CHAPTER VI

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN

AMONG the sons of Jacob Joseph was his father’s favourite; Jacob made no secret of his feelings, and clothed him in a way that marked his prefer­ence. Such conduct caused Joseph’s brethren to be jealous, and they showed their feelings in their deal­ings with him. His father’s favour, and his brothers’ jealousy might have spoiled Joseph’s character; that it did not is a great point in his favour.

The situation was made worse by two dreams that Joseph had. In the first, the brothers were making sheaves in the harvest field when the sheaves of his brethren bowed down to Joseph’s. In the second dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to him. When he told these dreams his brothers were more indignant than ever, and even his father expostulated with him, saying, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” His brothers nursed their jealousy, waiting for an oppor­tunity to express it by action.

Joseph sold into Egypt

Such an opportunity soon came. As they tended their flocks they journeyed northward in search of pasture. One day Jacob sent Joseph to seek his brethren and see that all was well. He went to Shechem, and then on to Dothan. When his brothers saw him coming one of them said, “Behold, this master of dreams cometh,” and suggested that they should kill him and take his many coloured coat to their father, telling him that they had found it. Reuben, the eldest, wishing to save him, suggested that they should content themselves with putting him into a pit, intending later on to rescue him. This proposal was agreed to, and Joseph was placed in a pit.

While Reuben was away from the party a band of Ishmaelite merchants came by. Their appearance suggested a new idea to Judah. Why kill Joseph? It will be no profit to us; let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. The others agreed, and Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver.

When Reuben went to rescue him from the pit and found it empty, he said, “The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?” But he could do nothing, but joined in with his brothers; and together they dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood of a kid to show their father. When Jacob saw it he said, “It is my son’s coat, an evil beast hath devoured him.” His sons tried to comfort him; but all he could say was, “I will go down to the grave to my son mourning.”
Meanwhile the Ishmaelites had carried Joseph into Egypt, where they sold him to an Egyptian named Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. In his service Joseph carried out his duties faithfully, and earned the respect of his master. He was a good man, who desired to serve his God even in a strange land surrounded with the gods of a people wholly given to idolatry. His master found he could he trusted and placed him in charge of all that he had.

When things seemed to be improving a fresh trouble plunged him into greater distress. His master’s wife fell in love with him, and constantly urged him to accede to her desires, but Joseph steadily refused, saying, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” She persisted in her solicitations, and when she would have held him he fled from the house. Then she did a still more horrible thing; she accused Joseph of having done by force what he had refused to do at her request. Potiphar was angry and cast Joseph into the prison where special prisoners were bound, thus making him a prisoner as well as a slave.

Once again the influence of a good man over his fellows was shown. The keeper of the prison marked Joseph’s conduct and gradually committed the con­trol of the prisoners to him. Over ten years had passed since Joseph had been sold into slavery, when two of Pharaoh’s servants who had been placed in his charge had dreams. They were troubled because there was no one to interpret them. Then Joseph appeared in a new light. “Interpretations belong to God,” he said, but suggested that if they would tell him their dreams God might enable him to supply the interpretation. They did so, and events proved the interpretations given by Joseph to be correct; one servant, a butler, was restored to the royal favour, and the other was hanged. Joseph took advantage of the opportunity to endeavour to improve his own lot. “Have me in thy remem­brance,” he said to the butler, “when it shall be well with thee, and bring me out of this house.” But the butler forgot all about him, and Joseph remained in the prison.

Joseph promoted

Two years later Pharaoh had dreams. They were strange ones, and made a great impression on him. He told them to the magicians of his court but they could not, or dared not, interpret them. Pharaoh was troubled and all his court knew it. Then the butler remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him. Joseph was sent for in great haste, but urgent as was the call he shaved himself before going in to Pharaoh; the etiquette of the court prohibited anyone going before Pharaoh unshaved. Then Pharaoh told his dreams. He had been standing by the Nile and saw seven splendid cows come up out of the water. Then seven lean ones came up, the worst that had ever been seen in Egypt. As Pharaoh looked on, the lean cows ate up the fat ones, and yet were as thin as before. After that he saw a stalk of corn grow up with seven ears, full and good, but seven ears, thin and withered, swallowed the good ears.

