The history of Joseph, for children and youth; designed also as an aid to familiar Biblical exposition in families, Sabbath schools, and Bible classes

Contents

Preface. page 6

Chap. 1. — Address to children and youth. 11

Chap. 2. — Joseph's parentage. Jacob's removal from Mesopotamia. Death of Rachel. Birtli of Benjamin. How children ought to treat their mothers. 15

Chap. 3. — Jacob arrives at Mamre. Description of Hebron. Joseph's character. Jacob's affection for him. His brethren envy him. Sin, if not repented of, increases rapidly. 20

Chap. 4. — Joseph's dreams. His brethren go to Shechem. Description of this place. Joseph sent to inquire after his brethren. 24

Chap. 5. — Joseph approaches his brethren. Their great wickedness in designing to take his life. Sin is the cause of misery. It is the greatest of evils. To what it leads, if not repented of. 29

Chap. 6. — Reuben pleads for Joseph's life. Joseph cast into a pit. His brethren hard-hearted. Judah pleads for Joseph's life. He is sold to the Ishmaelites, and carried to Egypt. The providence of God. 35

Chap. 7. — Reuben's sorrow at finding Joseph gone. Joseph's brethren lead their father to believe that he is dead. Their great guilt. The commission of sin leads to deception and falsehood. 41

Chap. 8. — Joseph sold to Potiphar. His history given to us to show us the providence of God. Potiphar's great regard for Joseph. Duties to others to be performed in the fear of God. 45

Chap. 9. — Joseph made overseer of Potiphar's house. He is tempted to great wickedness by Potiphar's wife. He fears to sin against God. He is falsely accused, and cast into prison. His good conduct there. He has the whole care of the prison. The great happiness of having God with us. 50

Chap. 10.— The fear of God, what it is ; its benefit. The dream of the chief butler. Its interpretation by Joseph. 56

Chap. 11. — The dream of the chief baker and its interpretation. What Joseph foretells comes to pass. Prophecy. Sin of ingratitude. 60

Chap. 12. — Pharaoh's dreams. He sends for Joseph. Joseph's humility. We should not receive the approbation which is due to others; or which we do not deserve. 64

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Page.

Chap. 13. — Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams. Pharaoh makes him governor of Egypt. Joseph's new name. His marriage. A regard to truth and duty the surest way of securing the confidence of others. 69

Chap. 14. — Providence of God. Our duty to submit to it, and to trust in it. Joseph lays up the grain. His two sons — reasons of their names. The famine begins. 74

Chap. 15. — The Egyptians regard Joseph as their Savior. Jesus Christ a far better Savior. The Egyptians buy grain of Joseph. The famine in Canaan. Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy food. 79

Chap. 16, — His brethren bow down before Joseph. Wh}^ he did not make himself known to them. He puts them into prison. He tells them they may carry grain home, but one must stay in prison till Benjamin is brought. 84

Chap. 17. — Joseph affected at what his brethren say of their guilt. Simeon chosen as the one to stay. Joseph's brethren set out for Canaan with the grain. Difference between good and wicked men. To which class does the reader belong ? Let conscience do its work. 89

Chap. 18. — One of Joseph's brethren finds his money in the sack. All are in great alarm. A guilty conscience. Jacob's distress at what his sons tell him. Reuben's foolish and wicked speech. Jacob cannot let Benjamin go. Judah tries to persuade him to do this. 95

Chap. 19. — Jacob consents to let Benjamin go. Gifts prepared to carry to the governor of Egypt. Jacob's sons set out on their journey. They come before Joseph. Their great fear. Guilt causes fear. The steward of Joseph allays their fears. 100

Chap. 20. — Simeon brought out of prison. The brethren of Joseph present their gifts to him. Joseph can hardly restrain his feelings. His brethren dine with him. "Remarks on temperance, and the duty of promoting it. 105

