CHAPTER 47

47:1 And Joseph came and told Pharao, saying, My father, and my brethren, and their cattle, and their oxen, and all their possessions, are come out of the land of Chanaan, and behold, they are in the land of Gesem. 2 And he took of his brethren five men, and set them before Pharao. 3 And Pharao said to the brethren of Joseph, What is your occupation? and they said to Pharao, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our father. 4 And they said to Pharao, We are come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for the flocks of thy servants, for the famine has prevailed in the land of Chanaan; now then, we will dwell in the land of Gesem. And Pharao said to Joseph, Let them dwell in the land of Gesem; and if thou knowest that there are among them able men, make them overseers of my cattle. So Jacob and his sons came into Egypt, to Joseph; and Pharao, king of Egypt, heard of it. 5 And Pharao spoke to Joseph, saying, Thy father, and thy brethren, are come to thee. 6 Behold, the land of Egypt is before thee; settle thy father and thy brethren in the best land. 7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharao; and Jacob blessed Pharao. 8 And Pharao said to Jacob, How many are the years of the days of thy life? 9 And Jacob said to Pharao, The days of the years of my life, wherein I sojourn, are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, they have not attained to the days of the life of my fathers, in which days they sojourned. 10 And Jacob blessed Pharao, and departed from him. 11 And Joseph settled his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best land, in the land of Ramesses, as Pharao commanded. 12 And Joseph gave provision to his father, and his brethren, and to all the house of his father, corn for each person.13 And there was no corn in all the land, for the famine prevailed greatly; and the land of Egypt, and the land of Chanaan, fainted for the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and the land of Chanaan, in return for the corn which they bought, and he distributed corn to them; and Joseph brought all the money into the house of Pharao. 15 And all the money failed out of the land of Egypt, and out of the land of Chanaan; and all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread, and why do we die in thy presence? for our money is spent. 16 And Joseph said to them, Bring your cattle, and I will give you bread for your cattle, if your money is spent. 17 And they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in return for their horses, and for their sheep, and for their oxen, and for their asses; and Joseph maintained them with bread for all their cattle in that year. 18 And that year passed, and they came to him in the second year, and said to him, Must we then be consumed from before our lord? for if our money has failed, and our possessions, and our cattle, brought to thee our lord, and there has not been left to us before our lord more than our own bodies and our land, we are indeed destitute. 19 In order, then, that we die not before thee, and the land be made desolate, buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharao: give seed that we may sow, and live and not die, so our land shall not be made desolate. 20 And Joseph bought all the land of the Egyptians, for Pharao; for the Egyptians sold their land to Pharao; for the famine prevailed against them, and the land became Pharao’s. 21 And he brought the people into bondage to him, for servants, from one extremity of Egypt to the other, 22 except only the land of the priests; Joseph bought not this, for Pharao gave a portion in the way of gift to the priests; and they ate their portion which Pharao gave them; therefore they sold not their land. 23 And Joseph said to all the Egyptians, Behold, I have bought you and your land this day for Pharao; take seed for you, and sow the land. 24 And there shall be the fruits of it; and ye shall give the fifth part to Pharao, and the four remaining parts shall be for yourselves, for seed for the earth, and for food for you, and all that are in your houses. 25 And they said, Thou hast saved us; we have found favour before our lord, and we will be servants to Pharao. 26 And Joseph appointed it to them for an ordinance until this day; to reserve a fifth part for Pharao, on the land of Egypt, except only the land of the priests, that was not Pharao’s.27 And Israel dwelt in Egypt, in the land of Gesem, and they gained an inheritance upon it; and they increased and multiplied very greatly. 28 And Jacob survived seventeen years in the land of Egypt; and Jacob’s days of the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 and the days of Israel drew nigh for him to die: and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If I have found favour before thee, put thy hand under my thigh, and thou shalt execute mercy and truth toward me, so as not to bury me in Egypt. 30 But I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me up out of Egypt, and bury me in their sepulchre. And he said, I will do according to thy word. 31 And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. And Israel did reverence, leaning on the top of his staff.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 47:5-6). REPETITION. — Jacob and his sons came to Egypt, where Joseph was. And Pharaoh king of Egypt heard it. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Thy father and thy brethren have come to thee. There you have the land of Egypt before you. settle thy father and thy brethren in the best land. This is a repetition. It is not a forgotten thing, to which it is returned again and again in a dark way by means of a recapitulation. On the contrary, it is very clear. In fact, the Scripture had already said how the brothers of Joseph had come to Pharaoh and what he had told them or what they had answered. Now the sacred writer resumes his narrative as at the beginning, and connects it with what precedes by the words which Pharaoh makes Joseph hear in particular.  Of all these things that appear in the Greek codices, written by more careful men, some carry obelisks, which indicate the things that are missing in the Hebrew text and are found in the Septuagint, and others bear asterisks, which indicate what the codices have Hebrews and missing in the Septuagint. [Question 155]

