Joseph and His Brethren
F.T. Heath
Table of Contents
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 1
"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age" (Gen. 37:3). For this his brethren hated him: and Joseph dreamed and, for his dreams, his brethren "hated him yet the more." "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit," and ever seeks most diligently to find a cause for the display of its animosity. Joseph could not help the fortune, or misfortune, of his birth; and the dreams of his unconscious hours could afford no honest ground for the hatred of his kindred. But it was jealousy, and "jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire"; and they "could not speak peaceably unto him."
The flesh ever seeks its own, and others' gain often only aggravates it to manifest its works: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like." Gal. 5:19-21. But what we shall see, the Lord helping us, in our short perusal of the life of Joseph, is the unpretentious dignity and perfect manly meekness of one who has to meet all this, though led on in triumph by the One to whom, as his great-grandfather had learned, nothing was too hard.
Highest honor was before this stripling, the youngest but one of all his brethren; and the way to it was through clouds and storms, shame, suffering, and loss. But through it all Joseph exercised the greatest patience—no fighting for his rights, or undue faithless vindication of his character. The language of his life and habit was, "Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.... My expectation is from Him." Psalm 62:1-5. And God was faithful, as ever, to show Himself strong in the behalf of him whose heart was perfect toward Him. He continually manifested Himself on his side, and crowned his life with honor, and recorded in the list of acts of faith accomplished by the accounted worthy ones, of whom the world was not worthy, what he did "when he died." (Heb. 11.)
In Gen. 37 Joseph was sent by his father in search of his brethren, but when they saw him they conspired against him—picture of those who, in a later day, when the blessed Antitype of Joseph came, said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." But Reuben delivered Joseph out of their hands.
It is blessed to see how in every emergency God provided a way through or a deliverance from it for His servant. Truly "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about His people" (Psalm 125:2). It was necessary, in order to the fuller development of the type, for Joseph to be delivered out of the hand of his enemies, while the language of Christ was, "Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were delivered: they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man.... Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death" (Psalm 22). Nothing but deliverance out of death could be His lot, while with Joseph, as with Isaac on Mount Moriah, it was deliverance from it. For Joseph, "the pit was empty, there was no water in it." The cry of Christ was, "Save Me, O God; for the waters are come in unto My soul... The floods overflow Me" (Psalm 69). It was necessary for Him to die, who had volunteered to do the will of God, thus making atonement and bearing the judgment of our sins, as our Substitute. Spiritual blessings and life eternal could only thus be brought to us, while the temporal blessings, fruit of Joseph's sufferings, enjoyed in his day, did not need it, as far as Joseph was concerned. Yet it is important to understand that all the world is benefited by the propitiation of Christ; and all benefits and blessings, temporal or spiritual, enjoyed by any, saved or unsaved, from Adam to Joseph, and on through our day and the coming age, are alone based on it. By reason of the propitiation of Christ, the sinner exists, is preserved, surrounded by a multitude of mercies, and called by the gospel to a standing in grace. How solemn and wonderful this fact of the world's indebtedness to Christ, extending to every creature in it, though only the tiniest proportion ever returns "to give glory to God."
"And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?... Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites." They lusted after his life; no credit to them that they did not take it; it answered their purpose better to barter away his body. Judah suggested the sale of his brother, which was effected for twenty pieces of silver. Judas, in after days, sold his Master at a greater price, for thirty pieces. Then they dipped Joseph's coat of many colors in the blood of a goat they killed for the purpose, and presented it to their father, thus deliberately carrying out their wicked plot to do away with Joseph and deceive his father.
To what lengths will envy and hatred not go, and what will flesh not do, if unrestrained by grace, to gain its selfish ends? Jacob at once identified the coat, and thought of the worst to account for it; he was troubled at the rumor of war (Matt. 24:6). "It is my son's coat: an evil beast hath devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces."
What will Jacob do under these circumstances? Will he be like David, who, when told that the child was dead, "arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped"; and further said, "I shall go to him"? (2 Sam. 12.) No, he refused to be comforted, and said, "I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him."
Jacob looked no farther than the grave, and at that only as the close of the days of mourning. David, as so constant with him, looked beyond it, to resurrection. And learning the grace, and rejoicing in it, which meets his unrighteousness, says, "My tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise." Psalm 51:14, 15. God has said, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me." Psalm 50:23. David did it, making his affliction brought on by his sin, the occasion of it, having learned the grace that ever abounds over sin when it is confessed. He had first said, "I acknowledge my transgression."
Jacob neither glorified God nor found a well for himself in the valley of Baca. David entered upon the joy of the morning, "I shall go to him"; the other got no farther than the season of weeping unless it were the grave, his deliverance from it. One speaks of going to the house of the Lord as a worshiper, the other of going to the grave, a mourner. Jacob had lost something that his heart was set upon on earth and, like the disciples in an after day, was "sad." They had trusted that it had been He, who now was crucified, who should have redeemed Israel, what they desired; and when they were come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6. What did He answer them? He told them it was not for them to know the times and seasons, and led their thoughts away from that which their hearts were set upon, and which they could not possibly get, to what was to be their infinite gain and proper portion; the Holy Ghost was coming, and they should receive power, and be witnesses for Him—not "mourning" or "sad," but witnesses in power to a risen, triumphant, glorified Christ, and the grace flowing by reason of the smitten rock, from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth.
That which had palled their sanguine hopes in ignorance and blindness, had really brought to them far richer gain for their enjoyment, and was a necessity to the fulfillment in another day, for another people, for the lesser blessing which they had hoped for. Unbelief ever seeks to legislate for God; we see it all around, and in our hearts—it has been the history of the world. In Eden it was suggested that it would be better to have what God had withheld; and their legislation, put in practice, brought them death.
In Canaan they preferred to be like other nations, and have a king; and yielding to their wish, that they might learn the folly of their legislation, "The LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them." 1 Sam. 8:7. What was the result? A long history of failure, and dishonor done to God, with only a few bright spots, entirely due to the grace that pursued them in His faithfulness and love. We hear men daily legislating for God, as to the rain and sunshine, the heat, the cold; and in our daily circumstances, how often we bring in question His providential care: does it bring peace and happiness? on the contrary, such go mourning all their days, and forecasting sorrowful events, as did Jacob with regard to Benjamin, only bringing prematurely gray heads with sorrow to the grave.
Jacob did not doubt the "mischief" which they told him had befallen Joseph, and was very ready to imagine the like for Benjamin at a future time. Thus it ever is; the heart astray from God in unbelief is a ready prey to the caprice of imagination, the lies of men, and the subtle wiles of Satan. It is "the honor of kings... to search out a matter" (Prov. 25:2). Jacob seems to have taken no trouble thus; there is no keenness of faith to discern the lie; but accepting it, and refusing the comfort, thinking only of the grave, and himself as an object surely to be pitied, thus wept for Joseph. There was nothing for God in it, though perhaps he appeared a martyr. It was unbelief, believing only what it can believe—a lie.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 2
In Gen. 39 Joseph is "brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh... bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites, and the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man." Where is this that Joseph prospers, and that the Lord is said to be with him? Can it be in Egypt, the very place where his great-grandfather had lost, as to all real blessing, everything? Yes it is Egypt, the identical place and among the identical people or their successors. Then why the difference as to God's behavior toward them? This question with all its issues finds its solution in two words—"went" and "brought." Turn to chapter 12, and what do we find? "There was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." "Joseph was brought down." It all depends on how we get into the circumstances we are found in, as to the approval or disapproval we shall meet with in them at the hand of God.
Joseph is brought down in the wisdom and goodness of God to preserve life, and God makes him to prosper, walking, like the man in the first Psalm, in uprightness, integrity, and godliness. Abram suffered loss because he was there for his own selfish ends, and to escape suffering.
