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

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven. At this chapter begins the story of Joseph, who,
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Speaker 1: in every subsequent chapter but one to the end of
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Speaker 1: this book makes the greatest figure. He was Jacob's eldest
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Speaker 1: son by his beloved wife Rachel, born, as many eminent
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Speaker 1: men were, of a mother that had been long barren.
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Speaker 1: His story is so remarkably divided between his humiliation and
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Speaker 1: his exaltation that we cannot avoid seeing something of Christ
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Speaker 1: in it, who was first humbled and then exalted, and
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Speaker 1: in many instances so as to answer the type of Joseph.
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Speaker 1: It also shows the lot of Christians who must, through
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Speaker 1: many tribulations, enter into the kingdom. In this chapter we
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Speaker 1: have Roman. One the malice his brethren bore against him.
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Speaker 1: They hated him one because he informed his father of
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Speaker 1: their wickedness Verses one to two. Two because his father
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Speaker 1: loved him verses three to four. Three because he dreamed
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Speaker 1: of his dominion over them Verses five to eleven, roan
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Speaker 1: tie two. The mischiefs his brothers designed and did to him.
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Speaker 1: One the kind visit he made them gave them an
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Speaker 1: opportunity Verses twelve to seventeen. Two They designed to slay him,
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Speaker 1: but determined to starve him Verses eighteen to twenty four. Three,
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Speaker 1: they changed their purpose and sold him for a slave
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Speaker 1: Verses twenty five to twenty eight four. They made their
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Speaker 1: father believe that he was torn to pieces Verses twenty
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Speaker 1: nine to thirty five. Five. He was sold into Egypt
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Speaker 1: to Potiphar verse thirty six. And all this was working
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Speaker 1: together for good. The History of Joseph b. C. Seventeen
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Speaker 1: twenty nine, Genesis, chapter thirty seven, Verses one two four.
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Speaker 1: And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was
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Speaker 1: a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the
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Speaker 1: generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding
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Speaker 1: the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with
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Speaker 1: the sons of bill Hall, and with the sons of Zilpha,
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Speaker 1: his father's wives. And Joseph brought unto his father their
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Speaker 1: evil report. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children,
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Speaker 1: because he was the son of his old age, and
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Speaker 1: he made him a coat of many colors. And when
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Speaker 1: his brethren saw that their father loved him more than
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Speaker 1: all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak
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Speaker 1: peaceably unto him. Moses has no more to say of
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Speaker 1: the Edomites unless they happen to fall in Israel's way.
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Speaker 1: But now he applies himself closely to the story of
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Speaker 1: Jacob's family. These are the generations of Jacob. His is
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Speaker 1: not a bare, barren genealogy as that of Esau Chapter
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Speaker 1: thirty six, verse one, but a memorable, useful history. Here
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Speaker 1: is one Jacob o sojourner, with his father Isaac, who
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Speaker 1: was yet living verse one. We shall never be at
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Speaker 1: home till we come to heaven. Two Joseph, a shepherd
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Speaker 1: feeding the flock with his brethren verse two. Though he
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Speaker 1: was his father's darling, Yet he was not brought up
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Speaker 1: in idleness or delicacy. Those do not truly love their children,
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Speaker 1: that do not injure them to business and labor and mortification.
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Speaker 1: The fondling of children is, with good reason commonly called
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Speaker 1: the spoiling of them. Those that are trained up to
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Speaker 1: do nothing are likely to be good for nothing. Three.
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Speaker 1: Joseph beloved by his father verse three, partly for his
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Speaker 1: dear mother's sake that was dead, and partly for his
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Speaker 1: own sake, because he was the greatest comfort of his
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Speaker 1: old age. Probably he waited on him and was more
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Speaker 1: observant of him than the rest of his sons. He
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Speaker 1: was the son of the ancient some. That is, when
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Speaker 1: he was a child, he was as grave and discreet
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Speaker 1: as if he had been an old man. A child
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Speaker 1: but not childish. Jacob proclaimed his affection to him by
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Speaker 1: dressing him finer than the rest of his children. He
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Speaker 1: made him a coat of divers colors, which probably was
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Speaker 1: significant of further honors intended him. Note, though those children
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Speaker 1: are happy that have that in them which justly recommends
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Speaker 1: them to their parents particular love. Yet it is the
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Speaker 1: prudence of parents not to make a difference between one
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Speaker 1: child and another, unless there be a great and manifest
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Speaker 1: cause given for it by the child's dutifulness or undutifulness.
