same way to his brethren. 'I saw in a dream, as it were, the sun and the moon and eleven stars worshipping me.' .When his father heard the dream, he rebuked Joseph, and said, 'What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren come to bow down to thee?' The hatred and envy of his brethren had now reached its height; his father, however, considered over within himself all that had come to pass.

Joseph's brethren had now gone to feed their flocks to some distance from the place where Jacob had fixed his tents, when Jacob called Joseph, and said to him, "Thy brethren are feeding the flocks in Sichem; go and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the cattle, and bring me word again what is doing.' As Joseph drew near, his brethren said one to another, 'Behold, here comes this dreamer of dreams; come, let us kill him, and throw him into some old well; and we will say, Some beast of prey must have devoured him; and then we shall see what good will come of all his dreams.' His brother Ruben, hearing this, did his best to save his life, and said, 'Shed no blood; but throw him into this pit, and keep your hands harmless.' This he said with the intention of saving him from death, and of afterwards restoring him safe to his father. As soon as Joseph came up to his brethren, they seized him, tore off his back his coat of many colours which his father had made for him, and threw him down into an old well, in which there was no water. They then sat down to eat; but Ruben left their company to plan how to save his brother. As Joseph's brethren were seated at their meal, they saw a company of Ismaelites on their way, coming from Galaad with their camels, carrying spices, balm, and myrrh into Egypt. And Juda said to his brethren, 'What good will it do us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? It is better that he should be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands be not defiled; for he is our brother and our flesh.' To this they all agreed; and as the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew Joseph up from the bottom of the well or dry cistern, and sold him to the Ismaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph was now taken off by these merchants down to Egypt, to be sold as a slave.

After this, Joseph's brethren took a goat from the flocks and killed it, and dipping Joseph's coat in it, they sent it by a messenger to Jacob, bidding him say, that it was what they had found, and that they wished him to see whether it was his son Joseph's coat or not. Jacob knew the coat again in a moment, and cried out, 'It is my son's coat; an evil beast has eaten him up; a beast has devoured Joseph.' And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, and passed many days in deep mourning, refusing all comfort from his children, who gathered round him to console him, and saying, 'I will go down into the grave to my son mourning.'

Joseph, hated by his brethren on account of his love of virtue and innocence, and sold by them for a slave into the land of Egypt, is a striking figure of Jesus Christ hated by His own people on account of His love of justice and sanctity, and delivered up by them bound into the hands of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate,

§ 19. Joseph in the house of Putiphar and in the prison of the captain of the soldiers. The dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker.

Joseph was brought in safety into Egypt by the Ismaelites who had bought him of his brethren, and was sold by them to Putiphar, an Egyptian of rank in the court of Pharao king of Egypt, and a chief captain in his army. God, however, was with Joseph as a servant in Putiphar's house, and made all that he did to prosper. His master soon saw that God was with him, and he intrusted the care of his household entirely to Joseph; so that he knew nothing more of his property than what he saw each day set out on the table before him.

Joseph was a youth of remarkable beauty of appearance, and Putiphar's wife began to form an unlawful affection for him, and to seek an opportunity to persuade him to commit a great sin. Joseph was often tempted by her to commit this sin, but refused to consent, saying, 'Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house, and has kept nothing back from me except thee, because thou art his wife; how, then, can I do this wicked thing, and sin against God? But as she continued to importune him day by day, and Joseph still persisted in his refusal, it happened on a certain day that Joseph was engaged in his duties as steward of the house, and she, finding him alone, seized hold of his cloak, and repeated her wicked proposal. Joseph, leaving his cloak in her hand, fled out of the room, and left her by herself. As she saw the cloak thus left in her hands, and her wicked proposal treated with contempt, full of rage and disappointment, she raised a cry that brought all the servants of the house around her, and showing them the cloak that remained in her hands, she said, 'See what sort of a Hebrew man my husband has brought into the house; he came in to offer me violence; and when I cried out as loud as I could he was afraid, and left the garment that I had seized hold of in my hand, and has escaped.' When Putiphar returned the same evening, she showed him Joseph's cloak; and repeating her false and shameful story, her husband believed her, and became very angry. He immediately cast Joseph into the prison of the captain of the soldiers, where he remained shut up with the rest of the king's prisoners.

Joseph was now in prison with the other Egyptian criminals; but God, who never forsakes the innocent, was with him in the prison equally as before in Putiphar's house, and caused him to find such favour with the chief keeper of the prison, that he committed all the prisoners to his care; and nothing was done in the prison without the knowledge of Joseph. In a word, the master of the prison left everything to Joseph, and did not trouble himself farther either about it or the prisoners, so complete was the confidence which he had in Joseph.

About this time it happened that two persons of the household of King Pharao, the chief butler and the chief baker, offended their master, and were put into the same prison where Joseph was kept a prisoner.

