1065 The Determined Conspiracy to Des troy. Jacob had four wives and twelve sons. Joseph was born and raised in an envir onment not specially conducive to spir itual growth. There was of necessity envying, bickering and family quarrell ing, and “ envy and strife produce con fusion and every evil work.” Mother less, after his seventh year, he was thrown much upon his own resources and the companionship of his old father. He was envied of his brethren. lie was of a quiet and contemplative nature. From his grandfather, Isaac, he would have heard of Mount Moriah and the offering of Isaac, and from his father, of Bethel and Peniel. He was a dreamer as all of God’s great men have been. Men need the inspiration of vision; they need the unseen; to see and realize the invisible. The mole has no vision. He burrows in the ground. The eagle looks the sun in the face and gazes upon the wide expanse of the heavens. The worlding has no vision; he has no heavenly aspirations. The believer see's the stars and gazes into the face of God. Joseph was spiritually minded. He was generous-hearted. He had a graci ous spirit. There was no grudge in his life, but he had deep convictions and the courage of them. Early in life Joseph learned in the school of experi ence to know God who is the sum of knowledge. God gave Aim dreams, and these dreams had a moulding influence upon his life. Future events are often cast in the mould of a dream. Joseph was awakened to a sense of the divine purpose concerning his life, and no doubt they helped to hold him true to God under trying circumstances. God’s favor and Jacob’s partiality for Joseph, constituted the seed of trouble for Joseph in the family, and caused the envy and hatred of his brethren. Envy is a fountain gathering many, streams— jealousy, hatred and murder. The strange working of the human heart
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS hands by Reuben, who suggested that they cast him into the pit, from which he intended to deliver him by and by. A band of Ishmeelites and Midianites, traders, coming along, gave a new turn to their thoughts, and Judah suggested that they sell Joseph as a slave, instead of leaving him there to die. The word ing of Judah’s question is curious: “ What profit is it?” They sold him for the price of a slave, which, at that time was twenty piepes of silver. Joseph’s new masters carried him down into Egypt. What an illustration of how God rules and over-rules the hatred and envy of men for the carrying out of His own plan, for He needed Joseph in Egypt, just as later on he needed Paul in Rome. The brothers had got rid of Joseph’s presence, but his heart-rend ing cries rung in their ears many and many a time during the days that inter vened before they next saw him. See Gem 42:21, 22. A very little study will suggest sev eral points of resemblance between Joseph and the Lord Jesus, Himself, in this incident. The Beloved of His father (John 3 :16 ); sent to seek His brethren (Luke 19:10): envied and hated by His brethren (Mark 15:11; John 15:25): sold by His brethren (Matt. 26:14, 15). What a warning fpr all of us to be on our guard against the beginnings of these sins. We are to have four lessons from the life of Joseph, one of the most interest ing characters in the whole Bible, and one whose life affords more suggestive typical teaching con- HEART OF cerning Christ than THE LESSON any other in the Scrip- PRACTICAL ture. POINTS There are three sug gested heads for the lesson: The Distinguished Character of Joseph, The Divine Intimation of- Destiny,
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