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

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Speaker 1: Chapter forty seven Genesis Chapter forty seven. In this chapter
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Speaker 1: we have instances Numeral one of Joseph's kindness and affection
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Speaker 1: to his relations, presenting his brothren first and then his
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Speaker 1: father to Pharaoh Verses one through ten, settling them in Goshen,
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Speaker 1: and providing for them there Verses eleven and twelve, and
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Speaker 1: paying his respects to his father when he sent for
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Speaker 1: him Verses twenty seven through thirty one. Numeral two of
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Speaker 1: Joseph's justice between prince and people in a very critical affair,
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Speaker 1: selling Pharaoh's corn to his subjects, with reasonable profits to Pharaoh,
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Speaker 1: and yet without any wrong to them Verse thirteen, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: Thus he approved himself wise and good, both in his
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Speaker 1: private and in his public capacity. Pharaoh's generosity. Jacob presented
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Speaker 1: to Pharaoh the see seventeen O six, Verse one. Then
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Speaker 1: Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, my father and
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Speaker 1: my brethren, and their flocks and their herds, and all
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Speaker 1: that they have are come out of the land of Canaan,
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Speaker 1: and behold they are in the land of Goshen verse two.
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Speaker 1: And he took some of his brethren, even five men,
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Speaker 1: and presented them unto Pharaoh verse three, and Pharaoh said,
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Speaker 1: unto his brethren, what is your occupation? And they said,
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Speaker 1: unto Pharaoh, thy servants are shepherds, both we and also
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Speaker 1: our fathers. Verse four. They said, moreover, unto Pharaoh, for
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Speaker 1: too sojourn in the land are we come, for thy
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Speaker 1: servants have no pasture for their flocks. For the famine
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Speaker 1: is sore in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, pray
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Speaker 1: thee let thy servant dwell in the land of Goshen.
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Speaker 1: Verse five, And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, thy father
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Speaker 1: and thy brethren are come unto thee verse six. The
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Speaker 1: land of Egypt is before thee in the best of
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Speaker 1: the land. Make thy father and thy brethren to dwell
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Speaker 1: in the land of Goshen. Let them dwell, And if
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Speaker 1: thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make
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Speaker 1: them rulers over my cattle. Verse seven. And Joseph brought
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Speaker 1: in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh. And
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Speaker 1: Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said, unto Jacob, how old
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Speaker 1: art thou verse nine, and Jacob said, unto Pharaoh, the
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Speaker 1: days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred
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Speaker 1: and thirty years. Few and evil have the days of
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Speaker 1: the years of my life then, and have not attained
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Speaker 1: unto the days of the years of the life of
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Speaker 1: my fall others in the days of their pilgrimage Verse ten,
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Speaker 1: And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh.
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Speaker 1: Verse eleven. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren
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Speaker 1: and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses,
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Speaker 1: as Pharaoh had commanded. Verse twelve. And Joseph nourished his
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Speaker 1: father and his brethren, and all his father's household with
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Speaker 1: bread according to their families. Here is numeral ie the
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Speaker 1: respect which Joseph as a subject showed to his prince,
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Speaker 1: though he was his favorite and prime minister of state,
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Speaker 1: and had had particular orders from him to send for
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Speaker 1: his father down to Egypt, yet he would not suffer
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Speaker 1: him to settle till he had given notice of it
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Speaker 1: to Pharaoh. Verse one. Christ Our Joseph disposes of his
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Speaker 1: followers in his kingdom as it is prepared of his father,
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Speaker 1: saying it is not mine to give Matthew. Chapter twenty,
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty three Numeral two, the respect which Joseph as
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Speaker 1: a brother showed to his brethren, notwithstanding all the unkindness
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Speaker 1: he had formerly received from them. Number One. Though he
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Speaker 1: was a great man and they were comparatively mean and despicable,
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Speaker 1: especially in Egypt, yet he owned them. Let those that
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Speaker 1: are rich and great in the world learn, hence not
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Speaker 1: to overlook nor despise their poor relations. Every branch of
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Speaker 1: the tree is not a top branch, but because it
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Speaker 1: is a lower branch, it is therefore not of the tree.
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Speaker 1: Our Lord Jesus, like Joseph here, is not ashamed to
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Speaker 1: call us brethren. Number two, they being strangers and no courtiers.
