First part.
How Joseph was sold into bondage to Potiphar.
V. 1 Joseph was led down into Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian man, Pharaoh's steward and chamberlain, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who brought him down.
Genesis repeats in the beginning of this chapter some of the things of which he began to speak above, namely, how Joseph was sold; which selling he described before the narration of the previous chapter by the figure hysteron proteron, so it happened -first, however, when Judah had already been divorced from his brothers and had become legitimate, and also when his three sons had been born. But after that, when Ger and Onan died and Tamar was violated by her father-in-law, Joseph was four and twenty years old and had already been taken to Egypt: so that the first part of the previous chapter preceded before Joseph was sold, but the other part followed, as can be seen from the chronology.
(2) From this it may be inferred that Joseph was sold three times: First to the Midianites, then to the Ishmaelites, and third to Potiphar. For perhaps the Midianites did not enter Egypt, so they handed him over again to the Ishmaelites who had gone there. But first we want to explain the words, which give the interpreters a lot of trouble. The word "Potiphar" is almost a German word, pot, fett, pharr, as if one wanted to say, a fat thick Farre. But we cannot know what is the correct derivation of this word, because it is an Egyptian word.
(3) The Hebrew word saris is interpreted by all to mean eunuch. And this word is almost common in the Scriptures, and the Jews commonly understand it to mean cut. But its origin,
where it comes from is somewhat more honest. For it comes from the chamber service. That is why we have translated it as chamberlain, who is commanded to wait on the chamber. And I believe that this was the right and proper meaning; but later, when the royal families were divided, the sarisim, that is, the eunuchs, were used in the queens' wives' quarters. Otherwise, the eunuchs are not mentioned in Scripture, only Isa. 56, 3 and Matth. 19, 12. In other places, it is always called chamber servants or other servants of the kings. As in the history of Esther Cap. 1, V. 14, seven chamberlains are listed who served before King Ahasuerus, who were appointed to wait on the king's body and were his closest and most loyal servants.
4 Therefore I must praise Lyra, who says that the word "eunuch" is understood and used in two ways: first, for those who were cut off, who waited for the queens in their chambers; and secondly, for the chamberlains of the kings. And these are commonly understood in the Scriptures by this word, as Isa. 39:7, where it is said to King Hezekiah, "For this purpose shall they take thy children, which shall come of thee, and thou shalt beget, and shall be (eunuchs) chamberlains in the court of the king of Babylon." I do not think that this word is to be understood for those who wait in the women's room, but that it indicates that they will have to be chamberlains in the court or hall of the king of Babylon. For it does not rhyme that Daniel and his companions were chosen and appointed for the service of women, but they were for the king; as is evident from Daniel. And in the histories of the kings Joram and Ahab it is also said: He gave one of the eunuchs, that is, of his closest secretaries or chamber servants.
I am hostile to the Jews' folly and condemn it utterly. Jerome tells from their interpretations that Potiphar, because he was handsome, bought this boy to abuse him shamefully. Because of this, God is said to have punished him in such a way that his male member withered away, so that he could not abuse the boy. Afterwards he was said to have been elected high priest in the city of On, and that his daughter was Asnath, whom Joseph had taken as his wife, and that the priests were used to be circumcised, as happened among the Gentiles to the priests of Cybele, who were called galls. But all this is quite false and a vain lie. For there was another of the Potiphera, whose daughter took Joseph in marriage; who had the name of Pharaoh, as if one wanted to say in Latin: crassities Pharaonis, the thickness of Pharaoh. The others, so that they may answer how he could have had a wife when he was a eunuch, make such a poem that when he was cut, he nevertheless kept the sinew unwounded, that he nevertheless could have kept himself to his wife, even though he was barren. These are disgraceful and abominable lies, which are befitting for Jewish swine, who are wont to invent everything that is disgraceful from the Gentiles, and to boast of their own praise beyond measure. But I have told it for this reason, that the reader may know what their mind is of the eunuchs, and then much rather accept this true interpretation of the same word, namely, that this Potiphar was one of Pharaoh's nearest and most faithful chamberlains. And in addition to this, the king honored him so highly and made him the chief of the butchers.
Here we will have to deal with the grammarians again. Jerome has interpreted the Hebrew words, sar hattabachim: a supreme commander or commander. But it is certain that the Hebrew word is thus, and means as much as, to strangle and slaughter what is to be sacrificed. Therefore they have it also
in Latin interpreted: principem mactatorum, which we have given in German, court master, who rules at Pharaoh's court, yes, not only at the court, but also in the temple and what concerns the sacrifice, that he gave out to the butchers, what one should slaughter, it would be equal for the worldly, or however for the spiritual and holy use. Such a regent or bailiff, so more honestly and more splendidly has been held than other court servants, I consider, if this Potiphar was, a marshal or steward. After that it will be remembered, Gen. 40, 2., the chief over the bakers and taverns. These were special, different offices in the kingdom of Egypt, and may have been divided in such a way that one looked after the slaughter of the butchers, for which one also wanted to use the slaughtered; another, however, governed the bakers and again another the taverns. And the same not only at court, but also in every city and in the whole kingdom; as the same was very well ordered and ordered with the most beautiful laws.
(7) Therefore, I think that this should not be attributed to the court system alone, which, in my opinion, was not as extensive and splendid as the court system of our princes is now; for at that time, it was necessary to be very moderate: but over the entire land of Egypt, the bakers, butchers and tavern keepers had their own regents and rulers, who governed them by virtue of their received prestige according to the common laws and regulations of the same kingdom. The same regents also collected the annual interest and the tribute, which had to be paid to the king, from each estate for the maintenance of the kingdom. Thus we shall hereafter hear that Joseph was made regent over the corn and grain. And such a chamberlain of the king of Babylon was also Adan the Nebuzar, 2 Kings 25:8 ff. But this is a falsehood and a lie, which the Jews say, that Joseph first appointed these offices of bakers, waiters, and cooks or butchers. For before Joseph came to Egypt, all these things had already been decreed and appointed.
8 And up to this point we have spoken of the words. Now we want to come again to history, which really needs another interpreter or master. And I would also like to give room and give way to others, who are still somewhat more possible in strength and also have greater gifts from God: but we want to do as much as we can, in his time God the Lord will give me rest and a rest from work and release me from this office.
V. 2 And the LORD was with Joseph, that he might be a blessed man: and he was in the hand of his lord the Egyptian.
(9) Here we have an excellent and splendid example, the like of which is not found in any other history. Joseph was a very happy young man, and was also well instructed and brought up by his father. The discipline turned out well. It was not in vain that Jacob loved this son above all others, for we see that he heard and kept his father's teachings most faithfully and diligently through the help of the Holy Spirit. For this reason a very fervent faith shines and is shown in him, since in his first and blossoming youth he is challenged and tempted not only with extreme tribulation, but also with the highest pleasure, and yet he is not overcome by it and driven to sin.
(10) The young journeymen should imagine this example and judge themselves by it. How great was this faith, discipline, chastity and patience, that it cannot be sufficiently explained in words. For when he was sold, he was a youth of seventeen years, and so he was torn away from his father and grandfather, whom he had honored and loved, and thrown into heavy servitude without any hope of being discharged or that he might one day return to his own. This truly required firm faith, incredible strength and patience.
011 And the word which Jacob his father planted in the child's heart was wholly pure and very fruitful, and yielded much abundance.
As it is written in Luc. 8:15, he brought forth fruit. For one of the others, even if he had been of the same age as Joseph, would either have been overcome by impatience or pain of heart, or would soon have accepted the opportunity to commit fornication. But in Joseph you see none of these, but in him so many beautiful virtues shine at the same time, as are only possible in this nature of ours. And, I say, there is no other example that could be compared with this one. Therefore, the other brothers did not listen to their father with such diligence or fruitfulness, even though it was the same teaching and word, which Jacob will undoubtedly have held up to his entire house with diligence and faithfulness. But they become murderers of fathers and brothers, yes, they become vain devils. Joseph alone is an angel, who alone accepts his father's word, grasps faith, hope, love, and holds fast to it, so that he has not let himself be taken away from it by force or by the secret cunning of Satan.
It is a great pity that he is torn so far from his father's sight, and will certainly not have left his father's house without the greatest pain, lamentation and tears, both for himself and for his father; God is silent about it, pretends not to see this pity; Joseph sighs and howls, and is considered as if he were rejected; there is nothing. But why did he not become timid in his heart and not cry out as a despairing man: "I see that I am abandoned by God and man, and that I am burdened with such unjust misfortune without my merit, who has honored my father and obeyed him in everything? And there is no doubt that his heart also suffered and endured such hard blows and storms. For he was a youth of seventeen years, and we must not think that he was a block or a stick, that he should not have felt this great misfortune at all, since he was thrown into this terrible challenge of despair, anger and enmity against God, and was also challenged with fornication, and ended up in the same way as he had been in the past.
1226 L n. SA-2S7. Interpretation of Genesis 39, 2. W. n. i7ss-i7ss. 1227
He was forced to serve strangers and unknown people, like the lowest and most serf-like servant, and was betrayed and rejected by his biological brothers. See if this is not a terrible and unbearable misery, with which our misfortune is far from being comparable?
(13) So he is truly an heir of his father, that is, of the afflictions which his father also suffered. For even though Judah did not have a small cross, it is nothing to be counted against this cross. Joseph is still young, it is too early with him; for he was still a youth of seventeen years, was deprived of all the comforts, advantages and help of which youth needs, came into a strange unknown country to godless idolatrous people, where he saw neither doctrine nor example, from which he might have been taught or strengthened; He has seen nothing but barbarism and the most shameful examples before his eyes, but inwardly he will have felt and experienced the devil's cunning and his fiery arrows.
(14) And yet the word which he heard from his father still reigned in his heart, which he firmly kept. My father, he will have said, has taught me: "Let God leave me as long as he wishes, so I will wait and wait with patience for his help: "Wait for the Lord, be confident and undaunted, and wait for the Lord," says the 27th Psalm v. 14. 14 For he will have known the whole Psalter by heart, for in deed and in work he has accomplished and proved all that is taught in the Psalms concerning faith, patience, and hope, and how to wait upon the Lord. He always waits and rests on the divine promises he has heard from his father, does not despair, nor does he grumble against God.
15 And with such great trials he had to struggle alone; he had no one who knew such things, with whom he could have talked and who could have given him a word of comfort. Therefore, the danger Joseph was in was much greater and more severe than that of the patriarch Lot, who, as St. Peter says in 2 Epist. 2, 7, 8,
He lived among the wicked people of Sodom, heard their ungodly words and saw their wicked examples. But in such great afflictions his servants, his wife and daughters were not far away from him; they were able to help him remember the previous words and examples; and Abraham, who was still present there, was also able to raise him up, comfort and strengthen him verbally. Having such a man at hand is a great refuge, help and comfort. Therefore Lot was blessed, if one wants to compare him with this pious holy youth, who was alone in the midst of lions, dragons, crocodiles and devils. Yes, he even surpasses Daniel.
These are truly miraculous works. For the Holy Spirit is in Joseph, and the word planted in his heart is so imprinted, rooted, and kept in it that it becomes an immovable rock against the devil, both on the right hand and on the left. This, I say, is a marvel above all other marvels that are held up here to the whole world. The story itself is simply told, but it understands the greatest things in itself.
(17) But the other misfortune is that at such an age he will have felt the harm of original sin, by which all men are inclined to fornication. He will undoubtedly have felt the same flames from his seventeenth year to his seventh and twentieth and will have struggled with them for such a long time. Perhaps he may also have been challenged by many other incitements and evil examples, not only of his master's wife, but also of the maidens, to unseemly bearing, although this is not expressed in history. For a servant who does servile work, whether in the house or out in the field, must deal with women and girls who are either household members or neighbors; and we know well how great is the fierce wrath of Satan, who always secretly pursues the youth, so much so that neither wife nor maid tempts them to fornication, that it is nevertheless the devil's unspeakable fault.
1228 D. IX, 227, 228. interpretation of I Moses 39, 2. w. n, I7SS-I8V1. 1229
He tries to deprive them of their chastity or to violate it. But the boy Joseph overcomes all this by a special and divine miracle.
Now he has been in such servitude for almost ten years, until he reaches the seventh and twentieth year of his age, and has presided over all the household servants and maids with great diligence and faithfulness, ruling them both in the house and in the field, keeping himself chaste and shamefaced in both words and deeds, even in all gestures. For the gestures are generally indications of how a person's heart is set or what he is inclined to do.
19 Now Moses describes the servitude of Joseph and how he administered it, and says of it thus: "The Lord was with Joseph", the Lord did it. He received the word from his father Jacob, which he kept firmly in his heart, from which he was taught to believe and to rely on God's mercy. With this faith he overcame everything. Not that his flesh did not feel the terrifying storms of many severe temptations; since it is almost soft and tender, it cannot well bear the temptation, nor can it well refrain from going out and raging against God; but the Holy Spirit strengthened him. Therefore Moses also says, "The Lord was with him"; for the Lord delights to deal with such people. He was not with Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and the rest of Joseph's brothers, but with this one he is who believes God and considers him true, merciful, and gracious.
20 From this also followed the fruits, although they are not told in this place, namely, right invocation and faith, which he learned from his father. And even though he did not have the space or time to sacrifice in such heavy service, he was able to pray, give thanks and praise God in the field and in all other places, and also to repeat the word he heard in his heart, and thus always practice godliness, faith and right confession. For
The Holy Spirit does not allow this; he always stimulates and awakens the godly to such spiritual exercises. That is why the text says that the Lord was with Joseph. But where he is, there is also the spirit of grace and prayer, and there the invocation and thanksgiving does not cease.
