Joseph the prime-minister

Front matter

©lap*"

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

JOSEPH

Preface

THE general acceptance with which my former vokimes of this class have met, and the numerous testimonies to their usefulness with which I have been favored, have induced me to add another to the series.

The story of Joseph is one of the first favorites of our childhood; and if, in the following pages, I have succeeded in turning it to useful account for the inspiration of the young, the support of those who are bearing the burden and heat of the meridian of life, or the solace of the aged, I shall be deeply grateful.

Wm. M. Taylor.

5 JVesf Thirty-fifth Street, N'ew York City,

CONTENTS,

Page

I. The Fathers Favorite arid the Brothers' Censor, , 7

II. Sold to the Ishmaelites 20

III. Sold into Slavery 33

IV. Tempted but Triumphant 48

V. The Two Priso?iers 61

VI. Elevation at Length 76

VII. Public Ad^ninistration 91

VIII. The Brothers' First Visit to Egypt 108

IX. The Second Visit of the Brothers to Egypt 122 /

X. The Removal of Jacob and his Sons to Egypt, , , 137

XI. Joseph's Two Visits to his Aged Father 153

XII. Jacob's Dying Prophecies 171

XIII. Jacob's Funeral 190

XIV. Joseph's Death 206

XV. The Character and Career of Joseph 222

JOSEPH THE PRIME-MINISTER.

I. The Father's Fa Vorite And The Brothers'

CENSOR,

Gen. xxxvii., i-ir.

THE influence of Jacob's experience at Peniel was not limited to the brief time of its actual existence. That night was the water-shed of his life, marking the "henceforth" from which he became another man. Till then he had been, in nature as well as in name, Jacob the Supplanter. While yet in his father's house he had taken a mean advantage of Esau's necessity to get possession of the birthright ; and notwithstanding the Bethel vision, the same disposition had re-appeared in his dealings with Laban. He had, indeed, many good things about him, notably a rapid intelligence, great capacity for work, ready resourcefulness, and steady perseverance ; yet these were greatly vitiated by the cunning and unscrupulous selfishness to which they were all made to minister. He was markedly deficient in those qualities which give attractiveness to character, and we cannot see that he was animated by any great religious principle for at least the larger portion of his residence at Padan-aram.

But the new name given to him by the angel at Peniel

JOSEPH THE PRIME-MINISTER.

I.

THE FATHER'S FA VORITE AND THE BROTHERS'

CENSOR.

Gen. xxxvii., i-ii.

THE influence of Jacob's experience at Peniel was not limited to the brief time of its actual existence. That night was the water-shed of his life, marking the "henceforth'^ from which he became another man. Till then he had been, in nature as well as in name, Jacob the Supplanter. While yet in his father's house he had taken a mean advantage of Esau's necessity to get possession of the birthright; and notwithstanding the Bethel vision, the same disposition had re-appeared in his dealings with Laban. He had, indeed, many good things about him, notably a rapid intelligence, great capacity for work, ready resourcefulness, and steady perseverance ; yet these were greatly vitiated by the cunning and unscrupulous selfishness to which they were all made to minister. He was markedly deficient in those qualities which give attractiveness to character, and we cannot see that he was animated by any great religious principle for at least the larger portion of his residence at Padan-aram.

But the new name given to him by the angel at Peniel was given to a new man, and for the remaining fifty years of his life the Supplanter in him disappears and the Prince of God comes into view. Henceforth he is guileless as Nathaniel. Deceit in him gives place to truth, and duplicity to singleness of mind. As one has very well expressed it, " Spiritually he halts when before he would have put down his foot unfaltering. He hears of the indignity done to Dinah, and * holds his peace/ Simeon and Levi avenge the wrong by a deed of shameless deceit and cruelty, and he says to them, ^ Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land.' A still more shameless deed than the one done at Shechem is committed in his own household, and all that is said of him is that Mie heard it.' Trial follows trial, bereavement succeeds bereavement; under severe and protracted discipline the higher spiritual nature grows and ripens till at the close the piety of Abraham and Isaac — their faith in God and in his special promises — shines forth in Jacob in unclouded beauty." "^

From Peniel, after his reconciliation to Esau and peaceful parting from him, Jacob went to Succoth, and thence to Shechem, where Abraham reared his first altar in the land of promise. Here, as it would seem, he meant to take up his permanent abode, for he bought a piece of ground and dug in it that well which is now imperishably associated with one of the sweetest incidents in the life of our Saviour, and which remains till this day an object of deepest interest to every traveller in the Holy Land. But the treacherous treatment of the sons of Shechem by Simeon and Levi in the matter of Dinah drove him from that beautiful valley, and under the direction of God he went first to Bethel, where Rachel died in giving birth to Benjamin, and afterwards to Hebron, where his father Isaac was still living.

