Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Ver. 15. By the life of Pharaoh.] Joseph, that he might seem enough an Egyptian, swears heathenishly; Egyptians, partly of flattery, and partly of superstition, used to swear by the life, or, as the Greek here hath it, by the health of their king. The Spaniards, in the pride of their monarchy, are grown also now to swear by the life of their king. a The Hebrews write, to this day, that he which falsely swears by the king's head, in a money matter, shall be put to death; as Pererius upon this text tells us. This grew, doubtless, of that cursed custom of deifying their kings; as Antiochus surnamed Yεος; and Caligula would be styled Dominus Deus: as at this day the Pope's parasites call him Dominum Deum nostrum papam. To be sworn by, is an honour peculiar to God. Isa 65:16 Jer 4:2 That of Paul 1Co 15:31 is not an oath, but an obtestation; or, a taking of his afflictions for Christ to witness. That of the spouse Son 3:5 is not an oath, but an adjuration: for he chargeth his church's enemies not to trouble her; and if they do, roes and hinds shall testify against them; which would not do so had they but reason. This of Joseph, likewise, is by some said to be not an oath, but an earnest asseveration: b as who should say, As true as Pharaoh liveth; or, So Pharaoh live. Be it what it will, Joseph cannot altogether be excused for conforming himself to the Egyptians. The place had somewhat tainted him; and he might well take up that of the prophet Isaiah, "Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips"; and why? "for I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips." Isa 6:5 Courts and great places are ill air for zeal to breathe in: it is hard for such not to remit somewhat of their former fervour, and contract filth of sin, which is as catching as the plague. As sheep among thorns lose part of their fleece; so do the saints part of their goodness among the wicked.
a Sandys's Relation of West. Relig.
b Non est forma iuramenti, sed asseverationis seriae, et obtestationis domesticae.