Commentary on the Holy Bible

This chapter contains several subjects which are well worthy of the reader's most serious attention.

1. That such a family as that of Jacob should have had false gods in it, is a matter not less astonisliing than real: and suppose that we allow, as is very probable, that their images and rings were got from strangers, the.Syrians and the Shechemite^ yet their being tolerated in the family, though it is probable this was for a very short time, cannot be easily accounted for. It is true the law was not then given, and the unity of God not so particularly taught as it was afterwards. Besides, we have already seen that certain superstitions were compatible in those early times with general sincerity and attachment to the truth; those times and acts of ignorance were winked at, till superior light shone upon the world. Between many of tlie practices of Laban's family and those of the surrounding heathenish tribes, there might have been but little difference; and this was probably the reason why Dinah could so readily mix with the daughters of the land, chap, xxxiv. 1, which led to the fatal consequences already reviewed. Sin is like the letting out of water— when once a breach is made in the dyke, the stream becomes determined to a wrong course, and its progress is soon irresistible. Had not Jacob put away these strange gods, the whole family might have been infected with idolatry. This saying of one of the ancients is good, Vilia Iransmillil ad posleros, qui prcesentibus culpis ignnscil. — Seneca. " He who is indulgent to present offences, transmits sin to posterity.'''' The first motions of it sliould he firmly resisted; after struggles are too often fruitless.

2. The doctrine of a particular and especial providence has another proof in this chapter. After the Banguinary conduct of Jacob's sois, is it not surprising that the neighbouring tribes did not join together and extirpate the whole family? And so they certainly woidd, had not the terror of God fallen upon them, ver. 5. Jacob and the major part of his family were innocent of this great transgression; and on the presen'ation of their lives, the accompHshmeirt of great events depended: therefore God watches over them, and shields them from the hands of their enemies.

3. The impatience and fate of the amiable Rachel, who can read of without deploring? Gkc me children, said she, or else I die, chap. xxx. 1. Her desire was granted, and her death was the consequence! God's waj' is ever best. We know not what we ask, nor what we ought to ask, and therefore often ask amiss when we petition for such secular things as belorig to the dispensations of God's providence. For things of this kind we have no revealed directory; and when we ask for them, it should be with the deepest submission to the Divine will, as God alone knows what is best for us. With respect to the soul, every thing is clearly revealed, so that we may ask and receive, and have a fulness of joy; but as to our bodies, there is much reason to fear that the ansicer of our petitions would be, in numerous cases, our inevitable destruction. How many prayers does God in mercy shut out!

4. The transgression of Reuben, of whatsoever kind, was marked, not only by the displeasure of his father, but bv that of God also; see chap. xlix. 4. It brought a curse upon him, and he forfeited thereby the right of primogeniture and the priesthood: the first was given to Judah, the second to Levi. Is it not in reference to this that our Lord addresses these solemn words to the angel of the Church of Philadelphia: Behold, I come quickbj; hold that fast which thou hast, that NO MAN TAKE THV CROWN? A man, by sowing a grain of forbidden sweets, may reap an abundant harvest of eternal wTetchedness. Reader, let not sin rob thee of the kingdom of God.

5. Here we have the death of haac recorded: most that can can be said of his character has been already anticipated, see chap, xxii., &c. He appears to have been generally pious, deeply submissive and obedient. He was rather an amiable and good, than a great and useful, man. If compared with his son Jacob, in the early part of their lives, he appears to great advantage, as possessing more sincerity and more personal piety. But if compared with his father Abraham, O, what a falling off is here! Abraham is the most perfect character under the Ohl Testament, and even under the Neu) he has no parallel but St. Paul. Isaac, though falling far short of his father's excellences, will ever remain a pattern of piety and filial obedience

The genealogy of Esau, i. e., his sons, by his Canaanitish wives Adah, Aholibamah, and Bashemath, 1—3. The children 0/ Adah and Bashemath, 4. Of Aholibamah, 5. Esau departs from Canaan and goes to Mmint Seir, 6-8, The generations of Esau, i. e., his grandchildren, while in Seir, 9-19. The generations of Sea, the Horite, 20-30. Anah finds mules (Yemim) in the wilderness, 24. The kings which reigned in Edom, 31—39. The dukes that succeeded them, 40—43.

daughter of Elon the Hittite, and "= Ahohbamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; A. M. cir. 2225. 3 And ^ Bashemath Ishmael's

ore the sons of Esau, which were born unto

and all the ^ persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and

Verse 1. These are the generations of Esau] We have here the genealogy of Esau in his sons and grandsons, and also the genealogy of Seir the Horite. The genealogy of the sons of Esau, born in Canaan, is related ver. 1-8; those of his grandchildren born in Seir, 9-19; those of Seir the Horite, 20-30. The generations of Esau are particularly marked, to show how exactly God fulfilled the promises he made to him, chap. xxT. and x.wii.; and those of Seir the Horite are added, because his family became in some measure blended with that of Esau.

Verse 2. His wives] It appears that Esau's wives went by very different names. Aholibamah is named Judith, chap. xxvi. 34; Adah is called Bashemath in the same place; and she who is here called Bashemath is called Mahalath, chap, xxviii. 9. These are variations which cannot be easily accounted for; and they are not of sufficient importance to engross much time. It is well known that the same persons in Scripture are often called by different names. See the Table of variations, chap, xxv., where there are some slight examples.

Anah the daughter of Zibeon] But this same Anah je said to be the son of Zibeon, ver. 34, though in this went into the country from the a. m. cir. 2266. face of his brother Jacob. -1 — '. '..'

7 ^ For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and *" the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them, because of their cattle.

8 Thus dwelt Esau in ' mount Seir: '' Esau is Edom.

9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of ' the Edomites in mount Seir.

of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.

12 And Tirana was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz ° Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau's wife.

and the fourteenth verse he is said to be the daughter of Zibeon. But the Samaritan, the Septuagint, (and the Syriac, in ver. 2,) read son instead of daughter, which Houbigant and Kenmcott contend to be the true reading. Others say that daughter should be referred to Aholibamah, who was the daughter of Anah, and granddaughter of Zibeon. I should rather prefer the reading of the Samaritan, Septuagint, and Syriac, and read, both here and in ver. 14, "Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the son of Zibeon," and then the whole will agree with verse 24.

Verse 6. Esau took his wives, Jfc] So it appears that Esau and Jacob dwelt together in Canaan, whither the former removed from Seir, probably soon after the return of Jacob. That they were on the most friendly footing this sufficiently proves; and Esau shows the same dignified conduct as on other occasions, in leaving Canaan to Jacob, and returning again to Mount Seir; certainly a much less fruitful region than that which he now in behalf of his brother voluntarily abandoned.

Verse 12. Timna was concubine to Eliphaz] As Timna was sister to Lotan the Horite, ver. 22, we see how the family of Esau and the Horites got intermixed. This might give the sons of Esau a pre-

13 And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah,

14 And these were the sons of Ahohbamah, the daughter of

and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and

and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Ehphaz in the land of Edom: these were the sons of Adah.

17 And tliese are the sons of Reuel Esau's son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom: these are the sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.

18 And these are the sons of Aliolibamah

text to seize the land, and expel the ancient inhabitants, as we find they did, Deut. ii. 12.

Verse 15. Dukes of the sons of Esau] The word duke comes from the Latin dux, a captain or leader. The Hebrew f^l'7S alhiph has the same signification; and as it is also the term for a thousand, which is a grand capital or leading number, probably the '3lSs allupheij or dukes had this name from being leaders of or captains over a company of one thousand men; just as those among the Greeks called chiliarrhs, which signifies the same; and as the Romans called those centurions who were captains over one hundred men, from the Latin word centum, which signifies a hundred. The ducal government was that which prevailed first among the Idumeans, or descendants of Esau. Here fourteen dukes are reckoned to Esau, seven that came of his wife Adah, four of Bashemath, and three of Aholibamah.

Verse 16. Duke Korah] This Dr. Kennicott pronounces to be an interpolation. " It is certain, from verse 4, that Eliphaz was Esau's son by Adah; and from verses 11, 12, that Eliphaz had but six sons, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kcnaz, and Amalek. It is also certain, from verses 5 and 14, that Korah was the son of Esau (not of Eliphaz) by.iholibamah; and as such he is properly mentioned in ver. 18: These are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau's wife: duke.Teush, duke Jaalam, duke Kor.«h. It is clear, there-

19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 And the children of Lotan A. M. cir. 2248

23 And the children of Shobal were these; ' Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, ' Shepho, and Onam.

24 And these are the children of Zibeon, both Ajah, and Anah: this tuas that Anah that found " the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

fore, that some transcriber has improperly inserted duke Korah in the 1 6th verse; from which interpolation both the Samaritan text and the Samaritan version are free." — Kennicott's Remarks. Everything considered, 1 incline to the opinion that these words were not originally in the text.

Verse 20. These are the sons of Seir the Horite] These Horites were the original inhabitants of the country of Seir, called the land of the Horites, and afterwards the land of the Idumeans, when the descendants of Esau had driven them out. These people are first mentioned chap. xiv. 6.

Verse 21. These are the dukes of the Hontes] It appears pretty evident that the Horites and the descendants of Esau were mixed together in the same land, as before observed; and Calmet has very properly remarked, that if we compare this verse with verse 30, there were princes of.Seir in the country of Seir, and in that of Edom; and in comparing the generations of.Seir and Esau, we are obbged to consider these princes as contemporary.