Chap. 21. — Joseph's brethren again set out for home. His steward overtakes them, and charges them with having stolen the governor's cup. What was this cup '? The cup found in Benjamin's sack. They all return and come before Joseph. Judah's confession of their guilt. Why did he make it? Ill

CONTENTS. 5

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Chap. 22. — Joseph still keeps his brethren in suspense. Remarks on his conduct.- His reply to Judah. Judah's expostulation. 116

Chap, 23. — Joseph makes himself known to his brethren. His address to them. His forgiveness of them. The duty of forgiveness. Has the reader this spirit 1 121

Chap. 24. — Pharaoh and his household glad to hear that the brethren of Joseph are come. Pharaoh tells Joseph to invite his father and all his family to come to Egypt. Joseph furnishes them with things necessary for their removal. His parting advice to them. Peace-making. 127

Chap. 25. — His sons, on their arrival, tell their father that Joseph is alive. Jacob's joy. They all set out for Egypt. They stop at Beer-sheba. An interesting spot, and why. God's promise to Jacob. Their arrival in Egj'pt. 131

Chap. 26. — Joseph meets his father in Goshen. He presents five of his brethren to Pharaoh, who grants them leave to dwell in Goshen. Joseph presents his father to Pharaoh. What Jacob says. Life short. What is death 1 Is the reader prepared to die 7 135

Chap. 27. — Jacob and his family settled in Goshen. God's goodness to them. His goodness to the reader. Is the reader grateful to God 1 142

Chap. 28. — The Egyptians give their cattle to Joseph for food. They are again in want, and give themselves and their land. He gives them seed to sow. A perpetual law that one-fifth of all the produce shall be the king's. Remarks on the conduct of Joseph. 147

Chap. 29. — Jacob drawing near the close of life. Joseph visits him. What is an oath ?- Its solemn obligation explained. Jacob requires Joseph to swear that he will bury the body of his father in the cave of Machpelah. Joseph takes an oath to do this. 152

Chap. 30. — Joseph goes to be with his father when he dies. He takes his sons with him. Jacob considers them as his own children. He blesses them. Explanation of this blessing. 157

Chap. 31. — Conclusion of Jacob's blessing on the sons of Joseph. Joseph's portion. Jacob's prophecy, and blessing his sons. His death. Does the reader wish to die as Jacob did '? 163

CONTENTS.

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Chap. 32. — Joseph's grief at his fatlier's death. He orders the body to be embalmed. Mourning for Jacob. His funeral. He is buried in the cave of Machpelah. The fear of Joseph's brethren lest he should punish them. Pains of a guilty conscience. 1G8

Chap. 33. — The brethren of Joseph implore his forgiveness. He is very kind to them, and allays all their fears. Their obligations of gratitude to him and to God. Has the reader done wrong to others ? How does he feel about it'? 172

Chap. 34. — Joseph near to death. He makes his brethren swear that his body shall be buried in Canaan ; whither he assures them the Israelites shall go. He dies, and his body is embalmed. Why did he direct his body to be kept in Eg}^pt till the Israelites should go to Canaan ? Wonderful providence of God. 178

Chap. 35. — The character of Joseph. His strong faith in God. This the foundation of all real excellence of character. Has the reader this faith in God 7 183

Chap. 36. — Joseph's affection and dutifulness to his father. These traits of character, if real and permanent, must grow out of faith in God. How does the reader treat his parents 1 Joseph was kind and affectionate to his brethren. Faith in God and Christ produces love to others. Has the reader this love? 188

Chap. 37. — Joseph's_^ fidelity in the discharge of his duties. Instances of it. It grows out of his faith in God. Has the reader the same fidelity growing out of the same faith ? 193

Chap. 38. — Joseph's resolution in resisting temptation. It grows out of his faith in God. The reader has his temptations. How to get strength to overcome them. Joseph's dependence on God, and submission to his will. These grow out of his faith in God. Has the reader this dependence and submission 1 197

Chap. 39. — Joseph's humility. Proofs of it. Humility in good men grows out of their faith in God. Has the reader this humility 1 Without it we can have no interest in Christ. 202

Chap. 40. — Joseph had general benevolence of character. This grew out of his faith in God. The reader can do good in many ways. Has he a desire to do good '? Does this desire lead to action. Where there is no such desire and conduct there is great guilt and danger. 206

Preface

" Do, tell me a story," said a smiling little boy, who was sitting in his father's lap— '' do, father, tell me a story."