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Speaker 1: Parental government must be impartial and manage with a steady hand.
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Speaker 1: For Joseph hated by his brethren, One because his father
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Speaker 1: loved him. When parents make a difference, children soon take
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Speaker 1: notice of it, and it often occasions feuds and quarrels
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Speaker 1: and families. Two because he brought to his father their
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Speaker 1: evil report. Jacob's sons did that when they were from
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Speaker 1: under his eye, which they durst not have done if
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Speaker 1: they had been at home with him. But Joseph gave
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Speaker 1: his father an account of their bad carriage, that he
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Speaker 1: might reprove and restrain them, not as a malicious tale
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Speaker 1: bearer to so discord, but as a faithful brother, who,
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Speaker 1: when he durst not admonish them himself, represented their faults
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Speaker 1: to one that had authority to admonish them. Note one,
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Speaker 1: It is common for friendly monitors to be looked upon
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Speaker 1: his enemies. Those that hate to be reformed hate those
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Speaker 1: that would reform them. Verbs Chapter nine, verse eight two.
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Speaker 1: It is common for those that are beloved of God
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Speaker 1: to be hated by the world, whom Heaven blesses, hell
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Speaker 1: curses to those whom God speaks comfortably. Wicked men will
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Speaker 1: not speak peaceably. It is said here of Joseph the
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Speaker 1: lad was with the sons of bill Hall. Some read it,
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Speaker 1: and he was servant to them. They made him their
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Speaker 1: drudge Verses five to eleven. And Joseph dreamed a dream,
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Speaker 1: and he told it his brethren, and they hated him
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Speaker 1: yet more. And he said, unto them, here I pray
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Speaker 1: you this dream which I have dreamed for Behold, we
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Speaker 1: were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf
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Speaker 1: arose and also stood upright, and behold, your sheafs stood
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Speaker 1: round about and made obedience to my sheaf. And his
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Speaker 1: brethren said unto him, shalt thou indeed reign over us?
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Speaker 1: Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they
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Speaker 1: hated him yet the more for his dreams and for
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Speaker 1: his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and hold
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Speaker 1: it his brethren, and said, behold, I have dreamed a
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Speaker 1: dream more. And behold the sun and the moon and
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Speaker 1: the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told
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Speaker 1: it his father and to his brethren. And his father
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Speaker 1: rebuked him and said, unto him, what is this dream
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Speaker 1: that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and
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Speaker 1: thy brethren indeed come and thou ourselves to thee to
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Speaker 1: the earth. And his brethren envied them, but his father
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Speaker 1: observed the saying. Here one Joseph relates the prophetical dreams
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Speaker 1: he had Verses six, seven, nine, and ten. Though he
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Speaker 1: was now very young, about seventeen years old, yet he
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Speaker 1: was pious and devout and well inclined, and this fitted
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Speaker 1: him for God's gracious discoveries of himself. To him, Joseph
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Speaker 1: had a great deal of trouble before him, and therefore
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Speaker 1: God gave him betimes this prospect of his advancement, to
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Speaker 1: support and comfort him under the long and grievous troubles
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Speaker 1: with which he was to be exercised. Thus Christ had
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Speaker 1: a joy set before him, and so have Christians. Note
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Speaker 1: God has ways of preparing his people beforehand for the
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Speaker 1: trials which they cannot foresee, but which he has an
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Speaker 1: eye to in the comforts with which he furnishes them.
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Speaker 1: His dreams were one that his brethren sheaves all bowed
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Speaker 1: to his, intimating upon what occasion they should be brought
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Speaker 1: to do homage to him, namely, in seeking to him
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Speaker 1: for corn, their empty sheaves should bow to his full one.
