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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four. Joseph, having entertained his brethren, dismissed them.
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  Speaker 1: But here we have them brought back in a greater
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  Speaker 1: fright than any they had been. And yet observe Numeral
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  Speaker 1: one what method he took both to humble them further,
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  Speaker 1: and also to try their affection to his brother Benjamin,
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  Speaker 1: by which he would be able to judge of the
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  Speaker 1: sincerity of their repentance for what they had done against himself,
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  Speaker 1: of which he was desirous to be satisfied before he
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  Speaker 1: manifested his reconciliation to them. This he contrived to do
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  Speaker 1: by bringing Benjamin into distress Verses one through seventeen. Numeral two.
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  Speaker 1: The good success of the experiment, he found them all
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  Speaker 1: heartily concerned, and Judah particularly both for the safety of
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin and for the comfort of their aged father Verses eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: and continued Joseph's policy b. C. Seventeen o seven Verses
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  Speaker 1: one through seventeen. And he can demanded the steward of
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  Speaker 1: his house, saying, fill the men's sacks with food as
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  Speaker 1: much as they can carry, and put every man's money
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  Speaker 1: in his sax's mouth, and put my cup, the silver
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  Speaker 1: cup in the sax mouth of the youngest and his
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  Speaker 1: corn money. And he did according to the word that
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  Speaker 1: Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light,
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  Speaker 1: the men were sent away, they and their asses. And
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  Speaker 1: when they were going out of the city, and not
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  Speaker 1: yet far off, Joseph said, unto his steward, up, follow
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  Speaker 1: after the men. And when thou dost overtake them, say
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  Speaker 1: unto them, wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is
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  Speaker 1: not this it in which my lord drinketh, And whereby
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  Speaker 1: indeed he divineth ye have done evil in so doing?
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  Speaker 1: And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these
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  Speaker 1: same words, And they said, unto him, wherefore saith my
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  Speaker 1: lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do
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  Speaker 1: according to this thing. Behold the money we found in
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  Speaker 1: our saxe mouths we brought again unto thee out of
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  Speaker 1: the land of Canaan. How then should we steal out
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  Speaker 1: of thy lord's house silver or gold, with whomsoever of
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  Speaker 1: thy servants it be found, Both let him die, and
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  Speaker 1: we also will be my lord's bondmen. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: now also let it be according unto your words. He
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  Speaker 1: with whom it is found shall be my servant, and
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  Speaker 1: ye shall be blameless. Then they speedily took down every
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  Speaker 1: man's sack to the ground, and opened every man's sack,
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  Speaker 1: and he searched and began at the eldest, and left
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  Speaker 1: at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
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  Speaker 1: Then they rent their clothes and laid it every man
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  Speaker 1: his ass and returned to the city. And Judah and
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  Speaker 1: his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there.
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  Speaker 1: And they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said,
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  Speaker 1: unto them, what deed is this that ye have done?
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  Speaker 1: WoT ye not that such a man as I can
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  Speaker 1: certainly divine? And Judas said, what shall we say unto
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  Speaker 1: my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we
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  Speaker 1: clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: we are my Lord's servants, both we and he also,
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  Speaker 1: with whom the cup is found. And he said, God
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  Speaker 1: forbid that I should do so. But the man in
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  Speaker 1: whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant.
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  Speaker 1: And as for you, get you up in peace. Unto
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  Speaker 1: your father. Joseph, Heap's further kindness upon his brethren fills
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  Speaker 1: their sacks, returns their money and sends them away full
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  Speaker 1: of gladness. But he also exercises them with further trials.