Verse 24. This was that Anah that found themules in the teitderness] The words D:3'n HX elh haiyemim, here translated mules, has given rise to a great variety of conjectures and discordant opinions. St. Jerome, who renders it aquas ealidas, wartn springs, or hot haths, says there arc as many opiniotis concemiDg it as there are commentators.

The Septuagrnt has tov la/iciv, which seems to be the name of a man; but this is expressed in a grekt variety of ways in different MSS. of that version

26 And these are the children of Dishon; *■ Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

27 The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and " Akan.

28 The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran.

29 These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,

The Syriac renders it J I if^ mayi, waters; the author of this version having read in the Hebrew copy from which he translated, D'D mayim, waters, for DD" yemim, the two first letters being transposed.

Onkelos translates the word N^IIJ gibbaraiya, giants, or strong or powerful men.

The Samaritan text has 'i^nKHtttfiX ^"^''''i'n, and the Samaritan version flfA-iy/TTA^ -SV am aimai, the Emim, a warlike people, bordering upon the Horites.

The Targmn of Jonathan ben Uzziel paraphrases Ihe place thu.s: " This is the Anah who united the onager with the tame ass, and in process of time he found mules produced by them." R. D. Kimchi says, that '' Zibeon was both the father and brother of Anah; and this Anah, intent on heterogeneous mixtures, caused asses and horses to copulate, and so produced mules." R. S. Jarchi is of the same opinion..See his comment on this place.

Bochart believes the Emim are meant; and argues forcibly, 1. That N'VO matsa, he found, never signifies lo invent, but rather the meeting with or happening on a thing which already exists. 2. That mules are never called DO' yemim in the Scriptures, but D'Tia peradim. 3. That Anah fed asses onb/, not horses. And, 4. That there is no mention of m((/e5 in Palestine till the days of David. From the whole he concludes that the Emim are meant, with whom Ana.h fought; and he brings many places of Scripture where the same form of expression, he or they found, signifies the onset to battle, Judg. i. 5; 1 Sam. xxxi. 3; 1 Kings xiii. 24; 2 Chron. xxii. 8; Num. xxxv. 27; Gen. iv. 14; with many others. See the Hierozoicon, vol. i., cap. 21, p. 238., edit. 1692.

Gusset, in Comment. Heb. Ling., examines what Bochart has asserted, and supposes that mules, not the Emim, were found by Anah.

Wagenseil would credit what Bochart has asserted, <3id not stronger reasons lead him to believe that the word means a sort of plant!

From the above opinions and versions the reader may choose which he likes best, or invent one for himself My own opinion is, that mules were not known before the time of Anah; and that he was probably the first who coupled the mare and ass together to produce this mongrel, or was the first who met with creatures of this race in some very secluded part of

dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.

that reigned in the land of B. C. cir. 1911, Edom, before there reigned a. m. cir. 2429, any king over the children of ^ ^ ""'• ^^''^^ the wilderness. Is it not probable that from this Anah, or nv enah, the EnetcE derived at least their fabulous origin, whom Homer mentions as famous for their race of wild mules!

The Enetce or Henetce, who were a people contiguous to Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Galatia, might have derived their origin from this Anah, or Henah, out of which the Evtroi of the ancient Greek writers might have been formed; and according toTheophrastus, Strabo, and Plutarch, the /j«< mules were seen among these people. See Ludov. De Dieu and Scheuchzer.

Verse 31. Before there reigned any king over — Israel.^ I suppose all the verses, from this to the 39th inclusive, have been transferred to this place from 1 Chron. i. 43-50, as it is not likely they could have been written by Moses; and it is quite possible they might have been, at a very early period, written in the margin of an authentic copy, to make out the regal succession in Edom, prior to the consecration of Saul; which words being afterwards found in the margin of a valuable copy, from which others were transcribed, were supposed by the copyist to be a part of the te.xt, which having been omitted by the mistake of the original writer, had been since added to make up the deficiency; on this conviction he would not hesitate to transcribe them consecutively in his copy. In most MSS. sentences and paragraphs have been left out by the copyists, which, when perceived, have been added in the margin, either by the original writer, or by some later hand. Now, as the margin was the ordinary place where glosses or explanatory notes were written, it is easy to conceive how the notes, as weQ as the parts of the original text found in the margin, might be all incorporated with the te.'ct by a future transcriber; and his MSS., being often copied, would of course multiply the copies with such additions, as we have much reason to believe has been the case. This appears very frequently in the Vulgate and Septuagint; and an English Bible now before mc, written some time in the fourteenth century, exhibits several proofs of ihif principle. See the preface to this work.

Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in tiie field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of liis city was Avith. A. M. cir. 2261. 36 And Hadad died, and

I know there is another way of accounting for those words on the ground of their being written originally by Moses; but to me it is not satisfactory. It is simply this; the word king should be considered as implying any kind of regular government, whether by chiefs, dukes, judges, <^c., and therefore when Moses says these are the kings which reigned in Edom, before there was any king in Israel, he may be only understood as saying that these kings reigned among the Edomites before the family of Jacob had acquired any considerable power, or before the time in which his twelve sons had become the fathers of those numerous tribes, at the head of which, as king himself in Jeshurun, he now stood.

Esau, after his dukes, had eight kiyigs, who reigned successively over their people, while Israel were in affliction in Egypt.

Verse 33. Jobab the son of Zerah] Many have supposed that Jobab is the same as Job, so remarkable for his afflictions and patience; and that Eliphaz, mentioned verse 10, &c., was the same who in the book of Job is called one of his friends: but there is no proper proof of tliis, and there are many reasons against it.

Verse 35. Smote Midian in the field of Moab] Bishop Cumberland supposes that this was Midian, the son of Abraham hy Keturah, and that he was killed by Hadad some lime before he was one hundred and nine years of age; and that Mosos recorded this, probably, because it was a calamity to the ancestor of Jethro, his father-in-law. — Orig. of Nat., p. 14.

Verse 40. These are the names of the dukes that came of Rsau\ These dukes did not govern the whole nation of the Idumeans, but they were chiefs in their respective families, in their places — the districts they governed, and to which they gave their names. Calmet thiaks that those mentioned above were dukes in Edom ed in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name ivas Mehetabel, the daughter of Hatred, the daughter of Mezahab.

4 0 And tlicse are tlie names of.Second aristo-

43 Duke Magdiel, dnke Iram: '' these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their ° possession: he is Esau the •* father of the Edomites.

Verse 43. He is Esau the father of the EdomitesJ] That is, The preceding list contains an account of the posterity of Esau, who was the father of Edom. Thus ends Esau\s history; for after this there is no farther account of his life, actions, or death, in the Pentateuch.

1. As Esau is so considerable a person in polemic divinity, it may be necessary, in this place especially, to say something farther of his Bonduct and character. I have already, in several places, endeavoured, and I hope successfully, to wipe off the odium that has been thrown upon this man, (see the notes on chap, xxvii. and chap, xxxiii.,) without attempting to lessen his faults; and the unprejudiced reader must see that, previously to this last account we have of him, his character stands without a blot, except in the case of selling his birthright, and his purpose to destroy his brother. To the first he was led by his famishing situation and the unkindness of his brother, who refused to save his life but on this condition; and the latter, ruade in the heat of vexation and passion, he never attempted to execute, even when he had the most ample means and the fairest opportunity to do it.

Dr. Shuckford has drawn an impartial character of Esau, from which I extract the following particulars: " Esau was a plain, generous, and honest man, for we have no reason, from any thing that appears in his life or actions, to think him wicked beyond other men of his age or limes; and his generous and good temper appears from all his behaviour towards his brother. \Vhen they first met he ^\^as all humanity and affcctioit, and he had no uneasiness when he found that Jacob followed him not to Seir, but went to live near his father. And at Isaac's death we do not find that he mad« any difficulty of quitting Canaan, which was the very point which, if he had harboured any latent (evil) intentions, would have revived all his resentments. He is indeed called in Scripture the profane Esau; and it is written, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated; but there is, I think, no reason to infer, from any of those expressions, that Esau was a very wicked man, or that God hated or punished him for an immoral life. For, 1. The sentence here against him is said expressly to be founded, not upon his actions, for it was determined before the children had done good or evil. 2. God's hatred of Esau was not a hatred which induced him to punish him with any evd, for he was as happy in all the blessings of this life as either Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob; and his posterity had a land designed by God to be their possession, as well as the children of Jacob, and they were put in possession of it much sooner than the Israelites; and God was pleased to protect them in the enjoyment of it, and to caution the Israelites against invading them with a remarkable strictness. Dent. ii. 4, 5. And as God was pleased thus to bless Esau and his children in the blessings of this life, even as much as he blessed Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, if not more, why may we not hope to find him with them at the last day, as well as Lot or Job or any other good and virtuous man, who was not designed to be a partaker of the blessing given to Abraham? 3. All the punishment inflicted on Esau was an exclusion from being heir to the blessing promised to Abraham and to his seed, which was a favour not granted to Lot, to Job, to several other very virtuous and good men. 4. St. Paul, in the passage before cited, only intends to show the Jews that God had all along given the favours that led to the Messiah where he pleased; to Abraham, not to Lot; to Jacob, not to Esau; as at the time St. Paul wrote the Gentiles were made the people of God, not the Jews. 5. Esau is indeed called profane, (fis/Sriloc,) but I think that word does not mean wicked or immoral, aacjiti^ or ufiapra- Aof • he was called profane for not having that due value for the priest's office which he should have had; and therefore, though I think it does not appear that he was cut off from being the heir of the promises by any particular action in his life, yet his turn of mind and thoughts do appear to have been such as to evidence that God's purpose towards Jacob was founded on the truest wisdom." — Shcckford's Connections, vol. ii., p. 174, &c.

