LESSON III.--APRIL 17.

JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN.--GEN. 45:1-15.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Overcome evil with good.--ROM. 12:21.
      TIME.--About B. C. 1803.
      PLACES.--Egypt.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 37:1-28; Gen. 42:1-24; Gen. 43:1-34; Gen. 44:1-34.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Weeping Ruler; 2. The Brother Revealed; 3. The Message to the Father.

INTRODUCTION.

      The seven years of unexampled plenty passed away exactly as the interpreter of the royal dreams had foretold. During all this time Joseph had regularly exacted a fifth of the produce, which was stored up in granaries established by the government. The seven years' famine soon began to press heavily, not merely on Egypt, but on all the adjacent countries. Among the first who came to purchase corn were the ten sons of Jacob. It is no easy matter to treat, after the Jewish historian, the transactions that took place between Joseph and his family. The relation in the book of Genesis is perhaps the most exquisite model of the manner in which history, without elevating its tone, or departing from its plain and unadorned veracity, assumes the language and spirit of the most touching poetry. The brothers are at first received with sternness and asperity, charged with being spies come to observe the undefended state of the country. This accusation, though not seriously intended, in some degree confirms the notion that the Egyptians had recently suffered, and therefore constantly apprehended, foreign invasion, and foreign invasion by a nomad people. They are thrown into prison for three days, and released on condition of proving the truth of their story by bringing their younger brother, Benjamin, with them. Their own danger brings up before their minds the recollection of their crime. They express to one another their deep remorse for the supposed murder of their brother, little thinking that Joseph, who had conversed with them through an interpreter, understood every word they said. And Joseph turned from them and wept. Simeon being left as a hostage, the brothers were dismissed, but on the way were surprised and alarmed to find that their money was returned. The suspicious Jacob will not at first entrust his youngest and best beloved son to their care; but their present supply of corn being consumed, they have no alternative between starvation and their return to Egypt. Jacob reluctantly, and with many fond admonitions, commits the surviving child of Rachel to their protection. On their arrival in Egypt they are better received; the unknown Ruler inquires anxiously about the health of their father. "Is your father alive, the old man of whom ye spake, is he yet alive?" The sight of his own full brother, Benjamin, overpowers him with emotion. He said, "God be gracious to thee, my son. And Joseph made haste, for his [111] bowels did yearn upon his brother; and he sought where to weep, and he entered his chamber and wept there." They are feasted; Benjamin is particularly distinguished by a larger portion of meat. The brothers are once more dismissed, but are now pursued and apprehended on the charge of secreting a silver cup, which had been concealed in the sack of Benjamin, and at length the great minister of Egypt makes himself known as the brother whom they had sold as slave.--Milman.

      I. THE WEEPING RULER. 1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself. The student should get before his mind the circumstances. Twenty-two years have passed since Joseph had been sold from his home in Canaan, and nine years since he had been made prime minister of Egypt. He had at once recognized his ten brethren, the same ones who had sold him, clad as they were in Hebrew garb, and speaking the well known tongue of his father's house. It is not strange that they failed to recognize the boy whom they had sold twenty-two years before in the stately Egyptian, clothed in fine linen, surrounded by splendor and speaking the Egyptian tongue, and only speaking to them through an interpreter. It had been with great difficulty that Joseph had restrained himself and kept his secret from the Egyptians and his own brethren, maintaining an outward sternness while his heart was filled with tenderness. When Judah made his noble speech, asking that he be permitted to remain a slave instead of Benjamin, and that he be allowed to go back to cheer up the lonely father, it was impossible for him to continue to act his part longer, and the time had come to reveal himself. Cause every man to go out from me. His Egyptian attendants were sent forth. He would be the governor before them, but now he proposes to be the long-lost brother, and he wishes no Egyptian spectators. Besides, in this interview the wickedness of his brethren twenty-two years before must come out, and he did not wish it made known to all Egypt. The conversation of the brethren, their regard for their father, and the speech of Judah showed that they had repented of their former misdeeds and were better men; hence all was forgiven by Joseph, and his great desire was to make his brethren forget the past.