(Gen 47:9). THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD IS ONLY A TEMPORARY ABODE. — What does it mean what Jacob said to Pharaoh: The days of the years of my life, in which I dwell as a stranger? So say the Septuagint. The Latin codices have either a (step) or habeo (I have) or some other similar word. He said perhaps in those who live as a foreigner, because he was born in a land that the people had not yet received in inheritance by the divine promise, and living there was evidently in a foreign land, not only when he was a pilgrim, as in Mesopotamia, but also when he was there where he was born? Or is it to interpret these words rather as the Apostle says: While we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord (II Cor. 5:6)?  According to this is also meant what is said in the Psalm: I am a stranger on the earth and a pilgrim like all my parents (Ps. 39:12). About the days of his life he says again: They have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, the days in which they dwelt as strangers. Here he has not wanted to understand anything other than what the Latin codices say: that is, the years they lived. By this he meant to indicate that the present life is a dwelling in another's homeland in the earth, that is to say, the dwelling of a pilgrim. I believe that this is convenient for the saints, to whom the Lord promises another life, which is eternal. Therefore, we must understand well what is said about the wicked: They will live as strangers and they will hide; they will observe my footsteps (Ps. 56:6). For this is better understood what the psalm says that they inhabit as strangers to hide themselves, that is to say, to lay up their children; they never stay at home. [Question 156]

(Gen. 47:11). IS THE COUNTRY OF RAMESSES THE SAME AS THAT OF GESSEN? — And he gave them possession in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as the Pharaoh had commanded. We should investigate whether the land of Ramses is the same as that of Gesen. Because they had gone there, and Pharaoh had commanded them to be given that land. [Question 157]

(Gen. 47:12). JACOB DOES NOT ADORE JOSEPH. — And Joseph reaped wheat for his father. His father, however, did not worship him when he saw him, or when he received the wheat from him. How are we going to think that Joseph's dream was fulfilled now and we should not believe that there is a prophecy of something greater here? [Question 158]

(Gen 47:14). PROBITY OF JOSEPH. — And Joseph brought all that money into Pharaoh's palace. The Scripture has also sought in this matter to reveal the faithfulness of the servant of God. [Question 159]

(Gen 47:16). GRAIN SCARCITY: ABUNDANCE OF PASTURES. — And Joseph said to them, "Bring your cattle and I will give you food in exchange for your cattle, if money is lacking." One may ask, if Joseph gathered food to feed the men, how did he keep the livestock in the midst of so great a scarcity? And the question is justified especially when the brothers of Joseph had said to Pharaoh: For there is no pasture for the cattle of your servants, for there is a great famine in the land of Canaan. And they had added that they had come there precisely because of that lack of pasture. If, therefore, because of this famine the pastures in the land of Canaan were lacking, why had the pastures not been lacking in Egypt, if that famine had spread everywhere? Could pastures not be lacking in many marshy regions of Egypt, as those who know those places say, even if there is a famine of wheat, since these pastures usually appear after the floods of the Nile? It is said that those marshy regions produce pastures, the more fertile the less the Nile water rises. [Question 160]