The truth is, the Messiah must spring from some OSE family, and God chose Abraham's through Isaac, Jacob, iSfC, rather than the same through Ishmael, Esau, and the others in that line; but from this choice it does not follow that the first were all necessarily saved, and the others necessarily lost.

•2. To some the genealogical lists in this chapter will doubtless appear uninteresting, especially those which concern Esau and his descendants; but it was as necessary to register the generations of Esau as to register those of Jacob, in order to show that the Messiah did not spring from the former, but that he did spring from the latter. The genealogical tables, so frequently met with in the sacred writings, and so little regarded by Christians in general, are extremely useful. 1. As they are standing proofs of the truth of the prophecies, which stated that the Messiah should come from a particular family, which prophecies were clearly fulfilled in the birth of Christ. 2. As they testify, to the conviction of the Jews, that the Messiah thus promised is found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who incontestably sprang from the last, the only remaining branch of the family of David. These registers were religiously preserved among the Jews till the destruction of Jerusalem, after which they were all destroyed, insomuch that there is not a Jew in the universe who can trace himself to the family of David; consequently, all expectation of a Messiah to come is, even on their own principles, nugatory and absurd, as nothing remains to legitimate his birth. When Christ came aU these registers were in existence. When St. Matthew and St. Luke wrote, all these registers were still in existence; and had they pretended what could not have been supported, an appeal to the registers would have convicted them of a falsehood. But no Jew attempted to do this, notwithstanding the excess of their malice against Christ and his followers; and because they did not do it, we may safely assert no Jew could do it. Thus ^^ fwmdalion standeth sure atob continues to sojourn in Canaan, 1. Joseph, being seventeen years of age, is employed in feeding the flocks of his father, 2. Is loved by his father more than the rest of his brethren, 3. His brethren envy him, 4. His dream of the sheaves, 5-7. His brethren interpret it, and hate him. on the account, 8. His dream of the sun, moon, and eleven stars, 9—11. Jacob sends him to visit his brethren, tvho were with the flock in Shechem, 13, 14. He wanders in the field, and is directed to go to Dothan, whither his brethren had removed the flocks, 15-17. Seeing him coming they conspire to destroy him, 18-20. Reuben, secretly intending to deliver him, counsels his brethren not to kill, but to put him into a pit, 21, 22. They strip Joseph of his coat of many colours, and put him into a pit, 23, 24. They afterxvards draw him out, and sell him to a company of Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver, who carry him into Egypt, 25-38. Reuben returns to the pit, and not finding Joseph, is greatly affected, 29, 30, Joseph's brethren dip his coat in goafs blood to persuade his father that he had been devoured by a ivild beast, 3\-3^. Jacob u greatly distressed, 34, 35. Joseph is sold in Egypt to Poiiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard, 36. a 317

'' his father was a stranger, in the land of

years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father "^ their evil report.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was "• the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many " colours.

4 And when his brethren saw that their

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

6 And he said imto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

7 For, K behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, beliold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheat

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? and they hated him

Verse 1. Wherein his father was a stranger] 'lUD r3N megurey abiv, Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, as the margin very properly reads it. The place was probably the vale of Hebron, see ver. 14.

Verse 2. These sx6 the generations] riMiPi toledolh, the history of the lives and actions of Jacob and his sons; for in this general sense the original must be taken, as in the whole of the ensuing history there is no particular account of any genealogical succession. Yet the words may be understood as referring to the tables or genealogical lists in the preceding chapter; and if so, the original must be understood in its common acceptation.

The lad was with the sons of Bilhah] It is supposed that our word lad comes from the Hebrew lb' ycled, a child, a son; and that lass is a contraction of ladess, the female of lad, a girl, a young woman. Some have supposed that King James desired the translators to insert this word; but this must be a mistake, as the word occurs in this place in Edmund Bccke''s Bible, printed in 1519; and still earlier in that of Coverdale, printed in 1535.

Brought unio his father their evil report.] Conjecture has been busily employed lo find out what this evil report might be; but it is needless to inquire what it was, as on this head the sacred text is perfectly silent. All the use we can make of this information is, that it was one cause of increasing his brothers' hatred to him, which was first excited by his father's partiality, and secondly by his own dreams.

Verse 3. A coat o/many colours.] D"D3 TMTiJ hcthoneth passim, a coat made up of stripes of difTerenlly coloured cloth. Similar to this was the toga prtclexta of the Roman youth, which was white, striped or fringed with purple; this they wore till they were teventeen years of age, when they changed it for the toga virilis, or toga pura, which was all white. Such vestures as clothing of distinction are worn all over Persia, India, and China to the present day. It is no wonder that his brethren should envy him, when his S18 father had thus made him such a distinguished object of his partial love. We have already seen some of the evils produced by this unwarrantable conduct of parents in preferring one child to all the rest. The old fable of the ape and her favourite cub, which she hugged to death through kindness, was directed against such foolish parental fondnesses as these.

Verse 4. And could not speak peaceably unto Atm.] Does not this imply, in our use of the term, that they were continually quarrelling with him? but this u no meaning of the original: D'7"iyS 1131 iSj' n'?! vdo yachelu dabbero Icshalom, they could not speak peace to him, i. e., they would not accost him in a friendly manner. They would not even wish him well. The eastern method of salutation is. Peace be to thee! DlSi?

thee my friend, among the Arabs. Now as peace among those nations comprehends all kinds of blessings spiritual and temporal, so they are careful not to say it to those whom they do not cordially wish well. It is not an unusual thing for an Arab or a Turk to hesitate to return the salam, if given by a Christian, or by one of whom he has not a favourable opinion: and this, in their own country, may be ever considered as a mark of hostility; not only as a proof that they do not wish you well, but that if they have an opportunity they will do you an injury. This was precisely the case with respect to Joseph's brethren: they would not give him the salam, and therefore felt themselves at liberty to take the first opportunity to injure him. Verse 7. We were binding sheaves in the field] Though in these early times we read little of tillage, yet it is evident from this circumstance that it was practised by Jacob and his sons. The whole of this dream is so very plain as to require no comment, unless we could suppose that the sheaves of grain might have some reference to the plenty in Egypt under Joseph's superintendence, and the scarcity in Canaan, which obliged the brethren to go down to Egypt for corn, where the dream was most literally fulfilled

A. M. 2276. yet the more for his dreams, and for

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, ^ the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him. What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and ' thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

1 1 And '' his brethren envied him; but his father ' observed the saying.

12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

1 3 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem ' come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him. Here am I.

14 And he said to him^ Go, I pray thee, "" see whether it be well with thy brethren, ■md well with the flocks; and bring me word

again. So he sent him out of the A. M. 2276. vale of " Hebron, and he came to ' Schehem.

15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying. What seekest thou?

1 6 And he said, I seek my brethren: " tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

17 And the man said. They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found tliem in p Dothan.

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, * they con spired against him to slay him.

19 And they said one to another. Behold, this ' dreamer cometh.

20 ^ Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

21 And ' Reuben heard it, and he delivered

Verse 9. He dreamed yet another dream] This is as clear as the preceding. But how could Jacob say, Shall I and thy mother, dfc, when Rachel his mother was dead some time before this? Perhaps Jacob might liint, by this e.Kplanation, the impossibility of such a dream being fulfilled, because one of the persons who should be a chief actor in it was already dead. But any one wife or concubine of Jacob was quite sufficient to fulfil this part of the dream. It is possible, some think, that Joseph may have had these dreams before his mother Rachel died; but were even this the case, she certainly did not live to fulfil the part which appears to refer to herself

The sun and the moon and the eleven stars] Why eleven stars 1 Was it merely to signify that his brothers might be represented by stars 1 Or does he not rather there allude to the Zodiac, his eleven brethren answering to eleven of the celestial signs, and himself to the twelfth? This is certainly not an unnatura thought, as it is very likely that the heavens weru thus measured in the days of Joseph; for the zodiacal coTistellations have been distinguished among the eastern nations from time immemorial. See the notes at the end of chap. xlix.

Verse 14. Go — see whether it be loell with thy brethren] Literally, Go, I beseech thee, and see the peace of thy brethren, and the peace of the flock. Go and gee whether they are all in prosperity. See on ver. 4. As Jacob's sons were now gone to feed the flock on the parcel of ground they had bought from the Shechemites, (see chap, xxxiii. 19,) and where they had committed such a horrible slaughter, their father might feel more solicitous about their welfare, lest the neighbouring tribes should rise against them, and revenge the murder of the Shechemites.

As Jacob appear /i to have been at this time in the vale of Hebron, it is supposed that Shechem was about sixty English miles distant from it, and that Dothan was about eight miles farther. But I must again advertise my readers that all these calculations are very dubious; for we do not even know that the same place is intended, as there are many proofs that diflerent places went by the same names.

Verse 19. Behold,lhis dreamer cometh.] ni^mn TJ'i baal hachalomoth, this master of dreams, this master dreamer. A form of speech which conveys great contempt.

Verse 20. Come noiv — and let us slay him] What unprincipled savages these must have been to talk thus coolly about imbruing their hands in an innocent brother's blood! How necessary is a Divine revelation, to show man what God hates and what he loves! Ferocious cruelty is the principal characteristic of the nations and tribes who receive not the law at his mouth.

