Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 45 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter forty two. We had in the foregoing chapter the
- 0:05Speaker 1: fulfilling of the dreams which Joseph had interpreted. In this
- 0:10Speaker 1: and the following chapters we have the fulfilling of the
- 0:13Speaker 1: dreams which Joseph himself had dreamed that his father's family
- 0:17Speaker 1: should do homage to him. The story is very largely
- 0:21Speaker 1: and particularly related of what passed between Joseph and his brethren,
- 0:26Speaker 1: not only because it is an entertaining story and probably
- 0:30Speaker 1: was much talked of both among the Israelites and among
- 0:33Speaker 1: the Egyptians, but because it is very instructive, and it
- 0:38Speaker 1: gave occasion for the removal of Jacob's family into Egypt,
- 0:41Speaker 1: on which so many great events afterward depended. We have
- 0:46Speaker 1: in this chapter Numeral one, the humble application of Jacob's
- 0:51Speaker 1: sons to Joseph to buy corn Verses one through six,
- 0:57Speaker 1: Numeral two, the fright Joseph put them into for their
- 1:01Speaker 1: trial Verses seven through twenty Numeral three, the conviction they
- 1:07Speaker 1: were now under of their sin concerning Joseph long before
- 1:11Speaker 1: Verses twenty one through twenty four Numeral four, that returned
- 1:17Speaker 1: to Canaan with corn, and the great distress their good
- 1:19Speaker 1: father was in upon hearing the account of their expedition
- 1:23Speaker 1: Verses twenty five and following, Jacob sends to Egypt to
- 1:29Speaker 1: buy corn BC. Seventeen o six. Now, when Jacob saw
- 1:34Speaker 1: that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said, unto his sons,
- 1:38Speaker 1: why do ye look one upon another? And he said, behold,
- 1:42Speaker 1: I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get
- 1:45Speaker 1: you down thither and buy for us from thence that
- 1:49Speaker 1: we may live and not die. And Joseph's ten brethren
- 1:53Speaker 1: went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother,
- 1:58Speaker 1: Jacob sent not with his brother, for he said, lest
- 2:01Speaker 1: peradventure mischief befall him. And the sons of Israel came
- 2:06Speaker 1: to buy corn. Among those that came for the famine
- 2:09Speaker 1: was in the land of Canaan, and Joseph was the
- 2:12Speaker 1: governor over the land, and he it was that sold
- 2:16Speaker 1: to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren
- 2:18Speaker 1: came and bowed down themselves before him, with their faces
- 2:22Speaker 1: to the earth. Though Jacob's sons were all married and
- 2:28Speaker 1: had families of their own, yet it should seem they
- 2:31Speaker 1: were still incorporated in one society under the conduct and
- 2:35Speaker 1: presidency of their father. Jacob. We have here numeral one
- 2:41Speaker 1: the orders he gave them to go and buy corn
- 2:43Speaker 1: in Egypt Verses one and two. Observe number one. The
- 2:48Speaker 1: famine was grievous in the land of Canaan. It is
- 2:52Speaker 1: observable that all the three patriarchs, to whom Canaan was
- 2:55Speaker 1: the land of promise, met with famine in that land,
- 2:59Speaker 1: which was not only to try their faith whether they
- 3:02Speaker 1: could trust God, though he should slay them, though he
- 3:05Speaker 1: should starve them, but to teach them to seek the
- 3:08Speaker 1: better country, that is the heavenly Hebrews eleventh, Verses fourteen
- 3:13Speaker 1: and sixteen. We have need of something to wean us
- 3:17Speaker 1: from this world and make us long for a better
- 3:21Speaker 1: Number two. Still, when there was famine and Canaan, there
- 3:25Speaker 1: was corn in Egypt. Thus Providence orders it that one
- 3:30Speaker 1: place should be a succor and a supply to another.
- 3:33Speaker 1: For we are all brethren. The Egyptians, the seed of
- 3:38Speaker 1: a cursed ham, have plenty when God blessed Israel. Want Thus, God,
- 3:43Speaker 1: in dispensing common favors, often crosses hands. Yet observe the
- 3:49Speaker 1: plenty Egypt now had was owing under God to Joseph's
- 3:53Speaker 1: prudence and care if his brethren had not sold him
- 3:57Speaker 1: into Egypt, but respected him according to his men pers
- 4:00Speaker 1: Who knows, but he might have done the same thing
- 4:03Speaker 1: for Jacob's family, which now he had done for Pharaoh,
- 4:06Speaker 1: And the Egyptians might then have come to them to
- 4:09Speaker 1: buy corn. But those who drive away from among them
- 4:13Speaker 1: wise and good men know not what they do. Number three,
- 4:18Speaker 1: Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt. He saw
- 4:22Speaker 1: the corn that his neighbors had bought there and brought home.