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Speaker 1: Two that the sun and moon and eleven stars did
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Speaker 1: obeisance to him Verse nine. Joseph was more of a
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Speaker 1: prophet than a politician, else he would have kept this
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Speaker 1: to himself when he could not but know that his
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Speaker 1: brethren did already hate him, and that this would but
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Speaker 1: the more exasperate them. But if he told in his simplicity,
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Speaker 1: yet God directed it for the mortification of his brethren. Observe.
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Speaker 1: Joseph dreamed of his preferment, but he did not dream
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Speaker 1: of his imprisonment. Thus, many young people, when they are
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Speaker 1: setting out in the world, think of nothing but prosperity
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Speaker 1: and pleasure, and never dream of trouble. Two, His brethren
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Speaker 1: take it very ill, and are more and more enraged
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Speaker 1: against him Verse eight. Shalt thou indeed reign over us?
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Speaker 1: See here one, how truly they interpreted his dream that
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Speaker 1: he should reign over them. Those become the expositors of
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Speaker 1: his dream, who were enemies to the accomplishment of it.
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Speaker 1: As in Gideon's story Judges chapter seven, Verses thirteen fourteen.
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Speaker 1: They perceived that he spoke of them. Matthew Chapter twenty one,
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Speaker 1: verse forty five. The event exactly answered to this interpretation
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Speaker 1: Chapter forty two, verse six, et cetera. Two. How scornfully
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Speaker 1: they resented it. Shalt thou, who are but one, reign
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Speaker 1: over us? Who are many? Thou who art the youngest
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Speaker 1: over us who are older. Note the reign and dominion
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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, our Joseph have been and are despised
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Speaker 1: and striven against by a carnal and unbelieving world who
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Speaker 1: cannot endure to think that this man should reign over them.
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Speaker 1: The dominion also of the upright in the morning of
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Speaker 1: the resurrection is thought of with the utmost disdain. Three
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Speaker 1: His father gives him a gentle rebuke for it, yet
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Speaker 1: observes the saying Verses ten and eleven. Probably he checked
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Speaker 1: him for it to lessen the offense which his brethren
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Speaker 1: would be apt to take at it. Yet he took
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Speaker 1: notice of it more than he seemed to do. He
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Speaker 1: insinuated that it was but an idle dream because his
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Speaker 1: mother was brought in, who had been dead sometimes since,
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Speaker 1: whereas the sun, moon and eleven stars signify no more
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Speaker 1: than the whole family that should have dependence upon him
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Speaker 1: and be glad to be beholden to him. Note the
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Speaker 1: faith of God's people in God's promises is often sorely
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Speaker 1: shaken by their misunderstanding of the promises and then suggesting
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Speaker 1: the improbabilities that attend the performance. But God is doing
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Speaker 1: his own work and will do it whether we understand
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Speaker 1: him aright or no. Jacob, like Mary Luke, Chapter two,
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Speaker 1: verse five, kept these things in his heart, and no
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Speaker 1: doubt remembered them long afterwards. When the event answered to
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Speaker 1: the prediction Verses twelve to twenty two, and his brethren
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Speaker 1: went to feed their father's flock at Shechem, and Israel said,
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Speaker 1: unto Joseph, do not thy brethren feed the flock at Shechem. Come,
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Speaker 1: and I will send thee unto them. And he said
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Speaker 1: to him, here am I, And he said to him, go,
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Speaker 1: I pray thee, seek whether it be well with thy
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Speaker 1: brethren and well with the flocks, and bring me word again.
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Speaker 1: So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron,
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Speaker 1: and he came to Shechem, and a certain man found him,
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Speaker 1: and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the
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Speaker 1: man asked him, saying, what seekest thou, And he said,
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Speaker 1: I seek my brethren. Tell me I pray THEE where
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Speaker 1: they feed their flocks. And the man said, they are departed. Hence,
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Speaker 1: for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan.
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Speaker 1: And Joseph went after his brethren and found them at Dothan.
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Speaker 1: And when they saw him afar off even before he
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Speaker 1: came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
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Speaker 1: And they said, one to another, behold, the dreamer cometh.
