THE ten elder sons of Jacob were, in their early days, a source of great trouble and sorrow to their father.
Joseph, however, who was the eleventh son of Jacob, as a child, was obedient and faithful, so that he was a great comfort to his father.
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." Joseph had done them no harm, nay, he loved them, oh, so much: yet he lived among his brethren as one alone. He “was separate from his brethren." How keenly poor Joseph must have felt it, when he “was feeding the flock with his brethren;” or, if he was at home with them, never to hear a kind word from one of them.
Joseph was worthy of his father's love, for he was obedient—he was faithful—and he did that which was right. But his brethren, alas, did that which was evil. He could not leave off doing what was right; and they would not leave of doing what was wrong. And they would not love him as he loved them; but “they hated “Joseph without a cause. Joseph had told his father the truth about his brethren, when they had done that which was evil; but we do not read that he ever told his father anything about the hatred they bore to himself. His father appears to have been ignorant of all this.
But God knew all about it. And the Lord would not allow Joseph's heart to be cast down with overmuch sorrow. He caused Joseph to dream a dream. He dreamt that himself and his brethren were binding sheaves in the field, and his sheaf arose, and stood upright, while all his brethren's sheaves bowed to his sheaf. Joseph told this dream to his brethren. Perhaps he hoped that they would be pleased to hear his dream: but they only hated him the more. A second time he dreamed, and in this second dream, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to him. He told his father this dream, as well as his brethren. And his father at first "rebuked him," but he "observed the saying." And his brethren envied him.
God taught Joseph by these dreams, that he would some day be so much exalted above his brethren, that all of them, yea, even his own father, should bow down to him. Thus was that loving heart sustained during those early days of sorrow. The young Joseph had found favour, not only in his father's eyes, but he had found favour with God.
Dear little readers, if you are treated unkindly at any time by your little companions because you are doing that which is right in the sight of God, do not be cast down. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
One day Joseph's brethren were far away from home with the flocks, and Jacob sent Joseph to see how they were getting on. And Joseph went from Hebron to Shechem, a journey of about sixty miles; but he found his brethren were gone on to Dothan; so he went on to Dothan, which is ten miles from Shechem. “The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." When his brethren saw Joseph coming, they did not stop to consider how very tired he must be, after taking such a very long journey, but they made up their minds to kill him. Reuben, however, prevented them from killing Joseph; so they stripped him of his coat of many colors, and then they cast him into a pit. Having so done, they coolly “sat down to eat bread." Presently they saw some Ishmeelites coming, and they then agreed to sell Joseph to these Ishmeelites as a slave, instead of killing him. They “saw the anguish of his soul;" he “besought” them, but they “would not hear;" and they sold their brother for twenty pieces of silver. And having dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of a kid, they then went home and told their father a lie, thus seeking to hide their guilt.
I would like to go on to tell you what happened to Joseph in Egypt; how Joseph acted in the house of Potiphar—how he became a prisoner because he would not do wickedly, and sin against God—how the Lord was ever with Joseph, even when he was in prison; and how God brought him out of prison, and made him lord over all the land of Egypt, so that he was next to Pharaoh himself; but you can all read this in the thirty-ninth, and following chapters of Genesis.
The Word of God says, “Many waters cannot quench love." Joseph did not, he could not, hate his brethren, though the cruel hatred that they bore to him had caused him to suffer so much. When he was “lord over all the land of Egypt, he did not say to himself, "My brethren did me all the harm they could—they are not worthy of my love—they deserve to be punished, I will now punish them." But Joseph sought for an opportunity to reveal to his brethren how much he still loved them.
If Joseph " spake roughly " to his brethren, was it not because he knew that it was but right that they should be exercised in heart about their awful sin?
“Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished." Joseph's brethren learnt this. Many years had passed away, and all of Jacob's sons had little ones of their own, but God brought their sin to their remembrance. They had to feel “anguish of soul," and that, too, in a strange country, when they feared that Benjamin, their youngest brother, would have to be left behind in Egypt. Yet, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Joseph's brethren confessed their sin, and they were forgiven.
And Joseph soon found out then, by the mouth of Judah, that because Benjamin was the object of their father's love, he was beloved by all his brethren. They did not hate Benjamin, but they loved him, for the very same reason that they had once hated Joseph. When Joseph found this out, he “could not refrain himself." Weeping aloud, with loving words, yea, with kisses, Joseph then let them all see how much he still loved each one of them. He was their loving brother still.
But how shall we speak of the love of Jesus? He loves above all others:—
“Oh, how He loves!
His is love beyond a brother's,
Oh, how He loves!"
Those that hated Him without a cause were more than the hairs of His head; yet His love is so great that it is
“Love that no tongue can teach,
Love that no thought can reach;
No love like His."
For He died upon the Cross, to save even us.
Does my dear reader know His love? Would you like to know it? "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him " (1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)).