- 4:26Speaker 1: It is a spur to exertion to see whether supplies
- 4:29Speaker 1: are to be had, and to see others supplied. Shall
- 4:33Speaker 1: others get food for their souls? And shall we starve
- 4:36Speaker 1: while it is to be had? Number four He reproved
- 4:41Speaker 1: his sons for delaying to provide corn for their families.
- 4:44Speaker 1: Why do you look one upon another? Note? When we
- 4:48Speaker 1: are in trouble and want It is folly for us
- 4:51Speaker 1: to stand looking upon one another, that is, to stand
- 4:55Speaker 1: desponding and despairing, as if there were no hope, no help,
- 4:59Speaker 1: to stand and disputing, either which shall have the honor
- 5:02Speaker 1: of going first, or which shall have the safety of
- 5:05Speaker 1: coming last, To stand deliberating and debating what we shall do,
- 5:10Speaker 1: and doing nothing, to stand dreaming under a spirit of slumber,
- 5:15Speaker 1: as if we had nothing to do, and to stand delaying,
- 5:19Speaker 1: as if we had time at command. Let it never
- 5:22Speaker 1: be said we left that to be done tomorrow, which
- 5:25Speaker 1: we could as well have done today. Number five. He
- 5:29Speaker 1: quickened them to go to Egypt. Get you down thither.
- 5:34Speaker 1: Masters of families must not only pray for daily bread
- 5:37Speaker 1: for their families and food convenient, but must lay out themselves,
- 5:41Speaker 1: with care and industry to provide it. Numeral two. Their
- 5:46Speaker 1: obedience to these orders verse three, they went down to
- 5:50Speaker 1: buy corn. They did not send their servants, but very
- 5:54Speaker 1: prudently went themselves to lay out their own money. Let
- 5:58Speaker 1: none think themselves too great nor too good to take pains.
- 6:02Speaker 1: Masters of families should see with their own eyes and
- 6:05Speaker 1: take heed of leaving too much to servants. Only Benjamin
- 6:09Speaker 1: went not with them, for he was his father's darling.
- 6:13Speaker 1: To Egypt, they came, among others, and, having a considerable
- 6:16Speaker 1: cargo of corn to buy, they were brought before Joseph himself,
- 6:20Speaker 1: who probably expected they would come, And according to the
- 6:23Speaker 1: laws of courtesy, they bowed down themselves before him. Verse six.
- 6:29Speaker 1: Now their empty sheaves did obeisance to his full one.
- 6:33Speaker 1: Compare this with Isaiah sixty, verse fourteen and Revelation three nine.
- 6:40Speaker 1: Joseph speaks roughly to his brethren. And Joseph saw his brethren,
- 6:45Speaker 1: and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them,
- 6:48Speaker 1: and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them,
- 6:51Speaker 1: whence come ye? And they said, from the land of Canaan,
- 6:55Speaker 1: to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they
- 7:00Speaker 1: knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he
- 7:04Speaker 1: dreamed of them, and said, unto them, ye are spies.
- 7:08Speaker 1: To see the nakedness of the land, ye are come.
- 7:11Speaker 1: And they said unto him, nay, my Lord, But to
- 7:14Speaker 1: buy food? Are thy servants come? We are all one
- 7:17Speaker 1: man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies.
