{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66884/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66884","id":"gutenberg_66884","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66884","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English -- Juvenile literature","Brothers -- Juvenile literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life -- Juvenile literature","Jealousy -- Juvenile literature","Joseph (Son of Jacob) -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN\n\n                                   BY\n\n                          W. K. TWEEDIE, D.D.,\n\n         AUTHOR OF \u201cSEED-TIME AND HARVEST,\u201d \u201cTHE EARLY CHOICE,\u201d\n                      \u201cPARABLES OF OUR LORD,\u201d ETC.\n\n\n                        See the wan victim of his brethren\u2019s scorn,\n                          In Pharaoh\u2019s dungeon, drooping, abject, lone!\n                        But God is there, the friend of the forlorn,\n                          And Joseph\u2019s prison opes beside the throne.\n\n\n                                LONDON:\n                  T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;\n                        EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.\n\n                                 1872.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe story of Joseph is at once so simple that childhood is arrested and\nrivetted by it, and so profound that sages may deepen their wisdom by\nmeditating on the truths which it embodies. An attempt is here made to\npoint out some of the more important lessons which the narrative\nteaches,\u2014to manifest the wisdom and the watchfulness of Providence,\u2014and\nshow how God on high exercises his prerogative of educing good from\nwhat we are often tempted to regard as only and hopelessly evil. While\nman displays his wickedness by committing sin, the Holy One displays\nhis goodness by restraining it; and though his ways are confessedly \u201ca\ngreat deep,\u201d we get glimpses through the gloom,\u2014we catch echoes amid\nthe silence, which enable us to know, that when the tangled web of\nprovidence shall have been unrolled in light, it will be seen that he\n\u201chas done all things well.\u201d As the bones of Joseph were carried before\nthe Hebrews during all their wanderings, from Egypt to Canaan, till\nthey found a resting-place in that land of promise, the truth of God\nhere goes before us still, a very pillar of cloud and of fire.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n\n        I.      JOSEPH CAST INTO THE PIT,                 9\n        II.     JOSEPH SOLD TO THE ISHMAELITES,          15\n        III.    JOSEPH IN PRISON,                        21\n        IV.     JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH\u2019S DREAMS,    31\n        V.      JOSEPH\u2019S ADVANCEMENT,                    41\n        VI.     \u201cYE ARE SPIES,\u201d                          48\n        VII.    THE CUP IN BENJAMIN\u2019S SACK,              57\n        VIII.   THE MEETING OF JOSEPH AND BENJAMIN,      65\n        IX.     THE MEETING OF JACOB AND JOSEPH,         73\n        X.      JACOB IN THE PRESENCE OF PHARAOH,        79\n        XI.     THE DEATH OF JACOB,                      85\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nJOSEPH CAST INTO THE PIT.\n\n\nWhen Jesus would inculcate some of the deepest lessons which he ever\ntaught, he took a little child and set him in the midst of his\ndisciples (Matt. xviii. 2\u20134), and made that child his text. Truth thus\nfound an inlet into the mind which even the Great Teacher might have\nattempted in vain to impress, without some material illustration of his\nspiritual lessons.\u2014Let us endeavour to imitate the Saviour\u2019s wisdom,\nand seek some lessons to guide us in the touching history of Joseph.\n\nIt is well known, then, that on a certain occasion that youth obtained\npermission to visit his brothers at a part of Canaan somewhat distant\nfrom their father\u2019s home. But, previous to that time, he had given them\ngreat offence; and their anger only waited for a fit occasion to break\nforth in violence against him. And we should not fail to notice what\ncaused that anger. First, Joseph was a great favourite with his father,\nwho testified his partiality to the boy by the gift of a coat of many\ncolours, and thus unwisely laid a foundation for feuds and divisions in\nhis family (Gen. xxxvii. 3, 4). Moreover, Joseph had dreamed certain\ndreams which gave great offence to his brothers; for they indicated\nthat the time would come when the other children of Jacob would do\nhomage to Joseph, who was one of the youngest (Gen. xxxvii. 5\u201311). The\nfeelings which rankled in the bosoms of his brothers before, now\nrankled more and more, and were ripened by irritation for a violent\noutbreak at last. It appears, further, that Joseph had, at least on one\noccasion (ver. 2), complained to his father regarding the misdeeds of\nhis brothers; and all these things made him \u201chated by them, so that\nthey could not speak peaceably to him.\u201d\u2014All this suggests to us the\nstrange lesson, that there are some men who \u201chate him that rebuketh\nthem, and abhor him that speaketh uprightly\u201d (Amos v. 10). Men are so\nwedded to their own ways, even when they lead down to death, that we\nbecome their enemy if we tell them the truth. How often did scribe,\nPharisee, priest, and people break out in violence against Jesus for\nhis truthful warnings!\n\nNo sooner, then, did they see Joseph approaching Dothan, where they fed\ntheir flocks, than his brothers thought the time had come at length for\nhumbling their father\u2019s favourite. The first proposal was to put him\ninstantly to death; but Reuben interposed, and their sentence was, to\nthrow Joseph into a pit, and leave him to perish unpitied there!\nBlinded by envy, or goaded by rage, they trampled on every tender\nfeeling, and evil became their chief good.\n\nIn the good providence of God, however, the youth was taken from that\npit, in which he was to have been buried alive, and sent to a distant\ncountry, there to be the saviour of not a few, in a temporal sense. To\ncover their wickedness, his brothers next resolved to show to their\nfather Joseph\u2019s coat of tartan, dipped in the blood of a kid, as if he\nhad been devoured by ravenous beasts.\u2014Their brother might become a\nslave; their father\u2019s heart might be torn with anguish; their own souls\nmight be deeply stained with sin piled above sin;\u2014but what of all\nthese, when men are bent on indulging their evil and malignant\npassions? Let misery be heaped upon misery, yet men will not be\ndiverted from their iniquity.\n\nBut wicked as their deeds were, and an outrage at once against a father\nand a brother, and, above all, against their God, he who makes the\nwrath of man to praise him employed that wrath remarkably to work out\nhis purposes in this case. And he is doing the same at this hour. Think\nof the miseries, spread over many years of agony, inflicted by fierce\npersecutors on the Christians of Madagascar in our day, and then mark\nhow they increase in number notwithstanding. Think of the bloody\nmassacres in India, the martyrdoms of native Christians there, with the\nbutchery of all who wear the Christian name; and yet mark how that is\noverruled to rouse the churches to spread the truth in that dark-souled\nland. Think, above all, of the Cross of Jesus,\u2014of the woes which were\nthere endured, with all the malignant passions which nailed the\nRedeemer to the tree; and then see how God can make our wickedness\npromote his own glory,\u2014can bring joy out of anguish, and life out of\ndeath, and blessings unutterable out of the very curse (Gal. iii. 13).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nJOSEPH SOLD TO THE ISHMAELITES.\n\n\nWe have just seen that Joseph\u2019s brethren, moved by envy, sold him to\nsome Ishmaelite merchants, by whom he was carried into Egypt, and there\nsold as a slave. Regardless of their brother\u2019s cries, and deaf to all\nthat affection might whisper, the future patriarchs would make him the\nvictim of their hatred; and it is deeply instructive to notice how many\nsins are contained in this one transaction.