INGRATITUDE OF PHARAOIl's BUTLER.
Gen. xl. 23. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph,
but forgat him.
IT was a wise and prudent choice which David made, " Let me fall into the hands of God, and not into the hands of man." Man, when intent on evil, knows no bounds, except those which are prescribed by his ability to execute his wishes. He is easily in- censed, but with difficulty appeased. The ties of blood and relationship are not sufficient to bind per- sons in amity with each other, when once any ground of discord arises between them. It might have been hoped that in such a family as Jacob's, love and har- mony would prevail : but to such a degree had envy inflamed his whole family against their younger brother, that they conspired against his life, and only adopted the milder alternative of selling him for a slave, through a horror which they felt at the thought of shedding his blood. Nor will the most amiable conduct always ensure regard, or protect a person from the most cruel injuries. The holy, chaste, and conscientious deportment of Joseph should have ex- alted his character in the eyes of his mistress : but when she failed in her attempts to ensnare his virtue, her passionate desire after him was converted into rage ; and she procured the imprisonment of him whom she had just before solicited to be her par- amour. During his confinement, he had opportuni- ties of shewing kindness to his fellow-prisoners. To two of them he interpreted their dreams, which proved to be prophetic intimations of their respective fates. Of Pharaoh's chief butler, whose speedy restoration he foretold, he made a most reasonable request : he told him, that he had been stolen out of the land of the Hebrews ; and that there existed no just cause for his imprisonment : and he entreated, that he would make known his case to Pharaoh, and intercede for his deliverance. In making this request, he never