- 7:22Speaker 1: And he said unto them, nay. But to see the
- 7:25Speaker 1: nakedness of the land, ye are come. And they said,
- 7:29Speaker 1: thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man
- 7:32Speaker 1: in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is
- 7:36Speaker 1: this day with our father, and one is not. And
- 7:40Speaker 1: Joseph said, unto them, that is it that I spake
- 7:43Speaker 1: unto you? Saying, ye are spies. Hereby ye shall be
- 7:47Speaker 1: proved by the life of Pharaoh. Ye shall not go forth. Hence,
- 7:52Speaker 1: except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you
- 7:56Speaker 1: and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be
- 7:58Speaker 1: kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether
- 8:02Speaker 1: there be any truth in you or else, by the
- 8:05Speaker 1: life of Pharaoh. Surely ye are spies. And he put
- 8:09Speaker 1: them all together in the ward three days, and Joseph
- 8:13Speaker 1: said unto them the third day, this do and live,
- 8:16Speaker 1: for I fear God. If ye be true men, let
- 8:20Speaker 1: one of your brethren be bound in the house of
- 8:22Speaker 1: your prison. Go ye carry corn for the famine of
- 8:25Speaker 1: your houses. But bring your youngest brother unto me. So
- 8:30Speaker 1: shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die.
- 8:34Speaker 1: And they did so. We may well wonder that Joseph,
- 8:38Speaker 1: during the twenty years that he had now been in Egypt,
- 8:41Speaker 1: especially during the last seven years that he had been
- 8:43Speaker 1: in power there, never sent to his father to acquaint
- 8:47Speaker 1: him with his circumstances. Nay, it is strange that he
- 8:50Speaker 1: who so often went throughout all the land of Egypt
- 8:53Speaker 1: Chapter forty one, Verses forty five and forty six, never
- 8:57Speaker 1: made an excursion to Canaan to visit his age father.
- 9:00Speaker 1: When he was in the borders of Egypt that lay
- 9:02Speaker 1: next to Canaan. Perhaps it would not have been above
- 9:06Speaker 1: three or four days journey for him in his chariot.
- 9:09Speaker 1: It is a probable conjecture that his whole management of
- 9:11Speaker 1: himself in this affair was by special direction from Heaven,
- 9:15Speaker 1: that the purpose of God concerning Jacob and his family
- 9:18Speaker 1: might be accomplished. When Joseph's brethren came, he knew them
- 9:23Speaker 1: by many a satisfactory token, but they knew him not little,
- 9:27Speaker 1: thinking to find him there verse eight. He remembered the
- 9:31Speaker 1: dreams verse nine, but they had forgotten them. The laying
- 9:36Speaker 1: up of God's oracles in our hearts will be of
- 9:39Speaker 1: excellent use to us in all our conduct. Joseph had
- 9:43Speaker 1: an eye to his dreams, which he knew to be divine,
- 9:46Speaker 1: in his carriage towards his brethren, and aimed at the
- 9:49Speaker 1: accomplishment of them, and the bringing of his brethren to
- 9:51Speaker 1: repentance for their former sins. And both these points were
- 9:55Speaker 1: gained Numeral one. He showed himself very rigor and harsh
- 10:00Speaker 1: with them, the very manner of his speaking, considering the
- 10:04Speaker 1: post he was in was enough to frighten them, for
- 10:07Speaker 1: he spoke roughly to them verse seven. He charged them
- 10:11Speaker 1: with bad designs against the government. Verse nine, treated them
- 10:16Speaker 1: as dangerous persons, saying you are spies, and protesting by
- 10:21Speaker 1: the life of Pharaoh that they were so. Verse sixteen.
- 10:25Speaker 1: Some make this an oath, others make it no more
- 10:28Speaker 1: than the vehement assertivation, like that as thy soul liveth. However,
- 10:33Speaker 1: it was more than yea, yea, and nay nay, and
- 10:37Speaker 1: therefore came of evil. Note. Bad words are soon learned
- 10:41Speaker 1: by converse with those that use them, but not no
- 10:45Speaker 1: soon unlearned. Joseph, by being much at court, got the
- 10:50Speaker 1: courtier's oath by the life of Pharaoh, perhaps designing hereby
- 10:55Speaker 1: to confirm his brethren in their belief that he was
- 10:57Speaker 1: an Egyptian and not an Israelite. They knew this was
- 11:01Speaker 1: not the language of a son of Abraham. When Peter
- 11:05Speaker 1: would prove himself no disciple of Christ, he cursed and swore. Now,
- 11:10Speaker 1: why was Joseph thus hard upon his brethren? We may
- 11:14Speaker 1: be sure it was not from a spirit of revenge
- 11:16Speaker 1: that he might now trample upon those who had formerly
- 11:19Speaker 1: trampled upon him. He was not a man of that temper.