\n\n1. There was a sin committed by brothers against a brother. The ties of\nnature were outraged. Affection was trampled in the dust,\u2014it was in\ntruth cast into the pit beside Joseph,\u2014it had no power in the hearts of\nthose hating and hateful men. Surely such a case occurring in the Bible\nso soon after the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, was designed by\nGod to show us the terrible ravages wrought by sin in the soul. Just as\nwar, with its bloody work, has often deflowered the fairest regions of\nthe earth, does fierce passion waste the soul of man.\n\n2. There was sin committed against their father. What although the\npatriarch should suffer uttermost woe when bereft of his favourite son!\nor what although his heart should break when the tidings reached him\nthat Joseph had been cruelly devoured by a wild beast! It was not to\nsuch things that those men would listen: it was to their own malicious\nhearts; and, cost what it might to their father, their brother must\neither die or become a slave. You may assure the sinner that the wages\nof sin is death,\u2014you may tell him that agony for ever is attached to\nguilt by God\u2019s decree; but all that will not turn the wicked from his\nway. God must turn us, or we rush unchecked upon ruin.\n\n3. In the sin of Joseph\u2019s brethren there was falsehood, and that to a\nparent. Those men deliberately plotted to deceive Jacob, by showing him\nthe coat of Joseph dipped in the blood of a kid. They utterly forgot\nthat God saw them; they listened only to their own hearts; and sin was\nadded to sin, that their passion might be indulged. To the crime of\nmurder\u2014the murder of a brother\u2014which some of them were willing to\nperpetrate, they added that of deception, deep in itself and sad in all\nits results. Now in all this they were just showing us more and more\nclearly what iniquity lurks or reigns in the heart of man, till the\nAlmighty Spirit make all things new.\n\n4. In that sin there was spite, and that against a brother. We have\nseen that there is reason to believe (Gen. xxxvii. 2) that Joseph had\nformerly blamed some of the practices in which his brethren indulged\nwhile they were from under their parent\u2019s eye, and that had provoked\ntheir antipathy: \u201cThey hated him\u201d when they saw that his father loved\nhim. And here again we see one reason why men have always ranked envy\namong the vilest and the meanest of the sins.\n\n5. It need scarcely be added that there was cruelty in that crime.\nThose brothers were deaf to the cries of the stripling; the majority of\nthem were not unwilling to put him to death amid lingering\nagonies,\u2014that is, to leave him to die of hunger in a pit, unheeded and\nunrelieved. When we see fools making a mock at sin, and multitudes\nseeking in it the only pleasure or the only gratification which they\nknow, surely that is because they do not know the dark depths into\nwhich it sinks them!\n\n6. And, to name no more, there was in that sin the love of money, which\nis the root of all evil. Those unnatural brothers, blinded by hatred,\nand eager to get the offender out of the way, actually sold him for a\nslave. They valued gold or silver more than their brother\u2019s life, his\nhappiness, or his affection. He might have to wear chains, or carry\nburdens heavier than he could bear; but what of all that, if their\nhatred was indulged, and Joseph put out of their sight! Till then they\ncould not be at ease. His deportment was a rebuke to them. He seemed\nholier than they, and because of that he must suffer; they must\ncontract guilt upon guilt. Now, is not this, in spirit, the very same\nkind of sin as that which led Satan to tempt and ruin man?\n\nSuch are some of the views suggested by this sad transaction\u2014the\nselling of Joseph. But little did his brothers know that these sins\nwould find them out. Little did they expect that even upon earth they\nwould see in Joseph all that his dreams had predicted,\u2014themselves at\nhis feet, and doing him obeisance with all their heart. And little did\nthey know that God was to be with their brother of a truth, to bless\nhim and make him a blessing. But so it was; and Joseph became a type of\nJesus, persecuted by his brothers, but exalted by his God; buried out\nof sight, yet raised to a throne; the victim of malignity at man\u2019s\nhand, but beloved of God, and therefore set on high.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nJOSEPH IN PRISON.\n\n\nGod has, in his holy providence, made great use of his people in\nprison. Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, Silas, and Peter, were all honoured by\nhim in such a place. Luther, while a captive in Wartburg Castle,\ntranslated a large portion of Scripture, and promoted the spiritual\nemancipation of millions in Christendom. Bunyan in his prison, where\nblinded persecutors had immured him, wrote a book, second to no human\nproduction in its knowledge of the heart and its delineations of truth.\nAnd so of many more. Joseph\u2019s name is to be added to this list. Having\nbeen basely accused of a foul crime which he refused to commit, he was\ncast into prison, and pined there for years, the victim of\nmalignity,\u2014or apparently forgotten. Now this seemed the completion and\nthe cope-stone of the machinations of Joseph\u2019s brethren. When he was\nimmured in that dungeon at On, in Memphis, in Thebes, or some other of\nthe royal cities of ancient Egypt, it might appear as if all hope\nconcerning him were gone: his aspirations, whatever they were, now\nseemed to be blighted for ever. It was with him, to mortal eye, as it\nwas with Jesus when he was crucified, dead, and buried,\u2014when a stone\nwas rolled to the door of the sepulchre,\u2014when the entrance was sealed\nwith a seal, and a guard of Roman soldiers set, as if they could baffle\nOmnipotence, and make all escape hopeless.\n\nIn truth, however, the imprisonment of Joseph was meant and used by God\nas a step to his exaltation. If he was for a season like one entombed,\nhe had a resurrection at last by the mighty power of Him who sees the\nend from the beginning. It was like the planting of an acorn soon to\nbecome an oak, or like the bubbling up of a little stream from the\ndepths of the earth soon to become a mighty river, while all around\nexclaimed,\u2014\n\n\n           \u201cThe gloomy mantle of the night,\n              Which on my sinking spirit steals,\n            Will vanish at the morning light\n              Which God, my East, my Sun, reveals.\u201d\n\n\nHis God was with Joseph, then, as his sun and shield, even in the\nprison-house of Pharaoh, and friends were soon raised up to the Hebrew\nlad; he was even advanced to a degree of honour akin to royalty itself.\nThere was no Bible then to embody the mind of God to man, such as it is\nnow our most blessed privilege to enjoy; and in the absence of such a\nbook, knowledge was sometimes mysteriously imparted by dreams. We are\nnot able to explain how that took place; but He who made the mind can\nimpress it as he wills, and he often impressed it by dreams, by\nvisions, or by voices. For his companions in prison, Joseph had the\nchief butler and the chief baker of Pharaoh\u2019s household; and as they\ndreamed dreams which he was enabled to interpret, that, in the\nprovidence of God, led to his liberation. The chief butler was restored\nto his former place in the royal household, as Joseph had foretold; and\nthough he forgot for a time his companion in prison, yet when the king\nin his turn was troubled by certain dreams, the butler remembered\nJoseph, pointed him out to Pharaoh, and the captive slave was summoned\ninto the monarch\u2019s presence.