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46 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty three, hear the story of Joseph's brethren is
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  Speaker 1: carried on and very particularly related Numeral one. Their melancholy
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  Speaker 1: parting with their father Jacob and Canaan Verses one through fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: Numeral two, Their pleasant meeting with Joseph in Egypt verse fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: and so on. For on this occasion nothing occurs there
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  Speaker 1: but what is agreeable and pleasant. Jacob unwilling to part
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  Speaker 1: with Benjamin b. C. Seventeen o seven. And the famine
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  Speaker 1: was sore in the land, and it came to pass
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  Speaker 1: when they had eaten up the corn which they had
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  Speaker 1: brought out of Egypt. Their father said, unto them, go again,
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  Speaker 1: buy us a little food. And Judas spaken to him, saying,
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  Speaker 1: the man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, ye shall
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  Speaker 1: not see my face except your brother be with you.
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  Speaker 1: If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will
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  Speaker 1: go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt
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  Speaker 1: not send him, we will not go down. For the
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  Speaker 1: man said unto us, ye shall not see my face
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  Speaker 1: except your brother be with you. And Israel said, wherefore
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  Speaker 1: dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the
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  Speaker 1: man whether ye had yet a brother, And they said.
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  Speaker 1: The man asked us straightly of our state and of
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  Speaker 1: our kindred, saying, is your father yet alive? Have ye
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  Speaker 1: another brother? And we told him, according to the tenor
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  Speaker 1: of these words, could we certainly know that he would say,
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  Speaker 1: bring your brother down? And Judas said, unto Israel his father,
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  Speaker 1: send the lad with me, and we will arise and go,
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  Speaker 1: that we may live and not die, both we and
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  Speaker 1: thou and also our little ones. I will be surety
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  Speaker 1: for him of my hands. Shalt thou require him if
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  Speaker 1: I bring him not unto thee and set and before thee.
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  Speaker 1: Then let me bear the blame forever, for except we
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  Speaker 1: had lingered surely now we had returned this second time
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  Speaker 1: here Number one, Jacob urges his sons to go and
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  Speaker 1: buy more co born in Egypt Verses one and two.
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  Speaker 1: The famine continued, and the corn they had brought was
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  Speaker 1: all spent, for it is meat that perisheth. Jacob, as
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  Speaker 1: a good master of a family, is in care to
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  Speaker 1: provide for those of his own house food convenient, and
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  Speaker 1: shall not God provide for his children for the household
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  Speaker 1: of faith. Jacob bids him go again and buy little food.
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  Speaker 1: Now in time of scarcity, a little must suffice, for
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  Speaker 1: nature is content with a little. Number two, Judah urges
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  Speaker 1: him to consent that Benjamin should go down with them,
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  Speaker 1: how much soever it went against his feelings and previous determination.
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  Speaker 1: Note it is not at all inconsistent with the honor
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  Speaker 1: and duty which children owe their parents, humbly and modestly
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  Speaker 1: to advise them, and as occasion is to reason with them.
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  Speaker 1: Plead with your mother, plead Josea too too. Subscript one,
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  Speaker 1: he insists upon the absolute necessity that they were under
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  Speaker 1: of bringing Benjamin with them, of which he, who was
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  Speaker 1: a witness to all that had passed in Egypt, was
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  Speaker 1: a more competent judge than Jacob could be. Joseph's protestation
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  Speaker 1: verse three may be alluded to to show upon what
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  Speaker 1: terms we must draw a knye to God. Unless we
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  Speaker 1: bring Christ along with us in the arms of our faith,
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  Speaker 1: we cannot see the face of God with comfort. Subscript two.
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  Speaker 1: He engages to take all possible care of him, and
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  Speaker 1: to do his utmost for his safety. Verses eight and nine.
