  JOSEPH'S BROTHERS. FIRST READING.
JOSEPH did not always stay in prison, for God gave him wisdom to tell the king of Egypt that his dreams had meant that there were going to be first seven years of very fine harvests, and then seven years would come of no harvests at all. So the king took him out of prison, and made him a great lord; and he set to work to buy the corn that was over and above what people wanted to eat in the years of plenty, that he might store it up against the years when the corn would not grow. So when the bad harvest began, Joseph had plenty of corn, and he sold it for the king to all who wanted it. The famine was not only in Egypt, but in all the countries round; and by-and-by Joseph saw, among the people that came to buy, ten of his own brothers—the same who had sold him for a slave. He knew them, for they still looked like shepherds; but they did not know him, for he had grown from a youth to a man, and was dressed like an Egyptian lord; and he would not seem to know them, though he wanted much to know what had become of his old father and his little brother Benjamin. He made as if he thought they were enemies, come to see if Egypt could be conquered when it was so bare of food. Then they told him who they were; that they were all one man's sons, and that one brother they had lost; the other was left Then, when fear and trouble came on them, they began to think how ill they had used their lost brother Joseph; and they said to each other, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother." Joseph heard them, and could hardly bear it; but still he kept to his plan. He kept Simeon a prisoner, that he might be sure of the others coming back, and sent them home to fetch Benjamin. But he would not have any of the money they had brought for the corn, and made his steward put it all back into the mouth of their sacks. JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH'S DREAM.—Gen. 41:29, 30. When they found this out as they went home, they were much afraid; and when they came home, their father was more afraid still. After the way they had used Joseph, he thought they had killed Simeon, and wanted to kill Benjamin. They spoke truth now, but he could not believe them; and he said he could not send QUESTIONS.
SECOND READING.
JOSEPH'S brothers were soon obliged to go again and buy more corn in Egypt. Joseph had said they must bring the young brother they had told him of, or he should not believe their story; and when they said Benjamin must go, their father Jacob was greatly grieved, and showed how little he could trust them now, after the way they had behaved to Joseph. He would not have let Benjamin go at all if Judah had not promised to take the greatest care of him; and Judah could be trusted. The story is so beautiful, and so easy to understand in the Bible, that I hardly like to tell it in my own words. Only think of Joseph's heart being so full when he saw his own dear youngest brother, that he could not stay with him for his tears, and went away to weep in his chamber! And yet he still tried the brothers. He wanted to see if they still were envious of the one their father loved best; so he made his steward hide his cup in Benjamin's sack of corn, and then go after them, and pretend to think they had stolen it. The sons of Jacob were no thieves, and they said the steward might search their sacks. They took them down and looked, and there was the cup in Benjamin's sack! They were all shocked; and the steward said that Benjamin must go back and be punished. How pleased they would have been long ago if such a misfortune had happened to Joseph! But now their hearts were changed, and they were shocked and grieved. JOSEPH PROCLAIMED RULER OVER EGYPT.—Gen. 41:41, 43. QUESTIONS.
THIRD READING.
ALL the eleven sons of Jacob turned back in grief, and fear, and dismay, when Benjamin, the youngest brother, whom Judah had promised to bring safely back to their father, was found to have the silver cup of the lord of the land in his sack. How it came there they could not guess, but they knew that their father's heart would break if they came home and left Benjamin to be a slave. So they all came to the lord of the land; and Judah stood up before the strange, stern, princely man, and told him how much their old father loved this youngest son, and he would be sure to die if the lad did not come home safe. And then Judah begged to stay and be a slave in Egypt, instead of his brother Benjamin, for he said if mischief befell the lad his father would die, and that he could not bear to see. JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN.—Gen. 45:2. But when Judah so spake, the lord of the land sent all the lookers-on away, and wept aloud, and said that he was their own brother Joseph, whom they had sold so long ago. He would not let them be afraid; he embraced them all and wept for joy, and asked for his father. Then he told them not to grieve for what had gone before; for God had turned it all to good, and made him be the means of saving all their lives, by storing up the corn in Egypt. JOSEPH MEETING HIS FATHER.—Gen. 46:29, 30. And now they were to go home, and tell Jacob, their father, that Joseph was still alive, and was a great and powerful man; and they were to fetch old Jacob, their father, and their wives and their children, and all they had, and come to live with Joseph in Egypt, where he would take care of them. That was the way Joseph forgot all the ill his brothers had done to him, and forgave them, and loved them with all his heart. When the brothers came home, their father Jacob could scarcely believe such good news; but at last he said, "Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go to see him before I die." And he came down to Egypt, and Joseph met him and fell on his neck and kissed him; and then there was joy indeed, joy as if Joseph had come back from the dead. So Jacob lived all the rest of his life in Egypt, and was happy with his son Joseph. God had given him another name, Israel, and his sons, and their sons after them, were always called the children of Israel. QUESTIONS.
LEATHER BOTTLES. |
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