Ver. l. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh.] This was great wisdom in him, to do nothing for his friends, though he were so great a favourite, without the king’s privity and approbation. There wanted not those that waited for his halting; envy attends upon honour, and always aimeth at the highest; as the tallest trees are weakest at the tops. Melancthon tells us he once saw a certain ancient piece of coin, having on the one side Zopyrus, on the other Zoilus. It was an emblem of kings’ courts, saith he; where calumnies accompany the well-deserving, as they did Daniel, Datames, Hannibal, &c. Difficillimum inter mortales est gloria invidiam vincere, saith Sallust. How potent that quick-sighted and sharp-fanged malignity is, we may guess by that question, Proverbs 27:4. Scipioni obtrectabat Carbo; Alcibiadi Hyperbolus; Homero Zoilus; Ciceroni Clodius. Habuerunt et suos cucullos omnes docti et heroici. Manlii, loc. com., p. 414. Corn. Nepos, in Vita Datamis et Hannib. Sal., in Catilin.
Ver. 2. Even five men.] R. Solomon telleth us (but who told him?) which five they were; sc., Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, and Benjamin.
Ver. 3. What is your occupation?] That they had an occupation Pharaoh took for granted. God made Leviathan to play in the sea; (Psalms 104:26) but none to do so upon earth. Turks and Pagans will rise up in judgment against the idle. [See Trapp on “Ge 46:33”] Periander made a law at Corinth, that whosoever could not prove that he lived by his honest labour, he should suffer as a thief. The apostle bids “him that stole steal no more, but labour with his hands the thing that is good,” &c. (Ephesians 4:28) Not to labour, then, with hand, or head, or both, is to steal. Every one must bring some honey into the common hive, unless he will be cast out as a drone. “Thou idle and evil servant,” saith our Saviour. (Matthew 25:26) To be idle, then, is to be evil; and he shall not but do naughtily that does nothing. God wills that men should earn their bread afore they eat it, (2 Thessalonians 3:12) neither may they make religion a mask for idleness. (Genesis 47:11) Ignavum fucos pecus, & c.
Ver. 4. For to sojourn in the land are we come.] And had they returned home again after the death of Joseph, they had taken a right course for themselves. But as God had otherwise decreed it, so they thought it best being there; and, therefore, not without their own fault, they fell into servitude.
Ver. 5. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph.] Kind he was, and constant, to so good a servant; as Darius likewise was to his Zopyrus, whom he preferred before the taking of twenty Babylons; the King of Poland to his noble servant Zelislaus, to whom he sent a golden hand, instead of that hand he lost in his wars Herodot., lib. iv. Cromerus.
Ver. 6. If thou knowest any men of activity.] Or ability of body and mind; such as “Jeroboam, a mighty man of valour,” (1 Kings 11:28) and fit for the work; prudent and diligent, ingenious and industrious, that hath a dexterity and handiness to the business. Such St Paul would have all Christians to be. (Titus 3:8,14) “Let them that have believed in God,” saith he, “be careful to maintain good works,” or profess ho nest trades, “for necessary uses,” and that therein they be their crafts masters, and excel others, Αιεν αριστευειν και υπειροχον εμμεναι αλλων. This was Cicero’s posy from his youth, as himself witnesseth. And Plutarch tells us that all his strife and drift was, all his life long, to leave others behind him, and to be the best at anything he ever undertook. This should he every man’s endeavour in his place and station, as that which is “good before God, and profitable unto men,” as the apostle there subjoineth. Solomon also assures us that such shall “stand before kings,” and not live long in a low place. (Proverbs 22:29) των καλων εργων προιστασθαι.— Homer. ινα παντων κραστος τυγχανη.— Plut.
Ver. 7. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.] That is, he prayed God to bless him, both at meeting and parting. To salute is comely: but see that ye be hearty, not frothy; prayerful, not complimental. We are heirs of blessing, and must therefore be free of it. (1 Peter 3:9)
Ver. 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob.] This king took not pleasure, as those Persian kings did, in a wild retiredness, or stern austerity, but in a mild affableness, and heart attracting courtesy, He shows not himself strange or stoical, but sweet and sociable. So Atticus seemed in his carriage, cornraunls infimis, par principibus. Adrian, the Emperor, would most courteously confer with the lowest. Vespasian was wont, not only to greet the chief senators, but even private persons; inviting them many times to his table; himself again going to their houses, especially if he found them learned and virtuous. Pharaoh might find Jacob both these; and so make very good use of him, as his faithful counsellor. Princes had learned men ever with them, called monitors or remembrancers (μνημονες): as Dio had his Plato; Scipio, his Polybius, &c. Abimelech made much of Abraham, and afterwards of Isaac; some think it was for their skill in physic and astronomy. Why might not Pharaoh find and favour the same worth in Jacob, and learn the same wisdom from him, that his senators, by his appointment, did of his son Joseph? Corn. Nepos. Spartan. Dio. Patriarchae praecipue professionis medicae studiosi fuerunt, ut Abraham, Isaac, Iacob: unde regibus grati, quos postea in doctrina Christiana simul instituerunt. -Melanc.