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  Speaker 1: Judas's conscience had lately smitten him for what he had
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  Speaker 1: done a great while ago against Joseph. Chapter forty three,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty one. And as an evidence of the truth
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  Speaker 1: of his repentance, he is ready to undertake as far
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  Speaker 1: as a man could do it for Benjamin's security. He
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  Speaker 1: will not only not wrong him, but will do all
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  Speaker 1: he can to protect him. This is a restitution as
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  Speaker 1: far as the case was, admit, which he knew not
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  Speaker 1: how he could restore Joseph. He would make some amends
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  Speaker 1: for the irreparable journey he had done to him by
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  Speaker 1: doubting his care. Concerning Benjamin, Joseph's brethren again send to Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: and their father Israel said unto them. If it must
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  Speaker 1: be so, now do this, Take of the best fruits
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  Speaker 1: of the land in your vessels, and carry down the
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  Speaker 1: man a present, a little balm, and a little honey,
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  Speaker 1: spices and mrh nuts and almonds. And take double money
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  Speaker 1: in your hand. And the money that was brought again
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  Speaker 1: in the mouth of your sex, carry it again in
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  Speaker 1: your hand. Peradventure, it was an oversight. Take also your
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  Speaker 1: brother and arise, go again unto the man, and God
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  Speaker 1: Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may
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  Speaker 1: send away your other brother and Benjamin. If I be
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  Speaker 1: bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Observe here numeral
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  Speaker 1: one Jacob's persuasibleness. He would be ruled by reason, though
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  Speaker 1: they were his inferiors that urged it. He saw the
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  Speaker 1: necessity of the case, and since there was no remedy,
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  Speaker 1: he consented to yield to the necessity verse eleven. If
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  Speaker 1: it must be so, now take your brother, if no
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  Speaker 1: corn can be had. But upon those terms we may
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  Speaker 1: as well expose him to the perils of the journey,
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  Speaker 1: as suffer ourselves and families, And Benjamin, amongst the rest,
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  Speaker 1: to perish for want of bread, skin for skin, and
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  Speaker 1: all that man has, even a Benjamin, the dearest of all,
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  Speaker 1: will he give for his life, no death so dreadful
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  Speaker 1: as that by famine Lamentations four nine. Jacob had said,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty three, verse thirty eight, my son shall not
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  Speaker 1: go down. But now he is over persuaded to consent.
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  Speaker 1: Note it is no fault but our wisdom and duty
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  Speaker 1: to alter our purposes and resolutions where there is a
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  Speaker 1: good reason for our doing so. Constancy is a virtue,
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  Speaker 1: but obstinacy is not. It is God's prerogative not to
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  Speaker 1: repent and to make unchangeable resolves. Numeral two Jacob's prudence
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  Speaker 1: and justice, which appeared in Three Things. Number one, he
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  Speaker 1: sent back the money which they had found in the
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  Speaker 1: sax mouths with this discreete construction of it, peradventure it
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  Speaker 1: was an oversight. Note, honesty obliges us to make restitution
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  Speaker 1: not only of that which comes to us by our
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  Speaker 1: own fault, but of that which comes to us by
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  Speaker 1: the mistakes of others. Though we get it by oversight,
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  Speaker 1: if we keep it when the oversight is discovered, it
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  Speaker 1: is kept by deceit. In the stating of accounts, errors
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  Speaker 1: must be accepted, even those that make for us, as
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  Speaker 1: well as those that make against us. Jacob's words furnish
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  Speaker 1: us with a favorable construction to put upon that which
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  Speaker 1: we are tempted to resent as an injury and affront
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  Speaker 1: pass it by, and say, peradventure it was an oversightight.
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  Speaker 1: Number two he sent double money as much again as
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  Speaker 1: they took the time before, upon supposition that the price
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  Speaker 1: of corn might have risen, or that if it should
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  Speaker 1: be insisted upon, they might pay a ransom for Simeon
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  Speaker 1: or his prison fees, or to show a generous spirit
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  Speaker 1: that they might be the more likely to find generous
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  Speaker 1: treatment with the man the lord of the land. Number three,
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  Speaker 1: he set a present of such things as the land afforded,
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  Speaker 1: and as were scarce in each balm and honey, and
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  Speaker 1: so forth. Verse eleven. The commodities that Canaan exported Chapter
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  Speaker 1: thirty seven, Verse twenty five. Note Subscript one. Providence dispenses
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  Speaker 1: its gifts variously. Some countries produce one commodity, others another,
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  Speaker 1: that commerce may be preserved. Subscript two. Honey and spice
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  Speaker 1: will never make up the want of bread corn. The
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  Speaker 1: famine was sore and canaan, and yet they had balm
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  Speaker 1: and mirrh. And so we may live well enough upon
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  Speaker 1: plain food without dainties, but we cannot live upon Danny's
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  Speaker 1: without plain food. Let us thank God that that which
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  Speaker 1: is most needful and useful is generally most cheap and common.
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  Speaker 1: Subscript three. A gift in secret pacifies wrath. Proverbs twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: verse fourteen. Jacob's sons were unjustly accused as spies, Yet
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  Speaker 1: Jacob was willing to be at the expense of a
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  Speaker 1: present to pacify the accuser. Sometimes we must not think
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  Speaker 1: it too much to buy peace, even where we may
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  Speaker 1: justly demand it and insist upon it as our right.
