(40) And Joseph ruled over all the land of Egypt, and all the princes of Pharaoh, and all his servants, and all who did the king's business loved him, for he walked in uprightness, for he was with- out pride and arrogance, and he had no respect of persons, and did not accept gifts, buthe judged in uprightness all the people of the land

(40) And the Lord gave Joseph favour and mercy in the eyes of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said unto his servants : " We shall not find such a wise and discreet man as this man, for the spirit of the Lord is with him."

(46) And Joseph died being a hundred and ten years old ; seventeen years he lived in the land of Canaan, and ten years he was a servant, and three years in prison, and eighty years he was under the king, ruling all the land of Egypt.

(40) And the land of Egypt was at peace before Pharaoh because of Joseph, for the Lord was with him, and gave him favour and mercy for all his generations before all those who knew him and those who heard concerning him, and Pharaoh's kingdom was well ordered, and there was no Satan and no evil person (therein).

(46) And there was no Satan nor any evil all the days of the life of Joseph which he lived after his father Jacob, for all the Egyptians honoured the children of Israel all the days of the life of Joseph.

(42) And Joseph devised a plan whereby he might learn their thoughts as to whether thoughts of peace prevailed amongst them, and he said to the steward who was over his house : " Fill all their sacks with food, and return their money unto them into their vessels, and my cup, the silver cup out of which I N 194 ?HE BOOK OF JUBILEES [chap, xlii drink, put it in the sack of the youngest, and send them away." Joseph finally tests his Brethren, and then makes himself known to them (xliii. -; cf. Gen. xliv., xlv.).

(39) And the chief of the prison guards ap- pointed Joseph to serve them ;- and he served before them. ^

(45) * And Joseph had given to his father and to his brothers as a gift the right of dwelling in the land of Goshen and in Rameses and all the region round about, which he ruled over before Pharaoh. And Israel and his sons dwelt in the land of Goshen, the best part of the land of Egypt; and Israel was one hundred and thirty years old when he came into Egypt.

The doctrine of the Mu'tazilites, mentioned, that all men's intellects are alike and equal at birth, is again controverted, and the poet dwells on the essential differences which characterize the intellects akin to Universal Reason or the Logos, and those swayed by partial or carnal reason; the former, like the children of Israel, seeking exaltation through self-abasement; and the others, like Pharaoh, running after worldly rank and power, to their own destruction. In order to make probation of men, as already explained, God fills the world with deceptions, making apparent blessings destructive to us, and apparent evils salutary. On the other hand, if men try to deceive God, they fail signally. Hypocritical weeping and wailing like that of Joseph's brethren is at once detected by God. Thus a certain Arab had a dog to which he was much attached; but one day the dog died of hunger. He at once began to weep and wail, and disturbed the whole neighborhood by his ostentatious grief One of the neighbors came and inquired into the matter, and on hearing that the dog had died of hunger, he asked the Arab why he had not fed him from the wallet of food which he had in his hand. The Arab said that he had collected this food to support himself, and made it a principle not to part with any of it to any one who could not pay for it; but that, as his tears cost him nothing, he was pouring them forth in token of the sorrow he felt for his dog's death. The neighbor, on hearing this, rebuked him for his hypocrisy, and went his way. Then follows a commentary on the text, "Almost would the infidels strike thee down with their very looks when they hear the reading of the Koran."

(307) He is a wise man who commends God to men, and God thinks more highly of the wise man than his own works.

(42) And the Egyptians came to Joseph thathe might give them food, and he opened the storehouses where was the grain of the first year, and he sold it to the people of the land for gold.

(45) And the land of Egypt suffered by reason of the famine, and Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh in return for food, and he got possession of the people and their cattle and every- thing for Pharaoh.

(42) And Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him, and he spake unto them and questioned them, and he said unto them : " Are ye not spies, and have ye not come to explore the approaches of the land ? ' And he put them in ward.

(38) These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom. Joseph ' Service with Potiphar ; his Purity and . Imprisonment (xxxix. - ; cf. Gen. xxxix.).

(45) And Israel blessed his sons before he died and told them everything1 that would befall them in the land of Egypt ; and he made known to them what would come upon them in the last days, and blessed them and gave to Joseph two portions in the land.

(2) It is said that when they sold Joseph to the Egyptians the latter treated him kindly. There were many buyers so the merchants priced him at from five to ten times his weight in musk. Meanwhile, in a state of agitation, an old woman ran up, and going among the buyers said to an Egyptian: "Let me buy the Canaanite, for I long to possess that young man. I have spun ten spools of thread to pay for him so take them and give me Joseph and say no more about it.'

The merchants smiled and said: "Your simplicity has misled you. This unique pearl is not for you; they have already offered a hundred treasures for him. How can you bid against them with your spools of thread?' The old woman, looking into their faces, said: "I know very well that you will not sell him for so little, but it is enough for me that my friends and enemies will say, ""this old woman has been among those who wished to buy Joseph".'

He who is without aspiration will never reach the boundless kingdom. Possessed of this lofty ambition a great prince regarded his worldly kingdom as ashes. When he realized the emptiness of temporal royalty, he decided that spiritual royalty was worth a thousand kingdoms of the world.

(44) And there were born to Joseph in Egypt before his father came into Egypt, those whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphar priest of Heliopolis bare unto him, Manasseh, and Ephraim — three.

(39) And he com- mitted all things into his hands, and the chief of the prison guards knew of nothing that was with him, for Joseph did everything, and the Lord perfected it. Joseph interprets the Dreams of the Chief Butler and the Chief Baker (xxxix. - ; cf. Gen. xl.).

(46) And Joseph died 2242 a.m. m the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, in the second year, and they buried him in the land of Egypt, and all his brethren died after him.

(43) And early in the morning they departed, and it came to pass that, when they had gone from thence, Joseph said unto the steward of his house : " Pursue them, run and seize them, saying, ' For good ye have requited me with evil ; you have stolen from me the silver cup out of which my lord drinks.' And bring back to me their youngest brother, and fetch (him) quickly before I go forth to my seat of judgment."