So, his father told him one ; and again the request was made — '' do, father, tell me another pretty story, and a long one too."

The story was told, and Robert listened to it with the deepest attention and interest.

" Do, do, father, tell me one more story — ^just one more, and I will not ask you again."

" My son," said his father, " I have told you two stories; and now I wish to talk with you a little about that verse in the Bible which you repeated to me this morning."

Robert continued to beg for one more story.

''No, my son," said his father, "I have no more stories to tell you now. Sometimes I must talk to you about God, and our Savior, and what we must do, that we may be prepared, when we die, to goto heaven, and be good and happy there, for ever."

8 PREFACE.

In saying this his countenance became serious, though his look was mild and pleasant ; and his voice had a tone of solemnity, without being harsh or forbidding.

Robert perfectly understood it. He knew that it was required of him to be attentive. He also became serious, and listened to the instructions of his father with an interest which showed how much parental authority, mingled with kindness, can effect, when the child is accustomed to reverence this authority, and to love this kindness.

Did the father do right "?

" Certainly," you say ; '' it is important that children should be taught, at proper times, to listen to instruction, and to acquire the habit of patient and serious attention to religious truth. It will not do to be always entertaining them with amusing stories."

Well, if it is important, sometimes, thus to talk to children — it is equally so, thus to write for them. If they ought to acquire the habit of listening attentively to the good instruction, which is given to them in conversation, at home — or in the Sabbath school, and in the church ; it is equally important that they should acquire a similar habit of reading attentively such books as are prepared to teach them their duty to God, to their fellow-men, and to themselves.

If they read none but storybooks, intended almost entirely

PREFACE. y

to entertain them ; or, if they read so many of these books as to dislike to read those of a more serious and instructive kind — then there is very great danger of their acquiring a strong dislike to the o'eading of the Bible.

For the Bible is very far from being a book of mere entertainment. It is full, indeed, of interesting things ; but to miderstand them, and to get good from them, requires patient thinking and serious feeling .

Let parents and teachers beware — lest, by indulging children too much in the perusal of mere books of amusement, they acquire such a fondness for fiction, that it will be difficult for them to read any thing that demands patient and continued attention, and tends to produce serious thoughts and feelings.

Should this lead to their considering it an irksome and disagreeable task to sit down, at suitable times, to the faithful perusal of the sacred Scriptures — what an error in their education has been committed — what a tremendous evil has been incurred !

Books, surely, ought to be placed in the hands of children and youth — many more than are now in circulation — which will require some effort of mind, on their part ; — which will demand more or less of continued, patient, and serious thought.

10 PREFACE.

Truth, too— above all, the facts of the i3^^>Z6— should form a considerable part of a child's religious reading, instead of that mass o^fvctUiGus narrative which, at present, so greatly abounds.

Grant that all fiction is not to be discarded ; yet there are limits, surely, to its use, in ihe religious instruction of our children and youth. Its influence is, just now, immense. It sways the minds of the rising generation, who have access to books, to a vast extent. It is molding their intellectual habits. It is forming their taste. It is influencing their moral feelings. It is training them up, in too many instances, to a loose, desultory, luxurious, and disconnected kind of reading, which will render to them, in maturer life, all our standard works of religious truth, by which the souls of English and American Christians, of earlier days, were nurtured to deep thought and a vigorous faith — insipid, irksome, revolting.

In this volume, and also in The History of Jonah, not long since published, the author has made a humble attempt to do something to remedy the evils to which he has alluded.

