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From Eternity Past
Reconciliation!
His brothers stood motionless, dumb with fear and amazement.
The ruler of Egypt their brother Joseph, whom they had envied and
would have murdered, and finally sold as a slave! All their ill treatment
of him passed before them. They remembered how long they had
despised his dreams and had labored to prevent their fulfillment. Yet
they had acted their part in fulfilling these dreams. Now that they were
completely in his power, he would, no doubt, avenge the wrong that
he had suffered.
Seeing their confusion, he said kindly, “Come near to me, I pray
you”; and as they came near, he continued, “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.” Feeling that they had suffered enough for their
cruelty toward him, he nobly sought to banish their fears and lessen
the bitterness of their self-reproach.
“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, and say unto him, Thus saith thy
son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto
me, tarry not: and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen ...; for yet
there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that
thou hast, come to poverty.” “And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s
neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover he
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kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren
talked with him.” They humbly confessed their sin and entreated his
forgiveness.
The news of what had taken place was quickly carried to the king.
He confirmed the governor’s invitation to his family, saying, “The
good of all the land of Egypt is yours.” The brothers were sent away
abundantly supplied with provision and everything necessary for the
removal of all their families and attendants to Egypt.
The sons of Jacob returned to their father with the joyful tidings.
“Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” At
first the aged man was overwhelmed; he could not believe what he