's Hand on Jacob's Eyes, a Sign of Christ's Healing

Our God also himself, by his own oracle, encourages him, promising him the advancing fruit of the gift of his faith, saying to him: Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes. It was surely not that the holy Patriarch was anxious as to who should close his eyes; though even in a simple sense a moral affection is expressed here. For if we desire often to embrace those whom we love, how much more, when about to depart from this body, are we delighted by the very touch of dear pledges at the last, and soothed by this as by a provision for the journey? Yet it is possible for us to understand mystically that the people of the Jews will afterward come to know God. For this is the mystery, that the true Joseph will put his hands upon his eyes; so that he who did not see before may now see. Come to the Gospel, read how that blind man was healed, upon whom Jesus laid his hand, and took away his blindness.

For Christ does not lay his hand upon those who are going to die, but upon those who are going to live: or if upon those about to die, rightly so; because we first die, that we may live again. For we cannot live to God, unless we first die to sin.

4. The Seventy-Five Souls and the Salvation of Israel

Seventy-five souls, then, go down into Egypt, as it is written, and this in the mystical number of remission; because after such great hardness, after such great sins, they would be held unworthy, unless remission of sins were granted to them. Judah meets him, that is, the confession of error. This one the people of the Jews, about to come, sends ahead as forerunner. Therefore the true Joseph also, that is, the arbiter and interpreter of divinity, meets him; because confession now goes before, whom faithlessness had before possessed. For Christ is the interpreter of divinity; because no man has seen God at any time, save the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. This one, now of aged years, will receive the weary people of the Jews in the last times, not according to their merits, but according to the election of grace: and will lay his hands upon his eyes, that he may take away his blindness.

Whose healing he therefore delayed, that he might believe last who before did not think he ought to believe, and might lose the prerogative of the earlier election. Whence also the Apostle says: For blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved.

5. The Patriarchs' Deeds as Mysteries of Things to Come

The deeds of the patriarchs, then, are mysteries of things to come. Finally, Jacob himself thus speaks to his sons: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, O Israel, your father.