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Speaker 1: He introduced some of them to Pharaoh to kiss his hand,
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Speaker 1: as they say, intending thereby to put an honor upon
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Speaker 1: them among the Egyptians. Thus Christ presents his brethren in
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Speaker 1: the court of heaven and improves his interests for them,
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Speaker 1: though in themselves unworthy and an abomination to the Egyptians.
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Speaker 1: Being presented to Pharaoh according to the instructions which Joseph
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Speaker 1: had given them, they tell him one what was their business?
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Speaker 1: That they were shepherds? Verse three. Pharaoh asked them, and
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Speaker 1: Joseph knew it would be one of his first questions.
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Speaker 1: Chapter forty six, Verse thirty three, What is your occupation?
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Speaker 1: He takes it for granted they had something to do.
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Speaker 1: Else Egypt should be no place for them, no harbor
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Speaker 1: for idle vagrants. If they would not work, they should
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Speaker 1: not eat of his bread in this time of scarcity. Note,
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Speaker 1: all that have a place in the world should have
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Speaker 1: an employment in it, according to their capacity, some occupation
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Speaker 1: or other, mental or manual. Those that need not work
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Speaker 1: for their bread must yet have something to do to
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Speaker 1: keep them from idleness. Again, magistrates should inquire into the
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Speaker 1: occupation of their subjects, as though that have the care
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Speaker 1: of the public welfare. For idle people are as drones
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Speaker 1: in the hive, unprofitable burdens of the commonwealth. Number two,
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Speaker 1: What is their business in Egypt? To sojourn in the land?
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Speaker 1: Verse four? Not to settle there forever, only to sojourn
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Speaker 1: there for a time while the famine so prevailed In Canaan,
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Speaker 1: which lay nigh, that was not habitable for shepherds, the
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Speaker 1: grass being burnt up, much more than in Egypt, which
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Speaker 1: lay low, and where the corn chiefly failed, where there
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Speaker 1: was tolerably good pasture. Three He obtained for them a
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Speaker 1: grant of a settlement in the land of Goshen Verses
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Speaker 1: five and six. This was an instance in Pharaoh's gratitude
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Speaker 1: to Joseph. Because he had been much a blessing to
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Speaker 1: him and his kingdom, he would be kind to his
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Speaker 1: relations purely for his sake. He offered them preferment as
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Speaker 1: shepherds over his cattle, provided they were men of activity.
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Speaker 1: For it is the man who is diligent in his
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Speaker 1: business that shall stand before kings. And whatever our profession
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Speaker 1: or employment is, we should aim to be excellent in it,
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Speaker 1: and to prove ourselves ingenious and industrious Numeral three. The
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Speaker 1: respect Joseph as a son showed to his father number one,
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Speaker 1: he presented him to Pharaoh verse seven. And here one
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh asks Jacob a common question, how old art thou?
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Speaker 1: Verse eight, a question usually put to old men. For
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Speaker 1: it is natural to us to admire old age and
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Speaker 1: to reverence it Levitigus chapter nineteen, verse thirty two, as
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Speaker 1: it is very unnatural and unbecoming to despise it Isaiah
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Speaker 1: chapter three, verse five. Jacob's countenance, no doubt, showed him
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Speaker 1: to be very old, for he had been a man
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Speaker 1: of labor in sorrow. In Egypt, people were not so
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Speaker 1: long lived as in Canaan, And therefore Pharaoh looks upon
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Speaker 1: Jacob with wonder he was as a show in his court.
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Speaker 1: When we are reflecting upon ourselves, this should not come
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Speaker 1: into the account. How old are we? Number two, Jacob
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Speaker 1: gives Pharaoh an uncommon answer verse nine. He speaks as
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Speaker 1: becomes a patriarch, with an air of seriousness, for the
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Speaker 1: instruction of Pharaoh. Though our speech be not always of grace,
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Speaker 1: yet it must thus be always with grace. Observe here
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Speaker 1: one he calls his life a pilgrimage, looking upon himself
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Speaker 1: as a stranger in this world and a traveler towards
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Speaker 1: another world. This earth his inn, not his home. To
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Speaker 1: this the apostle refers Hebrews, chapter eleven, verse thirteen. They
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Speaker 1: confess that they were strangers and pilgrims. He not only
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Speaker 1: reckoned himself a pilgrim now that he was in Egypt,
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Speaker 1: a strange country in which he never was before. But
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Speaker 1: his life, even in the land of his nativity, was
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Speaker 1: a pilgrimage. And those who so reckon it can the
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Speaker 1: better bear the inconvenience of banishment from their native soil.
