DISCOURSE XLVIII. JOSEPH'S ADVANCEMENT. Gen. xli. VER. 1-14. HOPE deferred maketh the heart sick. It is not the intenseness of our trials, but the duration of them, that is the greatest test of patience. Two full years longer must Joseph remain in prison. How long he was at the house of Potiphar before he was sent to this dismal place, I do not recollect that we are informed; but we learn that it was thirteen years in the whole for when he came out of Canaan he was but seventeen, and was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh. God seldom makes haste to accomplish his designs. His movements, like those of a comet, fetch a large compass, but all comes right at last. The time is now come for Joseph's advancement, and God makes way for it by causing Pharaoh himself to dream. Abraham made a point of not laying himself under obligation to the king of Sodom; and though Joseph, in the grief of his soul, would gladly have been obliged to both Pharaoh and the butler for his deliverance, yet God will so order it that he shall be obliged to neither of them. Pharaoh shall send for him: but it shall be for his own sake. Though a poor friendless young man himself, yet he is a servant of the great King, and must maintain the honour of his Lord. might be for this that God suffered the butler to forget him, that he might not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet what was theirs, and that the king of Egypt might not have to say, I have made Israel rich. Abraham and his posterity were made to impart blessedness to mankind, rather than to receive it from them. It If it be more blessed to give than to receive, theirs it is to be thus blessed, and thus honoured. Oh, the depth of the wisdom and goodness of God; not only in giving, but in withholding his gifts till the time when they shall best subserve the ends for which they are conferred! And now that the set time to favour Joseph is come, events rise in quick succession. Pharaoh's mind is impressed with an extraordinary dream-the same is repeated in another form-each appears to portend something of importance-his spirit is troubled -he sends for his magicians, and wise men ; but their wisdom fails them all are nonplused-what is to be done ?-Just now it occurs to the butler, that this had once been his own case-' Oh, and I have forgotten my kind and worthy friend! Stupid creature! That is the man for the king.'—Obtaining an audience he confesses the whole truth, and ingenuously acknowledges his faults. Joseph is now sent for in haste.-He shaves himself, changes his raiment, and obeys the summons. Thus, in a few hours, he is delivered from the dungeon, and introduced to the court of what was then perhaps the first nation upon earth. Were we acquainted with the event, with what anxious solicitude should we follow him; and even as it is, we cannot wholly divest our selves of these feelings. Ver. 15-24. Being introduced to the king, he is told for what cause he is sent for. I have, said Pharaoh, dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream, to interpret it. The meaning of this was, that he had a case in hand which baffled all the wise men of Egypt, but that from what he had heard of Joseph, he supposed he might be a wiser man, or more deeply skilled in occult science, than any of them. Such a compliment from a king would have been too much for a vain mind: if he had affected to disclaim superior wisdom, it would have been done in a manner which betrayed what lurked within. But Joseph feared God; and is the same man in a palace as in a prison. It is not in me, said he, God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. In this brief answer we see a spirit of genuine humility, disclaiming all that kind of wisdom for which Pharaoh seemed very willing to give him credit, or indeed any other, but what God gave him. We see also a disinterested concern to glorify the true God, in the face of the mightiest votaries of idolatry, who had power to do what they pleased with him. It is observable, he does not say the God of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, or the God of the Hebrews. Such language might have been understood by Pharaoh and his courtiers as setting up one titular deity in opposition to others, the God of his country against the gods of Egypt: but he simply says GOD; a term which would lead their thoughts to the One great Supreme, before whom all idols would fall to the ground. Thus, with great wisdom, modesty, and firmness, he states truth, and leaves error to fall of its own accord. In assuring Pharaoh that God would give him an answer of peace, he would remove all fear from his mind of an unfavourable interpretation, which, from the butler's report, he might have some reason to apprehend; inasmuch as though he had foretold his restoration to office, yet he had prophetically hanged the chief baker. Pharaoh's mind being thus relieved and encouraged, he without farther hesitation proceeds to tell his dreams of the fat and leanfleshed kine, and of the rank and withered ears of corn. Ver. 25-31. The answer of Joseph is worthy of the man of God. You perceive no shuffling to gain time, no juggling, no peeping and muttering, no words of dark or doubtful meaning : all is clear as light, and