Genesis 37:36

Sold him... to Potiphar... captain of the guard.

The last expression is literally rendered, "chief of the executioners." The king's body guard were assigned the work of executing his edicts, and hence executed his sentence on all who incurred the royal displeasure. Eastern monarchs are absolute, and their commands are carried out by their officers without question. Let it be said of any subject, "Go, bring me his head," it will be done at once by the officers of the guards. What. change to Joseph; in. strange land, far from his father's home, no longer favored as the beloved son, but. slave, his life at the mercy of his master, subject to. master whose trade was blood, and who was accustomed to see men die without pity or remorse! Nothing could have enabled him to bear up under his hard fate, had he not carried the consciousness that God was with him.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

. TYPE OF CHRIST.--Joseph has been recognized by most interpreters as. type of Christ; in his father's love for him, in his being sent to his brethren, rejected by them, sold to the Gentiles, delivered unto death, in his sanctity of life, in his humiliation, in his exaltation to be. prince and. savior, in that his father and mother and brethren came and all bowed to him. We may notice here that the counsels of his brethren to prevent the fulfillment of his dreams, like the counsels of Herod and the Jews to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Jesus, only served to bring about God's counsels, which were wrought out by the very means taken to defeat them. If Joseph had not been sold to the Midianites he would never have been exalted to be governor of Egypt. If Christ had not been persecuted and crucified, he would not have worked out redemption for us, have risen from the dead, and ascended up unto his glory.-- Browne.

FAMILY. ROILS.--How ruinous are family distractions!. house divided against itself cannot stand. Parents should take good heed that their own conduct be not the first and most powerful cause of such dissensions, by exciting envy in some of the children through undue partiality to others. But it is vain to speak to most persons on the subject; they will give way to foolish predilections till, in the prevailing distractions of their families, they meet with the punishment of their imprudence.-- Clarke.

RETRIBUTION.--Wicked deeds cannot be concealed; evil will come to light. In due time every action will be rewarded according to its own merit. When the ten brethren saw Joseph carried away into Egypt, and had made Jacob believe that he was dead, they thought their scheme was. success. The "dreamer," who expected to be their ruler was gone forever. Little did they think that. turn of the providence of God would throw them, helpless, into the hands of the brother whom they had so foully mistreated, and that they would be indebted to his mercy for their lives. Little did they think that their conduct would be exposed to their father and to all the world. How bitter must have been their agony in the hour when they saw the brother whom they had sought to destroy in the Egyptian ruler.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

1. Note the character of Jacob's family; twelve sons, mostly bold and unscrupulous. Cite proofs of their character. 2. Bring out the reasons why Joseph was hated. 3. Observe the ten brethren at Dothan; why there; their plot when they saw Joseph. See the proof of their depravity in this awful design. 4. Note Reuben's counsel, and the proof of his better heart. 5. Note the sale of Joseph, and how it was brought about.. brother sold into slavery by brothers! 6. Observe the course taken by the evil doers to deceive their father and conceal their sin. Only. success for. season; finally baffled, and retribution comes. 7. Observe the great grief of Jacob; his mother had been partial to him, he to. child, and he reaps the bitter fruits. 8. Note his hope of meeting Joseph again. 9. Bring out Joseph as. type of Christ. 10. Observe the practical lesson--ten bad boys go on step by step, nourish envy and hatred in their hearts until they are prepared to murder their brother. Evil must be crushed in the beginning.