Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Genesis 40:17

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Joseph’s rise to power (39:1-41:57)

In contrast to Judah, Joseph was blameless in his behaviour in Egypt. Soon he was placed in charge of Potiphar’s household (39:1-6). When he rejected the immoral invitations of Potiphar’s wife, she turned against him bitterly and had him thrown into prison (7-20). Again his behaviour was blameless, and soon he was given a position of responsibility over the other prisoners (21-23).
Among the prisoners who later joined Joseph were two of Pharaoh’s palace officials (40:1-4). One night they both had unusual dreams and, believing the dreams foretold something, told their dreams to Joseph. Joseph predicted that within three days one of the officials would be restored to his former position and the other executed (5-19). The predictions came true, but the restored official failed to do as Joseph requested and bring Joseph’s case to Pharaoh’s attention (20-23; cf. v. 14-15).
Two years later, when Pharaoh described some puzzling dreams to his palace advisers, the restored official for the first time told the king about Joseph (41:1-13). As a result Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who interpreted the dreams as meaning that Egypt would have seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine (14-32). Joseph added a recommendation of his own that would ensure a constant food supply throughout the fourteen years (33-36).
Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he made him not only administrator of the program but governor of all Egypt (37-44). The thirteen years Joseph spent as a slave and a prisoner (cf. v. 46 with 37:2) taught him much about practical wisdom and dependence on God, qualities that would now help him considerably in his government of Egypt. He married an Egyptian and had two sons by her (45-52). When the famine came, Egypt alone was prepared for it, and people travelled there from other countries to buy food (53-57).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

- Joseph in Prison

An uncomplaining patience and an unhesitating hopefulness keep the breast of Joseph in calm tranquillity. There is a God above, and that God is with him. His soul swerves not from this feeling. Meanwhile, new and distinguished prisoners are introduced into his place of confinement.

Genesis 40:1-4

The chief butler and chief baker, high officials in Pharaoh’s court, come under the displeasure of their sovereign. “In the house of the captain of the guards.” It appears that this officer’s establishment contained the keep in which Joseph and these criminals were confined. “Charged Joseph with them.” As Joseph was his slave, and these were state prisoners, he appointed him to wait upon them. It is probable that Joseph’s character had been somewhat re-established with him during his residence in the prison.

Genesis 40:5-8

These prisoners dream, “each according to the interpretation of his dream,” the imagery of which was suited to indicate his future state. They were sad - anxious to know the meaning of these impressive dreams. “Why are your forces bad today?” Joseph keeps up his character of frank composure. “Do not interpretations belong to God?” In his past history he had learned that dreams themselves come from God. And when he adds, “Tell them now to me,” he intimates that God would enable him to interpret their dreams. Here again he uses the general name of God, which was common to him with the pagan.

Genesis 40:9-15

The chief butler now recites his dream. “Pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup.” The imagery of the dream is not intended to intimate that Pharaoh drank only the fresh juice of the grape. It only expresses by a natural figure the source of wine, and possibly the duty of the chief butler to understand and superintend the whole process of its formation. Egypt was not only a corn, but a vine country. The interpretation of this dream was very obvious and natural; yet not without a divine intimation could it be known that the “three branches were three days.” Joseph, in the quiet confidence that his interpretation would prove correct, begs the chief butler to remember him and endeavor to procure his release. “Stolen, stolen was I.” He assures him that he was not a criminal, and that his enslavement was an act of wrongful violence - a robbery by the strong hand. “From the land of the Hebrews;” a very remarkable expression, as it strongly favors the presumption that the Hebrews inhabited the country before Kenaan took possession of it. “I have not done aught.” Joseph pleads innocence, and claims liberation, not as an unmerited favor, but as a right. “The pit.” The pit without water seems to have been the primitive place of confinement for culprits.

Genesis 40:16-19

The chief baker is encouraged by this interpretation to tell his dream. “I also.” He anticipates a favorable answer, from the remarkable likeness of the dreams. “On my head.” It appears from the monuments of Egypt that it was the custom for men to carry articles on their heads. “All manner of baked meats” were also characteristic of a corn country. “Lift up thy head from upon thee.” This part of the interpretation proves its divine origin. And hang thee - thy body, after being beheaded. This was a constant warning to all beholders.

Genesis 40:20-23

The interpretations prove correct. “The birthday of Pharaoh.” It is natural and proper for men to celebrate with thanksgiving the day of their birth, as life is a pure and positive blessing. The benign Creator gives only a happy and precious form of existence to those whom he endows with the capacity of estimating its value. A birthday feast cannot be without a chief butler and a chief baker, and hence, the fate of these criminals must be promptly decided. “Lifted up the head;” a phrase of double meaning. The chief butler remembers not Joseph. This is a case of frequent occurrence in this nether world. But there is One above who does not forget him. He will deliver him at the proper time.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 40

