Conduct towards aged parents. Joseph had always been a good son, and he honoured and loved his father as long as he was alive, and faithfully carried out his last wishes. His example shows us that we ought to support our parents in their old age; to visit and comfort them when they are sick; to be by their side at the hour of death; to faithfully carry out their last wishes; to pray diligently for the repose of their souls, and always have a grateful remembrance of them. “Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in thy life” (Ecclus. 3, 14).
The reward of virtue. Almighty God often visibly rewards virtue, and especially that which is shown by children to their parents. We can see this in the case both of Joseph and of Juda. a) Joseph loved and honoured his father; therefore, he was blessed by God even in this world. He lived fifty-four years after his father’s death, rejoiced in his children and grandchildren, was protected and enlightened by God, and died a happy death, b) Next to Joseph, Juda was the best of Jacob’s sons. He saved Joseph from death, saying: “It is better he be sold than that our hands be defiled, for he is our brother.” He made himself surety for Benjamin, and when Joseph wished to keep the latter as a slave, he said: “I will stay, instead of the boy; for, if he is not with us, we shall bring our father’s grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Juda was rewarded for this generous conduct; for his tribe was the dominant one, and of it was born the Saviour. “Honour thy father in work and word and all patience. The father’s blessing established the houses of children: but the mother’s curse rooteth up the foundation” (Ecclus. 3, 9 11).
Happy death. Is not Jacob’s death striking and beautiful? Surrounded by his children, he gives his blessing to each one, foretelling God’s will concerning them. Dying in a strange land, he fixes his mind on the divine promises, and leaves this world calm and joyous, solemnly proclaiming his belief in the coming Redeemer. Joseph, too, died a holy and happy death, mourned by his brothers, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He died firm in the hope that his people would possess the Promised Land, and that, some day, the Redeemer would come. Both Jacob and Joseph had led holy, God-fearing lives; therefore they both died happy, peaceful deaths, firm in the hope of the future Saviour. As they lived, so they died. “With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed” (Ecclus. 1, 13).
The words of Jacob to his son Juda refer to the Saviour, who was expected by the nations, and who was descended from Juda. The patriarch Joseph is a figure of St. Joseph, the foster-father of Christ The one was ruler in Egypt; the other is the protector of the Catholic Church.
The twelve sons of Jacob were a type of the twelve Apostles. As from Jacob’s twelve sons sprang the whole chosen people, even so, in
