On Joseph 30–66

I do not care to speak of the other's dream. You certainly remember my words, that even then I avoided its interpretation in that man, whose end I avoid, whose death I shudder at. Let us speak first of this one, who thought himself happy because he was in charge of the wine and believed it the highest summit of all power that he gave the king his cup. This was his glory, this his magnificence in this world: deprived of it he grieved, restored to it he rejoiced. But this is a dream, and all the power of the world is a dream, not truth. Indeed he saw in a dream his office restored to him. And Isaiah says that such are the men who delight in prosperity in this world: just as one who eats and drinks in his sleep seems to himself to be filled with food or drink while he sleeps, but when he wakes begins to be hungrier — then he understands how empty the dreamer's food and drink were — so one who sleeps in this world and does not open his eyes to the divine mysteries thinks, as long as he is weighed down by the sleep of the body, that this worldly power is of some moment, seeing it as in a dream; when he wakes, he discovers how empty the pleasure of this world is.

Consider now that true Hebrew, the interpreter not of a dream but of truth and of a glorious vision, who from that fullness of divinity and freedom of heavenly grace came into this bodily prison; whom the enticement of this world could not change nor any corruption of worldly pleasure overthrow; who when tempted did not fall, when desired did not desire; and finally, seized by the garment of the body by a kind of adulterous hand of the synagogue, he put off the flesh and ascended free of death. The harlot slandered him when she could not hold him, whom prison did not terrify, whom hell did not hold. Indeed, from the place to which he had descended as though to be punished, he freed others:

where the bonds of death were being tightened on him, there he loosened the bonds of the dead. Consider, then, this Hebrew saying to that chief of the eunuchs who had incurred the king's displeasure, whom he had restored to his office: 'Remember me yourself when it is well with you, and show me mercy, and remember me.' He repeated it a second time because he knew that the man would not remember what injury he had escaped once he had regained his power. He admonished him a second time because he had freed him a second time, so that if the memory of the first kindness did not hold him, at least that of the later one might occur to him, and he would not despise the author of his safety nor violate him by faithless betrayal. But what is worse, forgetfulness of a kindness quickly creeps in with prosperity. Restored to his office, he did not remember the interpreter but forgot him. But even if he forgot, Christ did not forget, but spoke to him, and spoke through the slave, saying to him: 'Remember yourself,' that is, at least in consideration of your office, recall what you have heard. But even if you have forgotten now, you will remember me, so that you may escape danger, you who have forgotten the kindness. Yet, elated by power, he did not remember. And how great is this power, where the service is of wine? Behold the source of all boasting: that he was chief of the eunuchs who served wine in the royal cups.

'And it came to pass,' it says, 'after two years.' The time agrees with our eunuch, even to the day, or I am lying, since after two years he recovered his office and did not remember, but was reminded. For he who did not believe his own dream learned that even a kingdom in this world is a dream. He learned also that the … of kings are dreams and that their powers are not everlasting. But let grief pass this place quickly, lest it grow raw again by the very mention; nor does it please me to remember even my own speech, which at that time either grief poured out or an insult to the church extorted.

Reminded, then, by the king's dream, he says: 'I remember my sin.' Late indeed is this confession, but would that it were true! After the sin you confess what you ought to have guarded against before the sin. How quickly you had forgotten 'Remember me'! You know surely that this was the saying at that time, but you had ears dulled by the pride of power, and drunk with wine you did not hear the words of sobriety. At least now remember me, you who confess your sin late. You who ask the slave, why do you deny the master? Be drunk now not with wine but with the Holy Spirit. Remember what happened to the one with whom you slept your sleep and dreamed your dream. He too was a chief, and chief of the king's food that belonged to the baker's work. He thought himself exalted because he had the king's bread in his power; he did not know that this power has many twists. He threatened others, though he himself was soon to be handed over to the ultimate punishment; nor did he listen to him who, though a slave, still spoke the oracle of the Lord: that by the order of that very king in whom he so greatly flattered himself he would lose his head and be left as food for the birds. At least this example ought to have called you back, so that you would not trust faithlessness.

There are other examples too of the pride and fragility of royal ministers, which the history of later times has. Doeg too was a chief, chief of the king's animals for the training of the mules, that is, eunuch animals. He too denounced the priest of the Lord and by fraud stirred up the king to the priest's danger, and he too was a Syrian. Am I lying, when both country and deeds agree? Haman too, the king's chamberlain and himself a chief, while he strove with wicked boldness to invade the churches of the Lord and to despoil and persecute the faithful people, paid for his sacrileges with grave punishments.