Verse 2 1. Reuben heard it] Though Reuben appears to have been a transgressor of no ordinary magnitude, if we take chap. xxxv. 29 according to the letter, yet his bosom was not the habitation of cruttt^

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many " colours tliat was on him;

24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit ivas empty, there was no water in it.

25 " And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of " Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and

* balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to

26 And Judah said unto his brethren. What profit is it if we slay our brother, and '' conceal his blood?

He determined, if possible, to save his brother from death, and deliver him safely to his father, with whose fondness for him he was sufficiently acquainted. Joscphus, in his usual way, puts a long flourishing speech in the mouth of Reuben on the occasion, spoken in order to dissuade his brethren from their barbarous purpose; but as it is totally unfounded, it is worthy of no regard.

Verse 23. They stripped Joseph out of his coat] This probably was done that, if ever found, he might not be discerned to be a person of distinction, and consequently, no inquiry made concerning him.

Verse 25. They sal down to eat bread] Every act is perfectly in character, and describes forcibly the brutish and diabolic nature of their ruthless souls.

A company of Ishmaelites] We may naturally suppose that this was a caravan, composed of different tribes that, for their greater safety, were travelling together, and of which Ishmaelites and Midianites made the chief In the Chaldec they are called Arabians, which, from 3"\> arab, to mingle, was in all probability used by the Targumist as the word Arabians is used among ua, which comprehends a vast number of clans, or tribes of people. The Jerusalem Targum calls them rpID Sarkin, what we term Saracens. In the Persian, karavanee ishmaaleem araban aya. " A caravan of Ishmaelite Arabs came." This seems to give the true sense.

Verse 28. For twentyf\e<:e.s of silver] lni\ie Anglo- Saxon it is pnicijum penejum, thirty pence. This, I.iiink, is the first instance on record of gelling a man

hand be upon him; for he is ° our brother and '' our flesh. And his brethren " were content.

28 Then there passed by ^ Midianites, mer chantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, " and sold Joseph to the Ish- J maelitcs for ' twenty pieces of silver; and they " brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 And Reuben returned unto the pit: and behold, Joseph ivas not in the pit; and he s rent his clothes.

30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said. The child '' is not; and I, whither shall I go?

3 1 And they took ' Joseph's coat, and killed

a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the ^ blood;

32 And they sent the coat of wiany colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's

for a slave; but the practice certainly did not commence now, it had doubtless been in use long before. Instead of pieces, which our translators supply, the Persian has yS^Hn miskal, which was probably intended to signify a shekel; and if shekels be intended, taking them at three shillings each, Joseph was sold for about three pounds sterling. I have known a whole cargo of slaves, amounting to eight hundred and thirteen, bought by a slave captain in Bonny river, in Africa, on an average, for six pounds each; and this payment was made in guns, gunpowder, and trinkets! As there were only tiine of the brethren present, and they sold Joseph for twenty shekels, each had more than two shekels as his share in this most infamous transaction.

Verse 29. Reuben returned unto the pit] It appears he was absent when the caravan passed by, to whom the other brethren had sold Joseph.

Verse 30. The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?] The words in the original are very plaintive, X3 'JN nJX 'JNl uyx nS'n haiyeled einennu, vaani anah, ani ba!

Verse 32. Sent the coat of many colours — to their father] What deliberate cruelty to torture the feelings of their aged father, and thus harrow up his soul!

Averse 33. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces!] It is likely he inferred this from the lacerated state of the coat, which, in order the better to cover their wickedness, they had not only besmeared with the blood of the goat, but it is probable reduced to tatters. And what must a father's heart have felt in such a case! As this coat is rent, so is the body of my beloved son rent in pieces! and Jacob rent his clothes.

coat; '' an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces '

34 And Jacob ^ rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35 And all his sons and all his dauehters

Verse 35. All his sons and all his daughters] He had only one daughter, Dinah; but his sons'' wives may be here included. But what hypocrisy in his sons to attempt to comfort him concerning the death of a son who they knew was alive; and what cruelty to put their aged father to such torture, when, properly speaking, there was no ground for it!

Verse 36. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh^ s] The word O'lD saris, translated officer, signifies a eunuch; and lest any person should imagine that because this Potiphar had a wife, therefore it is absurd to suppose him to have been a eunuch, let such persons know that it is not uncommon in the east for eunuchs to have loives, nay, some of them have even a harem or seraglio, where they keep many women, though it does not appear that they have any progeny; and probably discontent on this ground might have contributed as much to the unfaithfulness of Potiphar's wife, as that less principled motive through which it is commonly believed she acted.

Captain of the guard.] D'n3Qn "Ity sar hattablachim, chief of the butchers; a most appropriate name for the guards of an eastern despot. If a person offend one of the despotic eastern princes, the order to one of the life-guards is. Go and bring me his head; and this command is instantly obeyed, without judge, jury, or any form of law. Potiphar, we may therefore suppose, was captain of those guards whose business it was to take care of the royal person, and execute his sovereign will on all the objects of his displeasure. Reader, if thou hast the happiness to live under the British constitution, be thankful to God. Here, the will, the power, and utmost influence of the king, were he even so disposed, cannot deprive the meanest subject of his property, his liberty, or his life. All the solemn legal forms of justice must be consulted; the culprit, however accused, be heard by himself and his counsel; and in the end twelve honest, impartial men, chosen from among his fellows, shall decide on the validity of the evidence produced by the accuser. For the trial by jury, as well as for innumerable political blessings, may God make the inhabitants of Great Britain thankful!

1. With this chapter the history of Joseph commences, and sets before our eyes such a scene of wonders wrought by Divine Providence in such a variety of surprising instances, as cannot fail to confirm our faith in God, show the propriety of resignation to his will, and confidence in his dispensations, and prove that all things work together for "ood to

"" rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted: and he said, For " I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36 And ° the Midianites sold him into Egypt, unto Potiphar, an p oiBcer of Pharoah's, and 1 captain of the guard.'

them that love him. Joseph has often been considered as a type of Christ, and this subject in the hands of different persons has assumed a great variety of colouring. The following parallels appear the most probable; but I shall not pledge myself for the propriety of any of them: " Jesus Christ, prefigured by Joseph, the beloved of his father, and by him sent to visit his brethren, is the innocent person whom his brethren sold for a few pieces of silver, the bargain proposed by his brother Judah, (Greek Judas,) the very namesake of that disciple and brother (for so Christ vouchsafes to call him) who sold his Lord and Master; and who by this means became their Lord and Saviour; nay, the Saviour of strangers, and of the whole world; which had not happened but for this plot of destroying him, the act of rejecting, and exposing him to sale. In both examples we find the same fortune and the same innocence: Joseph in the prison between two criminals; Jesus on the cross between two thieves. Joseph foretells deliverance to one of his companions and death to the other, from the same omens: of the two thieves, one reviles Christ, and perishes in his crimes; the other believes, and is assured of a speedy entrance into paradise. Joseph reque.sts the person that should be delivered to be mindful of him in his glory; the person saved by Jesus Christ entreats his deliverer to remember him when he came into his kingdom." — See PascaVs Thoughts. Parallels and coincidences of this kind should always be received cautiously, for where the Spirit of God has not marked a direct resemblance, and obviously referred to it as such in some other part of his word, it is bold, if not dangerous, to say " such and such things and persons ate types of Christ." We have instances sufficiently numerous, legitimately attested, without having recourse to those which are of dubious import and precarious application. See the observation on chap. xl.

2. Envy has been defined, "pain felt, and malignity conceived, at the sight of excellence or happiness in another." Under this detestable passion did the brethren of Joseph labour; and had not God particularly interposed, it would have destroyed both its subjects and its object. Perhaps there is no vice which so directly filiates itself on Satan, as this does. In opposition to the assertion that toe cannot envy that by which ice profit, it may be safely replied that we may envy our neighbour's loisdom, though he gives us good counsel: his riches, though he supplies our wants; and his greatness, though he employs it for our protection.

divided against itself cannnot stand. Parents should lake good heed that their own conduct be not the first and most powerful cause of such dissensions, by exciting cniy in some of their children thrnugh undue parlialUy to others; but it is in vain to speak to most parents on the subject; they will give way to foolish predilections, till, in the prevailing distractions of their families, they meet with the punishment of their imprudence, when regrets are vain, and the uiil past remedy.

Judah marries the daughter of a Canaanite, 1, 2; and begets of her Er, 3, Onan, 4, and Shelah, 5. Er marries Tamar, ti; is slain for his wickedness, 7. Onan, required to raise up seed to his brother, refuses, 8, 9. He also is slain, 10. Judah promises his son Shelah to Tamar, when he should he of age; but perforins not his promise, 11. Judah's wife dies, 12. Tamar in disguise receives her father-in-law, he leaves his signet, bracelets, and staff in her hand, and she conceives by him, 13—23. Judah is informed that his daughter in-law is ivilh child; and, not knowing that himself was the father, condemns her to be burnt, 21. She produces the signet, bracelets, and staff, and convicts Judah,ia, 26. She is delivered of twins, who are called Pharez and Zarah, 27-30.

from his brethren, and " turned in to a certain

'' Adullamile, whose name luas Hirah. 2 And Judah "^ saw there a daughter of a

and he took her, and went in unto her.

