The Story of Joseph and His Brethren/Part 1/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII.
THE famine continuing, and the supply of corn being exhausted, Jacob desired his sons to go again and buy them a little food. And soon the question of Benjamin going with them was revived. Judah, the eldest son, told his father that the man did solemnly protest unto them, that they should not see his face unless their brother was with them. Jacob at last consented, and having received their father's blessing, they departed and came into Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
The most interesting chapter in the history of Joseph now commences, and nothing is more beautiful, nothing more affecting, nothing more improving, than the cause and issue of this incomparable narrative, which is as simply natural as it is emblematically instructive. "When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon." When the man brought them into Joseph's house, they saw in this again a cause of alarm; they thought it was on account of the money they had found in their sacks, and they were under apprehension that the ruler might seek occasion against them, and fall upon them and take them for bondmen. They therefore told the steward of Joseph's house how they had found the money in their sacks; but he allayed their apprehensions, saying—"Peace be unto you, fear not; your God, and the God of your fathers, hath given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money."
Preparations were now made for their eating bread at the table of Pharaoh. When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hands, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. Joseph asked them of their welfare, and said—"Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? When they had answered him, they again bowed their heads and made obeisance.
And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said. Is this your younger brother of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep: and he entered into his chamber and wept there."
When Joseph, after giving vent to his feelings, returned, having washed the effects of weeping from his face and refrained himself, he desired his servants to set on bread, a term which includes all kinds of food, and his brethren sat before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marvelled at one another. Some have supposed that the cause of their marvelling was that they had been placed in this order, wondering how they had been desired to sit in the exact order of their birth. However this may be, "Joseph sent messes unto them, giving Benjamin five times as much as any of the others, and they drank and were merry with him."
The morning after the feast they took their departure. Joseph had again given orders to put every man's money in his sack's mouth. But this time he commanded the steward to put his silver cup also into the sack's mouth of the youngest. Soon after their departure the steward was sent after them, to demand of them why they had rewarded evil for good, in taking the silver cup in which his lord drank, and indeed divined. They protested their innocence, but on searching their sacks, the cup was found in the sack of the youngest. Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city. When Judah and his brethren were come into Joseph's house, they fell before him to the ground. When Joseph accused them of having done an evil deed, Judah addressed him, detailing the circumstances under which they appeared before him, entreating in conclusion to be allowed to take Benjamin's place as a bondman unto my lord, that the child might return to his father.
It may seem that these trials were not really necessary, since Joseph might have obtained his object without them. But Joseph was a wise man, and as he knew the use of affliction, he might see the benefit his brethren would derive from undergoing trials. And no doubt they were benefited by them, and prepared the better to appreciate and to profit by the reconciliation which Joseph had in view.
When Judah had ended his address, Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried—"Cause every man to go out from me." When they stood alone before him, Joseph made himself known to his brethren, and he wept aloud. And he said unto his brethren—"I am Joseph." What must have been the feelings of his brethren on hearing this extraordinary announcement! The effect upon them is well expressed in the sacred text—"His brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled (or rather terrified) at his presence." Amazement, shame, and terror were no doubt mingled in the general emotion which his words produced, and so powerfully were they moved that they were speechless. What a relief to their troubled consciences was this discovery calculated to afford! What joy was it calculated to bring to them to find him whom they had supposed for ever lost, to find him alive whom they might fear was dead, to find him crowned with honour whom they had sold as a slave! But no doubt their first impression was that of astonishment and dismay at finding themselves in the presence and in the power of one whom they had so cruelly hated and so deeply injured. Joseph perceived their feelings, and to assure them, he said to them, and undoubtedly in tones of love and tenderness—"Come near to me, I pray you" And when they approached nearer, he again said to them, as if his first revelation of the fact had rather stupified than informed them—"I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life." What a beautiful manifestation of forgiveness is here, what an instance of pious recognition of the hand of Divine Providence in the most adverse events of life! Joseph did not mean to teach that they were not to blame for what they had done to him, or that God had inspired them with that hatred of him which led them to sell him into slavery. He meant that God had overruled their evil for good, and bent their purpose into an act which turned to the accomplishment of a great general benefit. And he desired to lead his brethren to recognize the hand of God in the events in which they had a share, and to change their childish fear of God for a fear which has hope and love within it. This was a change they needed. It is evident they had never taken a right view of the deed they had done. They had felt compunction, but they had never felt repentance. Repentance is always accompanied with a desire or an effort to make, as far as possible, amends for injury done to another, and leads therefore to a confession of faults before man, as well as of sin before God. If Joseph's brethren had been really repentant, they would have confessed to their father how great an injury they had done, and would have relieved his mind from the belief that his son had been devoured by a wild beast, by telling him that they sold him to the Ishmaelites. But this they never did, not even after they had accused themselves while in the presence of Joseph.
But Joseph tells his brethren that God had sent him to preserve them a posterity in the earth, and to save them by a great deliverance. He saw that it was the Divine purpose that Jacob and his family should come into Egypt, as this had indeed been declared unto Abraham, that they might be multiplied, and preserved, and prepared for a final settlement in the land of Canaan. Joseph desired his brethren to haste and go up to his father, and carry the joyful tidings that God had made him ruler over all the land of Egypt, and to tell him to come and dwell with him in the land of Goshen.
When Joseph had delivered this message to his brethren, "he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he blessed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him." The distinguishing feature of this part of the narrative is the tenderness of Joseph's love for his brethren, and for Benjamin especially. This is not seen so much in the affection he shews for his elder brethren, as in the seeming forgetfulness and perfect forgiveness of all the hatred and injuries he had experienced at their hands. Revenge is one of the strongest and most unquenchable of human passions, and the law of retaliation is one of the most deeply inscribed on our fallen human nature. On no duty did our blessed Lord lay greater stress, none did he inculcate with more emphasis, than that of forgiveness, and no grace did He more exalt than that of mercy. "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you," was one of His declarations. "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses," was a warning. No character in the Old Testament exhibits this heavenly feeling so perfectly as Joseph. His history seems as if designed by the Lord to show forth great forgiveness of great injuries. Job exhibits extraordinary patience under severe affliction; but his sufferings came apparently from the hand of God, though really through the agency of Satan or evil spirits; while Joseph's came through the hands of men, and especially those of his own brothers, who were bound to love and cherish him. When, therefore, we see him returning good for evil, love for hatred, blessing for cursing, we cannot but regard Joseph as a noble example of what religion can do to cast out the evil feelings of the corrupt human heart, and soften it down into a state of tender and forgiving love. "He kissed all his brethren and wept upon them." No doubt this tenderness flowed out the more, that he had so long been separated from them and from his home. Joseph's flood of tenderness to his brethren disarmed all their suspicions and banished all their fears; and now for the first time since the disclosure of the secret "they talked with him." Their minds were relieved from a load of conflicting and contending passions, and they communed with him as men relieved of a burden on their conscience, and reconciled to one whom they had greatly outraged.