The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 489

IIOMILETICS. Vers. 12-25.-Joseph among his brethren at IJothan. I. THE FRIENDLY MISSION. 1. Its local destinatioii. This was Shechem, at a distance of sixty miles from Hebron, where Jacob had previously resided for a number of years and acquired a 1,rnall estate ( eh. xxxiii. 18, 19), where Jacob's sons had committed, a few years befor11 the terrible ntrocity which made the name of Israel stink throughout the land ( eh: xxxiv. 26-30); and where now Joseph's brethren were shepherding their flocks ha,ing gone thither either on account of the excellent pasture, or in order to b~ beyond the reach of Joseph and his tale-bearing, or perhaps with a mind to keep an eye on their father's estate. 2. Its kindly intention. . Joseph was despatched to this important sheep-station in the north to inquire after the welfare of his brethren. That Jacob should have sent a son so tender and beloved on a journey so arduous and an errand so fraught with danger to himself, considering the well-known hostility ('f his brethren towards him, if a proof of Jacob's want of consideration, was also a mark of his parental solicitude for his sons' behaviour, as well as a sign of his ;1pprehensions for their safety, venturing, as they had, to revisit the scene of their former crimes, and perhaps it may be added, an indication of his desire to effect a reconciliation between Joseph and his brethren. 3. Its cheerful susception. Though realising better than bis father did the perilous character of the enterprise, in con- sequence of knowing more exactly than his father the depth of malignant feeling entertained towards him by hie bn,thren, Joseph did not hesitate to comply with his father's instructions, but, making nothing of the long journey, and keeping silent as to the risks of increased hatred, if nothing more, which he must have known that mission would entail upon him, cheerfully replied, Here am I. What o bright example of true filial piety and obedience I 4. Its successful completion. Arriving at Shechern, he first failed to find his brethren, and then lost his way, but ultimately, on being directed by a stranger, discovered them at Dothan. The perseverance of Joseph in carrying through his father's commission may be profitably studied, as a pattern to all to whom any sort of work, but more especially Christian work, is in trusted. JI. THE DIABOLICAL CONSPIRACY. 1. Its innocent occasion-the approach of Joseph in his long-sleeved and long-skirted tunic. Liken gunpowder train that has been care- fully prepared, and only wants the application of a spark to produce an explosion, the brethren of Joseph were only needing some trifling incident to elicit all the frn- iricidal hate which was already growing in their bosoms, and that incident waa supplied by the sight of the coat of ends. It was a striking illustration of how gre11t results frequently proceed from apparently insignificant causes (James iii. 4, 6). 2. Its murderous clwracter. It aimed at the destruction of Joseph's life. With unex- ampled unanimity, not a voice wa~ raised against the proposal (perhaps mnde by Simeon) to kill him aod cast his lifeless body into a pit. The proposal of Reuben must have been understood by the others as only a more excruciatingly cruel way of inflicting death, vii., by starvation. See here in Jacob's family n development of cm. XXXVII 12-25.] THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 4.35