For the correlating audio message go to Chapter 39 It came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers ( Genesis 40:1-2 ). So these guys were pretty topnotch honchos, the chief of the butlers, the chief of the bakers, but somehow they got in trouble with the Pharaoh. Now it could be that the Pharaoh discovered a plot to kill him. It could be that the taster, the butler was bringing him the bread and that the taster eating the bread dropped over dead. And so he doesn't know if the butler slipped it in to the already baked loaf or if the baker did it. So he has them both thrown into prison until he can find out who the guilty party is. And so the investigation is going on while both of these men are in prison. And he put them in the ward in the house of the captain of the guard, unto the prison, the place where Joseph was bound ( Genesis 40:3 ). So they were sent into the same prison where Joseph was. Now it is interesting it is called the prison of the captain of the guard. We are told earlier in the story that the captain of the guard was none other than Potiphar. So it could be that Joseph was actually put in Potiphar's prison. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued for a while in the prison ward. And they dreamed a dream both of them in one night, and each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, they were bound in the prison. And Joseph came to them in the morning, and he looked at them, and they were sad ( Genesis 40:4-6 ). He was very-Joseph was a very understanding, perceptive person. He asked the Pharaoh's officers that were with him there in the ward of the lord's house, saying, Hey, how come you guys look so sad today? And they said to him, Oh, we've had some weird dreams, and there is no one to interpret them. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me, I pray you. What did you dream? And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, he said, In my dream, behold, there was a vine before me; the vine there were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and there were blossoms shot forth; and clusters of grapes, ripe grapes: and the Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into the Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup to the Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: within three days the Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your place: and you will deliver the Pharaoh's cup into his hand, in the former manner when you were his butler. But hey, when this happens, remember me, think about me that it might be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, to get me out of this place ( Genesis 40:7-14 ): So Joseph is interpreting his dream saying, "Hey, you're going to be back serving the Pharaoh again. But when you do, would you mind remembering, tell Pharaoh all about my story and try and get me out of this place, man, you know. And so, For indeed I was stolen away of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. Now when the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the uppermost basket there was all kinds of pastries that I have baked for the Pharaoh; and the birds came and ate them out of the basket on my head. Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days: and within three days the Pharaoh will lift your head from off of you, and he'll hang your body on a tree; and the birds are going to eat your flesh. And so it came to pass on the third day, which was the Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast to all of the servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler to his butlership again; and he gave the cup into the Pharaoh's hand: But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him ( Genesis 40:15-23 ). Your opportunity of getting free but forgotten. And so for two more years, he languishes in the dungeon. How long Joseph was in the jail the total period of time we don't know, but we do know that from the time that he was sold as a slave to his standing before Pharaoh was thirteen years. Hey, that's an awful long time to be in those conditions of a-as a slave and a prisoner both for causes beyond yourself, things you haven't done. It shows a little bit of Joseph's faith, unswerving faith in God. Many people when adversities come they begin to slip. They begin to question. They begin to doubt. If things don't work out just exactly like they think they were supposed to have worked out, they begin to murmur against the Lord and challenge God. Surely there is a remarkable insight into that steadfastness of Joseph in this whole experience. Chapter 41 Now it came to pass at the end of two full years ( Genesis 41:1 ), That is after Joseph said "don't forget me, pal". "Oh, I won't." "At the end of two full years," that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And there came up out of the river seven well favoured cows, fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, they were ill favoured, leanfleshed; and they stood by the other cows upon the bank of the river. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed cows did eat up the seven well favoured and fat cows. So Pharaoh woke up. And he went back to sleep and he dreamed again the second time: and, behold, there were seven ears of corn ( Genesis 41:1-5 ) Now the top of the corn was the top of the wheat where there were all these little kernels, that little straw thing at the top was called corn. It was called the corn of wheat, that top. You remember it says the disciples were going through the fields of corn on the Sabbath day and they were rubbing the corn in their hand. It isn't corn like our maize kind of corn or sweet corn, golden or whatever. It's that corn of wheat and they would take it when it was dry, rub it in their hands because you rub the hull off, blow it out and then you can eat it. And it's good to eat. I like to eat wheat just fresh from the field that way. You just take and rub the corn or the top of it in your hands to get the hull off and blow it out and then eat it. And so that's what the disciples were doing when the Pharisees found fault with them. So this is actually instead of corn, don't think of Post Toasties or that type of corn with this, but think of the wheat. It's that that little thing with all the kernels of wheat and the little straws going up from it that is referred to here. So in some of your other translations it might read wheat and that's why, because in reality it is what they call the corn of wheat, but it's that top of the wheat. And so there were seven ears of corn that came upon the one stalk, and it was rank and good. And, behold, there were seven thin ears and they were blasted with the east wind that sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven full ears. And Pharaoh woke up, and, behold, it was just a dream. And so it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and the wise men: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, Oh, I remember my faults today: Pharaoh was angry with his servant, and he put me in jail in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker: And we dreamed dreams one night, both of us; and we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. And there was there a young man, who was a Hebrew, he was a servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, and so it was; me he restored to my office, and him he hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh ( Genesis 41:5-14 ). And so Joseph shaved himself because that was the custom of the Egyptians actually. They were very clean people and so he had to shave, change his clothes to be for the Pharaoh. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, there is none that can interpret it: I have heard them tell of you, that you can understand dreams and interpret them. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It's not in me: but God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace ( Genesis 41:15-16 ). I love that. Here Joseph is brought before the Pharaoh now because of the fact that he had interpreted dreams and the Pharaoh says, "Hey, I hear you can interpret dreams. None of my men could do it". And Joseph said, "It isn't in me, but God shall give you an interpretation of peace". That's beautiful. He's not ready to take credit for God's work. And it's always a sad day when people try to take credit for God's work. It's always dangerous when you take the bows for God. Jonathan smote the Philistines with the great slaughter and Saul blew the trumpet in Israel. Saul was going around to get the glory. "Hey, don't try to touch God's glory. Don't try to take God's glory". If God uses you, be thankful and give God the glory and the credit that God used you. But don't try to tell us how smart you were or how wise you were or what tremendous program you devised. Give the glory to God for the work that God does. The same thing happened with Daniel when he was brought before Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar said, you know, "Can you give the interpretation?" He said "there's a God in heaven who knows all things and He will give the interpretation to Pharaoh". Daniel wasn't about to take credit for God's work. Joseph here in no wise taking credit for God's work. And I admire him for this. Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, I stood upon the bank of the river ( Genesis 41:17 ): And he repeats the dream to Joseph about these seven fat beautiful cows grazing, and these seven lean cows coming up and eating up the fat ones. That must have been a weird dream; these skinny old cows eating up these fat cows. But then the other is just as weird because then there were these beautiful shucks of wheat and these blasted, withered shucks of wheat and the wheat starts eating up the other wheat until there's just nothing but the skinny, blasted ones left. And Joseph said to Pharaoh [verse twenty-five], The dream of Pharaoh is one: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do ( Genesis 41:25 ). It is interesting that these dreams came in pairs. Joseph his first dreams were in pairs. First of all, it was the sheaves that bowed down to his sheave and the sun, moon and the stars bowing down to him. With the butler and the baker, the two dreams. They came in pairs. Each of them the three, one three baskets, one the three branches. And now this dream of the king is in pairs. Both of them having to do with sevens. Seven fat and seven lean. And the lean eating up the fat. So the seven thin and ill favoured cows that came up after them are seven years ( Genesis 41:27 ); Or actually, The seven good cows are seven years; seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. The seven thin and ill favoured cows that came up after them are seven years; the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. And this is the thing which I have spoken unto the Pharaoh: What God is about to do he is showing unto the Pharaoh ( Genesis 41:26-28 ). In other words, God is giving you an insight in about what's to happen. It is interesting that God did give to these pagan rulers, monarchs, insights into the future. God gave to Nebuchadnezzar a marvelous insight into the future by dreams interpreted by Daniel. I imagine just because of their position. Be interesting to know what Jimmy Carter dreams about. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all of the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of the famine following; for it shall be very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto the Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass ( Genesis 41:29-32 ). God gave it to you twice in order that you might establish it. That's the "mouth of two or three witnesses every word established" ( Deuteronomy 19:15 ). And so God gave the second witness to assure the truth of the thing. And it will shortly come to pass. Now therefore ( Genesis 41:33 ) Here is the young slave prisoner standing before the Pharaoh of Egypt and now he is giving advice to the Pharaoh of what to do in order to save the land. "Now therefore." Young fellow here, just thirty years old. let Pharaoh look out a man who is discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up twenty percent of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years ( Genesis 41:33-34 ). Now in Egypt they used to just the taxes were ten percent. So double taxation during these good years. Let them be taxed twenty percent during the good years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up the wheat under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep the food in the cities. That the food shall be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; when the land that the land perish not through the famine. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all of his servants. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is ( Genesis 41:35-38 )? He said find a man wise and discreet and do this. He says, "Hey, you're the wisest one I can find". Now I don't think Joseph was pushing for a job when he was advising the Pharaoh, but yet the Pharaoh recognized the quality of the fact that the Spirit of God was in this man. He could see something different. And what a difference the Spirit of God makes. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Inasmuch as God has showed you all of this, there is none as discreet and wise as you are: You will be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and he arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all of the land of Egypt ( Genesis 41:39-44 ). So Joseph was given a chariot ride behind the Pharaoh's. Men going beside the chariot crying to the people, "Bow your knee", as Joseph went by. Those that see in Joseph a type of Jesus Christ see Jesus here in Philippians chapter two, "In the form of God, and thought it not robbery or something to be grasped to be equal with God: but he emptied himself, took upon a form of man, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has also highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess" ( Philippians 2:6-9 ). The knee is being bowed. They see the exaltation of Christ who was rejected by His brethren but who will rule one day over the world. And so Joseph's being exalted. Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah ( Genesis 41:45 ); Which is a Coptic word, which means the revealer of secret things. and he gave him as his wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah the priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt ( Genesis 41:45-46 ). Now isn't it interesting how clear is our hindsight? As we look back on the trials of our lives and those hard places that we came through, when we were crying out to God and saying, "Oh God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from the cry of my roaring? God, I prayed day and night and You don't hear. Lord, where are You?" And we thought that surely God had forsaken us and God wasn't concerned with us. And surely we were going to perish in the wilderness. But now as we look back, we see how God was just working out His perfect plan all the way along. Years ago, when we were pastoring in Tucson, Arizona, we were just coming to the place where the church had begun to grow and there was an excited group, a young fellowship and things really were