- 11:24Speaker 1: But Number one, it was to enrich his own dreams
- 11:28Speaker 1: and complete the accomplishment of them. Number two it was
- 11:32Speaker 1: to bring them to repentance. Number three it was to
- 11:36Speaker 1: get out of them an account of the state of
- 11:38Speaker 1: their family, which he longed to know. They would have
- 11:41Speaker 1: discovered him if he had asked as a friend. Therefore
- 11:44Speaker 1: he asks as a judge. Not seeing his brother Benjamin
- 11:48Speaker 1: with them, perhaps he began to suspect that they had
- 11:51Speaker 1: made away with him too, and therefore gives them occasion
- 11:54Speaker 1: to speak of their father and brother. Note God, in
- 11:58Speaker 1: his providence, sometimes seems harsh with those he loves, and
- 12:01Speaker 1: speaks roughly to those for whom he yet has great
- 12:04Speaker 1: mercy in store. Numeral two. They hereupon were very submissive.
- 12:11Speaker 1: They spoke to him with all the respect imaginable. Nay,
- 12:14Speaker 1: my lord, Verse ten, a great change since they said, behold,
- 12:19Speaker 1: this dreamer comes. They very modestly deny the charge we
- 12:25Speaker 1: are no spies. They tell him their business, that they
- 12:29Speaker 1: came to buy food, a justifiable errand, and the same
- 12:33Speaker 1: that many strangers came to Egypt upon at this time.
- 12:37Speaker 1: They undertake to give a particular account of themselves and
- 12:39Speaker 1: their family verse thirteen. And this was what they wanted
- 12:45Speaker 1: Numeral three. He clapped them all up in prison for
- 12:48Speaker 1: three days verse seventeen. Thus God deals with the souls
- 12:52Speaker 1: he designs for special comfort and honor. He first humbles
- 12:57Speaker 1: them and terrifies them, and brings them under a spirit
- 13:00Speaker 1: of bondage, and then binds up their wounds by the
- 13:03Speaker 1: spirit of adoption Numeral four. He concluded with them at
- 13:08Speaker 1: last that one of them should be left as a hostage,
- 13:11Speaker 1: and the rest should go home and fetch Benjamin. It
- 13:14Speaker 1: was a very encouraging word, he said to them verse eighteen.
- 13:18Speaker 1: I fear God as if he had said, you may
- 13:22Speaker 1: assure yourselves that I will do you no wrong. I
- 13:25Speaker 1: dare not, for I know that high as I am,
- 13:28Speaker 1: there is one higher than I. Note with those that
- 13:32Speaker 1: fear God, we have reason to expect fair dealing. The
- 13:36Speaker 1: fear of God will be a check upon those that
- 13:38Speaker 1: are in power, to restrain them from abusing their power
- 13:42Speaker 1: to oppression and tyranny. Those that have no one else
- 13:45Speaker 1: to stand in awe of ought to stand in awe
- 13:48Speaker 1: of their own consciences see Nehemiah five, verse fifteen. So
- 13:54Speaker 1: did not I because of the fear of God reflection
- 14:00Speaker 1: of Joseph's brethren. And they said, one to another, we
- 14:04Speaker 1: are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw
- 14:07Speaker 1: the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and
- 14:10Speaker 1: we would not hear him. Therefore is this distress come
- 14:14Speaker 1: upon us? And Reuben answered them, saying, spake I not
- 14:18Speaker 1: unto you, saying do not sin against the child, and
- 14:21Speaker 1: he would not hear. Therefore, behold also his blood is required.
- 14:28Speaker 1: And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he
- 14:31Speaker 1: spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself
- 14:35Speaker 1: about from them, and wept, and returned to them again
- 14:38Speaker 1: and commune with them, and took from them Simeon and
- 14:42Speaker 1: bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill
- 14:46Speaker 1: their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money
- 14:49Speaker 1: in his sack, and to give them provision for the way.