      2 He wept aloud. Now at length all the love, which during twenty-two long years had been pent up in Joseph's heart, breaks forth with irrepressible might. It must have been startling to the Hebrew brethren to see the august [112] governor suddenly burst forth in loud weeping. The house of Pharaoh heard. The personal attendants of Pharaoh. The report would go at once to the king. The loud weeping of Joseph is exactly the character of the people of Asia. Their sentiments of joy or grief are properly transports, and their transports are unrestrained. When any one returns from a long journey, or dies, his family burst. into cries that may be heard many rods away, and this is often renewed at intervals for many days.

      3. I am Joseph. Weeping was the preface to this revelation, but it comes sudden and startling. How It must have confounded the guilty brethren. The Egyptian ruler was the brother whom they had sought to destroy. Remorse, fear, a deep sense of guilt, doubt, reverence and hope would all be mingled together. We are reminded of Christ's revelation to Saul of Tarsus, " Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest," Doth my father yet live? The first words are a revelation of his affection. No reproaches, no threats, no denunciation, but an affectionate inquiry concerning his aged father. This is to confess them brethren by acknowledging that their father was his father. Often those who have risen from lowly state to great exaltation try to conceal their parentage, but Joseph exhibited no such weakness. His brethren could not answer him. They were speechless with amazement and fear. It is not wonderful that they were bereft of their senses. The revelation came upon them like a thunderbolt. It would have been less confounding had it not been from a deep sense of their own sin. The wicked flee when no man pursueth. The Adam and Eve who had sinned hide themselves in the thickets of Paradise. These brethren were covered with confusion on finding themselves in the presence of the man whom they had hated without a cause, had so deeply wronged and tried to destroy.

      II. THE BROTHER REVEALED. 4. Come near to me, I pray you. They stood afar off in amazement and fear. He invites them in tenderness and love to come near. They felt the power of his gracious manner, and confidence began to revive. They draw near, although they do not seem to fully realize yet who is speaking to them. He had before said, "I am Joseph." Now he adds more, so much that they cannot fail to perceive who it is that speaks. I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold. He spoke of their having sold him, not to wound their feelings, but to convince them of his identity, and then to reassure their minds he traced all to an overruling Providence who had exalted him in his exile and made him the savior of Egypt and his brethren. [113]

      5. Be not grieved . . . that ye sold me. He tried to lead them away from their self-reproaches, and from fear and despair, to consider the overruling providence and the gracious ways of God in working out the salvation of his people. Not that he wished to roll the responsibility of their crime on God, but only to encourage their confidence, and to induce them to trust in the plans he had formed for the future comfort of their father and themselves. God did send me before you to preserve life. God is often working out gracious purposes by overruling the wicked purposes of men. He had sent Joseph into Egypt to preserve the promised race from starvation and to effect other gracious purposes. He sees the end from the beginning, while our eyes are holden until the end comes.--X. One cannot admire too much the gracious and forgiving spirit of Joseph. His brethren are in his power, but as soon as he perceives their contrition, he not only forgives all, but tries to heal the wound and to palliate their misdeeds. "You sold me, it is true, but God sent me into Egypt. Egypt and Canaan both would have perished had it not been for God's merciful providence. The Hebrew race, my father, you and your children were to come down here, and I was sent before you. Death would have be en the result of this famine if God had not sent me here to preserve life."

      6. For these two years hath the famine been in the land. The sons of Jacob bad probably made their first trip to Egypt about the close of the first year, and this second trip seems to have been at the close of the second year. Five years yet remained. Neither be earing nor harvest. The term "earing" once meant plowing, and such is the meaning of the Hebrew. There will neither be tillage nor harvest for five more years. The drought will so continue that the husbandman will not even plant his land. The famine in Egypt was doubtless caused by the failure of the Nile to overflow the land on account of the failure of rains on its upper waters. Without the overflow the land would be in no condition to sow.

