Genesis

IT is inevitable that life should take on a different aspect after the death of one s parents. Even a middle-aged man cannot help realizing that he is only a son while his father is alive, but when his father has passed away there comes the full consciousness that henceforward he must stand in the front rank and take the lead. As long as Jacob was alive he was the head of the family, and every thing connected with his household was necessarily influenced by his position, notwithstanding the fact of Joseph’s high standing in the land of Egypt. It was only after Jacob’s death that Joseph could really take the lead in matters affecting the life and welfare of his brethren. In the passage before us there are two distinct subjects connected with the people of Israel, in both of which Joseph is the central figure.

It is with surprise that we find the old trouble between Joseph and his brethren brought up once more. It might have been thought at an end with the full reconciliation years before. But under the new conditions consequent upon the death of their father, Joseph’s brethren conceived the idea that he would fully requite them all the evil they had done. This sense of guilt after so long a time is very striking. The men were now getting on in years, and yet remained fully conscious of those early sins and were in dread of their consequences. It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him. It is a characteristic of weak, base natures to find it difficult to believe in the nobility of others. They measured Joseph by themselves, and thought that he was harboring resentment and only biding his time. What a revelation of their own nature they thus gave! In our suspicions of other people we often reveal ourselves. It is so difficult to credit others with magnanimity and the spirit of forgiveness. They thereupon sent a message to Joseph, probably (so we may imagine) by Benjamin, saying that their father commanded them before he died to ask Joseph’s forgiveness. It is thought by some that this use of their FATHER’S name was unwarranted, and was only for the purpose of gaining favour with Joseph. On the other hand, it seems quite likely that Jacob said this when he observed their fears that after his death a very great change would occur. May it not also show that some barrier was felt by them, and perhaps even by Jacob also, during those years in Egypt, in spite of all that Joseph had done for them?

Their two-fold plea in sending this message is worthy of note. They based it first on this appeal to their FATHER’S memory, and then they spoke of themselves as the servants of the God of thy father. Following this message they went themselves and made full submission to their brother, saying, "Behold, we be thy servants."

No wonder that Joseph wept when they spake unto him. It was not the first time they had misunderstood and mistrusted him, and he doubtless felt the deepest pity for them as well as sorrow that they should have thought him capable of such unworthy feelings and intentions after all the years that had elapsed since his restoration to them. There is scarcely anything more trying and searching in life than the experience of being misunderstood, with motives misconstrued and intentions distorted. Joseph was, however, utterly unspoiled and unsoured by the various experiences of misunderstanding which fell to his lot throughout his life. He bade them not to fear, and reminded them that he was not in the place of God, that it belonged to God, not to him, to deal with their sin. At the same time he took the opportunity of speaking to them quite plainly about what they had done and what God had done in overruling their sin. As for you, ye meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. We can not fail to see the true reserve and the equally true frankness which characterize these utterances. What a comparison and contrast are here made! "Ye meant evil . . . but God meant it for good." And then he assured them once again: "Fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them." Distrust and misunderstanding are only too apt to embitter and deaden the nature. There are few things in life more hard to bear than ungrounded suspicion, but Joseph was superior to all these feelings, and instead of altering his attitude to them, he only assured them once again of his willingness to nourish them and their families, and to do all that he could for them. This is the true attitude to take up. When our good is evil spoken of, our best intentions misinterpreted, our loving actions suspected and even reviled, then is the opportunity for showing the true spirit of Christ and proving the reality of our profession. It is easy to write this, it is easy to conceive of it being done, but it is not by any means so easy to put it into practice. Yet God’s grace is sufficient even for this, and it is in such ways that the genuineness of our religious profession is best proved.

This last paragraph of Genesis refers to events fifty-four years after the preceding verse. Joseph’s life in Egypt was doubtless lived in the ordinary routine of daily responsibilities and duties, and although he was necessarily engrossed with the demands of his important post we can see from the sequel that his heart was still true to the faith of his fathers. That faith enabled him to do his work loyally day by day, while at the same time it prevented him from being so entirely immersed in it as to forget the calls of his father’s house.

Earthly joys were equally unable to remove him from the steadfastness of his faith. He saw the great-grandchildren of his son Ephraim and the grandchildren of his son Manasseh, and although he was surrounded with everything that was happy, bright and joyous in his home, and although every personal and family interest seemed to be inextricably bound up with Egypt, his faith enabled him to cling to God and never to forget the supremacy of the covenant with his fathers.

And the faith which enabled him to do his duty and to keep true amidst all the attentions of earthly happiness did not fail him when he came to die. He summoned his brethren, and in view of his approaching death gave them a solemn charge. I die: but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. The faith of his childhood was still working powerfully in his life, and his dying words clearly show where his heart had been all through the years in Egypt. He was the simple, God-fearing Hebrew to the very end of his days, and was not affected in the least by his high position, great responsibilities, and the fascination of life in Egypt. Once again we can see how possible it is for a man to serve God humbly and faithfully in the highest walks of life. God was first, and everything else was dominated by that simple but all-embracing principle.

