CHAPTER VI.

_JACOB’S DESCENT INTO EGYPT――DEATH OF JOSEPH._ GEN. XLIII.–L. B.C. 1707–1635.

BUT as time went on, and the corn the Brothers had brought from Egypt was consumed, it became absolutely necessary to go thither a second time, if they would live and not die. Without Benjamin, however, they knew the journey would be useless, and Benjamin their father would not send. At length Judah stood forward as spokesman for the rest, and offered to bear for ever in his own person the blame, if any evil befell him, till after a struggle Jacob consented. With a present of such things as the land afforded, a _little balm, a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds_, with double money also in their hand, the brothers took Benjamin from his sorrowing father, and once more commenced their journey to Egypt. Arrived there they were again presented to the Viceroy, who perceiving that Benjamin was with them, ordered the steward of his house to conduct them home, and to slay and make ready, that they might dine with him at noon. Full of fear, the brothers followed the steward, and on the way informed him of their surprise, when on their return from their previous visit, they found their money in their sacks. The steward, however, answered them kindly, restored Simeon to them, and brought them water to wash their feet. At noon Joseph returned, and the brothers spread out the present their father had sent, bowing themselves before him to the earth. After some questions touching the welfare of the _old man_ they had left in the land of Canaan, he _lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son_, and his whole soul yearned towards him, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. Thence having washed his face he returned, commanded the attendants to set on bread, and the brothers sat down ranged each according to his age. Joseph sat at a table by himself, and the Egyptians in his retinue by themselves; for to eat bread with the Hebrews was regarded by them as an abomination. Then from Joseph’s table portions were sent to his brethren, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as great as any of theirs, and _they drank and were merry with him_ (Gen. xliii. 34).

The next morning, as soon as it was light, with sacks replenished, and rejoicing at the successful termination of their journey, the sons of Jacob commenced their return to Canaan. But they had proceeded only a little way from the city, when the Steward of Joseph overtook them, and charged them with returning evil for all the good they had received, and stealing the silver _divining cup_[45] (Gen. xliv. 5) belonging to his master. In the full assurance of their innocence, the brothers not only denied the charge, but declared their willingness that the guilty one should die, and the rest become bondmen to the Viceroy. The sacks were, therefore, taken from the asses, and lo! in Benjamin’s sack, where it had been purposely placed by Joseph’s command, the cup was found. Horror-struck at the discovery, the brothers returned to the house, and flinging themselves on the ground before Joseph, expressed their resolution to become slaves with Benjamin rather than return without him to his heart-broken father. In the dialogue that ensued Judah was again the chief speaker. _God_, he owned, _had found out their iniquity, and they and he with whom the cup had been found would become Joseph’s bondmen_. To this, however, Joseph would not consent; he with whom the cup had been found, he alone need remain behind in servitude, the rest might return in peace to their father. Then Judah went near to him, _who was even as Pharaoh_ (Gen. xliv. 18), and in words of utmost pathos related how in obedience to his command, their father had with great difficulty been prevailed on to suffer the child of his old age to accompany them, and how, if he failed to return, he would certainly die, for his life was bound up in the life of his favourite son. Nay, more, he continued, he himself had become surety for the lad, and was now ready, rather than _bring down_ the old man’s _grey hairs with sorrow to the grave_, to remain alone in the land of Egypt a bondman unto his lord, if only Benjamin and the rest might return into the land of Canaan (Gen. xliv. 18–34).