3 And she conceived, and

A'erse 1. And it came to pass at that time] The facts mentioned here could not have happened at the times mentioned in the preceding chapter, as those times are all unquestionably too recent, lor the very earliest of the transactions here recorded must have occurred long before the selling of Joseph. Mr. Ainsworth remarks " that Judah and his sons must have married when very young, else the chronology will not agree. For Joseph was born sii years before Jacob left Laban and came into Canaan; chap..\.\x. 25, and xxxi. 41. Josepli was seventeen years old when he was sold into Egvpt, chap, xxxvii. 2, 25; he was thirty years old when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream, chap. xli. 46. And nine years after, when there had been seven years of plenty and two years of famine, did Jacob with his family go down into Egypt, chap. xli. 53, 51, and xlv. 6, 11. And at their going down thither, Pharez, the son of Judah, whose birth is set down at the end of this chapter, had two sons, Hezron and Ilamul, chap. xlvi. 8, 12. Seeing then from the selling of Joseph unto Israel's going down into Egypt there cannot be above twenty-three years, how is it possible that Judah should take a wife, and have by her three sons successively, and Shelah the youngest of the three he marriageable when Judali bpg.at Pharez of Tamar, chap, xxxviii. 14, 24, and Pharez bo grown up, married, and have two sons, all wiihin so short a space ] The time therefore here spoken of eeems to iiave been soon after Jacob's coming to She-

called his name ^ Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.

chem, chap, xxxiii. 18, before the history of Dinah, chap,.x.xxiv., though Moses for special cause relates it in this place." I should rather suppose that this chapter originally stood after chap, xxxiii., and that it got bv accident into this place. Dr. Hales, observing that, some of Jacob's sons must have married remarkabl] young, says that " Judah was about forty-seven yea old when Jacob's family settled in Egypt. He could not therefore have been above fifteen at the birth of his eldest son Er; nor Er more than fifteen at hit| marriage with Tamar; nor could it have been men than two years after Er's death till the birth of Ju-j dah's twin sons by his daughter-in-law Tamar; norj could Pharez, one of them, be more ihsM fifteen at tha birth of his twin sons Hezron and Ilamul, supposing^ they were twins, just born before the departure from Canaan. For the aggregate of these numbers, 15, 15, 2, 15, or 47 years, gives the age of Judah; compare chap, xxxviii. with chap. xlvi. 12." See the remarks of Dr. Kennicott, at the end of chap. xxxi.

Adullamile] \n inhabitant of Adullam. a city of Canaan, afterwards given for a possession to the sons of Judah, Josh. xv. 1, 35. It appears as if Ibis Adullamile had kept a kind of lodging house, for Shuah the Canaanite and his family lodged with him; and there Judah lodged also..\s the woman was a Canaanitess, Judah had the example of his fathers to prove at least the impropriety of such a connection.

Verse 5. And he was at Chczib when she bare him.] This town is supposed to be the same with Achzib,

. ' " ' ' '. was wicked in the sight of the

and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.

9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be "■ his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

1 0 And the thing which he did " displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew ° him also.

1 1 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughterin-law, P Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: (for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren dAd.) And Tamar went and dwelt 1 in her father's house.

which fell to the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 4-1. " The name," says Ainsworth, " has in Hebrew the signification of li/ing; and to it the prophet alludes, saying the houses of Achzib shall be (Achzab) a lie to the kings of Israel, Mic. i. 14."

Verse 7. Er — was wicked in the sight of the Lord] What this wickedness consisted in we are not told; liut the phrase sight of the Lord being added, proves that it was some very great evil. It is worthy of remark that the Hebrew word used to express Er''s wickedness is his own name, the letters reversed. Er i>'; wicked,;?1 ra. As if the inspired writer had said, " Er was altogether wicked, a completely abandoned character."

Verse 9. Onan knew that the seed should not be hts] That is, that the child begotten of his brother's widow should be reckoned as the child of his deceased brother, and his name, though the real father of it, should not appear in the genealogical tables.

Verse 10. Wherefore he sleiv him also.] The sin of Onan has generally been supposed to be sclf-pollulion; but this is certainly a mistake; his crime was his refusal to raise up seed to his brother, and rather than do it, by the act mentioned above, he rendered himself incapable of it. We find from this history that long before the Mosaic law it was an established custom, probably founded on a Divine precept, that if a man died childless his brother was to take his wife, and the children produced by this second marriage were considered as the children of the hn-l husband, and in consequence inherited his possessions.

13 And it was told Tamar, saying. Behold, thy father-in-law goetli up ' to Timnath to shear his sheep.

14 And she "put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and "" sat in " an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw ^ that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot: because she had covered her face.

1 6 And he turned unto her by the way, and said. Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she luas his daughter-in-law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

1 7 And he said, ^ I will send thee ^ a kid from the flock. And she said, " Wilt thou give me a pledge till thou send it?

Verse 12. In process of time] This phrase, which is in general use in the Bible, needs explanation; the original is □':3"n 13T1 vaii/irbti liaiya?nim, and the days icere multiplied. Though it implies an indefinite time, yet it generally embraces a pretty long period, and in this place may mean several years.

Verse 15. Thought her to be a harlot] See the original of this term, chap, xxxiv. 31. The Hebrew is njU ~onah, and signifies generally a person who prostitutes herself to the public for hire, or one who lives by the public; and hence very likely applied to a publican, a tavern-keeper, or hostess. Josh. ii. 1; translated by the Septuagint, and in the New Testament, rrofivT), from Tvcpvau, to sell, which certainly may as well apply to her goods as to her person.

It appears that in very ancient times there were public persons of this description; and they generally veiled themselves, sat in public places by the highway side, and received certain hire. Though adultery was reputed a very flagrant crime, yet this public prostitu tion was not; for persons whose characters were on the whole morally good had connections with them But what could be expected from an age in which there was no written Divine revelation, and consequently the bounds of right and wrong were not sufliciently ascertained I This defect was supplied in a considerable measure by the law and the prophets, and now completely by the Gospel of Christ.

Verse 17. Will thou give me a pledge till thou send it '] The word iUV erabon signifies an earnest of something promised, a part of the price agreed for 3Q3

1 8 And he said, Wliat pledge shall I give thee? And she said, •" Thy signet, and lliy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by

1 9 And she arose, and went away, and ° laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.

20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.

21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot that was ^ openly by the wayside? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.

22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the

between a buyer and seller, by giving and receiving of which the bargain was ratified; or a deposit, which was to bo restored when the thing promised should be given. St. Paul uses the same word in Greeli letters, ap/>a^ov, 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 14. From the use of the term in this history we may at once see what the apostle means by the Holi/ Spirit betng the earnest, ap/>a8(jv, of the promised inheritance; viz., a security given in hand for the fulfilment of all God's promises relative to grace and eternal life. We may learn from this that eternal life will be given in the great day to all who can produce this erabon or pledge. He who has the earnest of the Spirit then in his heart shall not only be saved from death, but have that eternal life of which it is the pledge and the evidence. What the pledge given by Judah was, see on ver. 25.

Verse 21. Where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside?] Our translators often render different Hebrew words by the same term in I^nglish, and thus many important shades of meaning, wliich involve traits of character, are lost. In ver. 15, Tamar is called a harlot, njl! zonah, which, as we have already seen, signifies a person who prostitutes herself for money. In this verse she is called a harlot in our version; but the original is not n^lt but riiu'lp kcdeshah, a holy or consecrated person, from tyip hndash, to make holy, or to consecrate to religious purposes. And the word here must necessarily signify a person consecrated by prostitution to the worship of some impure goddess.

Tlie public prostitutes in the temple of Venus are called lepoSov/.oi jtn'Oixcf, holy or consecrated female servants, by Strabo; and it appears from the words zonah and kcdeshah above, that impure rites and public prostitution [irevailcd in the worsliip of the Canaaiiitcs in the time of Judah. And among these people we have much reason to believe that Astarte and Asteroth occupied the same place in their theology as Venus did among the Greeks and Romans, and were worshipped with the same impure rites.

place said, that there was no harlot in this place.

2.3 And Judah said. Let her take it to her, lest we "^ be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamai thy daughter-in-law hath Splayed the harlot and also, behold, she is with child by whore dom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, « and let her be burnt.

25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying. By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, *" Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, ' the signet, and bracelets, and staff.

26 And Judah ^ acknowledged them, and said, ' She hath been more righteous than I;

Verse 23. Lest we be ashamed] Not of the ac/, for this he does not appear to have thought criminal; but lest he should fall under the raillery of bis companions and neighbours, for having been tricked out of his signet, bracelets, and staff, by a prostitute.

Verse 24. Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.'] As he had ordered Tamar to live as a widow in her own father's house till his son Shelah should be marriageable, he considers her therefore as the wife of his son; and as Shelah was not yet given to her, and she is found with child, she is reputed by him as an adulteress, and burning, it seems, was anciently the punishment of this crime. Juduh, being a patriarch or head of a family, had, according to the custom of those times, the supreme magisterial authority over all the branches of his own family; therefore he only acts here in his juridical capacity. How strange that in the very place where adultery was punished by the most violent death, prostitution for money and for religious purposes should be considered as no crime!

Verse 25. The signet] jTSnn chothemeth, properly a seal, or instrument with which impressions were made to ascertain property, &c. These exist in all countries.

Bracelets] U'l'7\2pcthiltm, from h^S palhal, to twist, wreathe, twine, may signify a girdle or a collar by which precedency, &c., might be indicated; not the muslin, silk, or linen wreath of his turban, as Mr. Harmer has conjectured.

Staff.] non maltch, cither what we would call a common walking stick, or the staff which was the ensign of his tribe.