beginning to just blossom; when the bishop in the church called me and said he wanted me to take a church in Corona. Well, I had mixed emotions. If I came to Corona, I'd be near home because my parents were still living in Santa Ana where I went to high school. And so I thought, well, it'd be nice to be that close to home, get to see, you know, my family more often. And the church in Corona was quite a bit smaller than the church was now in Tucson that had really begun to blossom out. But I thought, "Oh, it's just a matter of time. We'll go into Corona and we'll sparkle there and the church would grow". I still had confidence in my abilities in those days. Corona is where the Lord began to whip out some of the confidence, I tell you. That was, that was a miserable two years. We started out with sixteen and we ended up with sixteen at the end of two years. But he, the bishop, was assuring me that as soon as he got me in his district that he would move me into a church of equal size to our Tucson church. And with these promises and so forth, we leaned upon the word of man and we decided to come. And after two years of hard labor and no results, I wrote him reminding of him of his promise and I received a letter back, which was informing me that because nothing had happened there that I really wasn't deserving of any larger church. And that anyhow I'd have to wait till some pastor died or whatever before I could move up. So I wrote him back and said, "I really didn't have time to wait for a pastor to die and I resigned from the ministry". Figuring to-well, I got a laundry route for a while and I'm just figuring to get whatever I could as far as work, support the family and pretty discouraged at that point. But while we were in Corona, we met a young couple. They didn't come to our church but his mother did. She was a very spiritual, godly woman. She used to spend a lot of time in prayer with us and encouraging us. And we kept in touch with this woman through the years. Well, there were some changes and there was a division of districts and a new bishop came in and he came to me and said, "Hey, I would like to see you back in the ministry" and offered me a church in Huntington Beach, which we took and we spent five wonderful years in Huntington Beach, close to the surf and you know, it was nice. Church was small enough that I could go surfing in the morning and take care of the church duties in the afternoon, really enjoy it. And we were seeing some marvelous blossoming forth and growth in the church there when this bishop asked me to go out and take a church in Los Serranos under very difficult circumstances. The pastor who had started the church in Los Serranos and had been there from its inception was discovered to have been a homosexual and have been engaging some of the young boys in the church and the practices. And it was discovered and so the church was just at that, you know, it was just broken and going to pieces. And so the bishop asked me if I would please go out and see if I couldn't minister to the people to help put things together. So under great pressure from the Lord, not the bishop because he gave me the privilege of praying about it and giving him a yes or no answer, but at this state, the Lord was putting me under pressure. I went out to Los Serranos and those were hard years; smog and tough neighborhood. It was just-it was just a bad, bad scene. But while we were there, because of our previous meeting this couple in Corona, and because the church wasn't that far from Corona, they started over to the Los Serranos church with some couples. And the church was prospering and flourishing. The people were great. We loved the ministry to the people; we just didn't like living in that particular area. And then my mother was not well and an opportunity came to move down to Costa Mesa. So we moved down and began to pastor here in Costa Mesa for a couple of years to be around my mother because we could tell that she wasn't going to be with us very much longer. And so we wanted to be near her. But at this point, I just had it with denominationalism. And I was praying and seeking that God would give me a way out, that I might just serve Him freely without the bondage and the restrictions and the restraint that were being placed upon me by the denomination. By this time we had a new bishop and we just didn't get along at all. He might be listening on the radio tonight. I want him to know I forgive. He knew-I guess somebody told him that I was sort of independent and he called me in and warned me never to go independent. But yet I just couldn't take it any longer. And so I just resigned once more from the ministry. But these couples that had come to our church in Los Serranos during this lean time, they said, "Would you mind starting a Bible study in our home in Corona?" So we started the Bible study in their home in Corona. And God began to bless the Bible study. The thing began to grow until we had to get a-the home wasn't big enough. We had to move in the American Legion Hall, and so we started an independent church in Corona, the first; that was God's way to get me out of the bondage of denominationalism. So then I could look back and I could say, "Oh, Lord, those two miserable years I was in Corona, thank You, Lord. You put this in the right context, you know. Those two miserable years out in Los Serranos, Lord, Your hand was just working. Oh, Lord, You're so wise", you know. And I realize how God was so far ahead of me. It's glorious how God goes ahead of us. God said to Israel after He brought them through the wilderness experience, "And every place where you pitch your tent I prepared it for you. I went before you and prepared the place for you to pitch your tent." Now looking back I can see how God had prepared places for me to pitch my tents. As I was living in those tents, I thought I was pretty far away from God at times. I thought God has forsaken me in this place. I'm going to die in the wilderness, but not so. God's hand was in every move. And looking back, you know, for awhile I thought, "Man, that was the greatest mistake I ever made. Boy, I sure learned not to move, you know, again at the voice of man but just really listen to God only". And yet as I look back, I see how that God's hand was in each move because there were the contacts made, there you know and I could see how God was putting the whole thing together from the beginning. And then even in our coming down to Costa Mesa to begin our pastoring of Calvary Chapel. We look back and we see how God's hand was in the whole thing. God had this in mind all the time. I had no idea God had this in mind. I was hoping that he had in mind a church of two hundred and fifty people someday. And that was my ambition and my prayer. That shows how "God does exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think" ( Ephesians 3:20 ). Our very first service in the new little chapel that we built over here a block away. The reason why it was built to accommodate three hundred people is because in seminary I learned that you can only hold five-sixths of the seating capacity of the auditorium so you build your auditorium one-sixth bigger than what you want your congregation to be. And if your auditorium is for three hundred, you can maintain a congregation of two hundred and fifty. After that, they get so crowded they get discouraged, they don't come back. I learned that in my pastoral theology class. So when our very first Sunday the place was packed, we had built it for expansive purposes figuring to expand into it. And when in the very first Sunday the place was packed, I thought, "Oh, it's grand opening Sunday, everybody loves a grand opening. By next Sunday, we'll be down to two hundred and fifty and I finally got my dream church. Imagine that! And it was my dream church, that church over there the way it was just a dream that I had of glass walls, green carpeting, burnt orange upholstered pews, overhanging walls with gardens outside. You're sitting in a garden to worship the Lord. What could be more beautiful? My dream church, two hundred and fifty people. And we're just going to sit there and love the Lord and grow and, you know, fellowship and all with each other and it's just going to be great. Well, when the next Sunday the place was packed again, I began to wonder what's going on. I really expected two hundred and fifty the second Sunday because that's what I learned in seminary. So I want you to know it wasn't my faith that built the church. I was confident we were going to be down to two hundred and fifty one of these days. But looking back I can see how all the way the Lord was leading. Lord had His hand upon it. The Lord was preparing. Paul, looking back in his life could see the purposes of God for each situation. Why he was born in Tarsus. Why he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel. Why he had a Greek background and a Hebrew background both. And he could see then how God was preparing him for the special ministry and special mission. And I look back at my own life and I see from the beginning how God's hand was upon me. Though I didn't at many times realize it or know it, yet as I look back I can see how God's hand was protecting me. How God's hand was keeping me. How God's hand was watching over me for the Lord was with me. And Joseph now in the position of ruler over Egypt, he could see now the total plan of God and the picture now begins to come into focus and make sense. All of that was to get me to this place. If I'd never been thrown in the prison I would have never met the butler. I'd never have been able to interpret his dream. I'd never have been called to interpret the Pharaoh's dream. The prison experience is necessary. If I hadn't been sold by my brothers as a slave, I'd never come to Egypt, you see. And so you start looking back and all of a sudden, click click click, oh-ho-ho, I see God's hand. God's been working. His hand is on my life. And it's always wonderful when you can get to some of those vista points. Now we go through a lot of valleys but you can't see nothing. It's just bleak. All you can see is just the massive cliffs around you. But God gets us out on the vistas every once in awhile. We begin to look, "Oh, yes, oh look at that valley. I can see it now and I can follow my path through the valley and I can see where all had a purpose. I'd never have gotten to this point unless I'd come through there". Glorious to see how God's hand leads and guides and the circumstances of our life. Those that we thought were horrible. Those that we thought were God-forsaken places. Those that we looked upon as the wilderness experiences of our life. Yet in all of those, God had a purpose. God had a plan to bring us to this place. For you see, God is preparing all of you to reign with Him. That's God's ultimate purpose. We shall live and reign with Him. That's God's ultimate purpose in your life. Now in order to groom you for this position of reigning, you've got to go through some schools. You're not yet equipped to reign. You're not yet able to reign. And so God must bring us through these necessary experiences, some of them bitter, some of them hard, some of them difficult, some of them we don't understand. But one day when we're reigning with Him, we'll be able to look back on it all and rejoice and thank God for every trial and all that we went through. "Therefore, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations"( James 1:2 ). When you're faced with problems and difficulties because God is working in you, preparing you for that which He has prepared for you reigning with Him forever. Rejoice. Lift up your heart. Be encouraged in the Lord. For God has a plan even in the difficult circumstances of your life. So Joseph gathered up all the food of the seven years, in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, he laid up the same. [Forty-nine] And Joseph gathered the wheat as the sand of the sea, very much, until he quit counting it; for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah the priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For he said, For God, he said, hath made me forget my toil ( Genesis 41:48-51 ). So "Manasseh" means forgetting. But the Lord was with Joseph even now in prosperity. Now there are many times when people acknowledge the Lord with them through the hard places. They know they can't get through without the Lord but when the days of prosperity come, it's a different story. But now Joseph is reigning but he still has not forgotten God. In fact, he names his first son by the fact that God has called him to forget those bitter twenty years or thirteen years of bitterness. God has caused me to forget all of the toil, all of the slave labor, all of the imprisonment. And his second son he named Ephraim: which means fruitful, for God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction ( Genesis 41:52 ). Again acknowledging God, the fruitfulness; the prosperity is because of God. "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction". The land was his hand of affliction but yet God blessed him and made him fruitful there, even as God can bless and make you fruitful in affliction. The seven plenteous years in the land of Egypt was over. And the seven years of drought began to come, the dearth, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in the land of Egypt there was bread. And when the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; and what he says to you, do. And the famine was over the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and he sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all of the countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn or wheat; because that the famine was so sore in all the lands ( Genesis 41:53-57 ). So God had him down there for the preservation of the people through these seven lean years. And God had gone before; God was ahead of him. God could foresee. And that is why we have difficulty often in understanding the ways of God because we can't see. I don't know what lies ahead. And I'm often prone to challenge God and to question God for the things that He is doing because I can't see what's ahead. But because God can see down the road, He's preparing me now for eternity. That which God is doing in my life now is always in the view of the eternal plan that He has for me. And so many times in order to fulfill eternal purposes, there is a time of temporary sorrow or grief or suffering or pain. But as Paul the apostle we are convinced that "the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. And this light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working an exceeding eternal weight of glory" ( 2 Corinthians 4:17 ). Cheer up. Go out and face the world with a smile and with a victory in your heart because you are God's child and He's preparing you to reign with Him eternally. Don't get discouraged, or under the circumstances don't think that God has forgotten you or forsaken you. God sees the travail of your heart in His soul. He knows the fetters with which you are bound. But they are all a necessary process of God, as He trains you and as He grooms you and as He brings you into that place that He might bestow upon you His glory, His power, His love that you might reign with Him, world without end. "So we look not at the things which are seen for the things which are seen are temporal. But we look at the things which are not seen for the things which are not seen are eternal" ( 2 Corinthians 4:18 ). Get our eyes upon the eternal goal, upon the eternal reward, upon that which God is working out in our lives, as far as His eternal purposes. And then we endure and we can endure our present difficulties if we keep the proper perspective. In Hebrews the eleventh chapter, talking about the Old Testament saints who went through such suffering, who went through such tribulation and trial and it said, "And they endured as seeing the invisible" ( Hebrews 11:27 ). You tell somebody you can see the invisible things and they think you're crazy. But I tell you, that what gives you the enduring quality is seeing beyond just the temporary problem. Just seeing beyond this temporary material physical world, into the spiritual eternal world. That's the thing that keeps you going. That's the thing that gives you the enduring quality that you need. "For we're looking for a city which hath foundation, whose maker and builder is God" ( Hebrews 11:10 ). And we're going to live and reign with Him forever in His kingdom and our eyes are set like flint towards that goal as we walk together with Him. For the Lord is with us and He is working in us even in the adverse circumstances that He might bring us into the glory of His kingdom. Father, we thank You for Your work in us tonight. And we yield now our members as instruments unto righteousness unto Thee. Lord, as we look back we can truly say, "All the way my Savior led me". And what more can I ask? What more can I desire? That Your hand be upon my life. That You be with me and lead me, Lord. I thank You. In Jesus' name, Amen. "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And in the uppermost basket [there was] of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh,.... All sorts of pastry, as tarts, pies, c. Josephus b says, two of the baskets were full of bread, and the third had various sorts of food, such as is usually, prepared for kings:

and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head all the three baskets were upon his head, but this seems to be the uppermost, which the birds could more easily come at; though if the baskets were full of holes, they might through them peck the bread with their bills.

b Antiqu. l. 2. c. 5. sect. 3.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.   6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.   7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?   8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.   9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;   10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:   11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.   12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:   13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.   14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:   15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.   16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:   17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.   18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:   19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

      Observe, I. The special providence of God, which filled the heads of these two prisoners with unusual dreams, such as made extraordinary impressions upon them, and carried with them evidences of a divine origin, both in one night. Note, God has immediate access to the spirits of men, which he can make serviceable to his own purposes whenever he pleases, quite beyond the intention of those concerned. To him all hearts are open, and anciently he spoke not only to his own people, but to others, in dreams, Job 33:15. Things to come were thus foretold, but very obscurely.

