The righteous man.
Again the word of the Lord tries Joseph, but not so much now as the word of prophecy, but as the word of command, the doctrine of righteousness. "The Egyptian's house is blessed for Joseph's sake." "The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." A lesson on the true method of prosperity. A prosperous man is one who has the Lord with him—
1. To give him favor with fellow-men.
2. To teach him wisdom, and put things into his hand.
3. To give him the faculty of rule, and dispose others to trust him entirely.
4. To keep him pure from the vicious besetments of the world, both by his own personal chastity and by his courage and self-command in hours of temptation.
5. By delivering him when he is entangled in the meshes of the evil-minded. The bad woman's determination is thwarted. Mercy is shown him in the prison.
6. By making him a messenger of peace and truth, even in the very prison house of shame and misery.
Notice again the elevation of Joseph's character.
1. His love of God. "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
2. His love of man. "My master hath committed all to me—how can I wrong him so?
3. His confidence in the blessing of God on the upright and holy life. He knew that God would vindicate him.
4. His self-control. His circumstances were fearful temptation. Had he not been a virtuous man in his heart of hearts, he would have succumbed, and then pleaded, as so many do, the power of the flesh and of the tempting circumstances.
Notice also how these characteristics do help one another when they are in the character, and how, when a man casts himself upon God, God makes the way of escape. Joseph was safer in prison than he was in his master's house.—R.