\n\nThere for the present we leave him, and observe that Joseph is now on\nthe high road to dignity and honour. By one of those sudden transitions\nfar from being uncommon in the East, where impulse often takes the\nplace of principle, or where what appears to be caprice does the work\nof system, the prison door is shut behind Joseph, and that of the\npalace is opened: he is soon to become the grand vizier of an Oriental\npotentate. His brethren had sought to bury him out of sight; for, to\ntheir mind, selling him into Egypt was equivalent to that doom. They\nhad no design but to get rid of a troublesome or an offensive brother;\nbut as God had restrained the remainder of their wrath, and in his\nprovidence prevented the perpetration of fratricide, so he had further\npurposes to serve by that remarkable youth; and Jehovah accordingly hid\nhim in the hollow of his hand; he was with Joseph when he went out, and\nwhen he came in.\n\nFrom this time forward, then, all went well with Joseph. He had refused\nto yield to temptation to sin. By the help of God, he was steadfast and\nimmovable; he became, as we shall see, the recognized benefactor of\nmillions. And what was the secret of all this? The Bible explains it,\nin one brief clause: \u201cThe Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous\nman\u201d (Gen. xxxix. 2). That is the basis of all true prosperity. With\nthat, we need not fear the face of man. \u201cThe Lord will provide,\u201d may\nthen become our assured confidence. In youth and in age, in sorrow and\nin joy, in temptation and in safety, in life and at death, all will be\nwell, all will prosper, if \u201cthe Lord be with us.\u201d Some, indeed, try to\nprosper without the Lord\u2019s guidance. They attempt by fraud what they\ncan accomplish only by the Lord\u2019s blessing upon honesty. Deception is\nsystematized, and iniquity is drawn \u201cas with a cart rope.\u201d But all is\nlike a building upon the sand, or worse,\u2014upon a sea-wave, unless the\nLord be with us. The whole is found at last to be a mockery, like the\nmirage of the desert.\n\nBut what were Joseph\u2019s prison thoughts? Perhaps hope deferred made the\nheart sick. Perhaps he sometimes desponded, and because the chief\nbutler long forgot his promise, the prisoner might fear that God had\nalso forgotten to be gracious. As year passed after year, till about\nthirteen had rolled away, who will wonder though his heart sometimes\nfailed! But after all the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. A\nthousand years are with him as one day. Joseph was liberated precisely\nat the moment best for him and for all Egypt; and it is ever so with\nthose who wait upon the Lord.\n\nNow, in connection with these events, it may be observed that we often\nhear of representative men\u2014these are men who represent some great\ninterest, or who are the champions of some great cause. One man, for\nexample, is the representative of great learning; and we cannot hear\nhim named without thinking of great scholarship, or all varied lore.\nAnother man represents the cause of the people\u2014not as a demagogue does,\nfor selfish or for turbulent ends, but for man\u2019s social improvement or\nsocial elevation\u2014for man\u2019s happiness, in short, in time and for ever.\nKnox, for example, or Chalmers\u2014what intelligent Christian, with the\nopen Bible for his standard, can hear these names without feeling that\nthese were representative men? Or a third man represents the martial\nspirit. We cannot hear his name without thinking of wars, and battles,\nand victory, and fame\u2014that poor shadow which men pursue, and blindly\nspeak of as glory. Or a fourth man is the representative of science;\nhis name almost means science itself. And yet another may be the\nrepresentative of ferocity unmatched\u2014of blood-thirstiness which only a\nFeejee cannibal could surpass.\n\nNow we find the same thing in the Bible,\u2014it is there in singular\nprominence and vigour. Abraham was one representative man; David was\nanother; Isaiah, and Paul, and John, were others; and we need not\nscruple to place Joseph among the rest. He was the representative of a\nclass upon whom Jehovah smiles while mortals frown\u2014whom the Most High\nexalts, while his creatures persecute, imprison, or destroy them\u2014whom\nhe crowns with prosperity, while men would plunge them in misery here,\nand doom them to endless endurance hereafter. By Joseph\u2019s case we are\ntaught that there is a God that judgeth in the earth, and encouraged to\ncommit ourselves in well-doing to him, assured that, though villany may\nseem to prosper, there is a curse in it\u2014though God\u2019s people be cast\ndown, they cannot be destroyed: His right hand will lift them up.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nJOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH\u2019s DREAMS.\n\n\n\u201cSeest thou a man diligent in business? he shall stand before kings: he\nshall not stand before mean men\u201d (Prov. xxii. 29). Such is one of the\nsayings of the wisest man, and we see it fulfilled to the letter in\nJoseph\u2019s case. In the house of Potiphar, in the prison where he was\nunjustly immured, and everywhere, he did what was just and right, and\nnow we see him (in our Engraving) literally standing before a king. In\nmany a passage of Scripture God is urgent with us to do with diligence\nwhat he appoints us to do; and he makes it plain that in every\ncase\u2014without exception, in every case\u2014the path to true honour, true\npromotion and prosperity, is the path of duty. For a time, men may get\nsuccess in iniquity; but their fall and their crash are the greater.\nWitness the penury and the shame of the fraudulent bankrupt\u2014the lordly\noppressor\u2014the unjust dealer of every name. The history before us\nillustrates all this.\n\nPharaoh\u2019s rest had been troubled by dreams, and when summoned, as we\nhave just seen, into the royal presence, Joseph was able to read\nthem\u2014his God was with him, and he prospered even in that. He foretold\nseven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of scarcity,\naccording to a twofold emblem seen in the royal visions; and counselled\nthe king to provide for the evil of famine by treasuring up the produce\nof the years of abundance. The lean kine and the well-favoured, the\ngood ears of corn and the bad, helped him to avert a dire calamity. He\nbecame the benefactor of millions; and, according to some, Joseph\nintroduced a practice into Egypt regarding the tenure of land of which\nthere are vestiges to this day.\n\nBut be that as it may, we see here how Joseph\u2019s advancement begins, and\nis promoted. He had honoured God, and is honoured by him. He had held\nfast his integrity, and now found that to be the path of peace as well\nas of prosperity; his equity is brought forth as the noon-day. His ways\npleased the Lord, and even Joseph\u2019s enemies were all at peace with him.\nHe had been in the furnace, and came forth pure. He had been tempted,\nbribed, allured to sin; but his God made him steadfast and immovable;\nand we are now to see the result. Let us, then, look at some details.\n\nIt seems to be a law in God\u2019s world, that wherever good is to be done,\nit must be accomplished by woe. Think again of the highest good ever\nwrought out upon earth\u2014the redemption of man by Jesus Christ\u2014and how\nwas that accomplished? By tears, by agonies, and cries; by a death\nwhose horrors have never yet been told! Or, when Paul would spread the\nblessings of redemption, how was that accomplished? By endurance at\nevery step, by buffetings, stripes, and persecutions! And when Luther\nwould sweep away some part of the rubbish which had been heaped upon\nthe truth, had he not to take his life in his hand, and clear his way\namid a thousand obstructions and tens of thousands of enemies, ere he\ncould advance that work? Or, once more, when God would make known his\ntruth in heathen lands, how is it done? As we have already seen, it is\namid throes, and persecutions, massacres, mutinies, and fiendish\ncruelties.