But let us return to this chief of the wine, who, as though drunk with much wine, long forgot the author of his kindness; yet at length, to provide the king with an interpreter, not as one grateful but as one shrewd, he made known the sequence of events. When the king learned it, he ordered Joseph to be summoned, and, when he had been brought out of prison, asked him if he could interpret his dream. Delighted with his explanation, he removed the injury and conferred honor. So see whether these things do not fit the present too. The injury was inflicted before he was known to the king; favor was returned when he became known to the king. So the king is free of guilt, because both the injury the holy man received was foreign to him, and the favor he received belongs to the king.

The dream and its interpretation are these: 'Whatever God does,' he says, 'he has shown to Pharaoh. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; Pharaoh's dream is one. And the seven lean cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven lean ears blasted by the wind are seven years; there will be seven years of famine. As for the word I spoke, whatever God does he has shown to Pharaoh: behold, seven years of great plenty are coming throughout all the land of Egypt; but seven years of famine will come after these, and they will forget the plenty in all Egypt. And the famine will consume all the land, and the plenty of the land will not be known because of the famine that will come after this; for it will be very severe. And that the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice is because the word from God will be true, and God will hasten to do it.'

An old dream, recent events. The earlier things were consumed by the later, and where before there was abundance of plenty, there arose a want of all things. But if anyone had given the king such advice, to keep something of the former plenty for the later age of his rule, the remaining time too would have overflowed with a lavish abundance for giving. But the immoderate squandering of the former age left the later times destitute as well, and men plundering everything were unwilling to employ any Joseph. Even if I am not Joseph — for who would claim that? — still I cried out that those fat cows signified not only wantonness but also neglect of reverence for God — for it is said of the faithless: 'Fat bulls have beset me,' and of the people of the Jews it is written: 'He grew fat and thick and broad, and forsook God who made him' — and that therefore that dream of worldly abundance could not be everlasting: there would come a time when harsh famine would follow on these things.

Yet I do not think this dream was shown to one or two, but set before all: that the seven fat years of this world, rich with worldly plenty, are swallowed up by the ages to come, in which there will be everlasting rest and the spiritual observance of the law, which that tribe of the fathers, Ephraim, fruitful to God, may keep — a good cow, not swollen with a bodily udder but abounding in spiritual milk and grace, on the beauty of whose neck God says that he sits, as it is written: 'Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves victory, but I passed over the beauty of her neck.' Let not the oil of the sinner, then, anoint our head, nor should false fruits delight us, lest it be said of us too: 'You have sown ungodliness and harvested its iniquities; you have eaten false fruit, because you trusted in your chariots.' Nor does it trouble me that it has lean ears blasted by the wind, because David too was better then, when he wasted away like a spider, and 'a troubled spirit is a sacrifice to God,' and those come out more excellent whom the evil spirit has exercised in this world with grave injuries.

Hence I think Joseph deserved more mystical rewards, because he spoke of mystical things. For what does the ring put on his finger mean but that we should understand that the high priesthood of faith was conferred on him, so that he himself might seal others? What does the robe, the garment of wisdom, mean but that the primacy of prudence was granted him by that heavenly king? The golden necklace seems to express good understanding; the chariot too signifies the lofty summit of merits. And who is it who took a wife from the gentiles but he who gathered a church for himself from the nations and received from her a son, Manasseh, through whom he forgot all the sorrows he had over the sacrileges of the Jews? He received another son too, Ephraim, through whose progress it became clear that the humility taken on in the flesh did not humble the divinity but heaped up glory.

Then whoever suffered famine was sent to Joseph. Who are these but those of whom it is said: 'They will return at evening and suffer hunger like dogs'? And the famine was not of one place but of the whole earth, because there was none who did good. Therefore the Lord Jesus, pitying the world's fasts, opened his granaries and laid open the hidden treasures of knowledge and wisdom of the heavenly mysteries, so that no one should lack nourishment. For Wisdom has said: 'Come, eat my bread,' and therefore it is said by him alone who is filled by Christ: 'The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing.' Christ, then, opened his granaries and sold, seeking not the bronze of money but the price of faith and the wage of devotion. And he sold not to a few in Judea, but to all, so that he might be believed by all nations.