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  Speaker 1: Our God thus humbles those whom he loves and loads
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  Speaker 1: with benefits. Joseph ordered his steward to put a fine
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  Speaker 1: silver cup, which he had and which it is likely
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  Speaker 1: was used at his table when they dined with him,
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  Speaker 1: into Benjamin's sack's mouth, that it might seem as if
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  Speaker 1: he had stolen it from the table and put it
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  Speaker 1: here himself after his corn was delivered to him. If
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin had stolen it, it had been the basest peace
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  Speaker 1: of dishonesty and ingratitude that could be. And if Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: by ordering it to be there, had designed really to
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  Speaker 1: take advantage against him, it had been in him most
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  Speaker 1: horrid cruelty and oppression. But it proved in the issue
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  Speaker 1: that there was no harm done, nor any designed on
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  Speaker 1: either side. Observe numeral one. How the pretended criminals were
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  Speaker 1: pursued and arrested on suspicion of having stolen a silver cup.
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  Speaker 1: The steward charged them with ingratitude, rewarding evil for good,
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  Speaker 1: and with folly in taking away a cup of daily
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  Speaker 1: use and which therefore would soon be missed and diligent
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  Speaker 1: search made for it. For so it may be read,
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  Speaker 1: is not this it in which my lord drinketh, as
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  Speaker 1: having a particular fondness for it, and for which he
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  Speaker 1: would search thoroughly verse five, Or by which, leaving it
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  Speaker 1: carelessly at your table, he would make trial, whether you
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  Speaker 1: were honest men or no Numeral two. How they pleaded
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  Speaker 1: for them. They solemnly protested their innocence and detestation of
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  Speaker 1: so base a thing verse seven. Urged it as an
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  Speaker 1: instance of their honesty that they had brought their money
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  Speaker 1: back verse eight, and offered to submit to the serverous
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  Speaker 1: punishment if they should be found guilty Verses nine to ten.
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  Speaker 1: Numeral three. How the theft was fastened upon Benjamin in his
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  Speaker 1: sack the cup was found, to whom Joseph had been
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  Speaker 1: particularly kind. Benjamin, no doubt, was ready to deny upon
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  Speaker 1: oath the taking of the cup. And we may suppose
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  Speaker 1: him as little liable to suspicion as any of them.
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  Speaker 1: But it is in vain to confront such notorious evidence.
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  Speaker 1: The cup is found in his custody. They dare not
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  Speaker 1: arraign Joseph's justice, nor so much as suggests that perhaps
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  Speaker 1: he that had put their money in their sacks mouths
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  Speaker 1: had put the cup there. But they throw themselves upon
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  Speaker 1: Joseph's mercy and numeral four here is their humble submission
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  Speaker 1: for sixteen. Number one, they acknowledge the righteousness of God.
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  Speaker 1: God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: referring to the injury they had formerly done to Joseph
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  Speaker 1: for which they thought God was now reckoning with them. Note,
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  Speaker 1: even in those afflictions wherein we apprehend ourselves wronged by men,
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  Speaker 1: yet we must own that God is righteous and finds
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  Speaker 1: out our iniquity. Number two, they surrender themselves prisoners to Joseph.
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  Speaker 1: We are my Lord's servants. Now, Joseph's dreams were accomplished
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  Speaker 1: to the utmost. Their bowing so often and doing homage
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  Speaker 1: might be looked upon but as a compliment, and no
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  Speaker 1: more than what other strangers did. But the construction they themselves,
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  Speaker 1: in their pride, had put upon his dreams was shalt
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  Speaker 1: thou have dominion over us? Chapter thirty seven, verse eight.
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  Speaker 1: And in this sense it is not at length fulfilled.