(Gen. 47:29). JACOB'S RECOMMENDATION WITH RESPECT TO HIS BURIAL. — Jacob, when he dies, says to his son Joseph: If I have found grace in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and you will show me mercy and truth. Jacob obliges his son with the same oath with which Abraham had required his servant (Gen. 24:29). Abraham ordered him from where he would look for a wife for his son and Jacob indicating to him where to bury his body. In these two circumstances there are at the same time named two things which deserve special attention and interest, in whatever place of Scripture they are found; sometimes they are called mercy and justice, sometimes mercy and truth, for in one text it is said: “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps. 25:10).” In short, these two things so recommended should be highly appreciated. The servant of Abraham had said, "If you act with my lord mercy and justice (Gen. 24:29)." Jacob says to his son, "You will show me mercy and truth." If we measure with human parameters what is meant by such an important man, so solicitous a recommendation that his body not be buried in Egypt, but in the land of Canaan, with his parents, seems strange and almost absurd, and does not agree with excellence so great of a prophetic mind. But if in all these things are sought the mysteries that enclose, who discovers them will obtain the joy of a greater admiration. There is no doubt that in the law the bodies of the dead signify sins, because men, after touching them or after any contact with them, were obliged to purify themselves as if it were an impurity (Cf. Num. 19:11-13). Hence this sentence is derived: “Who purifies himself from contact with a dead man and touches him again, what good is his purification? So it is he who fasts for his sins and again goes and does the same (Sir. 34:25-26).” Therefore, the burial of the dead means the remission of sins, according to what is said in that passage: "Blessed are those whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered (Ps. 32:1)." Where, then, were the corpses of the patriarchs to be buried, which meant these things, but in that land where he was crucified for whose blood the forgiveness of sins took place? He whose blood has redeemed us from sin? For the death of the Patriarchs was the figure of sins of men. From the place where the Lord was crucified, to the one bearing the name of Abrahamium, where the bodies of the Patriarchs are buried, there is, it is said, the distance of nearly thirty miles; this number itself signifies the one who came to receive baptism at the age of thirty. This and any other similar or more sublime thing can be discovered here on this subject, provided that we do not believe that men of God of such importance and status so frivolously worried that their bodies were buried, being and ought to be for the faithful, a total security, the fact that wherever their bodies are buried or even if they are buried even by the hatred of the enemies, or even if they are dismembered to procure pleasure for those same enemies, this does not mean that their resurrection will be less complete or less glorious. [Question 161]

(Gen. 47:31). ON THE ADORATION OF JACOB. — The Latin copies bear: "And he bowed on the top of the rod of him (ejus); But several more chastened examples say: he bowed on the top of his rod (suae), or at the upper of his rod; at the end, or at the close. These translators are misled by the Greek word that is written with the same letters, either to translate eius (of it) or suae (su). But, on the other hand, the accents are different. And therefore, those who know these things do not despise them in the codices. Well, they serve to make a great distinction. Although it could have even a letter of more, if it were his or his own, so that in Greek was not αυτου, but εαυτου. It is therefore not without reason that one asks what is the meaning of this passage. It would easily be understood that an old man, carrying a rod in the same manner as a stick at that age, when he bowed to worship God, made it on the end of his rod, since he wore it so that by bowing his head on, he could worship God. What does it mean then: "He bowed to the end of the rod of his," that is to say, of his son Joseph? Would it be by chance that Jacob had received his son's scepter while he was swearing, and that after Joseph's oath, still holding the scepter in his hands, he worshiped God immediately? He had no reason to be ashamed of bearing for a moment the insignia of his son's power, the figure of a great event to come. But the Hebrew text gives a very easy means of solving the question; he said, "And Israel worshiped and toward the bedside," of that evidently upon which the old man was placed so as to pray without difficulty, whenever he wished. However, it should not be imagined that the interpretation of the Septuagint is meaningless or of little significance. [Question 162]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. See his understanding in the counsel he gives them; it is not lightly that he prescribes for them the conduct to follow; it is at the same time to procure for them more security, and so that they are not confounded with the Egyptians. As the Egyptians abhorred and despised the men devoted to the pastoral life, as well as they were themselves devoted to the study of the sciences of their country, Joseph advises his brethren to make profession of this profession, in order to have him even an honest pretext to assign to them the most beautiful portion of the country where they would live without being disturbed. And taking with him five of his brethren, he brought them to Pharaoh. (Ibid. 2) And Pharaoh asked them, What is your job? They answered: Note we are herdsmen. (Ibid. 3) So we will now live in the land of Gesem. (Ibid. 4) Pharaoh says: Let them dwell there. But if you know some of them who are capable men, establish the stewards of my flocks. (Ibid. 6) Thus the brothers of Joseph who responded to Pharaoh's advice, obtained permission to dwell in the land of Gesem. Moreover, Pharaoh, willing to show his kindness to Joseph, adds: If you know among them some able men, establish the stewards of my cattle. Joseph also introduced his father to Pharaoh. (Ibid. 7) And Pharaoh said of Jacob, How many years do the days of your life make? (Ibid. 8) Seeing this old man with white hair, he inquires about his age. And Jacob answered, The days of the years of my life since I live here below. (Ibid. 9) Thus each one of the just considered himself in this life as in a foreign country. David will say likewise: I am a stranger and exiled on earth. (Ps. 38:13) And Jacob says here: The days of the years of my life since I live here below. So Paul said of these righteous men that they professed to be strangers and exiles on the earth. The days of the years of my life since I live here, make one hundred and thirty years short and miserable, and they have not reached the number of days that my fathers lived. The years I have spent here have been short and miserable; by this he refers to the years of slavery he had endured at Laban, as a result of the exile his brother had forced him to do; then to the long mourning that Joseph's death had caused him after his return, and to the other misfortunes that had beset him in the meantime. Indeed, what had not been his alarms when, to avenge their sister, Simeon and Levi ransacked the city of Shechem, exterminated his defenders and took the rest of the inhabitants into captivity. (Gen. 34:25) He then said, manifesting the anguish that agitated him: "You have made me odious, so that I will be a villain in the eyes of the inhabitants of the earth; because my family is small. They will gather against me to slaughter me, and I will be exterminated with my house. (Gen. 34:30) This is what makes him say: The days of the years of my life have been short and miserable. And Joseph set up his father and his brethren, and gave them an estate in the land of Egypt, in the land of Ramessah, which was most fertile, according to the commandment of Pharaoh (Ibid. 11); and Joseph gave wheat per head to his father, to his brethren, and to all the house of his father. (Ibid., 12) Remember what he had said to his brothers: God sent me here before you, so that you may have food to subsist. (Gen. 95:7) And again: God sent me here before you, so that you may live. (Gen. 95:5) He therefore distributed to them wheat per head.