* Dr. William Hanna in " The Patriarchs," p. i6.

It is at this point we take up the story in the chapter now before us, and begin the life of Joseph ; and it may surprise some of you that I should speak of Isaac as surviving till this date, inasmuch as the account of his death and burial is given at the close of the thirty-fifth chapter, and so precedes the narrative on which we are now entering. But in reality the death of Isaac did not take place until twelve years after Joseph was sold into slavery, and the account of it is inserted where we find it, in order to give completeness to that section or subdivision of the history which treats especially of Isaac. If you examine the book cf Genesis with care you will discover that it consists of eleven sections, nine of which begin with the phrase "These are the generations of," and one with the words " This is the book of the generations of.'' These may have been — indeed probably were — ancient documents, existing long before the book itself was put together by Moses ; but he, under divine guidance, used them and endorsed them, so that we may rely on their veracity. Now the book about Isaac begins with the 19th verse of the 25th chapter, and ends with the 29th verse of the 35th chapter. Naturally, therefore, it includes the account of his death and burial, and concludes with it. It is followed, in the 36th chapter, with the generations of Ishmael, and in the 37th with those of Jacob, who, now that he has returned to Canaan and has become a son of Abraham, not according to the flesh merely, but in faith and character, is for the first time recognized in this formal way as the head of the covenant people. But in giving the needful details about Jacob, the chronicler goes back to things which occurred before the death of Isaac, and, therefore, to avoid confusion, as well as to get a clear idea of the circumstances of Joseph's boyhood, it may be well for us to go a little into detail.

According, then^ to the commonly received chronology, lo Joseph the Prime-minister.

Jacob was 97 years old when he returned from Padan-aram, and Isaac was 157. At the same date Joseph was a boy of six. When our story opens he w^as a lad of 17. Isaac w^as 168, and Jacob 108. Now, when Isaac died his days were an hundred and fourscore years, so that he must have lived at Hebron twelve years after Joseph was sold into slavery by his brethren. If, then, we allow six years for the sojourn of Jacob at Shechem and Bethel before he came to Hebron, we will get the result^ conjectural, indeed, but still probable, that Joseph lost his mother Rachel before he was twelve years old, and that he lived for at least five years in Hebron in the neighborhood of his grandfather Isaac.

These facts will help us to reproduce in our imagination the early years of that wonderful boy whose history has charmed every reader — the oldest as well as the youngest — by its simple naturalness, its undying interest, and its "penetrating pathos." At the head of one encampment was the venerable Isaac, quiet, retiring, unobtrusive in his disposition as of yore, withal frail with age and enfeebled by disease, and so not able to take much active part in the arrangement of affairs ; but all the more at leisure, because of that, to give some affectionate attention to the motherless boy, in whom he recognized the heir of the birthright which Reuben had forfeited, and to whom, therefore, he would be drawn by a peculiar attraction. Who can tell how much Joseph received of religious instruction and of never-to-be-forgotten truth from the lips of his meditative grandsire } Is it a mere fancy which supposes that in these early years Joseph learned from Isaac the wonderful story of Moriah, and so had begotten in him that faith in the covenant of his God, and in the nearness of Jehovah to him in every time of trial and temptation, by which he was sustained in later life ? I am no painter, but if I were I should like to try my hand at the portrayal of the young Joseph sitting at the feet of the

The Father's Favorite and the Brothers' Censor, ii

blind old Isaac, and listening with wonder to the recital of his experience on that eventful day when he was rescued from sacrifice by the angeFs interference, and had his first insight into the world beyond.

At the head of the other encampment was Jacob, with the Peniel glow still upon his character, if not also on his face, and his heart chastened and saddened by the death of his beloved Rachel, yet finding a sweet solace in the baby Benjamin, whom she had left behind, and even more in her eldest son, to whom the birthright now legitimately belonged. That fact gave him at first, as I suppose, importance in his father's eyes, and out of that and the winsomeness and intelligence of the boy himself grew the partiality which he so unwisely manifested for him.