21 Then he did not leave the priestly office in the whole house government, because he was a born priest and firstborn. Therefore, he not only prayed for himself and for his Lord, but undoubtedly also taught his fellow servants and handmaidens how to call upon God and serve Him properly; he also punished their sins and thus converted some of them to right repentance and knowledge of God.
(22) Therefore, behold, how many good works he had done, how in such great affliction and tribulation he was still devoted to godliness and holiness; and God had preserved him in all these things, that he should not fall into impatience, and had graciously kept him from the devil's pursuits, that is, on the right hand from fornication and lewdness of the women and maidens of the house, and also on the left hand from impatience in tribulation. These things are only indicated with obscure words in this place; but we see that all things are to be concluded from them by a good and manifest consequence. For where the Lord is, there follow also the right fruits of the word, as confession, doctrine, thanksgiving, and all manner of sacrifice and right worship. Let this be said first of all of Joseph's theology and priesthood, that is, how he was devoted to and cultivated godliness and the teaching office.
23 Now further in the text this is also added that Joseph had been a blessed man. Here Moses first thinks of happiness in general, then he will explain this in particular, as far as the temporal welfare is concerned. But this is not only to be applied to the happiness of his master's goods, but also to Joseph himself. For everything he did pleased not only his master, but also his fellow servants and all the household, and even his wife herself, so that she loved him. Therefore,
I say, they all held him dear, who saw his piety, patience and other virtues in him, through which they also saw that he was motivated and moved to lead an honest life, to avoid sin and all evil. Then they all unanimously said all the good things about him, and praised such a pious, godly young man, to whom everything he had started had turned out so blissfully and well, not only in the house rule, which was for his master's benefit and piety, but also in his whole life and everything he had done, so that he was loved by God and man at the same time.
024 Now why did Moses add, And Joseph was in the house of his lord the Egyptian? Answer: Because he was not mischievous, unfaithful or disloyal, thinking how he might escape from his master, or otherwise desiring to do harm or damage to anyone; but voluntarily remained in his office, and endured such servitude with a patient heart, thinking thus of himself: Lord God, you have led me away from my father's house, brothers and whole family; I know well that at home my father and grandfather are sighing, weeping and crying, and have great desire for me as someone who is absent. But what shall I do? Shall I free myself from this servitude and run away? No, I will not do that. Therefore he stayed in the house of his master, the Egyptian, that is, he offered himself as a sacrifice to God, thinking: "Because I am sold under the power of a stranger, I will stay there and be content with my happiness and my status, even though it is miserable and annoying, and I will make every effort to please not only the servants, but also my master and my God, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 6:5. Paul Eph. 6, 5. Col. 3, 22. teaches that servants should be obedient to their masters, not with service before their eyes, but as before God 2c.
(25) Such a faithful servant was Joseph, and if anyone would have such servants like Joseph, he could easily become rich. But now to
In our times, there are few of them. For they are all thieves and murderers, stealing, corrupting and embezzling everything, and yet they are freeborn, they are not bondmen or bought servants, as the servants were at that time. And there is no more shameful people in the household, both in these lands and otherwise over all Germany, than the very servants are. And it is wonderfully well said that one has said: A lazy thief is better than a lazy servant. For the former steals slowly and little, but the latter misses every day, even every hour, that which would serve his master's benefit and piety.
026 Therefore they are not worthy to be called servants, but rather thieves and murderers. And truly Potiphar was very happy because he had such a faithful and pious servant in Joseph, who was as obedient to him as a cow or an ox, and who was so well satisfied with his position and was content with it; who so faithfully performed his commanded office, and thought nothing of how he would avenge himself, or run again to his parents; for "he was," says Moses, "in his master's house"; and who ought not to have had the name of a servant, yet became a servant of all servants. But now follows further in the text of his temporal happiness and welfare.
Second part.
How Joseph is lifted up and honored by Potiphar because of his faithful service, and how Potiphar's house is blessed because of Joseph.
V. 3, 4: And his lord saw that the LORD was with him: for whatsoever he did, the LORD prospered through him, so that he found favor in the sight of his lord, and became his servant. And he set him over his house, and all that he had he put under his hands.
Here Joseph begins to excel, grow and become great, and has undoubtedly been a great fortune and rich blessing to God,
1232 D. IL. 230-232. interpretation of Genesis 39:3, 4. w. II, isos-isos. 1233.
What he has done, he has adorned. His master has seen that he has been chaste, temperate, modest, honorable, and that he has done and administered everything rightly and blessedly; therefore he thinks that he has now received a servant according to his will. This is a servant for me, he thought. And the words are almost as if he had set him free because he had served him so faithfully and sincerely. Although I cannot say this for certain. But the Lord heard his prayer, and blessed the Lord first, and then Joseph also, so that he was set over the whole house and all that Potiphar had.
(28) This was a great miraculous blessing, that the Egyptian entrusted all his goods and chattels, and all that he had to do in the field and in the house, to a bondman who was a stranger. Now Joseph is a great magistrate, so his loyalty and faith must have been very great and very well-known, for which reason he also found favor with his lord, who now no longer worries about any danger or deceit on the part of the servant: he has no evil suspicion of him that he might steal something from him and embezzle it, and then immediately run away, as servants are wont to do, after he has put all his goods and possessions in his custody, so that he should rule over them. He was undoubtedly afraid of the unfaithfulness of the other servants, but he never took it into his mind to do so to Joseph. For he voluntarily and with full confidence put everything under his hands, as if he himself ruled over the servants and was personally present. For he had well experienced his faithfulness, that he was sincere. Then he saw that he had done what a godly man and one who fears God should do. Not that this Egyptian, Potiphar, would have recognized God the Lord, or that he would have said this to Joseph: I see that the LORD is with thee: but Moses and the prophets speak after their manner. For the wicked and the rude do not hold it so, but when they see a pious holy man, they esteem him worthy to be loved by the gods.
Potiphar thought the same of Joseph.
(29) Now this is a very great and glorious state, and at the same time a very difficult state and regiment, which Joseph led. For who could so easily suffer and endure this, if he has suffered and endured? He bore this heavy, miserable servitude for eleven years, earning nothing at all, unless he had received or gained something after he was set free: but while he was serving, all his work was not for his benefit, but only for the benefit of his Lord. For this reason he had nothing more than food and blankets, and with these he had enough to live on; which is also to be praised in him, namely, that he bore such extreme poverty with patience. For in his old age he should have taken up marriage, begotten children, and maintained and nourished his own household. But he had to lack all this and still sees no end to this difficult servitude; and yet he has endured it so well and held on with firm hope and faith in divine help. For he thinks to himself: "Even if I have to bear this burden a little longer, I will not become fainthearted or despondent. For I have learned from my father how I should wait for the Lord, hope in him and call upon him. I will therefore keep this teaching and practice it as long as I live.
(30) He who will diligently consider these things will easily see what a great burden it has been with such heavy and miserable servitude. For that is hard enough, to be a prisoner and subject to foreign power, and on top of that to carry poverty and hard work, so that you are exhausted and the other, who is a tyrant, becomes rich, great and glorious.
(31) We complain much about the Turk, but impatience will not make us better, nor will it remove us from the misery or overcome it. But let us rather look at the example of Joseph and imagine the same. For though our miseries and servitude are also very grievous, yet they are not to be compared with that of Joseph.
with the sorrow that Joseph suffered. Therefore, when we think of the tribulation Joseph had, we may well be ashamed of our impatience, which we use to serve the devil and to anger God in many ways. For rather, see what happened to this priest and young man, who was favorable to God and man.
V. 5, 6: And from the time that he had set him over his house, and over all his goods, the LORD blessed the house of Egypt for Joseph's sake, and was the blessing of the LORD in all that he had, both at home, and in the field. Therefore he left all that he had in Joseph's hands; and he had none of it, save the bread which he did eat.
This text teaches us how God, for the sake of a godly and pious man, blesses even unworthy and godless people; as Jacob says to his father-in-law Laban, Gen. 30:30: "You had little before I came here, but now it is spread abroad, and the Lord has blessed you by my foot. Now as Jacob was a blessing in the house of Laban, so Joseph also was with his master the Egyptian. This is the way of our Lord God. He loves his own who call upon him and wait for his help and gifts, so that for the sake of one man he may do good to a whole country and bless it. Even though Joseph himself received nothing, he remained a servant, unless perhaps he had been given free, since he had been set over the house of Potiphar and over all that he had.
(33) All the good things that happen to the whole world should be recognized and praised with a grateful heart, and we should know that God gives peace to many thousands of people for the sake of his chosen ones and also performs other good deeds. Even though he does not spare even the elect; as he served Joseph for so many years, and finally had him thrown into prison with the greatest disgrace as a reward for his faithful service. So he rewards the most holy people, who are very useful; yes, who are the real blessing of the world, they get such shameful reward.
34 For this reason it should be diligently noted that God blesses the ungodly for the sake of His church. For if the world were without them, and if the gospel were not taught and learned, it would have passed away long ago. So God is also with us in our time, for we have the Word and the holy sacraments: he speaks and works through us, thus redeeming many people from death and eternal damnation. We are the helpers and saviors of the world, and everything that Germany has that is good should not be attributed to its great power, not to its virtue or piety, not even to its wisdom, but to the rejected, despised and cursed people, who are called Christians, and thank them for it.
(35) The pope, cardinals, and the whole company of the same wicked men enjoy honors, good, violence, and all pleasures for the sake of the gospel alone, and our people must confess the same. And yet the pope deals with his own of their highest fortune only in that they thank us rightly for it, namely, with sword, fire, hunger, and all kinds of other punishments and plagues, as they may only invent such. Yes, look at our own audience. The peasants and the nobility, the burghers and the authorities, plunder and rob those whom they should feed cheaply, whom they should help, whom they should maintain and to whom they should add, so that the church may be uplifted, in which all its salvation and welfare are concerned. It has to be like that, nothing will come of it.
There was no measure in the papacy, and there was no end of giving and adding to maintain the ungodly false worship with it. Hence came the monasteries and convents, the princely bishoprics, the mighty kingdoms of cardinals and popes; there the devil was able to blow against Christ and drive the people to such weariness and ungodly gifts. For such things pleased him well, and the people thereby served the idolatry and blasphemy that was publicly taught at that time. That is why the bishops, bishops and abbots have had it all, even though they have been a common shame and ruin to the whole world. They have become fat, strong and fat: we
But those who teach the word faithfully and with great diligence, purely and unadulteratedly, and with it seek nothing else but the welfare and happiness of the German country, must bear the bitterest hatred and envy from all classes, and if they could take away the morsel of bread that we eat, they would. Why is that? Answer: Because it must be so. The world must be the devil and honor their own, as Christ says John 15:19: "If ye were of the world, the world would love their own." But that loose group of wicked, shameful people it gladly feeds and honors. For they are of the devil and of the world. If a pious Joseph comes, she will not give him a crumb of dry bread.
Wherever there is a prince who nourishes and sustains the church with his charity, his heart has undoubtedly been stirred by the Holy Spirit; the others are almost all predatory, that they seize everything for themselves. Look at the parish priests in the villages now and then, how so many of them have to pine away from hunger and thirst, often they do not have enough money to buy a shirt for their children. The nobility is snatching away the church estates, not only of the monasteries, but also of the parishes, which they should abstain from, so that the parishes and church servants can be fed and maintained. Therefore, it will soon come to pass that the parish lords will have to die of hunger. There is no earnestness, no diligence, no heart for godliness, because no one takes it seriously and from the heart.
38 We demand and receive our due wages from our listeners, as Christ says Luc. 10, 7: "A laborer is worthy of his wages," that is, he can accept them with a clear conscience; item 1 Cor. 9, 14: "The Lord also commanded that those who preach the gospel should also feed on the gospel"; item 1 Tim. 5, 17: "The elders, who stand before us, are worthy of twofold honor. Yes, indeed they are worthy of double honor. But where? Answer: With God, but with the world they are considered worthy of the sword, the gallows, hell, or anything else that is worse.
(39) What then do we ask of it? We, who serve the ungrateful world, have the promise and hope of the kingdom of heaven, and the recompense and retribution of this misery of ours will be so great that we will also reproach ourselves greatly for ever having let a tear or a sigh escape us for the sake of such contempt and ingratitude of the world. Why, we will say, did we not suffer something more severe? If I had never believed that such a great glory would be in eternal life, I would not have been afraid of it, even if I had to suffer much more.
(40) This is the comfort and hope of the godly, that our salvation and glory is not sought in this life, but we long for another and better life. But all that we do in this world we do together only for the glory of God, so that many people may be converted and saved. Therefore we also eat and drink, do the works that both belong to the house and world government, likewise we gather a church with teaching and preaching, all so that we may seek only another life. Like Joseph, who had no hope of freedom or redemption, or even of rule in Egypt, but hoped and waited for eternal glory and blessedness in the kingdom of heaven. This is what we also want to hope for, although God also showers the blessed with many goods in this life. This, however, is not their most noble reward, but eternal life and eternal joy is finally the right reward of the blessed in heaven, which Christ and all the saints have also received.
41 For this reason the world may always go where it belongs with its rapacious miser. But let us carry out our commanded office, as we still teach by the grace of God and suffer great tribulation with the greatest patience. For we still gladly grant good things to ungodly and ungrateful people, so that they may be advised and helped, and are satisfied with the fact that we know that such our diligence and work pleases God. What we cannot take away,
We may leave that behind, if only we have a favorable and gracious God, who says: Behold, dear child, your service pleases me well. I will be your reward, I will pay you richly for serving ungrateful people. This promise and comfort is much richer than all the treasures of the whole world may be.
The first thing to be learned from this passage is that the world can by no means boast that it is worthy of this temporal life, even for a moment; but that God, for the sake of the gospel, for baptism and the forgiveness of sins, gives everything, and that even to the most vile and worst enemies of the church, such as Turks and Papists: he throws it into the rapuse.