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  Speaker 1: They own themselves his vassals, since they did inviduously so
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  Speaker 1: understand it, so it shall be fulfilled in them. Numeral five. Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: with an air of justice, gives sentence that Benjamin only
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  Speaker 1: should be kept in bondage, and the rest should be dismissed,
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  Speaker 1: For why should any suffer by the guilty. Perhaps Joseph
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  Speaker 1: intended hereby to try Benjamin's temper, whether he could bear
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  Speaker 1: such a hardship as this, with the calmness and composure
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  Speaker 1: of mind that became a wise and good man. In short,
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  Speaker 1: whether he was indeed his own brother in spirit as
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  Speaker 1: well as blood. For Joseph himself had been falsely accused,
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  Speaker 1: and had suffered hard things in consequence, and yet kept
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  Speaker 1: possession of his own soul. However, it is plain he
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  Speaker 1: intended hereby to try the affection of his brethren to
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin and to their father. If they had gone away
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  Speaker 1: contentedly and left Benjamin in bonds, no doubt Joseph would
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  Speaker 1: have soon released and promoted him and seem notice to Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: and he would have left the rest of his brethren
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  Speaker 1: justly to suffer for their hard heartedness. But they prove
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  Speaker 1: to be better affected to Benjamin than he feared. Note
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  Speaker 1: we cannot judge what men are by what they have
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  Speaker 1: been formerly, nor what they will do by what they
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  Speaker 1: have done. Age and experience may make men wiser and better.
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  Speaker 1: Those that had sold Joseph would not now abandon Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: The worst may mend in time. Juda's appeal on behalf
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  Speaker 1: of Benjamin b. C. Seventeen o Seven, Verses eighteen through
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  Speaker 1: thirty four. Then Judah came nearer unto him and said, O,
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  Speaker 1: my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee speak a
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  Speaker 1: word in my Lord's ear, and let not thine anger
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  Speaker 1: burn against thy servant, for thou art even as pharaoh.
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  Speaker 1: My lord asked a servants, saying, have ye a father
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  Speaker 1: or brother? And we said, unto my Lord, we have
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  Speaker 1: a father, an old man, and a child of his
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  Speaker 1: old age, a little one, and his brother is dead,
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  Speaker 1: and he alone is left of his mother, and his
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  Speaker 1: father loveth him. And thou settest unto thy servants, bring
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  Speaker 1: him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes
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  Speaker 1: upon him. And we said, unto my Lord, the lad
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  Speaker 1: cannot leave his father, for if ye should leave his father,
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  Speaker 1: his father would die. And thou settest unto thy servants.
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  Speaker 1: Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall
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  Speaker 1: see my face no more. And it came to pass
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  Speaker 1: when we came up unto thy servant my father, we
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  Speaker 1: told him the words of my lord. And our father said,
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  Speaker 1: go again and buy us a little food. And we said,
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  Speaker 1: we cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us,
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  Speaker 1: then we will go down, for we may not see
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  Speaker 1: the man's face except our youngest brother be with us.
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  Speaker 1: And thy servant my father said, unto us, ye know
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  Speaker 1: that my wife bear me two sons, and the one
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  Speaker 1: went out from me. And I said, surely he is
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  Speaker 1: torn in pieces, and I saw him not since. And
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  Speaker 1: if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him,
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  Speaker 1: ye shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to
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  Speaker 1: the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant
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  Speaker 1: my father and the lad be not with as, seeing
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  Speaker 1: that his life is bound up in the Lad's life,
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  Speaker 1: it shall come to pass when he seeth that the
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  Speaker 1: lad is not with us, that he will die, and
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  Speaker 1: thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy
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  Speaker 1: servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy
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  Speaker 1: servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying,
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  Speaker 1: if I bring him not unto thee, then I shall
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  Speaker 1: bear the blame to my father forever. Now, therefore I
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  Speaker 1: pray thee let thy servant abide instead the lad a
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  Speaker 1: bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up
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  Speaker 1: with his brethren. For how shall I go up to
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  Speaker 1: my father and the lad be not with me, lest
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  Speaker 1: peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
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  Speaker 1: We have here a most ingenious and pathetic speech which
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  Speaker 1: Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf, to obtain his
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  Speaker 1: discharge from the sentence passed upon him. Perhaps Judah was
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  Speaker 1: a better friend to Benjamin than the rest were, and
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  Speaker 1: more solicitous to bring him off. Or he thought himself
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  Speaker 1: under greater obligations to attempt it than the rest, because
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  Speaker 1: he had passed his word to his father for his
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  Speaker 1: safe return. Or the rest shows him for their spokesman,
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  Speaker 1: because he was a man of better sense and better spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and he had a greater command of language than any
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  Speaker 1: of them. His address, as it is here recorded, is
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  Speaker 1: so very natural and so expressive of his present feelings,
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  Speaker 1: that we cannot but suppose Moses, who wrote it so
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  Speaker 1: long after, to have written it under a special direction
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  Speaker 1: of him that made man's mouth numeral one. A great
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  Speaker 1: deal of unaffected art and unstudied, unforced rhetoric there is
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  Speaker 1: in this speech. Number one. He addresses himself to Joseph
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  Speaker 1: with a great deal of respect and deference, calls him
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  Speaker 1: his lord, himself and his brethren his servants, begs his
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  Speaker 1: patient hearing, and ascribed sovereign authority to him. Thou art
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  Speaker 1: even as pharaoh, one whose favor we desire, and whose
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  Speaker 1: wrath we dread as we do pharaohs. Religion does not
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  Speaker 1: destroy good manners, and it is prudence to speak respectfully
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  Speaker 1: to those at whose mercy we lie. Titles of honor
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  Speaker 1: to those that are entitled to them are not flattering titles.
