JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN. -- Genesis 45:1-15. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Overcome evil with good._ -- Romans 12:21. TIME. --About B. C. 1803. PLACES. --Egypt. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Genesis 37:1-28; Genesis 42:1-24; Genesis 43:1-34; Genesis 44:1-34. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. _The Weeping Ruler;_ 2. _The Brother... [ Continue Reading ]
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 governor suddenly burst forth in loud weeping. THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH HEARD.... [ Continue Reading ]
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,. deep sense of guilt, doubt, reverence and hope would all be mingled together... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE BROTHER REVEALED. 4. COME NEAR TO ME,. 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... [ Continue Reading ]
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, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD SENT... TO PRESERVE. God often works by contraries; the 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 brethre... [ Continue Reading ]
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 se... [ Continue Reading ]
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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
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, 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 wou... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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. proof, if any doubt were left, of his identity.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL TELL MY FATHER OF ALL MY GLORY. He bids them bear to his father. 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 fath... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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. weeping embrace. Thus, in the spirit of. fond brother, he assures them of his forgiveness in. man... [ Continue Reading ]