Joseph gave the interpretation. God, he said, was showing what was about to happen. There were to be seven years of incredible plenty in the country, followed by seven years of dreadful famine. Besides interpreting the dreams, Joseph gave advice to Pharaoh. He counselled him to gather the surplus of the years of plenty and thus provide for the time of famine. Pharaoh was so impressed by the advice and the demeanour of Joseph, that he made him Grand Vizier of the kingdom, with power to do as he desired in all things. He invested him with the royal signet ring and the Order of the Golden Collar, an honour given to very few in the land. He also. caused him to ride in the royal chariot, and changed his name to Zaphenath-paneah, which means “abun­dance of life.” He gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of the priest of On, or Hierapolis, by whom Joseph had two children, Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus the rejected brother came to high honour in a land where he had been a slave and a prisoner.

The seven years of plenty came and there was joy in all the land. With light work and abundant har­vests, plenty to eat and drink, life was pleasant. Then came the first year of the famine, and things were different. A second year, and a third followed, and the Egyptians realised how much they owed to their Grand Vizier. The corn he had stored up saved their lives and the lives of their beasts. One thing was not so good. They had been compelled to sell their land, their beasts, and finally themselves to Pharaoh in exchange for food, so that by the end of the famine everything in Egypt, except the posses­sions of the priests, belonged to Pharaoh.

Famine in Canaan

The famine affected other countries including Canaan. In the south of that land, where Jacob lived, harvests were not too plentiful at the best of times; in a period of drought they were very scanty. Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt and wondered whether he should go there. But in a previous time of famine, God had told his father not to go to Egypt, so he determined to stay in Canaan and send his sons for food. He sent them all-all except Benjamin.

The ten men went. The oases on the way were dried up, and they wended their way over the dry wastes hoping to obtain the corn they needed. When they arrived in Egypt they were conducted into the presence of Joseph; they were not natives of Egypt and their request was one for the Governor to deal with. Joseph recognised them but they did not recog­nise him. They thought of him as a slave in Egypt, or perhaps dead; besides, he was dressed in Egyptian garments and was closely shaved, and it was about twenty years since they had sold him, a youth of seventeen.

As they bowed before him Joseph thought of his dreams. He answered them roughly, and accused them of being spies. They told him that they were members of one family, and that their father, an old man, and their youngest brother, were at home. For a time Joseph was obdurate and for three days he kept them under watch. Then he called for them and said, “This do, and live; for I fear God; if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison house; but go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, and bring your youngest brother unto me.” They were seriously troubled, but they could do nothing. As they listened to him they felt that all this had come upon them for their treatment of Joseph, and said so between themselves, not realising that he could understand every word they said, for he had spoken to them through an interpreter.

They went back to their father leaving Simeon behind as a hostage. On the way one of the sacks of corn was opened, and there was the money that had been paid for it! The discovery made them more nervous, and when they arrived home and found that every man’s money had been returned, nervousness gave place to something like panic.

More corn from Egypt

The famine continued, and the corn they had brought was nearly spent. Jacob urged them to go for more, but Judah told his father that the man in Egypt had said that when they came again they must bring their youngest brother with them. It was a terrible trial for the old man. “Why did ye tell the man that ye had yet a brother?” he asked. Eventually Jacob was forced to agree; “Take your brother, and God Almighty give you mercy before the man. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

It was a sad company that took its way over the sandy road to Egypt. Fear of the reception they might get, anxieties about their father and Benjamin, the dread of meeting the great Egyptian who had been so austere and yet so determined to learn all particulars about their family, and the return of their moneys, greatly troubled them. At last they reached the city and were admitted to Joseph’s presence. They were told that they were to eat with him. What did that portend? Was more trouble in store? When Joseph came in they bowed themselves to the ground, and gave him a little present Jacob had sent. Joseph asked, “Is your father well? the old man of whom ye spake?” To Benjamin he said, “God be gracious unto thee, my son.” When they sat down to eat they were astonished to find that they had been arranged in strict order from the firstborn to the youngest. Everything was strange, and inexplicable; “the man” seemed to know all about them. But the good fellowship of the meal put all questionings on one side “they drank and were merry with him.”

Joseph makes himself known

When they left they were well satisfied. The great man had treated them kindly, and they had plenty of food for their households. Their satisfaction was soon dispelled, for a messenger overtook them asking peremptorily “Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh and whereby he indeed divineth?” They looked at each other and at the messenger in amazement. None of them would steal anything from the great man’s house. So conscious were they of their innocence that they said, “With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.” The sacks were opened, commencing with that of the eldest, and a cup was found in the sack of Benjamin, where it had been placed by orders from Joseph. They tore their clothes, and with every mark of dejection returned to meet the great man of Egypt. There he stood, stern, and seeming to look right through them. “What deed is this that ye have done?” he said, “Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine?”

It was Judah who replied in a noble speech that indicated how great a change there had been in him since he had suggested that his brother should be sold. With an eloquence born of grief he pleaded the cause of Benjamin and his aged father. “When he seeth the lad is not with us he will die,” he said, and offered himself as a substitute.