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  Speaker 1: Number two he represented Benjamin as one well worthy of
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  Speaker 1: his compassionate consideration Verse twenty. He was a little one
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  Speaker 1: compared with the rest of them, the youngest, not acquainted
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  Speaker 1: with the world, nor even inured to hardship, having always
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  Speaker 1: been brought up tenderly with his father. They made the
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  Speaker 1: case the more pitiable that he alone was left of
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  Speaker 1: his mother, and his brother was dead, namely Joseph. Little
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  Speaker 1: did Judah think what a tender point he touched upon.
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  Speaker 1: Now Judah knew that Joseph was sold, and therefore had
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  Speaker 1: reason enough to think that he was alive. At least
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  Speaker 1: he could not be sure that he was dead. But
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  Speaker 1: they had made their father believe he was dead, And
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  Speaker 1: now they had told the lies so long that they
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  Speaker 1: had forgotten the truth and begun to believe the lie themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Number three. He urged it very closely that Joseph had
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  Speaker 1: himself constrained to them to bring Benjamin with them, had
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  Speaker 1: expressed a desire to see him verse twenty one, and
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  Speaker 1: had forbidden them his presence unless they brought Benjamin with
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  Speaker 1: them Verses twenty three and twenty six, all which intimated
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  Speaker 1: that he designed him some kindness. And must he be
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  Speaker 1: brought with so much difficulty to the preferment of perpetual slavery?
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  Speaker 1: Was he not brought to Egypt in obedience, purely in
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  Speaker 1: obedience to the command of Joseph? And would he not
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  Speaker 1: show him some mercy? Some observed that Jacob's sons, in
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  Speaker 1: reasoning with their father, had said, we will not go
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  Speaker 1: down unless Benjamin go with us Chapter forty three, verse five,
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  Speaker 1: But that when Judah comes to relate the story, he
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  Speaker 1: expresses it more decently. We cannot go down with any
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  Speaker 1: exception to speed well. Indecent words spoken in haste to
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  Speaker 1: our superiors should be recalled and amended. Number four. The
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  Speaker 1: great argument he insisted upon was the insupportable grief it
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  Speaker 1: would be to his aged father if Benjamin should be
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  Speaker 1: left behind in servitude. His father loveth him verse twenty.
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  Speaker 1: This they had pleaded against Joseph's insisting on his coming
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  Speaker 1: down verse twenty two. If he should leave his father,
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  Speaker 1: his father would die much more if now he be
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  Speaker 1: left behind, never more to return to him. This old
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  Speaker 1: man of whom they spoke had pleaded against his going down.
