LESSON II.--APRIL 10.

JOSEPH EXALTED.--GEN. 41:38-48.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.--PSALM 37:5.
      TIME.--About B. C. 1812.
      PLACE.--Egypt.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. Favor in the King's Eyes; 2. The Servant Made a Ruler; 3. Joseph Over the Land of Egypt.

INTRODUCTION.

      The divine Providence which watched over Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, watched over Joseph even in the land of the stranger. The slave rose with a rapidity surprising, though by no means unparalleled in Eastern kingdoms, to be the all-powerful vizier of the king of Egypt. He was first bought by Potiphar, a chief officer of the king, the captain of the guard, by whom he was speedily promoted to the care of his whole household. The entire confidence of the master in the prudence and integrity of the servant is described in these singular terms:--"He left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he knew not aught that he had save the bread he did eat." The virtue of Joseph was in other respects equal to his integrity, but not so well rewarded. Falsely accused by the arts of his master's wife, whose criminal advances he repelled, he was thrown into prison. The dungeon opens the way to still further advancement. Wherever he is he secures esteem and confidence. Like his former master, the keeper of the prison entrusts the whole of his responsible duties to the charge of Joseph. But the chief cause of his rapid rise to fortune and dignity is his skill in the interpretation of dreams. Among his fellow prisoners were the chief cup-bearer, and chief purveyor of the king. Each of these men was perplexed by an extraordinary vision. The interpretation of Joseph was justified by the fate of both; one, as he had predicted, was restored to his honors, the other suffered an ignominious death. Through the report of the former, the fame of Joseph, in a character so important among a superstitious people, reached the palace, and when the king himself was in the same manner disturbed by visions that baffled the professed diviners of the country, Joseph was summoned from the prison. . . . . The information we obtain from the Mosaic narrative, concerning the state and constitution of Egypt during this period, [104] is both valuable in itself and agrees strictly with all the knowledge that we acquire from other sources. Egypt had long been the great corn country of the ancient world, now in a high state of cultivation, but dependent for its fertility on the overflow of the river on whose banks it lay. Should the annual increase of the Nile be interrupted, the whole valley would remain a barren and unvegetating waste. The cause of the long period of famine is nowhere indicated, but it was by no means a local calamity; it extended to all the adjacent countries. A long and general drought, which would burn up the herbage of all the pastoral districts of Asia, might likewise diminish that accumulation of waters which, at its regular period, pours down the channel of the Nile.--Milman.

      I. FAVOR IN THE KING'S EYES.--38. Pharaoh said, . . . Can we find a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Joseph had interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh in such a manner that he was convinced that the interpretation was correct. He had declared that it was not his skill, but the wisdom of God, that gave the interpretation. He had then advised the king what ought to be done to avert the famine predicted. A wise and prudent man should be appointed to the general superintendence, and through agents he should gather and store away in granaries one-fifth of the produce of the seven abundant years that were promised before the famine. One-fifth of the product would be a tax upon the land, Intended for the highest general good, and would not be excessive in a country where seventy per cent. has often been taken with no excuse, such as that which existed in the time of Joseph. The bearing of the Hebrew had so impressed Pharaoh that he had resolved to choose him to the important trust of superintending the preparations; Joseph had affirmed that it was God who interpreted through him; hence Pharaoh designated him when he spoke of "a man in whom is the spirit of God." Some have thought from these words that Joseph preached Jehovah to him more plainly than is related. There are indications in the monumental history of Egypt that before and beyond the Egyptian idolatry there was a belief in the one great God. Hence it is not surprising that at this early age Pharaoh should make a partial acknowledgment of Joseph's God.

      39. Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this. Pharaoh's conclusion is rational. If God has shown all this to Joseph, the spirit of God must be in him and he will therefore be "discreet and wise." His words show how [105] greatly the Egyptians esteemed the higher knowledge, since it confirms the opinion that made this nation so renowned among the ancients. The "wisdom of Egypt" was everywhere celebrated. Moses was said to have been educated "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."