      II. The impression which was made upon these prisoners by their dreams (Genesis 40:6; Genesis 40:6): They were sad. It was not the prison that made them sad (they were pretty well used to that, and perhaps lived jovially there), but the dream. Note, God has more ways than one to sadden the spirits of those that are to be made sad. Those sinners that are hardy enough under outward troubles, and will not yield to them, yet God can find out a way to punish; he can take off their wheels, by wounding their spirits, and laying loads upon them.

      III. Joseph's great tenderness and compassion towards them. He enquired with concern, Wherefore look you so sadly to-day?Genesis 40:7; Genesis 40:7. Joseph was their keeper, and in that office he was mild. Note, It becomes us to take cognizance of the sorrows even of those that are under our check. Joseph was their companion in tribulation, he was now a prisoner with them, and had been a dreamer too. Note, Communion in sufferings helps to work compassion towards those that do suffer. Let us learn hence, 1. To concern ourselves in the sorrows and troubles of others, and to enquire into the reason of the sadness of our brethren's countenances; we should be often considering the tears of the oppressed, Ecclesiastes 4:1. It is some relief to those that are in trouble to be taken notice of. 2. To enquire into the causes of our own sorrow, "Wherefore do I look so sadly? Is there a reason? Is it a good reason? Is there not a reason for comfort sufficient to balance it, whatever it is? Why art thou cast down, O my soul?"

      IV. The dreams themselves, and the interpretation of them. That which troubled these prisoners was that being confined they could not have recourse to the diviners of Egypt who pretended to interpret dreams: There is no interpreter here in the prison, Genesis 40:8; Genesis 40:8. Note, There are interpreters which those that are in prison and sorrow should wish to have with them, to instruct them in the meaning and design of Providence (Elihu alludes to such, when he says, If there be an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness,Job 33:23; Job 33:24), interpreters to guide their consciences, not to satisfy their curiosity. Joseph hereupon directed them which way to look: Do not interpretations belong to God? He means the God whom he worshipped, to the knowledge of whom he endeavours hereby to lead them. Note, It is God's prerogative to foretel things to come, Isaiah 46:10. He must therefore have the praise of all the gifts of foresight which men have, ordinary or extraordinary. Joseph premises a caveat against his own praise, and is careful to transmit the glory to God, as Daniel, Daniel 2:30; Daniel 2:30. Joseph suggests, "If interpretations belong to God, he is a free agent, and may communicate the power to whom he pleases, and therefore tell me your dreams." Now, 1. The chief butler's dream was a happy presage of his enlargement, and re-advancement, within three days; and so Joseph explained it to him, Genesis 40:12; Genesis 40:13. Probably it had been usual with him to press the full-ripe grapes immediately into Pharaoh's cup, the simplicity of that age not being acquainted with the modern arts of making the wine fine. Observe, Joseph foretold the chief butler's deliverance, but he did not foresee his own. He had long before dreamt of his own honour, and the obeisance which his brethren should do to him, with the remembrance of which he must now support himself, without any new or fresh discoveries. The visions that are for the comfort of God's saints are for a great while to come, and relate to things that are very far off, while the foresights of others, like this recorded there, look but three days before them. 2. The chief baker's dream portended his ignominious death, Genesis 40:18; Genesis 40:19. The happy interpretation of the other's dream encouraged him to relate his. Thus hypocrites, when they hear good things promised to good Christians, would put in for a share, though they have no part nor lot in the matter. It was not Joseph's fault that he brought him no better tidings. Ministers are but interpreters, they cannot make the thing otherwise than it is; if therefore they deal faithfully, and their message prove unpleasing, it is not their fault. Bad dreams cannot expect a good interpretation.

      V. The improvement Joseph made of this opportunity to get a friend at court, Genesis 40:14; Genesis 40:15. He modestly bespoke the favour of the chief butler, whose preferment he foretold: But think of me when it shall be well with thee. Though the respect paid to Joseph made the prison as easy to him as a prison could be, yet none can blame him for being desirous of liberty. See here, 1. What a modest representation he makes of his own case, Genesis 40:15; Genesis 40:15. He does not reflect upon his brethren that sold him; he only says, I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, that is, unjustly sent thence, no matter where the fault was. Nor does he reflect on the wrong done him in this imprisonment by his mistress that was his prosecutrix, and his master that was his judge; but mildly avers his own innocence: Here have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. Note, When we are called to vindicate ourselves we should carefully avoid, as much as may be, speaking ill of others. Let us be content to prove ourselves innocent, and not be fond of upbraiding others with their guilt. 2. What a modest request he makes to the chief butler: "Only, think of me. Pray do me a kindness, if it lie in your way." And his particular petition is, Bring me out of this house. He does not say, "Bring me into Pharaoh's house, get me a place at court." No, he begs for enlargement, not preferment. Note, Providence sometimes designs the greatest honours for those that least covet or expect them.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

Having already shown the position of Isaac, I resume briefly with the remark that he stands before us clearly as the representative of the Son, and this too as dead, risen, and in heaven. All will understand it who remember that we have had His death and resurrection parabolically in Genesis 22:1-24; and then, after the passing away of her who was the figure of the new covenant, come the entirely novel dealings of God in the call of the bride for the Son here carefully and exclusively connected with the type of heaven. The bearing of this on the great mystery of the heavenly Christ and the church, His body and bride, does not need to be further insisted on now.

We have here, before pursuing the history of Isaac to the end, an episode which brings before us the birth of the two sons of Isaac and Rebecca. God had already affirmed the principle of His choice in the son of the free woman Sarah, when the child of the flesh was set aside. But there was this difference. It only in a preparatory way set out the great principle of God's sovereignty. There was a difference in the mother, if not in the father. There was a need, in the wisdom of God, that the sovereignty should be affirmed still more expressly. And so it was now; for Esau was the son of the same father and of the same mother as Jacob, and in fact they were twins. It was therefore impossible to find a closer parity between any than in these two sons of Isaac and Rebecca. Nevertheless, from the first, entirely apart from any grounds such as to determine a preference, God shows that He will be sovereign. He can show mercy to the uttermost, and He does; but He is God, and as such He reserves to Himself His right of choice. Why even a man does so; and God would be inferior to man if He did not. But He claims His choice and makes it, setting it forth in the most distinct manner, which is reasoned on, as we know, in the power of the Spirit of God, in the Epistle to the Romans, and alluded to elsewhere in the Bible. I only refer to it passingly to show how clearly it is brought out in the circumstances.

At the same time there is another thing to be weighed. The after history illustrates the two men and their posterity; for whatever may be said of the failure of Jacob, it is perfectly clear that not Jacob but Esau was profane, despising God and consequently his birthright. This is brought out in the same chapter. But the choice of God was before anything of the sort, and God made it unambiguous. I would only add one other word, that although scripture is abundantly plain that He chose him apart from anything to fix that choice, it is never said nor insinuated in any part of the word of God, that the prophet's solemn expression "Esau have I hated" was applicable from the first. The choice was true, but not the hatred. In fact, so far is it from the truth that we see the plainest facts in opposition to such a thought. In the first book of the Bible the choice of Jacob, and not Esau, is made plain; in the last book of the Bible, the prophecy of Malachi, the hatred of Esau is for the first time clearly affirmed. How admirable the word of God is in this! Let us delight first that God should have His choice; secondly, that God, far from pronouncing His hatred then, waited till there was that which manifestly deserved it waited, as we see, to the very last. To confound two things so distinguished, to mix up the choice at the beginning with the hatred at the end, seems nothing but the narrow folly of man's mind. The truth is that all the good is on God's part, all the evil on man's. He is sovereign; but every condemned soul will himself own the absolute justice of it.

In Genesis 26:1-35, which follows, Isaac's history is resumed. Let us bear in mind that it is the account of the risen Son. Hence mark the difference when Jehovah appears to Isaac. I call your attention to it as an interesting fact, as well as an instance of the profoundly typical character of the Scriptures. He appears as Almighty God (El-Shaddai) to Abraham: so He is also revealed as the Almighty to Jacob; but I am not aware that He is ever represented as formally proclaiming Himself in this way to Isaac. The reason is manifest. While surely included in fact like his father and son in such a revelation of El-Shaddai, Isaac has an altogether peculiar place in the record, not connected in the same way with the dispensations of God as either Abraham on the one hand, or Jacob on the other. Here we have God either in His own abstract majesty as Elohim, or in special relationship as Jehovah the two forms in which God is spoken of. These are used, but not "the Almighty." Isaac indeed speaks of Him as the Almighty when he blesses Jacob; but when God appears, Scripture describes Him simply as Elohim or as Jehovah. The reason is clear: we are upon the ground where God meant us to appreciate the very peculiar dealings with him who sets forth the Bridegroom of the church. Consequently what was merely of an earthly, passing, or dispensational nature is not brought forward.

Again, when God does appear to Isaac, He says, "Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of." Isaac is always a dweller in the heavenly land. How admirably this suits the position of Christ as the risen Bridegroom will be too plain to call for further proof. "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee and will bless thee; for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven." Not a word about the sand of the sea. He is as ever exclusively connected with what is heavenly as far as the figure goes. In the case of Abraham appears the double figure: the children were to be as the stars of the sky, but also as the sands of the sea. Isaac has the peculiar place. Abraham takes in both; as we know, he is connected with that which is heavenly, but also with what is earthly. For Isaac we find the heavenly places, a relationship past resurrection as far as this could be set forth in type. But it was only the shadow, not the very image; and so alas! we find that he who was but the type denies his relationship, which Christ never does. Isaac failed like Abraham before. Unswerving fidelity is true of One only.

At the same time we have the never-failing faithfulness of God. Immediately afterwards he is blessed and blessed a hundred-fold. What is not the goodness of God? And Abimelech seeks his favour too; but Isaac remains always in the emblematic heavenly land, the type of Christ's present position.