Like his father before him, he took an oath of the children of Israel. God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. Like Jacob, he was determined that Egypt should not be the final resting-place of his body. His heart was already in Canaan, and his body was to be there also. So at length he died, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. That coffin would be a constant reminder to the people of Israel of God’s promise to their fathers. Joseph being dead would yet speak, and in the days that were not far ahead of them the coffin would remind them of the glorious future and inspire them with hope and courage amidst present difficulties.

"So Joseph died." Like the rest of us, even this noble man was called hence, withdrawn from the scene of his earthly labors, where his presence was so important and his life a constant benediction a reminder that not even the best man on earth is indispensable. God will take care of His own work.

It is interesting and significant that the one event in Joseph’s life seized upon by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews was that which was associated with his closing days. "By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones" (Heb 11:22). It was also an act of Jacob just as he was dying that is mentioned as the proof of his faith, in the same chapter (Gen 50:21). The comparisons and contrasts between the closing days of Jacob and Joseph give much food for thought.

Jacob as he was dying thought chiefly of the past in desiring to be buried in the cave of Machpelah. He had been in Canaan a long time, and it was only natural that he should wish to be taken back there on his death. On the other hand, Joseph’s thought was concerned with the future. He made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, though that departure was not to take place for many a day. Joseph had grown up in Egypt, and to him Canaan was little more than a memory, so far as personal experience was concerned, but to him as well as to Jacob the place was the Promised Land; and thus

Jacob’s faith looked back as though to say, "Do not forget the Canaan from which you have come," while Joseph’s faith looked forward and said, "Do not forget the Canaan to which you are going."

It has been very helpfully suggested (Candlish, Genesis, pp. Oath - 338 ff.) that Jacob took the oath from his sons when they were in the midst of Egyptian plenty, peace, and happiness, and that Joseph took the oath from the brethren when the time of the bondage was not far distant. The one oath meant, "Rest not in Egyptian prosperity;" the other meant, "Faint not in Egyptian adversity." (See also Stock, Lesson Studies in Genesis.) The solemn promise elicited by Joseph that he should not be buried permanently in Egypt is a striking testimony to the power of his faith. It was a triumph over that sentiment which naturally thinks of resting in a hallowed burial-place. It was a triumph over the inevitable temptation to have that fine and magnificent funeral which was his due, and which would have been doubtless accorded him by the people of Egypt. Above all, it was a constant testimony to the supreme conviction which actuated him, and which he wished to perpetuate among his brethren, that God would surely visit them. While he was living his voice could speak, but afterwards that unburied body would make its silent yet all-powerful appeal. It kept before them the story of God’s faithfulness, and was intended to inspire their hearts with undying hope as they waited for the day of deliverance.

The contrast between Gen 1:1 and Gen 50:26 is surely more than an ordinary coincidence. The book opens with life it ends with death a coffin in Egypt, because in between had come sin which brings forth death. And yet that coffin spoke of life as well as of death. It was a symbol of hope, a message of patience, a guarantee of life everlasting. Joseph may not have known very much of the future life, but the fact that he pledged them to carry his body is a proof that in some measure at least he believed in immortality. Genesis, with its coffin in Egypt, was followed by Exodus, which means departure, deliverance; and Joseph spake of that exodus which they were to accomplish in God’s time. After nearly 200 years of watching and waiting that coffin was carried up out of Egypt: "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him:" for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you" (Exo 13:19). Then for forty years it accompanied the people of Israel wherever they went, and at length came the fulfilment of Joseph’s hopes and of the solemn promise of his brethren. In the days of Joshua the bones of Joseph which the children brought up out of Egypt buried they in Shechem (Jos 24:32). At Shechem they now show the tomb of Joseph. Travelers are interested in a little enclosure wherein is a small mound by the side of which grows a vine. Not very far away is another spot equally associated with the story of Joseph, for it was there that the brethren cast their brother into the pit and plotted against his life. He little thought when suffering at the hands of his brethren that a larger number of mourning descendants would accompany his body 200 years afterwards to its burial at Shechem.

One lesson above all others is writ large in the story of Jacob and Joseph, as it is indeed in the entire narrative of Genesis. "I die: but God shall be with you" (Gen 48:21). "I die: but God will surely visit you" (Gen 50:24). One Name abides all through these centuries, the Name of the everlasting God. Adam, Noah, Abraham come and go; Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph live their lives and pass away; but God remains, the Dwelling place of His people in all generations, God from everlasting to everlasting. God buries his workmen and carries on His work. Well for us if we realize this simple but all-embracing truth. Amid all the changes and chances of this mortal life God abides, God reigns, God rules. His kingdom will be set up, His purposes shall be realized, His will must be done. Let us take heart of grace as servant after servant of God passes into the unseen. Let us take large views of the future, and not be tempted to concentrate attention solely upon our own narrow little life in the present. "I die: but God will surely visit you." It is this assurance of God’s unchanging presence and undeviating purpose that alone can keep the heart peaceful, restful, trustful, and hopeful amid all the vicissitudes of life. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." "Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is an everlasting rock."