“It was at the conclusion of two years.” “In all toil there is advantage, but lips’ talk is only for detriment” (Proverbs 14:23). Rabbi Shimon bar Abba said: Like the difference between one who drinks hot water and one who drinks cold.1Even the toil of heating water brings an advantage, as hot water was considered more healthy to drink (Etz Yosef). “But lips’ talk is only for detriment.”2If someone just talks and does not take action, he will suffer.
There was a certain bone gatherer in Tzippori, some say he was Rabbi Shimon bar Abba. When he would see black bones, he would say, these are drinkers of water; red, these are drinkers of wine; white, these are drinkers of hot water. Another matter, “in all toil there is advantage” – from all the suffering Joseph underwent with his master’s wife, he gained an advantage. How so?
He took her daughter.3Joseph married Asenat, daughter of Potifera (Genesis 41:45), and Potifera is identified by the Sages as Potiphar (see Bereshit Rabba 86:3). “But lips’ talk is only for detriment” – because he said to the chief butler: “Remember me…and mention me” (Genesis 40:14), two years were added for him,4Joseph spent an additional two years in prison. as it is stated: “It was at the conclusion [of two years].”