043 And now let this be said of the blessing that was in the house of the wicked for the sake of the godly and pious Joseph. For Potiphar the Egyptian became great and rich, not by his own diligence but by Joseph's diligence and labor, since he had good days in the meantime and snored in idleness. Just as Laban in Genesis 30 laid the entire burden of his household on Jacob alone, so that he also demanded from him what he had lost through theft. So the Lord also gave happiness and salvation to the godless king in Syria for Naaman's sake, 2 Kings 5:1. And if our prayer had been done by the word, Germany would have been different, it would have been very bad. Our gospel is the right Naaman and Joseph. The adversaries do not recognize this, nor do they believe it; but let us recognize it and be grateful to God for it.
44 After this it is also to be noted that the blessing of the Lord does not come to those who sleep and are lazy, as it is said of Polycrates, who was a pagan, that he drew the net in his sleep, and in the 127th Psalm v. 2. it is written, "The Lord gives to his friends while they sleep. For David did not forbid work, but wanted the conscience to be quiet and peaceful: it should not be such work as would hinder the spiritual sleep of faith and hope; but at the same time it should be accompanied by a quiet
Heart and a good peaceful conscience, as Christ says Matth. 6, 25. 34.: "Do not worry about your life" 2c., be of good cheer: "It is enough that every day has its own plague". Do not make yourselves miserable. V. 31: Sleep, and say not, "What shall we eat, what shall we drink?" Yet I would not have you to be lazy brethren, and to walk idly, but to work. For God does not give His blessing to those who lie after the flesh and snore and are lazy. He wants the flesh to be always exercised and put to death, as St. Paul says Gal. 5, 24: "Those who belong to Christ crucify their flesh together with lusts and desires."
45 Although work does not accomplish what the blessing gives and brings, God wants us to carry out our commanded office and work diligently, so that the flesh may always be exercised, so that it does not snore and become lazy; as the pagan poet says that all men are inclined to good lazy days according to their nature, and that they may only be overburdened with work. Therefore we are not to go to idleness and sloth, but are to take upon us the work with all diligence and faithfulness, as the same brings and demands of every man's profession: and at the same time, even in all toil, labor and persecution, we are to have a merry heart, and alfo expect blessing from the Lord. For so Jacob, Joseph, Rachel and Leah were also not lazy. Leah says to Jacob Gen. 31:15: "Did not our father Laban consume our wages?" As if she wanted to say: We had to bear the toil and work in the house, namely, to tend the cattle, to milk the cows and goats 2c. But all that was earned by our diligence was eaten up by Laban our father. And no doubt Rebekah and Sarah were also as diligent in their work; yet with good peace and quietness of conscience.
46 In this way, Joseph was very diligent in governing the household, being the first to get up in the morning, inspecting the whole house everywhere, decreeing what should be done in the house and in the field.
and everything in particular diligently distributed and ordered, did not wait until the servants did of their own accord what was due to them. For this is almost never done. As can be seen in our people, who are so exceedingly lazy and careless that I have never seen them more sluggish in any place than in this country and in this city. If one has to eat only until tomorrow, they do nothing at all, or else they do their work, which is their due, unfaithfully; that is why they are loose people and poor beggars, and all they have, which they got from the prayer of the Christian church, they can never become rich, because they are so inclined to lazing about, sleeping, eating and drinking. They are a lazy, shameful, gluttonous people 2c. But those who are diligent and industrious in their work can easily become rich. For to such people God wants to give the blessing, as Solomon says Prov. 10, 4: "The diligent hand makes rich."
47 And we see that it is the same in the courts of princes, where two or three bear the whole burden in the regiment, as for instance the prince himself, or some of the clerks; the other bunch lies and snores day and night, eats and drinks; or if they do something, they do it not for the sake of their office, but only for the sake of avarice and vain honor: that is why such great expenses are incurred by the court.
48 Joseph was a very diligent householder, who himself diligently watched over all the work of the servants and demanded an account of it, which is of more use than manual labor, even though it requires great diligence and is always done. Therefore Joseph was not only pious and chaste, and also prayed very diligently to God for his lord, for the king and for the whole land of Egypt, but also very diligently promoted and administered all kinds of household work, since he also judged and accounted for everything most diligently according to the number, according to the weights and measures. This is actually the office of a good householder; as is also attested by the common proverbs, where it is said: "The eye of the Lord, and the dung that falls from his feet, makes the field fat, and the land is made more fertile.
fertile. Item: Frons occipitio prior est, that is: The forehead is closer than the back of the head. For where there is not a right Joseph, nothing is rightly aligned.
49 Therefore, I say, it is necessary to be always watchful and diligent. As the ancients have finely painted the scepter. At the top, where a small crown is now placed, a watchful and open eye has been engraved to indicate that for the administration of the police or regiment it is absolutely necessary to keep a diligent watch over all things. If a prince is not valiant, nothing will come of it. Alexander the Great would never have been able to accomplish such great things in such a short time if he himself had not been particularly diligent and concerned about everything. The rulers must keep an eye on the top of the scepter. And as far as housekeeping is concerned, it is also customary to say of the presence of the housemother: The eyes of the woman boil well; the eyes of the maid never boil.
(50) Now this is the other teaching in this place, namely, that the blessing of God is given to those who love Him, and are vigilant and willing to work. For although diligence in itself is good for nothing, God wants it nevertheless, so that the flesh may be contrite and crucified, which devout people do for God's sake. Therefore they are the salvation and blessing of the whole world. As Joseph is described here as the image of a righteous and perfect man, who was adorned with all kinds of virtues; and when his Lord saw this, he also left everything he had under his hands, as the text says.
(51) But the little piece that follows in the text: "And he had nothing of it, save the bread which he did eat," has been sullied in many ways by the peevish talk of the Jews. Some interpret it thus: Joseph ate nothing but dry bread, and yet, through God's special blessing, was beautiful in form and also quite healthy. The others want to understand it from Potiphar, namely, that he let such a faithful servant be commanded to do everything,
so that he did not care about anything else, but only that he ate at home and then soon went back to the court. Still others understand by the bread the wife, thus that the gentleman knew nothing in his house but only his wife; and in the same way they also interpret the words in the Proverbs of Solomon in the 5th Cap. V. 15: "Drink water from your pit" 2c. But the Jews are worthy to believe such lies and to teach in this way.
52] Furthermore, the Hebrew word lechem means not only bread, but all food in general, as bread and water, eating and drinking; as Dan. 4:9 ff. it is written that the king saw in a vision a tree from which all things were to eat, 2c., that is, that bore apples and other fruit, from which all animals ate; and Jer. 11:19: "Let us destroy the tree with its food," that is, with its fruit.
(53) Therefore I consider that these words must be applied and interpreted to Joseph, that he bore all the toil and labor of the whole house, and that through him the Lord blessed Potiphar: even as Laban increased by the labor of his son-in-law and his daughters, and yet, when they departed from him, he gave them not one farthing or penny for their hard and faithful service, which they rendered him so many years.
(54) So Joseph received no reward from his ungrateful master. For the world is very desirous of the blessings and labors of pious holy men, and delights in them; as the drones that work not, yet enjoy the honey which the other right bees make and delight in. Just as princes and tyrants today are greatly benefited by the gospel, which is now being taught and spread more and more. For they become rich, either from many great gifts of the bishops and cardinals, or from the robbery of the church goods, which they seize; yes, finally, they also need with the highest pleasure of peace and good quiet, good and all kinds of welfare; all of which the Christian church obtains only with its prayer from God. But the
They do not give anything to poor, hard-pressed church servants. If one has to give a poor priest a shirt, there is no one at home. Such cruel unkindness and stinginess has also been shown to Laban and this Potiphar the Egyptian, who will subsequently reward the work of his faithful servant with bonds and imprisonment.
55 All godly children have this happiness in this life, namely, that they work and obtain the blessing of the ungrateful world, and are satisfied with their daily bread. In the meantime, however, they can build themselves up on this comfort, that they know that their right goods are in heaven, where also their walk is, Phil. 3, 20.; for they are not of this world, but they are from heaven, from which they also wait for the Savior, who will give them the right reward; meanwhile they are satisfied with the partaking, that they have food and clothing, 1 Tim. 6, 8. which nevertheless our Lord God always decrees and gives to them, but nevertheless in such a way that at times many still have to suffer hunger and sorrow over it.
This is the meaning of these words: As long as Joseph was with this godless lord, he did not know or have anything of his own, he was not predatory or stingy, nor did he desire anything, but only his daily bread, which he ate, the rest he commanded all to God. Therefore you see here what an abominable beast the world is, what righteousness it is, that it only eats and consumes the work of other pious people; it uses a pious servant no differently than an ass or an ox, and leaves him his food and clothing for the utmost need. For this is called "daily bread," the necessities of life, what we need for this life, not for great good, wealth, hope or avarice, but only for necessities. And this godless lord gave him the same in a miserable and evil way. He could not clothe himself with it or live well. For he who works is given the chaff and only the remaining crumbs, but the others live from his work, although he himself hardly has so much to live on.
1244 n. str-244. interpretation of Genesis 39:5, 6. w. ii, i8ss-is2s. 1245
57 Therefore Joseph had a great heavy burden on him, since, as Moses says, his master put everything he had under his hands. To Potiphar, however, this was a fine, gentle life, since he had his nourishment from other people's work, care and toil, just as the drones also feed on the honey of the other right bees. For he will have thought thus: Behold, this servant I have bought for a little money; but I see that he is gifted with such skill that I myself do not need to look after the work of my household. For this servant does everything by himself and does it with great diligence. Pharaoh will do the same afterwards.
The whole world is full of such drones, that is, such lazy brothers, who desire to live only from other people's work. Those who are skilled and willing to work are held in high esteem by almost everyone, and they desire him primarily so that others may turn away their burdens and burdens that are incumbent upon them, whether at court or at home in everyone's house, and place them on his shoulders, and they are nevertheless almost very eager that they may enjoy his work the most, since this is an explicit commandment of God: "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat," 2 Thess. 3, 10. 3, 10. Yes, there are still many of them who act as if they knew nothing about anything, or they do not even want to know anything, just so that they will not be drawn into the common, ordinary work of this life. As I well remember a monk in Erfurt, when he was punished by others for always fleeing from the housework that was done in the monastery, even though he was tall and strong in body, that he answered that he was not fit for such work, and that he knew that if he once put his hands to work, he would often have to do it again. For if one notices that one can do a thing, then one lets him do it gladly.
(59) Now Joseph is a young man who has had all the virtues in him, and what is in him is not in him.
Everything is glorious and praiseworthy. He is content with what is given to him, suffers poverty with a generous heart, has patience and faith in God, and is mild and kind to his tyrannical master Potiphar in that he rules the house with great diligence and faithfulness, and is himself poor and needy. Therefore he was the most precious treasure of the whole kingdom of Egypt, although he was not recognized by anyone, and at that time he had no one like him in the whole world, except his father Jacob and his grandfather Isaac, and yet the same great treasure was unknown and even hidden from the world. This glorious light of beautiful virtues could not have shone forth if he had not had such a miserly master, who with his cruelty awakened the beautiful, glorious nature in the young man, so that he showed such patience and gentleness in his heart in the difficult service he had.
(60) These virtues are indeed marvelous, and far exceed the wonders and tales which he wrought with Pharaoh, which shall be told hereafter. The latter appear outwardly as if they were more glorious, but these are hidden and concealed, like the waters of Siloam that run still, and not like the strong and many waters of the river of glory and hope of the Assyrians, Isa. 8:6, 7. Therefore no one sees or understands them, even though they are marvelous and very great miracles that Joseph does every day. Potiphar sees them, but with a stingy and ungrateful heart like Laban. There lies the most precious stone hidden in darkness, covered with servitude as with dung or other dung, so that no one can see it.
(61) The works that follow will be a little more obvious, since he will interpret the dreams and give a reminder of the future harvest, and will provide the whole kingdom with grain that has been kept and stored up during the seven fruitful years. But in truth these works are still somewhat greater. Therefore, it is gloriously said by Augustine that the miraculous works that take place daily in the world,
greater than that which was done by Christ while he still lived on earth.
(62) This was a great and marvelous work, that with seven loaves Christ fed four thousand men: but he still feedeth the whole world every day. We would be much more astonished at this, if it had not come into contempt with us, because it happens daily and is so common. For this reason, the miraculous works that we see before our eyes are much less than those that we hear have been done. The works that Joseph did when he served Potiphar are greater than those that he did when he was in charge, though they are more dear to people's hearts and move them more than those hidden works do. For here one does not see in Joseph a particularly great figure or glory. He goes about badly, and has the burden of the household government upon him, and is poor and despised, until afterward the great honor and glory of his miraculous works come forth; all of which can hardly be compared to the fact that Joseph is a child of God, and a priest full of the Holy Spirit, godliness, and the highest virtues, for which the whole house of Potiphar was so richly blessed and made great.
This is why Augustine says that God has reserved for Himself a number of miraculous works, which are somewhat smaller and stranger, so that, because they are so strange, He may remind the world of the greater ones. Every human being is a great miracle in itself, and even if the whole world and the angels themselves were to put all their abilities together, they would not be able to do a single thing to man. So we see that the heavens are moved, that the sun shines: but we are not particularly moved by it. But when it is taught from God's Word that these very beautiful heavenly bodies were created out of nothing, then we can reasonably suppose how great the marvelous building may be, which cannot be comprehended with the eyes, but which can only be recognized and understood with the ear, where it is shown by God's Word.