We now find Joseph in prison; and surely if we did not know the sequel we should say, Joseph's day of prosperity is over now. No, it was only God moving in His mysterious way, His wonders to perform; and in the temptation God has proved His servant; and in the prison (because incarcerated there, not through his own sin, but by reason of the cruel, vindictive lies of one whose love turned to bitterest hatred when she found one more righteous than herself, and whose persistent rectitude the more disclosed her lack of it) He kept him company. The Lord was faithful, and through waves and through storms He led along, and in the prison was found with Joseph where, strange to say, he prospered still. Yes, success is certain to the obedient, for the Lord is ever with them.
Joseph does not wrestle and struggle: he can let his gentleness be known to all men, even surely to the prisoners in his care, as well as to those who had cast him there, for the Lord was at hand. (See Phil. 4:5.) How different it would have been with Joseph, had the circumstances of his prison life come about by his own sin or folly. But apart from this, two men may be in exactly the same circumstances, and their behavior be entirely different, the effect on the spirit being characterized by the way these circumstances come about, though the way in each case may be right, and even laudable.
Joseph was innocent of the crime he was charged with, and his deportment bore that mark, and the Lord was with him; and doubtless he had many quiet seasons of great refreshing, though we read not of exuberance of joy, as in other cases. The time of his imprisonment was long, but honors were conferred upon him even there; and like Uzziah, while seeking the Lord, "God made him to prosper." He, even here, is found in active service: and the man, so greatly to be honored soon, serves faithfully in his low estate.
Let us now take a peep into another prison, and learn a lesson from a man of an entirely different character. The Holy God has recorded of the impetuous Peter, in the days of his prison life, that he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Blessed and timely sleep is this!
He had once slept when he ought to have watched; now he is, with unremitting care and unsleeping eye, watched over by the One with whom he had failed to watch one hour, but who had found an excuse for the failure, in the weakness of the body, while He gave him credit for all He could, saying, "The spirit truly is ready." Peter is here putting in practice what he afterward, in his epistle, presses upon others, when he speaks of "casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." The "due time" he speaks of in the previous verse for being exalted, in his case out of very low estate, came very soon.
Surely this scene of a sleeping Peter, in such circumstances, tells us that he at least knew something of the ease of the yoke and lightness of the burden of doing the will of God. To him the words had been addressed, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me"; and the One who had said them was now active in his behalf. Peter's heart seems not troubled, and his cares cast on another, whose pleasure it was to bear them, while the saints are soliciting, and triumphantly procuring, his release—not at the hands of man, but of Him in whom they unfeignedly believed. Yes, they believed in an unseen Lord as much as in a visible Jesus; as they believed in God, so now they believed in Him (John 14:1). How blessed to be in such exercise and constancy of faith. Their prayers were without ceasing, though as is so often the case, there was a terrible breakdown when the answer came: "They were astonished," and said to the damsel, "Thou art mad."
A third condition of prisoner is found in Paul and Silas. Worse off apparently than all, backs bleeding and in the inner prison—doubtless a loathsome place—and their feet in the cruel stocks, but singing! Not serving like Joseph, nor sleeping like Peter, but singing at midnight!
"Joyful... in tribulation" was what characterized these prisoners, doubtless because they were brought into the circumstances by service for, and in obedience to, Christ. They had witnessed for Him, and now they rejoiced to suffer for His sake. Rectitude and negative innocence, with prosperity, characterized the prisoner Joseph. Positive service, and spiritual—not characteristic—repose was with the prisoner Peter. Positive service, and worship in the Spirit, was with Paul.
As Peter sleeping in prison affords an example for his teaching, and the blessed fruits of its practice, for he had evidently cast his deep care upon another—precious picture of the repose and confidence of faith, portrayed too in the very one who had drawn his sword before, to gain his object, showing how grace mellows the spirit and displaces impetuous self-will—so Paul not only teaches, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God," but is an example of it by his practice, as in prison he "prayed, and sang praises." Happy prisoner of the Lord then is he who can serve like Joseph, though the sphere of it be very limited; or who can sleep or repose like Peter; or sing praises like Paul till "by the skilfulness of His hands" God Himself delivers! In each of these cases before us, how manifest it is that the hand of God delivered them. "He delivered them out of their distresses." Psalm 107:6.
The interpretation of dreams, the direction and guidance of an angel, the earthquake at midnight, could alone be interventions of God. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." But if we ask "not counsel at the mouth of the LORD," like Israel in Josh. 9, or pursue our own purpose notwithstanding God's Word crosses it, as in the days of Jehoshaphat and Ahab (2 Chron. 18), we need not look to prosper in our ways, nor for triumphant issues to our tribulations, nor hearts and lips full of praises for "His goodness and for His wonderful works." Anything other than His arm made bare for us, will surely only yield suffering intensified, difficulties multiplied, and spiritual poverty and death. How good and how excellent is the language of Asa when he "cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa.... There was exceeding much spoil." (2 Chron. 14:11, 12, 14).
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 3
In Gen. 40 we get the account of the two men, the king's butler and baker, incarcerated in the same prison with Joseph, and put under his care. Coming in to them one morning, his tender compassionate eye perceived that they were sad, and he asked them why it was. They told him they "have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it." Joseph asked if interpretations do not belong to God, and requested that they tell it to him. Then the chief butler told his dream, of a vine with three branches; it budded and shot forth blossoms, and the clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in his hand, and he took the grapes, and pressed them into it, and gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. Joseph's interpretation was that the butler would be, in three days, restored to his butlership, and added, "But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house."
The chief baker, seeing that the interpretation was favorable, also told his dream. Truth is often only valued in such a case; the sands of fiction, sentiment, or vaunted groundless hopes being resorted to, to blind the eyes to its pursuit, when it favors not. Vain man! the thirst of truth, for right and justice, is not satiated thus. Unfavorable or favorable, its issues known or unknown, seen or unseen, truth abides the same; and if run counter to, its pursuit will surely end in the disclosure of the folly of seeking to blind the eyes to its approaching claims. The baker said, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bake-meats [or the work of a baker—margin] for Pharaoh: and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head." Joseph's interpretation of this was that in three days the head of the baker would be taken off, and he hung on a tree, and the birds should eat his flesh.
The ripe fruit of the butler, and the work of the baker, remind us of Cain and Abel and their offerings. Like Abel's offering, there is no human effort; the grapes are brought forth from
the vine that budded, and ripe- ready for Pharaoh's cup. The "bake-meats," or "work of a baker," were the fruit of effort, like the produce of Cain's tillage. The baskets too were "white," or "full of holes" (margin).
Oh, how much toil and labor are expended, and only to be lost for lack of spirituality; how much sacrifice made and wasted, carrying with it untold disappointment and remorse, where if obedience had been substituted for it, which to God is so much better, what copious returns would it have yielded of richest blessings. But skill has been put in the place of faith; and the wages, dearly earned, have been put into bags with holes (Hag. 1:6) and wasted.
The birds of the air devoured the work of the baker out of the basket with holes. By works of law shall no man living be justified; it is death to try it. Faith appropriates a "ripe" and accomplished work, yielding revenues of wine to cheer the heart.
The third day, being Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast, and he restored the butler to his butlership, and the baker he hanged, according to Joseph's interpretation.
"Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him." Well was it for Joseph that he did. Joseph was not to have his way; God's was far better, and exceeding abundantly more fraught with blessing than he could ever have asked or thought. "Two full years" Joseph waited in prison; and we do not read of his growing weary, or impatient, or fretting over his—humanly speaking, surely, to say the least -adverse circumstances.
He was in perfect innocence as to the charge which brought him there; perhaps there were only three for many a long year cognizant of the fact-the Lord, and Joseph, and the lying woman through whose guilt, though professing innocence and feigning rectitude, he suffered. But the Holy Ghost has revealed it now to us, and "the day" will disclose it to all.