'And all countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy; for the famine had prevailed.' For all hunger whom Christ has not fed. Let us buy, then, food with which we can drive away hunger. Let no one be held back by consideration of his poverty, let no one who has no silver be afraid. Christ does not seek silver but faith, which is more precious than silver. Indeed Peter, who had no silver, bought him. 'Silver and gold,' he says, 'I have not, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ rise and walk.' And the prophet Isaiah says: 'You who thirst, go to the water, and whoever has no silver, go, buy and drink and eat without silver and without price of wine.' For he who paid the price of his blood for us did not seek a price from us, because he redeemed us not with gold and silver but with precious blood. So you owe the price with which you were bought. Even if he does not always exact it, still you owe it. Buy Christ for yourself, then, not with what few have, but with what all have by nature and few offer through fear. What Christ asks back from you is his own. He gave life to all; he offered his death for all. Pay for the author what you will pay by law. This is no small contract, and not all easily see it. Indeed those virgins in the gospel whom the bridegroom shut out when he came were left outside because they did not buy the oil for sale. Hence it is said to them: 'Go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.' And the merchant is rightly praised who sold all he had and bought the pearl.

'And Jacob said to his sons: Why are you idle? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy food for us.' Jacob did not say this once; daily he says to all his sons who come late to the grace of Christ: 'Why are you idle? Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt.' Of this grain is the seed that rises again.

Whoever endures famine, then, must ascribe it to his own sluggishness. 'Behold,' he says, 'I have heard that there is grain in Egypt.' Young men usually hear something sooner than old men, since many of them go about outside. But the old man hears of this trade first — but that old man in whom there is the long gray hair of faith; the old man understands first, the old man in whom old age is venerable and the age of old age is a spotless life. Nor do all undertake this trade, but only the sons of Jacob, and they of more advanced age. So ten go; the youngest does not go. His father did not send him, 'lest,' he says, 'weakness befall him.' Benjamin the youngest was still liable to weakness. We read of the patriarch Benjamin, but Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, was being prefigured. Rightly Jacob had doubts about his weakness. Indeed he was made weak in order to be healed: he suffered blindness, but this weakness was for salvation. Indeed that blindness brought light. We have taken the story; let us recognize the mystery.

The patriarchs first went without Benjamin, the apostles without Paul. Neither came first, but, summoned by the first, each by his coming made the merchandise of the earlier ones richer. 'There is grain,' he says, 'in Egypt,' that is, where the famine is greater, there the plenty is greater. Great is the grain in Egypt. Indeed God the Father too says: 'Out of Egypt I called my Son.' From that grain comes that fruitfulness; for there could have been no harvest unless the Egyptians had first sown the grain. There is, then, grain which no one before believed to exist; in this grain the patriarchs trade. And they indeed had brought silver, but good Joseph gave grain and returned the silver; for Christ is not bought with money but with grace. Your price is faith; by it the divine mysteries are bought. And that ass carries this grain, unclean before in the law, but now clean in grace.

Yet young Benjamin was held back and still clung to his father's affection. The bonds of the law held him, the ancestral custom. The famine grew worse, because he came late. Two intercede for him, Reuben and Judah, that is, humility and confession. He uses these as sureties with his father; to these he is entrusted, of whom one is the firstborn, the other the raised one. The law belongs to the firstborn, the gospel to the raised one. By these young Benjamin is brought down, and he comes accompanied by good fragrances, bringing with him resin, by which marble stones are joined, because he too would join living stones by his preaching as by a spiritual resin; bringing also honey, by which the harmful parts of a wound are eaten away from within without any bitterness of cutting. For such was Paul's preaching, so as to abolish a rotten disposition and drain corrupt humor by the sting of his argument, wishing rather to cauterize the sick inward parts of the mind than to cut. The prophet David taught us that incense is a sign of prayer, and cassia and the drop of myrrh are signs of burial, saying: 'Myrrh and the drop and cassia from your garments.' For Paul came to preach the cross of the Lord, an ever-green oak, and nuts, whose shell is harder and fruit tenderer — and rightly the priestly rod of Aaron was of walnut and Jeremiah's staff of the same kind — and double silver too. Who would doubt that these were not idle gifts, since both the life of the patriarch and the word of the apostle are always green in the hearts of individuals, and the speech of the saints, like silver tried in fire, shines with the brightness of saving precept? Nor without reason do they bring double silver, in whom the coming of Paul was prefigured, who gave double honor to presbyters who labor in the word and teaching.