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Speaker 1: They are but pilgrims still, and so they were always two.
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Speaker 1: He reckons his life by days, for even so it
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Speaker 1: is soon reckoned, and we are not sure of the
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Speaker 1: continuance of it for a day to an end, but
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Speaker 1: may be turned out of this tabernacle at less than
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Speaker 1: an hour's warning. Let us therefore number our days Psalms
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Speaker 1: chapter ninety, verse twelve, and measure them Psalms Chapter thirty nine,
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Speaker 1: verse four three. The character he gives of them is
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Speaker 1: first that they were few, though he had now lived
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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty years, they seemed to him but
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Speaker 1: a few days in comparison with the days of eternity,
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Speaker 1: the eternal God and the eternal state in which a
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Speaker 1: thousand years longer than ever any man lived are, that
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Speaker 1: is one day. Secondly, that they were evil. This is
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Speaker 1: true concerning man in general. He is of few days
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Speaker 1: and full of trouble Job chapter fourteen, verse one. And
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Speaker 1: since his days are evil, it is well they are few.
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Speaker 1: Jacob's life particularly had been made up of evil days,
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Speaker 1: and the pleasantest days of his life were yet before him. Thirdly,
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Speaker 1: that they were short of the days of his father's
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Speaker 1: not so many, not so pleasant as their days. Old
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Speaker 1: age came sooner upon him that it had done upon
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Speaker 1: some of his ancestors. As the young man should not
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Speaker 1: be proud of his strength or beauty, so the old
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Speaker 1: man should not be proud of his age and the
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Speaker 1: crown of his hoary hairs. Though others justly reverence it
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Speaker 1: for those who are accounted very old, attain not to
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Speaker 1: the years of the patriarchs. The hoary head is a
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Speaker 1: crown of glory only when it is found in the
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Speaker 1: way of righteousness. Three Jacob both addresses himself to Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: and takes leave of him with a blessing. Verse seven.
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Speaker 1: Jacob blessed Pharaoh and again verse ten, which was not
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Speaker 1: only an act of civility he paid him respect and
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Speaker 1: returned him thanks for his kindness, but an act of piety.
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Speaker 1: He prayed for him as one having the authority of
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Speaker 1: a prophet and a patriarch. Though in worldly wealth Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: was the greater, yet in interest with God, Jacob was
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Speaker 1: the greater. He was God's anointed Psalms, Chapter one, O five,
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Speaker 1: Verse fifteen, And a patriarch's blessing was not a thing
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Speaker 1: to be despised, no, not by a potent Prince Darius
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Speaker 1: valued the prayers of the Church for himself and for
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Speaker 1: his sons. Ezra Chapter six, verse ten. Pharaoh kindly received Jacob,
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Speaker 1: and whether in the name of a prophet or no,
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Speaker 1: thus he had a prophet's reward, which sufficiently recompensed him,
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Speaker 1: not only for his courteous converse with him, but for
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Speaker 1: all the other kindnesses he showed to him and his
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Speaker 1: number two. He provided well for him and his placed
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Speaker 1: him in Goshen verse eleven, nourished him and all his
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Speaker 1: with food convenient for them verse twelve. This bespeaks not
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Speaker 1: only Joseph, a good man, who took this tender care
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Speaker 1: of his poor relations, but God, a good God, who
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Speaker 1: raised him up for this purpose and put him into
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Speaker 1: a capacity of doing it as Esther came to the
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Speaker 1: kingdom for such a time as this, what God here
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Speaker 1: did for Jacob, he has in effect promised to do
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Speaker 1: for all his that serve him and trust in him.
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Speaker 1: Psalms chapter thirty seven, verse nineteen. In the days of famine,
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Speaker 1: they shall be satisfied distressed occasioned by the famine b c.
