Genesis 39:21

Verse 21. Keeper. Pererius thinks this was the same Putiphar, who, recognizing the innocence of Joseph, allows him every indulgence in prison; but does not liberate him, for fear of the dishonour and resentment of his wife. Calmet.—He had before put him in irons. Psalms 104:18. Wisdom 10:13. Joseph here exercises at once the four cardinal virtues. Prudence, in keeping out of the company of his mistress, as the Hebrew express it, verse 10. “He yielded not to lie with her, or to be in her company.” Bible.—Justice, in regard to his master. Fortitude, in bearing with all sorts of hardships, loss of character, and so forth And Temperance, by refusing to gratify the most violent of all passions, at an age when it is the most insidious and ungovernable. This makes the fathers exclaim, We wonder more at the conduct of Joseph, than at the delivery of the three children from the Babylonian furnace. For, like them, Joseph continues unhurt, and more shining, in the midst of the flames. Saint John Chrysostom Tirinus.—The stories of Hippolitus, Bellerophon, and so forth seem to be copied from this. Calmet.