Basic HTML Version
Chapter 7—Lives of Great Men
Sacred history provides many illustrations of the results of true
education. It presents many noble examples of people whose lives
were a blessing to others and who stood in the world as representa-
tives of God. Among these are Joseph, Daniel, Moses, Elisha, and
Paul.
In early life, just as they were passing from youth to manhood,
Joseph and Daniel were separated from their homes and carried
as captives to heathen lands. Especially was Joseph subject to the
temptations that attend great changes of fortune. In his father’s home
he was a tenderly cherished child, in the house of Potiphar a slave, in
Pharaoh’s dungeon a prisoner of state, condemned unjustly. Finally,
at a time of great crisis, he was called to leadership in the nation of
Egypt. What enabled him to preserve his integrity?
No one can stand on a lofty height without danger. Fierce temp-
tations that leave untouched the lowly in life assail those who stand
in the world’s high places of success and honor. But Joseph stood
both the tests of adversity and of prosperity. The same fidelity was
manifest in the palace of the Pharaohs as in the prisoner’s cell.
In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of
God. Often he had been told the story of the night vision at Bethel,
[36]
of the ladder from heaven to earth, 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
River, when, renouncing cherished sins, Jacob stood conqueror and
received the title of a prince with God.
As 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 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 that awaited him in
38