64. such a marvel is Joseph at
Potiphar was also in Egypt. Therefore this is a glorious thing, that he is described here in this way. And by the special counsel of the Holy Spirit, this is presented as an example to the whole church, even to the whole world. For there is no other example in the holy scriptures that could be like it. The lives of the other fathers, both before and after the Flood, have not been described so diligently and precisely as to tell at the same time what they did and did in their youth and early years, without only the time of their birth being indicated. But what they did especially in youth and what they were most inclined to do, what kind of danger, sorrow, or affliction they suffered, is nowhere else told like this than in this history of Joseph alone. His brothers were also painted and described before as very bad boys and stained with unspeakable great sins: but this Joseph alone seems to stand out like a beautiful rose among the thorns, who was adorned with all kinds of virtues, such as holding fast with patience and constancy to the right doctrine of godliness, as he received it from the fathers, as well as with chastity, discipline and moderation. For he was carried away at the time that he could have no fellowship with his father, nor did they see each other, when he most needed his father's teaching and admonition. As in our times, the Turk drags the children away at the age when they easily forget the teaching they first heard and may be tempted and accustomed to Turkish teaching.
65. For tender youth, although it does not lack disciplinarians and others who wait for it and admonish it, is nevertheless, as the poet says, like wax, that it is easily inclined to sin, is sacrilegious, They are unruly and disobedient, and original sin then also begins to stir and rage in them, with which sin the devil secretly pursues them and tries to catch the poor youth with the ropes of his flatteries and pleasures of life. For this reason it is a great
It has been a great pity and danger that this young man, not yet fully confirmed with right doctrine and good examples of discipline, has been snatched away, as it were, from the best and most holy doctrine or instruction and delivered by his brothers into the hands of the ungodly, who have led him away into an unknown country, so full of idolatry, where he has had to see and hear devilish doctrine, which was completely contrary to the doctrine he heard from his father. Likewise, he had to see the most shameful customs and life of the pagans; and yet, with great miraculous constancy, he still kept the pure doctrine and worship as he received it from the fathers.
66 Therefore the 81st Psalm v. 6. 7. praises Joseph miraculously when it says: Joseph heard foreign languages in Egypt and that his hands got rid of the pots. He had to listen to the unknown language of the Egyptians, and not only to the language that was their mother tongue, but also to foreign doctrine and worship, which did not rhyme with the doctrine of his father: in this foreign worship he nevertheless kept the doctrine of his father with the greatest faith and godliness, and was not deceived by the holy or worldly speeches of the Egyptians. It must have been the Holy Spirit who strengthened and confirmed in him the faith and right understanding of godliness, so that the tender weak heart would not soften, and would not let the supposed worship and the great glory of the godless teachers move him to fall away from right godliness. Often, when he saw either the use of their worship or their corrupt pagan life, he would have thought of the most holy discipline or discipline and teaching of his father, and would have protected himself with it against all kinds of trouble. He must have been a fine child. He studied diligently and well; the Holy Spirit must also have been there.
Now, in our time, when, unfortunately, the youth is so wanton and insolent, we can hardly maintain the good laws of discipline and respectability, even if we have the best disciplinarians. But this
A young man of seventeen years of age, he held to the teachings of his father with such great diligence and faith that he could not have been led away from true godliness by any example or other doctrine, even though he would not have endured so much trouble and suffering outside of his church or congregation without great pain in his heart.
68 He did not deserve this cross with his sins, but suffered as Christians are wont to suffer, who are persecuted and tormented for the sake of truth and righteousness, and not for sin or evil. St. Peter teaches that Christians should beware of this, as he says in 1 Ep. 4:15: "But let no one among you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or one who takes hold of a foreign office." Here the Greek word actually means a rebel who forces his way into another's office: these are the fellows who want to rule, since they have not been commanded anything.
(69) Therefore the causes why the pious and godly are thus exercised and afflicted in this life are not their sins and misdeeds, but only the will of God, righteousness and their good chaste life. So today the Turk, the pope, the heretics and the mobs persecute us, not that they could accuse us with truth for the sake of thievery or fornication or other vices, but for the sake of the doctrine and right use of the holy sacraments, which we teach. Nevertheless, we have to suffer the insults and reproaches from them, that they call us rebels, rebels, or disobedient and stiff-necked envious people; that is what we have to be called. For the sacramentalists know no other sin to accuse us of than that we act against love, and divide and prevent unity 2c. And although all this rests truly upon them, that they may be justly accused of it, yet they impute it only to us. They do it, but we must bear it. So it shall be.
(70) Joseph is grieved and distressed, not because of disobedience, but because he is obedient to his father, and is a godly, holy, chaste youth; as soon after he is grieved for
For the sake of discipline and chastity he will also be thrown into prison. And until then, the devil has attacked him on the left, tempting him with poverty and sorrow in the heavy and vexatious bondage, and he is still in the highest dungeon of hell; but soon he will also be thrown into the lowest. It must become still worse with him.
Third part.
How Potiphar's wife is inflamed with evil desire against Joseph and tries to seduce him, and how Joseph behaves.
V. 6. And Joseph was beautiful and comely of face.
(71) Moses put this bit in, so that he would be able to add to it what follows. He says that Joseph was beautiful and handsome in appearance. For even though he did not eat delicious food, nor did he have any other special maintenance, his beautiful face and free form were in themselves a great adornment and honor, especially in him, as a young man and still in the right bloom of his youth. And in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells, they also tend to have a free, erect, joyful face. For God awakens in them the right joy, which also gladdens the face; just as sadness, on the other hand, also disfigures the face. And this is added to the fact that he was born of very pious parents and that his mother Rachel herself was also beautiful in appearance: and besides the fact that Joseph was beautiful in appearance, he was also godly and of good honest manners at the same time. Therefore his wife, Potiphar's wife, was so inflamed in her heart with lewd love toward him that she wondered at so many glorious virtues in him, which stood out all the more in him for the sake of beauty. As the poet Virgil rightly says: Gratior est pulchro veniens e corpore virtus, that is: Virtue is all the more pleasant when beauty of the body is added. If many fine virtues are added, then beauty becomes the more pleasant.
and figure so much more excellent and higher. As a beautiful woman is not so highly adorned that she is beautiful in body, as that she has fine, chaste, humble manners, is not bitter or unkind. Such virtues far surpass all beauty of the body, and make those who are unformed nevertheless praised and honored for them.
(72) Therefore Joseph was very excellent in all his gifts or virtues, both outwardly in the body and inwardly in the soul, pleasing and acceptable to God and man. For it is a greater ornament to man that he is virtuous than that he is beautiful in form. But when virtue and beauty come together, it is an insurmountable bond of love, it must catch one. But there are few such people at present who are adorned with so many virtues and are so attractive and pleasant to everyone. For there are many who, inflamed with fornication and anger, and with impatience, gluttony and indulgence, disfigure and corrupt their beautiful bodies in the most shameful way; but inside they also drag themselves with such a conscience, stained with many sins. But Joseph, even in the right bloom of his youth, is an excellent example of all virtues, and in whom the women and also his master's wife had a lovely spectacle. But now the devil comes and tries him on the right side, after he has not been able to overcome or trap him on the left side with hard work, bondage and misery in which he lived. And this we should diligently remember, that we also may be conformed to the dear fathers, both in well-doing and also in suffering.
V.7-10. And it came to pass after this, that his lord's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, saying, Sleep with me. But he refused, and said unto her, Behold, my lord taketh nothing for himself from me that is in the house; and all that he hath he hath put under my hand; and hath nothing so great in the house that he hath hid from me, except thee, in that thou art his wife. How then shall I do such great evil?
and sin against God? And she spoke such words against Joseph daily. But he did not obey her, that he slept near her, nor was around her.
The devil has seen that this pious holy youth has overcome all misfortunes and hardships of his misery with great incredible patience and strong courage, in which he has been torn away from his brothers and friends, deprived of the greatest glory and hope of the firstborn, and has had to live among the rude idolatrous people; by all these hardships, however, his heart has not been able to tire or weaken for almost ten years. For although he was attacked by Satan with countless arrows and other hard blows from his seventeenth year to the seventh and twentieth, which he reached at that time, he alone survived all this, remained steadfast and unconquerable, if he had no one around him who could have admonished him or who could have been in the same tribulation with him; Finally, he had no examples at all before him, but the ones he saw every day were quite repulsive, so that he could easily have been led away from the right doctrine of true godliness; therefore there must certainly have been a great power of the spirit and divine gifts in him. For he would have been a little more sorry if he had had only one companion. But he alone, without exhortation, without sacrifice and without holy sermons, still kept true godliness and how to live godly with great constancy, and in this he did not change his mind at all, so that it seems that he always, the longer the more, increased and was even confirmed in such constancy.
Now the devil also attacks him on the right side, that is, with flattery or inducements to fornication and pleasure, which challenge is much more severe and dangerous, especially in a young man, because otherwise all the storms and hard blows can be, so come from the left. For around the eighteenth year original sin begins to stir and to
and then in the hearts of the young men are found frightening movements and thoughts, so that they are provoked to fornication or unseemly mingling. And at that time Joseph lived under the worst examples of the pagans, so that the nature, which by itself was inclined to fornication, could be irritated and inflamed even more, especially in such a fine healthy person. For thus Augustine says in one place: The healthier we are in the body, the greater and more senseless this plague becomes. It is not so hot in a weak body, which is weighed down with worry and sorrow, as in a strong healthy body.
This young man has lived for ten years in such a temptation of evil desire, and has fought manfully, since he has not been tempted once, or by one woman alone, but often and by many to lewd love. For the girls also tend to feel this misfortune and temptation, and where they live with young fellows, they try themselves on them in various ways, so that they move their hearts now here and then there, whether they would like to tempt them to love, especially where they see that they are beautiful in form and strong in body, so that the young fellows often have greater difficulty in resisting such temptations than in resisting their own lusts. For these things are thus painted in the writings of the poets, as that peasant says in Virgil:
Malo me Galatea petit lasciva puella?
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.
that is:
Galatea, the cheeky Metz.
Almost plays a lot of jokes with me, Gets me fine with an apple, Wants to be seen by me with it, Then already hides behind a willow tree, AIS she didn't do that, And still won't go idle with me.
In addition, the devil comes with his art and cunning, so that he teaches the girls and incites them to cheat the young journeymen, who have no care for their things. "The devil can train a matzo for one.
(76) But over the mean inducements of the girls who have been either companions with him or otherwise neighbors, by whom Joseph has undoubtedly been tempted in many ways to set aside his chastity and discipline, he is severely challenged by the woman of the house herself, who tries to incite him to fornication and whoredom with her words of flattery. Now this is out of the way. This challenge is among all the others the strongest and most powerful for the sake of such a fine opportunity and vacation to sin; because the woman and the right housemother herself has a desire to court him. Verily, whoever can abstain and refrain from such a wife, you may know that such a one knows how to keep himself right in his life, that he does nowhere too much or too little. For what others would have accepted willingly and gladly in such a case, or would have followed of their own accord with the utmost diligence and desire, as youth is wont to indulge in fornication and to approach it freely and thoughtlessly, Joseph freely despised and rejected, regardless of the fact that such things had been impudently offered to him, and that the woman had stopped with him daily, almost impetuously, and had always urged and driven him.
Now Joseph was a youth, handsome in form and strong in body, in the midst of the bloom of youth, when he could easily have been softened and overcome by such a handsome and famous woman, who so persistently and unceasingly provoked him to fornication. And he would have had the power to do her will, so that this would not only have been without any danger for him, but he would also have been able to benefit greatly from it. For it seemed as if nothing else would have served him so well to attain great honors and higher status than to have the favor of a woman and to be favored by her, who was the wife of such a great man, who was held in great esteem and favor by the king before others, and who had been appointed chief over the cooks and butchers at court. Which honor and dignity the Hebrews make very great, and say that he was in Egypt like a
High priest or pope. Therefore, Joseph could have been praised and promoted by the woman on many occasions.
(76) Joseph, however, despised this convenient opportunity, which would have been quite safe and without danger for him, and would also have brought him great power, favor and pleasure, and he even rejected it and let it go. This is truly a clear sign of the greatest piety and chastity; which virtues had their origin in the fact that in his heart God's word, along with the right honor and fear of God, adhered, and that there faith ruled through the Holy Spirit. I have also heard examples of other young men who lived chastely and modestly with women and virgins: but here is the shameful love that incited and drove him, which could also easily and at any moment have turned and overcome the young heart and the flesh, which by itself was inflamed with fornication. Therefore, it was a very evil challenge.
Let him who is able to learn learn, and let us diligently remember this example, and thereby learn how pleasing it is to God the Lord to hold fast to the faith, to fear Him, to shrink from His commandments, and not to depart from Him, but to persevere in true, heartfelt godliness. Christ exhorts us to this in Luc. 21, 19, where he says: "Take hold of your souls with patience"; item Matth. 24, 13: "He who perseveres to the end will be saved. For the devil does not tire, cannot rest, but always persists, seeking cause and opportunity to drive people to sin. For this reason it is not enough to fight and contend against him with toil and labor for only one day or one year; but it is necessary to have patience and to persevere in such contending with constancy until he either wins or is overcome and his head is crushed. But it is very difficult for a young man to fight for a whole toe years with such great enemies as the flesh and the devil, who come at him with so many projectiles and such a convenient and good opportunity. For here is the thing
None of the things that are necessary for Joseph to overcome have been omitted. And yet he still remains steadfast with an unconquerable heart and persists to the end, so that for the sake of this highest degree of chastity he has led himself into the burdensome danger of prison and bonds. This is truly the true suffering of the saints, and is just as bitter as physical pain can always be, and would truly be worthy of being magnified and highly praised by others who are especially well-spoken.