\n\nNow, Joseph\u2019s case comes under this general rule. He was to become in\nGod\u2019s hand the instrument of preserving millions from a terrible death;\nbut, to achieve that result, he must surmount obstruction after\nobstruction, and rise from a pit into which his brothers threw him, and\na dungeon to which false accusation led. He was to turn famine into\nplenty, and dearth into comparative cheapness; and how was it done? He\nmust first be hated by his brethren; and then he must be sold as a\nslave; then he must be cast into a prison, and disciplined there for\nthirteen years; and only after all these things is he permitted to work\nthe work which God had given him to do. Satan\u2019s malice, and man\u2019s\nwaywardness, impeded Joseph\u2019s way; and only because the Lord was with\nhim did he prosper in the end against such combined opponents. Now,\njust in proportion to the difficulties encountered and surmounted by\nhim, are we called to recognize the hand of God in what befell. When he\nhas a work to do, none can hinder; instruments will be found, and his\npurposes on earth will be promoted, in spite of all that can resist or\ngainsay. As well may we expect to roll back the flowing tide by a word,\nor make some mighty river like the Amazon or the St. Lawrence run\nupward to its fountain, as check, divert, or even retard the purposes\nof the Eternal. He will work, and none can hinder: and the grand moral\nof Joseph\u2019s touching story is just this,\u2014Man and devils may combine to\noppose the cause of God, but on that cause advances, resistless because\nhe is the Almighty.\n\nBut while we glance at Joseph\u2019s promotion thus far, we cannot help\nadverting to the state of his unnatural brothers. No doubt they thought\nthat their wicked device had succeeded; they tried to be at peace, and\nrejoice in their form of prosperity. They might see their aged father\npining nearer and nearer to the grave from day to day, on account of\nthe loss of Joseph. They might have some compunctions, and we can\nscarcely suppose that conscience would be altogether silent; it would\nbe a rare case, indeed, had they succeeded in stifling entirely the\nvoice within. But we are told of no repentance, no confession of sin,\nno humiliation for murder designed, for falsehood told, for a brother\nhated, and a father, reduced to life-long anguish, passing on unsoothed\nto the grave! Oh, the power of sin! How it perverts man\u2019s nature! how\nit hardens his heart into stone! how surely is the power of an Almighty\nSpirit needed to renew it! and how blessed when that Spirit has come to\nmake us one spirit with that Living One of whom Joseph was a\ntype\u2014Jesus, the Son of God!\n\nWe say Joseph was a type of Jesus; at least the life of the one\nstrangely resembled that of the other. Such resemblances are sometimes\nfanciful, and pushed further than sober judgment can sanction, yet in\nmany respects they are striking. Was Joseph, for example, hated by his\nbrethren? Jesus also came to his own, and his own received him not. Was\nJoseph the favourite of his father? In like manner Jehovah proclaimed\nconcerning Jesus, \u201cThis is my beloved Son.\u201d Was Joseph sold by his\nbrethren? So was Jesus. Was the former falsely accused? So was the\nlatter. Was Joseph the saviour of many from death by starvation? Jesus\nwas the saviour of a multitude, whom no man can number, from sin. Was\nJoseph first degraded or dishonoured, and then highly exalted? The\nhistory of the Redeemer\u2019s earthly sojourn tells how wicked men\ndishonoured or derided him; but the Scriptures also tell that God\nhighly exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name. Was\nit a proclamation made before Joseph, \u201cBow the knee\u201d? (Gen. xli. 43).\nIn like manner, \u201cat the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.\u201d Did Joseph\nfeed multitudes? In like manner Jesus gives us the bread which comes\ndown from heaven. Did Joseph forgive his unnatural brethren at last?\nThe dying Saviour prayed for his crucifiers: \u201cFather, forgive them; for\nthey know not what they do.\u201d\n\nWe would not carry out this parallel, we repeat, to any fanciful\nextent; but the coincidences now mentioned, and many more, are often\npointed out. In the estimation of some, they furnish a proof that the\nsufferings of the Saviour were prefigured, or predicted, by those of\nJoseph; which at least show this\u2014that he that will live righteously\nmust suffer persecution, whether he be one of the sons of men, or the\nonly Son of God.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nJOSEPH\u2019S ADVANCEMENT.\n\n\nIt is instructive to notice how many things were combined, by the\nprovidential care of God, to promote the advancement of Joseph: 1. He\ndreamed; 2. He told his dreams to his brethren; 3. He went and visited\nthem at a distance from their father\u2019s home\u2014and, prior to that, he had\nbeen envied by them on account of his father\u2019s partiality; 4. Reuben\nand Judah interposed to prevent his being murdered; 5. The Ishmaelites\npassed opportunely through Dothan; 6. They bought him; 7. They carried\nhim into Egypt, and sold him to Potiphar\u2014not a person of minor\ninfluence; 8. Joseph was tempted to sin, but resisted the temptation,\nand was thrown into prison on a false accusation; 9. He had for his\nfellow-prisoners two of Pharaoh\u2019s household; 10. They dreamed dreams;\n11. Pharaoh did the same; 12. A former fellow-prisoner of the Hebrew\nlad was at hand, to remind the troubled king of that lad\u2019s power. And\nonly at the end of this long chain\u2014to which still other links might\nhave been added\u2014was Joseph raised from his degradation; only then did\nit appear that he who chooses weak things to confound the mighty had a\ngreat work to accomplish in Egypt by the instrumentality of that man.\nIt seemed darkness without one ray of light when Joseph was torn from\nhis father and his father\u2019s country, and made not merely a slave, but a\nclose prisoner for several years. But he who makes the wrath of man to\npraise him, needed Joseph in Egypt; and by terrible things in\nrighteousness the purposes of the Eternal were wrought out.\n\nNow this finely illustrates the exquisite adaptations of the providence\nof God to accomplish his designs. The links, how delicate and manifold,\nyet how firm! The agents, how free, yet how perfectly controlled! The\ndevices, how deep in some cases, how simple in others; yet how\nbeautifully all conspire to promote the desired end! Is not this the\nfinger of God? Does he not vivify all, or restrain all, ever one in\npurpose as he is one in essence; and making all advance his glory?\n\nContemplate Joseph now, then. He is at the right hand of Pharaoh; for\nthat monarch has said to him, \u201cSee, I have set thee over all the land\nof Egypt. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word\nshall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than\nthou.\u201d Joseph had power now to \u201cbind even princes at his pleasure;\u201d and\nwe cannot help contrasting the recent slave and prisoner with the\nfriend and counsellor of royalty, united in the same person. He is\nadorned with Pharaoh\u2019s ring, and with a chain of gold. If he has lost\nhis coat of many colours, he wears the royal raiment of Egypt in its\nstead. He rides, moreover, in a chariot of state; and men, as we have\nseen, now cry before him, \u201cBow the knee.\u201d Joseph is, in truth, all but\nroyal; and though such things would not much affect him, if he was what\nwe believe him to have been\u2014that is, righteous before God\u2014yet they do\nfurnish a vivid contrast to Joseph\u2019s recent condition. They show us\nthat when God over all has work to do, he will both find agents and\ngift them with the means of accomplishing his purposes. Man seeks to\nwithdraw himself and his affairs entirely from the control of the\nSupreme; but he bridles, fetters, or gives liberty, according to his\npleasure; and blessed are they who are his willing people.\n\nAnd who could not quote a hundred such examples as that of Joseph from\nthe history of the past? Nay, may not every man who has had wisdom to\nwatch the ways of God in dealing with his own soul, single out examples\nof similar wisdom in the providence of the Holy One? It may be for\nretribution on the guilty, or for encouragement to the men who fear\nGod; but whatever be the design, many signal examples are recorded, to\nshow that God watches over all human plans, guiding and controlling\nthem, so as to promote the good pleasure of his will. Man proposes, but\nGod disposes; and he that is wise to mark the wisdom of the Supreme in\nsuch things, will not want for proof of the loving-kindness of the\nLord. During a recent memorable siege in the East, for example, it was\nthe design of hordes of dark-souled men to explode a mine, and blow\ntheir beleaguered victims into the air; but that mine was prematurely\nfired, and destroyed only those emissaries of evil who dug it. Now,\nthis is only a specimen of what takes place in the providence of God;\nat least that mine at Lucknow was morally anticipated in the selling of\nJoseph by his brethren, and his exaltation to the right hand of Pharaoh\nby God, compared with their humiliation before him at last.