"I fear God." GENESIS xlii. 18.
Did it ever seem remarkable to you, as it has seemed to me, how many
chapters of the Bible are taken up with the history of Joseph--a young
man who, on the most memorable occasion in his life, said "I fear God,"
and had no other argument to use?
Thirteen chapters of the book of Genesis are mainly devoted to the tale
of this one young man. Doubtless his father Jacob's going down into
Egypt, was one of the most important events in the history of the Jews:
we might expect, therefore, to hear much about it. But what need was
there to spend four chapters at least in detailing Joseph's meeting with
his brethren, even to minute accounts of the speeches on both sides?
Those who will may suppose that this is the effect of mere chance. Let
us have no such fancy. If we believe that a Divine Providence watched
over the composition of those old Scriptures; if we believe that they
were meant to teach, not only the Jews but all mankind; if we believe
that they reveal, not merely some special God in whom the Jews believed,
but the true and only God, Maker of heaven and earth; if we believe, with
St. Paul, that every book of the Old Testament is inspired by God, and
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works--if we believe this, I say, it must be worth our
while to look carefully and reverently at a story which takes up so large
a part of the Bible, and expect to find in it something which may help to
make _us_ perfect, and thoroughly furnish _us_ unto all good works.
Now, surely when we look at this history of Joseph, we ought to see at
the first glance that it is not merely a story about a young man, but
about the common human relations--the ties which bind any and every man
to other human beings round him. For is it not a story about a brother
and brothers? about a son and a father, about a master and a servant?
about a husband and a wife? about a subject and a sovereign? and how they
all behaved to each other--some well and some ill--in these relations?
Surely it is so, and surely this is why the story of Joseph has been
always so popular among innocent children and plain honest folk of all
kinds; because it is so simply human and humane; and therefore it taught
them far more than they could learn from many a lofty, or seemingly
lofty, book of devotion, when it spoke to them of the very duties they
had to fulfil, and the very temptations they had to fight against, as
members of a family or as members of society. "One touch of Nature (says
the poet) makes the whole world kin;" and the touches of nature in this
story of Joseph make us feel that he and his brethren, and all with whom
he had to do, are indeed kin to us; that their duty is our duty too--their
temptations ours--that where they fell, we may fall--where they conquered
we may conquer.
For what is the story? A young lad is thrown into every temptation
possible for him. Joseph is very handsome. The Bible says so expressly;
so we may believe it. He has every gift of body and mind. He is, as his
story proves plainly, a very clever person, with a strange power of
making every one whom he deals with love him and obey him--a terrible
temptation, as all God's gifts are, if abused by a man's vanity, or
covetousness or ambition. He is an injured man too. He has been basely
betrayed by his brothers; he is under a terrible temptation, to which
ninety-nine men out of one hundred would have yielded--do yield, alas! to
this day, to revenge himself if he ever has an opportunity. He is an
injured man in Egypt, for he is a slave to a foreigner who has no legal
or moral right over him. If ever there was a man who might be excused
for cherishing a burning indignation against his oppressors, for brooding
over his own wrongs, for despairing of God's providence, it is Joseph in
Egypt. What could we do but pity him if he had said to himself, as
thousands in his place have said since, "There is no God, or if there is,
He does not care for me--He does not care what men do. He looks on
unmoved at wrong and cruelty, and lets man do even as he will. Then why
should not _I_ do as _I_ will? What are these laws of God of which men
talk? What are these sacred bonds of family and society? Every one for
himself is the rule of the world, and it shall be _my_ rule. Every man's
hand has been against _me_; why should not my hand be against every man?
_I_ have been betrayed; why should not _I_ betray? _I_ have been
opprest; why should not _I_ oppress? I have a lucky chance, too, of
enjoying and revenging myself at the same time; why should I not take my
good luck, and listen to the words of the tempter?"
My dear friends, this is the way in which thousands have talked, in which
thousands talk to this day. This is the spirit which ends in breaking up
society, as happened in France eighty years ago, in the inward corruption
of a nation, and at last, in outward revolution and anarchy, from which
may God in His mercy deliver us and our fellow-countrymen, and the
generations yet to come. But any nation or any man, will only be
delivered from it, as Joseph was delivered from it, by saying, "I fear
God." No doubt it is most natural for a man who is injured and opprest
to think in that way. Most _natural_--just as it is most natural for the
trapped dog to struggle vainly, and, in his blind rage, bite at
everything around him, even at his own master's hand when it offers to
set him free. And if men are to be mere children of nature, like the
animals, and not children of grace and sons of God, like Joseph, and like
one greater than Joseph, then I suppose they must needs tear each other
to pieces in envy and revenge, for there is nought better to be done. But
if they wish to escape from the misery and ruin which envy and revenge
bring with them, then they had better recollect that they are not
children of nature, but children of God--they had best follow Joseph's
example, and say, "I fear God."
For this poor, betrayed, enslaved lad had got into his heart something
above Nature--something which Nature cannot give, but only the
inspiration of the Spirit of God gives. He had got into his heart the
belief that God's laws were sacred things and must not be broken, and
that whatever befel him he must fear God. However unjust and lawless the
world looked, God's laws were still in it, and over it, and would avenge
themselves, and he must obey them at all risks. And what were God's laws
in Joseph's opinion?
