Joseph, the man so greatly honored at the end, could well say, "I fear God," for it was what had characterized him all his life, and was only the echo of his first recorded words spoken in Egypt when he met the tempter with "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Gen. 39:9. Joseph's brethren thoroughly lacked this kind of fear; Joseph sought to create it. They were boldly protesting their faithfulness-that they were true men-and pleading innocence to such a gross charge as being "spies". He told them that he feared God, bringing them into His presence who is light, and their darkness was immediately revealed, their consciences reached, and real fruit produced. What a change! What a contrast! "We are true men" is the language of Genesis 42:11; "We are verily guilty" is the confession of verse 21. Greater extremes there could not be-"true," or "guilty"-it is God being brought in that made the difference. What a state was theirs! Conscience awakened and reproving, and one of themselves soon found reproaching-"Reuben answered... Spake I not unto you saying, Do not sin against the child?" And matters would only grow worse till all was out in the presence of Joseph. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do"; but before there is communion, the sins or failures must be admitted or confessed. These men had to do with one who knew their history and sin; but they knew nothing of communion with him till their consciences were reached, and he had revealed himself, then all their sin being admitted, they were forgiven.
Bad consciences made cowards of these wretched men! Their asses were laden with corn, and provision was given them for the way; but in stopping to give their asses provender at an inn, one spied his money in his sack, and exclaimed, "My money is restored." Had they been "true men," according to their own boasted character surely they would have found in this a cause for joy and thankfulness; certainly full sacks and money returned was no honest cause for producing hearts and tongues like theirs. We read, "Their hearts failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?" Here we get the other kind of fear. It is not the fear of God that Joseph had. Their fear was the fear of a bad conscience. They feared because they were offenders; he feared lest he should offend. Theirs was the fear of distance and estrangement from God; his was the fear of nearness enjoyed, and communion too much valued to be lightly treated. Theirs was the fear of judgment; his had a quality in perfect conformity with the favor in which he stood. Those that saw that great light when Paul was smitten down on his way to Damascus were afraid when they saw it, while a holy fear filled Paul's soul as he said, "Who art Thou, Lord?" "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22). Such is the sinner's and the Christian's fear!-the fear of distance and the fear of nearness, the fear that keeps us away from God, and the fear that brings us nigh. May God increase this reverential fear in all His own who know nearness, and want to keep it in all its sweet enjoyment.
But though their fear was so different from that of Joseph's, yet he would have rejoiced to see godly fear produced in them. To this end he was toiling, and the agony of their souls at this display of the bountifulness of his love and grace would have been an adequate reward. He had been wounding them, but they were "the wounds of a friend" that he gave them, and much better than kisses, while they were in such a state. It was the divine tact of his patient serving. He wisely wounded that such a cure might be effected that would leave them forever thankful for the wound. The process seemed long, but it was the only one likely to be effectual. A foolish and inefficient fisherman will dash at his prey and drive it away; the skillful and successful will display long patience and silent tact. The Lord help us, whether it be with our failing brethren, to "restore such a one in the spirit of meekness"; or with poor sinners, to win them wisely, for "he that winneth souls is wise".
Nature might have suggested one of two other courses to Joseph. Self-vindication would have prompted him to tell them how bad they were; and that he was their brother whom they put in a pit and afterward sold; and now that he had the pre-eminence as he had dreamed, he would exercise it in their destruction. Nature might have wrought in its character. Displaying nothing but honey; Joseph's heart would have discharged itself of the affection burning in it, regardless of the unfitness for its reception, and left them in a state ten times worse than it was before, and much harder to be cured. No; it is "salt" that is "good," not honey; and what it affects it also preserves. Had Joseph dealt with his brethren in the first manner stated, in anger and judgment, with no grace, instead of there being produced the "fear of God," it would have only produced "the fear of man"; and that we are told "bringeth a snare"; and "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:20. So-called love displayed at the expense of truth, where wrong remains unchallenged and unconfessed is only an amiability which reflects discredit on its possessor at every expression of it. Joseph was not going to make for peace at the expense of righteousness.
There can be no real peace which has not a basis of righteousness and truth. Melchisedec was "first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of peace." Heb. 7:2. We are living in a day of marvelous grace; but it is grace reigning "through righteousness," and that because, in the cross, "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." Isa. 32:17.
