JOSEPH ACCEPTED THE POSITION as viceroy with appropriate grace, but inwardly he was wary, since he understood how easily wealth and power can corrode a man’s integrity, in gross or barely perceptible ways. He would have to be extremely careful not to confuse his own personal will, empowered now to the utmost degree, with the will of the supreme intelligence.
But he enjoyed his privileges. All the pomp and circumstance was amusing, actually, and he had to smile at God’s humor in having these slim young heralds with pomaded hair run ahead of his chariot crying, “Bow down! Bow down!” while the surging crowds obeyed, echoing and magnifying his dreams of thirteen years before, though only he and God could appreciate the joke.