As Judah proceeded with his moving tale, Joseph could restrain himself no longer. He desired every man to leave the chamber, and he and his brethren were left alone. Then, amidst many tears, he at length broke forth with the astounding words _I am Joseph_, coupling the revelation with the enquiry _Doth my father yet live?_ But the brothers were too terrified to answer him a word. Thereupon he bade them come near unto him, and again assured them that he was _Joseph, their brother_, whom they had sold to the Midianitish caravan. Let them not, he said, be grieved that they had sold him into Egypt. God, who orders all things, had sent him thither before them to preserve their lives, and had made him _a father unto Pharaoh, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt_. Instead of repining for the past, let them return to the _old man, their father_, and tell him of all his glory in Egypt, and bring him down, and settle, they and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all that they had, in the goodly country of Goshen, _frontier_. Having thus at length poured forth his pent up feelings, Joseph fell upon Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and kissed him, and likewise all his brethren. Tidings of what had occurred soon reached the ears of Pharaoh, who readily assented to Joseph’s wish that his father should be suffered to settle in the land. Waggons were then made ready to bring him and all that he had; ample provisions were supplied for the journey, and rich presents bestowed upon all the brothers, but especially on Benjamin. Then with a parting charge to see that they _fell not out by the way_ (Gen. xlv. 24), the sons of Jacob returned to their father, and recounted to him all the strange events that had befallen them. The long lost Joseph, the son of the beloved Rachel, was _alive_, nay, _he was governor over all the land of Egypt_. At the first announcement Jacob’s heart failed him, nor could he believe their words. But when the waggons that Joseph had provided came in sight, then at length his spirit revived, and he exclaimed, _It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die_ (Gen. xlv. 28).

To forsake, however, the familiar pasture grounds of Hebron, to leave the soil promised to him and to his seed for ever, required of the patriarch no little resolution. Abraham had gone down to Egypt, but only to involve himself in great difficulties; Isaac had been on the point of going thither, when he was restrained by the hand of God (Gen. xxvi. 2). Did the Divine Blessing rest on that journey, which an imperious necessity now induced him to essay? Jacob was not long left in doubt. On reaching Beersheba the Almighty appeared to him in vision, and bade him lay aside all apprehensions. In Egypt, in the land of the mighty Pharaohs, He would not fail to protect him, there He would make him a great nation, and thence in the fulness of time He would bring his seed back to the _Land of Promise_. Thus encouraged Jacob arose from Beersheba, and with his sons, their wives, and their little ones, their herds, their flocks, and all the goods they had gotten in the land of Canaan, commenced his journey. Judah led the way, and on the frontier of Egypt the patriarch met his long lost son, and _fell upon his neck, and wept on his neck a good while_. Arrived in the land of the Pharaohs, five of Joseph’s brethren were introduced to the reigning monarch. They told him that they were shepherds, that they had come down into Egypt in consequence of the severity of the famine, and requested permission to settle as strangers and foreigners in Goshen, the most easterly frontier-land of Egypt, and offered to become guardians of the royal herds. Permission was granted, and Jacob himself was introduced to Pharaoh, and bestowed his blessing upon the monarch (Gen. xlvii. 1–10).

The period of Jacob’s own sojourning in the _land of Ham_ (Ps. cv. 23) was limited to seventeen years, at the close of which he had reached the age of 147, and perceived that his end was nigh. Informed that his father was sickening, Joseph brought his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh and placed them before his bedside. _Guiding his hands wittingly_, the aged patriarch stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though he was the firstborn. At this Joseph was displeased, and would have altered the disposition of his father’s hands. But Jacob refused, and with his hands as they were, bestowed upon the young men and their father his solemn and abiding blessing. Though born in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh were to be reckoned as his own sons, and would both grow into great tribes. But as it had been in Jacob’s own case, so would it be with them; _the younger brother would be greater than the elder, and his seed should become a multitude of nations_. Then turning to Joseph the Patriarch bestowed on him a special mark of affection, even _one portion above his brethren_, a piece of land which with _his sword and his bow_ he had conquered from the Amorites, probably outside the green vale of Shechem (Gen. xlviii. 22, Josh. xvii. 14, &c.).

