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for selling their brother in Egypt, and was now returning upon them
their transgressions, by permitting them to become slaves also.
Joseph refused to accept them all, according to the word of Judah,
as bondmen. “And he said, God forbid that I should do so; but the man
in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for
you, get you up in peace unto your father.” Judah spoke with Joseph
aside from the rest, and related to him the reluctance of his father to
let Benjamin come with them to Egypt, and that he pledged himself to
become surety for Benjamin, that if he brought him not to his father
he would bear the blame forever. He eloquently plead in behalf of his
father, relating his great grief at the loss of Joseph, and that Benjamin
was all that was left of the mother which his father loved, and that if
Benjamin should be separated from his father he would die, for his life
was bound up in the lad’s life. Judah then nobly offered to become a
slave instead of his brother, for he could not meet his father without
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Benjamin was with him. Said Judah, “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.”
Joseph was satisfied. He had proved his brethren, and had seen
in them the fruits of true repentance for their sins, and he was so
deeply affected that he could not longer conceal his feelings, and
requested to be left alone with his brethren. He then gave vent to his
long-suppressed feelings and wept aloud. “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.”
His brethren could not answer him for astonishment. They could
not really believe that the ruler of Egypt was their brother Joseph whom
they had envied, and would have murdered, but finally were satisfied to
sell as a slave. All their ill treatment of their brother painfully passed
before them, and especially his dreams, which they had despised, and
had labored to prevent their fulfillment. They had acted their part in
fulfilling these dreams. Repeatedly had they made obeisance to Joseph,
according to his dream. And now they stood before him condemned
and amazed.
As Joseph saw the confusion of his brethren, he said to them,
“Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said I
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am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.” He nobly sought
to make this occasion as easy for his brethren as possible. He had no