      40. Thou shalt be over my house. The language that follows shows that Joseph was elevated to the position known under Oriental despotic monarchs as Grand Vizier, the next officer to the king, and absolute over all the king's subjects as long as he retains office. The vicissitudes in his life were remarkable; until seventeen he was the favorite son of a nomadic chieftain; then thirteen years were passed in slavery; of these probably three were spent in prison; at thirty he had ascended from the prison to a seat next to the most powerful throne then in the world. It is worthy of note that thirty was the age of Hebrew manhood, that at which a priest entered upon office; that at which Christ began his ministry. . . . The sudden elevation of Joseph was remarkable, but not unexampled in Oriental countries where all depended on the caprice of the monarch. Later Roman history furnishes several examples of men who were born slaves and became prime ministers. Maillet, in his letters from Egypt, mentions that when he was in that country a slave was raised to the rank of prince. Niebuhr relates the case of another ruler who made in his time eighteen prime ministers, eight of whom had before been his slaves.

      II. THE SERVANT MADE A RULER.--41. See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. These are the words of official appointment and were accompanied by the formal acts required to install Joseph into office.

      42. Pharaoh took off his ring . . . and put it on Joseph's hand. In this ring was probably the king's signet or seal by which all royal decrees and laws were signed, and giving it to Joseph was making him Lord High Chancellor, the Keeper of the Privy Seal. In Oriental countries still letters are seldom written or signed by those who send them. A secretary writes them and the seal of the person sending them is then affixed. A legal document requires the public seal to become effective. The king's ring with his seal upon it, turned over to Joseph, made all of Joseph's acts those of the king. The delivery of this ring was the formal installation of Joseph into [106] office. Fine linen. It must be understood that this was an official dress. According to the customs of Egypt Joseph could not enter upon office without being inducted into the priestly caste, to which even the kings belonged. This caste, the highest in the land, paid the greatest attention to personal cleanliness and in order that pollution upon their garments might show at once were dressed in white linen. Dean Stanley says "Joseph is invested with the gold chain or necklace as with an order, exactly according to the investiture of royal officers as represented in the Theban sculptures. He is represented in the white robe of sacred state that appears in such marked contrast on the tawny figures of ancient priests. He bears the royal ring, such as are still found in the earliest sepulchers. He rides in the royal chariot that is seen so often rolling its solemn way in the monumental processions. Before him goes the cry of some Egyptian, a shout evidently resembling those which now in the streets of Cairo clear the way for any great personage driving through the crowded masses of men and beast."--History of the Jewish Church.

      43. He made him to ride in the second chariot. The first chariot was that in which the king rode; the second chariot belonged to the man who held the second rank in Egypt. These were state chariots. Bow the knee. As he bore the royal seal and was the king's representative, his progress, when he traveled, was in royal state, and heralds preceded him who cried, "Bow the knee." The streets of Egyptian cities are so narrow that runners are wont to precede carriages to clear the way.

      III. JOSEPH OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT.--44. I am Pharaoh, and without thee, etc. These words are designed to say that he would back up Joseph with all his power. "I am Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the absolute ruler. What I say is law; and I say that without thee no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." All who were loyal to Pharaoh would have to be obedient to Joseph. It is possible that some disaffection on the part of the Egyptians that a foreigner, recently a slave, should be put over them, provoked this emphatic declaration. To "lift hand or foot" was a proverbial expression implying the most extensive authority. [107]

      45. Pharaoh called his name Zaphnath-pianeah. He was to receive yet a new elevation signified by a new name. It was an ancient custom that the name should be changed when one entered into new relations. The name of Abram was changed to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and the Babylonians gave new names to Daniel and his companions (Dan. 1:7). A new name given to Joseph was a part of naturalization and would serve to remove Egyptian prejudices. The meaning of the name is not certainly known, but it is likely that it was a title of office, as the word Pharaoh is. Adam Clarke says: "I believe it to be an Egyptian epithet, designating the office to which be was now raised, similar to our compound terms, Prime-Minister, Lord Chancellor, High Treasurer, Chief Justice, etc." Gave him to wife . . daughter of . . the priest of On. The fact that Joseph was married to the daughter of a priest shows that he was made a member of the priestly caste. Herodotus says that no one was permitted to hold high office unless he became a member of their caste. "The people of Egypt were divided into castes like the people of India at this day, and as they formerly prevailed among many other Oriental nations. At the head of these castes stood that of priesthood. From this order the king was usually selected; if one of the warriors, the next class in rank, should attain to that eminence, he was always installed and enrolled in the priestly order. The priestly caste in rank and power, stood far above the rest of the people. In every district stood a temple and a sacerdotal college. In them one-third of the whole land of the country was inalienably vested. . . . The political powers of this hereditary aristocracy were unbounded; they apparently engrossed both the legislative and judicial functions; they were the framers, the conservators and the expounders of the law.--Milman. Potipherah. The name of Joseph's father-in-law means "He who is of the sun." At On, called by the Greeks Heliopolis, "the city of the sun," there was a temple to that luminary, and of this Potipherah was doubtless a priest. "We visited the site about five miles from Cairo, on the east of the Nile, and found there only a single obelisk, covered with hieroglyphics, and over sixty feet in height, the most ancient of all obelisks known, erected about 2300 B. C."--Jacobus. That Joseph married by the king's order the daughter of an Egyptian priest and was himself made a member of the priestly caste does not signify that he had aught to do with the Egyptian religion. It only implies that he had the privileges of this highest of all castes. [108]