But in the one encampment of Jacob there were four divisions, forming not separate households, indeed, but yet far more dangerous, so far as the preservation of harmony was concerned, than if they had been entirely distinct. These were composed of Leah and her sons, Zilpah and her sons, Bilhah and her sons, and the sons of Rachel ; and from what we learn elsewhere of Joseph's ten half-brothers, we may be sure that they had little scruple in riding roughshod over the feelings and wishes of any one who seemed in the least degree to stand in their way. This disposition of his brethren, added to his own motherless condition, would send Joseph much in upon himself, and make him, from his precocity in his experience of adversity, a welcome companion to his father. And little harm might have come of that if Jacob had not been unwise in the manifestation of his preference. One would have thought that the recollection of his own experience might have prevented him from falling into such a mistake. He might have asked himself how he had liked the favoritism of his father for Esau, or what good had come out of Rebekah's preference for himself above

Esau. But, untaught by the consequences of the folly of his own parents, he repeats the same himself; for he set Joseph over the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, giving him the charge of them in their daily labor, whether as shepherds or as agriculturists. No doubt Joseph was particularly wise for his years ; for that, according to some, is the meaning of the phrase, "a son of the old ones,'' here translated " a son of old age ;" but still, to put the younger over the older was pre-eminently foolish, and could tend only to provoke enmity in those who were thus humiliated.

This feeling w^ould be intensified by his giving to Joseph a peculiar dress which was intended to mark his superiority. In our version it is called "a coat of many colors," as if its peculiarity consisted in its variegated appearance. But modern scholars are of opinion that the words describe " a tunic reaching to the extremities," or, as in the margin of the Revised Version, "a long garment with sleeves," and so refer to the shape rather than to the fabric ; though from the fact that on one of the Egyptian tombs at Beni Hassan there is a representation of a train of captives who are clad in party-colored garments, it is not impossible that the tunic here specified was ornamented with many-colored stripes. In any case it was meant as a badge of distinction and superiority for Joseph as the heir of the birthri^El and the favorite of his father, and so the very sight of It imbittered the hearts of his brethren against him.

The evil was aggravated, also, by the conduct of Joseph ^limself, "for he brought unto his father their evil report." ^lis has generally been understood as implying that Joseph was a petty tale-bearer, and carried to his father accounts of the doings of his brethren, which were designed by him to get them into trouble. But I cannot quite accept that view of the case. My reading of the history is that Jacob set Joseph over the sons of the handmaids, and that the report which he carried was that which was required of him in his capacity of overseer. It was a most unwise thing in Jacob to put Joseph into such a position ; but, being in it, he had to be faithful and give an account of the manner in which each performed his duties, and that irritated his brethren and stirred them up to intense hatred of him.

Then matters were made still worse by his dreams. He told them with the utmost simplicity, but they carried their interpretation on their face, and the repetition of the same forecast, under different symbolism, intensified the provocation. His brethren were in no mood to do obeisance to him, and even his father, though he resolved to keep watch and see if God had really been revealing the future to his son, blamed him for what seemed to be his pride.

It is not said in the record that his dreams were prophetic, and some have preferred to believe that they came like any ordinary visions, taking their shape from the general current of Joseph's thoughts when he was awake. If that be the correct view of the case, then Joseph must have been of a most ambitious nature, and the knowledge that he was now the heir of the birthright must have so filled his imagination as to give definiteness and coherence even to his dreams. That is not an impossibility — and if any one chooses to accept such an account of the matter, I see nothing either rationalistic or unbelieving in his doing so. But still, that view scarcely seems to me to be in harmony with the beautiful humility which comes out in Joseph's character, and appears to be inconsistent with the simple naivete manifested by him in telling his dreams to his brethren. The ambitious man is invariably a silent man. He keeps his own forecasts to himself. He does not make common talk of his schemes and his dreams. He will not "shew his hand " in the game, lest he should give another the means of defeating that for which he designs to play.

Therefore the fact that Joseph told his dreams to his brethren is an indication to me that there was no ambition in his soul. They were not the crystallization into the symbols of visions, of the thoughts which were filling his mind all through his waking hours, but came, as I believe, in the way of divine revelation, and were among the early links in that chain of providences which ultimately led the family of Jacob to Egypt, where they could better grow into a nation than they could among the Canaanites. But however that may have been, the very telling of them inflamed the hatred of his brethren against him, and moved them to take measures to put him out of the way.