      7. And God sent . . . to preserve. God often works by contraries; the [114] envy and contention of the brethren threaten the ruin of the family, yet in this instance God directs all so that they are the occasion of preserving Jacob's family. Joseph had never been the shepherd and stone of Israel if the brethren had not shot at and hated him. See Gen. 49:23, 24.--Henry.

      8. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. If Joseph's brethren had said this we would have been justified in charging them with the crime of trying to shuffle off the responsibility for their guilt upon God. But when Joseph is the speaker we recognize at once the drift of the words and see that they are free from exceptionable meaning. Hath made me a father to Pharaoh. Calmet has remarked that among the Phœnicians, Arabians, Persians and Romans, the title of "father" was given to certain officers of state. The Roman emperors gave the name of father to the Prætorian prefects, as appears by the letters of Constantine to Ablarius. The Caliphs gave the same name to their prime ministers.--Clarke.

      III. THE MESSAGE TO THE FATHER.--9. Haste ye, and go up to my father. Joseph will now send them back to their father with the exciting news, and an inviting message. How incredible to the aged patriarch that the son, long mourned as dead, is lord of all the land of Egypt, the greatest country in the world! Joseph would have them hasten and "tarry not." He longs to see his father, and to cheer and comfort his declining years, and to bind up the grievous wound that for twenty-two years has rankled in his heart. To his father he will place in the forefront of the matter, not his wicked brethren, but the providence of God, who hath elevated to such place and power the old man's long-lost son. Far better than abundance of corn it is to know that Joseph is alive and is lord of the granaries of Egypt, and that he is to come down to Joseph with all that are his.

      10. Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen. This part of Egypt was most convenient to Palestine. It was the border land of Egypt on the northeast, [115] lying between the delta of the Nile and the western border of Palestine. When the Israelites marched out of Egypt in the time of Moses their nearest way would have been through the "land of the Philistines," but God led them by the Red Sea and Sinai. Goshen was well suited for the pasturage of flocks, far better than the valley of the Nile. The historians have been disposed to think that shortly before this the dynasty known as the "Shepherd Kings," was driven out of Egypt, and that their departure had left the land of Goshen almost empty. It would therefore be free for the occupation of the Hebrews. Thou shalt be near to me. He would be compelled by the duties of his office to reside at the court of Pharaoh. At this period Memphis was probably the capital and was near the land of Goshen.

      11. I will nourish thee. This is Joseph's pledge for all the years of famine, his guarantee to Jacob and his family with food and to maintain him and all his house during the rigors of the next five years. He speaks as one having authority. Thy household. The household of Abraham and Isaac consisted of many servants and dependents, besides their own immediate families. So Jacob, when he came from Padan Aram, had become "two bands." It is probable that besides the "seventy-two souls" in Jacob's family, several hundred dependents accompanied him in his descent into Egypt and settled with him in the land of Goshen. It must not be forgotten that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the patriarchal rulers of the tribes.

      12. Behold, your eyes see . . . that it is my mouth that speaketh to you. He did not now speak through an interpreter as before, but with his own mouth, in their native Hebrew. They could thus have a proof, if any doubt were left, of his identity.

      13. Ye shall tell my father of all my glory. He bids them bear to his father a full report of all that they now know and had seen. Glorious news it will be to the old man to learn of the preservation and exaltation of his beloved son. It will also add greatly to the happiness of the son to have his father share the benefits. [116]

      14. He fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck. Benjamin, the son of his own mother, the beloved Rachel, is the special object of his own affection, and he can no longer restrain his embrace. They embrace in Oriental fashion, their heads upon the neck of each other, and they weep tears of emotion, but of joy, upon each other's neck.

