Law and the Covenants
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chosen people. Every additional ray of light that we receive gives us a
clearer understanding of the plan of redemption, which is the working
out of the divine will in the salvation of man. We see new beauty and
force in the inspired word, and we study its pages with a deeper and
more absorbing interest.
The opinion is held by many that God placed a separating wall
between the Hebrews and the outside world; that His care and love,
withdrawn to a great extent from the rest of mankind, were centered
upon Israel. But God did not design that His people should build up a
wall of partition between themselves and their fellow men. The heart
of Infinite Love was reaching out toward all the inhabitants of the
earth. Though they had rejected Him, He was constantly seeking to
reveal Himself to them and make them partakers of His love and grace.
His blessing was granted to the chosen people, that they might bless
others.
God called Abraham, and prospered and honored him; and the
patriarch’s fidelity was a light to the people in all the countries of
his sojourn. Abraham did not shut himself away from the people
around him. He maintained friendly relations with the kings of the
surrounding nations, by some of whom he was treated with great
respect; and his integrity and unselfishness, his valor and benevolence,
were representing the character of God. In Mesopotamia, in Canaan,
in Egypt, and even to the inhabitants of Sodom, the God of heaven
was revealed through His representative.
So to the people of Egypt and of all the nations connected with that
powerful kingdom, God manifested Himself through Joseph. Why did
the Lord choose to exalt Joseph so highly among the Egyptians? He
might have provided some other way for the accomplishment of His
purposes toward the children of Jacob; but He desired to make Joseph
a light, and He placed him in the palace of the king, that the heavenly
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illumination might extend far and near. By his wisdom and justice,
by the purity and benevolence of his daily life, by his devotion to the
interests of the people—and that people a nation of idolaters—Joseph
was a representative of Christ. In their benefactor, to whom all Egypt
turned with gratitude and praise, that heathen people were to behold
the love of their Creator and Redeemer. So in Moses also God placed
a light beside the throne of the earth’s greatest kingdom, that all who
would, might learn of the true and living God. And all this light was