80) Furthermore, this woman has spoken very insolently to the young man, saying, "Sleep with me. Although I do not think that she began with these words in order to incite him to fornicate, but she must have taken care to win him over at first with special cunning and flattery, and must have shown herself to him as if she were especially fond of him and loved him no other way than in honor, as a pious matron would, because of his great virtues and skill. She might also have smiled at him from time to time and talked to him in a friendly manner and asked him how the house regiment was going, how the other servants were doing in their office, whether they were also waiting diligently. She would also have given him some gifts from time to time to indicate that she and her master were particularly fond of his faithful service. She did not go out soon with these words: "Sleep with me"; but she challenged his heart with many flatteries, with conversations and many a secret cunning, and thus prepared a fine entrance for herself to make this request to him.
81 But because Joseph was gentle and chaste by nature, he answered her kindly. For it was not fitting for the servant to speak proudly against his master's wife. Because she saw that he sometimes laughed at her in a friendly manner and spoke to her in all humility, she grew more and more hopeful in her heart, until she thought that he would
Now, through her kindness and friendly conversation, as well as the kindness she has shown him, he will be overcome, and she will undoubtedly become powerful. Now it is time, she thought, and goes out: "Sleep with me. For she thinks he is now completely taken in and overcome with so many flattering words, gestures and beckons, which women know how to use. Which Moses also wanted to indicate, as it seems, when he says that she cast her eyes on Joseph, that is, she fixed her eyes on this young man, always looked at him, marveled at his beautiful figure and virtue, often praised him because of the fine honorable manners he had about him, and also because of his innocence; She also praised his excellent great skill, and thus finely prepared for herself the way to the disgrace he was to commit with her. Finally, however, now that she is no longer ashamed to conceal the love she has long held in secret, she comes out and incites him to fornication with explicit words. Then Joseph suddenly changes, adopts a different manner and henceforth also needs different words. He is no longer Joseph, who used to fear her as his wife and shy away from her, which deference she interpreted as if it were a certain sign that he would stick to her and cultivate lewd love with her, and also thought that she had already granted it.
For this reason, he has now changed the previous kindness into a holy and manly constancy, which will undoubtedly have greatly annoyed his wife, but she has not ceased to persist with her unreasonable and shameful request, even though Joseph has tried to contradict her and distract her from her shameful love. He then preaches an earnest and holy sermon, so that he may turn her away from the heat of her immorality.
For these are not words of flattery, as the grammarians uselessly wash them; but it is a very serious and wise speech, so that he sought to extinguish the shameful and unseemly rut of fornication in her. But this misfortune cannot be countered with words.
and no other remedy helps, as the poet says: Aegre scitque medendo: The longer one cures it, the sicker one becomes, and the more medicine one uses, the more it stirs up; as can be seen from Dido's description in Virgil. For everything that is done to alleviate this disease or to take it away, rather increases it and sets it on fire more and more, not unlike putting oil on the fire. It is a wicked, senseless rut that cannot be easily conquered, for it is blind and deaf, and is simply a passion and frenzy instilled by the wicked devil. It is not a chaste and holy love, since one desires a woman or young journeyman for marriage, but rather an evil pestilence, yes, a frenzy and nonsense; as it is also described by the pagans.
(84) So this pious holy youth preaches to the senseless woman and holds up three arguments to her. The first is that he says: "Far be it from me that I should sin against God. O dear woman, consider what a great sin this is, to abandon the fear of God, not to shrink from Him and to anger Him for the sake of such a small, brief pleasure. But there is no help from God, she does not consider what God has promised or what He has threatened, nor does she think of any reward or punishment. The other argument is: You are my Lord's wife, look at the same as yourself. If you are not afraid of God's wrath, even if you think that you should not respect your blessedness, examine your own conscience, and consider what the name and glory of a housemother require: consider that you alone are given to your husband, and that such an excellent man, whose dignity has been a great adornment to you, should be held in all honor and dignity. This is truly a fine and wise speech. The third argument is still the most foolish, namely, that he now cites ingratitude and disloyalty and says: "My lord has highly honored me in your house, has made me lord and regent over the whole house; but how would such a great ingratitude and unfaithfulness be justified?
To be sinful, to forget such good deeds, and to betray my Lord in the hope he has placed in me!
These arguments are certainly enough, and I cannot see what stronger argument could be used to overcome fornication. He holds against her the fear of God, the office of a pious wife and her own conscience, finally ingratitude and infidelity, so that he does not want to burden himself. But the more bravely, earnestly and holy she is admonished, and the more she stands that Joseph's heart is fixed to keep discipline and chastity, the more fiercely she flares up. Therefore, this has been a fierce battle between the constancy of keeping chastity and fornication, which has been most vehemently opposed to it. There, two hostile spirits clashed with all violence. The devil came upon Joseph in a very friendly manner and with fine, smooth words, but it is still a terrible cruelty. For where he sees that the pious godly children cannot be overcome by any chastisement or torture, he attacks them at last, and tries to overcome them with fornication and pleasure; as Jerome says in one place.
And Cyprian writes that the pagans used to punish the martyrs with slow punishment, and did not allow them to die soon, since they wanted to die very much. But after that, since they could not overcome them with painful punishment, they had lewd women, who were very beautiful in appearance, brought here, who were supposed to stimulate the evil lust of the flesh with coasts and other flattery. For they knew well that Christians praise chastity, and also say and hold that God is hostile to dishonest intercourse; for this reason they wanted that in this way the unsullied consciences of pious Christians should be defiled and the doctrine also profaned. Joseph was also challenged in this way by this lewd woman, who violently attacked him and did not refrain from doing anything, so that the holy martyrs were also challenged and harshly denied.
Jerome tells that one of the.
It is said that the first martyr, feeling that his hands and feet were bound and that he had been led into fornication with a painting, bit off his own tongue and spat it in the face of the harlot. This was truly a very hard and powerful remedy to extinguish the flames of fornication, namely, that one bites off his own tongue. But it is clear from this that such an evil desire for fornication must be an exceedingly cruel misfortune and evil thing, which can neither be increased nor controlled by any means. And it is indeed much more difficult to overcome flattery and inducement to pleasure than otherwise an outward cross; as Augustine says. It is harder to struggle with fornication than with the cross. It is a great misery to be bound and to lie in prison: but it is a much more wicked and dangerous thing where one is to contend against fornication. For there the strife lasts daily, to and fro, and it is a strange thing to gain the victory in such a strife.
(88) The crude godless people have little concern about how to maintain chastity: therefore the devil does not bother them with it, because he already has it in his snares beforehand. You are already mine, he thinks. He does not tempt them by such an obvious opportunity, for which they have a great desire; yes, he drives them so that they obtain what they desire even with great danger, with the greatest burden to body and soul, and also with the loss of their health. For he knows that they are now already subject to him: therefore he deals with them a little harder, so that they may receive the right reward of their ungodly shameful nature, and that they may not find the opportunity to fulfill their evil desire without sickness, without shame and other hindrances; which opportunity he otherwise gives of his own accord and without any difficulty to those who are godly and have the Holy Spirit.
The passage in the text where Joseph says, "Behold, my lord does not know what is in the house" is somewhat obscure, and the Jewish rabbis have interpreted it in many ways. I think that this is the right understanding: My master does not know what I know, has no knowledge of the things that are in the house.
house. I do not tell him about the things that concern the house regime, I rule the house freely and honestly, he does not ask me for an account of all and any things; therefore, he does not know what I know, how high it is with his own gained property, how many cattle he has, how to sow or harvest; I alone know such things. That, I said, was an argument he took from ingratitude and disloyalty. As if he wanted to say: My lord has shown me such great honor that he has not only made me lord over everything, even though I am his servant, but he has also given me the freedom of the entire household, so that he never demands a special account from me, because he sees that his property and the entire household is miraculously increasing and being increased, and does not think where this comes from or how it may happen. Why then, he says, should I, with this sin and unfaithfulness, anger such a kind and gentle Lord?
90 Now it also follows in the text how he emphasized this argument, since he says: "And my lord has nothing so great in the house that he has hidden from me", which Jerome interpreted a little too freely in Latin. According to the Hebrew it reads: He has hidden nothing from me, except you alone, because you are his wife. In our German we have interpreted the accusative, eum, with the dative, ei, and this is the right understanding of the words: In this house my lord has nothing so great and dear, so delicious, that he should not trust me and let me rule over it. In other places, grounds or places, he may prefer something else than to command or trust me with it; but in this house, among all things, there is nothing over which I do not have power, without you alone.
The Hebrew word, chasach, is often used as, Gen. 1, 4: "Then God separated the light from the darkness. But it often means as much as, to hide or conceal, which is done by the figure, metaphora, called. For what is in darkness is concealed so that it cannot be seen, as in Genesis 22:16, when God speaks to Abraham:
"Because you have done these things, and have not spared your only Son" 2c. There it reads after the Hebrew also thus: Non tenebrasti filium tuum, which the Latin interpreter gave: Non pepercisti, and is so much said: You have not hidden him or concealed him, have not withdrawn him from me, but have given him to me for a sacrifice, as I commanded you. So it reads in this place also in Latin: Herus non posuit a me aliquid in tenebris etc., that is: My Lord has not hidden or concealed anything from me, but has put everything in my power and under my hands. We gave it in Latin: Nihil excepit a me: He has nothing so dear in this house that He hides from me. All things are delivered unto me, except thee; thou alone art hid in darkness, and kept secret from me: I shall not see thee, nor know thee, because thou art his wife. He does not deny that he should not owe her obedience and all the other services she needs along with the children, but except for that, if you are his wife, he says, you are forbidden to me. To have conjugal duty and right over your body is forbidden to me.
(92) In this way Joseph preached to the woman, who had been foolish, and reminded her of the diligence, obedience and faithfulness he owed to his master, and reminded her of her marital fidelity. As if he wanted to say: You should have admonished and awakened me to be diligent and faithful in my office, and should not have driven me to such unfaithfulness of adultery and ingratitude, which also includes innumerable other vices; as it is said: Omnia convitia dixeris, si ingratum dixeris, that is: If you rebuke someone unthankfully, you rebuke him with it, as if he were also afflicted with all other vices. And Bernard says: Nullum vitium perniciosius est ingratitudine, eo, quod exsiccat fontem bonitatis, that is: No vice is more harmful than ingratitude, because it dries up and empties the well of goodness or benevolence. Therefore, we see that Joseph was a very holy and wise man who had all kinds of virtue about him; such a man our Lord God made.
Now he concludes in all seriousness, saying, "How then should I do such a great evil and sin against God? As if he wanted to say, "It is a great sin to violate my master's wife, who has commanded and imposed the whole household on me: but it would be a much greater sin against God. This is also the most noble and strongest argument. But in the world it is the easiest; for the world does not respect the wrath of God, but the godly are greatly moved by the judgment and vengeance of God. When the world hears that the divine threats and punishments are remembered, it can laugh at the same time with a loud voice, and is of the same opinion as that shrub thief who stole the wanderer's skirt, and when the latter cried out that he would have to give an account for such an evil deed at the last judgment, the murderer answered: "Oh, if it is still so far until this sin of mine is to be punished, then give me the shirt as well. So it goes, if Master Hans is not there with the rope and sword.
(94) But in the hearts of the godly, it helps a great deal that they guard against sins when they remember the punishment of God, who is seriously angry with those who sin. For Joseph also set his heart and eyes on God, since he had great cause and opportunity, if it had been without danger to him, to sin, so that he might have received his wife's favor and grace, as well as her goods. But he decided in his heart that he would not follow her will and evil desires, even if she wanted to give him all the goods of the whole kingdom. But this argument would not be valid with the tyrants and other godless people; just as this woman is not moved by it, because she does not stop to urge this young man to do her will. Therefore Moses now says: "She drove these words against Joseph", which, that is, all days, "daily". For this is a Hebrew way of speaking, which is to be understood in general. As, Ex. 8, 14. states: Fecerunt tumulum, tumulum, that is, they have made there a heap, there a heap, and many innumerable heaps. And in the prophet Ezekiel it says
1264 D. IX, 2M-262. interpretation of Genesis 39:7-10. w. II, ISSI-I8SS. 1265
also, homo, homo, man, that man, that is, in general, all men. Item virgam, virgam (Ruthe, Ruthe).
(95) In the same way, this woman has driven the young man all day long and has tormented him with this very powerful temptation. But he did not want to obey her, did not want to sleep or live with her, but put his bed in a special place so that she could not come to it at night. And this is truly the greatest miracle, which is to be praised highly, that there was such great chastity in a young man, who had not yet experienced what a thing it would be for the love of women. For this reason, the spirit of fornication fought there with the spirit of chastity in the most violent way. And to sin on such an occasion was no less a miracle to overcome the flames of fornication than that the three men of whom Daniel writes came back from the furnace of fire healthy and unharmed.
96 St. Bernard, on the Song of Solomon, reproaches some clergymen who lived with women and yet pretended that they kept chastity. How before that time the papist priests took their relatives or sisters-in-law to themselves in the opinion that they could well live chastely with the same. And since I was a young boy, I still remember that the priests were not suspected of adultery or fornication, even though they lived with wives, until afterwards they committed incest, adultery and fornication quite brazenly, and also stole other men's wives. This is how much the fornication and lechery of the priests has increased since we remember. That is why Bernard says to his clergy: It is not good to believe that you should live chastely; for to live with a woman and not recognize or touch her is more than raising the dead.
97 But he speaks of the first heat of those who have not yet felt the flames of fornication, for whom it is impossible that they should not be inflamed with love. It is somewhat easier for a husband who has lived with his wife for a while. Above all this, love in the married state is also
that it seldom tends to be constant and to last forever, as Jesus Sirach Cap. 25, 2. among the things that please both God and man: "When a man and a woman are well pleased with each other. And where the Germans see that a marriage is well arranged, they praise it as the highest good. Well, they say, that is a good marriage. For Satan is wont to scatter among them the seeds of strife and contention, by which the hearts are torn from one another, so that afterwards they also stain and sin with adultery and other unseemly mingling. In the beginning, before they were married to each other, they were inflamed with love for each other; but when they were married and now live together in marriage, the devil is soon there, who then tries in many ways to extinguish such heated love. For he can blow both cold and hot out of one mouth.