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Speaker 1: Come now therefore, and let us slay him and cast
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Speaker 1: him into some pit. And we will say some evil
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Speaker 1: beast hath devoured him. And we shall see what will
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Speaker 1: become of his dreams. And Reuben heard of it, and
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Speaker 1: he delivered him out of their hands, and said, let
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Speaker 1: us not kill him. And Reuben said, unto them, shed
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Speaker 1: no blood, but cast him into this pit that is
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Speaker 1: in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that
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Speaker 1: he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver
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Speaker 1: him again to his father. Here is one the kind
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Speaker 1: visit which Joseph, in obedience to his father's command, made
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Speaker 1: to his brethren, who were feeding the flock at Shechem,
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Speaker 1: many miles off. Some suggest that they went thither on purpose,
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Speaker 1: expecting that Joseph would be sent to see them, and
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Speaker 1: that then they should have an opportunity to do him mischief. However,
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Speaker 1: Joseph and his father had, both of them more of
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Speaker 1: the innocence of the dove than of the wisdom of
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Speaker 1: the serpent. Else he had never come thus into the
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Speaker 1: hands of those that hated him. But God designed it
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Speaker 1: all for good. See in Joseph an instance one of
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Speaker 1: dutifulness to his father. Though he was his father's darling,
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Speaker 1: yet he was made and was willing to be his
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Speaker 1: father's servant. How readily does he wait his father's orders.
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Speaker 1: Here I am verse thirteen. Note those children that are
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Speaker 1: best beloved by their parents should be most obedient to
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Speaker 1: their parents, and then their love is well bestowed and
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Speaker 1: well returned. Two of kindness to his brethren. Though he
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Speaker 1: knew they hated him and envied him, yet he made
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Speaker 1: no objections against his father's commands, either from the distance
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Speaker 1: of the place or danger of the journey, but cheerfully
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Speaker 1: embraced the opportunity of showing his respect to his brethren.
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Speaker 1: Note it is a very good lesson, though it is
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Speaker 1: learnt with difficulty and rarely practiced, to love those that
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Speaker 1: hate us. If our relations do not their duty to us,
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Speaker 1: yet we must not be wanting in our duty to them.
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Speaker 1: This is thankworthy. Joseph who was sent by his father
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Speaker 1: to Shechem to see whether his brethren were well there,
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Speaker 1: and whether the country had not risen upon them and
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Speaker 1: destroyed them in revenge of their barbarous murder of the
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Speaker 1: Shechemites some years before. But Joseph, not finding them there,
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Speaker 1: went to Dothan, which showed that he undertook this journey
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Speaker 1: not only in obedience to his father, for then he
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Speaker 1: might have returned when he missed them at Shechem. Having
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Speaker 1: done what his father told him, but out of love
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Speaker 1: to his brethren, and therefore he sought diligently till he
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Speaker 1: found them. Thus, let brotherly love continue, and let us
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Speaker 1: give proofs of it. Two, the bloody and malicious plot
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Speaker 1: of his brethren against him, who rendered good for evil
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Speaker 1: and for his love were his adversaries. Observe one, how
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Speaker 1: deliberately they were in the contrivance of this mischief. When
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Speaker 1: they saw him afar off, they conspired against him verse eighteen.
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Speaker 1: It was not in a heat or upon a sudden
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Speaker 1: provocation that they thought to slay him, but from malice, prepense,
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Speaker 1: and in cold blood. Note whosoever hateth his brother is
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Speaker 1: a murderer, for he will be one if he have
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Speaker 1: an opportunity. First John, Chapter three, Verse fifteen. Malice is
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Speaker 1: the most mischievous thing, and is in danger of making
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Speaker 1: bloody work where it is harbored and indulged. The more
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Speaker 1: there is of a project and contrivance in a sin,
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Speaker 1: the worse it is. It is bad to do evil,
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Speaker 1: but worse to devise it. Two, how cruel they were
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Speaker 1: in their design. Nothing less than blood would satisfy them.
