21 Now therefore fear ye not "I will nourish you, and your v ch. 47. 12. Matt. 5. 44. little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Jacob was saved alive; the seed that was to spring from Joseph was preserved from extinction in the loins of their progenitors. The wisdom and goodness of divine providence in overruling the bad intentions of Joseph's brethren to merciful ends were clearly illustrated. Although their sin was not lessened by its happy consequences, yet these consequences were more than sufficient to preserve the mind of Joseph from irritation, and to set the minds of his brethren at rest from any fears of his resentment, Their business therefore was not to give way to groundless apprehensions, but to humble themselves for their iniquity, and to adore the kind providence which brought so much good to themselves, to their children, and to the world out of their sins. so many proofs that he still loved them, notwithstanding all that they had done and intended, they might bear the hint that he now gave them. All that he could intend by it was, to acknowledge what was too plain to be denied, and to say in substance that what he had told them seventeen years before, he still adhered to, and that the same considerations which induced him to pass by their offence then, induced him to do it still. He saw that God's thoughts were thoughts of mercy and kindness both to himself and his brethren; and under this conviction, how could he be guilty of so great a wickedness as to destroy or injure those very persons whom God had exalted him to preserve and protect? Let us think of Joseph's words when we are called to suffer injurious treatment from others. Whatever our Heavenly Father permits to befal us, he intends it for good, if we love him. And shall we not bless him for his kind intentions? But if we bless God, do not let us curse the instruments whom he employs for our good. They may have thought evil against us, but that evil will not lighted from those cares which were insepupon us. It will rather recoil upon themselves. They deserve our pity. The displeasure of God will be sufficiently heavy for them without our displeasure. Is it not enough for us that all the evil should be theirs, and all the good our own? Let us not then by indulging a vindictive spirit take effectual measures to rob ourselves of all the good that we might derive from what is evil to them, and share with them in their sin and its consequences. T God meant it--as it is this day, to save much people alive. The Egyptians were saved alive; the house of 21. Now therefore fear ye not: 1 will nourish you, &c. Again Joseph intreated and exhorted them to confide in his love, and to banish their fears. He was vexed to see them unhappy. He wished them to be as happy as himself, and at the same time exempt arable from his station. Do we say that we forgive those who have offended us? We say well; but how do we verify our words? Are we ready to perform offices of kindness and charity to them as we have opportunity; to comfort them when oppressed with grief; to supply their necessities when in want; to assist them in whatever they need? Such were the ways by which Joseph assured his brethren of his good will to them after their offences. He was not, like many, forward in promising and slow in performing. He was equally prompt in 22 T And Joseph dwelt in house: and Joseph lived an hunEgypt, he, and his father's dred and ten years. both. THe comforted them and spake kindly unto them. Heb. 7 33 yedabber al libbam, spake to their heart. On the force of this expression see Note on Gen. 34. 3. Although words without deeds are but wind, yet words of kindness to which deeds correspond are precious to those who are prepared to value them; and such were Joseph's on this occasion. 22. Joseph dwelt in Egypt, &c. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by faith sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange land, dwelling in tabernacles. The life of Joseph was very different from that of his fathers. He lived in a sumptuous palace, honored by the whole nation of Egypt, and by the surrounding nations, as the wisest and one of the greatest of men. Yet he lived in his palace by faith, as his fathers had done in their tents. Amidst all his honor and affluence, he valued the promise of Canaan more than all the treasures of Egypt, and looked forward with joyful anticipation to the time when in the persons of his seed he should become the actual possessor of that rich inheritance. Yet at present 'he dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house.' Why was this? Not surely for the sake of the honors and pleasures which the court of Egypt could afford him, but rather because it was the will of God that he should dwell there to be a father to Pharaoh, and to be the shepherd of Is. rael. The people of Canaan were no doubt by this time multiplied to such a degree that the family of Jacob would not easily have found a place to live together a pastoral life as one great family. The report that the whole land was expected by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the inheritance of their seed, was perhaps now current in Canaan, and this would natural expose them to the jealousy and hostility of the original inhabitants. And as the iniquities of these heathen tribes were not yet full, any attempt to take forcible possession of the country would have been premature. But whatever were the motives which determined the children of Israel to prolong their residence in Egypt, we know that their abode in that land had been fore-appointed for them by God, for his own glory and for their good. It was not hid from Abraham when God promised him the land of Canaan for his seed, that he and his seed should be sojourners in a land that was not theirs, for the space of four hundred and fifty years. The one half of this time they abode in Canaan as in a strange land, the other half of it in the land of Egypt. This prediction they no doubt regarded as equivalent to a divine direction for their longer stay.