And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not anything he had, except the food which he did eat. And Joseph was a handsome person, and well favored.
All Commentaries on Genesis 39:6 Go To Genesis 39
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
However, let us now come to holy Joseph, so that we may be fed with the example of his chastity and purity as with a sort of heavenly food. This holy Joseph, then, of whom your charity heard in the present lesson, was handsome in body but more splendid in mind, because he was chaste in body and virtuous in mind. Bodily beauty shone in him, but even more so shone the beauty of his soul. Now although physical beauty is apt to be a hindrance to salvation for many men, it could not harm this holy man because the beauty of his soul governed the splendor of his body. Thus the soul should rule the body, not the body the soul, for the soul is the mistress of the body while the body is the handmaid of the soul. Therefore unhappy is the soul that is dominated by the body and makes a mistress out of a servant. Truly the soul that is subject to vices of the flesh becomes the servant of the body, because it loses the faith of its Lord and endures the slavery of sin. The soul of the patriarch Joseph, however, faithfully kept its power, for the flesh could in no way dominate it. Indeed, when asked by his mistress, an unchaste woman, to lie with her, he refused consent because even in his position as a slave he had not lost the dominion of his soul. As a result of this, he was attacked by false accusations and thrown into prison, but the holy man considered that prison a palace, or rather he himself was a palace within the prison. For where there is faith, chastity, and purity, there is the palace of Christ, the temple of God, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore if any man flatters himself because of the splendor of his body, or if any woman boasts about the beauty of hers, they should follow the example of Joseph and that of Susanna. Let them be chaste in body and pure in mind. Then they will be beautiful not only to people but also to God.
