#53 Looking for a Wife—Pay Attention to Her Mother

Therefore I think that this priest was a different man from the one mentioned above, so that Joseph did not marry the daughter of his master and seems to have taken wise precautions in his own interest, since the example of the adulterous mother was at hand. Consequently, it is my opinion that the very honorable and chaste young man carefully abstained from marriage with the daughter of a most dishonorable mother.

For that monk counseled that anyone who wanted to court a maiden should not give his attention to the father but should rather consider the mother, since daughters generally imitate her ways.53 And the Germans have a proverb which says: “Beer tastes like the keg. If the mother is a harlot, the daughter is not pious.” Nevertheless, it can happen that an infamous mother or a godless father brings forth a daughter or a son who is good and honorable, and vice versa. It is my opinion that there were two men with this name, the former being in charge of the meat supply throughout all Egypt, the latter being the bishop of the churches and divine worship. This man’s daughter Joseph married on the advice of the king. But I leave it undecided whether this is the true opinion or not, because the Christian faith and religion are not imperiled in this point. (Luther’s Works, vol. 7, p 198).

Posted in 2018 Family Quotes.