\n\nFurther: we need only to look forward to the closing scene of all, the\nlast and great Assize, to see examples countless of this general law!\nWhat multitudes then will be seen to have been caught in their own\npitfall! How manifest will it then become that God was over all, even\nwhen men were asking, like Pharaoh of old, \u201cWho is the Lord, that I\nshould fear him?\u201d Now, this may well supply strength to every tried\none. God may permit sorrow to assail; but do we, in godly sincerity,\ncommit our way to him? Then glory will emerge from that threatened\nshame; and grief, as in Joseph\u2019s case, will be found the precursor of\njoy everlasting.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\u201cYE ARE SPIES.\u201d\n\n\nThe history of Joseph now becomes more and more a history of the\ntriumph of faith over sight, or holiness over sin. Hitherto\ntransgressors have seemed to prosper in their way, and only the godly\nwere depressed. But now we are to see the Holy One vindicating the\nrights of injured innocence, and more and more plainly proclaiming that\nthe Judge of all the earth will do right. May we not exclaim, then,\u2014\n\n\n           \u201cStern daughter of the voice of God!\n              O Duty! if that name thou love,\n              Who art a light to guide, a rod\n                To check the erring, and reprove;\n              Thou who art victory and law,\n              When empty terrors overawe;\n            From vain temptations dost set free,\n            And calm\u2019st the weary strife of frail humanity.\u201d\n\n\n\u201cBe sure your sins will find you out,\u201d is the fixed decree of God; and\nin the case of Joseph\u2019s brethren the day of retribution now begins to\ndawn. If hitherto conscience had been at ease, or oblivious of their\nbrother, it is now to be roused, and to speak out for the Holy One who\nis the Lord of conscience\u2014the just Judge of the skies. The great white\nthrone and its work are now to be anticipated.\n\nFrom the narrative in Genesis we know that a famine had arisen in\nEgypt, as Joseph had predicted. Its influence spread from that land\ninto the adjacent countries, and the sons of Jacob went thither to\nprofit by the stores which the wisdom of that brother whom they had\nhated and sold had amassed. \u201cAll countries came into Egypt to Joseph,\nfor to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands:\u201d and\namong the rest, the future patriarchs came, and \u201cbowed down themselves\nbefore him with their faces to the earth.\u201d\n\nIn other words, Joseph\u2019s dream is now fulfilled,\u2014his brethren do\nobeisance to him\u2014they are prostrate in the Oriental manner at his\nfootstool! All their machinations could not turn aside the purposes of\nJehovah; and neither their projected murder of Joseph, nor his being\nsold into Egypt, nor his being a prisoner for years, could interfere\nwith the onward march or the ceaseless flow of purposes formed in\nheaven. It cannot be too strenuously enforced, for it is the burden of\nthe whole Bible, that every wish of man, every word and deed of the\ncreature, must bend before the will of God. Joseph\u2019s whole history is a\nproof; and the history of the whole world, when read in the light of\neternity, will further demonstrate the same truth. \u201cBe still, and know\nthat I am God,\u201d is the profound but simple lesson which all must\nlearn,\u2014on earth, or in agony hereafter for ever.\n\nAll obstructions, then, are made to promote the designs of the Eternal;\nand the sons of Jacob are therefore now at the feet of their hated\nyounger brother. For their trial, he spoke roughly unto them, and said,\n\u201cYe are spies.\u201d They were thus compelled to defend themselves in the\npresence of him whom they had thrown into a pit, and plead for their\nlives before one for whom they had no better portion than slavery and\nexile. Again and again was the charge, \u201cYe are spies,\u201d produced against\nthem; and again and again had they to declare that they were true men,\nthough Joseph knew that they were not. In short, they begin to discover\nthat the way of transgressors is hard; and to be assured that though\nhand join in hand, sin shall not escape under the government of the\nHoly One.\n\nIt is sometimes not easy to speak or to act towards sinners under the\ninfluence of that pity which their sad case requires. The cutting\nsarcasm of Elijah to the priests of Baal, and the irony of Isaiah to\nthe idolaters of his day, appear to be the right weapons to be used in\nsuch a case. Oh, how has reason been dethroned by sin! how has even\nconscience been warped and blinded, when men can hope to cope with\nOmnipotence and triumph\u2014to plot against Omniscience and escape\u2014to rebel\nagainst Love and be happy!\n\nAnd the scriptural narrative is full upon this point, for it is one of\nthe main designs of the Bible to restore conscience to its place of\npower. When tribulation came upon those men\u2014when their sins began to\ncompass them about with sorrows\u2014it was then that conscience spoke out:\n\u201cThey said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother,\nin that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we\nwould not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben\nanswered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against\nthe child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is\nrequired\u201d (Gen. xlii. 21, 22). Their injured brother wept aside while\nthey thus conferred; but, meanwhile, conviction of sin has been\nwrought; and, in one point of view, these guilty men are twice in the\ndust;\u2014once before God, as detected in their iniquity; and again before\ntheir brother, fulfilling the word of God upon their very knees.\n\nAnd this may vividly remind us of what awaits the guilty at the last.\nSelf-detected, they will also be self-condemned. They will anticipate\nthe verdict of the Judge, and call on the mountains to fall on them ere\never his sentence be uttered. But were it not well to anticipate all\nthis at an earlier stage? Were it not well to write bitter things\nagainst ourselves now, and not wait to be condemned with the wicked\u2014to\nlisten to the voice of a condemning conscience, and so escape the\ncondemnation of God?\n\n\u201cHis blood is required of us,\u201d then,\u2014such was the confession of those\nmen; and, in confessing that fact, they bowed before the majesty of\nconscience, as the trees of the forest bow before the storm. Now, it\nwere well could the men of every name, and class, and age, be brought\nto recognize that majesty, and in time to do obeisance before it. It\nwere well were it written up in every place of business, in every\nchurch, in every home, nay, in every heart,\u2014\u201cThere is a God that\njudgeth in the earth;\u201d \u201cHe will bring every work into judgment, with\nevery secret thought.\u201d Were that remembered, surely it would tend to\ncheck man\u2019s proneness to sin, unless he were prepared openly to\nconflict with Omnipotence. True, nothing but God\u2019s almighty grace can\nsubdue our wayward hearts, or make his will our law; yet could we\nremember Joseph\u2019s brethren, as we are directed to remember Lot\u2019s wife,\nit would be well with us: the Spirit of God would bless it for our\ngood; and both young and old\u2014both viceroys like Joseph and shepherds\nlike his brethren\u2014would be wiser and happier men.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE CUP IN BENJAMIN\u2019S SACK.\n\n\nThere can be little doubt that the events recorded in Scripture are\ndesigned to illustrate its moral maxims and its religious principles.