thee," referring to an incident in his earlier history. The
grandees of Egypt had advised Pharaoh against appointing
Joseph as viceroy, and they did not recede from this counsel
until Joseph, in his conversation with the Egyptian king,
proved himself to be master of the seventy languages of the
world, the necessary condition to be fulfilled before one
could become ruler over Egypt. But the conversation
proved something else, that Pharaoh himself was not entitled
to Egyptian kingship, because he lacked knowledge of
Hebrew. He feared, if the truth became known, Joseph
would be raised to his own place, for he knew Hebrew beside
all the other tongues. In his anxiety and distress,
Pharaoh made Joseph swear an oath never to betray the
king's ignorance of Hebrew. Now when Joseph threatened
to have himself absolved from this oath as well as the one