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  Speaker 1: If mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs,
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  Speaker 1: that crown of glory, with sorrow to the grave verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine. This, therefore Judah presses with a great deal
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  Speaker 1: of earnestness. His life is bound up in the Lad's
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  Speaker 1: life verse thirty. When he sees that the lad is
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  Speaker 1: not with us, he will faint away and die immediately
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  Speaker 1: verse thirty one, or will abandon himself to such a
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  Speaker 1: degree of sorrow as will in a few days make
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  Speaker 1: an end of him. And lastly, Judah pleads that for
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  Speaker 1: his part, he could not bear to see this. Let
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  Speaker 1: me not see that evil that shall come on my
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  Speaker 1: father Verse thirty four. Note it is the duty of
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  Speaker 1: children to be very tender to their parents comfort, and
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  Speaker 1: to be afraid of everything that may be an occasion
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  Speaker 1: of grief to them. Thus the love that descended first
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  Speaker 1: must again ascend, and something must be done towards recompense
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  Speaker 1: for their care. Number five, Judah, in honor to the
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  Speaker 1: justice of Joseph's sentence, and to show his sincerity in
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  Speaker 1: this plea, offers himself to become a bondsman instead of
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin verse thirty three. Thus the law would be satisfied.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph would be no loser. For you may suppose Judah
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  Speaker 1: a more able bodied man than Benjamin, and fitter for service.
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  Speaker 1: And Jacob would better bear the loss of him than Benjamin.
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  Speaker 1: Now so far as he from grieving at his father's
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  Speaker 1: particular fondness for Benjamin, that he was himself willing to
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  Speaker 1: be a bondman to indulge it. Now had Joseph been,
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  Speaker 1: as judas supposed him, an utter stranger to the family,
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  Speaker 1: yet even common humanity could not be wrought upon by
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  Speaker 1: such powerful reasonings as these. For nothing could be said
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  Speaker 1: more moving, more tender It was enough to melt a
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  Speaker 1: heart of stone. But Joseph, who was nearer akin to
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin than Judah himself was, and who at this time
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  Speaker 1: felt a greater affection both for him and his aged
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  Speaker 1: father than Judah did, nothing could be more pleasing nor
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  Speaker 1: more happily. Said. Neither Jacob nor Benjamin needed an intercessor
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  Speaker 1: with Joseph, for he himself loved them Numeral two upon
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  Speaker 1: the whole man. Let us take notice. Number one, how
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  Speaker 1: prudently Judah suppressed all mention of the crime that was
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  Speaker 1: charged upon Benjamin. Had he said anything by the way
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  Speaker 1: of acknowledgment of it, he would have reflected on Benjamin's honesty,
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  Speaker 1: and seemed too forward to suspect that had he said
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  Speaker 1: anything by way of denial of it, he would have
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  Speaker 1: reflected on Joseph's justice and the sentence he had passed. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: he wholly waves that head and appeals to Joseph's pity.
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  Speaker 1: Compare with this that of Job in humbling himself before
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  Speaker 1: God Job chapter nine, verse fifteen. Though I were righteous,
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  Speaker 1: yet would I not answer? I would not argue, but petition,
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  Speaker 1: I would make supplication to my judge. Number two, What
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  Speaker 1: good reason dying Jacob had to say, Judah, thou art
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  Speaker 1: whom thy brethren shall praise. Chapter forty nine, verse eight,
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  Speaker 1: for he excelled them all in boldness, wisdom, eloquence, and
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  Speaker 1: especially tenderness for their father and family. Number three. Judah's
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  Speaker 1: faithful adherence to Benjamin now in his distress, was recompensed
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  Speaker 1: long after by the constant adherents of the tribe of
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin to the tribe of Judah, when all the other
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  Speaker 1: ten tribes deserted it. Number four. How fitly does the apostle,
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  Speaker 1: when he is discoursing of the meditation of Christ, observe
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  Speaker 1: that our Lord sprang out of Judah Hebrews Chapter seven,
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  Speaker 1: verse fourteen. For like his father Judah, he not only
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  Speaker 1: made intercession for the transgressors, but he became a surety
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  Speaker 1: for them, as it follows there verse twenty two, testifying
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  Speaker 1: therein a very tender concern both for his father and
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  Speaker 1: for his brethren. End of Chapter forty four