To all of them he gave each man changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of clothing.
All Commentaries on Genesis 45:22 Go To Genesis 45
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
To each of the brothers two garments are given. And it is Paul who is dispatched when his words are published. To him Christ gives three hundred pieces of gold and five garments of various colors. A man who preaches the cross of Christ already has three hundred pieces of gold, and so he says, “For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And it is appropriate that he receives the gold pieces, because he preached not in the persuasive words of wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit. Moreover, Paul receives five robes, either as the manifold teachings of wisdom or because he was not seduced by any enticements of the bodily passions. Where there was danger for others, he maintained the victory. He overcame all the pleasures of the flesh by a signal selfcontrol and exercise of virtue; no bodily infirmity blunted his character or his zeal. When Paul was in the body, he did not know that he had a body. Indeed, when he was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body he did not know, he heard secret words that a man may not repeat. At the last, Paul had no earthly fragrance at all on earth, as he teaches when he says, “For we are the fragrance of Christ for God as regards those who are saved.”