- 14:53Speaker 1: Thus did he unto them, and they leaded their asses
- 14:57Speaker 1: with the corn and departed thence, and as one of
- 15:00Speaker 1: them opened his sack to give his ass provender in
- 15:02Speaker 1: the inn, he espied his money, for behold, it was
- 15:06Speaker 1: in his sack's mouth. And he set out to his brethren,
- 15:10Speaker 1: my money is restored, and lo it is even in
- 15:13Speaker 1: my sack. And their heart failed them, and they were afraid,
- 15:17Speaker 1: saying one to another, what is this that God has
- 15:20Speaker 1: done unto us? Here is Numeral one the penitent reflection
- 15:26Speaker 1: Joseph's brethren made upon the wrong they had formerly done
- 15:29Speaker 1: to him Verse twenty one. They talked the matter over
- 15:33Speaker 1: in the Hebrew tongue, not suspecting that Joseph, whom they
- 15:36Speaker 1: took for a native of Egypt, understood them, much less
- 15:40Speaker 1: that he was the person they spoke of. Number one,
- 15:44Speaker 1: They remembered with regret that the barbarous cruelty wherewith they
- 15:47Speaker 1: persecuted him, We are verily guilty concerning our brother. We
- 15:52Speaker 1: did not read that they said this during their three
- 15:54Speaker 1: days imprisonment. But now when the matter had come to
- 15:57Speaker 1: some issue, and they saw themselves still embarrassed, now they
- 16:01Speaker 1: began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of the fear of
- 16:05Speaker 1: God verse eighteen put them upon consideration and exhorted this reflection.
- 16:12Speaker 1: Now see here sub point one. The office of conscience.
- 16:16Speaker 1: It is a remembrancer to bring to mind things long
- 16:19Speaker 1: since said and done, to show us wherein we have erred,
- 16:23Speaker 1: though it was long ago, as the reflection here mentioned
- 16:26Speaker 1: was above, twenty years after the sin was committed. As
- 16:30Speaker 1: time will not wear out the guilt of sin, soul
- 16:32Speaker 1: will not blot out the records of conscience. When the
- 16:35Speaker 1: guilt of the sin of Joseph's brethren was fresh, they
- 16:38Speaker 1: made light of it and sat down to eat bread.
- 16:41Speaker 1: But now long afterwards their consciences reminded them of it
- 16:46Speaker 1: sub point two. The benefit of affliction. They often proved
- 16:50Speaker 1: the happy and effectual means of awakening conscience and bringing
- 16:54Speaker 1: sin to our remembrance. Job eight twenty six. Sub point
- 16:59Speaker 1: three the evil of guilt. Concerning our brethren of all
- 17:02Speaker 1: their sins. It was this that conscience now reproached them.
- 17:05Speaker 1: For whenever we have thinked wrong done us, we ought
- 17:09Speaker 1: to remember the wrong we have done to others. Ecclesiastes eight,
- 17:14Speaker 1: Verses twenty one and twenty two. Number two. Reuben alone
- 17:19Speaker 1: remembered with comfort that he had been an advocate for
- 17:22Speaker 1: his brother, and had done what he could to prevent
- 17:24Speaker 1: the mischief they did him. Verse twenty two spoke I
- 17:28Speaker 1: not unto you, saying do not sin against the child.
- 17:32Speaker 1: Note some point one. It is an aggravation of any sin,
- 17:36Speaker 1: that it was committed against admonitions some point two. When
- 17:41Speaker 1: we come to share with others in their calamities, it
- 17:44Speaker 1: will be a comfort to us if we have the
- 17:46Speaker 1: testimony of our consciences for us that we did not
- 17:49Speaker 1: share with them in their iniquities, but in our places
- 17:52Speaker 1: witnessed against them. This shall be our rejoicing in the
- 17:56Speaker 1: day of evil, and shall take out the sting numeral
- 18:01Speaker 1: two Joseph's tenderness towards them. Upon this occasion he retired
- 18:05Speaker 1: from them to weep verse twenty four, though his reason
- 18:09Speaker 1: directed that he should still carry himself as a stranger
- 18:12Speaker 1: to them, because they were not as yet humbled enough.
- 18:15Speaker 1: Yet natural affection could not but work, for he was
- 18:18Speaker 1: a man of a tender spirit. This represents the tender
- 18:22Speaker 1: mercies of our God towards repenting sinners. See Jeremiah thirty
- 18:26Speaker 1: one twenty. Since I spoke against him, to do earnestly
- 18:31Speaker 1: remember him still see Judges ten, verse sixteen, numeral three
- 18:38Speaker 1: the imprisonment of Simeon verse twenty four. He chose him
- 18:42Speaker 1: for the hostage, probably because he remembered him to have
- 18:45Speaker 1: been his most bitter enemy or because he observed him
- 18:48Speaker 1: now to be least humbled and concerned, he bound him
- 18:52Speaker 1: before their eyes to affect them all. Or perhaps it
- 18:55Speaker 1: is animated that though he bound him with some severity
- 18:59Speaker 1: before them, yet afterwards, when they were gone, he took
- 19:02Speaker 1: off his bonds Numeral four the dismission of the rest
- 19:07Speaker 1: of them. They came for corn, and corn they had,
- 19:10Speaker 1: and not only so, but every man had his money
- 19:13Speaker 1: restored in his sack's mouth. Thus Christ Our Joseph gives
- 19:17Speaker 1: out supplies without money and without price. Therefore the poor
- 19:22Speaker 1: are invited to buy Revelation three, Verses seventeen and eighteen.