Suddenly Joseph burst in upon his words. “Cause every man to go out from me,” he said. They were alone the great man of Egypt and the eleven sons of Jacob. As they gazed upon him, wondering what was about to happen, he spoke the startling words, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?” What a moment! Joseph whom they had sold as a slave was the ruler of all the land of Egypt!

As they gazed at him in wonderment he told them what had happened. “God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth.” It was the over-ruling providence of God to ensure the preserva­tion of “the seed” that was necessary for the fulfil­ment of the “everlasting covenant” God had made with Abraham. The news spread through Pharaoh’s house, and Pharaoh invited the men and their father to make their home in Egypt. Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian Church, made effective use of the incident, treating it as a type of the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth.
Joseph provided all that was necessary; carts and waggons, with animals to draw them. The eleven men hurried away with the great news. “Joseph is yet alive,” they cried to their aged father, “He is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Jacob’s heart almost stopped beating, so great was the shock of the good news. When he was convinced he said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob comes to Egypt

Yet Jacob had his doubts. Isaac, his father, had been forbidden to go to Egypt. Ought he to leave the land of promise? But God appeared to him in a vision and said, “I am God, the God of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will surely bring thee up again.” Thus his fears were allayed, he could still hope for the land of his desire. So he and his sons, and his son’s sons, and all that they possessed went down to Egypt.

As soon as they arrived Joseph took his father and his brethren to Pharaoh. They were allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, and, as they were shepherds, were given charge of Pharaoh’s flocks and herds. The king of Egypt at this time was not a native Egyptian, he was one of what are known as the Hyksos, or Shepherd, kings. Shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians, but the coming of Israel was a welcome event to the rulers of the country. They were from Canaan and would serve Pharaoh better than any native would do.

Pharaoh gave a special audience to Jacob. When he asked him his age, Jacob replied, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.” The old patriarch then gave his blessing to Pharaoh, and retired to the land of Goshen. The district had been selected by Joseph and, was apart from Egypt itself. There Israel could increase and multiply, ready for the next step in the purpose with which they were connected.

Jacob’s death

The remainder of the years of famine passed by and the harvests of the land became normal again. Seventeen years later Jacob died at the age of 147. Before he died he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, whom he treated as if they were his own; after which he pronounced blessings on his own sons. One point in connection with his sons must be recorded, that is the blessing of Judah, of whom Jacob said,

“Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up;
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh come;
And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.”

The blessing of the dying patriarch added some­thing to the growing promises. It pointed to one who should come, Shiloh-”he whose kingdom it is.” Over a thousand years afterwards a prophet foretold that the kingdom should be overthrown; and should be no more until he should come whose right it was, and the one whom the prophet had in view was to be a descendant of Judah. Six hundred years later still an apostle spoke of “the seed that should come to whom the promise was made,” the seed of Abraham, of Isaac, of Israel and of Judah. Before the story is finished it will be seen why it is that “How many soever be the promises of God, in him (that is in the Seed) is the Yea, wherefore also through him is the Amen.”

After his death Jacob was embalmed in accord­ance with the customs of Egypt. Before he died he gave instructions about his burial. “Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field which Abraham bought for a possession of a burying place.” Thus in death, as in life, his mind was set on the Promised Land. It was his great hope, and though, like Abraham and Isaac, God gave him no inheritance in it, he died in faith, not having received the promises, because God had purposed some better thing, namely that all the faithful believers of the promises should be glorified together.

By permission of Pharaoh a great company set out for Canaan to take part in the burial of Jacob. There were chariots and horsemen, with all the pomp of Egyptian pageantry. A great mourning took place, and then Jacob was left with his dead ancestors to await the fulfilment of the promise.

Joseph’s faith

The brethren of Joseph were fearful lest he should now requite them for the evils of the past. They entirely misunderstood his character. He recognised the hand of God in his life, and saw that his brothers’ envy had been part of a divine plan to preserve the seed of the covenant. “Now therefore, fear ye not,” he said, “I will nourish you and your little ones.”

After a long and useful life in the service of his fellows, Joseph died at the age of no years. Like his father he looked forward to the hope of Israel. His last words were, “I die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” He too longed for the country of the promise. All his glory in Egypt was as nothing compared with the hope associated with the promise. That had led him on, and accounts for his final charge, “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”

This is the last look at the history of the family of Jacob; when the Bible story is resumed it is as the history of a nation. The essential thing in the family history is the desire for, and the love of, the Land of Promise.