What to say by head? That is to say to everyone what was necessary for him. For Scripture designates the whole man sometimes by his body, sometimes by his soul. Above, she said: Jacob came to Egypt with seventy-five souls; to designate seventy-five men or women; here she says per head to say by person. And when all Egypt and all Chanaan were hungry, Jacob's family had plenty of wheat, as if it were the source of abundance. Wheat was wanting throughout the earth; indeed, the famine rages heavily. The land of Egypt and that of Chanaan were exhausted by want. (Ibid. 13)

Consider the ineffable providence of God, and how he brought the righteous to Egypt, before the famine had increased, so that he had no feeling of distress that would afflict the land of Shaman. And when everyone came to Egypt, Joseph gathered all the money from those who were in Egypt and Chanaan, and thus he gave them corn. (Ibid. 14) And the money ran out, because he had amassed everything in Pharaoh's palace. And all the Egyptians came and said, Give us bread, why are we dying in your presence? Money is lacking. (Ibid. 15) We have no more money to buy and because of that we are starving. Do not abandon us while death besieges us: provide us bread, so that we stay alive. And Joseph said to them, Bring your flocks and I will give you bread. (Ibid. 16) If you run out of money, I also get the cattle. If you do not have the money, drive your flocks here, and you will have bread. So they brought their flocks, and received bread from Joseph in exchange for their horses, their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, and he fed them for the value of their cattle. (Ibid. 17) And they returned to him the second year, and said to him, Let us not perish, for lack of money and cattle, all our master has gone. We have nothing left except our person and our lands. (Ibid. 18) So, therefore, that we may not die, buy us with our lands for bread, and we shall be us and our land serfs of Pharaoh. Give us grain to sow and to live: so we will not die, and the earth will not be depopulated. (Ibid. 19) They reduce themselves into servitude, they sell their lands, in order to be able to subsist: such was the distress caused by the famine. And Joseph bought the lands of the Egyptians for Pharaoh. For they sold them to him, forced by famine. And the land belonged to Pharaoh. (Ibid. 20) And he enslaved the people as slaves, from one extreme frontier from Egypt to the other (Ibid. 21), the lands of the priests excepted. For the priests Pharaoh gave food, and they ate; therefore they did not sell their land. (Ibid. 22) See how much wisdom and intelligence Joseph has. He did not allow the people to feel hunger, and at the same time he assured Pharaoh of all lands with as many servants as there were Egyptians. And please note the extreme solicitude he gives them. He said to the Egyptians, Behold, I have you today, and your lands for Pharaoh. Take grain now, and sow the earth; and if it gives fruit, you will give the fifth part of the harvest to Pharaoh; the other four parts will be yours to sow the land, and to feed you and your families. (Ibid. 23-24) Noble generosity, great foresight, inexpressible solicitude. And the Egyptians, touched by this kindness, say, "You have saved us, we have found favor with our master, and we shall be Pharaoh's servants." (Ibid. 25) You have observed the liberality of Joseph: he sees these men exhausted with need, and representing to themselves the pains and the evils which plowing will cause them, he says: I will supply you the grain; you, give all your care. And if he comes from the fruit, you will deliver the fifth: the other four fifths will be for you, as the wages (your fatigues, and to provide for your needs.) And this was the order given them by Joseph, to reserve the fifth to Pharaoh, the lands of the priests excepted (Ibid. 26)