"The LORD was with Joseph." Circumstances are no barrier to the Lord's presence with His people, be they poverty or riches, honor or shame, so long as there has been faithfulness to Him, and a good conscience retained; hence Joseph's composure and success. Paul tells us to be "satisfied with... present circumstances; for He has said, I will not leave thee" (N. Trans.), while at Philippi he provides an example of one rejoicing in apparently most adverse circumstances. They might put him in the inner prison, and make his feet fast in the stocks, but neither devil nor man could stop the flowing of that fountain of living water springing up within; and the Lord was with him. Peter too, in Acts 5, is seen rejoicing in suffering for the sake of His name, having been beaten for his faithfulness. Everything, as we said before, depends on how we get into the circumstances we are in, as to what we suffer or enjoy while in them. Thus two men may be in the same circumstances outwardly, yet the Lord, in this sense, only be with one of them.
The Lord was for Joseph, too, as well as with him-it could not be otherwise. And though the chief butler forgot him, He did not. What a comfort it is to know that we never are in any circumstance, whether we get there rightly or wrongly, through sin, or through piety, or through faithfulness, but God if needs be has ever got a right and a triumphant way out of it. It will call for self-judgment and confession, if it is through sin; much patience and waiting upon God in either case; but it is written for every trial, "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Cor. 10:13. If we do thus wait for Him, He leads in triumph, and none can stay His hand.
Joseph waited-"two full years" he waited, and like the blessed One of Psalm 40, when the right moment came, he could say, "I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit... Blessed is the man that maketh the LORD his trust."
Had Joseph got his way when he made the request of the butler, all very likely that he would have gained as the result of such intercession on his behalf, would have been restoration to the place that he had lost, and most probably not so much as that; but when God's time came, he was brought forth from prison to sit among princes.
Little do we know how much we often lose because of our natural activity and readiness to resort to some expedient of our own, when we miss the incomparable blessedness of being fed by the "integrity of His heart," and guided by the "skilfulness of His hand." Peter, with all his activity and zeal, could never have achieved anything nearly so wonderful as took place for him when he was absolutely powerless and unable to put in practice any plan of his ever-ready invention. But this condition of helplessness made him a fit subject for the benefits of a far more skilful hand; and a greater manifestation of power, as to his temporal need, was exercised at such a time and in such a state, than ever, I should say, before. It was God's opportunity; He could bring in His resources now that Peter had none.
For such opportunities, I believe, God often waits, and often waits in vain; we fill them up ourselves, and the desired result is very hardly, if at all, acquired, and certainly not with the heart and mouth full of worship, for it generally costs leanness and barrenness of soul, disqualifying for all worship.
See that man in Acts 3, absolutely powerless in his crippled state, and no human device could effect a cure for the disease that had withstood the efforts of forty years—man's full testing time—but now entering the temple, leaping and praising God—a real worshiper. All he possessed, he had received; his cup was full—grace, pure grace alone, had filled it. And he was made -what nothing else but grace can make—a worshiper!
Pharaoh dreamed; and the butler remembered his fault, in the forgetfulness of his benefactor two years before. No one having been found able to interpret the dreams, Joseph came to the chief butler's memory; and "Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon"; and he who had been Pharaoh's prisoner was almost immediately found Pharaoh's counselor, and exchanged the dungeon for the "second chariot," and the faithful rule of the prison, for government "over all the land of Egypt." "And they cried before him, Bow the knee."
Are we not often very foolish in the things for which we wish and sometimes make request? And do we not often seek, and sometimes even make, untimely escapes out of circumstances not quite pleasant, or what we deem hurtful, or profitless? Such ways only add to our troubles, and hinder Him whose eye is never unwatchful, or hand resourceless, and whose way with us is ever in blessing. May this knowledge inspire in each of us increased confidence and patience. Joseph's way might have led to deliverance from prison, and there ended; God's way led not only from suffering, but to greatest honor.
Pharaoh decked Joseph with his own ring, vesture of fine linen, and a gold chain about his neck, and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potipherah priest of On, to wife, to share his dignities and honors. The pit and prison were his lot alone -Asenath was not with him there. So it is said of Christ, "He was taken from prison.... He shall divide the spoil with the strong" (Isa. 53:8, 12). He suffered alone. The Church, and Israel by-and-by, will share with Him the spoil. In His shame, the mocking, buffeting, spitting, and nailing to that cross, He suffered all alone—we had no part in that—yea, He suffered thus to spare us from it, whose due it was. He was the only One who could pass under the judgment of God and come out of it having settled its every claim. There is escape for none who get there, and no avoidance of it but by the One who voluntarily took the place in substitution for those who accept Him thus.
The Lord give our hearts to worship more and more, in such boundless love as this, and to rejoice in the marvelous place that grace has set us in, and appropriate the untold advantages and blessings that are ours as we take our Asenath place beside our risen and triumphant Joseph. "All are yours"—"Ye are Christ's" (1 Cor. 3:22, 23). The value too enhanced a thousandfold, as we remember all it cost Him to obtain it for us. And it was not mercy only—it was love! love that was strong as death, which led Him through it to obtain the objects of it, clearing them from every charge that could be brought against them, and enriching them and gracing them suitably to the place and dignity it was the purpose and affection of His heart to set them in.
It is precious to us, and surely gratifying to Christ, to entertain the consciousness in our hearts of what we are to Christ. What He is consciously to us, is no measure for this. In Eph. 5 we are told He "loved" and He "gave." What He gave is the measure of the love—justice claimed all—"Himself." Love yielded it; He "gave Himself." The same love occupies itself now on its precious objects which it nourishes and cherishes, till the day of the consummation of His ways with us, of infinite love and grace, arrives, and He fully gratifies His own heart's desires and affection by presenting to Himself the object He loved—died for—and ever since has occupied Himself about.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 4
"And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come,... and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread." Gen. 41:53, 54. Why was it there was bread in Egypt? Joseph was there! The bountiful fruit of Jehovah's hand during those seven years of plenty might have been wasted had not Joseph been resorted to, and his counsel followed. But presently the land of Egypt grew "famished," and the people "cried to Pharaoh."
May the Lord press home, dear reader, on your heart and mine, three words in Pharaoh's reply to those Egyptians. May they ring in our ears in each hour of need, and as a word from the Lord find a ready response, and prove our only resource. Pharaoh said to all who in trouble came, "Go unto Joseph." There was only one in all the land of Egypt who could satisfy those hungry souls with bread—that one was Joseph! The man, as in resurrection, had resources at his command capable of meeting the demands of all; and Pharaoh gave them title to make these demands. The Lord encourage our hearts in this. Is there a thing your soul has need of? "Go unto Joseph." Visit your neighbor in his time of sickness, poverty, perplexity, and trial, and whisper in his ear to "Go unto Joseph." Nothing is too hard for Christ, no demand too great for Him to meet, no desire (if according to His will) too trivial for Him to take all pains to gratify. It is God's delight, as He is also "able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." 2 Cor. 9:8.
How foolish, with such authority and encouragement as these Egyptians had, would they have been had they not gone to Joseph for the bread they needed! Then why such sadness, over carefulness, perplexity, and misgivings, in those who have far more than equal title, more numerous and varying claims, and a vastly superior Benefactor who loves, not merely pities, the objects of His care, and has said, "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it"?
What Egyptian would have thought of going to anyone save Joseph, when Pharaoh's word was, "Go unto Joseph"? We have often proved far more foolish, and fallen back on self, where only disappointment has always met us; or on some arm of flesh, the language of which, in effect, has ever been, though still we trusted it, the language of the king of Samaria to that poor dejected woman, "Whence shall I help thee?" implying that to seek it of him was altogether futile. "If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee?" where is the arm of flesh that can? The Lord help us to "Go unto Joseph." Let us make it our daily practice from early morn, before our busy brains begin to plan the occupations for the day, to the latest minute of our conscious hours, preceding every new arrangement, or the putting in practice some already worked out project, to go to Christ. It is the only way for His servants to do His will and serve effectually. It takes not necessarily long to do; yea, our Joseph can be resorted to, as in Nehemiah's case, in so short a time as the interval that elapses between the asking of a question and the giving of an answer; "The king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king." Neh. 2:4-5. What pleasure too does it afford to go to our ever so accessible Friend and Master, leaving our failures and our successes with Him, and returning with all the cheer, help, and refreshing, His presence yields. Oh! there is nothing like it; may the Lord help us more continually to "Go unto Joseph."