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Speaker 1: Come and let us slay him Verse twenty Note the
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Speaker 1: old enmity hunts for the precious life. It is the
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Speaker 1: blood thirsty that hate the upright Proverbs Chapter twenty nine,
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Speaker 1: verse ten. And it is the blood of the saints
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Speaker 1: that the harlot is drunk with. Three. How scornfully they
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Speaker 1: reproached him for his dreams verse nineteen. This dreamer cometh,
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Speaker 1: and verse twenty, we shall see what will become of
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Speaker 1: his dreams. This shows what it was that fretted and
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Speaker 1: enraged them. They could not endure to think of doing
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Speaker 1: homage to him. This was what they were plotting to
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Speaker 1: prevent by the murder of him. Note men that fret
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Speaker 1: and rage at God's counsels are impiously aiming to defeat them,
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Speaker 1: But they imagine a vain thing. Psalm two, Verses one
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Speaker 1: to three. God's counsels will stand four. How they agreed
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Speaker 1: to keep one another's counsel and to cover the murder
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Speaker 1: with a lie. We will say, some evil beast hath
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Speaker 1: devoured him. Whereas in thus consulting to devour him, they
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Speaker 1: prove themselves worse than the most evil beasts, For evil
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Speaker 1: beasts pray not on those of their own kind. But
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Speaker 1: they were tearing a piece of themselves three Reuben's project
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Speaker 1: to deliver him Verses twenty one to twenty two. Note
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Speaker 1: God can raise up friends for his people, even among
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Speaker 1: their enemies, for he has all hearts in his hands. Reuben,
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Speaker 1: of all the brothers, had most reason to be jealous
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Speaker 1: of Joseph, for he was the first born, and so
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Speaker 1: entitled to those distinguishing favors which Jacob was conferring on Joseph.
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Speaker 1: Yet he proves his best friend. Reuben's temper seems to
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Speaker 1: have been soft and effeminate, which had betrayed him to
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Speaker 1: the sin of uncleanness, while the temper of the next
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Speaker 1: two brothers, Simeon and Levi, was fierce, which betrayed them
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Speaker 1: to the sin of murder, a sin which Reuben startled
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Speaker 1: at the thought of. Note our natural constitution should be
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Speaker 1: guarded against those sins to which it is most inclinable,
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Speaker 1: and improved, as reubens here against those sins to which
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Speaker 1: it is most averse. Reuben made a proposal which they
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Speaker 1: thought would effectually answer their intention of destroying Joseph, and
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Speaker 1: yet which he designed should answer his intention of rescuing
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Speaker 1: Joseph out of their hands and restoring him to his father,
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Speaker 1: probably hoping thereby to recover his father favor, which he
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Speaker 1: had lately lost. But God overruled all to serve his
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Speaker 1: own purpose of making Joseph an instrument to save much
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Speaker 1: people alive. Joseph was here a type of Christ, though
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Speaker 1: he was the beloved son of his father and hated
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Speaker 1: by a wicked world. Yet the Father sent him out
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Speaker 1: of his bosom to visit us in great humility and love.
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Speaker 1: He came from heaven to earth to seek and save us.
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Speaker 1: Yet then malicious plots were laid against him. He came
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Speaker 1: to his own, and his own not only received him
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Speaker 1: not but consulted against him. This is the Heir, Come.
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Speaker 1: Let us kill him, crucify him, crucify him. This he
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Speaker 1: submitted to in pursuance of his design to redeem and
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Speaker 1: save us Verses twenty three, two thirty. And it came
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Speaker 1: to pass when Joseph was coming unto his brethren, that
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Speaker 1: they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of
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Speaker 1: many colors that was on him, and they took him
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Speaker 1: and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty,
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Speaker 1: there was no water in it. And they sat down
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Speaker 1: to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked,
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Speaker 1: and behold a company of Ishmaelites come from Gilead with
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Speaker 1: their camels, bearing spicery and balm, and myrrhr, going to
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Speaker 1: carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said, unto his brethren,
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Speaker 1: what profit is it if we slay our brother and
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Speaker 1: conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to
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Speaker 1: the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be upon him,
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Speaker 1: for he is our brother and our flesh. And his
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Speaker 1: brethren were content. Then there passed by midy Nite merchantmen,
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Speaker 1: and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit,
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Speaker 1: and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
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Speaker 1: And they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben returned unto
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Speaker 1: the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit,
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Speaker 1: and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his
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Speaker 1: brethren and said, the child is not and I whither
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Speaker 1: shall I go? We have here the execution of their
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Speaker 1: plot against Joseph. One they stripped him, each striving to
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Speaker 1: see the envied coat of many colors Verse twenty three.