Listen, men of today, what privileges were formerly granted to the priests of idols; and learn to confer at least equal honors upon those entrusted with the worship of the God of the universe. If erring men, who professed to worship idols, granted such prerogatives to their ministers, because they saw in them the best means of honoring idols, what condemnation do not deserve those who cut off priests of today. part of their honors? Do not you know that these homages do not have to go through their hands to reach the Master of the universe? Do not consider? therefore, he who receives the homage. It is not for him that you must fulfill your obligations: it is for the one of whom he is a priest, if you want him himself to compensate you magnificently. Hence these words: He who did something to one of these, did it to me, and again: He who receives a prophet as a prophet, will receive the reward of a prophet. (Matt. 15: 40, 10:41) Is it on the merit or indignity of those whom you honor that the Lord will measure your reward? It is according to your zeal that he crowns you or condemns you. And just as the tributes that pass through this channel provide great credit (indeed, God takes for himself the good that is done to his ministers), so the contempt of these same people will be struck up there of a rigorous punishment. Indeed, if God takes the honors for him, he also takes contempt. Convinced of this truth, let us not fail in our duties to the priests of God. And if I speak in this way, it is not so much in their interest as in that of your charities, and for you to neglect no means of increasing your wealth. Indeed, when will you be equal in your gifts to those you receive from the Lord? what duties do these great appointments? However, no matter how small, however perishable your offerings may be, you will be rewarded with immortal rewards and ineffable goods.

Accordingly, let us stick with them this loan; thinking less about the expense than profit and the income it brings us. Let us see, in fact, a man closely connected with a person of high rank in the world, we are anxious to show him the greatest deference, thinking that the tributes paid to the client will be transmitted by him to his patron, that the client, by pointing out to the patron, he will increase his benevolence towards us: for all the more reason it will be so with regard to the master of the universe. Has anyone shown kindness and compassion for the first comer of these beggars whose public place is strewn, the Master takes the benefit to its height, and promises the entry of the kingdom of heaven to those who have done some good to these unfortunates; Come here, he will tell them, blessed by my father, because I was hungry, and you gave me food. (Matt. 25:34) Therefore, how will one who will have honorably treated those who suffer for God and who are decorated with the priesthood, how would that one not obtain a reward, I do not say equal to that? that he will have done, but much better, for God is rich enough to always remain above what we can do? So, let us beware of showing ourselves worse than those infidels who, in their zeal for error, show so much deference to the ministers of idols: on the contrary, that our homages surpass those of idolaters as much as the truth is above the error, and the priests of God above the priests of idols, if we want the heavens to compensate us a hundredfold. I continue: Jacob settled in Egypt: they prospered and multiplied a lot. (Ibid. 23) This is the fulfillment of the promise which God made to Jacob: I will restore to you the head of a great people. And Jacob lived another seventeen years. And the days of Jacob were a hundred and forty-seven years. (Ibid, 20.) If God granted him this considerable increase of days, it was so that, before dying, he should receive sufficient consolation from the misfortunes he had endured throughout his life.

Many people whose feelings are low, when we exhort them to disregard the place of their burial, and to look upon it as a matter of little importance say the remains of the dead are brought back from a foreign land in their homeland, oppose this account to us, and tell us that it was the object of the very care of a patriarch. But first, as I hastened to say, we must consider that we should not require the patriarchs who lived then. so much wisdom as the faithful today; then, it was not without motive that this just one wanted his orders to be executed: it was to maintain in the hearts of his children the sweet hope that one day they too would return to the promised land. And his son tells us in a clearer way that this was his intention when he said: God will visit you, and then you will carry my bones here. (Gen. 1:24) To understand that they both foresaw the future through the eyes of faith, listen to Israel already exclaim that death is a sleep; he says indeed. I will sleep next to my fathers. That is why Saint Paul said: All these patriarchs died in the faith, although they did not receive the effect of the promise, but they saw it, and saluted it from afar. (Heb. 11:13) And how? They saw it through the eyes of faith. Let us not look at this last will as pusillanimity, but consider the time and the forecast that it had of their next return, and absolve the just of all accusation. But now that the precepts of wisdom have increased since the coming of Christ, it would be right to blame the one who makes similar recommendations.