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Speaker 1: Seventeen o six, verse thirteen. And there was no bread
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Speaker 1: in all the land for the famine was very sore,
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Speaker 1: so that the land of Egypt and all the land
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Speaker 1: of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine verse fourteen.
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Speaker 1: And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found
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Speaker 1: in the land of Egypt and in the land of
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Speaker 1: Canaan for the corn which they bought. And Joseph brought
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Speaker 1: the money into Pharaoh's house verse fifteen. And when money
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Speaker 1: failed in the land of Egypt and in the land
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Speaker 1: of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph and said,
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Speaker 1: give us bread, for why should we die in thy
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Speaker 1: presence for the money faileth Verse sixteen. And Joseph said,
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Speaker 1: give your cattle, and I will give you for your
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Speaker 1: cattle if money fail verse seventeen. And they brought their
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Speaker 1: cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange
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Speaker 1: for horses and for flocks, and for the cattle of
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Speaker 1: the herds, and for the asses. And he fed them
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Speaker 1: with bread for all their cattle for that year verse eighteen.
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Speaker 1: When that year was ended, they came unto him the
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Speaker 1: second year and said, unto him, we will not hide
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Speaker 1: it from my lord, how that our money is spent.
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Speaker 1: My Lord also hath our herds of cattle. There is
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Speaker 1: not aught left in the sight of my Lord but
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Speaker 1: our bodies and our lands verse nineteen. Wherefore shall we
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Speaker 1: die before thine eyes, both we and our land, by
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Speaker 1: us and our land for bread. And we and our
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Speaker 1: land will be servants unto Pharaoh. And give us seed
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Speaker 1: that we may live and not die, that the land
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Speaker 1: be not desolate verse twenty. And Joseph bought all the
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Speaker 1: land of Egypt for Pharaoh, and the Egyptians sold every
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Speaker 1: man his field because the famine prevailed over them. So
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Speaker 1: the land became Pharaohs verse twenty one. And as for
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Speaker 1: the people, he removed them to cities from one end
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Speaker 1: of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end
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Speaker 1: thereof verse twenty two. Only the land of the priests
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Speaker 1: bought he not, for the priest had a portion assigned
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Speaker 1: them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: gave them. Wherefore they sold not their lands verse twenty three.
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Speaker 1: Then Joseph said, unto the people, behold, I have bought
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Speaker 1: you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo here
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Speaker 1: is seed for you, and ye shall so the land
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Speaker 1: verse twenty four. And it shall come to pass in
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Speaker 1: the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh,
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Speaker 1: and four parts shall be your own, for seed of
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Speaker 1: the field, and for your food, and for them of
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Speaker 1: your households, and for food for your little wanes verse
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Speaker 1: twenty five. And they said, thou hast saved our lives.
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Speaker 1: Let us find grace and the side of my lord,
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Speaker 1: and we will be Pharaoh's servants verse twenty six. And
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Speaker 1: Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt
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Speaker 1: unto this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth part,
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Speaker 1: except the land of the priests only, which became not
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh's care, being taken of Jacob and his family, the
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Speaker 1: preservation of which was especially designed by providence. In Joseph's
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Speaker 1: advancement and account is now given of the saving of
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of Egypt too from ruin, for God is
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Speaker 1: king of nations as well as king of saints, and
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Speaker 1: provideth food for all flesh. Joseph now returns to the
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Speaker 1: management of that great trust which Pharaoh had lodged in
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Speaker 1: his hand. It would have been pleasing enough to him
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Speaker 1: to have gone and lived with his father and brethren
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Speaker 1: in Goshen, but his employment would not permit it. When
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Speaker 1: he had seen his father and seen him well settled,
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Speaker 1: he applied himself as closely as ever to the execution
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Speaker 1: of his office. Note even natural affection must give way
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Speaker 1: to necessary business. Parents and children must be content to
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Speaker 1: be absent from one another when it is necessary on
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Speaker 1: either side for the service of God or their generation.
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Speaker 1: In Joseph's transactions with the Egyptians, observe numeral one the
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Speaker 1: great extremity the egypt and the parts adjacent were reduced
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Speaker 1: to by the famine. There was no bread, and they
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Speaker 1: fainted Verse thirteen. They were ready to die Verse fifteen
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Speaker 1: and nineteen. Number one, See here what the dependence we
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Speaker 1: have upon God's providence. If its usual favors are suspended
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Speaker 1: but for a while we die, we perish, We all perish.