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Speaker 1: Thus in imagination they degraded him from the birthright of
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Speaker 1: which Perhaps this was the badge grieving him, affronting their
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Speaker 1: father and making themselves sport while they insulted over him. Now, Joseph,
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Speaker 1: where is thy fine coat? Thus our Lord Jesus was
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Speaker 1: stripped of his seamless coat, and thus his suffering saints
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Speaker 1: have first been industriously divested of their privileges and honors,
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Speaker 1: and then made the off scouring of all things. Two,
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Speaker 1: they went about to starve him, throwing him into a
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Speaker 1: dry pit to perish there with hunger and cold. So
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Speaker 1: cruel were their tender mercies verse twenty four. Note where
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Speaker 1: envy reigns, pity is banished, and humanity itself is forgotten.
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Speaker 1: Proverbs Chapter twenty seven, verse four. So full of deadly
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Speaker 1: poison is malice, that the more barbarous anything is, the
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Speaker 1: more grateful it is. Now Joseph begged for his life
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Speaker 1: in the anguish of his soul. Chapter forty two, verse
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Speaker 1: twenty one, Treated by all imaginable endearments that they would
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Speaker 1: be content with his coat and spare his life. He
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Speaker 1: pleads innocence, relation, affection, submission. He weeps and makes supplication,
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Speaker 1: but all in vain. Reuben alone relents and intercedes for him.
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Speaker 1: Chapter forty two, verse twenty two. But he cannot prevail
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Speaker 1: to save Joseph from the horrible pit in which they resolve.
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Speaker 1: He shall die by degrees and be buried alive. Is
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Speaker 1: this he to whom his brethrens must do homage. Note
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Speaker 1: God's providences often seem to contradict his purposes, even when
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Speaker 1: they are serving them and working at a distance toward
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Speaker 1: the accomplishment of them. Three They slighted him when he
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Speaker 1: was in distress, and were not greed for the affliction
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Speaker 1: of Joseph. For when he was pining away in the pit,
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Speaker 1: bemoaning his own misery, and with a languishing cry, calling
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Speaker 1: to them for pity, they sat down to eat bread
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Speaker 1: verse twenty five one. They felt no remorse of conscience
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Speaker 1: for the sin. If they had, it would have spoiled
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Speaker 1: their appetite for their meat and the relish of it. Note.
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Speaker 1: A great force put upon conscience commonly stupefies it and
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Speaker 1: for the time deprives it both of sense and speech.
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Speaker 1: Daring sinners are secure ones. But the consciences of Joseph's brethren,
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Speaker 1: though asleep now, were roused long afterwards. Chapter forty three,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty one two. They were pleased to think how
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Speaker 1: they were freed from the fear of their brother's dominion
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Speaker 1: over them, and that, on the contrary, they had turned
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Speaker 1: the wheel upon him. They made merry over him, as
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Speaker 1: the persecutors over the two witnesses that had tormented them. Revelations,
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Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, verse ten. Note those that oppose God's counsels
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Speaker 1: may possibly prevail so far as to think they have
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Speaker 1: gained their point, and yet be deceived. Four They sold
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Speaker 1: him a caravan of merchants, very opportunely passed by providence.
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Speaker 1: So ordering it and Judah made the motion that they
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Speaker 1: should sell Joseph to them, to be carried far enough
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Speaker 1: off into Egypt, where in all probability he would be
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Speaker 1: lost and never heard of more. One Judah proposed it
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Speaker 1: in compassion to Joseph verse twenty six. What profit is
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Speaker 1: it if we slay our brother? It will be less
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Speaker 1: guilt and more gained to sell him. Note when we
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Speaker 1: are tempted to sin, we should consider the unprofitableness of it.
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Speaker 1: It is what there is nothing to be got by. Two.
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Speaker 1: They acquiesced in it because they thought that if he
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Speaker 1: were sold for a slave, he would never be a lord.
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Speaker 1: If sold into Egypt, he would never be their lord.
