wh~ch s~parnted_ Joseph fr~m his father, raised him to power in Egypt, wrought for tho punficat1on of his brethren s character, and prepared the way for the ultimo.ta Battlement of the whole family in Goshen. It laid the foundation for new historical developments. '.l'here is now to be a pause, a breathing space, while the people are gradue.lly multiply- mg, and exchanging the habits of nomadic life for those of aariculturists and dwellers in cities. The death of Joseph, and of his brethren, and of all that generation, is the proper close of this earlier period. Their pa.rt is played out, and the stage is cleared for new beginnings. 1. They died--so mmt we all. The common fate, yet infinitely pathetic when reflected on. 2. They died-the end of earthly greatness. Joseph had 2:11 ~e could wish for of earthlY: po:wer and splendour, and he enjoyed it through a long lifetime. Yet he must pa.rt with 1t. Well for him that he had something better in prospect. 3. They died-the end of earthly disciplines. The lives of the brethren had ~en singularly eventful. By painful disciplines God had moulded them for good. !-1fe to every one is a divinely ordained discipline. The end is to bring us to repentance, and build us up in faith and holiness. With some, the discipline succeeds ; with others it fails. In either case death ends it. "After this the judgment" (Heb. ix. 27). The fact of discipline an argument for inlmortality. God does not spend a lifetime in per- fecting a character, that just when the finishing touches have been put upon it, he may dash it into non-existence. Death ends discipline, but we carry with us the result and the responsibility. 4. They died-Joseph and his brethren-happily in faith. There was a future they did not live to see ; but their faith grasped God's promise, and "Joseph, when he died ... gave commandment concerning his bones" (Heb. xi. 22). And behind the earthly Canaan loomed something better-an inheritance which they and we may share together.-J. O.
Vers. 1-22.-The prosperity of Israel. This prosperity was not a mere appearance, nor a passing spurt of fortune. It was a deep, abiding, and significant reality. Nor was it somethl.ng euggerated in order to make an excuse for the cruelties of a sus- picious tyrant. There was indeed only too much to make Pharaoh uneasy ; but altogether apart from his alarms there is a plain and emphatic statement of the prosperity of Israel in ver. 7. It is a very emphatic statement indeed, summoning us in the most imperative way to a special notice of this remarkable prosperity. Let us therefore take a general view of Israel's prosperity as it is set before us in all the extent of this first chapter. Note- L THE Th""DICATIONB OF THIS PROSPERITY. The prosperity is not only plainly stated, but the charter abounds in indications of Jehovah's favour towards Israel, and his peculiar watchfulness over it. 1. The wonderful way in which God ltad brought a whok family into Egypt, and provided for their comfortable settlement in the land. Families usually get scattered; but here are the children of Israel and children's children all kept together. The very means which they had employed in order to get rid of one of their number who was an offence to them, had ended in their being brought together more closely than ever. Joseph went before, and all unconsciously made a. solid foundation for the building of their prosperity. Through all domestic jealousies, in the perils of famine, and in their journeyings between Canaan and Egypt, the Lord had preserved these twelve men so that not one of them was lacking in his contribution to the future excellency of Israel 2. The name by which they were described-the children of Israel. God had said to Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 28)," Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel," and yet down to the end of his life he is sometimes called Jacob and sometimes Israel, as if to keep before our minds both his natural character and also his new position and privileges gained in the memorable wrestling at Peniel. These twelve men, the fathers of the tribes, were children of Israel as well as sons of Jacob. Jacob himself had done many things to show the meanness and corruption of fallen human nature, and his sons had been not one whit better than himself ( consider the revengeful action of Simeon and: Levi in Gen. xxxiv. 25; the conduct of Reuben in xxxv. 22; and especially the conduct of the brethren towards Joseph and the father who so doted upon hini). But these i,ons of Jacob, with all their personal demerits, were also the children of him who by his sublime, persistent, courageous, and successful struggle had gained the name of Israel. It was a name to be transmitted from them to their children, full of significance, recalling a gloriOUB experience in the past and promising a still moro CH, I, 1-6.j 'l'HE BOOK OF EXODUS. 7