'And Joseph saw them and his brother Benjamin, son of the same mother.' Now the Hebrews are seen, and seen by Christ, who is the true Joseph, when they come with the type of Paul; and he speaks gentle and mild things to them, so that they may take food together. But earlier, because they came without Benjamin, he recognized them but turned away from them, as it is written: 'And he spoke harsh things to them,' because they did not recognize him by whom they were recognized. By the merit of Paul, then, they made progress, whom the Lord Jesus loved more than the other brothers as a younger brother born of the same mother. Let the Jews take note of the Lord they denied. Even though crucified by their synagogue, he still loves them more as born of the same parent, if even late they recognize the author of their salvation. But conscious of their own offenses, they do not believe that Christ's mercy is so great as to forgive sin and remit injury. And therefore it was prefigured in the patriarchs what they would be like. They were invited to grace, they were called to the banquet of the saving table, and they suspected that a false charge was being prepared and a trap laid for them.

'And they began to plead their case with the man who was over the house, at the door of the house.' They still hesitate to go in, and they prefer to be justified by their works, wishing to establish their case rather than receive grace; and therefore they are refuted in the gates. But he who awaits the fruit of the virgin's womb and the inheritance of the Lord, who trades in the merchandise of the Son, is not put to shame in the gate, but at the exit of this life drives back the enemy, so that he, conscious of graver guilt, may not oppose one hastening to higher things.

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

This steward of the house, then, answered them: 'Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your fathers gave you treasures in your sacks; your good silver I have received.' For they had said: 'We found each man's silver in our sacks; we have brought back our silver by weight.' O great mysteries, and plainly expressed! It is as if to say: Why are you puffed up? Do you often claim that you have your own silver in your sacks? For what do you have that you did not receive? But if you received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it? Already you are filled, already you have become rich. You who believe you have silver — but the God of your fathers gave you the silver. He is your God, he is the God of your fathers, whom you denied. But he pardons, he forgives, he receives you back, if you return. He it is who does not seek your silver, but gives his own. He has given you silver in your sacks. Now your sacks, which held clay, have silver; and therefore he is yours who says: 'You have torn my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.' Christ is the gift of gladness. He is your silver, he is your price. The Lord Jesus does not demand from you the price of his grain; he does not seek the weight of your silver.

Your silver is reprobate; the silver of the sack is not good. 'Your good silver I have received,' that is: not that material silver, but your spiritual silver, which is good, which you have brought with faithful devotion as sons of Jacob, which is given without loss and counted out without any expense, since by such a price the loss of death is shut out and the gain of life is acquired. 'And they prepared the gifts until Joseph came in at noon.'

Paul's faith hastened the noon. Before he was blind; afterward he began to see the light of righteousness, since whoever reveals his way to the Lord and hopes in him, the Lord too will bring forth his righteousness as the light and his judgment as the noon. And when God appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre, it was noon, and eternal light shone on him from the presence of the Lord. It is noon when the true Joseph enters his house to dine. For the day shines more then, when we celebrate the sacraments.

'And they brought him the gifts,' it says. We bring gifts; he provides the banquet. He says: 'Set out the bread,' which only the Hebrews take, which the Egyptians cannot eat. But before the banquet, how great a condescension! What a moral lesson in his practice of attentiveness and graciousness! The brothers were still suspicious about the false charge they thought Joseph was preparing against them. He invited them to dinner: their feeling wavered, his grace persevered. He is the first to address them, the first to ask: 'How are you?'

And again he says: 'Is your father, the old man, well?' It belongs to the superior to invite the inferior to conversation, to give him confidence in speaking, to ask not only about them but also about their parents.

They answer: 'Your servant, our father, is well.' He said 'the old man,' to honor him; they named him 'servant' (puer), to offer the deference of humility, since old age is of honored dignity, while servanthood seems subject and nearer to modesty than to pride.

'And looking up with his eyes he saw Benjamin his brother, son of the same mother.' The moral is that we see those we love before others, and those whom the attention of the mind holds the gaze of the eyes meets first, since often, occupied with other things in the mind, we do not see those we have before our eyes. So our sight is directed with the mind as guide. Holy Joseph, then, saw Benjamin his brother, whom he held in his mind, whom he sought with his eyes, without whom he had scarcely seen his brothers, because seeing them was of no profit. Nor was he content only to have seen him, but as though he did not know him he asked: 'Is this your youngest brother?' It is the custom and grace of love that we hold those dear to us not only with our eyes but also with speech. Joseph had recognized his beloved, but he asked so that his voice might sound the name of the one his mind held.

Indeed he did not wait for an answer, but at once blessed him and was troubled at the fruit of his longing. For his inward parts were tormented, because the freedom to embrace the one he had longed for was delayed. Then, going into his chamber, he wept, washed his face, and restrained himself. The stings of great love quickly pierce the heart unless the reins of desire are loosened. Joseph was being overcome by feeling and held back by counsel; reason contended with love. He wept, so as to temper with tears the surge of devoted love.

