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Great Truths Handed Down From Father to Son, June 27
[The king] made him [Joseph] lord of his house, and ruler of all his
possessions, to instruct his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders
wisdom.
Psalm 105:21, 22
, R.S.V.
In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God. Often in his
father’s tent, under the Syrian stars, he had been told the story of the night vision
at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth, and the descending and ascending
angels and of Him who from the throne above revealed Himself to Jacob. He had
been told the story of the conflict beside the Jabbok, when, renouncing cherished
sins, Jacob stood conqueror, and received the title of a prince with God.
A shepherd boy, tending his father’s flocks, Joseph’s pure and simple life had
favored the development of both physical and mental power. By communion with
God through nature and the study of the great truths handed down as a sacred trust
from father to son, he had gained strength of mind and firmness of principle.
In the crisis of his life, when making that terrible journey from his childhood
home in Canaan to the bondage which awaited him in Egypt, looking for the last
time on the hills that hid the tents of his kindred, Joseph remembered his father’s
God. He remembered the lessons of his childhood, and his soul thrilled with the
resolve to prove himself true—ever to act as became a subject of the King of
heaven.
In the bitter life of a stranger and a slave, amidst the sights and sounds of vice
and allurements of heathen worship, a worship surrounded with all the attractions
of wealth and culture and the pomp of royalty, Joseph was steadfast. He had
learned the lesson of obedience to duty. Faithfulness in every station, from the
most lowly to the most exalted, trained every power for highest service.
At the time when he was called to the court of Pharaoh, Egypt was the greatest
of nations. In civilization, art, learning, she was unequaled. Through a period
of utmost difficulty and danger, Joseph administered the affairs of the kingdom;
and this he did in a manner that won the confidence of the king and the people.
Pharaoh “made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: to bind his
princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom” (K.J.V.)....
Loyalty to God, faith in the Unseen, was Joseph’s anchor. In this lay the hiding
of his power. “The arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the mighty
God of Jacob.”...
Joseph and Daniel proved themselves true to the principles of their early
training, true to Him whose representatives they were.—
Education, 52-57
.
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