Verse 20. She hath been more righteous than J] It is probable that Tamar was influenced by no other motive than that which was common to all Ihe Israelitish women, the desire to have children who might be heirs of the promise made to Abraham, JfC. And as Judah had obliged her to continue in her widowhood under the promise of giving her his son Shelah when he should be of age, consequently his refusing or delaying

A. M. cir. 2277. because that "' I gave her not to —^ — '■ — — Shclah my son. And he knew her again " no more.

27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, lliat, behold, twins were in her womb.

28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying. This came out first.

Verse 28. The midtoife — hound upon /lis hand a scarlet thread] The binding of the scarlet thread about the wrist of the child whose arm appeared first in the birth, serves to show us how solicitously tlie privileges of the birthright were preserved. Had not this caution been taken by the midwife, Pharez would have had the right of j«r(moo'c?i(^«re to the prejudice of his elder brother Zarah. And yet Pharez is usually reckoned in the genealogical tables before Zarah; and from him, not Zarah, does the line of our Lord proceed. See Matt. i. 3. Probably the two brothers, as being twins, were conjoined in the privileges belonging to the iirthrigkt.

Verse 29. How hast thou Irohcn forth!] DilD HO mah paratsta, this breach be upon thee, yia 1"7>' aleycha parcts; thou shalt bear the name of the breach thou hast made, i. e., in coining first into the world. Therefore his name was called y~\-^ Carets, i. e., the person who made the breach. The. breach here mentioned refers to a certain circumstance in parturition which it is unnecessary to explain.

Verse 30. His name was called Zarah.] mt Zarach, risen or sprung up, applied to the sun, rising and diffusing his light. " He had this name," says Ainsworth, " because he should have risen, i. e., have been born first, but for the breach which his brother made."

There are several subjects in this chapter on which it may not be unprofitable to spend a few additional moments.

1. The insertion of this chapter is a farther proof of the impartiality of the sacred writer. The facts detailed, considered in themselves, can reflect no credit on the patriarchal history; but Judah, Tamar, Zarah, and Pharez, were progenitors of the Messiah, and therefore their birth must be recorded; and as the hirth, so also the circumstaHccs of that birth, which, even liad they not a higher end in view, would be valuable as casting light upon some very ancient customs, which it is interesting to understand. These are not forgotten in the preceding notes.

2. On what is generally reputed to be the sin of Onan, something very pointed should be spoken. But who dares and will do it, and in such language that it may neither pollute the ear by describing the evU as it IS, nor fail of its effect by a language so refined and

29 And it came to pass, as A. M. cir. 2277 he drew back his hand, that, ' — 1 behold, his brother came out: and she said, " How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called P Pharez.i

30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

so laboriously delicate as to cover the sin which it professes to disclose ] Elaborate treatises on the subject will never be read by those who need them inost, and anonymous pamphlets are not likely to be regarded.

The sin of self-pollution, which is generally considered to be that of Onan, is one of the most destructive evils ever practised by fallen man. In many respects it is several degrees worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful consequences, though practised by numbers who would shudder at the thought of criminal connections with a prostitute. It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent secretions, vihich necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital principle and energy; hence the muscles become flaccid and feeble, the tone and natural action of the nerves relaxed and impeded, the understanding confused, tlie memory oblivious, the judgment perverted, the will indeterminate and wholly without energy to resist; the eyes appear languishing and without expression, and the countenance vacant; the appetite ceases, for the stomach is incapable of performing its proper office; nutrition fails, tremors, fears, and terrors are generated; and thus the wretched victim drags out a most miserable existence, till, superannuated even bet'ore he had time to arrive at maiCs estate, with a mind often debilitated even to a state of idiotism, his worthless body tumbles into the grave, and his guilty soul (guilty of self-murder) is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge! Reader, this is no caricature, nor are the colourings overcharged in this shocking picture. Worse woes than my pen can relate I have witnessed in those addicted to this fascinating, unnatural, and most destructive of crimes. If thou hast entered into tliis snare, flee from the destruction both of body and soul that awaits thee! God alone can save thee. Advice, w'arnings, threatenings, increasing debility of body, mental decay, checks of conscience, expostulations of judginent and medical assistance, will all be lost on thee: God, and God alone, can save thee from an evil which has in its issue the destruction of thy body, and the final perdition of thy soul! Whether this may have been the sin of Onan or not, is a matter at present of small moment; it may be thy sin; therefore take heed lest God slay thee for it. The intelligent reader will see that prudence forbids me to enter any farther into this business. See the remarks at the end of chap, xxxix.

Joseph, being brought to Potiphar's house, prospers in all his undertakings, 1-3. Potiphar makes him his overseer, 4. Is prospered in all his concerns for Joseph's sake, in whom he puts urdimited conjidence, 5, 6. The wife of Potiphar solicits him to criminal correspondence, 7. He refuses, and makes a fine apology for his conduct, 8, 9. She continues her solicitations, and he his refusals, 10. She uses violence, and he escapes from her hand, H— 13. She accuses him to the domestics, 14, 15, and afterward to Potiphar, 16-18. Potiphar is enraged, and Joseph is cast into prison, 19, 20. The Lord prospers him, and gives him great favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison, 21, who intrusts him ivilh the care of the house and all the prisoners, 22, 23.

oflScer of Pharaoh, captain of tlie guard, an Egyptian, ''bought him of the hands of the TshmacHlcs, which had brought him down tiiitbcr.

2 And '^ the Lord was witli Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in tlie house of his master the Egyptian.

3 And his master saw that the Lord was with liim, and that the Lord "^ made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

4 And Joseph ° found grace in his sight, and

Verse 1. An officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard] Mr. Ainsvvorth, supposing that his office merely consisted ill having charge of the king's prisoners, calls Potiphar provost marshal! See on chap, xxxvii. 36, and xl. 3.

Ver.se 4. lie made him overseer] T^ST^ hiphkid,hom "IpD pakad, to visit, take care of, superintend; the same as fJTiffKo-of, overseer or bishop, aniong the Greeks. This is the term by vc hich tlie Septuagint often express the meaning of the original.

Verse 6. Joseph teas a good!// person, and vyell favoured.] HNTD riD'l ^,sn riD' ycphch thnar, vipheh march, heautiful in his person, and beautiful in his counJenance. The same expressions are used relative to Rachel; see them explained chap..xxix. 17. Tlie beauty of Joseph is celebrated over all the East, and the Persian poets vie with each other in descriptions of his comeliness. Mohammed spends the twelfth chapter of the Koran entirely on Joseph, and represents him as ■J perfect be;iuty, and the most accomplished of mortals. From his account, the passion of Zuleckha (for so the Asiatics call Poliphar's wife) being known to the ladies of the court, they cast the severest rcllections upon lier: in order lo excuse herself, she invited forty of lliem to dine with her, put knives in their hands, and gave them oranges to cut, and caused Joseph to attend. When they saw him they were struck with admiration, and so confounded, that instead of cutting their oranges lliey cut and hacked their own hands, crying out, hasha lillahi ma hadha bashara in hiidha ilia malakon kareemon. " O God! this is not a iiuiuan being; this a 226

that he had he put into his hand.

5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that ^ the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field.

6 And he left all tliat he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph ''vras a goodly person, and well-favoured.

Two of the finest poems in the Persian language were written by the poets Jamy and Nizamy on the subject of Joseph and his mistress; they are both en titled Yusuf we Zuleekha. These poems represent Joseph as tlie most beautiful and pious of men; and Zuleekha the most chaste, virtuous, and excellent of women, previous to her having seen Joseph; but they state that when she saw him she was so deeply affected by his beauty that she lost all self-governmept, and became a slave lo her passion. Ilafiz e.xpresses this, and apologizes for her conduct in the following elegant couplet: —

The Persian poets and eastern liistorians, however, contrive to carry on a sort of guiltless passion between them till the death of Potiphar, when Zuleekha, grown old, is restored to youth and beauty by the power of God, and becomes the wife of Joseph. What traditions they had beside the Mosaic text for what they say on this subject, are now unknown; but the whole story, with innumeralde embellishments, is so generally current in the East tliat I thought it not amiss to take

wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, ' Lie with me.

8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is witli me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;

9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: ^ how then can I do this great wickedness, and ' sin against God?

10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

1 1 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.

1 2 And " she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

1 3 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,

14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying. Sec, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us: he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a " loud voice:

15 And it came to pass, when he heard that

this notice of it. The twelfth chapter of the Koran, which celebrates the beauty, piet)', and acts of this patriarch, is allowed to be one of the finest specimens of Arabic composition ever formed; and the history itself, as told by Moses, is one of the most simple, natural, affecting, and well-told narratives ever published. It is a master-piece of composition, and never fails of producing its intended effect on the mind of a careful reader. The Arab lawsjiver saw and felt the beauties and excellences of his model; and he certainly put forth all the strength of his own language, and all the energy of his mind, in order to rival it.

Verse 9. How then] ysi veeik, and how? Joseph gives two most powerful reasons for his noncompliance with the wishes of his mistress: 1. Gratitude to his master, to whom he owed all that he had. 2. His fear of God, in whose sight it would be a heinous offence, and who would not fail to punish him for it. With the kindness of his master and the displeasure

16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.

17 And she ° spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:

18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.

19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying. After this manner did thy servant to me; that his p wrath was kindled.

20 And Joseph's master took him, and "i put him into the " prison, a place where the king's prisoners ivere bound: and he was there in the prison.

21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and ^ showed him mercy, and ' gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of tlie prison.

22 And the keeper of the prison " committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that loere in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.