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  Speaker 1: Numeral three Jacob's piety, appearing in his prayer, God Almighty,
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  Speaker 1: give you mercy before the man Verse fourteen. Jacob had
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  Speaker 1: formerly turned an angry brother into a kind one with
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  Speaker 1: a present and a prayer, And here he betakes himself
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  Speaker 1: to the same tried method and its bad will. Note
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  Speaker 1: those that would find mercy with men must seek it
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  Speaker 1: of God, who has all hearts in his hands and
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  Speaker 1: turns them as he pleases. Numeral four Jacob's patience. He
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  Speaker 1: concludes all with this. If I be bereaved of my children,
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  Speaker 1: I am bereaved. If I must part with them thus
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  Speaker 1: one after another, I must acquiesce and say the will
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord be done. Note it is our wisdom
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  Speaker 1: to reconcile ourselves to the sorest afflictions and make the
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  Speaker 1: best of them, for there is nothing God by striving
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  Speaker 1: with our maker. Second Samuel fifteen, Verses twenty five and
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  Speaker 1: twenty six. Joseph entertains his brethren, and the men took
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  Speaker 1: that present, and they took double money in their hand.
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  Speaker 1: And Benjamin and rose up and went down to Egypt
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  Speaker 1: and stood before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them,
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  Speaker 1: he said to the ruler of his house, bring these
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  Speaker 1: men home and slay, and make ready, for these men
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  Speaker 1: shall dine with me at noon. And the man did
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  Speaker 1: as Joseph bade. And the man brought the men into
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were
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  Speaker 1: brought into Joseph's house. And they said, because of the
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  Speaker 1: money that was returned in our sacks at the first time,
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  Speaker 1: are we brought in that he may seek occasion against
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  Speaker 1: us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen
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  Speaker 1: and our asses. And they came near to the steward
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  Speaker 1: of Joseph's house, and they commune with him at the
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  Speaker 1: door of the house, and said, oh, sir, we came
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  Speaker 1: indeed down at the first time to buy food. And
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  Speaker 1: it came to pass when we came to the inn,
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  Speaker 1: that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money
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  Speaker 1: was in the mouth of a sack, our money and
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  Speaker 1: full weight, and we have brought it again in our hand.
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  Speaker 1: And other money have we brought down in our hands
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  Speaker 1: to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money
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  Speaker 1: in our sacks. And he said, peace be to you,
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  Speaker 1: fear not your God and the God of your father.
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  Speaker 1: Hath given you treasure in your sex, I had your money.
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  Speaker 1: And he brought Simeon out unto them. And the man
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  Speaker 1: brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water,
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  Speaker 1: and they washed their feet, and he gave their asses provender.
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  Speaker 1: And they made ready. The present against Joseph came at noon,
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  Speaker 1: for they heard that they should eat bread there. Jacob's sons,
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  Speaker 1: having got leave to take Benjamin with them, were observant
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  Speaker 1: of the orders their father had given them, and went
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  Speaker 1: down the second time into Egypt to buy corn. If
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  Speaker 1: we should ever know what a famine of the word means,
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  Speaker 1: let us not think it much to travel as far
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  Speaker 1: for spiritual food as did they for corporal food. Now
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  Speaker 1: Here we have an account of what passed between them
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  Speaker 1: and Joseph's steward, who some conjecture was in the secret
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  Speaker 1: and knew them to be Joseph's brethren, and helped to
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  Speaker 1: humor the thing. I rather think not, because no man
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  Speaker 1: was permitted to be present when Joseph afterwards made himself
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  Speaker 1: known to them. Chapter forty five, Verse one observed Number
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  Speaker 1: one joseph steward had orders from his master, who was
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  Speaker 1: busy selling corn and receiving money to take them to
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  Speaker 1: his house and make ready for their entertainment. Though Joseph
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  Speaker 1: saw Benjamin there, he would not leave his work at
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  Speaker 1: working time, nor trust another with it. Note business must
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  Speaker 1: take place of civility in its season. Our needful employments
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  Speaker 1: must not be neglected. No, not to pay respects to
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  Speaker 1: our friends number two. Even this frightened them. They were
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  Speaker 1: afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house verse eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: The just challenges of their own consciences and Joseph's violent
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  Speaker 1: suspicions of them forbade them to expect any favor, and
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  Speaker 1: suggested to them that this was done with a bad
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  Speaker 1: design upon them. Note those that are guilty and timorous
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  Speaker 1: are apt to make the worst of everything. Now they
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  Speaker 1: thought they should be reckoned with about the money and
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  Speaker 1: the sack mouths, and should be charged as cheats and
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  Speaker 1: men not fit to be dealt with, who had taken
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  Speaker 1: advantage of the hurry of the market to carry off
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  Speaker 1: their corn unpaid for. They therefore laid the case before
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  Speaker 1: the steward that he being apprized of it, might stand
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  Speaker 1: between them in danger and as a substantial proof of
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  Speaker 1: their honesty. Before they were charged with taking back their money,
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  Speaker 1: they produced it. Note integrity and uprightness will preserve us
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  Speaker 1: and will clear themselves as the light of the morning.