- -T He and his father's house; of which he had now become the head, for Reuben had forfeited his birthright. When heads of families die, it is happy if some member of the family remains who is able and willing to discharge the du ties of a head to a headless house. The elder brother, if of proper age, ought to be a father to the younger, and the younger ought to pay him that deference which is due to his age, his qualifications, and his endeavors to promote the common welfare.—¶ Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. He was shorter lived than his father Jacob, whose days had been fewer than those of any of his progenitors from the days of Adam. But if men's lives were to be measured by their good works and usefulness, Joseph 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's | chir, the son of Manasseh, @hildren of the third genera- were brought up upon Joseph's tion: the children also of Ma- knees. x Job 42. 16. y Numb. 32. 39. had lived longer than the greater part of them. Although he might still have been very useful had he lived as long as either of his three illustrious predecessors, yet all the great work allotted him was finished, and the set time was come when he died, that he should go to a better world to receive his reward. Some, even after the time of Joseph, lived much longer. Levi, Amram, Moses, and Aaron, all lived longer than Joseph; but his days were many compared with the days that we may expect to live on earth. Do we wish to protract the term of our pilgrimage on earth, and approximate the period of these good men of ancient times? Let us be sober, be temperate, be cheerful, that we may not shorten our days by the indulgence of our appetites and passions. We may not live as many years as Joseph, because God may not have occasion for our services so long in the world; but what though the number of our days be cut off in the midst, if the residue of them be made up in the better country? 23. Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. Although Joseph was displeased when he saw Ephraim put before Manasseh, yet when he knew the mind of God, he was well pleased with the preference given to his younger son; and it was one part of his happiness that he saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation. He could not expect to see with his own eyes the full accomplishment of a promise relating to the latter days, yet he saw the earlier stages of it. One generation after another grows up under his eye to praise the Lord, and to enjoy the privileges of ברבר z ch. 30. 3. his church. Of what incalculable value is length of days to a man so well qualified and so well inclined to be useful! It was not necessary to tell us that Joseph was careful to transmit the privilege and the love of religion to the generations that followed him. His faith in the promise, and his desire of a rich share in the inheritance of Jacob, leave us no room to doubt of his | care to train up his children, and his children's children, in the way in which they should go.- T The children also of Machir-were brought up upon Joseph's knees. Heb. 773 o yulledu al birke Yoseph, were born upon Joseph's knees; implying not only that they were laid at birth and afterwards nursed and dandled on his knees, but also that they were in a sense considered as his own, inasmuch as Ephraim and Manasseh had been adopted in their father's place, Gen. 48. 5, and thus Joseph may be said to be brought one generation nearer to his grandchildren. While therefore he had the pleasure of beholding the multiplication of his family by Ephraim, he found no reason to fear that Manasseh would be forgotten by God. What he saw with his eyes was only a confirmation of what he had heard with his ears, that though Ephraim was to be greater than Manasseh, yet Manasseh also was to be great. If children's children are the glory of old men, they were so in a very eminent degree to Joseph, who was assured that the blessings of divine goodness should descend upon his head in the persons of his descendants. 24. Joseph said unto his brethren, c 24 And Joseph said unto his 25 And Joseph took an oath brethren, I die; and God will of the children of Israel, saying, surely visit you, and bring you God will surely visit you, and ye out of this land, unto the land shall carry up my bones from b which he sware to Abraham, to | hence. Isaac, and to Jacob. a ch. 15. 14 & 46. 4. & 48. 21. Exod. 3. 16, 17. Hebr. 11. 22. b ch. 15. 14. & 26. 3. & 35. 12. & 46. 