The success of this attempt awaits the decision of the religious public.

THE

CHAPTER I. Address to children and youth

One of the most interesting and instructive histories in the Bible is that of Joseph. Children and youth have always been fond of reading it. I Avish to tell it to them in this book in such a Avay that they may get good from it.

You have read many books, my dear children, merely to get amusement from them. You have liked the entertaining stories which they contained. But you must read hooks for iyistruction also. For you need to learn what is useful; and what will teach you how you may grow up to do good in the world, and be prepared to be holy and happy, for ever, in heaven.

You play sometimes. What fine sport you have! I should like to see you playing. It does you good. It makes you cheerful and happy. It gives you healthful exercise, and helps you to grow strong and active.

But it will not do to play too much. Something else must be done. You must get ready to be useful as you grow up to be men and women. Boys and girls who play all the time, and do nothing but amuse themselves, will dislike all kinds of labor as they grow up. They will become idle and useless people ; doing no good to others, and getting none themselves.

It is just so in your reading. If you read only storybooks, to be amused by them, you will become so fond of this kind of reading that you will dislike instructive and useful books. You will think it a hard task to read them ; just as a child who plays all the time thinks it very disagreeable to do any kind of work. Your minds will become weak. You will be able to think scarcely at all about good and important things. And what will be the w^orst evil — the Bible, the best of all books, will seem to you a very dull and tedious book indeed.

I do not mean to say that you should never read any story books that will amuse you ; though 1 fear many children read such kind of books a great deal more than is good for them. But what I mean is, that you should be more fond of reading books that are useful and instructive ; books that will make it necessary for you to think when you read them — sometimes to tkink hard, so that you may understand clearly what you read, and get good from it. Especially should you be fond of reading those books which are written to lead you to think about your souls, and ichat you must do to he saved.

Perhaps some of you, my dear children, will say that this is too long and sober an introduction. You may feel very impatient to have the history of Joseph begin.

This shows that there is some reason for my thinking that you have been so much in the habit of reading for mere amusement, that you cannot bear to read any thing of a serious and instructive kind, even for four or five minutes.

If this is really so, you ought immediately to endeavor to take an interest in that kind of reading which will require you to be fixed in attention, fa.- tient in thinking, and serious in feeling.

If any of you are unwilling to do this, perhaps you had better shut up the book, and not read any farther. For, although there are a great many things in the history of Joseph which are very interesting, and which I shall endeavor to present in an agreeable and entertaining manner to my young readers, still I shall, all the w^hile, mingle with these things thoughts of an instructive and useful kind.

Sometimes I shall go farther than this. I shall be very solemn and serious in what I say to you. I shall talk to you very plainly about your being sinners ; and about your guilt and danger ; and about the need of your repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; and of your hearts being changed by the Holy Spirit; and about other things like these, which it is very important for you to know, to believe, and to feel.

If I thought that you were all quite willing, my dear children, to listen attentively to such things, while we go along in the history of Joseph, with how much pleasure I should sit down, day after day, to write it !

Pray that you may feel thus willing ; and I will add my prayer to yours.

May God enable me so to write this book, and you so to read it, that, with the blessing of his Holy Spirit, it may do good to your souls !

Chapter II

Joseph's parentage. — Jacob's removal from Mesopotamia. — Death of Rachel. — Birth of Benjamin. — How children ought to treat their mothers.

Joseph was the son of Jacob. Isaac Avas his grandfather, and Abraham his great grandfather. It was no small privilege to him to have such ancestors. For they were pious men, and ail in their families were taught what they must do to obtain the friendship of God, and be blessed of him.

Joseph was born in Mesopotamia, more than three thousand five hundred years ago. His father had lived in that country about fourteen years, w^ith Laban, a rich husbandman, and assisted him in taking care of his cattle, sheep, and goats.

Laban was the uncle of Jacob, being the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's mother. He lived in a very fertile country, between two fine rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. He owned a great deal of land and large herds and flocks, and had many servants to work for him.