We must not regard as unhappy the one who dies on the foreign land, nor the one who comes out of this life in solitude. No, it is not he who deserves to be pitied, but he who died in sin, even though he had breathed his last, lying on his bed, in his house, and surrounded by his friends. And that one does not come to hold me this language, as cold as ridiculous and senseless This man died more miserably than a dog, none of his acquaintances did not attend at his last moments, and could not provide him a burial but it is by means of a quest, to which a large number of people have contributed, that we have been able to suffice at the expense of the funerals, No, O man, it is not there to end more miserably than a dog. What damage did he feel? There is only one death that is miserable, it is to die without being covered with the cloak of virtue. And to prove to us that such a death does not dishonor the virtuous man, know that we do not even know where most of the righteous, I want to bet prophets and apostles, with the exception of a few, have been buried. Some of them had their heads cut off, the others expired under a hail of stones, others finally, inflamed by their piety, indulged in a thousand different tortures, and all perished martyrs of their love for Christ who would they dare to say that their death is ignominious? Let us rather listen to these words of Holy Scripture. The death of the saints is precious before the eyes says Lord. (Ps. 115:15) And if she declares that the death of the saints is precious, let us hear her now, when she says that the death of sinners is miserable. The death of sinners, she says, is miserable. (Ps. 38:22) Even so, a man dying in his house, assisted by his wife and children, surrounded by his friends and acquaintances, if he is not virtuous, his end will be miserable. But in return he who dies on foreign soil, whose body lies lying on the pavement; what did I say? on foreign soil and on the cobblestones! the same who falls into the hands of brigands; who becomes the prey of wild beasts, if he is endowed with virtue, his death will be precious. Tell me, did not the son of Zachariah have his head cut off? Stephen, who was the first to gird the crown of martyrdom, was he not stoned? As for Paul and Pierre, did not the first have his head cut off? Has not the other suffered the agony of the cross, tied to the gallows in the opposite direction of his Master? Is it not precisely because of such death that their praises are sung and celebrated by all the earth?

After all these considerations, let us not regard as unhappy those who die on the foreign land, do not consider happy those who finish their days in their house; but rather, according to the words of Holy Scripture, happy are those who have lived in virtue and are dying in the same dispositions; unhappy those who die in sin! For as the virtuous man passes into a better world to receive the price of his labors, on the contrary the perverse man sees the beginning of his torment, and, forced to account for his actions, is condemned to intolerable suffering.

So we must think about it, cultivate virtue, and fight in this life as in a palestra, so that, once the theater is evacuated, we can attach to our forehead the brilliant crown, and that we let us not be reduced to useless repentance. As long as the struggle lasts, it is possible for us, if we wish, to shake off our nonchalance, and to embrace virtue, so that we may obtain the crowns reserved for us. But, please, let's resume the rest of our speech. After he had made his recommendations to his son about his burial, and Joseph answered him, I will fulfill your will; Israel said to him, Swear to me. And he swore it. And Israel bowed deeply before the staff of Joseph. See this old man, this patriarch, charged with years, to testify by bowing to Joseph, all the veneration which he has for him, and thus to fulfill the vision. When Joseph told him his vision, Israel said to him, "Will your mother and I  come to prostrate us on the ground before you? But perhaps it will be said: How did this dream come true, since her mother had died before, and did not bow down to her son? The custom of Scripture is always to take the most important to make the whole thing heard. For the man is the head of the woman: they are both, says the Scripture, the same flesh. (I Cor. 11:3) When the head has tilted, it is evident that the whole body has followed this movement. If the father did it, much more would it have done it, if and had not been delighted at this land. He bowed deeply, saith the Scripture, before the rod of command carried by his son. And so Saint Paul said: It is by faith that Jacob dying blesses each of Joseph's sons, and bows deeply before the rod of command carried by his son. (Heb. 11:21) Do you see that he was driven by faith? He foresaw that he would be of royal race who was to be born of blood. After he had entrusted his last wishes to his son, Joseph soon learned that his father was ill, that he was already at the gates of death, that his last hour was approaching. [Homilies on Genesis]