4. die, &c. Dying men are often very unwilling to believe what all by-standers cannot but see. They take hold of every shadow of appearance to flatter themselves with vain hopes of living sometime longer in this world. But Joseph was not afraid to die, or to observe the symptoms of his approaching dissolution. He had lived in such a manner, as when death came he wished to have lived, and he held fast in death that hope which had animated his soul amidst all the afflictions of life. ¶ God will surely visit you. Heb. pakod yiphkod, visiting will visit. By this is virtually implied an antecedent season of affliction; for visiting' implies deliverance,' and before they could be delivered they must be in distress. It is clear that when Joseph was dying his thoughts were not engrossed by his own concerns, although he was on the borders of the everlasting world. His mind was at perfect ease concerning his own state. But he did what he could to console the hearts of his brethren, and of all his father's house, whom his death was depriving of their best earthly friend. He let them know that they had a far better friend in heaven, who could not die, and who would surely visit them and bring them again out of Egypt. The death of our worthy friends is just cause for sorrow, but not of despondency. Brittle cisterns at best, they are now broken cisterns, in which no water is left; but the fountain of living water is never ex c Exod. 13. 19, Josh. 24. 32. Acts 7. 16. hausted. When Joseph tells his surviving children that God will surely visit them and bring them out of that land, he does not refer them to any new discoveries made to himself, but to the well-known promise made to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. When there was no written word of God, his afflicted people found a sufficient ground for their faith and hope in the sure promises handed down from father to son. How superior are our privileges, who enjoy that precious volume filled with promises as the heaven is with stars!¶ The land which he sware to Abraham, &c. How wonderful is the condescension of God in confirming his promises by an oath! Had he merely promised without swearing, ought he not to have been trusted? But when to silence all the whispers of our unbelieving hearts, he engages upon oath to do what he has said, we cannot refuse our assent to his word without making him worse than a liar. 'Which he sware! Why are not the hearts of stubborn sinners terrified when they hear God swearing that he will never forget any of their works, and that they shall not enter into his rest? Why are not the hearts of trembling sinners emboldened to flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, when they hear the Lord saying, 'As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he should turn and live?" 25. Joseph took an oath of the chil 26 So Joseph died, being an [ they embalmed him, and he hundred and ten years old: and was put in a coffin in Egypt. d ver. 2. that a speedy removal of his remains might have been construed into a contempt of the land of Egypt, and so have brought evil upon his brethren. It might also be a temptation to them to attempt a premature migration from the land of their present sojourning. A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. dren of Israel. How naturally do we imitate the example of men whom we revere! Jacob expressed his faith in God's promise, by taking an oath from Joseph that he would carry up his dead body to the land of Canaan, and bury it there. Joseph in like manner took an oath of the sons of Jacob before he died. He did not expect that any of his brethren then living would 26. So Joseph died. All his grandlive long enough to carry up his bones eur, and riches, and goodness could at the departure from Egypt to Ca- not save him from the hands of the naan, and he did not expect to be last enemy. And yet it is a certain buried in Canaan before that time; yet truth that 'righteousness delivereth he took an oath from them, that when from death.' His death was not his that happy period should arrive, his destruction. He died that he might bones should not be left behind. He live a better life than he could live on hoped that such a sense of the sacred earth. It was superfluous to say of obligation of an oath would remain him, as was said of Lazarus, that amongst them, that none would pre-'angels carried him to Abraham's tend to excuse themselves from the bosom.' Blessed are the dead who die performance of what he had enjoined in the Lord. Joseph died at the age of on the ground of never having as- an hundred and ten. Some of these sumed the obligation in their own per- years were spent in grief; more of sons. ¶ God will surely visit you, them in joy. But when he entered and ye shall carry up my bones from into the eternal world, he found that hence. Therefore I require an oath of the years spent in grief had been as you that when God performs his oath, necessary for him, and were as proyou will carry up my bones hence.' ductive of benefit, as the years in He would have them learn from the which he had seen prosperity. He divine faithfulness to be faithful them had not lived so long as his father, but selves. Though Joseph had lived but he had lived to bring forth much fruit a short time in Canaan, having spent unto God; and without this what the greater part of his life in Egypt would it have availed him, what will surrounded by riches and honor, yet it avail us, to live as long as Methuhe never considered Egypt, but Ca- selah ?--Joseph's death occurred A. M. naan, as his home. It was consequent- 2369, 64 years before the birth of Moses, ly his desire that his bones should lie, and 144 before the deliverance from not with the dust of the princes of Egypt. T They embalmed him. JoEgypt, but in the land which God had seph had caused this ceremony to be given by covenant to his fathers. If it performed for his father, not merely bebe asked why did he not require his cause he wished to do all the honor to bones to be carried up immediately the patriarch's body which was usually upon his death, it may be answered paid to the remains of great men in |