But then there was to be obedience; "What he saith to you, do." How often we want to obtain the blessings Christ has for us, and adopt our own way about them. How desponding too we often are because we do not get the answer to our wish, just our way and at our time. Pharaoh implied that Joseph might have something to say to them before they got the bread, and that they would have to "do" what he said, as well as receive the blessing. So the Lord often has to say to us, and often bid us "do," before His grace is free in righteousness to flow; cleansing and obedience in Isa. 1:18-19 precede eating the good of the land. It often happens that we have to part with something that we most cherish in our poverty, like the Egyptians in chapter 47, before He is free to minister and make us really rich.
We are told to "buy the truth"; in Paul's case he suffered the loss of all for the sake and furtherance of it. Truth that we really get is pretty sure to have cost us something in the getting of it; we have suffered loss—the loss perhaps of something that we prized—for the obtaining of that which, when acquired, gave us to pour contempt on what we prized, yet forfeited. The Egyptians bought and of course retained no longer that with which they bought—they soon spent all! The purchase of a loaf costs us its value; we cannot retain the money, and obtain the loaf. The Lord teach us what it means to "buy the truth," and also help us keep it. We are exhorted not to "sell it"—sad possibility—woeful calamity—thus to part with what is real and of inestimable value for what is vanity, and yields vexation. This is often done.
Obedience and blessing never part company; there will never be the one without the other. Obedience ensures the presence of God. Christ said, "He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." John 8:29. And again, in chapter 14, "As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do." May we, as a people "elect... unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus," obeying as Christ obeyed—the responsive outflow of what we are—be found thus walking; to "do" whatever He says, that He may freely give, and, as we take the benefit conferred, own that it was grace from first to last that brought it to us. The asking anything, and keeping His commandments, go hand in hand in John 14:14-15. The desire of faith, that was accompanied with an obedient heart and an empty hand, was never yet repelled.
"When Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons... get you down thither, and buy for us from thence... Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt." Benjamin was left behind. "Joseph was the governor over the land." The youth that a few years before had been branded with the direst calumny that malice could invent, and the prisoner of Egypt's dungeon, was now seen Egypt's lord and governor. His way to honor, power, and glory, surely lay along a rugged road akin to His, that blessed One, on whom was heaped all the cruel fruits of envy, hatred, jealousy, and malice, who stood for judgment, God incarnate! but who "because He is the Son of man," is appointed Judge of all the world.
The One who shall presently have the government upon His shoulders, once bore the cross upon them, and stood, gorgeously and impiously arrayed, in mockery, falsely accused and unjustly condemned before governors on earth. But grace was there, abounding over all the sin; it was to save the nation, as Caiaphas the high priest said, "It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." John 11:50. The full answer to this will come when that which was His accusation once to prove Him false (John 19:21) is manifestly proved the truth, bringing His accusers and murderers, for whom He made intercession, into richest blessing on the earth.
A remnant of that nation who crucified their king will reap rich harvests, like Joseph's brethren, through the grace that so much more abounds over the abounding sin, and which finds in the occasion of their greatest folly, calamity, and guilt, the opportunity for forming divine titles for those who had forfeited their all—not to the fulfillment of some forlorn or even sanguine hopes of theirs, but to the enjoyment of all the thoughts and fruits of love and grace that were in His heart for them, and which alone could be brought to them by His baring His own bosom to the wound inflicted by divine justice, and thus bearing the judgment they deserved.
Oh, it was love—unbounded love—the love of a single eye that left not God out, as Joseph thinks not of his brethren's cruelty, but said, "God meant it unto good." So Christ finds rest in the welfare of others after crossing those boisterous billows; and having shown them His hands and His feet, wounded in the house of His friends, says, "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name." "God meant it unto good."
"Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them." These men were, be it remembered, guilty men—guilty of the foulest of crimes, and murderers in heart.
But Joseph loved them—they were his brethren—and he yearned to make himself known to them, but could not do it in their present state; their consciences must first be reached. This is indeed a patient work with Joseph. Nature would suggest an immediate shower of invective and threats of vengeance; but this would only frighten and, if executed, leave the heart and conscience still more callous than before. Joseph possessed his soul while he spoke "roughly" with his lips. It was the roughness of love; any other character of love would have been out of place—indeed, not really love at all—and to make himself "strange" was the effect of such a love to those in such a state. Aught else would only have been weak and human kindness, and in its results totally barren of all that Joseph yearned to see produced. They "bowed down themselves before him," because he was the governor. But this partial answer to his dreams was not enough to cause him to commit himself unto them; he knew their state, and what was in them. It is written of Christ, He "did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all." But there was a man in the next chapter (John 3) whose conscience had been reached, to whom He unfolded the love of God. So with Joseph—their consciences reached and righted, he could express the love that filled his heart. But it was the same love that "roughly" spoke before, that presently was marked with the most gentle touches of deep affection, and flowed profusely in manifest, richest blessing.
Doubtless Joseph's brethren did not like the roughness any more than Joseph liked to use it, but it was salutary and necessary for them; so he choked the tender emotions of his heart to display that which gratified him less but was for their gain. "God is light" and "God is love." As light, He makes manifest all evil. Known only thus, the world would be left in blank despair, doomed to irrevocable judgment, without a single ray of hope to margin the cloud—the death pall enshrouding everything and everyone. But "God is love!" Oh, wondrous tidings! Relief—deliverance from all fear of judgment, all that the light reveals fully met and adequately atoned for. But more, far more! The One through whom all this is brought to us, uttered words on that night ere His betrayal that speak volumes to our hearts. Just listen to them: "Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." Here is an account opened up for Him and by Him, in which He lets us men for whom He suffered participate in fullest measure. God has been glorified in Him; and we become, in practical enjoyment, the objects of His eternal love and favor. The incense has filled the holy place (Lev. 16:13)—the fragrance of His Person. God is glorified in Him, and His love flows in exhaustless rivers of unmingled blessing.
Oh, who has not felt the roughness, who needed to be convicted of our sin, when in "a far country" with the husks, and amid swine? But what a welcome! what a home! what a banquet! the love had provided them when the light had revealed our darkness and guilt, and the roughness had made us fear because we were not in a state to love. How gladly now we kiss the rod which we did not like, and bow before the One who appointed it, and own the wisdom, tenderness, and grace of all His ways. Yes, it was love that told us what we were, and that all our religiousness which, because it had not Christ for an object, only inflated us with pride, and was most obnoxious to Him. But we did not like that sort of love till we were thoroughly exposed before Him, and we found, like Joseph's brethren, that we were in the presence of One who knew us through and through, and all our history, and the sin and misery we were in, though it was gilded over with a false pretense of truth and uprightness.
Surely we have here a wonderful and vivid picture of God's dealings with His people, not only when they were strangers to His grace, but when they have known it but through carelessness, neglect, or sin, lost the sense of it. With tenderness, patience, and mercy, He passes them through paths of suffering and hardness, in order to bless them. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other in the cross. But how we see the counterpart of this in God's dealings with His people. The mercy and peace are there waiting for the appropriation and enjoyment of every ready soul where the answered claims of truth and righteousness have prepared the way for their enjoyment. What patience Joseph displayed too, and what pains he took to reach and exercise their consciences! What a tale it is—the famine, two journeys from Canaan to Egypt, the sacks with the money and the cup, and the retaining of Simeon, and much more.
Joseph spoke roughly to his brethren, yet never did he love them more, if indeed his absence from them had not made his heart grow fonder. Ardent affection was burning in his heart for them, but the time for its display was not yet come; it must be suppressed till it could flow so that the objects of it could receive it and its benefits untarnished by the bitterness of undiscovered sin, and the pangs of a guilty conscience that would not be quieted.