The next chapter (Genesis 27:1-46) lets us into the sight of circumstances which searched the heart of all concerned. We see the nature which left room for the mingled character which so evidently belonged to Jacob. He was a believer; but a believer in whom flesh was little judged, and not in him only, but in Rebecca also Between them there is much to pain; and although Isaac might not be without feebleness and fault, there was deceit in both the mother and the son. As to Esau, there was nothing of God, and consequently no ground of complaint on that score. At the same time there was positive unrighteousness, of which God never makes light in any soul. Hence we find that though the blessing was wrested fraudulently from Isaac, he is astonished to find where he had been drifting through yielding to nature; for indeed flesh wrought in Isaac, but for the time it ruled, I may say, in Rebecca and in Jacob. Shocked at himself, but restored in soul, he finds himself through his affections in danger of fighting against the purpose of God. Spite of all the faults of Rebecca and of Jacob, they at least did hold fast the word of God. On the whole it is a humiliating spectacle: God alone shines throughout it all as ever. Isaac therefore, awakened to feel whence he was fallen, affirms the certainty of the purpose of God, and pronounces in the most emphatic terms that, spite of the manner in which Jacob had possessed himself of his blessing, he shall be blessed of God.

In Genesis 28:1-22 we have Jacob called by Isaac, and sent to Padan-Aram for a wife, with El-Shaddai's blessing on him. Now the governmental dealings of God begin to appear, and Jacob is the standing type of the people of God not walking in communion with God like Abraham, and consequently the first type of a pilgrim and of a worshipper too; not as the son, risen from the dead and in the heavenly land, but an outcast; forced to be, if a pilgrim, a pilgrim against his will in the government of God, and consequently the most apt possible type of Israel, for unfaithfulness expelled from their own land, passing under corrective discipline, but blessed at last with rest and joy here below. This is what Jacob represents none more suitable to be such a type, as we shall find by the very name which God gives him. So "Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee."

Jacob accordingly goes out on his lonely way, and went to Padan-aram, and there it is that he dreams; and he beheld standing above the ladder Jehovah, who proclaims Himself to Jacob as the God of his fathers. "I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth." Mark again the consistency of the word of God. Not a word here about the stars of the sky. Abraham had both; Isaac had the heavenly part alone, and Jacob the earthly alone. And He says, "Behold I am with thee, I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Jacob awakes; but, as is always the case when a person is simply under the government of God without being founded in His grace, there is alarm. The presence of God is more or less an object of dread to the soul, as indeed he expressed it. "He was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Many of us may be astonished to think of such a conjunction, that the house of God should be associated with terror. But so it must always be where the heart is not established in grace; and Jacob's heart was far from it. He was the object of grace, but in no way established in grace. Nevertheless there is no doubt of God's grace towards him, little as he might as yet appreciate its fulness. Jacob then rises up early, and takes the stone that be had put for his pillow, and sets it up, calling the name of the place Bethel, and vowing a vow; for all here is of a Jewish savour: "If God* will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on" his demands were by no means large, legalism is of necessity contracted "so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be my God; and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." He was in no way a man delivered from self or from the earth. It is as nearly as possible the picture of a man under law. How appropriate, therefore, for the type of the Jew driven out through his own fault, but under the mighty hand of God for government, but for good in His mercy at the end! This is precisely what Jacob himself has to prove, as we may see.

*There is no real difficulty in understanding the propriety of the various divine names in these chapters according to the motive which governs. Thus El-Shaddai is the peculiar patriarchal name of guaranteed protector; Jehovah of special relationship for covenant blessings of Israel according to promise; but then Jehovah is Elohim in His own majesty, or He would be a merely national deity, Compare Genesis 17:1-27, where it is expressly Jehovah that appears and calls Himself El-Shaddai, yet immediately after talks as Elohim with Abram. See also Genesis 22:1; Genesis 22:8-9; Genesis 22:12; Genesis 22:11; Genesis 22:14-16, where the various document-system is manifestly disproved. Esau in Genesis 27:1-46, has neither covenant nor divine name of any sort.

Thus he goes on his journey; and among the children of the east ensues a characteristic scene, which need not be entered into in a detailed manner the providential introduction to his experiences with Laban and his family. (Genesis 29:1-35)

Now experiences are admirable in their own way as a school for the heart in the soul's finding its way to God; but experiences completely melt away in the presence of God. This and the grace known there in Him who died and rose again alone can give fully either the end of self or communion with God. Experiences may be needed and wholesome; but they are chiefly wholesome as a part of the road while on our way to Him. Before what God is to us in Christ they disappear I do not mean the results, but the processes. So we shall find it was with Jacob. He is a man evidently cared for by God. He shows us much that was exceeding sweet and lovely. No doubt he had often to suffer from Laban's deceit; but was there not a memorial here of the deceit in which he had acted himself? He is deceived about his wife, deceived about his wages, deceived about everything; but how had he dealt with his father, not to speak of his brother? Deceit must meet with deceit under the retributive hands of God. Wonder not overmuch at the tale of .Jacob; but bless with all your heart the God who shows Himself caring for His servant, and, after he had suffered awhile, giving him although slowly yet surely to prosper. At his setting out he was by no means a young man, being somewhere about eighty years of age when he reached Laban. There he receives, not willingly, two wives instead of one. Leah he did not want, Rachel he did. But in his chequered course, as we know, their maids were given as concubines, with many a child and many a sorrow.* And spite of Laban abundance was his in herds and flocks. (Genesis 30:1-43)

*Can it be doubted that this part of Genesis is typical like what goes before and after? Surely Jacob's love for Rachel first, for whom nevertheless he must wait and fulfil the week afresh after Leah had been given him, is not without evident bearing on the Lord's relation to Israel first loved, for whom meanwhile the slighted Gentile has been substituted with rich results in His grace. Rachel is at length remembered by God, who takes away her reproach by adding to her a son (Joseph) type of One glorified among the Gentiles and delivering His Jewish brethren after suffering among both Jews and Gentiles So her history closes in the death of her Benoni and Jacob's Benjamin son of the mother's sorrow and of the father's right hand, as the people of God will prove in the end. I take this opportunity Of noticing the beauty of Scripture in the use of the divine names in these chapters, the best answer to the superficial folly which attributes them to different writers and documents. In the case of Leah (Genesis 29:1-35), who was hated compared with Rachel, Jehovah as such interposed with His special regard to her sorrow, and this was expressed in the name of her first-born son, Reuben; and His hearing in her second, Simeon. At Levi's birth she does not go farther than the hope of her husband's being joined to her; but Jehovah has praise when she bore Judah. In Rachael's case (Genesis 30:1-43) there is no such expression at first of confidence in Jehovah's compassionate interest; but in disappointment of heart she gives Jacob her maid; and, when Dan was born, she accepts it as the judgment of Elohim, and at Naphtali's birth speaks of His wrestlings. Leah, following her example, gains through Zilpah Gad and Asher, but makes no acknowledgment of the divine name in either form. After this comes the incident of using mandrakes for hire, when Elohim acts for Leah in sovereign power and she owns Him as such when Issachar was born, and in Zebulun on the pledge of her husband's dwelling with her. In the same power did Elohim remember Rachael, who not only confesses that the God of creation had taken away her reproach, but calls her son Joseph saying, Jehovah shall add to me another son. This is the more striking because it is an instance of the combined use of these names admirably illustrating both sides of the truth, and irreconcilable with the double-document hypothesis. Rachel rose from the thought of His power to the recognition of His ways with His own. And even Laban (verse 39) is obliged to confess that Jacob enjoyed the blessing of One who was in special relationship with him of Jehovah.

At length, when Laban's sons murmur and their father's countenance was not toward Jacob as before, Jehovah bids him return to the land of his fathers. (Genesis 31:3) His mind is at once made up. He gives a touching explanation to Rachel and Leah, and sets out secretly; for there was no such confidence in God with a pure conscience as divested himself of fear. There was the unseen hand of God; but the power and the honour of God could not be righteously found in such a course. Grace would give these another day: they could not rightly be as yet. He steals away therefore timidly, pursued as if he were a thief by his father-in-law, whom however God takes gravely in hand, coming to him in a dream by night. The Syrian (Laban) is warned to beware what he says or does to Jacob, and even obliged to confess it himself. While Jacob lays his remonstrance before him, Laban after all cannot but seek his aid, and enters into a special covenant with the very man he had overtaken in his flight.

After this we find the angels of God meeting Jacob. (Genesis 32:1-32) "And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host." They were the witnesses of the full providential care of God; but no such intervention can ever set the heats or conscience right with God. This was proved immediately afterwards. The messengers whom Jacob sent to propitiate Esau returned, saying, that the dreaded chief of Seir was coming to meet him with four hundred men. God's host then gave no comfort to Jacob against the host of Esau. He is alarmed more than ever. He sets to work in his own way. He makes his plan-and then he makes his prayer; but after all he is not at ease. He devised with considerable skill; feeble was his faith, and where even generous self-sacrificing love for the family? All bears the stamp of anxiety as well as address, if not craft. This was his natural character; for though eminently a man of God, still it is not God who is prominent to his eyes, and leant on, but his own human resources. Ill at ease, he sends over I am sorry to say himself last of all! That which he valued most came latest. Jacob was not among the first! His flocks, herds and camels set first, wives and children next, Jacob last. The various bands in order were meant to serve as a breakwater between the offended brother Esau and trembling Jacob. But at length, when all were taken or sent over the ford Jabbok, comes another whom Jacob did not expect when left alone. A man struggled with him that night till break of day.

