avenged? Behold! in your miserable famine and distress, when you shall hunger and thirst, even then you must make your address and supplication to him. The high tower will give you neither comfort nor deliverance: the time is come about that Joseph's affliction is to be avenged, and Reuben's whoredom with Jacob's concubine is come before Israel.
32. why do you make such long delay, and flatter yourself; playing the hypocrite, and say: Not yet, a good while? Behold! it is come before the eyes of Israel, that you have committed whoredom a long time with the concubine, and defiled the line of Christ. Israel will no longer endure it; you shall with Reuben be cast out of the high office of sacrificing and governing: This is the voice which the watchmen have pronounced.
33. When Joseph had had the two dreams: the one, of his sheaf standing upright, before which the sheaves of his brethren bowed; the other of the sun, moon, and eleven stars, which had done obeisance to Joseph: envy forthwith arose amongst them, and they supposed he would be their lord (Gen. xxxvii. 5-10); and seeing that they were the elder they desired to rule over him.
34. Whereby we see how the outward man has only sought and aimed at the kingdom of this world; which was even the bane and undoing of Adam, in that he forsook the inward and sought after the outward.
- 35. Joseph's parti-coloured coat which his father made (Gen.
- xxxvii. 3) signifies how the inward power of God would again be revealed through the outward man, whereby the human nature would be variously coloured (that is, mixed with God), as the inward spiritual kingdom with the outward.
The spiritual figure stands thus:
36. Joseph, with his coat of many colours, was as yet a lad, both tender and young, and had not yet the wit, craft and subtlety of the world, but spoke the truth in simplicity; for his soul was not yet defiled from without with the craft of lying; and the spirit of God began to drive him forward: 1 for his coat of many colours was a figure of the inward.
37. This figure prefigures and represents to us the image of a true young scholar and beginner in Christianity, how he must be when the spirit of God shall drive and act in him; namely, he must turn his heart to God his Father, and learn to love him heartily. As Joseph loved to be with his father, and told him the evil that was committed among his children, so must a beginner in Christianity daily bring before God all his own miseries, and the miseries and sins of all that belong to him; yea, of all Christendom. As Daniel confessed the sins of the people of Israel before God; and Joseph the evils of his brethren before his father; so also a true Christian does daily confess the misery and sin of his people and nation, in hearty compassion, that God would be merciful to them and preserve them from great evils and sins.
38. And when this is brought to pass his heart becomes very simple, honest and upright, for he desires no craft, but would fain have all things proceed righteously and justly; and he cannot abide any unrighteousness or subtle dealings; for he always confesses the people's unrighteousness before God. And thus his mind becomes altogether simple, and seeks no kind of craft or subtlety; but puts his hope and confidence in God, and lives in the simplicity and lowliness of heart before God and the world. And he is as the tender young lad Joseph; for he hopes for good continually from God his Father.
avenged? Behold! in your miserable famine and distress, when you shall hunger and thirst, even then you must make your address and supplication to him. The high tower will give you neither comfort nor deliverance: the time is come about that Joseph's affliction is to be avenged, and Reuben's whoredom with Jacob's concubine is come before Israel.
32. why do you make such long delay, and flatter yourself; playing the hypocrite, and say: Not yet, a good while? Behold! it is come before the eyes of Israel, that you have committed whoredom a long time with the concubine, and defiled the line of Christ. Israel will no longer endure it; you shall with Reuben be cast out of the high office of sacrificing and governing: This is the voice which the watchmen have pronounced.
33. When Joseph had had the two dreams: the one, of his sheaf standing upright, before which the sheaves of his brethren bowed; the other of the sun, moon, and eleven stars, which had done obeisance to Joseph: envy forthwith arose amongst them, and they supposed he would be their lord (Gen. xxxvii. 5-10); and seeing that they were the elder they desired to rule over him.
34. Whereby we see how the outward man has only sought and aimed at the kingdom of this world; which was even the bane and undoing of Adam, in that he forsook the inward and sought after the outward.
- 35. Joseph's parti-coloured coat which his father made (Gen.
- xxxvii. 3) signifies how the inward power of God would again be revealed through the outward man, whereby the human nature would be variously coloured (that is, mixed with God), as the inward spiritual kingdom with the outward.
The spiritual figure stands thus:
36. Joseph, with his coat of many colours, was as yet a lad, both tender and young, and had not yet the wit, craft and subtlety of the world, but spoke the truth in simplicity; for his soul was not yet defiled from without with the craft of lying; and the spirit of God began to drive him forward: 1 for his coat of many colours was a figure of the inward.
37. This figure prefigures and represents to us the image of a true young scholar and beginner in Christianity, how he must be when the spirit of God shall drive and act in him; namely, he must turn his heart to God his Father, and learn to love him heartily. As Joseph loved to be with his father, and told him the evil that was committed among his children, so must a beginner in Christianity daily bring before God all his own miseries, and the miseries and sins of all that belong to him; yea, of all Christendom. As Daniel confessed the sins of the people of Israel before God; and Joseph the evils of his brethren before his father; so also a true Christian does daily confess the misery and sin of his people and nation, in hearty compassion, that God would be merciful to them and preserve them from great evils and sins.
38. And when this is brought to pass his heart becomes very simple, honest and upright, for he desires no craft, but would fain have all things proceed righteously and justly; and he cannot abide any unrighteousness or subtle dealings; for he always confesses the people's unrighteousness before God. And thus his mind becomes altogether simple, and seeks no kind of craft or subtlety; but puts his hope and confidence in God, and lives in the simplicity and lowliness of heart before God and the world. And he is as the tender young lad Joseph; for he hopes for good continually from God his Father.
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