CHAPTER XXXIX.

Q. Verses 1-4, and 20-23.-With what assurance of the Psalmist do these records agree?

A. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." (Ps. xxxvii. 23, 24.)

Q. Verse 9. What apostolical assurance may comfort and encourage all who suffer after the example of Joseph ?

For

A. "This is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." (1 Pet. iii. 19, 20.)

CHAPTER XL.

Q. Verses 7, 8.-What excellencies of Joseph's character are here strikingly apparent?

A. His sympathy and compassion for his fellowprisoners; his entire dependence upon the power of the Lord; and his readiness to apply to the necessities of others, the treasures of knowledge and of wisdom which had been vouchsafed to himself. His question to his fellow-prisoners, "Wherefore look ye so sadly to-day?" is simplicity itself, yet full of the pathos of true sympathy. The words, "Do not interpretations belong to God?" are not so much a question as an affirmation, that, beyond all possibility of doubt, "interpretations do belong to God," and to God only. The entreaty, "Tell me them, I pray you," follow

ing, as it does, this unreserved ascription of all power to God, is at once an acknowledgment of the Lord's precious gifts, and an evidence that Joseph was ready and anxious to apply them to the benefit of those who needed consolation and advice. We are thus taught by example what we are also taught by precepts innumerable throughout the sacred volume: "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.

Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth." (Ps. xcvi. 8. 10.) "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Phil. ii. 4.) "Whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (Col. iii. 17.)

Q. Verse 15.-What other excellency of Joseph's character may here be observed?

A. The excellency of his meekness, which is manifested in the gentleness with which he mentions the cruel injustice he had received. He does not even refer to his brethren, much less does he denounce their treachery; nor does he allude to the shameless accusation upon which he had been thrown into prison. He brings no "railing accusation" against his persecutors; but simply states the facts, apparently with no other view than as a probable inducement for Pharaoh's butler, to "make mention" of him to Pharaoh, that he might be brought out of prison.

Q. Verses 20-22.-What are the sentiments with which a Christian should commemorate his birthday?

A. He should commemorate it with sentiments of devout thankfulness to Almighty God for his " creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for God's inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory." He should look back upon the past with a sincere desire to profit by the retrospect; noting where he has gone astray, and praying for grace to avoid all such lapses for the future; dwelling upon mercies with thankful

66

ness, and classing especially among them those fatherly chastenings which have been sent for his healing," and to draw him, with "bands of love," towards his Great Physician. (Hosea xi. 3, 4, compared with Jer. viii. 22.) The only two scriptural records concerning the celebration of birthdays are those which relate to the birthdays of Pharaoh and Herod, and both these celebrations were marked by a murderous exercise of arbitrary power. Pharaoh's baker had probably committed no great crime against his master; the sacred narrative mentions none, but simply states that "Pharaoh was wroth;" and Herod, we know, was only actuated by the basest passions, when he commanded that John the Baptist should be beheaded. The very fact that such crimes mingled with their rejoicing proves that those unhappy potentates did not commemorate their respective anniversaries in a way acceptable to "the God of the spirits of all flesh;" (Num. xxvii. 16) and although we are not likely to be placed in the way of similar temptations, we shall do well, upon the completion of every successive year of our probationary term, to remember "that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 11-14.)

CHAPTER XLI.

Q. Verses 29, 30.-What is the spiritual instruction to be gained from the seven years of famine having been preceded by seven years of plenty?

A. The same with that which Solomon so plainly puts before us: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." (Eccles. xii. 1, and context.) The same preacher reminds us, in a preceding chapter, that "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven;" and most assuredly the season of youth is the time when we should lay up stores for the season of old age, even those stores of wisdom and of knowledge upon which the soul may feed when the faculties of the body can no longer assist her in collecting them. When the eye shall have become so dim that it can no longer read the Word of God, and the ear so dull that it can no longer hear it. Then may remembrance feed sweetly upon that which has been garnered up within its treasury, and amidst the pains of sickness and the infirmities of age, the blessed experience of David will be ours: "Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law. This I had, because I kept thy precepts." (Ps. cxix. 54-56.)

Q. Trace through the whole narrative of this and the two preceding chapters the wonderful course of God's providence, in carrying out his secret purposes.

A. The chain of circumstances which led to Joseph's elevation cannot but prove to us that God can, and does overrule every event of our lives towards the accomplishment of his own foreordained purposes. The purpose now to be effected was the fulfilment of

Joseph's dreams, which had foreshadowed his advancement in worldly honours far above his father and his brethren. In chap. xxxvii. we read of these dreams, of the consequent envyings of Joseph's brethren, of their selling him into slavery, and of their leading Jacob to believe that he was dead. In chap. xxxix. we read of Joseph's resisting the temptation of Potiphar's wife, of her unjust accusation, and of his being cast into prison. But the Lord "was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper." Joseph having thus obtained authority in the "place where the king's prisoners were bound," the Lord made the wrath of the king subservient to his own further designs towards him. In chap. xl. we read that "Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them." We have seen how Joseph's sympathy and compassion were awakened towards his fellow-prisoners, and how he interpreted their dreams, making request to the chief butler, that when the interpretations should be fulfilled he would think upon him, and make mention of him to Pharaoh. Nevertheless, it is recorded, "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.” From the commencement of the present chapter we may gather that the period of this forgetfulness on the part of Pharaoh's butler extended over "two whole years," and then the finger of the Lord directs his remembrance towards Joseph, who is brought "hastily

F