saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear, therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben said, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them and wept, and returned to them again and communed" (that is, talked) "with them." He loved these bad brothers, and forgave them all they had done. And not only did he forgive them, but "he commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way."

BENJAMIN.

JOSEPH kept Simeon, however, as a hostage for the return of the others with Benjamin. A hostage means one who is kept as a security for the performance of a promise. If the nine brothers had never come back, Simeon would have been at Joseph's mercy, and might, they knew, be put to death. So when they arrived at home, they said, "The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies, we be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan; and the man, the lord of the

country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men: leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone and bring your youngest brother unto me, so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land."

It must have been with a heavy heart that their old father heard he was to part with Benjamin. Not the sight of the money returned in their sacks could make him content with the loss of another child for ever so short a time. "Me," he said, "have ye bereaved" (or deprived)" of my children; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away all these things are against me."

As long as the corn lasted that they brought back, nothing could persuade Jacob to part with his darling child. But "the famine was sore in the land,” and their father said unto his sons, "Go and buy us a little food.” But Judah said, "The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? And Judah said unto his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him : if I bring him not unto thee, then let me bear the blame for

ever. Judah had been the most forward in selling Joseph, and now he was the most ready to take charge of Benjamin, feeling, perhaps, sorry for his former cruelty.

Starvation at length conquered their old father. He said, "If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds; and take double money in your hand, and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand, peradventure it was an oversight. Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: and God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." The money being returned, shows the honest dealing of the old patriarch.

One feels sure that they all took the greatest care of Benjamin, they would always let him ride on a camel, and they would give him the best food, and never say an unkind word to him.

At last they reached Egypt, and we may fancy the joy of Joseph when he found that Benjamin was really there. But we are told, "The men were afraid, and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses." And they said to the steward of Joseph's house, "O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food : and it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that

we opened our sacks, and behold every man's money was in the mouth of his sack: we cannot tell who

put our money in our sacks.” "And he said, Peace be to you, fear not your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks." The alarm of the brethren is shown by their anxiety to make friends with the steward.

Then they were brought into Joseph's presence, and gave him their presents, and bowed down to the ground, and "he asked them, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son."

But now he could bear up no longer: "he sought where to weep, and entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face," that they might not see his tears, and went back to the feast he had ordered. He was so great a man that he always eat at a table by himself, as kings and queens used to do in old times, and the Egyptians had a table to themselves; for they would not eat with the Hebrews: they thought it an abomination to do so. They must, therefore, have been astonished to see that Joseph sent from his own dinner "messes."—that is, plates full-of food to them; but to Benjamin he sent five times as much as to the others.

Having a fresh supply of corn, they wanted to go

home; but Joseph wished to keep Benjamin with him. But they said they dare not face their father if they did not bring him safely back " seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life." They repeated what their father had said to them: "Ye know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since; and if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.' Hearing this, Joseph could command himself no longer; but he did not wish to disgrace his brothers before the Egyptians, and desired that all except his brothers would leave him. Then we are told "he wept aloud"-so loud that the people outside heard him and he said, "I am Joseph. Doth my father yet live?" They were too frightened to answer, no doubt expecting that his next words would be to sentence them all to be put to death. Seeing their fright, he told them to come nearer to him, and said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life" that is, by saving up the corn against the time of famine.

How few people who know that they have been ill-used can help reproaching those who have injured them! Which of you would be as tender, and affectionate, and forgiving towards any one who had done you a great wrong? His great wish now was to lose no time in getting his old father to come to