How did these men come to Joseph—murderers in heart and liars that they were? They styled themselves "true men," and disdained the thought of being "spies," though in the same breath they say, "one is not," meaning Joseph whom they had sold. This then is the secret of Joseph's roughness—not the lack of love, but the wisdom of it—an abounding love that cleared the way for a permanent benefit, and more agreeable expression of it.
Joseph's way is God's way ever; He reaches the heart by the conscience. Heart work without conscience work will never be permanent. It is like the seed on the rock—there is joy, but no root, and presently (and necessarily) a falling away.
I think we find the spring of all these wonderful ways of Joseph with his brethren in three little words in Gen. 42:18—"I fear God." It is a holy, blessed fear, answering in character to the fear of Heb. 12 where we are exhorted to "have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire." Solomon also tells us that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge." Prov. 1:7. Cornelius, the man so richly blessed in Acts 10, "feared God with all his house." Where this proper holy fear is, there is sure to be blessing, and it is such that are invoked to worship in Rev. 19:5: "Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great." Of Israel it is said, in her day of future blessing, "Thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged." Isa. 60:5.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 5
Joseph, the man so greatly honored at the end, could well say, "I fear God," for it was what had characterized him all through, 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. Then they were boldly protesting their rectitude and 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 verse 11; "We are verily guilty" is the confession of verse 21. Greater extremes there could not be—"true," or "guilty"—it is the bringing in of God 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 of communion with him they knew nothing till their consciences were reached, and he had revealed himself, and all their sin being admitted, was forgiven.
What cowards had bad consciences made 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 were 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; Joseph's was in perfect harmony with a good one. They feared because they were offenders; he feared lest he should offend. Theirs was the fear of distance from, and estrangement to, 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 of nearness, the fear that keeps us away from God, and the fear that brings us nigh. May God increase this pious fear in all His own who know the nearness, and want to keep it in all its sweet enjoyment.
But though their fear was so different to that of Joseph, yet would he have rejoiced to see such an effect produced. It was just what he was toiling for; 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, and 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 angler will dash at his prey, and effectually drive it away, while the skillful and successful display long patience and silent tact. The Lord help us thus, whether it be with our failing brethren, to "restore such a one in the spirit of meekness"; or 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 got the pre-eminence above them, as he had dreamed, he would exercise it in their destruction. Or nature might have wrought in its other 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). While so-called love at the expense of truth, displayed where wrong is, which 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 kissed each other." "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." Isa. 32:17.
I do not wish to weary my reader with this part of Joseph's history; but it is a lesson of deepest importance in this day of looseness, and a real feast as one discovers Christ in the picture—though necessarily obscured by reason that every subject of delineation can only meagerly represent the model. 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.
I dare to tarry one moment more with my reader over this blessed, wondrous picture, and seek to see portrayed therein, the outlines of many a case of discipline through which a greater than Joseph, with unremitting mercy and unerring skill, leads His people, to create the fear He so appreciates where He finds it not. Yet how often do we fail to own whose hand it is that shakes the "sieve" of discipline (Amos 7:9), which will not let the least grain fall upon the earth, in order to deliver from the "fan" of judgment to "bereave" and to "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 he verbally assents to. It is nothing less than infidel in principle to talk of God, 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; and every transaction must necessarily be compatible with its tenets and, of course, the fear of God is hardly to be expected there.
The "fear of God" is the Christian's highroad to truest gain and the fulfillment of the Spirit's taught most sanguine hope; and all we need to meet the difficulties we find along it is faith in exercise that, perchance, more in woe than weal, owns there is a God. Let this go, and the road that I have named "the fear of God" is at once most surely departed from for another we may name "the fear of men or circumstances," where unbelief toils, and schemes, and plans, and yields a copious treasure of sorrow, disappointment, and endless remorse.
Mary's prophetic language was (may it ring in our hearts), "His mercy is on them that fear Him. from generation to generation." Luke 1:50. And His ears are seen hearkening to those to which 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" (vss. 5, 7). We are of more value than many sparrows; why should we be fearful of circumstances which the same hand overrules that provides for them, five of which are sold for two farthings (one is too worthless to find a measure for 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, to whom before, doubtless, it had been a characteristic most foreign. 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 to return to Joseph's brethren. Marvelous indeed their language in verse 28, had we not the secret of it. 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, yet found in the midst of unexpected plenty. Ah! it was their wretched, guilty consciences that made them miserable in the presence of that which might have made them glad. The ointment was good enough—yea, very good!—but the dead flies made it stink (Eccl. 10:1).
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, and was full of fear, unbelief, and forebodings of calamity; and 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 to his unbelief, "Simeon is not," and mischief may befall Benjamin by the way. "All these things are against me" now; and if his "ifs"—the "ifs" of unbelief-are, shall I say? gratified -for unbelief often carries with it a wretched self-made martyr or morbid spirit which only feeds upon itself like the moth which soon, though outwardly all fair and perhaps beautiful, becomes a corpse—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. Did he worship? No. Was his language up to God at all? Did he say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him"? No. Did he make the valley of Baca a well? No. "All these things are against me," is his woeful cry; he beheld not 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 very joy; and then if he looked back, what a waste must have met his view! The remorse of lost opportunities for glorifying God as each trial or sorrow arose, because he met it with repining instead of in faith, with all its excellent fruits, and all that he had done had only tended to hinder, certainly not to accelerate, the fulfillment of God's purpose.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 6
In Gen. 43 the carnal mind was at work again, scheming and planning, doing this, and taking that. Joseph was still in rejection; they knew him not. Famine drove them again to Egypt, for it was "sore in the land." But first there was a little battle between Jacob and his sons as to Benjamin going with them; they argued, "The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." Jacob reproached them, for the sake of saying something. They were idle words on the face of it: "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" This could not alter circumstances now; but unbelief is always wordy and full of reasoning. A scheme was then adopted to appease the wrath that unbelief doubtless proposed, or to remove difficulties, or secure the safe return of Benjamin. It was Cain's line of things over again - doing, for that which grace alone can bring, and "double money" taken for that which can only be procured without money and without price. The grace of Joseph is accounted for as an "oversight," and therefore to be returned.
Having arrived in Egypt with their "present" and "double money," they stood before Joseph, whose eyes lit upon Benjamin; and he ordered his course accordingly. The present, fruit of their doings, was apparently disregarded then; they gave it to him at noon, but his thoughts were otherwise engaged, and all was silent as to his receiving it. Joseph ordered the ruler of his house to bring the men home, to slay and make ready, for they should dine with him at noon. So the man brought them into Joseph's house. Were they happy, in such a favored spot? in circumstances that might well answer to the most sanguine hope of glory of many an Egyptian noble who never lived to see it realized. No; it was the same old story; their feelings ever answered to their state. They had not cleared themselves, and the fortune of their circumstances yielded no barrier to their fears: "The men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house." And now that they were again afraid, what will they do? Will they quietly wait and say with the Psalmist, "What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee"? Psalm 56:3. No, they occupied themselves with working out a reason for what they were passing through, and finding no time or inclination to judge themselves, they judged Joseph, saying that he was seeking occasion against them, to fall upon them, and to take them for bondmen, and their asses.
They then told all the story of the sacks and money to the steward, who, though probably an Egyptian, had evidently learned, perhaps from Joseph, more of God and His goodness than these, the seed of Israel, appeared to know. His language was blessed and, like Joseph when he uttered those three words, "I fear God," so the steward brought them again into the presence of God. The holy God whom Joseph feared, was the God in blessing whom the steward owned and reminded the sons of Jacob of, and with emphasis, as peculiarly theirs. "He said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them."
When Joseph returned at noon, they brought their present to him, "and bowed themselves to him to the earth." Joseph then asked of the welfare of their father; and they bowed down and made "obeisance" to him, according to his dream in chapter 37:7. "And he [Joseph] lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber and wept there"; then "they drank, and were merry with him." Yes, they were merry with him; the feast and the wine had for the moment changed their state of fear and humility for that of merriment. How different the merriment in Luke 15. It is the father there who says, "It was meet that we should make merry"—language that Joseph could not utter. In Luke it is lasting, for it is well founded on confession and forgiveness, and ratified in the blood of the calf. Here it is only a covering over, and it soon gave place to fears, and a desire to "clear ourselves."
