THE CLOSE OF A NOBLE LIFE.
-GEN. 50:15-26.-NOV. 3.-
“So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom.”-Psa. 90:3.
JACOB was a hundred
and thirty years old when his sons returned with news of Joseph’s greatness in
the land of Egypt. His joy at hearing that his son was still alive, and now
great, was off-set by the natural weakness of his advanced years. Hence he
could scarcely trust himself to believe the report, even with the explanation
given by his sons, of how they had sold Joseph into slavery, and had besmeared
his coat with blood for their father’s deception, twenty-two years before.
However, the story of his sons was well attested by the royal present which
Joseph had sent to him, and by the Egyptian wagons sent to bear him and the
family as comfortably as possible in the journey. These wagons were doubtless
the carriages of that day, workmanship in that line not having advanced to
present proficiency. Jacob was persuaded, and started on the journey, during
which he offered sacrifices to the Lord, possibly questioning in his own mind
the wisdom of thus leaving the land of promise, and whether or not it might be
interpreted of the Lord as an abandonment of his faith, or a relinquishment of
the blessing which from earliest childhood had centered and directed his course
of life.
The Lord answered his query, and his sacrifices (probably by a dream) assuring
him that he was taking the proper course in going into Egypt, and that
ultimately his posterity should come again into “the land of promise.” The
spiritual Israelite should thus have in view at all times that which by his
covenant has become the center of his life, the center of his interest, of his
hopes and of his aims-the Abrahamic covenant and his share therein. He, too,
must be on the look-out lest there shall be deceptions of the Adversary
combined with earthly prosperity and the world’s favor. When we are undergoing
disadvantages or persecutions we are in much less danger than when the tide of
worldly prosperity sets in our direction. Let us remember at such times to go
often to the Lord, to seek to know his will, fully, completely; to bring to
mind our covenant and its value, as above all earthly considerations. And let
us offer unto the Lord the true sacrifice-presenting the merits of our dear
Redeemer’s sacrifice as the ground of our acceptance, repeating the full
devotion of our hearts-renewing our covenant. This is the only safe way in
this pilgrim journey.
We pass hastily over the narrative of the presentation of Jacob and Joseph’s
brethren to Pharaoh, and their settlement in the land of Goshen. After they
had resided there seventeen years (Gen. 47:28) Jacob died, was buried with all
the ceremonials common to the Egyptian court, because he was a relative of
Pharaoh’s representative. And it is here that our lesson proper begins.
Joseph’s brothers judged him to have a disposition considerably like their own;
they could not believe him to be thoroughly generous and forgiving, and though
they acknowledged his kindness toward them, they said to themselves, This was
merely on account of our father Jacob, and not on our account, and now that our
father is dead Joseph will treat us differently. It was because moved with
such feelings that they first sent a messenger to Joseph, and afterward
followed themselves into his presence, to ask his mercy and to declare
themselves willing to be his servants.
It strikes us that this well illustrates the condition of many who come to the
Lord with an insufficiency of faith. They are convinced of his mercy toward
them, and yet are always fearful. The truth is that they do not know him; they
think of him as moved by like passions with themselves, more or less depraved,
more or less controlled by animosity. It is an evidence of growth in grace
when we come to that place in our experiences where, admitting our own guilt
and unworthiness of divine favor we have, nevertheless, become so intimately
acquainted with the Lord as to have a full assurance of faith in his
declaration that our sins are forgiven. It is to such a development of grace
that the Lord referred, saying, “This is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3.)
But such a knowledge is not to be obtained instantaneously, but rather
is to be the result of a growth in grace; for we grow in grace as we grow
in knowledge, and we grow in knowledge as we grow in grace;-the two
keeping pace, the one with the other, as do our feet in walking. It is
because the majority who have named the name of Christ do not grow in grace and
in knowledge that they fail to attain to that grand condition of which the
Apostle speaks as “full assurance of faith”-full confidence in the Lord, in his
goodness, in his wisdom, in his love, in his providential care over all
of their affairs. And the lack of such growth is owing to their failure to
offer their sacrifices unto the Lord-to commit all of their ways to him.