But it is well to remark, though it has been often noticed, that it is not set forth to the honour of Jacob that he wrestled with the man, for it was rather the man, or God Himself, who wrestled with him. There was still not a little in him with which God had a controversy for Jacob's good, not without his humiliation. In short God was dealing with and putting down His servant's dependence on his own strength, devices, and resources in any and every way. Hence, as the symbol of this, what was touched and shrank was the known sign of man's strength. The sinew of: the thigh was caused to wither away. But the very hand which touched the seat of natural strength imparted a strength from above; and Jacob on this occasion has a new name given to him. "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." He asked the name of God, but this could not, consistently with His character, be revealed yet. God keeps His name in secret now. Jacob struggles all night that he might be blessed. It was no question of peaceful fellowship, still less of earnest intercession for others. It was indeed most significant of divine mercy; but of God's mercy in the dark, where there could not yet be communion. Thus nothing could more truly answer to the state of Jacob. He was no doubt strengthened of God, but it was compassionate mercy strengthening him to profit by a needful and permanent putting down of all his own strength love that must wither it up, but would nevertheless sustain himself.

In the next chapter (Genesis 33:1-20) the meeting takes place. Esau receives him with every appearance of generous affection, refusing but at length receiving his gifts. At the same time Jacob proves that his confidence was far from being restored. He is uneasy at the presence of Esau: his conscience was not good. Esau proffers his protection. There was nothing farther from the desire of Jacob. Is it too much to say that the excuse was not thoroughly truthful? Can one believe that Jacob meant to visit him at mount Seir? Certain it is that, directly Esau's back is turned, he goes another way. "He journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth And Jacob came to Shalem,* a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent.... And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel." Thus, it seems to me evident, that although there was unquestionably progress in Jacob's soul, he was far from being brought to that which we find in Abraham from the very beginning. He is still wandering still under corrective government. All that which hindered the enjoyment of grace was not yet removed. There was earthliness of mind enough to quit the pilgrim's tent and build a house, as well as to buy a piece of ground. What did he want it for? He erected no doubt an altar. There is progress unquestionably; but he does not in this go beyond the thought of God as connected with himself. It was in no way the homage of one who regarded God according to His own being and majesty. Now there never can be the spirit of worship till we delight in God for what He is Himself, not merely for what He has been to you or me. I grant you that it is all right to feel what He has done for us; but it is rather the preparation for worship, or at most worship in its most elementary form. It is more thanksgiving than the proper adoration of God, and in fact a circumscribing of God to our own circumstances. I admit fully that the grace of God does minister to our wants; but then it is to raise us above them and the sense of them, in order that we may freely and fully enjoy what God is, and not merely feel what He has done for us. Jacob had not reached that yet; for him God the God of Israel is all he can say. Shechem is not Bethel.

*Probably, instead of "to Shalem," etc., we should translate it "in peace to," etc. Compare Genesis 28:21, Genesis 34:21.

This conclusion, as to the then state of Jacob, seems to be confirmed by the chapter which follows The settling down in the city ere long became a sorrowful story for Jacob, who proved it in one that was near and dear to him. It was the occasion of his daughter Dinah's shame, as well as of her brother's cruel and deceitful vengeance, that brought trouble on Jacob, and caused him to stink among the inhabitants of the land, as Jacob so sorely confessed. (Genesis 34:1-31)

Once more God said to Jacob, Arise; but now it is to "go to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." Here he is not met by a host of angels, nor does the mysterious stranger wrestle in the darkness of the night, crippling him in the might of nature, and making the weak to be strong. It is a more open call in Genesis 35:1-29.

Now it is singular to hear, that Jacob says to his household and all that are with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments." "Strange gods "? Yes, there they were, and he knew it all along, but he never before felt the seriousness of it till summoned to go to Bethel. His conscience is now awake to what previously made no impression on his mind. We easily forget what our bears does not judge as it is before God; but as He knows how to rouse the conscience adequately, so it is a sorrowful thing on the other hand when a saint forgets what ought to be the permanent object of his soul, still more solemn when his conscience is not sensitive to that which utterly sullies the glory of God. Manifestly it was the case with Jacob; but now the presence of God, not providential power, not disciplinary dealings with him, but the call to Bethel, brings light into his soul, and the false gods must be put away. Jacob will have the household in unison with an altar at Bethel. "Be clean, and change your garments, and go to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." What in his ways can be conceived more blessed than the patient faithfulness of God? Now at length Jacob is alive to his responsibility toward God. "And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed."

But was it a flight now? "And the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." All was changed from this point. "So Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el (the God of Bethel)." There Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried. There God appeared again; and while He repeats the name of Israel instead of Jacob, He reveals Himself as God Almighty, El-Shaddai. "And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and He called his name Israel,"* blotting out in one sense all the history from the day when that name was first conferred on him. It is a sorrowful reflection for the heart when time past is, so to speak, time lost. It is not that God cannot turn it to purpose when grace is at work, but there must be merited self-reproach as we may too well know.

*Dr. Davidson (Introd. O. T. pp. 65, 66), in his arguments against unity of authorship on the score of diversities, confusedness, and contradictions, alleges this: "In like manner Jacob's name was changed to Israel, when he wrestled with a supernatural being in human form all night before he met his brother Esau, on his return from Mesopotamia (Genesis 32:28); whereas according toGenesis 35:10; Genesis 35:10 he received the name on another occasion at Bethel, not Penuel, as the first passage states. It is a mere subterfuge to assert that, because no reason is assigned for the change of name in 35: 10, it relates no more than a solemn confirmation of what had been done already. A reason for the change does not necessarily accompany its record. The words are explicit: 'And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.' If his name were Israel before, the words plainly assert the contrary. The passages are junior Elohistic, and Elohistic respectively. An analogous example is Bethel, formerly Luz, which was so named by Jacob on his journey to Mesopotamia (Genesis 28:19, Genesis 30:13), but according to Genesis 35:15, on his return. Identical names of places are not imposed twice." It is evident that the rationalist approaches Scripture, not as a believer and learner, but as a judge, and that his criticism is captious, to say nothing of irreverence. There is nothing to hinder a repetition in giving names either to persons or places. Let those who are affected by such petty cavils weigh our Lord's giving Simon the name of Peter twice (John 1:42, Matthew 16:18), and the second time with yet more emphasis than the first. It is the more absurd in the case of Jacob changed to Israel and then confirmed, because the usual plea of Jehovah and Elohim does not apply here. In both cases it is Elohim. Hence the need of inventing a junior Elohist in order to maintain their illusion. Again, the first verse of Genesis 35:1-29. furnishes the most direct and conclusive proof that identical names of places may be imposed twice, for God is represented on this second occasion as bidding Jacob go up to Bethel (not Luz) before he calls the place for the second time Bethel. What is the value of Dr. D.'s denial of what Scripture positively affirms?

Not only then does Jacob receive afresh his new name, but God shrouds His name no longer in secrecy. Now he has not to ask, "What is thy name?" any more than He who wrestled once had to ask him wherefore he asked it. He was not then in the condition to profit by that name; nor was it consistent with God's own honour that He should make it known. Now God can reveal Himself to His servant, saying, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land." And not unlike what was said of Abraham, so on an occasion of singular nearness it is said of Jacob, great honour for one after such an experience, that "God went up from him in the place where he talked with him." If it was a glorious moment in Abraham's history, it was especially gracious in God's ways with Jacob. "And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink-offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon, and called the name of the place where God spake with him Beth-el." Afterwards comes the passing away of Rachel at a moment of deep interest already noticed, the birth of her second son, and her burial near Bethlehem. And on the journey there the aged father has a fresh sorrow and shame in the foul sin of his first-born.

Then follows the genealogy of Jacob's sons; and the long-delayed last sight of Isaac at Hebron, where he dies at the age of 180 years, and was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob.

But there is another genealogy (Genesis 36:1-43), and strikingly introduced in this place. The Edomite interrupts the course of the line of God's dealings. We discern at once what remarkable maturity there was here. It is always so first that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual. Even then we find a rapid development of power in the family of Esau. They were all great people, to be sure duke this and duke that, to the end of the chapter even kings, as we are told, reigned before there were any such in Israel. I have no doubt that this is given us as an important element to mark how rapidly what is not of God shoots up. Growth according to God is slower, but then it is more permanent.

Genesis 37:1-36 introduces to us a new and altogether different range of events the very attractive account of Joseph. It is not now a fugitive from the land under the righteous hand of God, but a sufferer who is going to be exalted in due time. These are the two main outlines of Joseph's history a more than usually meet type of Christ, in that he shone above all his fellows for unsullied integrity of heart under-the several trials. There is no patriarch on whom the Spirit of God dwells with greater delight; and among those who preceded Christ our Lord it may be questioned where one can find such a sufferer. And his suffering too was not merely outside: he suffered quite as keenly from his brethren. Wherever he lived, in Palestine or in Egypt, he was a sufferer, and this in astonishing grace, never higher morally than when lying under the basest reproach. He was one who had true understanding; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Such was Joseph's great distinctive trait. Thus we find it brings him, first of all, into collision with his father's house. Jacob indeed felt very differently. It was impossible for one that valued holiness to bring a good report of his brethren. But his father loved him, and when his brethren saw their father's estimate of him, they could so much the less endure Joseph. "They hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." The wisdom that follows fidelity and I believe it is always so as a rule is furnished and exercised in the communications of God; for if He forms a heart for what is of Himself, He gives the supply of what it craves. He ministers to Joseph dreams that shew the gracious purposes that were before Himself. For first the sheaves pay obeisance, and he with the utmost simplicity of heart tells all to his brethren; for he never thought of himself, and therefore could speak with candour. But they with instinctive dislike and jealousy of what gave glory to their brother did not fail to make the detested application of his dreams. Even the father finds it trying, much as he loved him; for Joseph has another dream, in which the sun and moon, as well as eleven stars, made obeisance to him; and Jacob felt but observed the saying.