It is said, "A thing well done is twice done"; with God's things, all badly done must be undone at some time or other; a rent patched up, a flaw glossed over, will never do. Joseph had not called forth the merriment; things looked smooth, but truth was in pursuit of them, and their shameless nakedness must be discovered, for Joseph had blessing for them.
Joseph now put in practice somewhat sterner measures, to effect that which he so much longed to see. He commanded the steward to fill the men's sacks, and put their money in them, and his silver cup in the sack of the youngest. And as soon as morning was light they were sent away, and their asses.
"And when they were gone out of the city,... Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing." So he overtook them, and thus spoke. They replied, "Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing." Then they told of their wonderful righteousness in taking back the money—and how should they steal silver or gold in this way? Ah! how should they? but by the same covetous, natural heart that robbed their father of his son, and sold him for twenty pieces of silver! They were stout in their denunciation of such a charge, and offered the life of the one with whom it would be found, and the service as bondmen of the rest. When search was made, as the reader well knows, the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. So they rent their clothes, laded their asses, and returned to the city, and fell before Joseph who was still in the house. He asked them what they had done—"Wot ye not that such a man as I can surely divine?" They knew not what to say or how to clear themselves. They admitted that God had found out their iniquity, and all offered to be Joseph's servants. This he declined, but said that the one with whom the cup was found should be his servant. Then they repeated the story of what they had said to him on their previous visit to Egypt, and what they had said to Jacob, and what he had said to them; and Judah finished by saying, "How shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father."
In chapter 45 we get the touching story of Joseph making himself known to his brethren. He did it in secret, first causing every man to go out. He did not brandish abroad their sin and shame (the revealing of himself was the revelation of all their guilt)—he did it in secret. The disciples were not present in John 4 when the Lord revealed the woman's sins; and in chapter 8 the accusers had departed before the Lord charged the woman there to "go, and sin no more." How much suffering would be saved if the love which Joseph and the Lord displayed, which covers a multitude of sins—yet rightly exposes them when needed—were more in practice! "Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?" The question got no answer; it was the same old story: they were troubled again—"troubled at his presence"—too troubled to answer. They were troubled when they got the money back in their sacks—full sacks and money returned. They were troubled when they were taken into Joseph's house. Now they were troubled in their long-lost, loving brother's presence. Each occasion might well have been an occasion of greatest pleasure. There was only one reason for it all—a guilty conscience! Joseph had revealed himself, and revealed their darkness and distance from him and from God. But this was not enough; their case would indeed be bad if left like this. "Perfect love casteth out fear," and the service of love is not completed till this is done. It is questionable whether these men were ever "made perfect in love," for long after, this fear again arose in their hearts. But this was not Joseph's fault; not the fault of the reconciler, but the reconciled, though of course Joseph was only human after all.
Blessed be God! we have to do with a divine Person, and a reconciliation based on a divine foundation, by reason of which the love flows, and fear, where the love is intelligently known, is necessarily dispelled. Law and fear could never be divorced; neither can love and fear ever be reconciled, except it be that holy, pious fear which is proper to the love, which its presence ever only magnifies, and hence is by all means to be cultivated.
The tidings, "I am Joseph," carried terror to their hearts. He spoke again, "Come near to me, I pray you," and confidence took the place of fear and trouble. "They came near"; and in this state and place of nearness he found a fitting opportunity to remind them of how they had sold him, their brother, into Egypt. He assured them of his love, then wounded to reach their consciences; then, because all was fully out, he healed the wound, bade them not to be grieved, and, as ever, introduced God into the scene as being over all their cruel ways with him; and at the same time—and how grand the divine tact here—he gave them credit for being angry with themselves. He said, "Be not angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life."
Israel, his brethren, and Egypt, the world, were all preserved in life through Joseph; and thus he was pleased to account for all their treatment of him. The Lord said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." And again, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:24, 32. It was necessary for Him to die; yet, though because of it the world is convicted, by the presence of the Holy Ghost, of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come ( John 16), the very ground of judgment becomes the ground for pardon and blessing, where there is faith to lay hold of it. "God meant it unto good." God makes the wrath of man to praise Him; and in Joseph's case, the subject of the wrath became the minister of blessing, even to those who inflicted the cruel tokens of the wrath. Nothing brought such praise and glory to Joseph as that which was occasioned by his brethren's wrath. Nothing ever brought such glory to God as that which was occasioned by the sin expressed in the wrath of man against God's beloved Son, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
How complete is the deliverance wrought out by Joseph! It was not only "a great deliverance," as he called it in verse 7, but he spoke in verse 11 of nourishing those he had delivered. It is "forgiveness of sins, and inheritance" (Acts 26:18). The debt paid and a fortune to go on with. But where was this fortune to be enjoyed?
He said, "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen,... near unto me."
They had been brought near at first (vs. 4), and forever, it was his thought, should they enjoy an abiding nearness, enhancing surely to them the value of the fortune.
The Lord says of His brethren in Jer. 32:41, 42, "I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul. For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them." It is Joseph's roughness in order to the good that he had purposed should follow. Our salvation, if only from judgment, would indeed be "great," "a great deliverance"; but nothing, absolutely nothing, in comparison to all the infinite gain that is ours, in that the One who delivered us by dying, now nourishes us in life. Joseph had passed through death in figure, and it had saved them; and now their life, safety, and fortune were dependent on him in life. He lived and prospered—they lived and prospered also. If we have been reconciled by the death of God's Son when enemies, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:10). And we live on account of Him (John 6:57). He has delivered us by death, from death; He nourishes us in life by living for us. He has brought us nigh, and given us to know that it gratifies Him to have us there. It is His will and pleasure, too, that we should be where He is in very fact; and to this end, did Joseph place "his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses." Gen. 47:11. So the Lord Himself shall come and take and place us where He is in the place He has gone before us to prepare. Such is His heart that, like Joseph, nothing but the best befits, in His esteem, the objects of His love and care.
What a blank it would be if deliverance were all and this great gain not in prospect for us! Yet how many a soul never seems to get beyond the deliverance! Joseph spoke to his brethren of their deliverance, their nourishment, and prospects. The Lord give us to hear and love His voice as He speaks to us of all three. The Shepherd who dies to deliver in Psalm 22, nourishes as He leads in green pastures in Psalm 23, and speaks of prospects and future blessing in Psalm 24.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 7
It got to the ears of Pharaoh that Joseph's brethren had arrived in Egypt, "and it pleased Pharaoh well." "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land... and the children of Israel did so."
Joseph gave them "provision for the way," and a parting exhortation, "See that ye fall not out by the way." This seems rather a remarkable exhortation, and ungrounded and out of place, did he not know their hearts. Now that he had reconciled them to himself, who once hated him so bitterly and treated him so cruelly, he knew their danger lay in that they might fall out among themselves.
He had known what it was for anger, malice, and jealousy to separate between himself and them; and now his desire was, and he exhorted them to this end, that the same thing might not be found among themselves. There was no fear of falling out among themselves while in his presence, for his presence occupied and kept them, though his keen perception had doubtless observed the rising of it in Reuben's reproach in chapter 42:22. Their danger was, when absent from him, that they would forget him and the grace that had abounded over their sin and, failing to see the beams in their own eyes, would set to work at the fruitless task, in such a case, of casting out the motes in their brethren's eyes—an attempt, under such circumstances, only to be fraught with sorrow and disappointment. God forbid that we should be so indifferent, and so lack spiritual insight, as not to see the motes or beams in our brother's eye when they are there to see, for we cannot assist in the deliverance from them—surely a good thing—unless we see them. Neither let our love be of such a quality that we let them pass, noticed, but uncorrected or unchallenged, for correction is one of the most blessed exhibitions of love, when done in the spirit of meekness, that covers a multitude of sins; but the Lord grant us grace that it may never be done in the spirit that accords with "falling out." We are exhorted—and may it be more constantly before each of us—as far as depends on you, to live at peace with all men. Rom. 12:18; N. Trans.
