Midrash su Salmi 37:28

(Gen. 39:1:) WHEN JOSEPH WAS TAKEN DOWN TO EGYPT, < POTIPHAR, A EUNUCH OF PHARAOH AND CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD, BOUGHT HIM >. This text is related (to Ps. 37:28): FOR THE LORD LOVES JUSTICE AND DOES NOT ABANDON HIS SAINTS. Why does the Holy One love justice? Because he is called the Lord of Justice where it is stated (in Is. 30:18): FOR THE LORD IS A GOD OF JUSTICE. It also says (in Deut. 32:41): MY HAND LAYS HOLD ON JUSTICE.

Another interpretation (of Ps. 37:28): < FOR THE LORD LOVES JUSTICE > AND DOES NOT ABANDON HIS SAINTS. Do his saints need protection? R. Jeremiah said: See what is written (in I Sam. 2:9): HE SHALL PROTECT THE FEET OF HIS SAINTS. Do they need protection? It is simply as a popular⁴¹Gk.: idiotes, i.e., “commoner,” “one who is unskilled.” adage says: They fence in what is fenced in, and they break through what is broken through. Ergo (in Ps. 37:28): AND DOES NOT ABANDON HIS SAINTS.

Another interpretation (of Ps. 37:28): FOR THE LORD LOVES JUSTICE < AND DOES NOT ABANDON HIS SAINTS >. [THEY ARE PROTECTED FOREVER]. < The verse > speaks about Joseph. And how did he protect him? [See] what is written (in Gen. 37:28): WHEN MIDIANITE TRADERS PASSED BY, < THEY PULLED AND RAISED JOSEPH FROM THE PIT, THEN SOLD JOSEPH FOR TWENTY PIECES OF SILVER TO THE ISHMAELITES >. And with what were they laden?⁴²Gen. R. 84:17. Now is it not the custom for camels to bear only < foul-smelling > 'itran?⁴³One of various kinds of tar products or tree resin used for lighting, etc. Yet it is written here (in Gen. 37:25): < WITH THEIR CAMELS BEARING > SPICE, BALSAM, AND LABDANUM! It is simply that the Holy One said: Should this righteous man be set in the midst of a bad odor? Instead, I will order a good odor for him. Ergo (in Ps. 37:28) AND DOES NOT ABANDON HIS SAINTS. (Ibid., cont.:) BUT THE SEED OF THE WICKED ARE CUT OFF. This refers to Potiphar, who did not take him for work but for something else.⁴⁴I.e., for sodomy. So Rashi on Sot. 13b; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Gen. 39:1; Gen. R. 86:3. What did the Holy One do? He castrated him. Ergo (in Ps. 37:28): BUT THE SEED OF THE WICKED ARE CUT OFF. Now CUT OFF only denotes castration. Thus it is stated (in Lev. 22:24): < ANYTHING WITH ITS TESTICLES > CRUSHED, SMASHED, TORN OUT, OR CUT OFF < YOU SHALL NOT OFFER TO THE LORD >. And where is it shown that he was not a eunuch < already >, but that the Holy One had castrated him? Where it is stated (in Gen. 39:1): < WHEN JOSEPH WAS TAKEN DOWN TO EGYPT >, POTIPHAR, A EUNUCH OF PHARAOH.