98. and if the youth of love and fornication is so senseless, this is not simple natural love, but is the breath of the devil, so that he blows on it, as Job says in 41. cap. V. 12: "His breath is like a bright flame, and out of his mouth go forth flames." Therefore he blows into the blood of the harlot and the fornicator and thus awakens a very fierce fire in them. Again, he blows into the hearts of the spouses a cold breath, from which the heat of conjugal love grows cold and passes away. Hence come these and such words of the adulterers: Uxor est honestatis nomen, mulier vero voluptatis, that is: "Wife" is indeed a fine honest name, but "wife" is a name for pleasure. In such adulterers the heat of the woman against the man ceases, and again also of the man against the woman; for the devil blows from the north a frightful cold and frost. Therefore, whoever wants to take a wife should ask God for mercy, so that he may live in peace with the wife and that they may love each other, so that their hearts are not torn apart. And if there is unity between husband and wife, so that the devil with his icicles does not come in, then it is a manifest blessing and gift from God.
99. But Bernhard speaks of those who are not married to each other, whom Satan drives more and more to unseemly love and fornication, who have not yet tasted what gall or honey there is in love, and hope to gain much more than they will find when they have been granted their desire.
100 Cyprian also disputes the church servants of his time, who also used to sleep with naked women. And Augustine says that there were some special heretics who called themselves Abelonites. For they wanted to lead an unmarried life after the example of Abel, who was not married, and yet lived with women, as married people do, only that they did not bear children. But all around, in villages and towns, they gathered together strange children, whom they made heirs. And this, says Augustine, was very pleasant to the neighbors, who were poor, and their sect increased greatly as a result.
But I will now return to the text. Surely Joseph must have been a young man of great and excellent spirit, not only to suffer misfortune and adversity, but also to overcome the carnal temptation to fornication, and to drive back the hard blasts or storms of Satan, both on the left and on the right. For he not only attacked him once, but every day he tempted him to fornication with the most powerful flattery and inducement. Therefore, this example of chastity in Joseph is rare and incomparable; as it is written in Jesus Sirach Cap. 42, v. 14, it is written: "It is safer to be with an evil man than with a kind woman who makes a mockery of him," as if to say: "It is safer to deal with evil, strange men than with a woman who is kind and attractive, especially if she is also beautiful. For she is able to attract and capture hearts. In order for Joseph to overcome this difficult challenge, he has always looked with great constancy to God's commandment, and since he sees that no advice or help can be found to overcome his wife's unreasonable lust, he has always been very cautious.
He has avoided all opportunities to deal or talk with her, and he has fed her so that she could not come to him in any way.
Fourth Part.
How Potiphar's wife tries to force Joseph into fornication, how Joseph runs away, and the woman accuses him of terrible things.
(v. 11-12) And it came to pass one day, that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the servants of the house with him. And she caught him by his garment, and said, Sleep with me. And he left the garment in her hand, and fled, and ran out of the house.
Behold, how wicked and foolish is the woman, who again and again, and unawares, is hard upon this young man, that she may unawares oppress him by force and stealth, and compel him to sleep with her. Therefore it is a very powerful challenge. But it is written in the Hebrew: secundum diem hanc, about this day; where now the same should be drawn, I do not know exactly. Perhaps the Hebrews have taken this from the statutes of the fathers, that they say it was a special holiday, and the woman pretended to be sick, so that she would not go out with the others among the people, and Joseph was free, so that he did not have to be at the idolatrous sacrifices; and because of this, since the others all went to the sacrifice or idolatry, Joseph remained alone in the house. And this choice is quite probable. For it seems as if she had long before with special diligence sought cause and also a convenient day, so that she, if no one else was present, would force the young man either with threats or flattery words to commit fornication with her. Joseph, however, thought of nothing evil and was not afraid of anything.
He thinks that there is no danger with him now that his wife is ill. Otherwise, he would not have remained alone with her in the house, as he had previously abstained from their company with the utmost diligence.
But when the woman got such a convenient time and place, she thought, "He will not run away from me this day, because he has done my will. That is why she attacks him, since he did not worry about it and was not afraid of it; but since he wanted to do his usual business in the house, she fell around his neck and certainly hoped to overcome him in this way. But the Holy Spirit is still stronger. For the devil is now already overcome with his noonday breath, so he blows a new challenge from another place. For Joseph flees from it and leaves the dress in the woman's hand. From this it is clear that she attacked and held him with all her might, and that she tried to soften him not only with kisses and that she fell around his neck, but also wanted to keep him by force, and that she threatened him that if he did not do her will, she would call all the neighbors with a loud shout to chastise him as much as they could, when he stood by her honor to deprive her of it.
This has truly been a very fierce battle that Joseph has had with this wicked, evil harlot. For she has seen that all her arguments, even the most powerful ones, her secret stalking, her opportunities, her desires, her thoughts, and all her attempts have been in vain and in vain. Therefore she now despairs and gives up on overcoming such a hard diamond heart, and now her love turns into rage and madness; as it is wont to happen when such brats can do nothing with their whorish flattering words, they become quite senseless, so that they would even like to kill those with whom they cannot indulge in shameful love. Thus it is read of St. Agnes that, since she had male growth and resisted the fornication that the judge's son had inflicted on her, she could not be made to do so in any way.
He wanted to force her to sacrifice herself, and because she also despised it with a generous heart, he finally brought it about that she should be punished in the flesh.
For this is the devil's way, that he may extinguish the fear and honor of God in the hearts of men, by whatever arts he may or may not be able to do, and drive them to all manner of sins and disgraces. And where he is driven back both to the right and to the left, so that he cannot soon accomplish this, he nevertheless tries to weaken and tire those whom he has once begun to challenge and dispute with constant persistence: or where he cannot accomplish anything by force, he otherwise needs deceit and cunning for this, so that he may finally even strike down such a man of war, who has now been so tempted for a long time that he has almost become weary over it. For this reason, he now turns again to the left side, as he has tried in vain on the right.
For Joseph is now in danger of life and limb because he will be accused of adultery. Now this is a true saint who, for the fear of God, and because he has kept faith and loyalty to his Lord, and for the sake of other excellent virtues, finally brings this reward, that he is thrown into prison, and soon after that he should have been carried away, so that he would also be punished in the flesh. Thus it is with the life of Christians, and of those who believe in God, that they must suffer for the sake of virtue, truth and godliness, and not for the sake of sin or shame.
V.13-15. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was escaping out, she called to the servants of the house, and said unto them, Behold, he hath brought in the man of Egypt, to put us to shame. And he came in unto me, and would have slept with me: but I cried with a loud voice. And when he heard that I made a noise, and cried out, he left his garment with me, and fled, and ran out.
(107) The harlot sees that the youth is so steady that he could not be overcome and that he left his dress in her hands; therefore the female heart now turns to other devices. For she makes such a calculation with herself: Perhaps he will make a cry and say: I wanted to force him by force that he should sleep with me, and that he escaped about it and left his dress with me. I will reverse the same argument and give it another form, which should be repugnant to it; I will say that he tried to deprive me of my honor, but he was frightened by the shouting and so fled away and left his garment in my hands. This is a beautiful rhetoric, yes, it is a real devil's art.
108. Now Joseph also comes into great danger before the world because of his certainty and good report, and with it dies not only the faith by which he believed in God the Lord, but also the faith by which he served his Lord completely faithfully; yes, all his excellent virtues are also extinguished by this, and he is now accused of adultery in its place, as well as of hypocrisy and all other sins: as if he had shown such simplicity, faith and fidelity in his commanded office with special cunning, that he would have robbed his wife of her honor by such an occasion.
So he must bear the disgrace of this whore, by which his very best works are disgracefully distorted and sullied with the devil's poison: what he has done well in the house and otherwise throughout his life, he must have done for the sake of mischievousness, as if he had thus wanted to pave the way for himself to accomplish this sin.
The same thing happened to Christ. For why did he raise the dead, heal the sick, and perform other miracles? Annas and Caiphas answered, "He did this for no other reason than to become king, and to destroy this place," they said, "and all of us. Away with him, crucify him. He
has wanted to deceive and corrupt us with his hypocrisy, so that he has listened to the poor, foolish people until now. Yes, even afterwards the people themselves cried out, "We thought he wanted to do us good, but with just such good deeds he would have destroyed us to the ground. For such a hypocrite is the devil, who sometimes does good, so that he may do more harm. But he then attaches these bells to the works of godly children, as if they also do what they do in a godly and useful way because they want to do harm and destroy the whole world with it.
(111) As in our day the adversaries interpret and interpret our good works. They say that they are pious, learned people, but they do not favor the common things and the Christian church, but rather confuse and hinder them. That is why they cry out against us that we are heretics and the most wicked people, so that they may persecute us under a just pretense and shed our blood, and thus fulfill the diabolical hatred they have conceived against us.
(112) We see the same thing happen in this example. The woman calls her housemate and says: "Behold, he has brought in the Hebrew man, and he has left his dress with me. This is the devil's dialectic and rhetoric, and not only a proof of probability, but a compelling proof. For this is a compelling conclusion: If he left the dress there, then he certainly wanted to do violence to the woman. So she is the chaste, chaste and holy Lucretia, while she cries, sighs and howls: Joseph, however, must be the most impudent adulterer, because he fled and dropped his dress. That is the devil. Who can prevent this but the Holy Spirit, who does not forbid or prevent it, but only in his time, and sometimes allows it to happen, so that he may try and test his own?
But how could she call the servants in the Hanseatic League so soon, since these Lucretia and Joseph were alone? I think that because these things have happened
or shortly thereafter, the servants had come home again; or that she had not cried out the very hour Joseph fled and left her, but only afterward, when the servants had come again, she thus invented how he had run away at that very moment, when he had made off and gone out an hour or more before. And will have said: O my dear servants, how you have come at the right time! How I have longed for you! For if you had not come at the right time, I would have been deprived of my honor and my welfare. Now the most shameful adulterer has run away and left me and his dress here.
Yes, this is the cunning of women, and is actually the devil's secret stalking and deceit. She has now set her sights on disgracing him and depriving him of life, so she seeks out all kinds of sin and disgrace that she can and may lay on him, as many examples of beautiful, glorious virtues have shone on Joseph up to this point and even at this time.
These things are held up to us in the Church by the Holy Spirit as doctrine, so that we learn to believe in God and fear Him, and then always fight and resist the devil, who is always watching our faith and chastity, just as he challenged Joseph's faith through fornication. For where discipline and chastity are violated and weakened by adultery and other unseemly mingling, it follows that faith is also violated immediately. Therefore let us stand firm, and hold to the word, to right faith and good conscience, both on the right hand and on the left, through good rumors and evil rumors. Until then Joseph had a good name because of his fine, honest life, and because of this his wife's heart was wonderfully inflamed and moved to fornication, and for this reason he was truly a happy and blessed man, and all the household held him dear. But now that he has lost the good rumor, he has to deal with the most evil rumor, which has come to him.
And when he is slain, he fighteth: there also he passeth through. Now this is not written for Joseph's sake, for he did not know that Moses was ever to describe this: but it is held against us that we also should follow such examples of godliness and chastity. For in the end, such history should be kept in the church, always practicing and learning it.
After the other members of the household had heard the complaint and accusation against Joseph from her wife, those who had been pious among the servants would no doubt have been saddened by such a serious case, or would have considered the complaint of the wife suspicious, because they knew well how Joseph led such a fine, chaste, modest and innocent life. Oh, that the woman would not do him wrong! they thought. For it is well to be believed that he would have taught many rightly about God and right worship, and would have led them away from idolatry and other sins. Some of them will have lamented this miserable case, but others may well have been annoyed by it and said, "Did the prankster have this in mind? Such annoyances will undoubtedly have arisen, for who can prevent them? Just as we cannot prevent the most venomous blasphemies of Cochleaeus and Faber in our time, so that they do not write to Rome and to the emperor himself, and in their letters blaspheme us and our doctrine as if it were a rebellious and confused doctrine. Christ himself was also crucified as a murderer. So it is with this excellent great doctor, who taught many in this house with great honor and urged them to godliness and chastity, who has now had to annoy the whole household with his example, so that both doctrine and exhortation with all their fruits perish and fall away; just as all his virtues are soon obsolete and extinguished by this evil cry, which the woman has raised against him.
This is a great and tremendous pain, and it is all the more terrible because the one who has fallen is also greater and more excellent. The martyrdom is still a great pain over the
The previous torture was horrible enough, since he was taken away from his parents and sold to unknown idolatrous people for eternal servitude. But at that time, through his virtue and discipline, he rose again and made a glorious name and fame for himself among the entire household. But this same name is now gone, and Joseph is thus spiritually killed, and with him die the beautiful glorious examples of virtue that were in him. Behold, they will have said, how have we had such a wicked master or teacher, how should he have taught us godliness and good honest morals, since he himself is such a wicked knave? Oh, these are real passions, which are very painful.