The keeper of the prison gave them into the care of Joseph, who waited upon them. They had been some time in the prison under his care, when one morning, as he came to visit them, he found them looking more sad and melancholy than usual. He asked them what was the cause of their appearing to be so sorrowful. They both replied, that each had dreamed a dream, and they had no one to interpret it. Joseph answered, 'To interpret dreams belongs to God; let me hear what it is that you have dreamed.' The chief butler began to tell his dream: 'I saw before me a vine, on which were three branches, that little by little sent out buds; and after blossoms had come, it brought forth ripe grapes. And the cup of Pharao was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the cup which I held, and I gave the cup to Pharao.' Joseph answered, 'This is the interpretat on of the dream. The three branches are three days; after which Pharao will remember thy services, and will restore thee to thy former place; and thou shalt present him the cup according to thy office as before. Only remember me when it shall be well with thee, and do me this kindness, to put Pharao in mind to take me out of this prison; for I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here, without any fault of mine, am cast into this dungeon.'

The chief baker, seeing that Joseph had wisely interpreted the dream, said, 'My dream was this: I dreamed that I had three baskets of meal upon my head, and that in one basket which was uppermost I carried all manner of baked meats, and that the birds ate out of it.' Joseph answered, 'This is the interpretation of the dream. The three baskets are three days; after which Pharao shall take thy head from thee, and hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh.'

Three days after this fell the birthday of Pharao, and he made a great feast for his servants, and at the banquet he remembered the chief butler and the chief baker. He restored the one to his place to present the cup to him, but the other he hanged upon a gibbet, according to Joseph's interpretation of the dreams. The chief butler, however, when he was restored, did not remember Joseph, who had interpreted his dream.

Joseph in the prison, with the two offenders of Pharao's court by his side, one of whom is restored to favour and the other perishes, is a figure of Jesus on the Cross between two thieves, one of whom receives the grace he implores, and the other perishes,

§ 20. Pharao's dream, and Joseph's delivery from prison.

Joseph remained shut up in the prison for two years after this, until it happened that Pharao had a dream. Pharao dreamed that he stood by the river, out of which came up seven kine, very beautiful and fat, and they fed in the ground near the river that had been overflowed. Other seven kine also came out of the river, ill-favoured and lean-fleshed, and they fed on the green places on the bank of the river itself; and the seven lean kine came and ate up the seven well-favoured and fat kine. And Pharao awoke. He fell asleep again, and dreamed that he

saw seven ears of corn come up upon one stalk, full and fair; then seven other ears sprang up, thin and withered, and devoured the seven fine and full ears. And Pharao awoke from his sleep. And in the morning, being struck with fear, he sent for all the wise men and interpreters

of dreams in his kingdom to interpret to him the meaning of the dream; but none of them were able to interpret it. At length the chief butler, remembering Joseph in the prison, said, in the presence of all who were assembled, 'I confess my sin; when my lord the king was angry with his servants, and commanded me and the chief baker to be cast into the prison of the captain of the soldiers, in the same night we both dreamed a dream. In the prison at the time there was a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the soldiers, to whom we told our dreams, which he interpreted to us; for I was restored to my office, and the chief baker was hanged upon a gibbet.' Forthwith Pharao commanded Joseph to be taken out of the prison; and he was shaved and dressed, and brought into their presence. Pharao then spoke to him, and said, 'I have dreamed dreams, and there is no one in my kingdom that can interpret them for me. I have heard that thou canst interpret dreams wisely.' Joseph replied, 'I cannot interpret dreams; but God shail give Pharao the answer he desires.' The king then told Joseph his two dreams-of the seven fat and lean kine, and the seven full and withered ears of corn. Joseph then spoke, and said, 'The king's dreams are one; God hath shown to Pharao what He is about to do. The seven fat kine and the seven full ears are seven years of plenty; and the seven lean and thin kine that came up after them, and the seven thin ears that were blasted with the east wind, are seven years of famine, which are to come. They shall be fulfilled in this order there shall be seven years exceedingly fruitful in the land of Egypt, which shall be followed by seven years of scarcity, such that they shall consume all that was over and above of the seven years of plenty. And that the king saw two dreams of the like meaning, this signifies that the word of God shall be speedily fulfilled. Now, therefore, let the king look out for some wise and discreet man, and make him ruler over the land of Egypt, that he may appoint overseers, and gather up into storehouses the abundance of the years of plenty, that the people of the land be not consumed with famine during the seven years of scarcity.' This counsel pleased Pharao and all his servants. And he rose and said to his servants, Can we find such another man filled with the spirit of God? And when none replied, turning to Joseph, he said,

'Seeing God hath showed thee all thou hast said, can I find one wiser and like to thee? Thou shalt be over my house, and thy word all the people shall obey; only in the throne will I be before thee.' And he took his own ring from his hand, put upon him a robe of fine linen, and a chain of gold round his neck, and caused him to mount up into the second royal chariot, and ordered the crier to go before him, proclaiming to all the people that they should bow the knee, and know that Joseph was made governor over the whole land of Egypt. Moreover he changed his name, and called him in the Egyptian language 'Saviour of the World.'

Joseph, in his delivery from prison and exaltation to great dignity, is a figure of Jesus in His resurrection from the dead, and His reception of a Name which is above every name.

§ 21. Joseph's brethren come down into the land of Egypt to buy food.

The seven years of plenty were now come, as Joseph had foretold; and so great was the abundance of wheat, that it was like the sand on the sea-shore. Joseph lost no time in taking his measures to have the storehouses prepared, and the grain that was over and above safely laid vil