- 19:27Speaker 1: This put them into great consternation Verse twenty eight. Their
- 19:31Speaker 1: heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another,
- 19:35Speaker 1: what is this that God hath done to us? Number one?
- 19:39Speaker 1: It was really amercifully vent for I hope they had
- 19:42Speaker 1: no wrong done to them when they had their money
- 19:44Speaker 1: given them back, but a kindness. Yet they were thus
- 19:48Speaker 1: terrified by it. Note sub point one. Guilty consciences are
- 19:53Speaker 1: apt to take good providences in a bad sense, and
- 19:56Speaker 1: to put wrong constructions even upon those things that make
- 19:58Speaker 1: for them. They flee when none pursues Some point two
- 20:03Speaker 1: wealth sometimes brings as much care along with it as
- 20:07Speaker 1: want does, and more too. If they had been robbed
- 20:10Speaker 1: of their money, they could not have been worse frightened
- 20:13Speaker 1: than they were now when they found their money in
- 20:15Speaker 1: their sacks. Thus, he whose ground brought forth plentifully said
- 20:20Speaker 1: what shall I do? Luke twelve seventeen number two. Yet
- 20:26Speaker 1: in their circumstances it was very amazing. They knew that
- 20:29Speaker 1: the Egyptians abhorred a Hebrew chapter forty three, verse thirty two,
- 20:35Speaker 1: and therefore, since they could not expect to receive any
- 20:37Speaker 1: kindness from them, they concluded that this was done with
- 20:40Speaker 1: the design to pick a quarrel with them, and the
- 20:43Speaker 1: rather because the man, the lord of the land, had
- 20:46Speaker 1: charged them as spies. Their own consciences also were awake,
- 20:50Speaker 1: and their sins set in order before them, and this
- 20:53Speaker 1: put them into confusion. Note su point one. When men's
- 20:58Speaker 1: spears are sinking, everything helps to sink them some point two.
- 21:03Speaker 1: When the events of providence concerning us are surprising, it
- 21:06Speaker 1: is good to inquire what is it that God has
- 21:08Speaker 1: done and is doing with us, and to consider the
- 21:12Speaker 1: operation of his hands. The report made to Jacob, and
- 21:18Speaker 1: they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan,
- 21:21Speaker 1: and told him all that befell unto them, saying, the
- 21:24Speaker 1: man who is the lord of the land spake roughly
- 21:26Speaker 1: to us and took us for spies of the country.
- 21:30Speaker 1: And we said unto him, we are true men. We
- 21:32Speaker 1: are no spies. We be twelve brethren, sons of our father.
