The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 509

preters genera.Uy (Kalisch, Keil, Murphy) thee (literally, but, or mly, thou shalt re- regard the first e.s the unripe, a.nd the second member me with thee, a.ccording as, or when, a.a the ripe, cluster-and Pha.raoh's oup-- it goes well with thee), a.nd shew kindneBB, I C,1!1, a receptacle or vessel, either contracted pra.y thee, unto me (cf. Josh. ii. 12; 1 Sam. from C:,~ '.ll, like r.? 1~ for r.?~,~ (Gescnius), or xx. 14, 15; 2 Sam. ix. 1 ; 1 Kings ii. 7), a.nd ~kementionofmeunto Pha.ra.oh,-literally, derived from C:,~!), to conceal, to receive, to bring me to remembrance before Phar/ZIJh keep, connected with the idea. of bringing (cf. 1 Kings xvii. 18; Jer. iv. 16; Ezek. together, collecting into e. thing (Fiirst)- xxi. 28)-a.nd bring me out of this house: was in my ha.nd : a.nd I took the grapes, for indeed I we.a stolen (literally, for stolen a.nd ~reseed them-WB~1,J,a (LXX.), e:r:- I was stolen, i. e. I was furtively abducted, pressi (Vulgate), e. translation adopted by the without my knowledge or consent, and did most competent authorities (Gesenius, Furst, not voluntarily abscond in consequence of Rosenmiiller, Keil, Kalisch, et alitJ, thongh having perpetrated any crime) a.wa.y out (lit- the sense of diluting with water is advocated erally,jrom) of the la.nd of the Hebrews : - by Dathe, Hiivernick (' Introd.,' § 21), and i. e. the land where the !brim live (Keil) ; others· a.s the most appropriate signification an expression which Joseph never could have of ~Dtr, which occurs only here. That Pha- used, since the Hebrews were strangers and re.oh is represented a.s drinking the expressed sojourners in the land, e.nd had no settled juice of grapes is no proof that the Egyptians possession in it, and therefore a certain index were not acquainted with fermentation, a.nd of the laten~ of the composition of this did not drink fermented liquors. In numer- portion of the narrative (Bleek, ' In trod.,' ous frescoes the process of fermentation is § 80); but if Abram, nearly two centuries distinctly represented, and Herodotus testi- earlier, was recognised as a. Hebrew (eh. xiv. fies that though the use of grape wine wa.s 13), and if Potipha.r's wife could, in speaking comparatively limited, the common people to her Egyptian husba.nd a.nd domestics, de- drank e. wine made from barley : oiv'I' 8 i., scribe Joseph asan Hebrew(ch.xxxix.14, li), 1<p1Biwv 1ruro17J/l'"'I' (ii. 77)-into Pha.ra.oh's there does not appear sufficient reason why cup, a.nd I ga.ve the cup into Pha.ra.oh's Joseph should not be able to characterise his hand- literally, I placed the cup upon country as the la.nd of the Hebrews. The Pharaoh'spalm, ~;;,, used of Ja.cob's thigh- Hebrews had through Abra.he.m become socket (eh. xxxii 26), meaning something known e.t least to Pharaoh a.nd his Court a~ hollowed out. belonging to the laud of Canaan (eh. xii. 15 Vers. 12-15.-And J'oseph (acting no -20) ; a.nd it is not e. violent supposition Qoubt under a Divine impulse) ea.id unto him, that in J oseph's time " the land of the This is the interpretation of it (cf. ver. 18 ; Hebrews" was e. phrase quite intelligible to xli. 12, 25; Judges vii. 14; Da.n. ii. 36; iv. a.n Egyptia.n, as signifying not perhaps the 19): The three branches (vide supra, ver. entire extent of Palestine, but tbo region 10) a.re three de.ye :-literally, thi-ee days round a.bout Hebron and Me.mre (Nachma.- these (cf. eh. xli. 26)-yet within three de.ye nides, Clericus, Rosenmiiller)-sclll'cely ns (litern.lly, in yet three days, i. e. within three sug~esting that the Hebrews had possession more days, before the third de.y is over) of the land prior to the Cnnna.nites (Murphy). sha.11 Phare.oh lift up thine hea.d, - not And here also ha.ve I done nothing (i. e. µv,,a9,jamu rih: <lpxiic <rov (LXX.), record- committed no crime) tha.t they should (liter- abit1er ministerii tui (Vulge.te), a rendering a.lly, that the-y havf.) put me into the dun- which hns the sanction of Onkelos, Samari- geon. The term "113 is bore used to describe tan, J nrchi, Rosenmiiller, and others ; but J oseph's plnce of confinement, because pits shall promote thee from the depths of thy or cisterns or cess-pools, when empty, were humiliation (Gescnius, Fiirst, Keil, Kalisch, frequently employed in primitive times for the incarceration ofofl'en<lcrs (cf. Jer. xxxviii. &c.), to which there is on nssonnncc, nnd 6 ; Zech. ix. 11). upon which there is a.n intentional play, in Vcrs. 16, 17.-When (literally, and) the the opposita phrase employed to depict the chief ba.ker aa.w that the interpretation we.a fortunes of the baker (vide infra, ver. 19)- good, he (literally, and ho, encoure.god by the a.nd restore thee unto thy place :-cpexegetic good fortune predicted to his follow-prisoner) of the preceding clause, the l'.ll (or pedestal, ■ a.id unto Joseph, I a.leo was in my drea.m, from !~~. unused, to st,mJ. upright, or stand and, behold, I had three (litore.lly, and be- fast as a. bnse) upon which the butler was to hold three) white baskets-litern.lly, baskets be set being his former dignity and office, ns qf white bread,· LXX., "avii xovJp,Twv ; is next explained-and thou she.It deliver Vulgato, canistra fai·inu,; Aquil:i, ~6'(l1vo, l'ha.ra.oh's oup into his ha.nd, after the former rvp,wc (Onkelos, Pererius, Gesenius, Furst, manner when thou we.at his butler. After Keil, Kalisch, Murphy, et alii/ ; though the which Joseph ndds e. request for himself. rendering "baskets of halos, ' i. e. wickor But think on me when it sha.11 be well with baskets, is preferred by somo (Symmachus 45G TltE BOOK OF GtNESIS. Cctt. xr.. 1-28.