explicit as the day. The dreams are one; and they were sent of God to forewarn the king of what he would shortly bring to pass. The seven good kine, and the seven good ears, are seven years of plenty; and the seven evil kine, and thin ears, are seven years of famine. And the reason of the dream being doubled is to express its certainty, and the near approach of the events signified by it.' Ver. 32-36. Having made the matter plain, and so relieved the king's mind, he does not conclude without offering a word of counsel; the substance of which was to provide from the surplus of the seven good years, for the supply of the seven succeeding ones. If he had only interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, he might have gratified his curiosity, but that had been all. Knowledge is of but little use, any farther than as it is converted into practice. VOL. V. 42 With respect to the advice itself, it carried with it its own recommendation. It was no more than what common prudence would have dictated to any people. If they had doubted Joseph's interpretation of the dreams, and whether any such years of plenty and of scarcity would follow, yet they could not, even upon this supposition, object to his counsel: for nothing was to be expended, nor done, but upon the actual occurrence of the plenteous years; which, as they were to come first, afforded an opportunity of which wisdom would have availed itself, if there had been no dreams in the case, to provide for a time of want. Nor is there any reason, from what we know of Joseph's character, to suspect him of interested designs, like those of Haman, who wished to recommend himself. He appears to have had no end in view but the good of the country where God had caused him to sojourn. Ver. 37, 38. Happily for Egypt, Pharaoh and his ministry saw the propriety of what was offered, and readily came into it. It is a sign that God has mercy in store for that people whose rulers are open to receive good counsel, and know how to appreciate the worth of good men. As Joseph had recommended a wise man to be employed in the business, Pharaoh without farther hesitation appeals to his courtiers, whether any man in Egypt was so fit for the work as himself. A man who had not only proved himself wise in counsel, but had also intercourse with GOD, and was inspired of him to reveal the secrets of futurity. Such language proves that Joseph's mentioning the true God to Pharaoh had not been without effect. To this, however, the courtiers make no answer. If they felt a little jealous of this young foreigner, it were not to be wondered at. Such were the feelings of the Babylonish nobles towards Daniel. It were easier to see the goodness of the counsel which left a hope to each man of a new office, than to see that Joseph was the only man in the land that could execute it. They knew very well, that they had not, like him, the Spirit of God ; but might think themselves capable, nevertheless, of managing this business. However, they silently acquiesce ; and Pharaoh proceeds without delay to carry his purposes into effect. Ver. 39-45. And now all power, except that which is supreme, is put into his hands, over the house and over the nation; 1 and as the courtiers had probably discovered a secret reluctance, Pharaoh repeats his determination the more earnestly, that as the dream had been repeated to him, the thing might be established, and immediately put in execution. To words were added signs, which tended to fix his authority in the minds of the people. The king took his ring from his hand, and put it upon the hand of Joseph, clothed him in fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. Nor was this all; he caused him to ride in the second chariot through the streets of the city, and that it should be proclaimed before him, Bow the knee, or Tender father. The Chaldee translates it, as Ainsworth observes, "The father of the king, master in wisdom, and tender in years;"-as who should say, Though a youth in age, yet a father in character. In addition to this, Pharaoh uses a very solemn form of speech, such as that which is prefixed or affixed to many of the divine commands: I am Pharaoh; and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt!* Finally to crown him with respect he gave him a new name, the meaning of which was, a revealer of secrets; and the daughter of a priest, or prince, to be his wife. Pause a moment, my brethren, and reflect. ... Who, in reading the preceding sufferings and present advancement of Joseph, can forbear thinking of HIM, who, for the suffering of death, was crowned with glory and honour?-Whom God hath highly exalted, giving him a name which is above every name; that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father? Surely it was the design of God, by these sweet analogies, to lead the minds of believers imperceptibly on, that when the Messiah should come, they might see him in perfection, in their Josephs, and Joshuas, and Davids, as well as their sacrifices, their cities of refuge, and their jubilees. Ver. 46-49. Joseph being thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, was just suited for active life. At such a period, however, and raised from such a situation, many would have been * See Lev. xix. |