26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. d ver. 2. dren of Israel. How naturally do we imitate the example of men whom we revere ! Jacob expressed his faith in God's promise, by taking an oath from Joseph that he would carry up his dead body to the land of Canaan, and bury it there. Joseph in like manner took an oath of the sons of Jacob before he died. He did not expect that any of his brethren then living would live long enough to carry up his bones at the departure from Egypt to Canaan, and he did not expect to be buried in Canaan before that time; yet he took an oath from them, that when that happy period should arrive, his bones should not be left behind. He hoped that such a sense of the sacred obligation of an oath would remain amongst them, that none would pretend to excuse themselves from the performance of what he had enjoined on the ground of never having assumed the obligation in their own persons. God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. Therefore I require an oath of you that when God performs his oath, you will carry up my bones hence.' He would have them learn from the divine faithfulness to be faithful them selves. Though Joseph had lived but a short time in Canaan, having spent the greater part of his life in Egypt surrounded by riches and honor, yet he never considered Egypt, but Canaan, as his home. It was consequently his desire that his bones should lie, not with the dust of the princes of Egypt, but in the land which God had given by covenant to his fathers. If it be asked why did he not require his bones to be carried up immediately upon his death, it may be answered that a speedy removal of his remains might have been construed into a contempt of the land of Egypt, and so have brought evil upon his brethren. It might also be a temptation to them to attempt a premature migration from the land of their present sojourning. A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. 26. So Joseph died. All his grandeur, and riches, and goodness could not save him from the hands of the last enemy. And yet it is a certain truth that 'righteousness delivereth from death.' His death was not his destruction. He died that he might live a better life than he could live on earth. It was superfluous to say of him, as was said of Lazarus, that angels carried him to Abraham's bosom.' Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Joseph died at the age of an hundred and ten. Some of these years were spent in grief; more of them in joy. But when he entered into the eternal world, he found that the years spent in grief had been as necessary for him, and were as productive of benefit, as the years in which he had seen prosperity. He had not lived so long as his father, but he had lived to bring forth much fruit unto God; and without this what would it have availed him, what will it avail us, to live as long as Methuselah ?-Joseph's death occurred A. M. 2369, 64 years before the birth of Moses, and 144 before the deliverance from Egypt. They embalmed him. Joseph had caused this ceremony to be performed for his father, not merely because he wished to do all the honor to the patriarch's body which was usually paid to the remains of great men in Egypt, but because it was necessary in order to preserve it from corruption, till it could be carried to the place of sepulture. The same reason existed for dealing in a similar manner with the body of Joseph. He was accordingly embalmed and put in a coffin, but not buried. Where the body was kept in the interval prior to the exodus from Egypt we are not informed; but being dead, he yet spake to the Israelites. His venerable mummy, waiting for the time of its removal, cried aloud to his kinsmen, 'Here is not your rest; you are in a strange land; but God will surely visit you and bring you into the land which he sware to your fathers to give you.' Joseph's dying hopes were not disappointed. When Moses left Egypt in haste, neither the hurry of the departure, nor the immense load of business and care which then lay upon his mind made him forget the bones of Joseph. He would have thought himself guilty of the basest ingratitude, and even of perjury, if the oath made to the dying patriarch had not been observed. Not one, it may be presumed, of those persons to whom the oath had been administered, was then in the land of the living. But the oath which they had sworn survived their own dissolution, and lived in its binding power upon the consciences of their descendants. INDEX Abimelech, import of the name, OF SUBJECTS AND PHRASES. A. Abyss, term explained, Abrek, or bow the knee, meaning of the term considered, According to the mouth of, what meant by the phrase, how he is said to have begotten a son in his own likeness, Almighty, or All-sufficient, Shaddai, a title of the Most High, And, equivalent to even, Angel of the Lord, who intended by the phrase, used as a personification of an event of providence, Animal food, not an ordinary diet among the Orientals, Appearing, what meant by it when applied to God, Antediluvians, considerations on their great age, Ararat, mountains of, where situated, Archers wounding Joseph, how phrase to be explained, B. Babel, (Babylon,) confusion of tongues at, their dreams, how interpreted by Joseph, Vol. Page. I. 194, 270 II. 243 I. 268 I. 147 I. 219 I. 260 II. 35 II. 378 I. 286 I. 64 II. 412 I. 177-179 II. 259 II. 260 I. 303 II. 124 Barter, how carried on in ancient times, Begin, sometimes means to continue an action, Believing in God, the phrase explained as applied to Abraham, ing, Benjamin, import of the name, in what sense called God's house, Bishop, peculiar sense of the original term, Blessing, used in the sense of gift, or an act of liberality, Bottles, eastern, described, Bowing down, common token of respect in the East, Bowing upon the bed's head, phrase considered, Bracelets, eastern ornament described, Branches, term used for wives and children, Bread, a general term for food, Breath of life, phrase explained, Bricks, what kind employed in the building of Babylon, Building one's house, equivalent to raising up children, Butter, the use of it as an article of diet in the East, C. Cain and Abel, account of their respective offerings, Cakes, how speedily baked in the East, Calling upon the name of the Lord, what meant by it, Cattle and beast, distinction of, Cave of Machpelah, account of, Change of garments, when and why enjoined, Cherubims, account of and how to be viewed, Vol. Page. I. 172, 218 I. 160 I. 242 II. 85 II. 206 II, 112 II. 113 II. 207 II. 269 II. 67, 68 I. 39 II. 182 I. 306 I. 353 Child, used in the sense of lad, stripling, Commanding one's household, what implied by it, Comparative, for absolute expressions, not unfrequent in the Scriptures, Concubine, what kind of connexion implied by the term, Counting for righteousness, phrase explained, Covenant of salt, what Covering of the eyes, how Abraham was a to Sarah, Cursing, how to be understood when spoken of God, in what sense the ground, Cutting of a soul, what implied in that punishment, D. Day, in what sense the term used in the Mosaic narrative, Dead man, used for one in imminent danger of death, one, Deborah, how honored as a nurse, Dews, their copiousness in the East, Die, how Adam was to in the day of his disobedience, anciently a mode of divine communication, Duke, true sense of original term, Dwelling in tents, how firmed of Jacob, E. II. 336 I. 257 II. 17 I. 243 I. 128 I. 328 I. 344 I. 27 I 81 I. 82 I. 86 I. 277 I. 254 Ear-rings, eastern described, Eating the forbidden fruit, design of the prohibition considered, Vol. Page. I. 354 II. 55 I. 272 I. 88 I. 295-296 I. 31 II. 116 I. 337 II. 128 II, 324 II. 226 II. 323 II. 213 II. 42 1. 62 I. 175 II. 208 |
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