\nDistinguishing aright between what the God of the Bible approves and\nwhat he condemns, we find much light shed upon his truth by the conduct\nof those whose lives are recorded there. Truth is never presented in\nabstract forms, such as only the studious or the learned can\ncomprehend. On the contrary, it is embodied in life, now to awe us, and\nanon to allure; at one time a beacon to warn, at another a signal to\nencourage or guide.\n\nBut there are many facts mentioned, or customs referred to, in\nScripture, with which we are now but little acquainted. The next\nincident in Joseph\u2019s history to which we refer belongs to this class.\nHis brethren were returning the second time from Egypt with sacks of\ncorn; but in order to stay, or to test them further, he ordered the cup\n\u201cwhereby he divined\u201d (Gen. xliv. 5) to be privately deposited in the\nsack of Benjamin, who had been sent by his father with extreme\nreluctance to Egypt, at the imperative demand of Joseph. His steward\nwas then ordered to follow them, and seize the party in whose sack the\ndrinking-cup was found. It was discovered, of course, in Benjamin\u2019s;\nand now began consternation to the uttermost among the sons of Jacob.\n\u201cThey rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to\nthe city.\u201d They had hoped to escape from the effects of a sin committed\nmany years ago, but now they must suffer and be in great trepidation\nfor a sin which they did not commit at all. If conscience has hitherto\nbeen dormant or dead, it is about to be roused to a terrible activity.\nIt is soon to be with them as with the thief who \u201cdreads an officer in\nevery bush.\u201d\n\nThe first thing that the guilty brothers did, when they reached the\nabode of Joseph, was to \u201cfall before him on the ground,\u201d and so fulfil\nonce more that prediction concerning them and their doing obeisance\nwhich had at first excited their enmity or their envy. They had to\nplead their cause with all the force of Eastern pathos before Pharaoh\u2019s\nviceroy\u2014their own brother; and their pleading contains some exquisitely\ntender appeals, thoroughly Eastern in their style, but as thoroughly\nhuman in their nature. Their father\u2019s grief now occupied their\nthoughts: they were not heartless as before; for when the conscience\nwas once roused it began to stir the better feelings of the heart. Days\nof adversity and trial have at length accomplished some favourable\nresults. As the great I AM had work for Joseph in the world, he had\nalso work for his brethren to do, and they are reclaimed from their\nself-inflicted degradation.\n\nBut what is meant by Joseph\u2019s divining cup? When his brethren appeared\nbefore him to answer for the theft alleged against them, the ruler of\nEgypt said, \u201cKnow ye not that such a man as I am can certainly divine?\u201d\nAnd does that mean that Joseph had adopted the practices of heathen\npriests, pretending to forecast the future, and so far usurp the\nprerogative of God?\n\nWithout going further, the margin of our Bibles may help us to reply to\nthat question. The word \u201cdivine,\u201d in Gen. xliv. 5 and 15, is translated\non the margin \u201cmake trial;\u201d and we are thus, perhaps, referred to some\nmethod adopted in Egypt for testing doubtful cases, by some peculiar\nuse of a cup. According to others, the word means no more than that\nJoseph would make strict scrutiny upon such a point. He would sift and\ntest the character of the men before him. He would not let them go as\ninnocent, when he had tried them and found them criminal. By such an\nannouncement Joseph would re-enforce the claims of conscience; he would\ndeepen the alarms that had already risen in their minds; he was in\nGod\u2019s hands to work out God\u2019s purposes in those long dormant hearts;\nfor if Joseph could make strict inquiry, those men knew of One who\ncould make stricter still\u2014the God who looks upon the heart, whose eyes\nare as a flame of fire, and who cannot look on sin without abhorrence.\n\nBut however we may interpret what our Bible calls Joseph\u2019s power to\ndivine, we have no difficulty in understanding the moral lessons of\nsuch events, or tracing the hand of heavenly wisdom, \u201cfrom seeming evil\nstill educing good.\u201d When Joseph demanded Benjamin to be brought down,\nand when that was reported to his father, we know how he was affected.\nJoseph, he believed, was lost; Simeon was detained in Egypt as an\nhostage; Benjamin is now demanded; and the patriarch exclaimed, \u201cMe\nhave ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and\nye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me\u201d (Gen.\nxlii. 36). Now, little did the man who made that sore complaint\nunderstand the ways of God, even after all the experience he had had:\nhe judged like a short-sighted mortal, as we are ever prone to do, and\nnot as a believer in \u201cthe mighty God of Jacob.\u201d He took counsel of\nflesh and blood, and not of the God of all grace. He listened to the\nwhispers of his own heart; and what can follow such a course but woe?\nThe patriarch would have been nearer the truth\u2014he would have uttered\nthe very truth\u2014had he said the reverse of what he here declares. And\nthe same is true of us all. We are ever prone to misinterpret the ways\nof God. We put false constructions upon his most wise and loving\nprovidences: we judge by sense, and not by faith. When he chastens for\nour profit, we think that it is for our ruin; we conclude that we are\nto be destroyed, when we are only corrected: and thus live in misery\nwhen we might joy in God, as David did when he said, \u201cIn very\nfaithfulness doth he afflict me.\u201d Conscience whispers to many a soul\nwhat we deserve from God; and when sorrows come, conscience generally\nconcludes that they are the first drops of the vials of wrath.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE MEETING OF JOSEPH AND BENJAMIN.\n\n\n\u201cJoseph fell upon his brother Benjamin\u2019s neck and wept; and Benjamin\nwept upon his neck\u201d (Gen. xlv. 14). Such is the word-picture of which\none of our Engravings is a copy. There is much that is lovely and of\ngood report as between man and man in our natures, notwithstanding of\nthe fall, and one of the fountains of the heart is here broken open. We\nsee how brother loves brother, and, by contrast with that scene, are\nenabled to understand how far the minds of Joseph\u2019s brethren must have\nbeen warped and deadened by hatred or envy, when they could trample as\nthey did upon the affection which should knit brother to brother. Such\nbeautiful displays of brotherly love were perhaps made in this case\njust to show more clearly by contrast the hateful nature of envy in\nevery case, but most of all among brothers.\n\nPrior to this stage of these proceedings, indeed, Joseph had given some\nmanifestations of his affection to Benjamin. He showed that his\nelevation to the right hand of a throne had neither alienated nor\nchilled his love; and the fivefold mess which he sent to Benjamin (Gen.\nxliii. 34), according to the Eastern mode of showing affection, made it\nplain that the external change in Joseph\u2019s position had not altered his\nheart. When he first set eyes on Benjamin, he could not refrain his\ntears, but \u201csought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and\nwept there\u201d (verses 29\u201331). According to the calmer temperament of\nWestern nations, where self-command in such cases is more studied, such\naffection may appear excessive in a high and mighty ruler; it may seem\nweak or womanish thus to dissolve into tears, even in the retirement of\none\u2019s chamber. But in less phlegmatic temperaments, and especially\namong Orientals, nature takes its own mode of expression\u2014at once the\nmost pathetic and the most powerful; and the gushings of natural\naffection, its tenderness, its beauty, and its force, rank among the\nfinest portions of the Word of God. Jesus wept because Jerusalem would\nnone of him: it would rather rush upon ruin. The deep yearnings of his\nloving heart were outraged, and he wept in anguish there, as in\nGethsemane his sweat was as it were great drops of blood. Again, Paul\ncould tell, even weeping, of some who were the enemies of the cross of\nChrist, who gloried in their shame, and drew forth pity for men who had\nno pity on themselves. In short, wherever man is not hardened into\ncallousness by the power of the world, or chilled by conventional\nusage, he will be as prompt to weep with them that weep as to rejoice\nwith them that rejoice. It is true, whether poetry record it or not,\nthat\u2014\n\n\n       \u201cNot the bright stars which night\u2019s blue arch adorn,\n        Nor rising sun which gilds the vernal morn,\n        Shines with such lustre as the tears that break,\n        For other\u2019s woes, down Virtue\u2019s manly cheek.