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Speaker 1: Yet all this was working towards it. Note the wrath
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Speaker 1: of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath
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Speaker 1: he will restrain. Psalm seventy six, Verse ten. Joseph's brethren
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Speaker 1: were wonderfully restrained from murdering him, and their selling him
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Speaker 1: was as wonderfully turned to God's praise. As Joseph was
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Speaker 1: sold by contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver,
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Speaker 1: so was our Lord for thirty, and by one of
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Speaker 1: the same name too, Judas. Reuben, it seems, had gone
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Speaker 1: away from his brethren when they sold Joseph, intending to
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Speaker 1: come round some other way to the pit and to
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Speaker 1: help Joseph out of it and return him safely to
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Speaker 1: his father. This was a kind project. But if it
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Speaker 1: had taken effect, what had become of God's purpose concerning
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Speaker 1: his preferment in Egypt. Note there are many devices in
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Speaker 1: man's heart, many devices of the enemies of God's people
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Speaker 1: to destroy them, and of their friends to help them,
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Speaker 1: which perhaps are both disappointed as these were. But the
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Speaker 1: counsel of the Lord that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone,
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Speaker 1: because the child was sold. I whither shall I go
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Speaker 1: Verse thirty. He being the eldest his father, would expect
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Speaker 1: from him an account of Joseph. But as it proved,
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Speaker 1: they would all have been undone if he had not
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Speaker 1: been sold Verses thirty one to thirty six. And they
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Speaker 1: took Joseph's coat and killed a kid of the goats,
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Speaker 1: and dip the coat in the blood. And they sent
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Speaker 1: the coat of many colors, and they brought it to
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Speaker 1: their father and said this we have found. Know now
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Speaker 1: whether it be thy son's coat or no. And he
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Speaker 1: knew it, and said, it is my son's coat. An
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Speaker 1: evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt rent
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Speaker 1: in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth
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Speaker 1: upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days,
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Speaker 1: and all his sons and his daughters rose up to
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Speaker 1: comfort him. But he refused to be comforted, and said,
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Speaker 1: for I will go down into the grave unto my
24:30
Speaker 1: son mourning. Thus his father wept for him, and the
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Speaker 1: Midianites sold him into Egypt. Unto Potiphar, an officer of
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh's and captain of the guard. One Joseph would soon
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Speaker 1: be missed great inquiry would be made for him. And
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Speaker 1: therefore his brethren have a further design to make the
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Speaker 1: world believe that Joseph was torn into pieces by a
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Speaker 1: wild beast. And this they did one to clear themselves
24:57
Speaker 1: that they might not be suspected to have done him
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Speaker 1: any Mista note, we have all learned of Adam to
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Speaker 1: cover our transgression job chapter thirty one, Verse thirty three.
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Speaker 1: When the devil has taught men to commit one sin,
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Speaker 1: he then teaches them to conceal it with another, theft
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Speaker 1: and murder, with lying in perjury. But he that covers
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Speaker 1: his sin shall not prosper long. Joseph's brethren kept their
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Speaker 1: own in one another's counsel for some time, but their
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Speaker 1: villainy came to light at last, and it is here
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Speaker 1: published the world and the remembrance of it, transmitted to
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Speaker 1: every age two to grieve their good father. It seemed
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Speaker 1: designed by them on purpose to be revenge upon him
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Speaker 1: for his distinguishing love of Joseph. It was contrived on
25:38
Speaker 1: purpose to create the utmost vexation to him. They sent
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Speaker 1: him Joseph's coat of many colors, with one color more
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Speaker 1: than it had had, a bloody color. Verse thirty two,
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Speaker 1: they pretended that they had found it out in the fields,
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Speaker 1: and Jacob himself must be scornfully asked, is this thy
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Speaker 1: son's coat? Now? The badge of his honor is the
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Speaker 1: discovery of his fate. And it is rashly inferred from
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Speaker 1: the bloody coat that Joseph, without doubt is reent in pieces.
