Commentaria in Genesim
MOURNING HIS SON A LONG TIME—namely 23 years, from the 16th year of Joseph, in which he was sold, to the 39th of the same, when the brothers in time of famine came to him in Egypt and with their father adored him; but gradually the sense of this grief was lessened in Jacob. For “a wound of the mind is mitigated by time, however great.” Time therefore teaches the art of forgetting (which Themistocles longed to learn rather than the art of memory).
35. I WILL GO DOWN TO MY SON MOURNING INTO HELL.—For hell some render, the sepulchre. So Calvin, Eugubinus, Vatablus, Pagninus, and also Lipomanus. But the Hebrew sheol properly signifies hell, not the sepulchre, and so the Septuagint rendered it, as well as our Interpreter; and reason itself convinces that it must be so rendered. For Jacob thought Joseph devoured by beasts, and therefore unburied; he did not therefore think or wish to go down to him into the sepulchre, but into hell, namely into the limbo of the fathers. Add that the soul is held not by the sepulchre but by limbo: and Jacob desired to see the surviving soul of the dead Joseph. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I, O sons, will admit no consolation until I see Joseph, whom, being now dead, I shall not see until after death my soul is joined to his soul in limbo. For I plainly trust that the soul of innocent Joseph has gone to the souls of his forefathers into the bosom of Abraham, which I also hope is reserved for me. Hence it is plain that Jacob, from the instruction and tradition of his forefathers, believed the immortality of the soul: and again, that the souls of the just departed before Christ descended to the limbo of the fathers, where was the bosom of Abraham.
The very same thing the heathen Philosophers perceived, and saw as through a shadow. Aelian, book 13, relates of Cercidas of Megalopolis, who laboured under a disease, that being asked whether he willingly departed from life, he replied: “Why not? I delight in the separation of the soul from the body, because I shall ascend to those shores where I shall see, of philosophers Pythagoras, of poets Homer, of musicians Olympus, and other men most eminent in every science.”
Socrates, before drinking the poison, said: “How much do you value conversing in the other life with Orpheus, Musaeus, Homer, Hesiod? With what pleasure shall I be filled when I meet Palamedes, Ajax, and others condemned by the judgment of the unjust! Indeed I would often wish, if it could be done, to depart from life, that I might find what I say.”
Cato, reading Plato’s book On the Immortality of the Soul, killed himself, that he might the sooner attain this immortality. Cyrus in Xenophon, as he dies, addresses his sons.
Cicero, book 6 On the Republic, introduces Scipio Africanus, now departed, speaking thus: “Hold it so, that for all who have preserved, helped, increased their country, there is a sure and defined place in heaven, where they enjoy an eternal age.” And being asked whether he himself and the others who were thought extinct lived: “Nay indeed, he said, these live who have flown from the chains of the bodies as from a prison. But that which is called your life is death.” Their reasons were:
Reason. The mind of man conceives, contemplates, and desires heavenly and immortal things; therefore it is heavenly and immortal. Second: in this life the mind has no satiety, nor any centre in which it may rest; therefore it will have this in the other life; otherwise it would be more unhappy than the other creatures.
Everything that is corruptible is either a body or an accident. For these, because they have contraries, can be corrupted. But the soul of man is neither corporeal nor an accident; therefore it is incorruptible. It is otherwise with the souls of brutes: for these depend on the body in all things, and therefore are to be reckoned corporeal and corruptible.
Let the Christian now say with Tobias: “We are the children of the saints, and look for that life which God will give to those who never change their faith toward him.”
36. THE EUNUCH—that is, the keeper of the royal bedchamber. Note: anciently the custody of the king’s and the queen’s person, and of her maidens, and of the royal couch, was committed to eunuchs, as being unfit for the act of love. Hence eunuchs were the most intimate with, and nearest to, the king and queen. For this reason the chief men of the court are called eunuchs, even if they were not eunuchs, that is, castrated. Hence the Chaldee here renders eunuch by rabba, that is, a prince, a satrap. For Putiphar was not properly a eunuch here; for he had a wife. So Procopius, Gennadius, Abulensis and Lyranus. So in chap. xl, verse 4, the butler and baker of Pharao are called eunuchs, that is, ministers of the king. For the courts of kings were once full of eunuchs, and kings used them for every ministry, as is most clear of the court of the emperor Constantius; for eunuchs filled and ruled it.
THE CAPTAIN OF THE SOLDIERS—the prefect of the royal guard, in Hebrew sar hattabbachim, that is, prince of the slayers, or of those who cut throats, that is, of soldiers. The Septuagint render it archimagiros; although St. Ambrose renders this chief of the cooks, yet here you may more aptly render it prince of the slayers, or of those who slaughter; for tabach, according to St. Jerome, signifies to slay. Hence cooks were called mageiroi, because they first slay the cattle and fowls that are to be cooked, from the word mageiros, which in Phavorinus is the same as machaira, a knife. Such a sar hattabbachim, and archimagirus, was Nabuzardan; for he was himself the prince of the soldiery, whom Nabuchodonosor set over the war and the destruction of Jerusalem, 4 Kings, last chapter, verse 14. Morally, learn from this chapter with how many persecutions and adversities God exercises Joseph and upright men, that he may perfect them in patience, gentleness, and thence in purity of soul. For Joseph by this patience attained that wonderful chastity. Most true is that saying of Cassian, Conference 12, chap. 7: “In proportion as one advances in gentleness and patience of heart, so far will he advance in purity of body. For it is written: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (of their own body); for the heat of the body will not abate unless one has first repressed the motions of the mind.” Hence also one of the Saints said: “The kindly man enjoys perpetual health of body, soul and mind: he rejoices in insult, praises God in calamity, soothes the angry, triumphs under the yoke of humility, and rules over all his passions,” especially anger and lust. Finally St. Chrysostom, hom. 61: “Great, he says, is the strength of virtue, and weak is malice.” This he declares in the end by the patience which Joseph continually showed: “So that, he says, like an athlete striving bravely he might be crowned with the crown of a kingdom, and the issue of the dreams be fulfilled, whereby those who had sold him might learn that they carry away no gain from their malice. For virtue has such strength that it becomes the brighter when it is assailed. Nothing is stronger than it, nothing more powerful; but he who possesses it, and has heavenly grace, and obtains protection from it, is stronger than all, unconquered, and cannot be taken, not only by the snares of men, but by the machinations of demons. Knowing this, let us not shrink from being ill treated, but from doing ill; for this is truly to be ill treated. For he who tries to afflict his neighbour does him indeed no harm, but treasures up for himself immortal torments.” For the brothers, too, by persecuting Joseph, brought glory upon him and ignominy upon themselves, as the same Father teaches in homily 63 and following.