Joseph The Slave

Madianitae vendiderunt Joseph in Aegypto Putiphari eunucho Pharaonis, magistro militum. Caeterum quod ad moralem pertinet locum, quia omnes vult salvos fieri Dominus Deus noster, dedit per Joseph etiam iis qui sunt in servitute solatium: attribuit magisterium; ut discerent etiam in ultima conditione posse mores esse superiores, nec ullum statum immunem esse virtutis, si animus se uniuscujusque cognoscat; carnem servituti subditam esse, non mentem; multosque servulos esse dominis liberiores, si in servitute positi a servilibus putent operibus abstinendum. Servile est omne peccatum, libera est innocentia. Unde et Dominus ait: Omnis qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati. Quomodo enim non servus omnis avarus, qui pro exigno pecuniae lucello se ipsum auctionatur? Timet omnia, ne congesta amittat, qui non utenda congessit, majore periculo servaturus quo majora quaesivit. Quomodo non mendicus, cui sunt parva quae possidet? Nam etsi mihi dives videatur, sibi eget: nec testimoniis sua vota solatur, qui quod optat nescit credere. Quomodo autem non et ille servus, qui subditus est libidini? Primum suis ardet incendiis, et pectoris sui facibus exuritur. Quibus recte dicit propheta: Ambulate in lumine ignis vestri, et in flamma quam accendistis. Suscipit omnes metus, insidiatur somno singulorum: ut unius cupiditate potiatur, fit servus omnium. Servit igitur hanc miseram quidem servitutem, qui ipse sibi dominos facit, ipse vult habere quos timeat. Nihil enim tam speciale servitutis est, quam semper timere. Ille vero in quavis conditione servitii semper liber, qui mundi amore non capitur, avaritiae vinculis non tenetur, metu criminis non alligatur, qui securus spectat praesentia, quem futura non terrent. Nonne videtur tibi iste in servitute dominari: ille autem in libertate servire? Serviebat Joseph, regnabat Pharao: beatior hujus servitus, quam regnum illius. Denique tota Aegyptus collapsa esset fame, nisi regnum suum consilio servuli subdidisset. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jospeph Patriarca, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 14.649b-650b

The Madianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Putiphar, an eunuch of Pharaoh, captain of the soldiers. 1 Now let us look to the moral of the passage. Because the Lord wishes to save everyone He gives comfort through Joseph to those who are slaves, and adds a teaching, so that they might learn that even in the lowest state it is possible to have better ways and that no state is shut off from virtue, if the soul of a man knows itself, and that it is the flesh that is subject to servitude and not the mind. Many slaves are more free than their masters if set in slavery they think to abstain from servile works. Every sin is slavish and innocence is freedom. Hence the Lord says, 'Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.' 2 For how is every avaricious man not a slave, who for even a tiny profit will put himself up for sale? He fears everything, lest he lose what he has gathered, he who cannot use what he has gathered, and with greater peril he becomes more slavish the more he has sought. How is he not a beggar for whom what he does possess is little? For even if he seems to be rich he is needy in himself. Nor does he soothe his desires with proofs, he who does not know how to believe what he hopes for. And how is he not a slave who is subdued to lust? First he burns with his own flames and then he burns up with the deeds of his heart. To such men the prophet rightly says, 'Walk in the light of your own fire, and in the flame you have kindled.' 3 Fear takes hold of everyone of them, it stalks the sleep of each one of them, the desire of one man makes him a slave of all. He serves in a wretched servitude who makes masters for himself, he who wishes to have what will make him fearful. There is no more certain a slavery than to be always afraid. But he who is a state of slavery is free if he is not seized by the love of the world, and if he is not held by the chains of avarice, and if not bound by the fear of evil, if he can look securely on present things and not be terrified by the future. Does it not seem to you that he rules in slavery and another man with his freedom is a slave? Joseph was a slave, Pharaoh reigned, but more blessed was the servitude of the former than the rule of the latter. Then all Egypt would have been ruined by famine if its ruler had not bowed to the counsel of a slave. Saint Ambrose, On The Patriarch Joseph, Chapter 4 1 Gen 37.36 2 Jn 8.34 3 Isaiah 50.11