Joseph’s answer to his brethren was most noble, and gives good evidence that
his conduct was not merely an outward profession, but the result of an
established character. He did not even say to himself, My brothers have
misunderstood me, but though I freely forgive them I will use their fear as a
stepping stone to greater power over them, and will say to them, I will do you
no harm, but on the contrary treat you most kindly, as long as you are fully
obedient to me, and send me presents yearly, or give me tithes of your
increase, or come annually to make obeisance before me, and to acknowledge
afresh your wrong, and to confess my generosity. No; he had too noble a
character for this; he was too unselfish. On the contrary, he said,
“Fear not; for am I in the place of God?” The secret of his right course with
his brethren was the correct view which he took of the matter himself; he saw
himself as merely God’s servant in dealing with his brethren, and in all
things. He saw that God’s providence had been in the whole affair. How could
he think otherwise? He saw the fulfillment of his inspired dreams; he had
noted the miraculous leading of divine providence in the various steps by which
he had been led from slavery to the throne of Egypt; he probably reflected that
if now he should either do evil toward his brethren, or think unkindly
of them, he would be casting a reflection upon one of the instrumentalities
which God had used for his blessing. He could not do this and be loyal to and
appreciative of divine power, and he communicated to his brothers for their
encouragement and comfort this thought; that although they had purposed evil,
and had done evil, nevertheless the thing really done was a good thing, but for
which they deserved no credit, but discredit, and God all the honor. He would
have them see that this was the basis of his dealing with them, and that he
felt not the slightest animosity, but a full appreciation of the divine
blessing, which had come through their course.
How great a blessing it would be for all spiritual
Israelites to learn well this lesson; viz., that if we accept the results of
any matter as being good, and if we realize that we were guided to those
results by divine providence, we should think and feel most generously, most
kindly, toward those who were the instruments used by providence,
notwithstanding the fact that they might have been unwilling instructors, or,
like Joseph’s brethren, have verily intended opposite results. Those who are
enabled to take such a view of affairs and forces operating in their daily lives
are enabled “always to triumph through the Lord,” as the Apostle expresses it.
And such find no room for bitterness or
railing, either against Satan or against any of his servants. 2 Cor.
2:14; Jude 9.
This does not mean that they call the evil course good; nor that they will or
should have any sympathy with the evil course; nor with the evil motives
inspiring it; nor with the evil persons, so long as they are in harmony with
the evil motives and evil course. But it does mean that their minds will be so
filled with the thought of divine supervision in their affairs, and how
all the time they were safe under the protecting care, the shadow of the
Almighty, and that all things are working for their good, however they
outwardly appear, that they will not have any bitterness whatever, either of
word or of heart, toward those who attempted to, and outwardly did, do them
evil, but whose evil intentions and conduct were overruled by the Almighty. In
proportion as the Lord’s people get into the large place where they can take a
broad view of the situation, in that same proportion will they find themselves
not only delivered from anger and malice and hatred and strife toward their
opponents, but instead, possessed of “the peace of God which passeth all
understanding,” ruling in their hearts, keeping them secure amidst all of the
storms and vicissitudes of life-because their anchor holds within the vail.
They have “set to their seal that the Lord is true,” and hence can rejoice
always.
Not only was Joseph’s course the right one in the sight of God, the noble one
in the sight of all right-minded people, the blessed one as respected his
brothers, their comfort, their peace, their love toward him,-but it was in every
sense the proper and the best course as respected his own peace, joy,
blessing. When he allayed their fears and comforted them, and spake kindly
unto them, and promised them and their families the same care as when their
father lived, he was taking also the course which must have brought the
greatest blessing and comfort to his own heart. All
do not know it, but it is a fact that the grandest quality that man can
exercise, and the one which brings the largest amount of blessing itself, is
the exercise of the God-like quality of mercy, compassion, benevolence.
Those of spiritual Israel who have not practiced in this direction are not far
advanced in spiritual development, and those who have practiced realize the
truthfulness of the Lord’s words, “Blessed are the merciful,” and “Blessed are
the peacemakers.”
The next few verses of our lesson cover the period of fifty-four years from the
death of Jacob to the death of Joseph; and give us comparatively little
information, except that they give fresh evidence that the basis of Joseph’s
strength of character and fidelity to principle which carried him safely
through the vicissitudes of his remarkable experience was faith in God-faith in
the Abrahamic promise. And so we find it to-day, and all through the past, so
far as we are able to decipher the teachings of history; those who have been
the Lord’s faithful people, have all been inspired by the hope set before us in
the gospel. This is the hope of which the Apostle speaks, saying that it is
“an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast;”-it holds firm and secure in the
storms and difficulties of life, and prevents the wrecking of our lives upon
the rocks of sin, deception, doubt, selfishness, etc.