This part of Joseph's history is a lesson of deepest importance in this day of looseness, and a real feast as one discovers Christ in the picture- though every picture can only be a meager representation of Christ. Yet the moral dignity of Joseph is grand to a degree. Malice and violence would have been most weak, unmanly, and ungodlike, in their present low estate; but in those three words, "I fear God," there was real moral power.
In this blessed, wondrous picture we see the outlines of many a case of discipline through which a greater than Joseph, with perfect mercy and skill, leads His people, in order to create, where it is lacking, the fear He so much appreciates. Yet how often do we fail to own whose hand it is that shakes the "sieve" of discipline (Amos 7:9), and which will not let the least grain fall upon the earth, in order to deliver from the "fan" of judgment which would "bereave" and "destroy" (Jer. 15:7). He never unnecessarily afflicts, and He prayed for Peter whom He disciplined. A curse is pronounced upon the man "whose heart departeth from the Lord," and surely this is ever where the fear of God is lacking. "He shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness." Jer. 17:5,6.
How the lack of this holy fear of God deprives of all present gain; and human reason-the carnal mind allowed to work-is the first step to its displacement. The fool says, "There is no God," but the greater fool is he who practically disowns the truth to which he verbally assents. It is nothing less than infidelity in principle to talk of God and yet live as though He were not. The effect of this lack is the allowance of practices, plans, and inventions which are on a level with the world, if not below it. Actions become compatible with beliefs and, of course, the fear of God is hardly to be expected there.
The "fear of God" is the Christian's road to truest gain and is the fulfillment of the hope taught by the Spirit. All we need to meet the difficulties we find along that road is faith in exercise (perhaps mainly through trials) that owns there is a God. If we let this go, then the road that I have named "the fear of God" is immediately lost and we find instead another we may name "the fear of men or circumstances." There unbelief works, schemes and plans, and yields an abundant treasure of sorrow, disappointment, and endless remorse.
Mary's prophetic language was: "His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation." Luke 1:50. His ears hearken to those to whom Malachi refers, who "feared the Lord and spake often one to another: and the Lord harkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name." Mal. 3:16.
In Luke 12 we are told to "fear him," and to "fear not" (vv. 5,7). We are of more value than many sparrows. Why then should we be fearful of circumstances when caring for us is the same One whose hand provides for the sparrows, five of which are sold for two farthings (one alone is too worthless to measure its value) and "not one of them is forgotten before God"? The Lord forewarns whom men are to fear-"fear Him....yea, I say unto you, Fear Him."
This fear seems to be one of the first manifested instincts of the divine nature; and it is beautiful to see it displayed in such a vessel as the thief upon the cross. This malefactor rebuked his comrade, saying, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" It is evident that he did, and in the next breath owned Jesus "Lord"- "Lord, remember me."
But returning to Joseph's brethren, we marvel their language in Gen. 42:28. Their sacks were filled, their money returned, yet they exclaimed when one was opened, "What is this that God hath done unto us?" It is the language of fear, calamity, and woe, out of place even in the day of adversity and yet found in the midst of unexpected plenty. It was their wretched, guilty conscience that made them miserable in the presence of that which might have made them glad.
They passed on to Jacob their father, and told their story, and when the sacks were opened in his presence, and "they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid." Jacob manifested the same character here that was so common with him. He was full of fear, unbelief, and forebodings of calamity. As he had once found satisfaction in his own invention of an evil beast devouring Joseph, to account for the blood upon the coat, so now already his unbelief suggests, "Simeon is not," and mischief may befall Benjamin by the way. "All these things are against me" now; and if his "ifs" of unbelief are fulfilled-for unbelief often carries with it a wretched self-made martyr or morbid spirit which only feeds upon itself-his gray hairs would be brought down with sorrow to the grave. Poor Jacob! When these things came to him, did he pray? No. Did he rejoice in the midst of his tribulation? No. Was his language toward God at all? Did he say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him"? No. Did he make the valley of Baca a well? No. "All these things rare against me," is his woeful cry; he did not see the hand of God in any of it, and it was true of him, as of his posterity, of whom it is recorded, "They have not known My ways." Heb. 3:10. God was working in all these things for that end which presently made Jacob weep for joy; and then if he looked back, what a waste must have met his view! He would feel the remorse of lost opportunities for glorifying God as each trial or sorrow arose, because he met it with repining instead of meeting it with all its excellent fruits. All that 'he had done had only tended to hinder; certainly not to accelerate, the fulfillment of God's purpose.