Jacob married the two daughters of Laban, Leah and Rachel ; the latter of whom was the mother of Joseph. Beside these, he had two other wives— Bilhah and Zilpah.

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God permitted men, at that time, to have more than one wife. He had good reasons for doing so ; though, at the present time it is forbidden, and would be a great sin.

Jacob had a large family while he was living with Laban. I think, it will be well for you to remember the names of his children. For his sons, in their turn, were the fathers of children ; and they, of other children; and so on, until they made, altogether, a great people, called Israelites, and became a powerful nation in the land of Canaan. They were called Israelites because they were descended from Jacob, whose other name was Israel ; and his twelve sons are called the twelve patriarchs.

The names of Jacob's children, in the order of their ages, were the following: — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ashur, Issachar, Zebulun, (Dinah, a daughter) Joseph, and Benjamin.

Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, All of them were born in Mesopotamia, except Benjamin, of whom, before long, I shall tell you something more particularly.

When Joseph was about six years old, and Reuben, the eldest son, about nineteen, their father concluded to remove, with his family, from Mesopotamia, and return to Canaan, his native land. His aged father, Isaac, was still living there. It was a fertile and pleasant country; and Jacob thought that it would be better for himself and his family to go there, than to remain where he was. Besides, God had told him, in a dream, to do it ; and he knew that, in obeying God, he and his wives and children w^ould be in the way of their duty, and under the protection of the Almighty.

It was along and difficult journey, and must have required a great deal of resolution and enterprise. For Jacob w^as, now, a man of large property. He had goods of various kinds ; many camels and asses; and numerous herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats. To remove all these, with his Avives and children, his man-servants and maid-servants, was truly a laborious undertaking. But God had commanded it ; and in obeying his commands, remember, my dear children, that no difficulties or dangers, however great, should weaken our resolution, or make us afraid. Who needs to fear when he is in the path of duty, and when the Almighty goes before him, and directs his way !

I shall not attempt to describe the setting out of Jacob on his journey, nor the particulars of what happened to him before it was ended. You can read about it, in the Bible.

One thing, however, I cannot pass over without mentioning ; for, young as he was, it must have affected Joseph very much, and filled his bosom with the deepest sorrow.

It was ^ve years after leaving Mesopotamia, having stopped at one place and another for a longer or shorter space of time, that Jacob was approaching Ephrath, and had come very near the town, when Rachel was taken suddenly sick and died. Just before she died Benjamin was born ; Joseph being about eleven years old. She was buried in the way to Ephrath, afterward called Bethlehem, and her husband built a monument of stone over her grave.

Joseph was just at the age to feel the loss of his mother most deeply ; and no doubt, in the bitterness of his grief, he wept and mourned over her ; and thought of all her tender care of him ; and felt how sad it would be for him to see her face, and hear her voice of kindness no more.

He loved dearly his little brother Benjamin, who was born under these afflicting circumstances ; and the strength of his attachment you will see in a subsequent period of his life.

My dear children, do you know the value of a good and kind mother ? It is worth more to a child than tens of thousands of gold and silver. Do you know the value of a pious mother, who prays for and with her child, and endeavors to guide its soul to

HISTORY OF JOSEPH. V^

heaven ? It is worth more to her child than the whole world, with all that it contains.

Have you such a mother ? O ! love her ; obey her ; listen to her kind advice ; remember all the good instructions she has given you ; do all you can to make her happy.

Have you had such a mother? Think of her with the warmest affection. Keep near to your heart the memory of all she did for you ; of all her prayers ; her admonitions ; her warnings ; her reproofs.

How are you treating such a mother, if she is still living, or her memory, if she is dead ? Can it be that one undutiful, ungrateful, wicked child shall read these pages, and while stopping for a moment, with Joseph, at the tomb of Rachel — not pause, and consider, and mourn over that wickedness of heart which can lead a son or a daughter to forget and despise the prayers, the entreaties, the tears of a pious and affectionate mother ?

