Genesis

THERE was no need of further delay on the part of Joseph in making himself known to his brethren. Judah’s touching appeal had shown conclusively that the character of the brethren was entirely altered. The prolonged tests had proved satisfactory and the moment had come for the surprising manifestation.

It is scarcely possible to comment on this passage without robbing it of its charm and power.

If the writer of this inimitable scene of Joseph’s reconciliation with his brethren was not simply an historian, he was one of the great dramatic geniuses of the world, master of a vivid minuteness like

Defoe’s, and able to touch the springs of tears by a pathetic simplicity like his who painted the death of Lear. Surely theories of legend and of mosaic work fail here (Maclaren’s Genesis, p. 261).

The intensity of his feelings overcame Joseph as he listened to the earnest pleading of Judah, and he ordered all the Egyptians to go out, leaving him alone with his brethren. It was impossible for him to reveal himself before others. He needed the sacredness of privacy for so special and noteworthy an occasion. It is not difficult to understand Joseph’s tears as he wept aloud. He had been for years accustomed to the solitary life of Egypt, and now his pent-up feelings burst forth and the true man revealed himself. Overcome and vanquished by his own love, he was unable to control himself any longer. Then he cried: "I am Joseph: doth my father yet live?" Brevity, force, and pathos are here strikingly combined. His first thought is about the aged parent who had loved him, and whose love he had never forgotten.

The brethren met this disclosure with silence and fear. His brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. We are not surprised at this, for it must have been an astounding revelation to hear the words I am Joseph spoken by the great ruler before whom they had bowed themselves, and in whose hands their lives had been.

Joseph at once recognized this hesitation and fear and said to his brethren: "Come near to me ... I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt." He did not hesitate to acknowledge his relationship even while he was compelled to remind them of what they had done against him. "I am Joseph your brother." Yes; the same, and yet not the same. He was a very different Joseph from the lad whom they had cast into the pit. Twenty years of varied experience had made their mark on him, and into the old nature had come all the enlargement of capacity and depth of experience consequent upon his prolonged trials and altered circumstances.

It is beautiful to notice that there was not the slightest word of reproach uttered as he revealed himself to the brethren. On the contrary, he urged them not to be grieved or angry with themselves, telling them that in spite of everything God had overruled their sin to bring about a blessing. "God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." How characteristically Joseph bore his testimony to God, as he had done so often before! To his brethren he said: "Not you . . . but God;" just as years before he had said to Pharaoh: "It is not in me;" God shall give. He also called their attention to his own position in Egypt as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Based upon this manifestation of himself and the statement of his authoritative position in Egypt, he urged them to hurry back home and tell his father what had happened. Thus saith thy son Joseph was what they were to say. He is not ashamed of his aged father, notwithstanding his exalted position in Egypt. There is perhaps nothing more pitiable than to see a son who has attained to a high position ashamed of his father who has remained in a humble walk in life. At all points Joseph stands out as the true man, because he was a man of God. They were also commanded to bring their father down to Egypt, with the promise of a safe and sheltered home and the assurance that he should be near his son. The special reason alleged for this command was that there were still five years of famine, and it was therefore essential that they should be protected against poverty and want. Even Joseph did not realize the full meaning of the contemplated journey into Egypt. He thought of it quite naturally, as simply a preservative against famine; but God knew that it was the way in which the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled and the family transformed into a great nation. How significant it is that our actions are left perfectly free, and yet all the while we may be unconsciously accomplishing the great and far-reaching purposes of Divine wisdom! It gives a dignity to life to realize that nothing is trivial and without meaning.

Joseph added some strong encouragement that they were to convey to their father. They were assured by the sight of their own eyes that it was their brother who was speaking to them; but not only so, they were to tell their father of all Joseph’s glory in Egypt. Joseph evidently knew that his father would be impressed by these outward and visible marks of power, for not once or twice had Jacob been impressed and influenced by the tangible and visible, as distinct from the purely spiritual and non-material elements of life.

With these words of encouragement and command Joseph fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. The tears of joy on both sides were the only and fitting expression of the meeting after all those years of severance. Moreover, we read with profound suggestion that he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them. Mark the phrase, all his brethren; Simeon, Reuben, Judah, and the rest who were responsible for his being cast into the pit and sold into Egypt were all kissed and wept over by the forgiving brother against whom they had done what might have seemed irreparable injury. Nor are we surprised to read that: After that his brethren talked with him. They could hardly have done otherwise, for he surely gave abundant proof, not only of his identity, but of his entire good- will to them.

The news of all that was going on soon came to Pharaoh’s ears, and it pleased Pharaoh well and all his servants. There was something very fine about the character of the king. From the moment that he came into contact with Joseph we observe truly admirable points in him, and at this juncture we find him urging Joseph to send a hearty invitation to his father and family to come into Egypt, and to be assured of the royal protection and favour. They were not to regard their stuff; that is, they were not to have any anxiety about the property they were leaving behind, since everything in Egypt would be at their disposal.

Then Joseph gave them wagons and provision for the way, according to Pharaoh’s command; and it is noteworthy that while he gave each man changes of raiment, to Benjamin were given 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment; no doubt in order to make some reparation for the period of anxiety that Benjamin had recently passed through in connection with the supposed theft of the cup. It is also interesting to observe the generous present sent to his father. This was according to the usual marks of courtesy of that day, though at the same time it would help to assure his father of the reality of the messages sent by the brethren.