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  Speaker 1: Number three, The steward encouraged them. Verse twenty three, Peace
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  Speaker 1: be to you. Fear not though he knew not what
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  Speaker 1: his master drove at, yet he was aware of these
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  Speaker 1: were men whom he meant no harm to while he
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  Speaker 1: thus amused them. And therefore he directs them to look
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  Speaker 1: at the divine providence in the return of their money.
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  Speaker 1: Your God and the God of your father has given
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  Speaker 1: you treasure in your sex observe Subscript one. Hereby he
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  Speaker 1: shows that he had no suspicion at all of dishonesty
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  Speaker 1: in them. For of what we get by deceit, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot say God gives it to us. Sub point two.
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  Speaker 1: Hereby he silences their further inquiry about it. Ask not
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  Speaker 1: how it came thither, Providence brought it to you, and
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  Speaker 1: let that satisfy you. Subscript three. It appears by what
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  Speaker 1: he said, that by his good master's instructions, he was
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  Speaker 1: brought to the knowledge of the true God, the God
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  Speaker 1: of the Hebrews. It may justly be expected that those
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  Speaker 1: who are servants in religious families should take all fit
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  Speaker 1: occasions to speak of God and his providence with reverence
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  Speaker 1: and seriousness. Subscript four. He directs them to look up
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  Speaker 1: to God and acknowledge his providence in the good bargain
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  Speaker 1: they had, we must own ourselves indebted to God as
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  Speaker 1: our God, and the God God of our fathers, a
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  Speaker 1: God in covenant with us and them, for all our
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  Speaker 1: successes and advantages and the kindnesses of our friends. For
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  Speaker 1: every creature is that to us, and no more which
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  Speaker 1: God makes it to be. The Steward encouraged them, not
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  Speaker 1: only in words, but in deeds, for he made very
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  Speaker 1: much of them till his master came Verse twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present
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  Speaker 1: which was in their hand, into the house and bowed
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  Speaker 1: themselves to him to the earth. And he asked them
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  Speaker 1: of their welfare, and said, is your father will, the
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  Speaker 1: old man of whom you spake, Is he yet alive?
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  Speaker 1: And they answered, thy servant, our father is in good health.
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  Speaker 1: He is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads
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  Speaker 1: and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and
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  Speaker 1: saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is
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  Speaker 1: this your younger brother, of whom you spake unto me?
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  Speaker 1: And he said, God be gracious unto thee my son.
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  Speaker 1: And Joseph made haste, for as Bowels did, yearned upon
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  Speaker 1: his brother, and he sought where to weep. And he
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  Speaker 1: entered into his chamber and wept there, and he washed
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  Speaker 1: his face and went out and refrained himself, and said,
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  Speaker 1: set on bread. And they set on for himself by himself,
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  Speaker 1: and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which
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  Speaker 1: to eat with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might
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  Speaker 1: not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an
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  Speaker 1: abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the
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  Speaker 1: first born, accorded to his birthright, and the youngest accorded
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  Speaker 1: to his youth. And the men marveled one at another,
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  Speaker 1: and he took and sent messes unto them from before him.
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  Speaker 1: But Benjamin's mess was five times as much as any
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  Speaker 1: of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.
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  Speaker 1: Here is numero one the great respect that Joseph's brethren
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  Speaker 1: paid to him. When they brought him the present, they
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  Speaker 1: bowed themselves before him Verse twenty six. And again when
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  Speaker 1: they gave him an account of their father's health. They
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  Speaker 1: made obeisance and called him thy servant, our father verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight. Thus were Joseph's dreams fulfilled more and more,
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  Speaker 1: and even the father by the sons bowed before him.