118 Christ himself also complains about such severe suffering in the 109th Psalm v. 2. 3. 4: "They speak against me with false tongues, and they speak poisonously against me everywhere, and fight against me without cause. Because I love them, they are against me" 2c. For thus the enemies of the truth are wont to darken, disgrace, and destroy the fruit and prosperity of the gospel, salvation, and blessedness in devout simple hearers. To such blasphemy Eck, Cochleaeus, Pighius and many others are right good masters, who adorn themselves with false and skillful praise, but they disgrace us, so that they may make us hated by those who do not agree with our teaching. Therefore, what would be the most beautiful and best, to capture the hearts of good simple people, they secretly snatch away, namely, the favor and the good inclined will of the people, through which we could win and teach many with the word. We must stink, that they may be beautiful. But the Lord will ultimately cut off all hypocrisy and the tongue that speaks proudly, as the 12th Psalm v. 4 says. As D. Eck recently came to a terrible end, which he well deserved by his words and works, since he went out of his mind without recognizing and calling upon God and thus died miserably. The others must also wait for such an end.
(119) Now therefore, concerning the lamentation of the adulteress and the slayer against Joseph
The house mates also had to listen to various unjust judgments. However, Joseph could not have been suspicious of his wife, that she should become so mad and nonsensical. He hoped that he would secretly get his dress back and that she would be reconciled; he did not know that she was inflamed with hatred toward him and that she thirsted and longed for the most innocent blood.
120 If the members of the household had been of sound mind, they would have considered the complaint and accusation made by the woman a little more diligently, and they would have found that this complaint was not quite probable, but that the arguments were rather to be drawn on the woman herself. For it was not credible that the entire household should have been out of the house, unless Traun had been sent to another place by the woman herself with deliberate counsel, so that she might be alone in the house with the only young man: Or if it had happened approximately, or rather if Joseph had done it out of sacrilege, that he remained alone in the house and came to her in the bedchamber, thinking that he wanted to ravish her, he could have done such a thing to her by force, however hard she would have resisted, and would have resisted him in vain or fed on him; as the story of the Romans says about Lucretia. And Deut. 22:25-27 is also written about a harlot who was violently asleep in the field, that nothing should be done to her; "for she," says the text there, "has committed no sin worthy of death: but just as a man rises up against his neighbor, and strikes his soul dead, so is this also. For he found her in the field, and the familiar damsel cried out, and there was none to help her." For where the evil desire for fornication is still mixed with nonsense, it breaks through and can easily overcome everything.
(121) Now if Joseph had had an advocate to represent him, he would have been able to prove his wife false, and to turn the arguments she had attracted and use them against herself. For where he would have been able to give her
If the woman had committed adultery, or if he had ever intended to do so, he would not have left his dress with her so that the adultery would not come to light, or that he would not be overcome by any sign that he had wanted to do violence to her. Therefore it is clear and evident from the story itself that the woman is guilty, but Joseph is innocent. According to this, the wife of the fortune would not have been able to take the garment by force and keep it.
But Moses indicates that Joseph must have had a special intention, that he rather wanted to run away than to fight with the adulteress. For she will undoubtedly have tried, with whatever flattering words, kisses, or other lewd gestures she could, to keep him with her and to soften him. But it is an uphill struggle for a young man to fight such a battle with a beautiful woman. Therefore it was a great constancy and the wisest advice that Joseph thought it would be better to run away than to have such a fight with his master's lecherous and flattering wife. For youth is in itself inclined to fornication; and when the devil comes along, he makes the coals burn with his breath and womanish flattery. Therefore the next and best advice is to run away, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 6:18: "Flee fornication." It is better to abstain from the company of such fornicators altogether than to quarrel with them for a long time. And if this had occurred to anyone at that time, it would have been very useful and good to excuse Joseph and accuse his master's wife.
(123) She has also mixed in her complaint some lies, saying that she has cried out, for everyone is well aware that she has invented this. Thus no sin is alone, but one always leads to the other. And this tends to happen in all cases of sin. He who does not soon rise again, repent and amend himself, soon falls into another temptation.
After the sin of fornication and adultery, lying soon follows, then death, and the habit of shedding innocent blood, and finally despair. It is the same with heretics. No one becomes a heretic for the sake of one article: but where they lack right understanding in one article, that they have allowed themselves to be deceived by the devil, they soon err more in other articles. Thus in adulterers many sins come together in one heap, such as lying, theft, death, and the like. Therefore, the story of this adulteress is not only cold, powerless and contrary to itself, but is also a fictitious, false and lying thing.
V. 16. And she laid his garment beside her until his master came home.
124 Moses used a very emphatic word in this place, which is also found in Exodus 20:11: "The Lord rested on the seventh day. And here she means that she kept the garment with diligence, so that no one would touch it or put it aside. This also indicates her lust, that she had a desire to strike death in the future, and that she could not rest in her heart until she had killed Joseph, because she saw that all hope was now cut off from her to commit fornication with him for her own pleasure.
V. 17, 18. And he said unto him the same words, saying, The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought in unto us, came in unto me, and would have put me to shame. But when I made a noise and cried out, he left his garment with me and fled.
This shameful whore speaks very ugly and shameful, so that she may adorn herself and make the young man hateful. Therefore, she needed a wonderful and even diabolical dialectic and eloquence to make the sin of which she falsely accuses him only great and heavy. "This Hebrew, your servant," she says, of whom you thought so much, "whom you brought in to us." As if she wanted to say, "We also have Egyptian servants, none of whom ever did a bad thing.
But this stranger, who is not worthy to dwell with us, who has been rejected and sold by his own fellow-citizens, has been allowed to do such an unjust evil deed. So she takes this from his name and country, that she may magnify sin; for the Israelites were greatly hated among the heathen, as the Christians are also.
After that she also takes an argument from her person, namely: If some Egyptian servant or also this Hebrew had weakened a neighbor or maid, I could easily forgive him and hold it to his credit, and the disgrace would not be so great: but to do something lewd to the woman or housemother herself, that is a great sin and cannot easily be forgiven or atoned for. That is why the emphasis lies in the word "me". As if she wanted to say: Is this not an unreasonable thing that such a noble woman should be so reviled, who has been the most chaste Lucretia in this whole kingdom and an example of good discipline to all other matrons. And this, she says to her master, is your own fault, because you believed this stranger so easily and trusted everything that has to be done in the whole house, including the honor of the housewife herself. It can certainly be inferred from this that you held this Hebrew servant in greater honor and dignity, of whose vice and misdeed you were perhaps not more unaware than I myself. Am I then so utterly despised and scorned by thee that thou didst not shrink from entrusting me to such a loose, shameful, unfilial servant, regardless of how it might affect my welfare and honor? But listen to how much work I have done. There was not so much strength in me that I could have overcome him by force and pushed him out: but when I made a shout, he was frightened and left his dress with me and fled out.
This is the grievous complaint that Potiphar's wife made against Joseph, and when the man heard it, he was very angry. For there is nothing so grievous as for one to hear that his wife is
The other part of the text is not to be heard or questioned, which should be done in all fairness. Therefore, reason cannot think or conclude that the other part should also be heard or asked, which should certainly have been done. For it is suspicious that she shows him a strange dress, and one might have asked, who took off the young man's dress? And although she would have wanted to give the matter a pretense and say that he himself had thrown the dress off, so that he would be that much more ready to run away: but if Potiphar had considered every part of the matter a little more diligently, and had also called the youth to him and had him answer the woman's complaint, then the youth could have countered with a splendid defense or excuse. Finally, if he had wanted to do violence to her, he would not have fled. But he could easily have advised and defended himself against the screaming; as Tarquinius says to Lucretia: Ferrum in manu est etc.: Behold, I have a sword in my fist; if now thou shalt cry out, yet shalt thou die at my hands. But Potiphar is overcome by the affection or love that a husband has for his wife, in addition to the fact that the matter itself is so utterly unjust and wicked: this, I say, was in Potiphar's way, that he did not inquire more diligently into the matter through all the circumstances.
V. 19 When his master heard the words of his wife, which she said unto him, Thus hath thy servant done unto me; he was very wroth.
Potiphar did not hear the young man's word, but only his wife's; therefore she wins the case and moves her husband's heart, so that he becomes angry and impatient, and he seems to have become justly angry about it. But where is God now? Where are the great and rich promises that He will love His saints and believers, that He will keep them and guard them as the apple of His eye, that He will be merciful, and that He will do good in a thousand ways to those who love Him? For now Joseph is utterly forsaken and is deprived of all help and comfort. First of all, he has been taken from his parents and led away, so that he has come into bondage to strange idolaters. What is this
for a love? After that he felt relief in such bondage, when his lord put all that he had under his hands; but after the same refreshment he fell again much more grievously and miserably than ever before. For there he is brought to be punished like an adulterer, and so must die the most shameful death, because his good report, by which he had gained favor with his lord and all the household, and had won the praise of righteousness, holiness, chastity, and prudence, has at the same time gone out with him.
This is truly the greatest and heaviest cross, and especially an unreasonable reward, which is given to him for his faithful service, which he faithfully rendered for thirteen years: not only his toil and labor, but also his beautiful virtues are paid for with such punishment and shameful death. Now let him who will serve serve the world: but no servant belongs to the world but the devil and his mother. Joseph has diligently kept his goods and chattels for his master, and ruled the house most faithfully: but this shameful harlot gives him the most grievous recompense.
For this reason, pious Christians must not expect any other reward from the world, nor should they think that they want to be faithful and diligent in their ministry for the sake of the world. For the world is not worthy that Christians should serve it even with a little finger, but rather that the devil with all his angels should rule over it, which he does in a truly terrifying way. But as Paul says in Romans 8:20: "The creature is subject to vanity, and for the sake of Him who subjected it," we serve, teach, admonish, suffer, comfort, and do what we are commanded by God, according to the more part of unworthy people, since we gain nothing by our faithful service but hatred, envy, and that we are also driven into misery. And our whole life is nothing but a vain loss of all good deeds.
For this reason, you must never hope that the world will recognize and reward your faithfulness and diligence. For it does quite the opposite,
as this example shows. Therefore see to it that you look elsewhere with your service and life than to the favor and grace of the world, which can very soon be changed into fierce anger, and think thus: If I am called and appointed pastor, or schoolmaster, or any other office, then I will perform my office diligently, not that I want to expect reward for it from those whom I serve, for I have no hope at all that they will be grateful to me: But I will follow the kindness of my heavenly Father, who distributes his goods, and gives gold, silver, fruits, peace, health, even to the most ungrateful and wicked of men, and will remember the admonition of Christ, who says Matth. 5:48: "Therefore you should be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect," that is, you should also serve the wicked, unworthy and ungrateful, and not only the worthy, grateful and pious. But there will still be a few who will recognize it and be grateful for it; the others, however, will also be grateful for your life; as this example of Joseph teaches, what one should expect in the world even for the highest good deeds, namely, bonds and imprisonment.
132 Thus there are now many who in the beginning meant the gospel with all fidelity and loved it fiercely, who are now both hostile to the doctrine and also to the teachers. Therefore we must arrange our lives in such a way that we prepare ourselves for such an outcome and fruit of our work. And if something else happens to us, which we had not hoped for, we may count it all for vain gain. You will not change the world, but you should say: I have to go through it, because I did not accept this office because of the ungrateful world, but for the sake of God. As the vine gives abundantly and superfluously the fine sweet wine even to the most wicked of men: so we also, because we are children of God, should follow such weariness and goodness of our heavenly Father and the example of the other creatures, and not become impatient at such ingratitude of the wicked world, since God has given us
We have been born into this life, since each one is set and appointed in his special place to serve the world and to gather the elect to eternal bliss. If there are some pious people who recognize our service and ministry, we should rejoice; but if it is the case that the other part curses us, condemns us and even strangles us, we should know that this is our reward, and that we should thereby be conformed to the Son of God and all the saints, who have also experienced and felt the greatest ingratitude of men for their highest good deeds.
Fifth part.
How Joseph was thrown into prison.
V. 20 Then his master took him and put him in prison, where the king's prisoners were lying inside, and he lay there in prison.
133 Then he has his reward. Joseph was thrown into prison, not that he should be kept there and have a good time, but that he should await the day when he would be judged and given the punishment that had been decreed for adulterers. For his lord thought that he would have him punished with imprisonment and corporal punishment and finally even killed. Therefore he dies right now by a very miserable misfortune, and in addition in the most shameful matter, as if he had defiled and polluted the whole house with adultery and the most shameful fornication, although it had previously been considered that he had been the pillar and salvation of the house.
134. Where then is Joseph's God, who may redeem and save him? Why then does he forsake him? Answer: He does not abandon him, but tries him as an example and comfort to all the other saints and believers, so that we may learn to persevere, hope and trust in God, no matter what, in great patience, in tribulations, in hardships, through honor and disgrace, through evil rumors and good rumors, as Paul exhorts 2 Cor. 6:4, 8. For this is certain, that even so the church and the angels of God must honor us: we should be content with this.
and should not become fainthearted. When the devil and the world rebuke us with their lies and blasphemies, or even kill and destroy us, God looks with open eyes at our anguish and distress, laughs at us, and delights in our virtue and victory in our tribulation.
(135) Therefore we must know and believe that God is not angry with us when we are afflicted and distressed. For so Joseph also thought, Though this prison, this shame and disgrace, be very grievous to my flesh, yet will I look to the promises which I have heard, and to the examples which I myself have seen, and will keep them, and wait for help from the Lord. For he has come into the utmost trouble and danger; it cannot get any worse with him now. Over all the previous misfortune he suffered, he must now also be killed by force; therefore he is a true martyr. For now his wife speaks of nothing else but that he should die; and he is also thrown into prison, and now truly knows that he must die and perish in it. For it was a prison in which the malefactors who were to be punished in the flesh were put; just as the magistrate will be led from this prison over the bakers and hanged on the gallows.
Therefore, like a true martyr, he shed his blood for the sake of a whore, just as John the Baptist had to die for the sake of Herodias. Now he is already taken out of the land of the living according to his own and others' judgment and feeling. And there he truly offered the most delicious sacrifice before God and the angels. How should the angels have rejoiced? Meanwhile, his father sits at home, consumed by sorrow and bitter tears, while his son awaits corporal punishment in prison from one hour to the next.
