But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what [is] with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
Ver. 8. But he refused.] So would but a few have done of his years (he was now about twenty-seven), and that might have committed this sweet sin, as they wickedly call it, with so much security and secrecy, &c. The fear of God is both a virtue, and a keeper of other virtues. It is the bond of perfections, as Paul saith of charity. It is the ribbon or string that ties together all those precious pearls, the graces, as Peter saith of humility. a It is, as Basil saith of the same grace, caeterarum virtutum θησαυροφυλακιον, the storehouse of other virtues; and, as Chrysostom, the mother, and root, and nurse, and foundation, and ligament of all good things in us. b
Behold, my master wotteth not, &c.] Beneficium postulat officium. To argue from bounty to duty, is but right reason: but to argue, as most do, from God's liberality to liberty in sin, is the devil's logic. Joseph will not deal so basely with his master, though an Egyptian. To render good for evil is divine; good for good is human; evil for evil is brutish; but evil for good is devilish. "Should we again break thy commandments," saith holy Ezra, Ezr 9:14 after so many mercies and deliverances? There is so much unthankfulness and disingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy, that heaven and earth, he thinks, would be ashamed of it. Every blessing is a binder, and each new deliverance a new tie to obedience. The "goodness of God should lead us to repentance," saith Paul. Rom 2:4 And this Peter picks out of Paul's Epistles, as one of the choicest sentences, and urged it upon those to whom he wrote. 2Pe 3:15
a εγκομβωσασθε. 1Pe 5:5
b Mητηρ, και ριζα, και τραφος, και υπδθερις, και συνδερμδς των αγαθων. - Chrysost.