De Josepho

But the king, when he heard that Joseph had a father and a numerous family, advised him to press his father to remove into Egypt with all his house, promising

But when they arrived at home, and told their father their story about their brother, which was so apparently incredible and beyond all his hopes, he did not much believe them; for even though those who brought the account were trustworthy, still the greatness and extraordinary character of the circumstances which they reported, did not allow him to believe them easily:

but when the old man saw the vast preparation, and the supplies of all necessary things, at such a time, in such abundance, corresponding to the good fortune of his son which they were reporting to him, he praised God that he had made complete that part of his house which seemed to be deficient;

but his joy immediately begat fear again in his soul, respecting his departure from his national laws and customs; for he knew that youth is by nature prone to fall, and that in foreign nations there is great indulgence given to error; and especially in the country of Egypt, a land in a state of utter blindness respecting the true God, in consequence of their making created and mortal things into gods. Moreover, the addition of riches and glory is a snare to weak minds, and he also recollected that he had been left to himself, as no one had gone forth out of his father’s house with him to keep him in the right way, but he had been left solitary and destitute of all good instructions, and might therefore be supposed to be ready to change and adopt their foreign customs.

Therefore, when that Being who alone is able to behold the invisible soul, saw him in this frame of mind, he took pity on him and appearing unto him by night while he was lying asleep, said unto him, "Fear nothing about your departure into Egypt; I myself will guide you on your way, and will give you a safe and pleasant journey; and I will restore to you your long lamented son, who was once many years ago believed by you to have died, but who is not only alive, but is even governor of all that mighty country."

So Jacob, being filled with good hopes, rose up in the morning with joy, and hastened on his way; and when his

And when the king beheld them he was amazed at the dignity of Jacob’s appearance, and he received and saluted him not as the father of his lieutenant but as his own, with all possible respect and honour; and after showing him not only all the ordinary but also many extraordinary marks of respect, he gave him a most excellent district of land of the greatest fertility; and hearing that his sons were skilful breeders of cattle, having great substance in flocks and herds, he appointed them overseers of all his own flocks and herds, and committed to their charge his goats, and his oxen, and his sheep, and all his innumerable animals of every kind.

And the young man, Joseph, displayed such excessive good faith and honesty in all his dealings, that though the time and the circumstances of the time gave him innumerable opportunities of making money, so that he might, in a short period, have become the richest man of that age or kingdom, he still so truly honoured genuine riches before illegitimate wealth, and the treasure which sees rather than that which is blind, that he stored up all the silver and gold which he collected as the price of the corn in the king’s treasury, not appropriating a single drachm of it to his own use, but being satisfied with nothing beyond the gifts which the king bestowed on him voluntarily, in acknowledgment of his services.

And in this manner he governed Egypt, and other countries also with it, and other nations, while oppressed with the famine, in a manner too admirable for any description to do it justice, distributing food to all in a proper manner, and looking, not only at the present advantage, but also at what would be of future benefit:

therefore, when the seventh year of the scarcity arrived, he sent for the farmers (for there was now a prospect of fertility and abundance), and