Before we follow them in the carrying out of their malicious intentions, however, let us pause here, and glean a few of the lessons which we may learn from this narrative for our daily guidance.

In the first place, then, w^e are taught here the evil of favoritism in the family. The balance, as between the different children in the same household, must be held evenly by the parents. They may have different dispositions, and there may be that in one which is more attractive than anything in another. One may be brighter, or more amiable, or more companionable than another, but before the discipline of the family they ought to be all on a level. They are all alike the children of the father, and should be dealt with by him on principles of the strictest equity. It is true that in some respects their differences of disposition will require differences of treatment, but they should be all kept on an equality. No one ought to be the "pet'' of either father or mother, for the *' pet " is apt to become petted, haughty, and arrogant towards the others ; while the shovv'ing of constant favor to him alienates the affections of the rest, both from him and from the parents, "/i" that you^ Pet V^ said a father from his bedroom to a little one who stood at the door in the early morning knocking for admission. *^ JVo, it isnl jPet, ifs only me^^ replied a sorrowful little voice ; and that was the last of "pet'' in that family. See what mischief it occasioned here in Jacob's household ! No doubt there were special dangers in such a case as his, for there were four families in one, and it must have been hard to preserve harmony at all ; but that only made it the more important that every irritating influence should be, as far as possible, removed, and it was the greatest folly in Jacob to make such a display of his preference for Joseph. We see the same thing in even a worse form in the household of Isaac, where each parent had a favorite, and both worked at crosspurposes. Such a system of partiality usually ends in the "spoiling" — to use the common but expressive word — of the favorite himself; and even where, as in Joseph's case, that danger is escaped, it alienates from him the other members of the family, and provokes them to insubordination. Above and beyond most other things, therefore, family government must be just, and the balance must be held by the parent with the most unswerving impartiality.

But, in the second place, we may learn from this narrative how bitter is the antagonism of the wicked to the righteous in the world. The partiality of Jacob for Joseph furnished the occasion for the hatred of his brethren, and is to be unhesitatingly condemned ; but the real root of it was deeper, and is to be traced to the fact that Joseph would not consent to be one of them, and join them in the doing of things' which they knew that their father would condemn. He held himself aloof from their wickednesses. His conscience was tender, his heart v/as pure, his will was firm. He was a Puritan and they were regardless, and they chose to set down his non-conformity to pride rather than to principle, and persecuted him accordingly. They supposed that his refusal to identify himself with them was caused by his thinking himself superior to Ihem, and they retaliated by breaking off all intercourse with him ; for when it is said that '' they could not speak peaceably unto him," or, as the phrase literally is, " they could not say salaam to him," the meaning virtually is, in modern parlance, that they " cut " him, and treated him most disrespectfully and discourteously.

But have we nothing like this in our modern life ? It may not be very common between brothers, though, alas ! it is not quite unknown even between them ; but go into our schools, our colleges, our stores, or our workshops, and you may frequently find that the most unpopular scholars or students or clerks or artisans are those who hold themselves aloof from the excesses, the follies, or the sins of the rest. Their presence is a constant protest against the doings of the others ; their conduct is a continuous condemnation of that of the others, and they are hated simply because of that. The Athenians became tired of hearing Aristides called " the just," and they banished him to get rid of that which was disagreeable ; so those who are unprincipled become intolerant of the integrity of the upright who are working at their side, and do everything in their power to make them uncomfortable. There is an immense amount of petty persecution of this sort going on in all our colleges, commercial establishments, and factories, of which the principals and the great world seldom hear, but which shows us that the human nature of to-day is in its great features identical with that which existed many centuries ago in the family of Jacob. What then ? Are the upright to yield ? are they to abate their protest ? are they to become even as the others ? No ; for that would be to take the leaven out of the mass ; that would be to let evil become triumphant, and so that must never be thought of. Let the persecuted in these ways hold out. Let them neither retaliate, nor recriminate, nor carry evil reports, but let them simply hold on, believing that "he that endureth overcometh." Having done all things, let them '^ sfand,^^ and in the end those who now decry them will be compelled to do them honor. Yes, these two dreams of Joseph are here for just such as those whom I have been now describing, and they tell them as they told him, that by-and-by — it may be after long suffering and much privation, but yet ultimately — the sheaves of their persecutors will make obeisance to their sheaves, and those who now '^send them to Coventry" will yet be glad to do homage at their feet.