This is not surely easy, but He who has given the exhortation has also given "provision for the way" for its accomplishment.
When Joseph's brethren arrived in Canaan, they told their father that Joseph was yet alive, and that he was governor over all the land of Egypt. "And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not." He always seemed to disbelieve the good and to believe the bad, and surmise bad where there was not certainty of good. The selfish supplanter of youth, at the expense of others, had grown up into the old man, reaping a full harvest of what he had sown.
Whether it be success or failure for the present that attends our faithless schemes and plots, is of little moment when compared with the effect in future suffering such practices have upon the spirit. Jacob's early sorrowful history, in which Rebekah his mother so much figured, bore marks never to be effaced on earth. He had acted as if there were no God, though he was loved by Him when yet unborn (Rom. 9). And now that he was old, he seemed unable to credit God with good, or trace His hand in blessing, or enjoy the sweet repose so grateful to old age, the fruit of confidence in such a heart and such a hand, learned in all the varying circumstances of such a life.
"When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived." "When he saw." Nothing but seeing was believing with Jacob; when he saw he believed, saying, "Joseph my son is yet alive." Sight produces resolution too—"I will go and see him"; and "Israel took his journey." When he "saw," and not till then did he say, "it is enough."
We do not read of Jacob praying when the famine came, but we do read what he did when he saw that there was corn in Egypt (Gen. 42:1). It is the language of the doubting Thomas, in John 20: "Except I shall see in His hands... I will not believe." Jesus appeared a second time, when Thomas was present, and His gentle rebuke upon Thomas's confession of Him then was, "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." Sight does not call for faith, and its only advantages are present things. Faith is far more excellent; it is the substantiating of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1). The world goes on the principle of sight; it knows nothing better; the present is its gain. The Christian lives and walks by faith, with the brightest hopes to buoy him over the adverse' currents of the present, which swamp the boasted freights of sight, but leave him rejoicing ever.
In Gen. 47 Joseph brought his father into the presence of Pharaoh, who asked of him his age. The reply was sad indeed—a pitiful whine, totally devoid of a single chord for God. It was the knell of parting days which would appear to have had no ray of sunshine for Jacob's memory. Ah! he had forgotten, or was too much self-occupied to think of it, that blessed hour when the "sun was set," and on the way to Haran, with stones for his pillow, God had brought before the unconscious Jacob those wondrous mysteries, the ladder, the angels, and the promise; and how he had called it the "house of God," "the gate of heaven." It was a wonderful revelation, though he spoiled the blessing of it to his soul by his vow, and by his bargain; he was ignorant of grace.
Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed. How different the language of Paul in Acts 20 where he says, "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy," having testified of the "grace of God," and at the end does finish his course with exultation, saying, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7), and looked forward to the loved appearing of his Lord. It is just the contrast to Jacob who counted his life so dear, so short, and finished it, not with joy, but with groans and sorrow, without a word of the grace ever so abounding over him. How often is our language much the same, ever recounting the so-called "evil" of the days or years, instead of boasting in the grace that has unremittingly pursued us!
The third circle was brought into blessing round Joseph in this chapter. The circles became narrower as they became more intimate. I will name them, beginning with the smallest and most intimate. None can question that of all the recipients of Joseph's favors, beneficence, and love, Asenath, his wife, was first. Nearer and dearer and smaller this circle, if such I may call it, could not be. Her place was unique, without fear of rival. As we said before, she had not suffered with him, but she certainly shared the spoil. His suffering and reward were both her gain, though she only participated in the latter; and of all the objects of Joseph's love and care, she, though little spoken of, we doubt not, was pre-eminent.
Joseph's brethren came next—a larger circle, though barely numbering seventy. These he dearly loved, suffered for, reconciled, and enriched. This circle answers to Christ's brethren after the flesh, who, like John the Baptist, shall rejoice to hear the Bridegroom's voice (John 3:29), which once they not so much as even regarded; but through repentance and Achor's valley (Hos. 2:15)—the "door of hope"—the judgment he sustained for them will have this, their "joy fulfilled." Joseph suffered for them as well as by them (at their hands), then reconciled them to himself by making himself known to them. Truly this was love and grace in Joseph; but they only got the second place, though there was a natural link -they were his brethren. Asenath remained unrivaled still, though a Gentile, where no link according to flesh existed ere she became his wife, a fact that foretells the greater grace to be displayed, which now, in this our day of highest privilege, so enriches the objects of it, bringing them into union with Him, the true Joseph, who, as to fact, is still in rejection by His brethren. But as Joseph in the days of his rejection took Asenath to be his wife, so Christ will—before His brethren according to the flesh, in repentance look on Him whom they pierced, and mourn, and welcome Him back with, "This is our God; we have waited for Him"—present us to Himself, a glorious Church, His bride forever.
The third circle is the Egyptians. His wife was given him. His brethren reconciled. Egypt he bought—and the Egyptians. The field-the world-Christ bought (Matt. 13). His brethren are gathered and associated with, and blessed under Him on the earth. His Asenath—the Church—is given Him. All the money of the land of Egypt passed into the hands of Joseph, and when all their money was exhausted, they came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence?" Why, indeed! Evidently Joseph was most accessible, even to these strangers; their very question suggests it to us. Why should they be wanting, while he had plenty? Yet they had no money. So he told them to give their cattle, their houses, and their flocks, for which he returned them bread. And when that year was ended, they came again and said, "We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent. My lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not aught left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands." At their extremity and wits' end they told him all, keeping nothing back and Joseph's ready ear was open to their complaint, and his services at their disposal. He had their confidence, and they offered their bodies and their land; "Buy us and our land." In Gen. 47:23 he told them, "I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land." When they had "spent all," and had nothing more to sell, and yielded up their very bodies, then, and then only, did they get the seed for sowing the land, four-fifths of the produce of which was to be their own. How we see the purpose of God as to the pre-eminence of Christ brought out in all this! In all these circles Joseph was supreme. It is like a pyramid with Christ the top and center. He will reign and subdue all things unto Him, and thus ratify in manifested power what He effected in the cross—the purchase of the world, the largest circle, the Gentile in the day of the fullness of the Jew.
Next, and higher in the pyramid, are His brethren, the circumference diminished greatly, yet consisting of a company numerous according to the promise as the sand by the seashore. And higher still, nearest and dearest, the Church—His body now, His bride hereafter, companion and partner in His glory, and first object of His heart's delight. The three companies are found in Rev. 7 The personal pronoun, "I," represents the Church—our Asenath. John was in the place of separation, and state of "in the Spirit," which should characterize all who succeed him and share with him Church privilege. This circle—a unit (the Church is one)—is followed by another circle, consisting of a hundred and forty-four thousand descendants of Joseph's brethren. And then the Gentile company—a great multitude which no man could number. And "He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them," in unchallenged pre-eminence.
Joseph and His Brethren: Part 8
Gen. 47:25 affords a harvest for thought in three sentences: it gives the summary of a saint's life—"They said, Thou hast saved our lives," "let us find grace," "we will be Pharaoh's servants." Life—grace—service!
Apart from Joseph, they were as good as dead. Joseph was life to them, and they were preserved, for God sent him "to preserve life" (Gen. 45:5). Life is the first thing here; it is the first necessity for all to follow. Faith, as to life, was the first little bit of fruit for God to see after sin, and by sin death had been introduced upon the scene by our first parents. "Adam called his wife's name Eve [living]; because she was the mother of all living"; and the very next verse records, inferentially, how God shed blood, thus providing a righteous ground on which to answer that faith which He had inspired in His fallen creature's heart. Fallen, ruined, and banished from the garden of delight—the scene of the days of his innocence—life is preserved in the death of another.
