not speak. How much greater will be the fear of sinners at the Last Judgment, when Jesus appears in power and majesty, and says: “I am Jesus, whom you have persecuted, and injured and crucified by your sins!”
Application. Joseph’s example teaches us that we should from our hearts forgive those who have injured us, and return good for the evil they have done to us. The love of our enemies is, therefore, a beautiful and great virtue, which we Christians are bound to practise.
Brothers and sisters ought to love one another. Joseph’s exhortation to his brethren: “Be not angry in the way”, applies especially to them.
Chapter XXVI.
JACOB GOES INTO EGYPT.
[Gen. 45, 25 to 46.]
WHEN Joseph’s brethren returned to their father, they told him: “Joseph, thy son, is living, and he is ruler in all the land of Egypt.” But Jacob did not believe them, till they showed him the chariots and all the presents that Joseph had sent. Then he awoke, as it were, from a deep sleep[1]; his spirit revived[2], and he said: “It is enough for me, if Joseph, my son, be yet living[3]. I will go and see him, before I die.”
And he set out for Egypt, with his whole family[4] and all his possessions. When he had reached the confines of Chanaan, he offered a sacrifice[5] to God, who spoke to him in a vision of
- ↑ Sleep . When a person dreams something terrible and alarming, and then wakes up and finds that there is no real cause for fear, he feels relieved and consoled. Jacob had hitherto mourned for his son Joseph, as for one dead — and now he heard that he was alive! His former grief was like a terrible dream of the past, and it was as if a heavy load were removed from his heart. However, it seemed so wonderful that Joseph, whose blood-stained coat he had seen with his own eyes, should be alive, and a great ruler in Egypt, that he could not believe it to be true, until he saw the waggons and costly gifts he had sent.
- ↑ Revived. His spirit, crushed by grief, recovered itself, and he felt happy.
- ↑ Yet living. It is quite enough for me to know that my son is alive. That he is rich and powerful is but a secondary consideration. I do not want anything in this world except to see him once more.
- ↑ His whole family. Jacob’s sons were nearly all married, and had children. In all, Jacob’s family, without counting the wives, amounted to seventy persons.
- ↑ Sacrifice. Jacob found himself on the point of again leaving the land which God had promised to give to him and his descendants, and of going with all his family into a strange country. Very likely the doubt arose in his mind, whether he were doing right. He desired that Almighty God would make known His will to him, and he wished, in case he were acting rightly, to ask the Lord’s gracious protection for his journey. God heard Jacob's prayer, and gave him a threefold assurance: firstly, that he might without fear proceed on his way; secondly, that his descendants would become a great people in Egypt; and thirdly, that God would bring his people back to Chanaan.