But now, in the last place, the case of Joseph here brings up the whole question of our responsibility in regard to what we see or hear that is evil in other people, and it may be well to say a few words concerning that. I have come to the conclusion that Joseph was by his father placed in formal charge of his brothers, and that it was his duty to give a truthful report concerning them, even as to-day an overseer is bound in justice to his employer to state precisely the kind of service which those under him are rendering. That is no tale-bearing; that is simple duty. But now, suppose we are invested with no such charge over another, and yet we see him do something that is deplorably wrong, what is our duty in such a case ? Are we bound to carry the report to his father or to his employer, or must we leave things alone and let them take their course? The question so put is a delicate one and very difficult to handle. But I think I see two or three things that cast some little light upon it.

In the first place we are not bound by any law, human or divine, to act the part of a detective on our neighbor and lay ourselves out for the discovery of that in him which is disreputable or dishonest. AVe must have detectives in the department of police, and they are very servjiceable there ;

but that every one of us should be closely watching every other to see what evil he can discover in him is intolerable, and we should discourage in all young people every tendency to such peering Paul-pryism.

Then, in the second place, when, without any such deliberate inspection on our part^ w^e happen to see that which is wrong, we should, in the way in which we treat the case, make a distinction between a crime and a vice, A crime is that wdiich is a violation of the civil law; a vice is that W'hich, without violating the civil law, is a sin against God. Now suppose that what we see is a crime — the man, let us say, is robbing his employer — then my clear duty, if I would not be 71 pariiceps crimtnis, is to give information to his master, and let him deal with the case as he sees fit. On the other hand, if the evil is a vice — say, for example, sensuality or the like, which does not, directly at least, interfere with his efficiency as a servant — then I must deal with himself alone. My duty in such a case is to hold my peace to others, and to speak faithfully to the man himself. If he hear me, then I have gained him ; but if he refuse to hear me, then I may say to him that, as he has chosen to pay no heed to my expostulation, I shall feel it my duty to inform his father of the matter ; and then, having acted out that determination, I may consider that my responsibility in regard to him is at an end, unless, in God's providence, there is given me some other opening through which to approach him.

These principles seem to me to be very plain and very practicable ; but I can go no further in the matter, and must say that, for the rest, each should do as occasion serves. We cannot do wrong, however, to follow the wise advice of Lawson, as thus given in connection with the passage on which we have been commenting : " When we see any man's children disgracing and hurting themselves, if we cannot by our own influence persuade them to refrain, we will deserve the thanks of their parents by letting them know how much they are dishonored, and what grief is likely to be brought upon them by their children if they are not checked. If parents are to admonish or to correct their children for bad behavior, it is necessary for them to inspect their conduct ; but they cannot be always under their own eyes, and therefore they ought to reckon themselves indebted to the persons who assist them, by prudent and seasonable information, in this part of their duty. Yet great caution must be used in this office of love that we may not bring upon ourselves the guilt and reproach of officious interference in other men's matters."^

The whole thing lies in that phrase, "this office of love." It is to be performed in affection, not to make mischief, but to save a soul ; and if we keep that motive uppermost we shall not be likely to go far astray. '^ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.'' Take the gospel principles underlying that command and apply them to the case which we have supposed, then you will reach its true solution.

* *' Lectures on the History of Joseph," by George Lawson, D.D., p. 3.

II. Sold To The Ishmaelites

Gen. xxxvii., 12-35.

WHEN envy has fully formed its purpose of cruelty, it very speedily sees and seizes an opportunity for carrying it through. The great dramatist, indeed, has represented one of the most unscrupulous of his characters as excusing himself after this fashion : *^ How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done ;" but then it is only the envious and malicious man who is on the outlook for means to do ill deeds, and therefore it is to him only that the perception of them offers a temptation. If King John had not been wishing to make away with Arthur, the presence of Hubert would not have suggested to him that he had found a fit instrument to do what he desired. Just as love keens the vision to such a degree that it sees ways of service that are invisible to others, so hate quickens the perception, and finds an occasion for its gratification in things that would have passed unnoticed by others. The brothers of Joseph, therefore, being filled with envy towards him, soon had an opportunity of working their will upon him, and they seized it with an eagerness which showed how intensely they hated him.