And now the day drew nigh when the Patriarch’s eventful life must close. Wishing by virtue of the gift of prophecy, which gained greater power the nearer he approached the borders of the eternal world, to tell them that _which should befall them in the last days_, he desired that his sons might be summoned to his bedside. Obedient to his word, they gathered round him, and then in prophetic trance “but having his eyes open,” he beheld the mighty vision of the future, and predicted their several fortunes in the land, through which he himself had wandered as a pilgrim for more than one hundred years. First, before him stood Reuben, over whom in the tents of Laban he had rejoiced as _his firstborn, his might_, and _the beginning of his strength_. To him by the law of primogeniture belonged the headship of the family, and the double inheritance. But he had proved unworthy of his vocation. _Unstable as water, he should not excel._ Next in order of their birth came Simeon and Levi. Brethren of one mother, they had been also brethren in cruelty and deceit. In their conduct towards the Shechemites they had proved the fierceness of their anger, and the cruelty of their disposition. Unworthy were they to be the head of a nation which was to be a blessing and not a curse to all peoples of the earth, therefore were they to be _divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel_. Next came Judah, and to him the patriarch could assign a portion at least of the blessing of the firstborn. His should be the pre-eminence in power and dignity, him should _his brethren praise_, before him should _his father’s children bow down_; his should be the _Sceptre and the Lawgiver_, nor _from beneath his feet should they ever depart, till_ SHILOH, _the Peaceable_ or _Peace-maker came_[46] (Gen. xlix. 1–10).

Having thus transferred the privileges of the firstborn to Judah and predicted the fortunes of his other sons, the dying Patriarch once more solemnly adjured them, as he had already adjured Joseph, not to leave his bones in Egypt, but to carry them into the land of Hope and Promise, and lay them in the cave of Machpelah, in the family-grave of his fathers, and then he _gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost_. Obedient to such reiterated commands, Joseph caused his father’s body to be embalmed in the Egyptian fashion by the physicians, and obtained permission from Pharaoh to accompany his remains to the burial-place he had marked out for them. Then at the head of a numerous retinue, composed not only of the members of his own family, but also of the court-officers of Pharaoh, and the grandees of the empire, and accompanied by chariots and horsemen, he set out. The nearest road would have been by Gaza, and through the territory of the Philistines. Instead of this, the funeral procession took a long circuitous route round Mount Seir[47] and the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and halted at the threshing-floor of Atad, on the east side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. Here seven days were spent in solemn mourning, and so grievous was the lamentation that the Canaanites of the Jordan valley called the spot Abel-Mizraim, _the Meadow_, or _the Mourning of the Egyptians_. Further than this point the Egyptian retinue do not seem to have proceeded. The sons of Jacob alone crossed the Jordan, into the land of Canaan, and laid their father in the cave of Machpelah, by the side of Abram, Isaac, and Sarah (Gen. l. 1–13).

The funeral over, Joseph and his brethren returned to Egypt. Fearful now their father was dead that the Viceroy would requite them for all the evil they had done towards him, the sons of Jacob sent a messenger to intercede in their behalf. But Joseph calmed their fears, and assured them of safety and protection. Together, then, they dwelt in peace and security in the land of Goshen; and Joseph _saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation, and the children of Machir the son of Manasseh brought up upon his knees_. At length, when he had reached the age of 110, perceiving that his end was near, he sent for his brethren, and having assured them that God would certainly visit them, and bring them up out of Egypt into the land which He had promised to their forefathers, and taken an oath of them that they would remove his bones into the same Good Land, he died, and was embalmed, and laid in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. l. 26).

NOTE.

SURVEY OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE.

