So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.

If Joseph's brethren had said this we would have been justified in charging them with the crime of trying to shuffle off the responsibility for their guilt upon God. But when Joseph is the speaker we recognize at once the drift of the words and see that they are free from exceptionable meaning.

Hath made me. father to Pharaoh.

Calmet has remarked that among the Phœnicians, Arabians, Persians and Romans, the title of "father" was given to certain officers of state. The Roman emperors gave the name of father to the Prætorian prefects, as appears by the letters of Constantine to Ablarius. The Caliphs gave the same name to their prime ministers.-- Clarke.

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