      15. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren. While he saluted Benjamin first, he did not pass by the ton brethren who had sold him into slavery. They were all kissed in the Oriental style of salutation, with a weeping embrace. Thus, in the spirit of a fond brother, he assures them of his forgiveness in a manner more effective than words. Up to this time they seem to have been appalled into silence, had not even been able to answer his questions, but the embrace, in connection with his kind words, so far creates confidence in them that they are now able to talk with him.

      Pharaoh, when he had heard the news, confirmed Joseph's invitation to his father's household to settle in Egypt, and wagons were sent to Palestine for their removal.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      Private conversations of friends and relatives are most free. When Joseph would put on love he puts off state, and this it was not fitting that his attendants should be witnesses of.

      It was the wicked brothers who should have filled the house with outcries and bitter groans of sorrow over their past misdeeds. But it was Joseph who did the weeping. So Christ weeps over Jerusalem and weeps over sinners.

      When a Christian has been exalted to high worldly state by the providence of God he must not be ashamed of his poor parents, brothers, sisters and other relatives, and despise them.

      GOD DID SEND ME.--God works through a variety of means to effect his benevolent ends. Even the lightning, the storm cloud, and the tempest purify the atmosphere and refresh the earth. So, too, he makes the wrath of man to praise him by so overruling the counsels of the wicked as to bring good out of evil. "How admirable are the projects of providence! How remote its tendencies! What wheels there are within wheels, and yet all directed by the eyes within the wheels, and the spirit of the living creature. Let us, therefore, judge nothing before its time. God often works by contraries."--Henry. [117]

      JOSEPH THE TYPE.--This history, in which Joseph acts as the type of our New Testament Joseph, only shows how God pleases often by a series of delays and disappointments to prepare us for a revelation and appreciation of his grace. It was so with the sisters at Bethany. It is so with us all. "Be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, not having seen, we love. Our Elder Brother aims, in the midst of all our trials, to reveal himself,--walking on the wave at the fourth watch, standing on the shore when we have caught nothing."--Jacobus.

      GOSHEN.--The high credit of Joseph insures the Hebrews a friendly reception in Egypt, and the fertile district of Goshen, the best pasture land in Egypt, is assigned by the munificent sovereign for their residence. But if the deadly hostility of the native Egyptians to foreign shepherds really originated in the cause indicated above (the invasion and conquest of the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings), the magnanimity of Joseph in not disclaiming his connection with a race in such low esteem, and his influence in securing them such a hospitable reception, must not escape our notice. Their establishment in Goshen coincides in a remarkable manner with this theory. The last stronghold of the Shepherd Kings was the city of Abaris. Abaris must have been situated either within or closely bordering upon the district of Goshen. The expulsion of the shepherds would leave the tract unoccupied and open to the settlement of a pastoral people.--Milman.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Consider the famine, its cause, its duration, and the provision made against it. 2. Note the influx from all surrounding countries to Egypt to buy corn. Among these the sons of Jacob. 3. Trace their route from Hebron to Memphis on the Nile. 4. Consider the reception they received from the Governor and the train of events leading to the revelation of Joseph. 5. Bring out the climax of the tragedy, the offer of Judah, the removal of the Egyptians, the burst of weeping, the startling revelation, I am Joseph. 6. Picture the speechless amazement of the guilty brethren. 7. Show the loving tenderness of Joseph, his anxiety to show that he loved them still and to remove their fears. 8. Show his filial regard for his father, how different from some who have risen to greatness. We have the same in President Garfield's regard for his backwoods mother. 9. Point out the overruling providence of God, and how it brought good out of evil. So the Jews, when they crucified our Lord, worked out the plan of redemption. 10. Point out the correspondence between Joseph and Christ. 11. Draw lessons from Joseph as a model brother. 12. Show how virtue led to the exaltation of Joseph, and draw the lesson that it will bring its reward. [118]

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