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  Speaker 1: According to the Dream Chapter thirty seven, verse ten. Probably
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  Speaker 1: Jacob had directed them, if they had occasion to speak
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  Speaker 1: of him to the man, the lord of the land,
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  Speaker 1: to call him his servant. Numeral two. The great kindness
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  Speaker 1: that Joseph showed to them, while they little thought it
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  Speaker 1: was of brotherly kindness. Here is number one his kind
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  Speaker 1: inquiry concerning Jacob, is he yet alive? A very fit
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  Speaker 1: question to be asked concerning any especially concerning old people,
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  Speaker 1: For we are dying daily. It is strange that we
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  Speaker 1: are yet alive. Jacob had said many years before, I
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  Speaker 1: will go to the grave to my son. But he
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  Speaker 1: is yet alive. We must not die when we will.
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  Speaker 1: Number two the kind notice he took of Benjamin, his
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  Speaker 1: own brother. Subscript one, he put up a prayer for him.
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  Speaker 1: God be gracious unto thee my son. Verse twenty nine.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's favor, though he was the lord of the land,
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  Speaker 1: would do him little good unless God were gracious to him.
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  Speaker 1: Many seek the ruler's favor, but Joseph directs him to
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  Speaker 1: seek the favor of the ruler of rulers. Subscript two.
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  Speaker 1: He shed some tears for him verse thirty. His natural
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  Speaker 1: affection to his brother, his joy to see him, his
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  Speaker 1: concern at seeing him and the rest of them in
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  Speaker 1: distress for bread, and the remembrance of his own griefs
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  Speaker 1: since he last saw him, produced a great agitation in him,
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  Speaker 1: which perhaps was the more uneasy because he endeavored to
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  Speaker 1: stifle and suppress it. But he was forced to retire
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  Speaker 1: into his closet there to give vent to his feelings
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  Speaker 1: by tears. Note sub point one, tears of tenderness and
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  Speaker 1: affection are no disparagement at all, even to great and
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  Speaker 1: wise men. Subscript two. Gracious weepers should not proclaim their tears.
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  Speaker 1: My soul shall weep in secret, says the prophet Jeremiah thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: verse seventeen. Peter went out and wept bitterly. See Matthew
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  Speaker 1: twenty six, verse seventy five, number three, his kind entertainment
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  Speaker 1: of them all. When his weeping had subsided, so that
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  Speaker 1: he could refrain himself, he sat down to dinner. With them,
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  Speaker 1: treated them nobly, and yet contrived everything to amuse them.
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  Speaker 1: Subscript one he ordered three tables to be spread, one
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  Speaker 1: for his brethren, another for the Egyptians that dined with him,
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  Speaker 1: for so different were their customs that they did not
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  Speaker 1: care to eat together. Another for himself, who durst not
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  Speaker 1: own himself a Hebrew, and yet would not sit with
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  Speaker 1: the Egyptians. See here and in distance. Sub Point one
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of hospitality and good housekeeping, which are very commendable, according
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: as the ability is. Sub Point two of compliance with
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: people's humors, even whimsical ones, as Bishop Patrick calls this
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: of the Egyptians not eating with the Hebrews. Though Joseph
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: was the lord of the land and orders were given
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: that all people should obey him, yet he would not
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: force the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews against their minds,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: but let them enjoy their humors spirits truly generous hate
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to impose sub Point three. Of the early distance between
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Jews and Gentiles, one table would not hold them. Subscript two.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: He placed his brethren according to their seniority Verse thirty three,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: as if he could certainly divine. Some think they placed
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: themselves so according to their custom. But if so, I
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: see not why such particular notice is taken of it,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: especially as a thing they marveled at. Subscript three. He
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: gave them a very plentiful entertainment, sent messes to them
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: from his own table Verse thirty four. This was the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: more generous in him, and the more obliging to them,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: because of the present scarcity of provisions. In a day
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of famine, it is enough to be fed, But here
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: they were feasted. Perhaps they had not had such a
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: good dinner for many months. It is said they drank
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and were merry. Their cares and fears were now over,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: and they ate their bread with joy, concluding they were
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: now upon good terms with the man, the lord of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the land. If God accept our works are present, we
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: have reason to be cheerful get when we sit, as
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: they here did, to wait with the ruler. We should
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: consider what is before us, and not indulge our appetite,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: nor be desirous of dainties. Proverbs twenty three, Verses one
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: through three. Joseph gave them to understand that Benjamin was
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: his favorite, for his mess was five times as much
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: as any of theirs, not as if he would have
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: him eat so much more than the rest, For then
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: he must eat more than would do him good. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: is no act of friendship, but rather an injury and
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: unkindness to press any either to eat or drink to excess.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: But thus he would testify his particular respect for him,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: that he might try whether his brother would envy Benjamin
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: his larger messes, as formerly they had envied himself his
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: finer coat. And it must be our rule in such
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: cases to be content with what we have, and not
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: to grieve at what others have. End of Chapter forty three.