WITH the death of Joseph the Patriarchal Age of Israel’s history may be said to close. The _Family_ had now thrown out many branches, and was on the point of merging into the _Nation_. At this juncture, then, it may be well to look back, and review some of the chief features of Patriarchal Life.

i. And the first of these that claims attention is its _Nomadic character_. Unlike the founders of Egypt, of Babylon, of Nineveh, the Patriarchs were not the builders of cities and towns, but _pilgrims and sojourners, dwellers in tents_ (Heb. xi. 9). But they were very different from rude hordes, like the Amalekites and other “sons of the desert,” abhorring any higher mode of life. Abraham was no stranger to the highest form of civilization that his age afforded. He was acquainted with Ur, with Nineveh, with Damascus, with Egypt; he had left his home in one of the chief cities of Mesopotamia, not from choice, but in consequence of a direct personal call from God. Moreover, so far from regarding his present mode of life as an ultimate end, he and Isaac and Jacob, were ever looking forward to a time when it would close, when their descendants should be _settled_ in the Land of Promise, and become a great _nation_, when the portable _tent_ should give way to the _city that had foundations_ (Heb. xi. 10, 13–16; comp. Gen. xxiv. 7; xxviii. 4; xlix. 1–27; l. 24). Hence, from time to time, as opportunity offered, we see the wandering life freely and willingly laid aside. Lot settled in Sodom (Gen. xiii. 10–12); Abraham in Egypt went direct to Pharaoh’s court (Gen. xii. 14); at Hebron he settled and became a “prince of God” in the midst of the Hittites (Gen. xxiii. 6); Isaac not only lived near the Philistines, but occupied a _house_ opposite the palace (Gen. xxvi. 8), and practised _agriculture_ (Gen. xxvi. 12); and Joseph’s _dream of the sheaves_ points out that this was also continued in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxvii. 7)[48].

ii. The _Family_ was the centre of the Patriarchal commonwealth. Its head was the source of authority and jurisdiction; he possessed the power of life and death (Gen. xxxviii. 24); he united in himself the functions of chief and priest; he offered the burnt-offering; he had his armed retainers (Gen. xiv. 14; xlviii. 22; xxxiv. 25; xxxiii. 20); his intercourse with his wives (for polygamy was not forbidden) was free and unrestrained; the wife’s consent was asked before wedlock (Gen. xxiv. 57, 58); love hallowed the relations of Abraham with Sarah, of Isaac with Rebekah, of Jacob with Leah and Rachel; woman, indeed, did not occupy the position since conceded to her, but her position was far from degraded, and the sanctity of the marriage-bond was defended by severe laws, which made death the punishment for adultery (Gen. xxxviii. 24). Slavery, it is true, existed, but in the tents of Abraham the slave was ever treated with consideration, and not excluded from, but made a partaker of religious privileges (Gen. xvii. 13). The fidelity and attachment of Eliezer the steward of Abraham’s house, the mourning for Deborah Rebekah’s nurse (Gen. xxxv. 8), are pleasing proofs of the peace that reigned in the Patriarchal household.

iii. _Civilization._ The life of the Patriarchs was chiefly that of the shepherd, and their wealth mainly consisted in their flocks and their herds. But besides practising agriculture they were not unacquainted with money and the precious metals. Abraham paid for the field of Machpelah with coin (Gen. xxiii. 9–20), and the sons of Jacob took money with them into Egypt (Gen. xlii. 25, 35); while the gold ring and armlets presented to Rebekah by Eliezer (Gen. xxiv. 22), the bracelet and signet ring of Judah (Gen. xxxviii. 18), the ear-rings of Rachel (Gen. xxxv. 4), the many-coloured coat of Joseph, indicate an acquaintance with the luxuries of life.

iv. _Religion._ While other nations were rapidly learning to deify the powers of nature, the Patriarchs believed not only in a God above and beyond nature, but in a God Personal, Omnipotent, and Holy. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was no mere abstraction, no mere law. He could and did reveal Himself by angelic appearances, by visions, by dreams; He could console, strengthen, encourage; He could punish, rebuke, and on repentance forgive. Abraham, the _Friend of God_ (Jas. ii. 23), intercedes with Him in behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xviii. 23–33); Isaac is warned by Him against going down into Egypt (Gen. xxvi. 2); Jacob is consoled by Him at Bethel when setting out into the land of exile (Gen. xxviii. 13–15), and wrestles with Him by the fords of Jabbok till the break of day (Gen.