How thankful may we be, who have learned our deep necessity to be "born again," that Christ is our life—the eternal life—the gift of God.
To "find grace" was the next thing they desired. This was very blessed! The people belonged to Joseph—he had bought them. But to be his by right, and his in grace, were two different matters, though the grace accorded to them for their comfort would in no wise forfeit his title to them. We can understand their feelings, whose hearts doubtless turned with deepest gratitude to the one who had been so used in blessing to them. To know him only as their benefactor who had saved their lives, would have been terms far too cold to meet the emotions of their gratified hearts. He had dealt in righteousness with them, returning to them for their money and cattle and lands and bodies the bread and seed they needed, saving their lives. But they wanted more—his favor! God has acted thus to us: Christ was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification, thus forever settling the claims of righteousness. But by Him also we have access into this grace wherein we stand. Oh, what should we be without this standing in grace! Even the Egyptians required it before Joseph, and I doubt not he accorded it to them; and the relation between him and the people he was over, was not only established in righteousness, but enjoyed in grace. It is the cold, heartless invention of humanity that acts the benefactor and maintains the benefactor gait toward the object of it. None could have acted in greater measure toward us as benefactor than the One who has righteously brought us to Himself, and then set us in the closest intimacy and relationship that love could suggest, or grace provide.
We are exhorted by the Apostle to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Doubtless the preserved of Joseph from famine and death, found also in him a constant friend—"grace to help in time of need." How foolish if they did not avail themselves of such a friend and such a privilege; how ten times more foolish we who, having a much, by far, better place and title to be at it, are so often found away, weaving our own plans and getting entangled in their meshes, disowning the grace, denying the truth, and reaping in shame the results of our folly.
The next thing they spoke of was service: "We will be Pharaoh's servants." The order was perfect; not service first—serving in order to become Joseph's, or gain his favor—but serving because they were his. They found unconditional grace, and volunteered their service for the debt they owed, for the grace that had first served them. The terms too were theirs, not Joseph's—the expression of their thankful hearts. What a contrast we find in the relation between Joseph and the Egyptians, and the Egyptians and the Israelites, Joseph's brethren, in after days. The grace of the one calls forth the ready service of those under his control; while the arbitrary, cruel, and exacting bondage of the other makes its subjects groan and wrestle for deliverance from the thing the others sought—service. The service of grace is perfect freedom; it is of the Spirit, and "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Service, so-called, which is not this, is not really service at all, but the fruitless toil of will, or the restlessness of nature, or legality of spirit, or an opiate for an uneasy conscience, which it may often for the moment prove, blunting its sting, and drowning its voice, and abiding meanwhile the chief barrier to restoration of communion, and to the path of real service and fruitfulness to God.
In chapter 48 we get the only point in Jacob's history of which Paul makes mention. In dying, faith makes Jacob a blesser- he "blessed both the sons of Joseph." He had the agreeable surprise of seeing Joseph's seed when, as he admitted, he had not even thought to see Joseph's face. Jacob was in the act of blessing others and, as is surely ever the effect of such a service, it shed a ray of sunshine over everything; and the story of his days being "few and evil" is changed for the following acknowledgment of good, and benediction on his grandsons: "He blessed Joseph, and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed [or shepherded] me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." There is nothing like occupation with good, and the abundance of the grace that surrounds us, and the blessing of others, to gladden our hearts and lighten our burdens and quicken our steps as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. "It is more blessed to give than to receive"; it was Jacob's happiest moment, to judge by his language.
In chapter 49 we get the interesting account of what should befall the sons of Jacob in the last days, as he tells it to them when gathered around him. It is a prophetic stream of time of Israel's history from its apostate state before our Lord's first coming to His return, when He who was rejected by His brethren will sway His blessed scepter over them and the Gentile world—"the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords."
Jacob then gave commandment as to the place of his burial. Canaan was the only fitting place for this, for those whose hopes were for the earth, to be realized in their seed, though they themselves were heavenly. Thus Jacob died, "and Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him." Long were the days of mourning, and long indeed the train of mourners that accompanied Joseph and his brethren to the funeral—all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, all the house of Joseph and his brethren, and his father's house, all except the little ones. There went up also chariots and horsemen, "and it was a very great company." And at the threshing-floor of Atad "they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation." Yes, it was true—"Jacob have I loved"! It was not his ways that had won the love, or obtained the favor in Egypt or anywhere. It was the sovereignty of God in grace, and Joseph the means to its greatest display.
"And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him." This is another time we read of Joseph weeping. He wept when he saw his brethren at their first interview with him; he wept again when he saw Benjamin on their return to him, and again when he made himself known to them. On all these occasions, though there was sorrow mingled with the tears of joy, a heart full of thankfulness and praise was the source, doubtless, from which they sprang. But this time it was unmingled sorrow, and the outflow of a pained heart and grieved spirit. They mistrusted him; he was not really known by those who should have known him best. His fidelity was doubted by these unfaithful ones for whose reconciliation, and far more, he had suffered years of shame and pain and sorrow. But where was the source of this last wound for his tender, loving, and compassionate heart? If what they said was true, it was in the unbelieving Jacob. It may have been a lie; at any rate, he got the credit of it here; they said their action, base and cruel, was at his command. So if the story of his sons to Joseph was a lie, it was easy to be believed; if true, not wondered at. And so it ever is; the saint, however high the ground he takes, if walking badly, may expect to be credited with much, not true, that is very bad; and what is true and bad readily received without doubt or question; and all the good, whether much or little, is choked by the true or false report of evil, which not only easily obtains, but ever multiplies where it obtains, to almost the entire extinction of all credited good.
Joseph told them not to fear. Once they knew nothing of fear; now it was of a wrong sort—they put him in the place of God, and he reproved them for it, and told them they had thought evil against him, but "God meant it unto good." How different this to the language of his father—"All these things are against me"! Joseph got to the other side of the clouds that God, not accident or misfortune, had brought across his path, and discovered the mercy, love, and goodness that were there. Surely his language was:
"With mercy and with judgment
My web of time He wove,
And aye the dews of sorrow
Were lustered with His love."
All had appeared ill, very ill! The bud had indeed had a bitter taste, but "much people" were saved alive by it, so Joseph was satisfied, and the bloom was sweet; "God meant it unto good." Joseph satisfied them too, saying, "Fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them." How often would we, in such a case, so seek to speak as to make so grievous an offender as one who had drawn forth tears of pain, feel bitterly the indignity put upon us, or misjudgment of our motives. Not so Joseph! he reproved at the reproach of supplanting God by another, though that other be himself, and overcame the evil of their false judgment of him with good. He bared his heart by speaking kindly with his tongue, and dispensing the blessings of his hands, covering, yet reproving, their iniquity.
At dying, Joseph's faith was still in blessed exercise; and though all seemed exceedingly well in Egypt—had almost in reverence of the Egyptians, and with all the plenty of the best part of the land—much, very much more was needed before the full answer to the promises of God would be realized. Boundless stores of far richer grace were still laid up for the heirs of promise, and faith could be satisfied with nothing less than this—the full development of promises partially fulfilled. The land of Canaan, rich with its teeming full-ripe fruits, and royal display, is Israel's hope; and the faith of those whose portion this is, alone rests there.
The Christian's portion is heavenly, and a Person there, and to win Him is the only true destination of Christian desire, and to "know Him" his present gain. When God has promised, faith alone is satisfied with the attainment in fullest consummation of the promise made, though it also yields patience to wait His time for its enjoyment. Thus it was with Joseph, who declared when about to die, "God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." This was not said in the days of Joseph's low estate in Egypt, but in the day of honor and prosperity; and it is that which makes it so precious, and in the sight of God, surely, of great price; it is the faith that only counts as really gain, and the fruition of all hope, what God has promised and bestows.
May God add His rich blessing to these simple lines, and prove Joseph indeed to be "a fruitful bough" (Gen. 49:22).