THE KING’S BUSINESS
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he got out not by his wisdom or power but by precious blood (12:13), and almighty power (15:1-19). But he will get into bondage again, for “man being in honor abideth not” (Ps. 49:12), until “seven times pass over him.” At the end of the seventh dispensation God will bring with Jesus “everlasting glory” (Rev. 21:1-5). II. C hanges . 2. "All that Generation.’’ Centuries in tervene between our lessons. Joseph flour ished eighty years, dying in faith at 110, comforting his brethren with the words, “God shall surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” They em balmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:25, 26; Heb. 11:22); type of the believer’s hope who falls “asleep in Jesus.” Joseph’s brethren soon followed, iheir sins remembered no more; and so did “all that generation;” and so have all others, and so will this, unless Jesus comes. 2. The New King. Death and change were as busy among the Egyptians. The chief butler followed the chief baker, we trust to a more honorable ¡burial. All the friends of Joseph passed, and a “new king” (dynasty) arose that “knew not Joseph” (v. 8). Great as he was Joseph was for gotten ; beneficent as his deeds for Egypt, there were none left “so poor as to do him reverence.” Had he not served God rather than Pharaoh he would not now have been heard of. . God never forgets nor forever allows to be forgotten His servants. “O Lord, truly I am thy servant” (Ps. 116:16). They that know Jesus bless His people; who know Him not know them not. 3. Israel’s Condition. (1) Materially and socially: They had prospered in the favorable circumstances and fertile land; hand been “fruitful,” “increased abun dantly,” “multiplied,” “filled the land.” They became, according to promise “a great nation” (Gen. 46:3). They kept their flocks (10:26); tilled the soil (Deut. 11: 10, 11); dwelt in houses (12:4,7); neigh bored with the Egyptians (3 :22) ; learned the arts, crafts, business of Egypt (they were “Jews”) ; toiled and traded in the
cities, and many, like Moses, learned in their schools (35:32, 33; 1 Chro. 4:21-23); enjoyed abundance (Num. 11:5; 20:5). The Hebrew masses dwelt in Goshen, be tween Egypt and Pharaoh’s Semitic foes, with whom they were affiliated by blood. It would have been ¡both natural and politic to take sides with them against Pharaoh. (2) Religiously: Had they forsake God and the Covenant ? Not altogether, nor could they while Joseph’s bones rested in hope among them, any more than we, while the body of Christ is broken among us, could forget the promise to bring us up out of our bondage. Amram was Moses’ fa ther and Amram means a “high or noble people,” so, then, they still believed that God had “put a difference” (11:7) between them and the Egyptians, and some must have considered “what manner of people” they “ought to be,” while conscious of “what manner of love the Father had be stowed upon them” (2 John 3:1-3). Am ram! a high people indeed. Moses’ mother was Jochebed, and so by name, as by faith (Heb. 11:23) she was Jehovah—glory! There were many memorial names like these among them. They still kept the sign of the covenant, circumcision (Exod. 4 :24-26); and still sacrificed to, and wor shiped, the Lord (10:24-26). But the mass of the people were not purely loyal to Je hovah (Joshua 24:14; Ezek. 20:7). Are we better? 4. The New Policy. (1) Fearing that, in the event of war, Israel would join his enemies, Pharaoh said, “Come on, let us deal wisely with them.” But his wisdom was foolishness (2 Cor. 2:6), for if he “had known he would not have crucified” the Lord of Glory’s people (1 Cor. 2:8). He that sits in the heavens laughed at the puny arm that beat itself against “the bosses of His buckler” (Job. 15:26), know ing that he was doing so to his sudden de struction. Had he dealt with them as his predecessor had done, who knew Joseph, he had bound them to him “with hooks of steel.” Six hundred thousand fighting men, the strength of Israel’s forses, could have held Goshen against the world. .. Its con-
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