The story proceeds: Joseph is sent to see the peace of his brethren, follows them to Dothan, and there the last errand of love brings out their deepest hatred. They determine to get rid of him. They will have this dreamer no more. Reuben sets himself against their murderous intention; but the result is that at Judah's proposal he is cast into the pit, given up for death, yet taken out of it and sold to the Midianites a wonderful type of a greater than Joseph. It was bad to sell him for twenty pieces of silver, but this was not the full extent of the wrong; for the same cruel hearts which thus disposed of a holy and loving brother did not scruple to inflict the deadliest wound on their aged father. Sin against the brother, and sin against the father such is the sorrowful conclusion of this chapter of Joseph's story.

Here again, we have another interruption; but never allow for a moment that anything is not perfect in the word of God. It is right that we should see what the leader in this wickedness was; it is well that we should know what the character and conduct of Judah was, whom we afterwards see the object of wondrous counsels on God's part. The answer lies in the shameful account of Judah, his sons, and his daughter-in-law, and himself. (Genesis 38:1-30) Yet of that very line was He born, with her name specified too, which points to the most painfully humiliating tale that we find perhaps anywhere in the book of Genesis. But what humiliation was He not willing to undergo who had love as well as glory incomparably greater than Joseph's!

In Genesis 39:1-23 Joseph is seen in the land of Egypt, for there the Midianites sold him. He is in slavery, first of all in the house of Potiphar, captain of the guard; but "Jehovah was with Joseph; and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." Here again he comes into suffering; here again most unworthily is he misrepresented and maligned, and hastily cast into the dungeon. But Jehovah was with Joseph in the prison, just as much as in Potiphar's house. In verse 2, it is written, He was with Joseph; in verse 21, He was with Joseph, "and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand." It mattered little where he was, since Jehovah was with him. What a difference it makes when God is with us God too in His special known relationship, which is implied in the use of "Jehovah" here as everywhere. "He looked not to anything that was under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and that which he did Jehovah made it to prosper."

But God works for Joseph, and in the prison puts him in contact with the chief butler and the chief baker of the king of Egypt. (Genesis 40:1-23) They too have their dreams to tell. Joseph willingly listens, and interprets according to the wisdom of God that was given him. His interpretation was soon verified. With the remarkable prudence which marks his character, he had begged not to be forgotten. But "his soul came into iron" a little longer. The word of Jehovah tried him. God would work in His own way. If the chief butler forgot Joseph in his prosperity, God did not.

Pharaoh now had a dream; but there was none to interpret. (Genesis 41:1-57) It was two years after a long while to wait, especially in a dungeon; but the chief butler, remembering his faults, and confessing them, tells his master of the young Hebrew in the prison, servant to the captain of the guard, who had interpreted so truly.

"Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon," and presented him duly before the king. His interpretation carried its own light and evidence along with it; and Pharaoh recognized the wisdom of God not only in this but also in the counsel that Joseph gave. And what wiser man than Joseph could take in hand the critical case of Egypt, to husband its resources during the seven years of plenty, and to administer the stores during the seven years of famine that would surely follow? So the king felt at once, and his servants too in spite of the usual jealousy of a court. Joseph was the man to carry out what he had seen beforehand from God; and Joseph accordingly becomes ruler next to Pharaoh over all the land of Egypt.

"And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands."

Then comes another wonderful working of God. The sheaves had not yet stood and bowed; the sun, moon, and stars had not paid obeisance yet; but all was to follow not long after. The famine pressed upon the land where Jacob sojourned, while Joseph was in Egypt with a new family, children of the bride that was given him by the king, evidently corresponding with the place of Christ cast out by Israel, sold by the Gentiles, but exalted in a new place and glory altogether, where He too can say during His rejection and separation from Israel, "Behold I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me." Nothing can be more transparent than the application of the type.

But there is more in the type than that we have just seen. The brethren that remained with Israel have yet to be accounted for; and the pressure of the famine is upon them. It is so with Israel now, a famine indeed, and in the deepest sense. But. ten of the brethren come down to buy corn in Egypt; and there it is that God works marvellously by Joseph. He recognizes his brethren. His heart is towards them when they are altogether ignorant who he was that enjoyed the glory of Egypt. The result is that Joseph puts in execution a most solemn searching of the heart and conscience of his brethren. It is exactly what the Lord from a better glory will do ere long with His Jewish brethren. He is now outside in a new position quite unlooked for by them: they know Him not. But He too will cause the pinch of famine to press upon them. He too will work in their hearts in consequence, that He may be made righteously known to them in due time. (Genesis 42:1-38)

We find, accordingly, that first of all one of the brethren is taken, Simeon; and the charge is given that, above all, Benjamin should be brought down. There can be no restoration, no reconciliation, relief it is true, but no deliverance for Israel till Joseph and Benjamin are united. He that was separated from his brethren, but now in glory, must have the son of his father's right hand. It is Christ rejected but exalted on high, and taking the character also of the man of power for dealing with the earth. Such is the meaning of the combined types of Jacob's sons, Joseph and Benjamin Christ has nothing to do with the latter yet; He admirably answers to the type of Joseph, but not yet of Benjamin. As long as He is simply filling up the type of Joseph, there is no knowledge of Himself on the part of his brethren. Hence, therefore, this became the great question how to bring down Benjamin how to put him into connection with Joseph. But the truth is, there was another moral necessity which must be met how to get their hearts and their consciences set right all round. This part of the beautiful tale is typical of the dealings of the Lord Jesus, long severed and exalted in another sphere, first with the remnant, and then with the whole house of Israel. There are various portions. We have Reuben and Simeon; and then others come forward, Judah more particularly at the close, and Benjamin.

The famine still pressing (Genesis 43:1-34), Jacob sorely against his will is obliged to part with Benjamin; and here it is that we find affections altogether unheard of before in the brethren of Joseph. We might have thought them incapable of anything that was good; and it is very evident that their hearts were now strewn to be under a most mighty power which forced them anew, as far as, of course, the type was concerned. More particularly we see how the very ones who had so shamefully failed are now distinctly brought into communion with God's mind about their ways. Reuben is quick to feel, recalls the truth as far as he knew it about Joseph, and shows right feelings towards his father. Yet we know what he had been. Judah is even more prominent, and clearly knew yet deeper searchings of the heart, and particularly too in the way of right affections about both their father and their brother. These, as is plain, were just the points in which they had broken down before. On these they must be divinely corrected now; and so they were.

The issue of all is this, that at last Judah and his brethren return to Joseph's house. (Genesis 44:1-34) Judah speaks. Here indeed we have a most earnest pleading, and full of touching affection. "O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?" There we have evidently a heart that has been brought right, exactly where the sin lay. "We said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no lacerating of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they thought of that once! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him." Do we not feel how far the hearts of all his brethren were from hating Joseph now because of Jacob's love to him! "And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass, when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, Go again and buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since; and if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and thy servants shall bring down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave; for thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father." The moral restoration was complete.

In the following chapter follows the unveiling of the typical stranger, the glorified man, to his brethren, who up to this were wholly ignorant of him. "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me; and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud; and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard; and Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you; and they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years in the which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, and go up to my father." (Genesis 45:1-9) And so they do. Benjamin then is embraced by Joseph; and now there is no let to the accomplishment of the purpose of God for the restoration of Israel for this complete blessing where the reality comes under Christ and the new covenant.

Jacob comes down at length, and on his way God speaks to Israel "in the visions of the night; and said, Jacob, Jacob; and he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." (Genesis 46:2-4)

Then after the genealogies of the chapter,* we have the meeting between Jacob and Joseph. Not this only; for some of Joseph's brethren are presented to Pharaoh; and Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. (Genesis 47:1-31) It was a fine sight spiritually (the more so, because unconsciously, without a definite thought, I presume, on his own part) that "the less is blessed of the greater." But so it is. A poor pilgrim blesses the monarch of the mightiest realm of that day; but the greatest of earth is little in comparison with the blessed of God. Jacob now is not merely blessed, but a blesser. He knows God well enough to be assured that nothing Pharaoh teas could really enrich him, and that there is very much which God could give, on which Jacob could count from God even for Pharaoh.

*It may be worth while to observe in this and other genealogies not often the object of infidel attack, that the differences between Genesis, Numbers' and Chronicles in their form are due to the motive for their introduction in each particular connection ; that the difficulties clearly spring from the design, in no way from error in the writer, but in fact because of ignorance in ouch readers as misapprehend them; and that both the difference and the difficulties are the strongest evidence of their truth and inspired character, for nothing would have been easier than to have assimilated their various forms and to have eliminated that which sounds strange to western ears.