So much in the moral sense. In the mystical sense, the Lord Jesus saw Paul — for the eyes of the Lord are on the just — and said: 'Is this your youngest brother?' He is still called the youngest, who did not yet bear the mature age of gray-haired faith and had not yet grown into the perfect man, into that measure of the age of the fullness of Christ, as he himself says. Indeed he is called a young man only in the place where he kept the garments of those stoning Stephen. And therefore he wished Philemon to be like not his youth but his old age, as he wrote: 'I rather beseech you, since you are such a one as Paul, an old man.' Therefore he teaches that younger widows are to be avoided, not because of their age, but because of a certain wantonness of budding offenses and immaturity in virtue. Yet the praise of chastity is greater in a young man than in an old one. I think, however, that it is not far from the truth if we understand it thus: that when Paul was seized and terrified because blindness had befallen him, he nevertheless began to draw near, saying: 'Lord, what do you want me to do?' Therefore he was called the youngest by Christ, so that he who was called to grace might be excused from guilt, as belonging to a slippery age. Indeed Christ saw him when the light shone around him; and since young men are called back from vice by fear rather than by reason, he applied the goad and in pity warned him not to kick against the goad.

He was troubled, as you have in the gospel that he troubled himself in spirit when he raised Lazarus, and there he wept, so as first to wash away the dead man's offenses with his tears. But he wept within and washed his face. Paul's blindness is Christ's weeping: he washes his face when lost light is restored to him. Christ washed his face when Paul was baptized, through whom the Lord Jesus would be seen by many. And therefore at the banquet his portion was made five times greater, because he was to be preferred to those before him not only in prudence of mind but also in the service of the body and the grace of chastity.

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

And the silver cup is put into his sack alone. Benjamin did not know this: Paul was deceived, but he was being called. They are sent after him in the morning; for the night of blindness had passed, the day of faith was at hand.

The sacks of each are searched in order first. Divine Scripture teaches you a moral. In order they had earlier reclined at the banquet before him, the firstborn according to his age. You see that the first place is to be given to the elder. In order again the sacks of each are searched, so that you may know that Paul was chosen by heavenly judgment. He examined the others; this one he preferred. In no one else's sack was the silver cup found but in his. What does it mean that it was put into his sack? Joseph indeed made them drunk in order to deceive them, and put in the cup in order to call back by a loving deceit the brother he loved; but the divine mysteries shine through.

This silver Christ found in us, which he himself had given. We have the silver of nature, and we have that of grace. Nature is the work of the creator, grace the gift of the redeemer. Even if we cannot see the gifts of Christ, he still gives and works in secret, and gives to all; but to keep and not lose belongs to few. Yet he does not give all things to all. Wheat is given to many, the cup to one, who is given the prophetic and priestly gift. For not everyone but the prophet says: 'I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.'

In Paul's body, then, the voice of heavenly teaching was already shining, since he was learned in the law. But because he was not yet subject to the righteousness of God, the cup was inside the sack, teaching inside the law, the lamp under the bushel. Yet Ananias was sent to give a blessing, lay on his hand, and untie the sack. When the sack was untied, the silver shone out, and as the scales fell, like the ties of a sack, at once he saw. Faithlessness was his bond; faith became his release. And therefore, as though the sack were untied, that is, the veil of the law laid aside that is placed over the heart of the Jews, turned to the Lord, free from the bond and having gained the grace of freedom, he says: 'And so we all, beholding the glory of God with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image.' For with the sandal of the law loosed, he preached the gospel with the bare foot of free speech. The Jews held him and wished to hinder him; but when the silver shone in his sack, they tore their garments and turned back. For Paul's free preaching for Christ stripped the people of the Jews and cut away all their grace,

and therefore they turned back, who could not see before them. Those who lose Christ go back. Indeed in the gospel too, when they seized the Lord Jesus for death, they went back and fell to the ground. Rightly they turned back, who were falling from that heavenly grace into earthly ruin. They were unwilling, then, morally to return without their brother, mystically to go back without Paul, without whom they declared that the old age of the parent people would be brought down in sorrow.

And therefore Judah wished to remain with Joseph, so as not to see the evils that would befall his father; that is, he already foresaw and wished to guard against the evils that were to come upon the people of the Jews. But since that free preaching was not yet in that figure of the leaders of the Jewish people, Joseph wept, that is, in him Jesus wept.