Who can doubt that it was Joseph’s respect unto the divine promise that kept
him faithful as Potiphar’s steward, again in the prison, and again as Pharaoh’s
representative in the throne? In proportion as heavenly promises are before
our minds, earthly and selfish ambitions are dwarfed and lose their power over
us. Joseph’s eye of faith, centered upon God’s promise to Abraham and upon the
land of Canaan, exercised a potent influence, because he realized that to be a
friend of God, and an heir of God’s promises, called for a purity of heart and
of life which God could approve. Looking back he saw the influence of these
promises upon his great grandfather, Abraham, upon his grandfather, Isaac, and
upon his father Jacob, and we see that the same promise controlled him to his
great advantage. The people who today become enamored of wealth and of
position and of power, so that they would be willing to sacrifice principles of
justice and of truth that they might selfishly grasp these, thereby give
evidence that they lack the power of the truth, the power of the Abrahamic
promise, to control them and their lives. Had the Abrahamic promise not been
forceful and weighty in the mind of Joseph he might have been plotting and
scheming for the throne of Egypt or to have obtained the mastery over his own
brethren; but realizing that God was behind the promise he was waiting
patiently for that, as the greatest and most wonderful blessing conceivable-far
beyond the things which he could have grasped, and the grasping of which would
have meant his relinquishment of God’s Promise. Not, however, that he expected
to go up out of Egypt into the land of Canaan himself; for he evidently knew,
and it probably came down to us through him, that God had appeared to Abraham,
and told him that his posterity should be in Egypt, and be evilly treated
there, and that the period of their sojourn would be four hundred years.
Joseph’s hope in God and in that Abrahamic promise must have been, therefore, a
hope through a resurrection of the dead; and although it taught a
valuable lesson, it was doubtless because of his imperfect understanding of the
resurrection, and the power of God, that he so particularly gave commandment
respecting the carrying up of his bones out of Egypt into Canaan, when the time
of God’s favor should come, and Israel should be delivered. And so must the
spiritual Israelite have his mind centered in the future fulfillment of the
divine promises, through a resurrection of the dead, if he would be
delivered from the worldly influences of this present time, and be kept loyal
to the Lord and to the highest principles of character. This faith in a future
kingdom, future honor, future riches, future glory, dwarfs into insignificance
the honor and glory and wealth of this present time, and makes all true
believers separate from the world in these respects, and thus prepares them to
think of the affairs of this present time from a more just and more equitable
and dispassionate standpoint-they are removed from the immediate influence of
selfishness in its most powerful forms, even though they still find,
notwithstanding their faith in the promises, the necessity for keeping the body
under, and mortifying its natural disposition toward selfishness.
Our Golden Text is appropriate to the lesson, and every way worthy of
the attention of the spiritual Israelite. We know that our days are numbered
as respects the present life. We know that we need not expect eternal life
under present conditions, and thus far the world and the Christian are on a
common level; but here they part, the one saying to himself, “Life is short,
and I must grasp and use it for myself, the best I can.” The other, with a
higher wisdom, that cometh from above, realizes his own inability and
insufficiency, heeds the message from the Lord respecting an eternal life
beyond the tomb-the resurrection life, and goes to the Lord, petitioning for
wisdom respecting the life that now is, as well as that which is to come.
In answer to his petitions he is taught of God in the experience of life to
more and more appreciate the eternal, the everlasting life, and to spend time
and energy in building up such a character as would be pleasing to his Creator,
and bring the reward of “life everlasting.” The
Christian, in numbering his days, does not do so with a doleful or disconsolate
sentiment, although he does so with sobriety. He counts the days as they
go as so many blessings, so many privileges, so many opportunities to “show
forth the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light,” to render assistance to others in the
pilgrim journey, and to develop in himself more and more of the character
pleasing in the sight of God,-to become more and more a copy of God’s dear Son.
As he numbers the days gliding swiftly by, and perceives how he is using them
in harmony with the divine instructions, he ultimately comes to that condition of
heart in which he is longing for the Kingdom and the full attainment of all the
glories into which he hopes to be ushered, as a sharer in the first (chief) resurrection.
And from this standpoint he numbers the days as they go by joyfully, and is
glad when the days of the years of his present pilgrimage end; because
his hope in the Lord, and in the gracious features of his plan, is growing
daily stronger, clearer and brighter.