But the scene at which Joseph made himself known to his brethren deserves our closer attention. He wept sore, and so loudly that the Egyptians heard him. [[69]]A strange thing that day had happened in their land; and it is not easy to conceive of the feelings of those brethren when the ruler, so royal-like, beside them, exclaimed, “I am Joseph!” Surely no lightning flash ever startled more. The words of Nathan to David, “Thou art the man!” could produce no profounder emotion. In that one clause the memory of years long past was awakened; and surely the consciences of those men were busier now than they had ever been before: surely the blush of confusion might well crimson their cheeks, and the recollection of all their baseness—their cruelty to their father, their brother, and their own souls—would rush upon their minds with the vividness of a yesterday’s event. “They were troubled at his presence”—the margin says “terrified.” And well they might; it was as if one had risen from the dead, or as if a miracle [[70]]had been wrought to confront them with their sin. When he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt!” would not the words sound like the first portion of a sentence of death and execution? But he hastened to relieve their fears. “Be not grieved,” he said, “nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life.” And when he “kissed all his brethren, and wept over them,” they no doubt felt a mountain-load lifted from their minds. Joseph had forgiven them; nay, more, he had found an excuse or palliation for their sin. But could they forgive themselves? If they were not utterly abandoned to guilt—and we know that they were not—could they find rest anywhere but in the dust at that solemn, searching moment? Oh, how would many, now undone and beyond hope for ever, rejoice [[71]]could such an hour of contrition be granted to them here!
Here, then, we may contemplate the state of these detected men, when their sin was pressed upon their notice by their brother, all kind and forgiving as were his words. The chief sin of all—the sale into slavery—had been committed many years before: it seemed over and forgotten, like a thing buried and out of sight. But no; sin has a vitality in it which defies alike oblivion and death; it is enduring, as the nature of God is unchanging; and the guilty brothers are thus confronted with their sin, fresh and vigorous, as if yesterday had seen it perpetrated. And is not this but a rehearsal or a foreshadowing of the great and final day, when the Judge of the quick and the dead is to set our sins in array against us, or when it will seem a relief if the mountains would fall on us [[72]]and cover us from the wrath of the Lamb? Happy the man who has his soul washed in the Lamb’s blood preparatory to that day! We should never forget that there is to be a resurrection of our deeds as well as of our bodies, and should live so as to be ready to render our account with joy.
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CHAPTER IX.
THE MEETING OF JACOB AND JOSEPH.
If we have witnessed one scene of affection when Joseph embraced his brother Benjamin, we are now to behold another, when the patriarch Jacob meets with his long lost son. We are often permitted, even in this life, to see joy and gladness according to the days in which we have seen grief; and an example of that is at hand.
After the interview between Joseph and his brethren, matters were soon arranged for transferring them and all their retinue to Egypt,—another important stage in the [[74]]development of God’s plans with our world. Pharaoh confirmed the request of his viceroy to that effect, so that the patriarchs and their father with them were invited to settle in one of the richest portions of Egypt. Among these migratory tribes of herdsmen—who literally had no continuing city—such a removal was not so remarkable as a similar thing would be in our country of more fixed habits; and the whole house of Jacob was accordingly soon in motion toward Egypt. “It is enough,” he exclaimed, when the invitation reached him; “Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die;” and the threescore and six souls, who composed his household, of course followed in his train.