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Speaker 1: All our wealth would not keep us from starving if
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Speaker 1: the reign of heaven were but withheld for two or
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Speaker 1: three years. See how much we lie at God's mercy,
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Speaker 1: and let us keep ourselves always in his love. Number two,
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Speaker 1: See how much we smart by our own improvidence. If
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Speaker 1: all the Egyptians had done for themselves in the seven
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Speaker 1: years of plenty, as Joseph did for Pharaoh. They had
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Speaker 1: not been now in these straits, but they regarded not
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Speaker 1: the warning they had of the years of famine, concluding
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Speaker 1: that tomorrow shall be as this day. Next year is
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Speaker 1: this and much more abundant. Note because man knows not
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Speaker 1: his time, his time of gathering when he has it.
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Speaker 1: Therefore his misery is great upon him when the spending
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Speaker 1: time comes. Ecclesiastes, chapter eight, verses six and seven, number three.
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Speaker 1: See how early God put a difference between the Egyptians
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Speaker 1: and the Israelites. As afterwards in the Plagues Exodus chapter eight,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty two, Chapter nine, verse four and twenty six.
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Speaker 1: Chapter ten, verse twenty three, Jacob and his family those
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Speaker 1: strangers were plentifully fed on free cost, while the Egyptians
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Speaker 1: were dying for want. See Isaiah chapter sixty five, verse thirteen.
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Speaker 1: My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Happy
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Speaker 1: art thou o Israel, whoever wants God's children shall not
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Speaker 1: Psalms Chapter thirty four, Verse ten, numeral two. The price
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Speaker 1: they had come up to for their supply in this
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Speaker 1: exigency number one, they parted with all their money which
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Speaker 1: they had hoarded up verse fourteen. Silver and gold would
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Speaker 1: not feed them, they must have corn. All the money
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Speaker 1: of the kingdom was by this means brought into the exchequer.
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Speaker 1: Number two. When the money failed, they parted with all
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Speaker 1: their cattle, those for labor as the horses and asses,
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Speaker 1: and those for food as the flocks and the herds
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Speaker 1: verse seventeen. By this it should seem that we may
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Speaker 1: not better live upon bread without flesh than upon flesh
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Speaker 1: without bread. I suppose that they parted the more easily
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Speaker 1: with their cattle, because they had little or no grass
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Speaker 1: for them. And now Pharaoh saw in reality what he
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Speaker 1: had before seen in vision, nothing but lean kine. Number three.
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Speaker 1: When they had sold their stalks off their land, it
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Speaker 1: was easy to persuade themselves, rather than starve, to sell
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Speaker 1: their land too, for what good would that do? Then,
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Speaker 1: when they had neither corn to sow it, nor cattle
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Speaker 1: to eat of it. They therefore sold that next for
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Speaker 1: a further supply of corn. Number four. When their land
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Speaker 1: was sold, so that they had nothing to live on,
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Speaker 1: they must of course sell themselves that they might live
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Speaker 1: purely upon their labor and hold their lands by the
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Speaker 1: base tenure of villainage at the courtesy of the crown.
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Speaker 1: Note skin for skin, and all the man hath, even
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Speaker 1: liberty and property, those darling twins will he give for
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Speaker 1: his life, For life is sweet. There are few, though
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Speaker 1: perhaps there are some who would even dare to die
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Speaker 1: rather than live in slavery and dependence on an arbitrary power.
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Speaker 1: And perhaps there are those who, in that case could
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Speaker 1: die by the sword in a heat, who yet could
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Speaker 1: not deliberately die by famine, which is much worse. Lamentations,
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Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse nine. Now it was a great mercy
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Speaker 1: to the Egyptians that in this distress they could have
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Speaker 1: corn at any rate. If they had all died for hunger,
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Speaker 1: their lands perhaps would have as cheated to the crown.
