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THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
the disciples on the sea (Matt. 14:27) and Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:5. Will it not be so some day when Jesus reveals Himself to the Jews who sold Him for thirty pieces of silver,— that day when they see Him whom they pierced, seated on His throne, with His Gentile bride? Then they, also, will ac knowledge their sins and accept Him as their King. (Zech. 1 2 : 1 0 ) . The room is cleared and Joseph is alone with his breth ren. Strangers are not to know the story. Looking at their bowed heads, he says, “Be not grieved.” His heart is full of compassion. Conscience convicts them, but Jo seph says, “Come near to me”— a picture o f . Jesus, after His resurrection, when He said, “Behold my hands and my feet.” (Luke 24:39, 40). Joseph longs for loving affection from which he had been so long separated. Does our Lord long for the same when He says, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest?” Joseph reasons of the Providence of God: “It was not ye that sent me hither, but God.” (Rom. 9:16, 17). Jo seph saw God’s hand in all the affairs of his life. Behind and before the action of his brethren was God’s great pur pose for his life. They had sinned woefully; he had suf fered wrongfully, but God was working out His will in it all. (Rom. 8:28). Let us watch for the working out of God’s plans in our own lives. God makes pain and parting, disease and dis aster, poverty and persecution, to bring blessing to us and glorify Himself. The way may seem strange, but keep your eye on the goal and some day you will look back from His throne. Between Joseph’s dream to Joseph’s revelation of himself to his brethren are many scenes and experiences, but God was in and over all. (Acts 7:35; Psa. 105:17-19) (4) JOSEPH RESCUING HIS BRETHREN, 45:9-28 “Haste ye, and go up to my father,” v. 9. Joseph will not stop until he has perfected plans for his father’s coming. He commissions his brethren to bear the news, supplies their need and sends the good tidings (John 17:24). Every saved sinner should be .the bearer of the message of salvation to others that they, too, may share in the grace and glory of our Lord. The lips of Joseph were pressed upon the polluted lips of the hard-hearted brethren. Love had found a way. The past was blotted out. Tears of joy and fullest fellowship! What a picture! Follow it to the home of Jacob and see the full cup that is pressed to his lips. Topics for Study (1) Do we really know people with whom we mingle? (2) Does conscience make cowards of us all, and what is the remedy? (3 ) Does the human heart long for something which even a throne cannot supply, and what is it? (4) Was there any change wrought in the lives of these men, or would they have sacrificed Benjamin as they did Joseph? (5) What is the severest test of character? (6) Did Joseph do a good thing for his brethren when he gave them something to do? (7) What lesson did Joseph impart when he gave the injunction, “See that ye fall not out by the way?”
their sin. It is not denied that they had much to do with his sorrows; but he means emphatically to say that whilst they had one object in view, God had COMMENTS another. Precisely so was it the case FROM THE with the Lord—Men killed Him in their COMMENTARIES hate; yet they only did what God in V. V. Morgan His counsel had “determined before to be done,” (Acts 2 ) ^ -L incoln. Seven times we read of Joseph that he wept. Benjamin had become the object of Jacob’s love. The trial with the cup was to bring out whether they cherished the same bit ter feelings, against Benjamin which had governed their conduct towards Joseph. Their behaviour now reveals the great change which had taken place. They confess that their iniquity has been found out and Judah, the'spokes- man, manifests the most affectionate reverence for" his old father and ardent love for his younger brother.— Gaebelein. The object that Joseph had in view in his singular deal ings with his brethren was evidently to bring them to a sense of their unrighteous hate of himself, and to repent thereof accordingly. His measures soon began to take ef fects Thus, look at Reuben’s appeal to his brethren in ch. 43:22. And especially look at that most noble and magnanimous offer of Judah to be a bond slave, instead of Joseph’s own brother, Benjamin.—Lincoln. (45:13) Joseph laid one burden upon his brethren. They were to go back at once and tell their father three great facts: (a) that Joseph was alive; (b) that he was in an exalted position; (c) that he was willing to receive his father and all of them. This commission was faith fully carried out, and thus they fulfilled their brother’s will. In the same way the reconciliation of the soul with God involves obedience to what we speak of in the New Testament as the Great Commission. It is for us to go far and near with the same message, that our Lord is’ indeed alive and risen from the dead; that He is exalted to be a Prince and Saviour; and that He is willing to receive all that come unto God by Him..—Griffith Thomas. (45:16) How full, free, and gracious was Joseph’s for giveness! If he had not forgotten the wrong that had been done him, he remembered it only to forgive it. Compare Eph, 4:26, 27; Matt. 5:23, 24; 6:13, 14; 1-8:21-35. How keenly Joseph’s brethren felt the wrong they had done their brother, and how deeply they wept over it! So shall thè Jewish people weep when they see the Christ whom they have rejected and crucified (Zech. 12:10; Rev. 1 :8 ). —-Evans. The outcome of the revelation, (a) It brought peace to the brethren; peace between Joseph and them; peace among themselves; and peace with their aged father, (b) It also assured them of protection, (c) It also guaranteed to them plenty, for everything in the land of Egypt was to be placed at - their disposal. Reconciliation with God brings peace,^-peace between God and the soul, peace in the soul itself, peace between the soul and others. There is also the guarantee of protection and provision for all emergencies.—Griffith Thomas. m ELEMENTARY Kate H. Hans When Jacob found the grain was about gone, he came to the sad decision to let the brothers take Benjamin, and go for more, as Joseph had said they would get no more grain till they brought Benjamin, and had kept Simeon
till they returned with him. Jacob gave them double money, beside a present for Joseph. He feared he would never see his boy again. When Joseph found they had come, he had them brought to his house, greeting them kindly, bringing Simeon out to them, and making a feast for them. (Give details of Chapter 43.) They could not understand the
kindness they received, as their consciences troubled them all the time for their meanness to Joseph. They feared any minute some punishment would come to them, for their past crime. (Give details of Chapter 44.) After starting home,
(45:4-9) Four times over, Joseph assures his brethren that it was God whose purpose was achieved even through
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