\u201d\n\n\nBut the scene at which Joseph made himself known to his brethren\ndeserves our closer attention. He wept sore, and so loudly that the\nEgyptians heard him. A strange thing that day had happened in their\nland; and it is not easy to conceive of the feelings of those brethren\nwhen the ruler, so royal-like, beside them, exclaimed, \u201cI am Joseph!\u201d\nSurely no lightning flash ever startled more. The words of Nathan to\nDavid, \u201cThou art the man!\u201d could produce no profounder emotion. In that\none clause the memory of years long past was awakened; and surely the\nconsciences of those men were busier now than they had ever been\nbefore: surely the blush of confusion might well crimson their cheeks,\nand the recollection of all their baseness\u2014their cruelty to their\nfather, their brother, and their own souls\u2014would rush upon their minds\nwith the vividness of a yesterday\u2019s event. \u201cThey were troubled at his\npresence\u201d\u2014the margin says \u201cterrified.\u201d And well they might; it was as\nif one had risen from the dead, or as if a miracle had been wrought to\nconfront them with their sin. When he said, \u201cI am Joseph your brother,\nwhom ye sold into Egypt!\u201d would not the words sound like the first\nportion of a sentence of death and execution? But he hastened to\nrelieve their fears. \u201cBe not grieved,\u201d he said, \u201cnor angry with\nyourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to\npreserve life.\u201d And when he \u201ckissed all his brethren, and wept over\nthem,\u201d they no doubt felt a mountain-load lifted from their minds.\nJoseph had forgiven them; nay, more, he had found an excuse or\npalliation for their sin. But could they forgive themselves? If they\nwere not utterly abandoned to guilt\u2014and we know that they were\nnot\u2014could they find rest anywhere but in the dust at that solemn,\nsearching moment? Oh, how would many, now undone and beyond hope for\never, rejoice could such an hour of contrition be granted to them here!\n\nHere, then, we may contemplate the state of these detected men, when\ntheir sin was pressed upon their notice by their brother, all kind and\nforgiving as were his words. The chief sin of all\u2014the sale into\nslavery\u2014had been committed many years before: it seemed over and\nforgotten, like a thing buried and out of sight. But no; sin has a\nvitality in it which defies alike oblivion and death; it is enduring,\nas the nature of God is unchanging; and the guilty brothers are thus\nconfronted with their sin, fresh and vigorous, as if yesterday had seen\nit perpetrated. And is not this but a rehearsal or a foreshadowing of\nthe great and final day, when the Judge of the quick and the dead is to\nset our sins in array against us, or when it will seem a relief if the\nmountains would fall on us and cover us from the wrath of the Lamb?\nHappy the man who has his soul washed in the Lamb\u2019s blood preparatory\nto that day! We should never forget that there is to be a resurrection\nof our deeds as well as of our bodies, and should live so as to be\nready to render our account with joy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE MEETING OF JACOB AND JOSEPH.\n\n\nIf we have witnessed one scene of affection when Joseph embraced his\nbrother Benjamin, we are now to behold another, when the patriarch\nJacob meets with his long lost son. We are often permitted, even in\nthis life, to see joy and gladness according to the days in which we\nhave seen grief; and an example of that is at hand.\n\nAfter the interview between Joseph and his brethren, matters were soon\narranged for transferring them and all their retinue to Egypt,\u2014another\nimportant stage in the development of God\u2019s plans with our world.\nPharaoh confirmed the request of his viceroy to that effect, so that\nthe patriarchs and their father with them were invited to settle in one\nof the richest portions of Egypt. Among these migratory tribes of\nherdsmen\u2014who literally had no continuing city\u2014such a removal was not so\nremarkable as a similar thing would be in our country of more fixed\nhabits; and the whole house of Jacob was accordingly soon in motion\ntoward Egypt. \u201cIt is enough,\u201d he exclaimed, when the invitation reached\nhim; \u201cJoseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die;\u201d\nand the threescore and six souls, who composed his household, of course\nfollowed in his train.\n\nNow, had we been there to witness that migration, it would never have\noccurred to us to think that the future history of the sons of men\nwould be largely affected by the movement; yet it was so. That was no\nordinary change of abode: God was in it of a truth; and, blind or dark\nas man might be, God was there in the act of \u201ccalling things that are\nnot as though they were.\u201d\n\nAs he journeyed toward Egypt, Jacob met with much to gladden him by the\nway. In a vision of the night, he was encouraged from on high to go\nfearlessly forward, for blessings great and manifold awaited him and\nhis descendants in the future. But our present topic leads us past the\ndifferent stages of the journey, to the meeting of the father and the\nson. When Joseph learned that his parent was approaching, he hastened\nforth to meet him, and, with the ardent affection, as well as the\nprofound respect, of the East, welcomed the aged man to Egypt. He did\nnot think it beneath his dignity, as vice-king of that country, to\noffer lowly reverence to his father, shepherd or husbandman as he was,\nand following a profession which made him \u201can abomination unto the\nEgyptians.\u201d Nay, when Joseph met his father in the land of Goshen, we\nread that \u201che fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while\u201d\n(Gen. xlvi. 29); while the father exclaimed, \u201cNow, let me die, since I\nhave seen thy face, because thou art still alive.\u201d\u2014It was an interview\nand an hour which compensated, in a great measure, for the sorrows and\nseparation of years; it was one of the scenes by which God, in his holy\nprovidence, foreshows how intense will be the joy when the great family\nare all gathered home, from every country, and tribe, and tongue, to\ntheir Father\u2019s house on high. The exile returning to the home of his\nfathers, or the soldier revisiting the scenes of his boyhood after many\na bloody field, may understand such emotions in some degree. They are\ngreen spots in the desert of life\u2014a Tadmor in the wilderness\u2014a lily\namong thorns.\n\nYet there, also, the feelings would be of a mixed nature, like all\nthings human. Scarcely any of the parties present\u2014Jacob, Joseph, or his\nbrethren\u2014could fail to glance in thought at the strange proceedings\nwhich had separated them so long. There might be neither envy nor\nhatred now\u2014neither spite upon the one side, nor a desire of retaliation\non the other. The dealings of Providence had been too remarkable to\nadmit of such feelings; and we rather suppose that they were all\nsuppressed, as much as possible, amid the general joy. But be that as\nit may, we see the patriarch happy for a season. His children, who were\nreally the hope of the world (strange as the remark may seem when\napplied to such men), were now gathered around him; and as it then\nappeared that he had little to do but to die, he might at length put a\ndifferent construction on his own words: \u201cAll these things are against\nme.