We may not overlook his parting counsels to the brethren: "See that ye fall not out by the way." We might at first suppose that there was some irony in these words, as though Joseph, knowing of old the quarrelsomeness of his brothers, gave them these counsels as a parting shot; but it is much more likely that he had a genuine fear that they might not readily accommodate themselves to the new experiences when they had left him and were once more by themselves. It might easily have been that their former dispositions would have reasserted themselves and caused trouble. We shall have occasion to see later on in the story that they were by no means so thoroughly conformed to the new state of affairs as to make such a counsel altogether unnecessary. It was all so strange and unlike their former days. A new and wonderful vista had opened out before them.

Their safe arrival home was, we doubt not, a great satisfaction to their aged father, more particularly as he caught sight of Simeon and of his beloved Benjamin. The circle was complete. The brethren had brought back a plentiful supply of provisions, and there seemed to be nothing more needed by Jacob. What then must have been his surprise when he was told that Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. No wonder "Jacob’s heart fainted" and he believed them not. The news was far too good to be true, and Jacob, who had never been particularly strong in believing without seeing, was not prepared to accept so astonishing a piece of information when they told him Joseph’s words; but "when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived." What a remarkable touch this is, "When he saw the wagons." Their word without the wagons does not seem to have been sufficient. Jacob was always a strong believer in the truth expressed by the well-known cynical phrase, "Seeing is believing." All through his career it was the actual, tangible, material, and visible that impressed him, and the infection thereof remained even in the regenerate. Why was it that the wagons had this impression on him? It is more than probable that in the quiet ordinary pastoral life of Jacob wagons were unknown, and it may also be that they formed part of the royal equipage of Pharaoh, and thus their very strangeness impressed the patriarch with the assurance that something out of the ordinary must have happened to bring these wagons to his home. It is also deeply interesting to observe the exact words of the text. The spirit of Jacob revived; and Israel said. Jacob thus once again becomes Israel, and it is the Prince of God who makes this resolve to go down to sec his son Joseph. He had had his doubts, but these had been removed, and with belief had come prompt decision. "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die."

It is impossible to read this story without associating with it the spiritual ideas connected with Him of Whom Joseph was a type. Later on we shall have occasion to consider this typical aspect of Joseph’s life in its entirety; but meanwhile, as we consider the disclosure made by Joseph to his brethren we may see in it some of the most precious truths concerning the revelation of Christ to the soul.

Joseph’s manifestation to his brethren was the disclosure of one whom they had rejected; but one also whose love had remained all through the years and had now conquered. It was love stooping, love conquering, love blessing. The condescension of love for the purpose of uplifting the lives of others is one of the most beautiful features in human life, and much more is it the case when we think of the Divine love. The highest serves the lowest, and God’s love expresses itself in self-sacrifice on behalf of mankind.

We observe the privacy with which Joseph disclosed himself to his brethren. This is also true in the spiritual realm. The revelation of Christ to the soul is one of the most private of experiences. There are things far too sacred at such a time for any eye witness or any record. At the first thought we naturally desire to know what happened between our Lord and Peter on the morning of the Resurrection; but second thoughts are best, and we are glad that something sealed the lips of the Evangelist.

Not only was it private, it was personal. I am Joseph. So is it always; the revelation is not of a truth, or an institution, or a philosophy, or a code of ethics; but of a Divine, living, loving Person. Christianity has well been defined as devotion to a Person, and it is so because of that personal revelation of Christ to the soul.

This revelation is not only private and personal, but affectionate. Joseph kissed his brethren and thereby proved beyond the shadow of a doubt the reality and intensity of his feelings towards them, and the Divine disclosure to the soul is, above all things, a proof of God’s persistent, everlasting love; the Love that will not let us go.

We cannot but be impressed with the splendid magnanimity of Revelation. Joseph notwithstanding all that they had done. There is no word of reproach or rebuke, but only of encouragement and cheer. How like this is to God’s method of manifesting Himself to the sinner. There is no reproach on the part of God; but it is the sinner who learns to reproach himself as he becomes conscious of the love of God towards him. We are not surprised that Joseph’s brethren were full of fear, for the revelation was too much for them. It is often the case that the consciousness of sin becomes more acute after the revelation of God’s mercy in Christ than it ever did before.

The consciousness of God’s long-suffering love breaks down the soul, deepens our penitence, and enables the heart to see things as it could not see them before conversion. Not only so, but in this revelation of Joseph to his brethren they found their true life. Up to that time they had been haunted with the ghost of their former sin. They had tried to leave it behind them; their characters were manifestly improved, and yet the sin clung to them and at almost every turn they were reminded of what they had done. But after the revelation of Joseph and their reconciliation to him, new hopes, new ideas sprung up in their lives, and they were enabled to see things in their proper light and find peace in regard to their former wrongdoing. Joseph did not reproach them, but they reproached themselves, and in that self-reproach was one of the guarantees of avoidance of sin in future.

We cannot observe that the immediate results of Joseph’s disclosure of himself were threefold:

Joseph laid one burden upon his brethren. They were given a commission. They were not to keep the news to themselves but to go back at once and tell their father three great facts: (a) that Joseph was alive; (b) that he was in an exalted position; (c) that he was willing to receive his father and all of them.

This commission was faithfully carried out, and thus they fulfilled their brother s will. In the same way the reconciliation of the soul with God involves obedience to what we speak of in the New Testament as the Great Commission. It is for us to go far and near with the same message, that our Lord is indeed alive and risen from the dead; that He is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour; and that He is willing to receive all that come unto God by Him. This is our bounden duty, and if we have been reconciled to God it will be for us to carry out this commission and fulfill our responsibility. And so we praise God for His great revelation of Himself in Christ. All of Christ’s is ours, and all of ours ought to be Christ’s. Nothing must, and nothing need, come between us and our Saviour. We may draw from his fullness and use it; we must assimilate His image and reflect it, and then show day by day by a humble, loving, lowly, earnest life that we love much because we have been much forgiven.