      46. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Julius Cæsar, beholding the picture of Alexander in Hercules' temple at Gades, wept that he had done no worthy act at those years wherein Alexander had conquered the world. Behold, Joseph at thirty showed more wisdom and virtue than either of them.--Trapp.

      46. The earth brought forth by handfuls. The harvests during these seven plenteous years were as much above the average as those of the seven following years fell below.

      48. He gathered up an the food of the seven years. Under the supervision of Joseph one-fifth of all the ground, levied as ground tax, was gathered into the great public storehouses, which were located in each city. Such storehouses for grain appear on the Egyptian monuments, with all the processes for storing a crop. A man is represented, on a sculptured tomb at Elithya, taking an account of the number of bushels as they are measured by another who is subordinate. He is called Thutnope, the registrar of bushels. The figure of others is shown taking the grain in sacks and carrying it into storehouses. See Hengstenberg on Egypt.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      Joseph was the first Hebrew who attained to the high position of prime minister in a foreign state, but not the only one. Daniel became prime minister of Darius at Babylon; Mordecai of Ahasuerus in Persia; Disraeli, a Hebrew, was prime minister of England, and Gambetta, also a Hebrew, was long the chief man in France.

      The uplifting of Joseph from a state so lowly and hopeless is a proof that God never forgets those who do not forget him. He remembered God in his affliction and God remembered him. "All things work together for good to them that love God." [109]

      THE FAMINE IN EGYPT.--Out of the waters of the Nile came up the sacred buffaloes, or kine, in Pharaoh's dream, fit symbols of the leanness or the fertility of future years. The drought that withers up the herbage of the surrounding countries brings famine on Egypt also. The Nile, for so we must interpret the vision of Pharaoh and its fulfillment, from the failure of the Abyssinian rains, fell short of its due level. Twice only, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries of the Christian era, such a catastrophe is described by the Arabian historians in terms which give us a full conception of the calamity from which Joseph delivered the country. The first lasted, like that of Joseph, for seven years; of the other the most fearful details are given by an eye witness. "Then the year presented itself as a monster whose wrath must annihilate all the resources of life and all the means of subsistence. The famine begun . . large numbers emigrated . . . The poor ate carrion, corpses, dogs. They went farther and devoured even little children. The eating of human flesh became so common as to excite no surprise . . . As to the number of poor who perished from hunger and exhaustion God alone knows what it was. A traveler often passed through a large village without seeing a single living inhabitant. . . . The road between Egypt and Syria was like a vast field sown with human bodies, or rather like a plain that had just been swept by the scythe of the mower."--Stanley.

      ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH.--A very remarkable confirmation of Biblical history occurs in connection with this last king, as told in the story of Joseph. Joseph is said to have been named Zaphnath-paaneah, a very unusual name, not Hebrew, and which has been variously translated by commentators. But the name occurs written in precisely the same form, in a proclamation of Kames, with the meaning of "Sustainer of the world," according to Lenormant, but, according to Brugsch, literally, "Governor of the District of the place of life," the latter being the name given to Tanis at one time.--Osborn's Ancient Egypt in the Light of Modern Discovery.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Review the causes of the exile of Joseph from his father's house and his own country. 2. Point out the chain of events which had brought him to the king's presence. 3. Delineate his interpretation of the king's dream and his counsel. 4. Bring out the facts of his exaltation; the meaning of the ring, the fine linen, riding in the second chariot, his marriage to the daughter of the priest of On. 5. Explain the reasons of Joseph's great success and present prosperity. His wicked brethren, the wicked wife of Potiphar, and other causes had all co-operated, but most of all his own virtues. 6. Point out Joseph as ruler, his work, how carried on, and why. 7. Describe an Egyptian famine. 8. Show how the providence of God watched over Joseph. 9. Show that while Joseph fed the body our Joseph, he of whom Joseph was a type, feeds the soul. How? [110]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: