7. The character of Joseph is wholly composed of great materials, and therefore needs not to be minutely portrayed. We trace in it very little of that balance of good and evil, of strength and weakness, that marks most things human, and do not anywhere distinctly dis- cover the results of the conflict of motives that generally occasions such great difficulty in judging men's actions. We have as full an account of Joseph as of Abraham and Jacob, a fuller one than of Isaac ; and if we compare their histories, Joseph's character is the least marked by wrong or indecision. His first quality seems to have been the greatest resolution. He not only believed faithfully, but could endure patiently, and could com- mand equally his good and evil passions. Hence his strong sense of duty, his zealous work, his strict justice, his clear discrimination of good and evil. Like all men of vigorous character, he loved power, but when he had gained it he used it with the greatest generositj^ He seems to have striven to get men unconditionally in his power that he might be the means of good to them. Generosity in conferring benefits, as well as in forgiv- ing injuries, is one of his distinguishing characteristics. With this strength was united the deepest tenderness. He was easily moved to tears, even weeping at the first sight of his brethren after they had sold him. His love for his father and Benjamin was not enfeebled by years of separation, nor by his great station. The wise man was still the same as the true youth. These great qual- ities explain his power of governing and administering, and his extraordinary flexibility, which enabled him to suit himself to each new position in hfe. The last trait to make up this great character was modesty, tlie natu- ral result of the others.
Ill the history of the chosen race Joseph occupies a ^ ( rv hi^li iilace as an instrument of Providence. He was "srnt lufore" his people, as he himself knew, to [ireserve tliem in the terrible famine, and to settle them where they could multiply and prosper in the interval before the iniquity of the Canaanites was full. In the latter days of Joseph's life, he is the leading character among the Hebrews. He makes his fatlier come into Egypt, and directs the settlement. He protects his kinsmen. Dying, he reminds them of the promise, charging them to take his bones with them. Blessed with many revelations, he is throughout a God-taught leader of his people. In the N. T. Joseph is only men- tioned ; yet the striking particulars of the persecution and sale by his brethren, his resisting tenntation, his great degradation and yet greater exaltation, the saving
JOSEPH
lOlS
JOSEPH
of his people by his hand, and the confounding of his enemies, seem "to indicate that he was a type of our Lord. He also connects the Patriarchal with the Gos- pi>l dispensation, as an instance of the exercise of some of tlip hiiihcst Christian virtues under the less distinct manifestation of the divine will granted to the fathers. — Kitto; Sniitli.
8. For further discussion of the events of Joseph's history, see Wolfenb. Fragment, p. 30; Less, Geschichte der liel. i, 2G7 ; J. T. Jacobi, Sdmmtl. Schrift. part 3 ; Hess, Gesch. der Patriarch, ii, 32-1 ; Niemeyer, Charakt. ii, 340; Allfjem. Welthist. ii, 332 ; Heeren, Ideen, ii, 551 ; Jablonski, Opusc. i, 207; Gesenius, Thes. Hebr. p. 1181 ; Hammer, 1). Osman. Reich, ii, 83 ; Hengstenberg, Mos. und yEf). p. 30; J. B. Burcardi, in the Mus. Heh: I, iii, 355 ; Voigt, in the Brem. und verd. Bihlioth. v, 599 ; Bauer, lleh. Gesch. i, 181 ; Ewald, hr. Gesch. i, 464 ; Do- derlein, Theol. Biblioth. iv, 717; liosenmilller, Alterth. iii, 310; Lengerke, Kendan, i, 2G3; Otho, Lex. Rahh. p. 331; Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, ii, 332; Kitto, Daily Bible Jlliist.; Kurtz, IJist. of the Old Covenant; Stanley, Hist, of the Jewish Church ; AAa,mBOX\, Joseph andhis Brethren (Lond. 1814) ; Edelman, Sermons on the Ilist. of Joseph (Lond. 1839); Leighton, Lectures on Hist, of J. (Lond. 1848); Plumptre,//M^r)/'/o5P/)^ (Lond. 1848); Randall, Lectures on Hist, of J. (Lond. 1852) ; Wardlaw, Hist, of Joseph (new ed. Lond. 1851); Gibson, Lccfiinrs on IFut. of J. (Lond. 1853) ; Overton, Lectin;. < mi I. If ,f Joseph (London, 18t;0). Treatises on spcci.'il iioints arc the fol- lowing : Hoppe, De philosnphia JosijJii [ 1 Klnist. 170(5) ; A Recieic of the lAfe and Aihiiiiii.<triitioH of Joseph (London, 1743) ; J. B. Burckhanl, /a criminibus Josepho iinpactis (Basil. 1746); Ansaldiis, Jrwry;//* religio vindi- cnta (Brix. 1747) ; Trigland, De Josepho adorato (L. B. 1750); Winkler, Unters. einiger Schwierif/L vomJos. (in his Schrifisteller, iii, 1) ; Heuser, De non inhumaniter Jo- sephum fecisse (Halle, 1773); KUchler, Quare Josephus patrem non de se certioremfecerit (Leucop. 1798) ; Nic- olai, De servis Josenhi medicis (Helmst. 1752) ; Piderib. Be nomine .losephi in ^-Egypto (Marb. 1768-9) ; Reinec- cius, De nomine nsrs nDSS (Weissenf. 1725) ; Schro- der, De Josephi laudibus (in Schonfeld's Vita Jacobi, Marb. 1713); Yon Seelen, De Josepho ^flgyptiorum rec- tore (Lub. 171,2); T. Smith, Hist, of Joseph in connec- tion irith Fjj. . I ntifjiiiliis (Lond. 1858) ; Walter, De Jo- sepho lapiA. hr^tdU (IIfTsf.1734); Wmischald, />e co^- nomine Jusiphl J-jjijptiaco (Wittenb. 1669). See Ja- cob.