- 21:36Speaker 1: One is not and the youngest is this day with
- 21:39Speaker 1: our father in the land of Canaan. And the man,
- 21:42Speaker 1: the lord of the country, said unto us, hereby shall
- 21:45Speaker 1: I know that ye are true men. Leave one of
- 21:47Speaker 1: your brethren here with me, and take food for the
- 21:50Speaker 1: famine of your households, and be gone, and bring your
- 21:53Speaker 1: youngest brother unto me. Then shall I know that ye
- 21:56Speaker 1: are no spies, but that she are true men. So
- 21:59Speaker 1: will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic
- 22:02Speaker 1: in the land. And it came to pass as they
- 22:05Speaker 1: emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money
- 22:08Speaker 1: was in his sack. And when both they and their
- 22:10Speaker 1: father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And
- 22:14Speaker 1: Shacob their father, said, unto them me, ye have bereaved
- 22:17Speaker 1: of my children. Joseph is not and Simeon is not,
- 22:21Speaker 1: and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are
- 22:24Speaker 1: against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, slay
- 22:28Speaker 1: my two sons. If I bring him not to thee,
- 22:31Speaker 1: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him
- 22:34Speaker 1: to thee again. And he said, my son shall not
- 22:37Speaker 1: go down with you, for his brother is dead, and
- 22:40Speaker 1: he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the
- 22:43Speaker 1: way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down
- 22:45Speaker 1: my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Here is
- 22:50Speaker 1: number one, the report which Shacob's sons made to their
- 22:53Speaker 1: father of the great distress they had been in Egypt,
- 22:56Speaker 1: how they had been suspected and threatened, and obliged to
- 22:59Speaker 1: leave Simeon a prisoner there till they should bring Benjamin
- 23:02Speaker 1: with them. Thither, who would have thought of this when
- 23:05Speaker 1: they left home. When we go abroad, we should consider
- 23:08Speaker 1: how many sad accidents that we little think of may
- 23:11Speaker 1: befall us before we return home. We know not what
- 23:15Speaker 1: a day may bring forth. We ought therefore to be
- 23:17Speaker 1: always ready for the worst. Number two. The deep impression
- 23:22Speaker 1: this made upon the good man. The very bundles of
- 23:25Speaker 1: money which Joseph returned in kindness to his father frightened
- 23:28Speaker 1: him first thirty five, for he concluded it was done
- 23:32Speaker 1: with some mischievous design, or perhaps suspected his own sons
- 23:36Speaker 1: to have committed some offense, and so to have run
- 23:38Speaker 1: themselves into a penalty, which is animated in what he says,
- 23:43Speaker 1: verse thirty six, Me have you bereaved? He seems to
- 23:47Speaker 1: lay the fault upon them, knowing their characters. He feared
- 23:50Speaker 1: they had provoked the Egyptians and perhaps forcibly or fraudulently
- 23:54Speaker 1: brought home their money. Jacob is here much out of temper.
- 23:58Speaker 1: Some point one he is very melancholy apprehensions concerning the
- 24:02Speaker 1: present state of his family. Joseph is not and Simeon
- 24:06Speaker 1: is not, whereas Joseph was in honor, and Simeon in
- 24:10Speaker 1: the way to it. Note, we often perplex ourselves with
- 24:13Speaker 1: our own mistakes, even in matters of fact. True griefs
- 24:17Speaker 1: may arise from false intelligence and suppositions. Second Samuel thirteen,
- 24:22Speaker 1: Verse thirty one. Jacob gives up Joseph for gone and seeming,
- 24:27Speaker 1: and Benjamin as being in danger, and he concludes all
- 24:31Speaker 1: these things are against me. It proved otherwise that all
- 24:34Speaker 1: these were for him were working together for his good
- 24:38Speaker 1: and the good of his family. Yet here he thinks
- 24:40Speaker 1: them all against him. Note, through our ignorance and mistake,
- 24:45Speaker 1: and the weakness of our faith, we often apprehend that
- 24:49Speaker 1: to be against us, which is really for us. We
- 24:52Speaker 1: are afflicted in body, a state, name, and relations, and
- 24:56Speaker 1: we think all these things are against us, whereas these
- 24:59Speaker 1: are really working for us the weight of glory. Some
- 25:03Speaker 1: point two. He is at present resolved that Benjamin shall
- 25:07Speaker 1: not go down. Reuben will undertake to bring him back
- 25:10Speaker 1: in safety verse thirty seven, not so much as putting
- 25:13Speaker 1: in if the Lord will nor expected the common disasters
- 25:17Speaker 1: of travelers. But he foolishly bids Jacob's slay his two sons,
- 25:22Speaker 1: which is likely he was very proud of if he
- 25:24Speaker 1: brought him not back, as if the death of two
- 25:27Speaker 1: grandsons could satisfy Jacob for the death of a son. No,
- 25:32Speaker 1: Jacob's present thoughts are, my son shall not go down
- 25:36Speaker 1: with you. He plainly intimates the distrust of them, remembering
- 25:39Speaker 1: that he never saw Joseph since he had been with them. Therefore,
- 25:43Speaker 1: Benjamin shall not go with you by the way in
- 25:46Speaker 1: which you go, for you will bring down my gray
- 25:49Speaker 1: hairs with sorrow to the grave. Note it is bad
- 25:52Speaker 1: with a family when children conduct themselves so ill that
- 25:55Speaker 1: their parents know not how to trust them. End of
- 26:00Speaker 1: Chapter forty two.