If living — how does such conduct wring her soul with anguish ? If dead — can you endure the recollection of that look and voice of love, and tenderness, and pity, and not be melted into deep repentance before God ?

Chapter III

Jacob arrives at Mamre. — Description of Hebron. — Joseph's Character. — Jacob's afiection for him. — His brethren envy him. — Sin, if not repented of, increases rapidly.

Not long after this, Jacob arrived at Mamre, and found his aged father, Isaac, still alive, although he was more than one hundred and sixty years old. It must have been a very happy meeting ; and Joseph, I dare say^ was very glad to see his grandfather, of whom he had heard much, and also the pleasant place in which he lived.

This place was about twenty-seven miles south of Jerusalem, and was afterward called Hebron. Near it, in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased for that purpose, both himself and his wife Sarah were buried ; and in the same cave Isaac, when he died, at the age of one hundred and eighty years, was laid by the side of his father and mother.

Travelers, who have not long since visited that part of Palestine, tell us that Hebron is situated on the slope of a mountain, in a fertile valley ; and that the sides of the neighboring hills are covered with the oak, the arbutus, the fir, and a variety of flowering shrubs. The adjoining country is better cultivated than that near Jerusalem. The town has a strong castle ; abundance of provisions ; a number of shops and neat houses ; and about four hundred families of Arabs, beside a hundred Jewish houses.

It was, undoubtedly, a flourishing and fertile country in Isaac's and Jacob's time, or they would not have remained there Avith such large families, and such numerous herds and flocks, as they had.

A principal part of Jacob's business consisted in taking care of his herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats. His sons assisted him in doing this ; and the first thing which we read in the Bible, of any occupation in which Joseph was engaged, is, that he was feeding the flock with his brethren, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah.

He was then seventeen years of age, and beloved by Jacob more than any other of his children ; for he was the son of his old age, being born when Jacob was ninety years old. Probably, too, Joseph was a youth who conducted well, and showed a degree of wisdom that w^as remarkable for one of his years. His brothers, with the exception of Benjamin, who was yet quite a boy, seem not to have behaved as well as Joseph did. And we find that the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, with whom Joseph had been while taking care of the flock, either said or did some wicked thing, of which Joseph felt it to be his duty to tell his father.

Being such a son, it w^as no wonder that Jacob loved him more than he did his brothers, and probably often spoke of him in their presence, as affording an example which they ought to follow. Joseph wore, also, a very beautiful and costly garment of various colors, which his father gave him as a peculiar mark of his affection, and, not unlikely, to distinguish him from his brothers, and to show that in some respects he was superior to them ; for after this we do not read any more of his keeping the flocks, and it is supposed that he stayed at home with his father, to aid him in the care of his family and in his other concerns.

All these things led Joseph's brethren to regard him with great hatred and envy. When they met him they could not speak peaceably unto him. They often passed by him without giving him a single kind look or word ; and sometimes they used toward him violent and reproachful language. It is probable, too, that, Avhen alone by themselves, they spoke very disrespectfully of their aged father, complaining of his great affection to their brother, and accusing Joseph of meddling in their concerns, and of informing Jacob of what they said or did.

Have you ever felt so toward any of your brothers or sisters, or toward any of your companions at school, because they conducted better than you did, and received the approbation of your parents or teachers, and had something given to them, while you had nothing given to you ? If you have, then you know what envy is, and you ought to know too, and to feel what a base and wicked thing it is to he envious of others. If they are good and happy, and are beloved and esteemed, and have things which you have not, ought you not to rejoice in it, instead of envying them, and wishing to see them deprived of what they have, that you may enjoy it? ought you not to endeavor to imitate their example, and partake with them of their happiness % For parents and teachers have esteem, and love, and other things, enough and enough, to bestow upon all the children who conduct well, and deserve their approbation.