Augustine of Hippo : ON JOSEPH'S DIVINATORY SCIENCE. — And Joseph said to them, What is this thing that ye have done? know ye not that a man such as I can surely divine ? About this divination he also sent word through a messenger. Well, what does this mean? Since those words were not spoken in earnest, but only as a joke, as the ending showed, should one think that it is not a lie? Lies, in fact, are from liars that are serious, not joking. On the other hand, things that are said jokingly and do not exist are not considered lies. But the greatest problem is the meaning of Joseph's actions with his brothers, making fun of them so often and keeping them in suspense until they discovered who he was. For although the action, when it is read, is all the softer and the more unexpected for those to whom it was addressed, however, given the seriousness of Joseph's prudence, if there were no significant meaning in this kind of game, then neither he would have done it and the Scripture would not have narrated it, which has such great authority and sanctity and such a keen insight into future things that will be prophesied as prophecy. It is not my intention now to develop this point; I just want to warn you what to do here. For I think that it is not even meaningless who does not say: I divine, but a man like me divines. And if this is a special mode of expression, we must find something similar in the texts of Scripture. [ — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 144 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)