they fold him for a mean price, for a few pence*, and valued him lightlv
And the Egyptian who bought him b faid to his wife \ ufe him honourably;
peradventure he may be ferviceable to us, or we may adopt him for
our fond. Thus did we prepare an eftablifhment for J o s e p h in the earth
and we taught him the interpretation of dark fayings: for Goa is well able
to effeft his purpofe ; but the greater part of men do not underftand. And
when he had attained his age of ftrength, we bellowed on him wifdom
and knowledge ; for thus do we recompenfe the righteous. And Ihe in
whofe houfe he was, defired .him to lie with her; and Ihe Ihut the doors and
faid, Come hither. He anfwered, G o d forbidl verily my lord' hath made
my dwelling with him eafy; and the ungrateful ihall not profper. But Ihe
refolved within her felf to enjoy him, and he would have refolved to enjoy
her, had he not feen the evident demonflration of his L o r d f . So we turned
away evil and. filthinefs from him, becaufe he was one of—bur fincere
fervants. And they ran to get one before the other to the door *; and ihe
lent his inner garment behind. And they met her lord at the door. She
faid. What jhall be the reward of him who feeketh to commit evil in thy
family, but imprifonment, and a painful pmjifhment ? -And J o s e p h faid,
She alked me to lie with her. And a witnefs of her familyh bore witnefs,'
j f faying,
a 7bey fold him for a mean price, &c.] Namely
twenty, or twenty two dirhems, and thofe
not of full weight neither ; for having weighed
one ounee^af lilver only, the remainder was paid
by tale, which is the moil unfair way of payment
x.
b The Egyptian who bought him ;] His name
was K itfir , or Itfir , (a corruption o f Potiphar;)
and he was a man of great consideration, being
fuperintendent of the royal treafury 2.
The commentators fay, that Jofeph came into
his fervice at feventeen, and lived with him thirteen
years; and that he was made prime nainifter
in the thirty third year of his age, and died at
an hundred and twenty.
They who fuppofe Jofeph was twice fold, differ
as to the price the Egyptian paid for him :
fome faying it was twenty dinars of gold, a pair
of fhoes, and two whice garments ; and others,
that it was a large quantity of lilver, or of gold.
c His wife;] Some call her R a il; but the
Jiame Ihe is bell known by, is that of Zoleikha.
d Or we may adopt him',] K itfir having no
children. It is faid that Jofeph gained his maf-
ter’s good opinion fo Suddenly by his countenance,
which K itfir, who, they pretend, had
great skill in phyfiognomy, judged to indicate
his prudence and other good qualifies.
e My lord ;] viz. K itfir. But others underftand
it to be fpoken of G od.
f Had he not feen the evident demonftration of
his L o r d j] That is, had he not ferioully con-
fidered the filthinefs of whoredom, and the great
guilt thereof. Some, however, fuppofe that the
words mean fome miraculous voice or apparition,
fent by G od to divert Jofeph from executing the
criminal thoughts which began to poiTefs him.
Fpr they fay, that he was fo far tempted with
his miftrefsV beauty and inticing behaviour, that
he fat in her lap, and even began to undrefs
himfelf, when a voice called to hirh, and bid him
beware of her ; but he taking no notice of this
admonition, tho’ it was repeated three times, at
length the angel Gabriel, or, as others will
have it, the figure of his mafter appeared to
him: but the more general opinion is that it was
the apparition of his father Jacob, who bit his
fingers ends, or, as fome write, ftruck him on
the braaft, whereupon his lubricity paired out at
the ends o f his fingers 3.
For this fable, fo injurious to the chara&erof
Jofeph, the Mohammedans are obliged to their old
friends the Jews 4, who imagine that he had a
defign to lie with his miftrefs, from thefe words
of Mofes V And it- came to pafs— that Jofeph
went into the houfe to do his bufinefs, See.
8 They ran to the door ;] He flying from her,
and Ihe running after to detain him.
h A witnefs o f her family ;] viz. A coufin of
hers, who was then a child in the cradle 6.