(137) Then we shall learn to know the goodness and power of our Lord God, who raises the dead and makes alive again those who are already condemned to death. And this is what he wanted to teach with this example, what kind of God he is.
and how he will be honored, namely, with suffering and that one waits for him in suffering; as the Scripture exhorts from time to time, as, in the 27th Psalm v. 14: "Wait for the Lord, be confident and undaunted, and wait for the Lord"; item Hab. 2, 3: "The prophecy will still be fulfilled in its time" 2c. "But if it be consumed, wait for it; it shall surely come, and not be pardoned." After that I think that it also happened that at least some of the household had compassion on him and otherwise showed him other services and wills, so that they tried to alleviate the heaviest cross that Joseph carried.
138 And we will hear soon after that the jailer also loved him. This shows that not all of them believed the complaint and accusation that the woman made against Joseph. Although he is not yet completely redeemed, he has not lacked refreshment and consolation, so that he has been able to recover somewhat. And now follows a very beautiful text, which shows that God has also turned his eyes to the prison, to the bonds and to the most shameful death, as to the beautiful bright sun. Hell, death and damnation are open to the Lord and nothing is dark or dead before Him. Joseph is indeed condemned before the world, but our Lord God judges much differently than men, although neither Joseph nor the other saints feel or understand such grace of divine insight in the face of adversity. For if we could consider it certain that Christ is the right bishop of our souls, and if we were all so minded with one another and each in particular, that we could say: I know that the Lord of the whole world, Creator of all things and conqueror of the devil is the right bishop, who looks upon my soul, body and life, and that he also looks upon my death and all hell, then we would truly be able to overcome all suffering, and in addition all tribulation and distress.
139. But Moses needs a repetition here, that he repeats and says: "And Joseph lay there in prison", so that he thereby indicates that all help, all hope and comfort was taken from Joseph and withdrawn,
and that there was no one who respected him. Therefore, nothing else can be seen in Joseph but death, and that he must now lose his life, his good reputation and all virtues, which shortly before the whole household praised in him and of which they marveled. Now Christ comes and shines into hell with merciful eyes.
V.21-23 But the Lord was with him, and showed him favor, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, that he should bring under his hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, that all things which were done should be done by him. For the keeper of the prison took care of no thing: for the LORD was with Joseph, and what he did, the LORD blessed.
140 Christ, who is the bishop of our souls and who can also see into hell and death, sees alone and takes care of Joseph alone, and is glad that such a beautiful sacrifice is made to him. Therefore, when it seems that all is lost, and there is no more help or comfort, the help of the Lord comes, who says: "Behold, dear Joseph, I am with you; be content that I look upon you. Therefore this text is full of comfort and joy, saying, "The Lord was with Joseph." For even though he is not yet redeemed, God is already thinking about how he will raise him from death and hell, now that his blood has called to heaven long enough, and has accomplished so much that the Lord has become a bishop of his soul and has inclined his favor toward him.
The Hebrew word chesed means good deed, gift, grace, mercy. It is not the word chanan, but chesid, from which comes chasid, which Paul interprets to mean as much as, benevolence, 1 Tim. 6:2: "Those who are partakers of benevolence." It means not only favor or grace, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit; for grace alone is not felt or sensed, but the gift must also be added. Christ gave him the Holy Spirit in prison, the Spirit of truth, who preserved him in death, disgrace, and
Shame, and has given him this meaning: Fear not, be of good courage, be of good cheer, wait for the Lord.
This is a whole and very great consolation, that God looks upon him and inclines his gift to him, that is, breathes into him the spirit of strength, of counsel, makes a firm, strong, living saint out of him. For he makes him alive in the midst of death, he kills him in condemnation, so that his heart can close: However fiercely my Lord rages and rages against me, I will not die; my virtue and good report will not perish. This is what chased or the spirit speaks into his heart, that he had no thoughts of hell or death, but only of life and good quiet rest.
So he is made alive in the spirit and raised from the dead. For the shameful, evil harlot had already taken his life with her lies, and in addition had frighteningly misled his conscience, since he saw that he had been accused and condemned because of such great shame; then he had already died both before his own eyes and also before the eyes and minds of others, and thus had also lost his good name and everything that pious people thought good of him. But now his conscience is opened again and is gladdened, for God speaks to his heart, that is, he speaks to him kindly and comfortingly, 2 Cor. 12:9: "Be content with my grace," I give you my spirit that you may not perish, I will give you a merry heart that you may endure. And this has been the first consolation, since the conscience inwardly has been rejoiced, satisfied and healed; and thus life and salvation itself has been restored to it.
144 The other consolation is external, since the text continues: "And the Lord made him find grace," that is, made him pleasant and pleasing in the eyes of the magistrate who was over the prison, because he noticed that this young man had a peculiar good nature. For where the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to men, it also shines outwardly, so that such grace may be seen in the face, in the words, in the mouth, and in the gestures. Therefore, since the others, who are in the same prison
Even though Joseph had been imprisoned, sighing, crying, and raging with impatience, he alone was of good cheer and well satisfied, taught the others, comforted them, and even though he had been with them in the same danger, he had not behaved otherwise than as if he were completely free and certain of his deliverance.
The magistrate was surprised at such steadfastness and joyfulness of heart, thought that there must be something special about him, and asked him what he had forfeited because he had been imprisoned. Then Joseph told him the whole thing one after the other and could easily prove his innocence. Therefore, he finds mercy with the magistrate, who alleviates his torment somewhat. He is now no longer subject to the whore, but has received a lord who has the power to punish him in the flesh, but he has seen and felt from his words, face and gestures that he should have been falsely and unjustly reported to his lord and accused before him, and the Holy Spirit makes him blessed in his speaking, admonishing and comforting. For this reason, the magistrate commanded him his entire office, just as Potiphar had previously commanded him to administer the entire household regiment.
This magistrate, however, was the supreme judge and had the power to punish the wrongdoers; whom the ancient Germans called a "Grimmwalt", that is, a power of wrath. And when he saw that this youth was skilful in words, and had a cheerful, honest face, and was of a peculiarly good nature, he thought how he might postpone the judgment of the neck a little longer, and set him free altogether; and for this reason also he set him over the other prisoners. So Joseph must become a lord, if he would already go to hell. For the dream in which he was promised that both his parents and brothers would bow down to him, Gen 37:10, must be fulfilled. For this reason, he must rule over others, not only in his servitude to Potiphar, but also because he was bound in prison, since he was not allowed to be a lord.
The king was commanded there to punish the wrongdoers with the court and the sword, so that he himself did and performed everything that was due to the judge, gave the prisoners Estonians, and where they quarreled with each other, he had to decide, acquit the innocent and punish the guilty: in short, he must be lord.
He administered this office with great honor, so that the governor of the prison did not require him to give an account of his administration. He gave him complete and free power over everything that was to be administered there. Therefore Moses also says that the magistrate kept nothing under his hands, that is, everything that the judge had in his hands or power, he ordered all of it to Joseph and made him the supreme judge. Moses says that he did not keep anything in his hands, as is also said above about Potiphar, that is, he did not take care of the things that belonged to his office. For he had a governor who was very diligent and faithful. And now in this way the most holy martyr Joseph has come to life again from death, and after being raised from death he will also go to heaven and be set up as lord or regent over Egypt.
And this is the way that God is wont to keep, as He leads and governs His saints. Therefore, the example of this young man should be noted with care, for it is full of all kinds of virtue and godliness. From this it can be seen how our Lord God has polished and prepared this very dear and precious gemstone, and how, by slaying and killing it, he has performed a beautiful, lovely and pleasant sacrifice. For these things are held up to the Church of God and the consciences of godly people for their own sake, so that they may understand how it is with the counsel and works of our Lord God, namely, as he says to Moses in Exodus 33:20, 23: "You cannot see my face, but you will see behind me. And Hagar says above in 16 Cap. V. 13: "Surely here I have seen the back of him that looketh upon me." There is nothing else.
The beginning of divine action is that he turns his face away from his own and that he seems to be not God but the devil. Thus, in this story, his face is also turned to the harlot and the tyrants, whom he alone sustains and protects, and does not respect Joseph, as Jeremiah also complains Cap. 12, 2: "You let them boast much about you" 2c. Therefore they exalt themselves and boast that God is with them, is favorable and gracious to them. Here dwells GOtt, they cry; but Joseph, Jacob, Abraham have not turned this face upon Himself. They say: Here dwells the devil: "My face you cannot see" 2c., 2 Mos. 33, 20.
For thus God leads and governs His own, as it is written in Psalm 77:20: "Thy way was in the sea, and thy path in the great waters; yet thy foot was not felt. And Isa. 30, 20. 21. "Thine eyes shall see thy teacher, and thine ears shall hear the word spoken after thee." And Christ says to Petro Joh. 13, 7.: "What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." You want to look me in the face, you want me to do what you think is good and useful: but I will do it in such a way that you will think that a fool has done this and not God. You shall look me in the back, not in the face. Thou shalt not see my works and my counsel, that I may make thee after my own pleasure, and make thee again. It shall seem foolish unto thee, thou shalt not receive such of my works, but as if it were death and the devil himself.
Therefore, let us learn this rule and order that God uses in the government of His saints. For I have also often tried to prescribe to our Lord God certain ways in which He should conduct Himself in the government of His Church or other things. Oh, Lord! I said, I would like this to be done according to the order and that it would gain such an outcome. But God did that which was contrary to what I had asked. Then I thought the same time: "Now my counsel is not contrary to the will of God.
God's glory, but will be of great benefit, so that the name of God will be sanctified, His kingdom will be gathered and increased, and the knowledge of His word will be further spread; in short, it is very beautiful advice and very well thought out. But God undoubtedly laughed at such wisdom and said: "Well, I know well that you are an intelligent, learned man; but I have never had the use that Peter, or D. Martinus, or whoever it may be, should teach, instruct, govern or guide me. I am not such a God who wants to teach me or let me rule, but who is used to lead, rule and teach others.
Now it is very annoying that my wisdom should be taught and guided only by myself, and that I should kill it. And truly many have fallen horribly because of this, since they could not bear this death. For this is what the devotees of the sacraments do. They can teach God finely how it can happen that the body and blood of Christ can be in the bread and wine, since Christ has gone to heaven? if they think: Because I cannot understand that the body and blood of Christ is present in the Lord's Supper, therefore I will prescribe to God a way and measure by which it can be there.
So they force God finely to keep to their order and doctrine, want to assign him a special place in heaven, and yet do not know what or where heaven is. Why don't you rather close your eyes and ears and listen to the word, and when you have heard it, follow it and be satisfied with it, as it is said in the 37th Psalm, v. 7: "Be still unto the Lord, and wait for him" (he shall not wait for you, only do not be afraid of him)? If only the devotees would close their eyes and ears, and thus conclude with themselves: "Behold, I will take the bread and the wine, and believe that I am truly eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood, then they could easily be delivered from their error. But because they have heard the words
They want to measure and understand Christ in a mathematical way and argue a lot about heaven and earth, therefore they can never reach the true and proper understanding of the words of Christ, because they are completely deceived by the judgment of reason, which is blind.
Therefore, close your eyes, and all disputes from heaven and earth will disappear from your sight; indeed, just as they were nothing six thousand years ago, so now, when you close your eyes, as if they had been destroyed, they will not hinder your faith and the words of Christ. For the Word, which created all things, is to be held against the creature, which is nothing at all, if one would compare it with the Word. "He gives, and it is created," says the 148th Psalm, v. 5.
This is the way of our Lord God, which he has always thought to be and to be, and of which it is right to be astonished, namely, that he makes everything out of nothing and destroys everything again. Let us be accustomed to the same way, and cleave to the word, that we put away out of our sight those things which would confound or hinder faith, however great their appearance may be, or however great they may be in themselves. Where Joseph would have said: Lord God, let me stay with my father in Hebron, or had raged against God because of the unjust accusation and imprisonment, and God had fulfilled his desire and granted him that he would not have come into such servitude, nor been thrown into prison, according to the wisdom of his reason, which can hardly render this obedience to our Lord God: then he would never have been raised to such great glory. But because he was full of the Holy Spirit, he endured the will of the Lord with patience until he was finally exalted, not only to his own comfort and glory, but also to the land of Egypt for temporal and spiritual salvation and welfare: which country's salvific instrument he became through this tribulation and imprisonment, because he saw the back and waited until God revealed Himself and showed His salvation much more richly and gloriously than he himself could ever have asked for.
1292 D.H,SW-M8. Interpretation of Genesis 39, 21-23. cap. 40, 1-4. w. II, 1892-iMa. 1293
or hope. Therefore, our wisdom is truly foolish, and we are not only fools, but also foolishness itself.
These examples are held up to us for our teaching, and that we may be strengthened by them, that we may learn to believe in God and hope in Him. But faith is not of those things which are seen, but of those things which are not seen, Hebr. 11:1. As Joseph believed in the Lord, whom he did not see, and hoped that he had found grace with Him, which he did not see either, but felt and sensed that everything went against him; and yet he finally received what he had believed and hoped for.
157 Therefore he has walked like a blind man in the thickest darkness, and has neither God, nor Father, nor anything else, but only God.
He saw death and ruin before his eyes, but he kept the word that he had heard from his father: I am the LORD thy God, and the God of thy fathers. The word has been his life and from it he will be raised to great honor and glory hereafter.
Now this is an example of the works of God, which shows how God leads His saints so wonderfully that they learn to have patience in adversity through faith and hope; although hope is actually patience itself. For our life should thus be hidden, and should mean: Close your eyes, and keep to the word, not only when there is need and danger, but also in the highest articles of Christian doctrine.