Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
PsaLM CV.] ON THE PSALMS. 523 they on the other hand use ill the good works of God.
read not of fetters in his low estate. Put how could it happen that so great a man, the worshipper of the One True God, whilst in Egypt, should have been intent upon the nourishing of bodies, and the government of carnal matters only, and have felt no anxiety for souls, and how he could render them better? But those things are written in that history, which, according to the intention of the writer, in whom was the Holy Spirit, were judged sufficient for signifying future events in that narration.
12. Next he doth relate the story, mentioning what Joseph suffered in his low estate, and how he was raised on high. " His feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul, until his word came" (ver. 18). That Joseph was put in irons, we do hot indeed read; but we ought no ways to doubt that it was so. For some things might be passed over in that history, which nevertheless would not escape the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in these Psalms. We understand by the iron which entered into his soul, the tribulation of stern necessity ; for he did not say body, but "soul.'" There is a somewhat similar expression in the Gospel, where Simeon saith unto Mary, "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also."* That is, the Passion of the Lord, which was a fall unto many, and in which the secrets of many hearts were revealed, since their sentiments respecting the Lord were extorted from them, without doubt made His own Mother exceeding sorrowful, heavily struck with human bereavement. Now Joseph was in this tribulation, "until his word came," with which he truly interpreted dreams: whence he was introduced to the king, that unto him also he might foretell what would happen in respect to his dreams.? But since he said, '' Until his words were heard," that we might not altogether so understand "his," that any one might think so great an event was to be ascribed unto man ; he at once added, ''The word of the Lord inflamed him" (ver. 19); or, as other copies have "it more closely from the Greek, " The word of the Lord fired him," that he also might be reputed amongst those to whom it is said, " Receive ye praise in His holy Name." 3
14. " Joseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham" (ver. 23). Israel is the same with Jacob, as is Egypt with the land of Ham. Here it is very plainly shown, that the Egyptian race sprang from the seed of Cham, the son of Noah, whose first-born was Canaan. So that in those copies wherein in this passage Canaan is read, we must alter the reading. It is better construed, "was a stranger," than "dwelt," as other copies have it: which would be the same as "was an inhabitant," for it meaneth nothing different ; the very same word is used in the Greek passage above, where it is said, 'Very few, and they strangers in the land." Moreover, the state of an zucola or accola doth not signify a native, but a stranger. Behold how '"'they went from one nation to another." What had been briefly proposed, hath been briefly explained in the narration. But from what kingdom they passed over to another people may well be asked. For they were not yet reigning in the land of Canaan, because the kingdom of the people of Israel had not yet been established there. How then can it be understood, except by anticipation, because the kingdom of their seed was destined there to exist ?
15. Next is related what happened in Egypt. "And He increased," he saith, " His people exceedingly, and made them stronger than their enemies " (ver. 24). Even the whole of this is briefly set forth, in order that the manner in which it took place may be afterwards related. For the people of God was not made stronger than their enemies the Egyptians, at the time when their male offspring were slain, or when they were worn out with making bricks; but when by His powerful hand, by the signs and portents of the Lord their God, they became objects of fear and of honour, until the opposition of the hardened king was overcome, and the Red Sea overwhelmed the persecutor with his army.
13. '" The king sent and loosed him, the prince of the peoples, and let him go free" (ver. 20). The "king" is the same as "the prince of the peoples:" he "loosed" him from his bonds, "and let him go free" from his prison. "He made him lord also of his house: and ruler of all his substance" (ver. 21). "That he might inform his princes like unto himself, and teach his old men wisdom" (ver. 22). The Greek hath, ''and teach his elders wisdom." Which might altogether be rendered to the letter thus ;
"' Might inform his princes like unto himself, and make his elders wise." The word translated old men being presbyters or elders, not gevonéas, old men: and to teach wisdom being from the Greek to sophize, which cannot be rendered by a single word in Latin, and is from the word sophia, wisdom, different from prudence, which is in Greek phronesis. Yet we do not read this in the high elevation of Joseph, as we
16. "And He turned their heart so, that they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants" (ver. 25). Isit to be in any wise understood or believed, that God turneth man's heart to do sin? . . . For they were not good before they hated His people ; but being malignant and t Luke ii. 35. ' 2 Gen, xli. 3 Ps, cv. 3.