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Speaker 1: Love is always apt to fear the worst concerning the
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Speaker 1: person beloved. There is a love that casteth out fear,
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Speaker 1: but that is perfect love. Now, let those that know
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Speaker 1: the heart of a parent suppose the agonies of poor
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Speaker 1: Jacob and put their souls into his soul's stead. How
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Speaker 1: strongly does he represent to himself the direful idea of
26:25
Speaker 1: Joseph's misery. Sleeping or waking, he imagines he sees the
26:30
Speaker 1: wild beast setting upon Joseph, thinks he hears his piteous
26:34
Speaker 1: shrieks when the lion roared against him, and makes himself
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Speaker 1: tremble and grow chill many a time when he fancies
26:39
Speaker 1: how the beast sucked his blood, tore him limb from limb,
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Speaker 1: and left no remains of him but the coat of
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Speaker 1: many colors to carry the tidings, And no doubt it
26:48
Speaker 1: added no little to the grief that he had exposed
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Speaker 1: him by sending him, and sending him all alone on
26:54
Speaker 1: this dangerous journey, which proves so fatal to him. This
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Speaker 1: cuts him to the heart, and he is ready to
26:59
Speaker 1: look upon himself as an accessory to the death of
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Speaker 1: his son. Now one endeavors were used to comfort him.
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Speaker 1: His sons basely pretended to do it verse thirty five.
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Speaker 1: But miserable hypocritical comforters were they all. Had they really
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Speaker 1: desired to comfort him, they might easily have done it
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Speaker 1: by telling him the truth. Joseph is alive. He is
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Speaker 1: indeed sold into Egypt. But it will be an easy
27:23
Speaker 1: thing to send thither and ransom him. This would have
27:26
Speaker 1: loosened his sackcloth and girded him with gladness. Presently, I
27:31
Speaker 1: wonder their countenance did not betray their guilt. And with
27:33
Speaker 1: what face they could pretend to condole with Jacob on
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Speaker 1: the death of Joseph when they knew he was alive.
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Speaker 1: Note the heart is strangely hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
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Speaker 1: But two it was all in vain. Jacob refused to
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Speaker 1: be comforted Verse thirty five. He was an obstinate mourner
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Speaker 1: resolved to go down into the grave mourning. It was
27:54
Speaker 1: not a sudden transport of passion like that of David.
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Speaker 1: Would God I had died for thee my son, my son,
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Speaker 1: But like Job he hardened himself in sorrow. Note One,
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Speaker 1: great affliction to any creature does not prepare for so
28:09
Speaker 1: much the greater affliction, when it is either removed from
28:12
Speaker 1: us or embittered to us. Inordinate love commonly ends in
28:16
Speaker 1: immoderate grief. As much as the sway of the pendulum
28:20
Speaker 1: throws one way, so much it will throw the other way. Two.
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Speaker 1: Those consult neither the comfort of their souls nor the
28:27
Speaker 1: credit of their religion, that are determined in their sorrow.
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Speaker 1: Upon any occasion whatever, we must never say we will
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Speaker 1: go to our grave mourning, because we know not what
28:36
Speaker 1: joyful days Providence may yet reserve for us, and it
28:39
Speaker 1: is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to Providence. Three.
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Speaker 1: We often perplex ourselves with imaginary troubles. We fancy things
28:47
Speaker 1: worse than they are, and then afflict ourselves more than
28:51
Speaker 1: we need. Sometimes there needs no more to comfort us
28:54
Speaker 1: than to undeceive us. It is good to hope the
28:57
Speaker 1: best Two the Ishmaelites and Midianites, having bought Joseph only
29:05
Speaker 1: to make their market of him. Here we have him
29:08
Speaker 1: sold again, with gain enough to the merchants, no doubt
29:11
Speaker 1: to Potiphar Verse thirty six. Joseph was lamenting the loss
29:15
Speaker 1: of his life. Had he known all, he would have lamented,
29:18
Speaker 1: though not so passionately, the loss of liberty. Shall Jacob's
29:21
Speaker 1: free born son exchange the best robe of his family
29:24
Speaker 1: for the livery of an Egyptian lord and all the
29:26
Speaker 1: marks of servitude? How soon was the land of Egypt
29:30
Speaker 1: made a house of bondage to the seed of Jacob.
29:33
Speaker 1: Note it is the wisdom of parents not to bring
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Speaker 1: up their children too delicately, because they know not to
29:39
Speaker 1: what hardships and mortifications Providence may reduce them before they die.
29:44
Speaker 1: Jacob little thought that his ever beloved Joseph would be
29:46
Speaker 1: thus bought and sold for a servant. End of Chapter
29:51
Speaker 1: thirty seven.