XV

THE FAVOUR OF MAN

Joseph found grace in his sight and he served him.-GENESIS

xxxix. 4.

The Lord gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.-GENESIS Xxxix. 21.

THE character of Joseph as depicted in Genesis is one of the finest in literature-a rare combination of strength and sweetness, wisdom and humility, with the strength of a soldier and the grace of a courtier. Gifted with such a happy temperament that in adversity he was able to face misfortune with a bright cheerfulness and a half-humorous buoyancy; he was also of such a sweetly pious nature that in prosperity he never grew arrogant or selfish. Added to the flexibility and grace of his character, there were strong self-control and probity that nothing could undermine. It is seldom indeed that such opposite virtues are found in one man. The sweet nature is so often weak: the strong one is so often proud. The happy temperament is inclined to be shallow: the conscientious is inclined to be hard. Wisdom is

not always humble: religion is not always gracious. Humour has not always principle: influence over men is not always unselfish. Strength in any line is often accompanied by lamentable weakness in other directions, and seldom do we find such an all-round balance of character as the simple story of Joseph reveals.

This rare combination of gifts and virtues is not yet exhausted by all we have mentioned as characteristic of Joseph; for we find it in a region where it is more unusual still. He was a dreamer, a visionary from his youth, with a sort of guileless simplicity natural enough to a man of pure and lofty imagination. Yet when the time came he showed himself to be a capable man of affairs, with command of business and leadership over men, and an easy facility in all the details of a practical situation. The highest kind of influence over others, the highest leadership of men comes naturally to him who dreams dreams and sees visions, giving him power to appeal to sentiment and imagination; but when the occasion arises such men usually show themselves impractical and unable to cope with the actual difficulties. The man who can inspire action is seldom able to control and direct it. The poet has not the reputation of being generally a good manager. The

permanent official has not the reputation of being able to see very far or to have much power of initiative, though he can conduct the business of his department with skill and efficiency. But this dreamer, who by virtue of his gift of vision commanded the instinctive confidence of men and assumed leadership, was also able to keep it. He showed by his practical sense and capacity that he merited their confidence. He was of alert, as well as of speculative, mind. Men felt his personal superiority and readily conceded it, and his management proved his right to the first place. Wherever he was, a slave in Potiphar's house, a prisoner in the prison, a statesman at Pharaoh's court, he always got hold of the strings and was prime mover of events. The young slave in the house of Potiphar gradually took over all the affairs of the household, was entrusted with more and more, and showed himself worthy of power. Joseph found grace in his sight and he served him," till his master made him overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his capable hands. What promotion was possible in such a situation he achieved by sheer force of ability and character.

When once more the wheel turned and left him as low as could be, and instead of an honourable post

"The

he found himself in prison, the same process began again, and he climbed into favour and power. Lord gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." He was so bright and serviceable, so ready to help, so thoughtless of self, so trustworthy and so capable in all he undertook, that he could not but find favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Such men are not so common in a prison, or for that part anywhere, that they can be readily overlooked. Soon, his place there was almost as the governor of the prison instead of prisoner. He was as the very life and light of the place, and "the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison." Lovable, serviceable, faithful, there could not but be many an opportunity for him to exercise his wonderful personal influence, and touch men, all unconscious as he was, by the magnetic fascination of his character.

Now something of this remarkable success was due to temperament, was due to natural gifts, because he was a goodly person and well-favoured, and because he was of a bright, buoyant nature, and because he was of a sweet and affectionate disposition, so that everybody naturally trusted him; but to leave the matter here would be to miss all the meaning and all the moral of the tale. It was not because the good

fairies attended his cradle, as we say, that the man Joseph became as the story relates it. In the long run it was not casual, but causal, as everything in life really is, springing from moral causes. And there are three chief reasons, which help to explain the force of influence such as Joseph's, and which at the same time reveal to us the source of all such influence.

I. For one thing, whether due to temperament or to principle, he saw the dignity of service, and took delight in serving and helping others. Though it may have begun in his light-hearted and sweet nature, it must have deepened into principle before it could have stood the severe tests to which it was put-as, for example, in prison, where he might easily have been soured by brooding over the injustice of his sentence and the hardness of his lot. But, in prison or out of it, he turned so easily to bearing others' burdens and putting his hand to others' work, that it is evident he was inspired by unselfish regard for those about him, whether his fellow-servants in Potiphar's house or his fellow-prisoners in the king's gaol. He had something of the self-devotion that comes from self-forgetfulness. He had had early dreams of his own pre-eminence, of the great position in the world he was to attain, in which his sheaf