The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^12. Next he does 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”. That Joseph was put in irons, we do not 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 speaks 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 says unto Mary, “A sword shall pierce through your 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”; or, as other copies have it more closely from the Greek, “The word of the Lord fired him,” that he also might be reputed among those to whom it is said, “Receive ye praise in His holy Name.”

13. “The king sent and loosed him, the prince of the peoples, and let him go free”. 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”. “That he might inform his princes like himself, and teach his old men wisdom”. The Greek has, “and teach his elders wisdom.” Which might altogether be rendered to the letter thus; “Might inform his princes like himself, and make his elders wise.” The word translated old men being presbyters or elders, not gerontas, 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 read not of fetters in his low estate. But how could it happen that so great a man, the worshipper of the One True God, while 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.

14. “Joseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham”. 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 Chain, 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 means 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 incola or accola does not signify a native, but a stranger. Behold how “they went from one nation to another.” What had been briefly proposed, has 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?