Contemplate Joseph now, then. He is at the right hand of Pharaoh; for that [[44]]monarch has said to him, “See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou.” Joseph had power now to “bind even princes at his pleasure;” and we cannot help contrasting the recent slave and prisoner with the friend and counsellor of royalty, united in the same person. He is adorned with Pharaoh’s ring, and with a chain of gold. If he has lost his coat of many colours, he wears the royal raiment of Egypt in its stead. He rides, moreover, in a chariot of state; and men, as we have seen, now cry before him, “Bow the knee.” Joseph is, in truth, all but royal; and though such things would not much affect him, if he was what we believe him to have been—that is, righteous before God—yet they do furnish [[45]]a vivid contrast to Joseph’s recent condition. They show us that when God over all has work to do, he will both find agents and gift them with the means of accomplishing his purposes. Man seeks to withdraw himself and his affairs entirely from the control of the Supreme; but he bridles, fetters, or gives liberty, according to his pleasure; and blessed are they who are his willing people.
And who could not quote a hundred such examples as that of Joseph from the history of the past? Nay, may not every man who has had wisdom to watch the ways of God in dealing with his own soul, single out examples of similar wisdom in the providence of the Holy One? It may be for retribution on the guilty, or for encouragement to the men who fear God; but whatever be the design, many signal examples are recorded, to show that God [[46]]watches over all human plans, guiding and controlling them, so as to promote the good pleasure of his will. Man proposes, but God disposes; and he that is wise to mark the wisdom of the Supreme in such things, will not want for proof of the loving-kindness of the Lord. During a recent memorable siege in the East, for example, it was the design of hordes of dark-souled men to explode a mine, and blow their beleaguered victims into the air; but that mine was prematurely fired, and destroyed only those emissaries of evil who dug it. Now, this is only a specimen of what takes place in the providence of God; at least that mine at Lucknow was morally anticipated in the selling of Joseph by his brethren, and his exaltation to the right hand of Pharaoh by God, compared with their humiliation before him at last. [[47]]
Further: we need only to look forward to the closing scene of all, the last and great Assize, to see examples countless of this general law! What multitudes then will be seen to have been caught in their own pitfall! How manifest will it then become that God was over all, even when men were asking, like Pharaoh of old, “Who is the Lord, that I should fear him?” Now, this may well supply strength to every tried one. God may permit sorrow to assail; but do we, in godly sincerity, commit our way to him? Then glory will emerge from that threatened shame; and grief, as in Joseph’s case, will be found the precursor of joy everlasting.
[[48]]
CHAPTER VI.
“YE ARE SPIES.”
The history of Joseph now becomes more and more a history of the triumph of faith over sight, or holiness over sin. Hitherto transgressors have seemed to prosper in their way, and only the godly were depressed. But now we are to see the Holy One vindicating the rights of injured innocence, and more and more plainly proclaiming that the Judge of all the earth will do right. May we not exclaim, then,—