This table enumerates 32 of Leah, 16 of Zilpah, 11 of Rachel, 7 of Bilhah=66. But the head also goes with his house; and so with the larger list of Leah's children we see Jacob counted (verse 8), which is confirmed by the fact of 33 attributed to Leah, whereas no more than 32 literally are named, reckoning Dinah, and excluding Er and Onan who died in Canaan as we are expressly told. Objectors have failed to take into account the peculiarity in the mention of Hezron and Hamul in verse 12. It is merely said (and said only in their case) that the sons of Pharez "were" Hezron and Hamul, not that they were born in Canaan, where those had died for whom they were substitutes; next, that the Hebrew of verse 26 does not go so far as to say with the Authorised Version, "came with Jacob into Egypt," but of, i.e. belonging to, Jacob. It should be borne in mind that there is no reason, but rather the contrary from scriptural usage for construing "at that time," of an isolated point of time, but rather of a general period, consisting as here of a number of events, the last and not the first of which might synchronize with the event recorded just before. It seems clear that Stephen (Acts 7:14) cites the LXX. where 76 are given, as the Greek version (Genesis 46:20) adds five sons and grandsons of Manasseh and Ephraim. Is it not monstrous for a man professing Christianity and ostensibly in the position of bishop, to neglect elements so necessary to a judgment of the question, and to pronounce the Biblical account "certainly incredible," mainly on the assumption that Pharez's sons were born in Canaan, which is nowhere said but rather room left for the inference that it was not so in the exceptional form of Genesis 46:12? Yet after citing this verse we are told, "It appears to me certain (!) that the writer here means to say that Hezron and Hamul were born in the land of Canaan." Is scepticism only certain that its own dreams are true, and that scripture is false? There was a natural and weighty motive for selecting two grandsons of Judah, though no other of Jacob's great- grandsons are mentioned in the list. For they only were substitutional, as the very verse in which they occur implies. And it was of the deeper interest too, as one of them (Hezron) stands in the direct line of the Messiah, which was, as it appears to me, one chief reason for introducing the details of Judah's history and its shame in Genesis 38:1-30.. It is vain to quote Numbers 3:17 to set aside the peculiar force of the allusion to the sons of Pharez in Genesis 46:12, with which there is no real analogy.

In Genesis 48:1-22 tidings of Jacob's sickness brings Joseph and his two sons to the bed of the patriarch. The closing scene of Jacob approaches, and I scarcely know a more affecting thing in the Bible. It is a thorough moral restoration. Not merely is there that which typifies it for Israel by and by, but Jacob's own soul is as it never was before. There is no such bright moment in his past life as in the circumstances of his death-bed. I grant that so it ought to be in a believer; and that it is really so in fact where the soul rests simply on the Lord. But whatever we may see in some instances and fear in others, in Jacob's case the light of God's presence was evident. It is striking that here was the only occasion on which the brightness of Joseph's vision was not so apparent. All flesh is grass. The believer is exposed to any evil when he ceases to be dependent, or yields to his own thoughts which are not of faith. Jesus is the only "Faithful Witness." Failure is found in the most blessed servant of God. So fact, so scripture teaches. Joseph, ignorant of the purpose of God about his sons, allows his natural desires to govern him, and arranges the elder before the right hand of his dying father, the younger before his left. So Joseph would have had it; but not so Jacob. His eyes were dim with age, but he was in this clearer-sighted than Joseph after all. There never was a man who saw more brightly than Joseph; but Jacob, dying, sees the future with steadier and fuller gaze than the most famous interpreter of dreams and visions since the world began.

And what thoughts and feelings must have rushed through the old man's heart as he looked back on his own early days! Did he fail to discern then how easily God could have crossed the hands of his father Isaac against his own will? Certainly God would have infallibly maintained His own truth; and as He had promised the better blessing to Jacob, not to Esau, so, spite of Esau and the fruits of his success in hunting, he would have proved that it was not to him that willed like Isaac, nor to him that ran like Esau. All turns on God, who shows mercy and keeps His word.

On this occasion, then, Jacob pronounces the blessing the superior blessing on the younger of the two boys; and this too in terms which one may safely say, were equal to so extraordinary a conjuncture, in terms which none but the Spirit of God could have enabled any mouth to utter.

In Genesis 49:1-33 we find the general prophetic blessing of Jacob's sons. Here one may convey the scope without ceasing to be brief. As the blessings allude to the history of the twelve heads of the nation, so naturally we have the future that awaits the tribes of Israel. But as this is a matter of tolerably wide-spread knowledge amongst Christians, there is no need for much to be said about it.

Reuben is the starting-point, and alas! it is, like man always, corruption. It was the first mark of evil in the creature. The second is no better, rather worse it may be in some respects, violence. Simeon and Levi were as remarkable for the latter, as Reuben for the former a sorrowful vision for Jacob's heart to feel that this not only had been but was going to be; for undoubtedly he knew, as he says, that what he then uttered would sweep onward and befall the people "in the last days." This did not hinder his beginning with the history of Israel from his own days. Corruption and violence, as they had been the two fatal characteristics of his three eldest sons, so would stamp the people in their early history. Israel under law broke the law, and was ever leaving Jehovah for Baalim; yet the sons would be no better, rather worse, than the father; but the grace of God would interfere for the generations to come as it had for their father Jacob, and the last day would be bright for them as in truth for him.

Then Judah comes before us. It might be thought, that surely there will be full blessing now. ''Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.* Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon."

*The real difficulty inGenesis 49:10; Genesis 49:10 is neither so much the unusual application of the word Shiloh, nor doctrinal zeal, as the desire to get rid of a prophecy. Unbelief sets out with the foregone conclusion that there is and can be no such thing. Hence the effort to destroy its only just and worthy sense. "The Deity (says Dr. D., Introd. O. T. i. 198) did not see fit, as far as we can judge, to impart to any man like Jacob the foreknowledge of future and distant events. Had He done so, He would not have left him in darkness respecting the immortality of the soul (!) and a future state of rewards and punishments (!) He would not have left him to speak on his deathbed, like an Arab chief, of no higher blessings to his sons than rapine and murder, without the least reference to another and better state of existence on which he believed he should enter, and in relation to which he might counsel his sons to act continually. The true way of dealing with the prophecy is simply to ascertain by internal evidence the time in which it was written, on the only tenable and philosophical ground of its having been put into the mouth of the dying patriarch by a succeeding writer. It has the form of a prediction; but it is a vaticinium post eventum. We believe that the time of the prophetic lyric falls under the kings. The tribes are referred to as dwelling in the localities which they obtained in Joshua's time. The announcement respecting Judah's pre-eminence brings down the composition much later than Joshua, since he is represented as taking the leadership of the tribes in subduing the neighbouring nations. We explain the tenth verse in such a manner as to imply that David was king over the tribes, and had humbled their enemies." The proper translation according to this sceptic is:

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the stuff of power from between his feet,

Until he come to Shiloh,

And to him the obedience of the peoples be"

But, first, the ruling position of Judah was not till but after he came to Shiloh. That any one, therefore, during the kings would falsify the events in a pretended prophecy put into dying Jacob's lips is too much for the credulity of any one but a rationalist. Secondly, one who speaks of others so scornfully as this writer ought not to have exposed himself to the charge of such ignorance as confounding "the peoples" or nations with the people or tribes of Israel. I believe, therefore, with the amplest authority in Hebrew, that as the language admits of our taking Shiloh as the subject, not object, so the sense in the context demands that we render it "until Shiloh (i.e. Peace, or the Man of Peace' the Messiah) come."

Yes, Jacob speaks of Shiloh. But Shiloh was presented to the responsibility of the Jew first; and consequently all seemed to break down, and in one sense all really did. "To him shall the gathering of the peoples be;" and so certainly it will be, but not yet. Shiloh came; but Israel were not ready, and refused Him. Consequently the gathering (or the obedience) of the peoples, however sure, is yet in the future. The counsel of God seemed to be abortive, but was really established in the blood of the cross, which unbelief deems its ruin. It is postponed, not lost.

Zebulun gives us the next picture of the history of Israel. Now that they have had Shiloh presented but have refused Him, the Jews find their comforts in intercourse with the Gentiles. This is what they do now seeking to make themselves happy, when, if they weigh their own prophets, they must suspect fatal error somewhere in their history. They have lost their Messiah, and they court the world. "Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon."

The consequence is that the Jews sink under the burden, falling completely under the influence of the nations. This is shown by Issachar "a strong ass crouching down between two burdens."

Then we come to the crisis of sorrows for the Jew. In Dan we hear of that which is far more dreadful than burdens inflicted by the Gentiles, and their own subjection, instead of cleaving to their proper and distinctive hopes. In the case of Dan there is set forth the power of Satan (ver. 17). "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." We see here the enemy in the serpent that bites, and the consequent disaster to the horseman. It is the moment of total ruin among the Jews, but exactly the point of change for blessing. It is then accordingly we hear the cry coming forth, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah." It is the sudden change from the energy of Satan to the heart looking up and out to Jehovah Himself.

From that point all is changed. "Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last." Now we have victory on the side of Israel.

This is not all. There is abundance too. "Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties."

Again, there will be liberty unknown under law, impossible when merely dealt with under the governing hand of God because of their faults. "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words." What a difference from him who was bearing like an ass two burdens!

But, more than that, we have Joseph. Now we have the glory in connection with Israel; and finally power in the earth: Joseph and Benjamin are now as it were found together. What was realised in the facts of the history at last terminates in the blessedness the predicted blessedness of Israel.

The last chapter (Genesis 50:1-26) gives us the conclusion of the book, the burial of Jacob, the reappearance of his sons left with Joseph, and at last Joseph's own death, as lovely as had been his life. He who stood on the highest pinnacle in the land next to the throne, type of Him who will hold the kingdom unto the glory of God the Father, that single-eyed saint now breathes forth his soul to God. "By faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones." His heart is out of the scene where it enjoyed but a transient and at best typical glory. In hope he goes onward to that which would be lasting and true unto God's glory, when Israel should be in Emmanuel's land, and he himself be in a yet better condition even resurrection. He had been exalted in Egypt, but he solemnly took an oath of the sons of Israel, that when God visits them, as He surely will, they will carry up his bones hence. He had served God in Egypt, but to him it was ever the strange land. Though he dwelt there, ruled there, there had a family, and there died fuller of honours than of years, an hundred and ten years old, he feels that Egypt is not the land of God, and knows that He will redeem His people from it, and bring them into Canaan. It was beautiful fruit in its season: no change of circumstances interfered with the promises of God to the fathers. Joseph waited as Abraham, Isaac. and Jacob. Earthly honours did not settle him down in Egypt.

On another day we may see how this oath was kept when God brought about the accomplishment of Israel's deliverance, the type of its ultimate fulfilment.