These--the common relations of humanity between master to servant, and
servant to master; between parent to child, and child to parent; brother
to brother and sister to sister, and between the man who is trusted and
the man who trusts him. These laws were sacred; and if all the rest of
the world broke them, he (Joseph) must not. He was bound to his master,
not only by any law of man, but by the Law of God. His master trusted
him, and left all that he had in his hand, and to Joseph the law of
honour was the law of God. Then he must be justly faithful to his
master. A sacred trust was laid on him, and to be true to it was to fear
God.
After a while his master's wife tempts him. He refuses; not merely out
of honour to his master, but from fear of God. "How can I do this great
wickedness," says Joseph, "and sin against God?" His master and his
mistress are heathen, but their marriage is of God nevertheless; the vow
is sacred, and he must deny himself anything, endure anything, dare any
danger of a dreadful death, and a prison almost as horrible probably as
death itself, rather than break it.
So again, in the prison. If ever man had excuse for despairing of God's
providence, for believing that right-doing did _not_ pay, it was poor
Joseph in that prison. But no. God is with him still. He believes
still in the justice of God, the providence of God, and therefore he is
cheerful, active--he can make the best even of a dungeon. He can find a
duty to do even there; he can make himself useful, helpful, till the
keeper of the prison too leaves everything in his hand.
What a gallant man! you say. Yes, my friends, but what makes him
gallant? That which St. Paul says (in Hebrews xi.) made all the old
Jewish heroes gallant--faith in God; real and living belief that God
is--and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
At last Joseph's triumph comes. He has his reward. God helps
him--because he will help himself. He is made a great officer of state,
married to a woman of high rank, probably a princess, and he sees his
brothers who betrayed him at his mercy. Their lives are in his hand at
last. What will he do? Will he be a bad brother because they were bad?
Or will he keep to his old watchword, "I fear God?" If he is tempted to
revenge himself, he crushes the temptation down. He will bring his
brothers to repentance. He will touch their inward witness, and make
them feel that they have been wicked men. That is for their good. And
strangely, but most naturally, their guilty consciences go back to the
great sin of their lives--to Joseph's wrong, though they have no notion
that Joseph is alive, much less near them. "Did I not tell you," says
Reuben, "sin not against the lad, and ye would not hearken? Therefore is
this distress come upon us."
Joseph punishes Simeon by imprisonment. It may be that he had reasons
for it which we are not told. But when his brothers have endured the
trial, and he finds that Benjamin is safe, he has nothing left but
forgiveness. They are his brethren still--his own flesh and blood. And
he "fears God." He dare not do anything but forgive them. He forgives
them utterly, and welcomes them with an agony of happy tears. He will
even put out of their minds the very memory of their baseness. "Now,
therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me
hither, he says; for God sent me before you, to save your lives with a
great deliverance."
Is not that Divine? Is not that the Spirit of God and of Christ? I say
it is. For what is it but the likeness of Christ, who says for ever, out
of heaven, to all mankind, "Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that
ye crucified me. For God, my Father, sent me to save your souls by a
great salvation."
My friends, learn from this story of Joseph, and the prominent place in
the Bible which it occupies--learn, I say, how hateful to God are family
quarrels; how pleasant to God are family unity and peace, and mutual
trust, and duty, and helpfulness. And if you think that I speak too
strongly on this point, recollect that I do no more than St. Paul does,
when he sums up the most lofty and mystical of all his Epistles, the
Epistle to the Ephesians, by simple commands to husbands and wives,
parents and children, masters and servants, as if he should say,--You
wish to be holy? you wish to be spiritual? Then fulfil these plain
family duties, for they, too, are sacred and divine, and he who despises
them, despises the ordinances of God. And if you despise the laws of
God, they will surely avenge themselves on you. If you are bad husbands
or bad wives, bad parents or bad children, bad brothers or sisters, bad
masters or servants, you will smart for it, according to the eternal laws
of God, which are at work around you all day long, making the sinner
punish himself whether he likes or not.
Examine yourselves--ask yourselves, each of you, Have I been a good
brother? have I been a good son? have I been a good husband? have I been
a good father? have I been a good servant? If not, all professions of
religion will avail me nothing. If not, let me confess my sins to God,
and repent and amend at once, whatever it may cost me. The fulfilling
these plain duties is the true test of my faith, the true sign and test
whether I really believe in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord. Do I
believe that the world is Christ's making? and that Christ is governing
it? Do I believe that these plain family relationships are Christ's
sacred appointments? Do I believe that our Lord Jesus was made very man
of the substance of His mother, to sanctify these family relationships,
and claim them as the ordinances of God His Father?
In one word--copy Joseph; and when you are tempted say with Joseph, "Can
I do this great wickedness, and sin--not against this man or this woman,
but against--_God_."
Take home these plain, practical words. Take them home, and fear God at
your own firesides. For at the last day, the Bible tells us, the Lord
Jesus Christ will not reward you and me according to the opinions we held
while in this mortal body, whether they were quite right or quite wrong,
but according to the deeds which we did in the body, whether they were
good or bad.