1 A lB e i d a w i . 2 Idem. 3 Idem, ^ / Z a m a k h s h a r i , J a l l a u o ’d d in , Y a h y a . 4 Talnt.
Babyl. Sed. Najhim, p. 36. V . B a r t o l o c c . Bibl. Rabb. part. 3. p. 509. 5 Genef. xxxix. il*
* Supra citati interprètes.
fayinSi If his garment be rent before, file fpeaketh truth, and he is a liar:
but if his garment be rent behind, (he lieth, and he is a fpeaker of truth.
A n d when her hujband faw that his garment was torn behind, he faid, This
;s a cunning contrivance of your f e x ; for furely your cunning is great. P
Joseph, take no farther notice of this affair: and thou, O woman, afk pard
o n for thy crime ; for thou art a guilty perfon. And certain women faid
mUickly * in the city, The nobleman’s wife afked her lervant to lie with,
ber: he hath inflamed her bread with his love ; and we perceive her to be in a
manifed error. And when Ihe heard of their fubtle behaviour, Ihe fent unto
them11, and prepared a banquet for them, and die gave to each of
them a knife ; and (he faid unto J oseph, Come forth unto them. And when
they faw him, they praifed him greatly c; and they cut their own hands4,
a n d faid, O G od ! this is not a mortal; he is no other than aa angel,
deferving the highed refpeft. And his miftrefs faid, This is he, for whofe
f a k e ye blamed me: I afked him to lie with me, but he hath condantly re-
f u f e d . But if he do not perform that which I command him, he (hall furely
be cad into prifon, and he (hall be made one of the contemptible. J oseph f a i d , O L o r d , a prifon is more eligible unto me than the crime to which
they invite me ; but unlefs thou turn afide their fnares from me, I lhall
youthfully incline unto them, and I lhall become one of the foolifh. Wherefore
his L o r d heard him, and turned afide their fnare from him ; for he
hth heareth and knoweth. And it feemed good unto them ' even after they
had feen the figns of his innocency, to imprifon him for a time. And there
entredinto the prifon with him two of the kings fervants4. One of them 8 faid,
It
1 Certain m m x. &c.] Thefe women, whofe
tongues, were fo free with Zoleikha's character on
thisoceafioii, were five in number, and the wives
of fo many of the king’s chief officers, viz. his
chamberlain, his butler, his baker, his jailor,
and his herd (man l .
b She fetit unto.them;] The number of all the
women invited, was forty, and among them were
the live ladies abovementioned 2.
c praifed him greatly ;] The old Latin
tranflatora have ftrangely miftaken the fenfe of
the original word aebarnaho, which they render
nenftruatee funt; and then rebuke Mohammed for.
the indecency, crying out demurely in the mar-
gm, 0 feeium 1$ obfccenum propbetam ! Erpe-
nius, 3 thinks that there is not the leaft trace of
fuch a meaning in the word ; but he is miftaken:
for ,the verb cabara in the fourth conjugation,
which is here ufed, has that import, tho’ the
fobjoining of the pronoun to. it here (which pof-
Jibly the Latin translators did not oblerve) i abfo-
lutely overthrows that interpretation.
They cut their awn hands j] Through extreme
forprize at the wonderful beauty of Jofeph ;
which furprize Zoleikha forefeeing, put knives
into their hands, on purpofe that this accident
might happen. Some writers have obferved,
on occafion of this paflage, that it is cuftomary
in the eaft for lovers to teftify the violence of
their palfion by cutting themfelves, as a fign that i
they would Spend 'thejr blood in the fervice of
the perfon beloved j which is. true enough, but
I do not find that any of the commentators fuppofe.
thefe Egyptian ladies had any fuch defign.
e It feemed good unto them ;] That is to K itfir
and his friends. The occafion of Jofepb's imprifonment
is foid to be, either that they fufpeft-
ed him to be guilty, notwithftanding the proofs
which had been given of his innocence ; pr elfe
that Zoleikha defired it, feigning, to.deceive her
husband, that fhe wanted to have Jofeph removed
from her fight, till Ihe could conquer her paf-
fion by time ; tho’ her real defign was to force
him to compliance.
f Two o f the king's fervants;] viz. His chief
butler and baker; who wereaccufed of a defign
to poifon him.
g One of them ;] Namely the butler.