Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

bring down his grey hairs to the grave, if he were to see them come back, and their youngest brother not with them; and he offered also, if Joseph would let Benjamin go, to remain, as a bondsman, instead of him.

Then, when Joseph saw how much distressed his brethren and his father would be if he kept Benjamin, and when he saw too that his brethren were no longer so hard-hearted as they had been formerly, he could not refrain from weeping; and when he had ordered all the Egyptians to go out of the room where he was, he made himself known to his brethren. He told them that he was Joseph, whom they had sold into Egypt; and he inquired how his father was,-whether he was really still alive. And he kissed Benjamin and all his brethren, and wept upon their necks.

But Joseph did something more than this he desired his brethren to go back to Canaan, and to bring down into Egypt

their aged father, and their wives, and their children, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they had. Pharaoh also gave them waggons to bring up their families in.

When Jacob was told that Joseph was still alive, and that it was he who was governor over the land of Egypt, his heart fainted, and he could not believe what they said; but when he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him and his property, then his spirit revived, and he said, "It is enough: Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die." So he and all his family went down into Egypt. And Joseph went to meet his father, and he fell on his neck, and wept on it a good while.

Pharaoh allowed Jacob and his sons to live in the land of Goshen, which was a rich part of Egypt, where there was plenty of grass for their cattle; and there Jacob lived to be a very old man, one

hundred and forty-seven years old; and before he died, he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's sons, and foretold all that would happen to his own sons.

When Jacob was dead, Joseph's brethren were afraid that he would now revenge himself upon them for the evil which they had done him when he was a young man; and they sent a messenger to him to entreat him to forgive them. But Joseph had no intention of treating them ill. He knew that they had treated him very ill; but he was too good a man to think of revenging himself. He told them to fear not; and that, although they had thought evil against him, yet God had meant it for good, that he might save them all alive.

Thus did this excellent man generously forgive his brethren all the ill which they had done him. He did not reproach them with what they had done, but he comforted them, and spake kindly to

them, and tried to do them all the good that he could. In like manner ought we to forgive those who have injured us. Instead of using reproachful language to them, we should speak kindly to them, as Joseph did, and always be ready to do them any service which is in our power.

Joseph forgave his brethren, and he did not forget his aged father. He treated him as a son ought to do. He sent for him up out of the land of Canaan,, where there was no corn to make bread, and settled him in peace and comfort in the land of Goshen. So ought all children to behave to their parents: when they are old, or in distress, they should do their best to help them; and if God has given to them more than what he has given to their parents, then they ought to share it with them, and do all they can to make them comfortable and happy.

MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.

(Exodus i. 8-ii. 10.)

WHILE Joseph and his brethren were living, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was very kind to them; but some years afterwards, when the children of Israel were become a great number of people, there arose another king, whose name was also Pharaoh; and he treated them very ill. He made slaves of them, and compelled them to work hard; and, when he saw that they multiplied very fast, he was afraid that, if ever a war should break out, they would join his enemies, and fight against the Egyptians, and so escape out of his hands. So he gave orders, that when a child was born to any of the Israelitish women, if it was a son, it should be killed, and if it was a daughter, it should live.

Now there was one woman who had a little boy born, and she determined to save him, if she possibly could, for she

E

« EdellinenJatka »