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Speaker 1: Of course, for want of heirs. They therefore resolved to
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Speaker 1: make the best of bad Numeral three the method which
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Speaker 1: Joseph took to accommodate the matter between prince and people,
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Speaker 1: so that the prince might have his just advantage, and
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Speaker 1: yet the people not be quite ruined. Number One, for
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Speaker 1: their lands. He needed not come to any bargain with them,
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Speaker 1: for the years of famine lasted. But when these were over,
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Speaker 1: for God will not contend forever, nor will he be
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Speaker 1: always wroth. He came to an agreement, which it seems
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Speaker 1: both sides were pleased with, that the people should occupy
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Speaker 1: and enjoy the lands as he thought fit to assign them,
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Speaker 1: and should have seed to sow them without of the
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Speaker 1: King's stores for their own proper use, and behoof yielding
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Speaker 1: and paying only a fifth part of the yearly prophets
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Speaker 1: as a chief rent to the crown. This became a
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Speaker 1: standing law verse twenty six. And it was a very
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Speaker 1: good bargain to have food for their lands, when otherwise
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Speaker 1: they and theirs must have starved, and then to have
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Speaker 1: their lands again upon such easy terms. Note those ministers
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Speaker 1: of state are worthy of double honor, both for wisdom
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Speaker 1: and integrity that keep the balance even between prince and people,
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Speaker 1: so that liberty and property may not intrench upon prerogative,
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Speaker 1: nor the prerogative bear hard upon liberty and property. In
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Speaker 1: the multitude of such counselors, there is safety. If afterwards
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Speaker 1: the Egyptians thought it hard to pay so great a
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Speaker 1: duty to the King out of their lands, they must
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Speaker 1: remember not only how just, but how kind the first
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Speaker 1: imposing of it was. They might thankfully pay a fifth
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Speaker 1: where all was due. It is observable how faithful Joseph
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Speaker 1: was to him that appointed him. He did not put
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Speaker 1: the money into his own pocket, nor entail the lands
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Speaker 1: upon his own family, but converted both entirely to Pharaoh's use.
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Speaker 1: And therefore we do not find that his posterity, when
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Speaker 1: out of Egypt, any richer than the rest of their
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Speaker 1: poor brethren. Those in public trusts, if they raise great estates,
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Speaker 1: must take heed that it be not at the expense
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Speaker 1: of a good conscience, which is much more valuable. Number Two,
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Speaker 1: For their persons, he removed them to cities Verse twenty one.
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Speaker 1: He transplanted them to show Pharaoh's sovereign power over them,
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Speaker 1: and that they might in time forget their titles to
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Speaker 1: their lands and be the more easily reconciled to their
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Speaker 1: new condition of servitude. The Jewish writers say he removed
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Speaker 1: them thus from their former habitations because they reproached his
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Speaker 1: brethren as strangers to silence, which reproached They were all made,
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Speaker 1: in effect strangers. See what changes a little time may
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Speaker 1: make with the people, And how soon God can empty
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Speaker 1: those from vessel the vessel who had settled upon their leaves,
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Speaker 1: How hard soever this seems to have been upon them,
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Speaker 1: They themselves were at this time sensible of it as
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Speaker 1: a very great kindness, and were thankful they were not
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Speaker 1: worse used. Thou hast saved our lives Verse twenty five.
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Speaker 1: Note there is good reason that the savior of our
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Speaker 1: lives should be the master of our lives. Thou hast
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Speaker 1: saved us. Do what thou wilt with us Numeral four.
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Speaker 1: The reservation he made in favor of the priests. They
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Speaker 1: were maintained on free cost, so that they needed not
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Speaker 1: to sell their lands. Verse twenty two. All people will
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Speaker 1: thus walk in the name of their God, and they
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Speaker 1: will be kind to those that attend the public service
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Speaker 1: of their God and that minister to them in holy things.
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Speaker 1: And we should, in like manner honor our God by
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Speaker 1: esteeming his ministers highly in love for their work's sake.
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Speaker 1: Jacob's charge concerning his burial the c. Seventeen o six
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty seven. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: in the country of Goshen, and they had possessions therein
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Speaker 1: and grew and multiplied exceedingly verse twenty eight. And Jacob
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Speaker 1: lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the
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Speaker 1: whole age of Jacob was one hundred forty and seven years,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty nine. And the time drew nigh that Israel
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Speaker 1: must die. And he called his son Joseph, and said,
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Speaker 1: unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight,
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Speaker 1: put I ray thee thy hand under my thigh, and
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Speaker 1: deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me. Not I
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Speaker 1: pray THEE in Egypt verse thirty. But I will lie
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Speaker 1: with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of
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Speaker 1: Egypt and bury me in their burying place. And he said,
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Speaker 1: I will do as thou hast said verse thirty one.