23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that ivas under his hand; because ■'the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.

of God before his eyes, how could he be capable of committing an act of transgression, which would at once have distinguished him as the most ungrateful and the most joorthless of men?

Verse 14. He hath brought in a Hebrew unto us\ Potiphar's wife affects to throw great blame on her husband, whom we may reasonably suppose she did not greatly love. He hath brought in — he hath raised this person to all his dignity and eminence, to give him the greater opportunity to mock us. pni'7 letsachek, here translated to mock, is the same word used in chap. xxvi. 8, relative to Isaac and Rebekah; and is certainly used by Potiphar's wife in ver. 17, to signify some kind of famili;ir intercourse not allowable but between man and wife.

Verse 20. Put him into the prison] "IDD T\'2 beilh sohar, literally the round house; in such a /or/» the prison was probably built.

1. Hb who acknowledges God in all his ways, has the promise that God shall direct all his steps. Joseph's captivity shall promote God's glory; and to this end God works in him, fur hira, and by him. Even the irreligious can see when the Most High distinguishes his followers. Joseph's master saw that Jehovah was with him; and from this we may learn that the knowledge of the tne God was in Egypt, even before the time of Joseph, though his worship was neither established nor even tuler.itcd there. Both Ahraham and Isaac had been in Egypt, and they had left a savour of true godliness behind them.

2. Joseph's virtue in resisting the solicitations of his mistress was truly exemplary. Had he reasoned after the manner of men, he might have soon found that the proposed intrigue might be carried on with the utmost secrecy and greatly to his secular advantage. But he chose to risk all rather than injure a kind benefactor, defile his conscience, and sin against God. Such conduct is so exceedingly rare that his example has stood on the records of time as almo.st without a parallel, admired by all, applauded by most, and in similar circumstances, I am afraid, imitated by few. The fable of the brave and virtuous Bellerophon and Sthenobma, wife of Prcetus, king of the Argives, was probably founded on this history.

Jight and when to fly are of grsat impnrtance in thr Christian life. Some temptations must be manfally met, resisted, and thus overcome; from others we must J!i/, He who stands to contend or reason, especially in such a case as that mentioned here, is infallibly ruined. Principiis obsla, "resist the first overtures of sin," is a good maxim. After-remedies come too late.

4. A woman of the spirit of Potiphar's wife is capable of any species of evil. When she could not get her wicked ends answered, she began to accuse. This is precisely Satan's custom: he first tempts men to sin, and then accuses them as having committed it, even where the temptation has been faithfully and perseveringly resisted! By this means he can trouble a tender conscience, and weaken faith by bringing confusion into the mind. Thus the inexperienced especially are often distracted and cast down; hence Satan is properly called the accuser of the brethren, Rev. xii. 10.

Very useful lessons may be drawn from every part of the relation in this chapter, but detailing the facts and reasoning upon them would be more likely to produce than prevent the evil. An account of this kind cannot be touched with too gentle a hand. Others have been profuse here; I chose to be parsimonious, for reasons which the intelligent reader will feel as well as myself Let this remark be applied to what has been said on the sin of Onan, chap, xxxviii.

Pharaoh's chief butler and his chief baker, having offended their lord, are put in prison, 1—3. The captain of the guard gives them into the care of Joseph, 4. Each of them has a dream, 5. Joseph, seeing them sad, questions them on the subject, 6,7. Their answer, 8. The chief butler tells his dream, 9-11. Joseph interprets it, 12, 13. Gives a slight sketch nfhis history to the chief butler, and begs him to think upon him when restored to his office, 14, 15. The chief baker tells his dream, 16, 17. Joseph interprets this also, 18, 19. Both dreams are fulfilled according to the interpretation, the chief butler being restored to his office, and the chief baker hanged, 20—22. The chief butler makes no interest for Joseph, 23.

A ND it came to pass after these things, that the "" butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

2 -\nd Pharaoh was '' wrotli against two of liis officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of llie bakers.

NOTES ON CHAP. XL. Verse 1. The butler] HptyD mashkeh, the same as jj Iw saky among the Arabians and Persians, and

Had offended] They had probably been accused of attempting to take away the king's life, one by poisoning his drink, the other by poisoning his bread or confectionaries.

Verse 3. Where Joseph was bound.] The place in which Joseph was now confined; this is what is implied in being bound; for, without doubt, he had his

the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

4 And the captain of tlie guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.

personal liberty. As the butler and the baker were state criminals they were put in the same prison with Joseph, which we learn from the preceding chapter, verse 20, was the king's prison. All the officers in the employment of the ancient kings of Egypt were, accortling to Diodorus Siculus, taken from the most illustrious families of the priesthood in the country; no slave or common person being ever permitted to serve in the presence of the king. As these persons, therefore, were of the most noble families, it is natural to expect they would be put, when accused, into the stale prison.

Verse i. They continued a season] Q":^' yamim, literally days; how long we cannot tell. But many

both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream; the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in tlie prison.

6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.

7 And he Eisked Pharaoh's officers that ivcre with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore ■* look ye so sadly to-day?

8 And they said unto him, " We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, ' Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine luas before me;

10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:

1 1 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

suppose the word signifies a complete year; and as Pharaoh called them to an account on his birthday, verse 20, Calmet supposes they had offended on the preceding birthday, and thus had been one whole year in prison.

Verse 5. Each man according to the interpretation] Not like dreams in general, the disordered workings of the mind, the consequence of disease or repletion; these were dreams that had an interpretation, that is, that were prophetic.

Verse 6. They were sad.] They concluded that their dreams portended something of great importance, out they could not tell tohat.

A''er8e 8. Thexe is no interpreter] They either had access to none, or those to whom they applied could give them no consistent, satisfactory meaning.

Do not interpretations he\ong to God?] God alone, the Supreme Being, knows what is in futurity; and if he have sent a significant dream, he alone can give the solution.

Verso 1 1. And I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup] From this we find that loine anciently was the mere expressed juice of the grape, without fermentation. The saky, or cup-bearer, took the

1 3 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh ' lift ^ up thine head, and restore thcc unto thy place and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou was', his butler.

14 But ' think ™ on me when it shall be vvel. with thee, and " show kindness, I pray thee unto me, and make mention of me unlo Pha raoh, and bring me out of this house:

1 5 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: ° and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three p white baskets on my head:

17 And in the uppermost basket there teas of all manner of 'i bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

18 And Joseph answered and said, "■ This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:

bunch, pressed the juice into the cup, and instantly delivered it into the hands of his master. This was anciently the J" yayin of the Hebretos,Vhe oivo^ of the Greeks, and the mustiim of the ancient Latins.

Verse 12. The three branches are three days] That is. The three branches signify three days; so, this is ■my body, that is, this bread signifies or represents my body; this cup is?ny blood, represents my blood; a form of speech frequently used in the sacred writings, for the Hebrew has no proper word by which our terms signifies, represents, &c., are expressed; therefore it says such a thing is, for represents, points out, &c. And because several of our ancestors would understand such words in their true, genuine, critical, and sole meaning. Queen Mary, Bishops Gardiner, Bonner, and the rest of that demoniacal crew, reduced them to ashes in Smitlifield and elsewhere!

Verse 14. Make mention of me unto Pharaoh] One would have supposed that the very circumstance of his restoration, according to the prediction of Joseph, would have almost necessarily prevented him from forgetting so extraordinary a person. But what have mere courtiers to do either with gratitude or kindness?

and the birds sliall cat thy flesh from off thee. 20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's " birtliday, that lie ''made a feast unto all his ser\'ants: and he " lifted '^ up the. head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.

gunnabti, stolen, I have been stolen — most assuredly I was stolen; and here also have I done nothing. These were simple assertions, into the proof of which he was ready to enter if called on.

Verse I'J. Lift up thij head from off thee] Thus we iind that beheading, hanging, 3.t\il gibbeting, were modes of punishment among the ancient Egyptians; but the criminal was beheaded before he was hanged, and then either hanged on hooks, or by the hands. See Lara.

Verse 20. Pharaoh's birthday] The distinguishing a birthday by a feast appears from tliis place to have been a very ancient custom. It probably had its origin from a correct notion of the immortality of the soul, as the commencement of life must appear of great consequence to that person who believed he was to live for ever. St. Matthew, xiv. 6, mentions Herod's keeping his birthday; and examples of this kind arc frequent to the present time in most nations.

Lifted up the head of the chief butler, dfc] By lifting up the head, probably no more is meant than bringing them to trial, tantamount to what was done by Jezebel and the nobles of Israel to Naboth: Set Naboth on high aynong the people; and set two men, sons of Belial, to bear witness against him, <^c.; I Kings xxi. 9, &c. The issue of the trial w.as, the baker alone was found guilty and hanged; and the butler, being acquitted, was restored to his office.

Verse 23. Yet did not the chief butler remember Jose/ih] Had he mentioned the circumstance to Pharaoh, there is no doubt that Joseph's case would have been examined into, and he would in consequence have

2 1 And chief butler again; and hand:

22 But he "hanged the chief Joseph had interpreted to them.

been restored to his liberty; but, owing to the ingratitude of the chief butler, he was left tico years longer in prison.