\u201d He had providence now interpreted to him by its God, and saw with\nhis bodily eyes, as all the ransomed will yet see in glory, that \u201call\nthings work together for good to them that love God, and that are the\ncalled according to his purpose.\u201d Flesh and blood may fear and quake\nunder trial, but faith rises to a higher level, and walks with a firmer\nstep,\u2014it can endure as seeing him who is invisible.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nJACOB IN THE PRESENCE OF PHARAOH.\n\n\nWe have seen that the son stood before kings, and the father is now to\ndo the same. If we have beheld not a little in former scenes to commend\nJoseph to our love, we are here to see yet more. As soon as he met his\nfather, he communicated his purpose to apply to Pharaoh to sanction the\nsojourn of the patriarch and his tribe in Egypt. This was easily\narranged; and at the close of the proceedings, Joseph \u201cbrought in Jacob\nhis father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh\u201d\n(Gen. xlvii. 7). When this was accomplished, we can suppose that the\nhighest wishes of one so affectionate as Joseph were gratified. For\nabout seventeen years his parent lived to bless him with his company\nand his counsel; and though we have not many details of their\nintercourse during that period, we may easily imagine that the\ntenderness of those seventeen years largely compensated for the long\nand violent separation which had kept the father and the son so far\napart, and even made them the citizens of different kingdoms.\n\nBut we may notice here, in passing, the question of Pharaoh, and the\nanswer of Jacob, at their interview. \u201cHow old art thou?\u201d was the\nmonarch\u2019s inquiry; and Jacob\u2019s reply was a picture in words of the\nweary life of man: \u201cThe days of the years of my pilgrimage are an\nhundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my\nlife been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life\nof my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage\u201d (Gen. xlvii. 9). Few\nand evil! Behold the history of a life whose days were protracted even\nbeyond the ordinary span! Few and evil, because man is born to trouble\nas the sparks fly upward. Few and evil, because it is written, \u201cDust\nthou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.\u201d Few and evil, because, in\nthis special case, there had been more than common grief endured, where\nthose who should have been a solace or a stay were transformed by sin\ninto causes of anguish, first to their aged parent, and at last also to\nthemselves.\n\nAnd how sad must the reply of Jacob have sounded in the ears of the\nking! It rarely happens that monarchs are permitted to hear unpleasant\ntruths. Everything around them seems to proclaim or to whisper that\nto-morrow will be as to-day; or if different, only more joyous and more\nthoughtless still! For once, however, the hoary-headed patriarch tells\nthe monarch the truth, and indirectly reminds him, Thou, too, must die.\nThere was another king, the King of Terrors, mightier than Pharaoh, and\nslowly approaching to lay him in the dust.\n\nAnd perhaps there is nothing in all the history or the life of man\nwhich shows more clearly the effects of sin, or the ruin of the fall,\nthan his wilful ignorance, or at least his want of feeling, on the\ngreat subject of his mortality. Of no truth is it possible for man to\nbe more convinced than this\u2014I must die. It is not so absolutely certain\nthat the sun will rise on any given day, as that man may die any moment\nor any breath. Yet who is moved by that conviction to prepare for\ndying? Who is stirred up by all the funerals which he sees, or all the\nopen graves which he visits, to prepare for meeting God? Not one. It is\nnot that kind of influence: it is the grace and the Spirit of God that\nmake man wise to consider his latter end. For example, the plaintive\nsentiment, \u201cFew and evil,\u201d uttered by the patriarch, most probably\npassed through the monarch\u2019s mind like water through a sieve. A sigh,\nor a wish, or a hope, perhaps, and all was over! The thought was dashed\naside as an unwelcome intruder amid the gorgeous scenes of a palace.\nAnd if that was the case, Pharaoh was only a specimen of the universal\nrace of man. The fleeting nature of life is forgotten amid its cares,\nits engrossments, and trifles. But happy they whom the Spirit of God\nmakes wise in this and other respects! Happy they who cling, as Jacob\ndid, to Him who is the life, and over whom death has no power for ever!\n\nIn the African desert there is a bird, known as the honey-guide, which\noften conducts the traveller to some hive, whose sweet stores form a\nstaple article of food in those dreary parts. By a peculiar instinct,\nprovision is thus made to supply the wayfarer\u2019s wants; or, in some\ncases, to rescue him from death. Now God has yet more wisely and surely\nprovided for our escape from the second death, if we listen to the\nwarnings of his Word or the guidance of his Spirit; and happy are they\nwho are thus guided! They are led to a portion sweeter far than honey\nfrom the honey-comb. The few and weary days of our earthly pilgrimage\nthen conduct us to the house of the Lord\u2014the city of the Great King\u2014the\nabode to which the palace of Pharaoh was as a dungeon or a cell.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE DEATH OF JACOB.\n\n\nWe have now reached the closing stage of all. For about seventeen years\nJacob sojourned in Egypt, and about one hundred and forty-seven here\nbelow; but the \u201cevil\u201d of which he complained to Pharaoh is drawing to\nan end. The patriarch is about to die. Joseph was summoned into his\nfather\u2019s presence, along with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, who\nwere adopted as his own by the dying patriarch; they received his\nblessing along with their father (Gen. xlviii.); and after the aged man\nhad prophetically sketched the history or character of each of the\nfuture patriarchs, \u201che gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded\nup the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.\u201d\n\nAnd in concluding these sketches, we may glance again at the mode in\nwhich the mighty God brought good to all nations and all times out of\nthe misdeeds of the sons of Jacob. In our world there is much to\nperplex and bewilder us in studying the ways of Providence, and it is\nnot always easy\u2014for us, at least\u2014to \u201cjustify the ways of God to man;\u201d\nbut he will sooner or later justify them himself, and make it plain to\nall that his ways, like his Word, are pure.\n\nFor example, we have already seen what benefits accrued to Joseph\nhimself from the cruelty of his brethren, and how fully he recognized\nthe hand of God in all that had befallen him. Just as Jehovah will make\nit plain at last, before the assembled world, that the very wrath of\nman has praised him, in the present instance he made the evil passions\nof those brothers remarkably advance the eternal purposes of the God of\nheaven. The promises made to Adam and to Abraham are here helped a\nstage forward to their fulfilment in spite of all that seems to oppose.\nSomehow or other, though we cannot see it, or explain it at all, even\nsin\u2014the abominable thing which God hates\u2014will be made to promote his\nglory; and of that result we have a specimen in the events of this\nremarkable family.\n\nTo Jacob, also, as well as to the land of Egypt, we see what benefits\nresulted from the sin of his sons. All the guilt of that sin lay upon\nthem, and was not in the least jot mitigated by the manner in which God\noverruled it for good; but it is full of encouragement to a child of\nGod, to see it working out the purposes of his Father. Jacob was saved\nfrom death by starvation; his family, and myriads besides, were the\nsame: and thus he who sought only to do evil by stirring up the envy of\nJoseph\u2019s brethren, was compelled to do good thereby again and again.\n\n\n\n                                  THE END","title":"Joseph and His Brethren","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":11098}