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Speaker 1: And he said, swear unto me, and he swear unto him,
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Speaker 1: And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. Observe one
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Speaker 1: the comfort. Jacob lived in verse twenty seven and twenty eight.
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Speaker 1: While the Egyptians were impoverished in their own land, Jacob
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Speaker 1: was replaced in a strange land. He lived seventeen years
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Speaker 1: after he came into Egypt, far beyond his own expectation.
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Speaker 1: Seventeen years. He had nourished Joseph for so old he
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Speaker 1: was when he was sold from him Chapter thirty seven,
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Speaker 1: verse two, And now by way of requital seventeen years
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Speaker 1: Joseph nourished him. Observe how kindly Providence ordered Jacob's affairs,
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Speaker 1: that when he was old and least able to bear
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Speaker 1: care or fatigue, he had least occasion for it, being
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Speaker 1: well provided for by his son without his own forecast.
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Speaker 1: Thus God considers the frame of his people number two
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Speaker 1: the care Jacob died in at last the time drew
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Speaker 1: nigh that Israel must die Verse twenty nine. Israel a
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Speaker 1: prince with God that had power over the angel and prevailed,
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Speaker 1: yet must yield to death. There is no remedy. He
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Speaker 1: must die. It is appointed for all men, therefore for him,
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Speaker 1: and there is no discharge in that war. Joseph supplied
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Speaker 1: him with bread that he might not die by famine,
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Speaker 1: but this did not secure him from dying by age
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Speaker 1: or sickness. He died by degrees. His candle was not
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Speaker 1: blown out, but gradually burnt down to the socket, so
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Speaker 1: that he saw at some distance the time drying nigh.
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Speaker 1: Note it is an improvable advantage to see the approach
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Speaker 1: of death before we feel its arrests, that we may
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Speaker 1: be quickened to do what our hand finds to do
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Speaker 1: with all our might. However, it is not far from
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Speaker 1: any of us. Note Jacob's care, he saw the day approaching,
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Speaker 1: was about his burial, not the pomp of it, he
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Speaker 1: was no way solicitous about that, but the place of it.
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Speaker 1: One he could be buried in Canaan. This he resolved
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Speaker 1: on not from mere humor, because Canaan was the land
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Speaker 1: of his nativity, but in faith, because it was the
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Speaker 1: land of promise, which he desired thus as it were,
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Speaker 1: to keep possession of till the time should come when
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Speaker 1: his posterity should be masters of it. And because it
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Speaker 1: was a type of heaven, that better country, which he
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Speaker 1: that said these things declared plainly that he was in
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Speaker 1: expectation of Hebrews Chapter eleven, verse fourteen. He aimed at
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Speaker 1: a good land which would be his rest and bliss
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Speaker 1: on the other side death. Two, he would have Joseph
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Speaker 1: sworn to bring him thither to be buried Verse twenty
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Speaker 1: nine and thirty one. That Joseph, being under such a
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Speaker 1: solemn obligation to do it, might have that to answer
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Speaker 1: to the objections which otherwise might have been made against it.
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Speaker 1: And for the greater satisfaction of Jacob, now in his
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Speaker 1: dying minutes, nothing will better help to make a deathbed
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Speaker 1: easy than the certain prospect of the rest in Canaan
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Speaker 1: after death. Three. When this was done, Israel bowed himself
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Speaker 1: upon the bed's head, yielding himself, as it were, to
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Speaker 1: the stroke of death. Now let it come, and it
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Speaker 1: shall be welcome or worshiping God, as it is explained
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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter eleven, verse twenty one, giving God thanks for
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Speaker 1: all his favors, and particularly for this that Joseph was
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Speaker 1: ready not only to put his hand upon his eyes
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Speaker 1: to close them, but under his thigh, to give him
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Speaker 1: the satisfaction he desired concerning his burial. Thus, those that
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Speaker 1: go down to the dust should with humble thankfulness thou
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Speaker 1: before God, the God of their mercies. Psalms, chapter twenty two,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty nine.