Many commentators have seen ivi every circumstance in the history of Joseph a parallel between him and our blessed Lord So, " Joseph in prison represents Christ in the custody of the Jews; the chief butler and the chief baker represent the two tliieves which were crucified with our Lord; and as one thief was pardoned, and the other left to perish, so the chief Ijutler was restored to his office, and the chief baker hanged." I believe God never designed such parallels; and I am astonished to find comparatively grave and judicious men trifling in this way, and forcing the features of truth into the most distorted anamorphosis, so that even her friends blush to acknowledge her. This is not a light matter; we should beware how we attribute designs to God that he never had, and employ the Holy Spirit in forming trifling and unimportant similitudes. Of plain, direct truth we shall find as much in the sacred writings as we can receive and comprehend; let us not therefore hew out unto ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Interpretations of this kind only tend to render the sacred writings uncertain; to expose to ridicule all the solemn types and figures which it really contains; and to furnish pretexts to infidels and irreligious people to scoff" at all spirituality, and lead them to reject the word of God entirely, as incapable of being interpreted on any fixed or rational plan. The mischief done by this system is really incalculable. See the observations on chap, xsrxvii

Pharaoh's dreair 'if the seven well-favoured and seven ill-favoured kinc, 1—4. His dream of the seven fuH and seven thin cars of corn, 5-7. The magicians and wise men applied to for the interpretation of them, hut could give no solution, 8. The chief butler recollects and recommends Joseph, 9—13. Pharaoh commands him to be brought out of prison, 14. Joseph appears before Pharaoh, 15, 16 Pharaoh repeats his dreams, 17-24. Joseph interprets them, 25-32, and gii^es Pharaoh directions how to provide against the approaching scarcity, 33-30. Pharaoh, pleased with the counsel, appoints Joseph to be superintendent of all his affairs, 37—41. Joseph receives the badges of his new office, 42, 43, and has his powers defined, 44; receives a new name, and marries.\senath, daughter of Poti-Pherah,pnC5? of ON, 45. Joseph's age when brought before Pharaoh, 46. Great fertility of Egypt in the seven plenteous years, 47. Joseph hoards up the grain, 48, 49. Ephraim and Mnnasseh bom, 50-52. The seven years of famine commence with great rigour, 53-55. Joseph opens the storehouses to the Egyptians, 56. People from the neighbouring countries come to Egypt to buy corn, the famine being in alt those lands, 57.

. M. 2289. A ND it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh

2 And, behold, there caine up out of the river seven well-favoured <^ kine and fat-fleshed; and lliey fed in a meadow

3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favoured and lean-fleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

4 And the ill-favoured and lean -fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed the second

NOTES ON CHAP. XL[. Verse 1. Two full years] I~\'0' CDTIJiJ' shenallia- ■^im yamim, two years of days, two complete solar revolutions, after the events mentioned in the preceding chapter.

Verse 2. There came up out of the river seven well-favoured kine] This must certainly refer to the hippopotamus or river horse, as the circumstances of coming up out of the river and feeding in the field characterize that animal alone. The hippopotamus is the •well-known inhabitant of the Nile, and frequently by night comes out of the river to feed in the fields, or in the sedge by the river side.

Verse 6. Blasted with the east icind} It has been very properly observed that all the mischief done to corn or fruit, by blasting, smutting, mildews, locusts, &c., is attributed to the east wind. See Exod. x. 13; xiv. 21; Psa. iKXviii. 26; Ezek. xvii. 10; Jonah iv. 8 In Egypt it is peculiarly destructive, because it comes through the parched deserts of Arabia, often destroying vast numbers of men and women. The destructive nature of the simoom or smoom is mentioned by almost all travellers. Mr. Bruce speaks of it in his Travels in Egypt. On their way to Syene, Idris their guide, seeing one of these destroying blasts coming, cried out with a loud voice to the company, '■ Fall upon your faces, for here is the simoom."' " I saw," says Mr. B., " from the S. E. a haze come, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ^ound. It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it nioved very rapidly, for I scarce could turn to fall upon the ground, with my head northward, when I felt the heav of its current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat upon the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. The meteor or purple haze which I saw, was indeed passed, but. the light air that still hiew was of a heat to threa'en suffocation. For my part, I f«ind distinctly in m; hreast that I had imbibed

6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.

7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.

8 And it came to pass in the morning, ^ that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all '^ihe magicians of Egypt, and all the s wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dreams; but there ivas none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh,

a part of it; nor was I free from an asthmatic sensation till I had been some months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years afterwards." — Travels, vol. vi. p. 462. On another occasion the whole company were made ill by one of these pestilential blasts, so that they had scarcely strength to load their camels. — Ibid. p. 484. The action of this destructive wind is referred to by the Prophet Hosea, chap. xiii. 15: Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east WIND shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up FROM THE WILDERNESS, and his Spring shall become DRY, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

Verse 8. Called for all the magicians] □'DDIil chartuminim. The word here used may probably mean no more than interpreters of abstruse and difficult subjects; and especially of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, an art which is nt^v entirely lost. It is most likely that the term is Egyptian, and consequently its etymology must remain unknown to us. If Hebrew, Mr. Parkhurst's definition may be as good as any: " I3"in cherct, a pen or instrument to write or draw with, and Dn tarn, to perfect or accomplish; those who were perfect in drawing their sacred, astrological, and hieroglyphical figures or characters, and who, by means of them, pretended to extraordinary feats, among which was the interpretation of dreams. They seem to have been such persons as Josephus (Ant., lib. ii., c. 9, s. 2) calls 'ispoypa/ifiaTeir, sacred scribes, or professors ot sacred learning."

Wise men] n'^DDn chacameyha, the persons who, according to Porphyry, " addicted themselves to the worship of God and the study of wisdom, passing their whole life in the contemplation of Divine things. Contemplation of the stars, self-purification, arithmetic, and geometry, and singing hymns in honour ol their gods, was their continual employment." — See Dodd. It was probably among these that Pythagoras conversed, and from whom he borrowed that modest name by which he wished his countrymen to distinguish him, viz., di/.nco^of, s. philosopher, simply, a lover oftvisdom.

10 Pharaoh was ''wroth wilh his servants, ' and put rac in ward in the captain of the guard's house, hoth me and the chief baivcr:

1 1 And ^ we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was there wilh us a young man, a Hebrew, ' servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he "■ interpreted to us our dreams; to each man, according to his dream, he did interpret.

1 3 And it came to pass, " as he interpreted to us, so it was; me lie restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

14 " Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they " brought i him hastily ' out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: = and I have heard say of thee, that ' thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.

sible he cotild \\^ye forgotten the circumstance to which he here aUudes; it was too intimately connected with all that was dear to him, to permit him ever to forget it. But it was not convenient for him to remember this before; and probably he \w)uld not have remembered it now, had he not seen, that giving this information in such a case was likely to serve his own interest. We are juslifird in thinking evil of this man because of his scandalous neglect of a person who foretold the rescue of his life from imminent destruction, and who, being unjustly confined, prayed to have his case fairly represented to the king that justice might be done him; but this courtier, though then in the same circumstances himself, found it convenient to forget the poor, friendless Hebrew slave!

Verse 14. T/ictj brought him hastily out of the dungeon] Pharaoh was in perplexity on account of liis dreams; and when he heard of Joseph, he sent immediately to get liim brought before liim. He shaved himself — liaving let liis beard grow all the time he was in prison, he now trimmed it, for it is not likely that either the Egyptians or Hebrews shaved themselves in our sense of the word: tlie change of raiment was, no doubt, furnished out of the king's wardrobe; as Joseph, in his present circumstances, could not be supposed to liave any changes of raiment.

Verse 16 It is not in me, d^c.] 'n>73 biladai, without or independently of me — T am not essential to thy romforl, God himself has thee under his care. And

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ° It is not in me: '' God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

1 7 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, " In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river.

18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed, and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:

19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:

20 And the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine;

2 1 And when they had =■ eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:

2.3 And, behold, seven ears, '' withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:

he will send thee, or answer thee, peace; thou shall have prosperity (OlSiy shelom) howsoever ominous thy dreams may appear. By this answer lie not only conciliated the mind of the king, but led him to expect his help from that God from whom alone all comfort, protection, and prosperity, must proceed.

Verse 18. Seven /iine, fat-Jleshed] See on ver. 2. And observe farther, that the seven fat and the seven lean kine coming out of the same river plainly show, at once, the cause both of the plenty and the dearth. It is well known that there is scarcely any rain in Egypt; and that tlie country depends for its fertility on the overflowing of the Nile; and that the fertility is in proportion to the duration and quantity of the overflow. We may therefore safely conclude that the seven years of plenty were owing to an extraordinary overflmcing of the Nile; and that the seven years of dearth were occasioned by a very partial, or total want of this essentially necessary inundation. Thus then the two sorts of cattle, signifying years of plenty and want, might be said to come out of the same river, as tlie inundation was either complete, partial, or wholly restrained. See on ver. 31.

Verse 21. And u-hen they had eaten them up, dfC.^ Nothing can more powerfully mark the excess and severity of the famine than creatures of the beere or of the hippopotamus kind eating each other, and yet without any eflect; remaining as lean and as wretched as tliey were before. A sense of want increases the

this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: ° God hath shovfed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

27 And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine that came up after them, are seven years; and the seven empty ears, blasted with the east wind, shall be '' seven years of famine.

28 ° This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: what God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh.

29 Behold, there come ^ seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:

30 And there shall " arise after them seven

appetite, and stimulates the digestive powers to unusual action; hence the concoction of the food becomes very rapid, and it is hurried through the intestines before its nutritive particles can be sufficiently absorbed; and thus, though much is eaten, very little nourishment is derived from it. And when they had eaten them up, it could not he knoivn that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning. A most nervous and physically correct description.