Joseph and His Brothers
141
Joseph is a fruitful bough,
Even a fruitful bough by a well;
Whose branches run over the wall.
The archers have sorely grieved him,
And shot at him, and hated him;
But his bow abode in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong
By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; ...
The blessings of thy father have prevailed
Above the blessings of my progenitors
Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him that was separate
from his brethren.
[162]
Jacob was a man of deep affection; his love for his sons was strong
and tender. He had forgiven them all, and he loved them to the last.
His paternal tenderness would have found expression only in words
of encouragement and hope; but the power of God rested upon him.
Under the influence of Inspiration he was constrained to declare the
truth, however painful.
Jacob’s last years brought an evening of tranquillity and repose
after a troubled and weary day. Clouds had gathered dark above his
path, yet his sun set clear, and the radiance of heaven illumined his
parting hours. Says the Scripture, “At evening time it shall be light.”
Zechariah 14:7
. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for
the end of that man is peace.”
Psalm 37:37
.
Inspiration faithfully records the faults of good men who were
distinguished by the favor of God. This has given the infidel occasion
to scoff at the Bible. But it is one of the strongest evidences of the
truth of Scripture that facts are not glossed over nor the sins of its
chief characters suppressed. Had the Bible been written by uninspired
persons, it would no doubt have presented the character of its honored
men in a more flattering light.
Seeing where others struggled through discouragements like our
own, where they fell under temptation as we have done and yet took
heart again and conquered through the grace of God, we are encour-
aged in our striving after righteousness. As they, though sometimes