The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 572

HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-22.-Jac.,b's dying utterances. I. AN or.o MAN'S SICK-BED. "It came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick." In this the venerable patriarch-I. Suffered an experience that is common to all. For nearly three half-centuries had this weather-beaten pilgrim been able to maintain himsel E erect amid the numberless vicissitudes of life. Strong, healthy, vigorous, and active too, he appears to have been until now, notwithstanding the peculiarly trying an,l chequered career through which be had passed. But all the while, the rolling years, us they glided softly by, had been touching him with their invisible fingers, anrl leaving on him their ineffaceable impressions, imperceptibly but surely relaxing his corded muscles, whitening and diminishing bis manly locks, loosening his joints, making his step less lithe and firm, and generally draining away his strength. And now, at length, he had arrived where all men must, sooner or later, come, if they have a death-bed at all, no matter how bright may be their eye, or how ruddy their coun- tenance, or how stalwart their frame, or how herculean their strength, to that period of infirmity and sickness that precedes dissolution. 2. Enjayed a privile(Je accordecl to fe:w. Immediately that he had fallen sick, a messenger, despatched from Goshen, carried tidings to the vice-regal palace in the great metropolis, and Joseph, his beloved Ron, accompanied by his two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh, at once descended to express his sympathy and lend his uid. Not to many is it granted, in this world of separations and bereavements, to have all their family around them when they breathe tl1eir last, or to Lave their Josephs even, to put their hands upon the sinking eyelids, and gently close them in the sleep of death. Venerable pilgrim I Much afflicted in thy riper years, thou wast greutly comforted in thy latter days. 11. AN OLD PILGRIM'S REMINISCENCES. Learning of Joseph's urrival, the aged father musters his rapidly failing strength, and, recognising within his withered bosom the stirrings of the old prophetic spirit, prepares himself, by sitting upright in hi8 bed, for delivering whatever communication should be put into his trembling lips. C:.1st- ing his thoughts back upon the past with that fond delight with which the aged recall the story of their younger yeurs, he relates to Joseph-I. /Iow El Sltaddai liad appeared to Mm at Luz, or Bethel, in the l11nd of Co.ntrnn, as he returned from Mesopotamia. 2. What God had promised him on th11t memorable occasion, that he should grow into a multitude of people, who should eventunlly possess the laud, adding by way of parenthesis, at this stage, that in view of tllllt inheritance to come he intended to adopt the sons of Joseph as his own ; and 3. The great ajfliction that hacl .1tappened to him almost immediately after in the loss of Rachel, Joseph's mother, to whose premature death and uffecting burial "in the way of Ephrath" the old man, even at that long distance of time, cannot refer without emotion. "As for me, Rachel died upon me in the land of Canaan in the wuy." Ill. AN OLD SAINT'S DLI;:BSING, It is probable that, though Jacob had already re- ferred to J oseph's sons, l,e had not yet been conscious of their presence, for "the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not sec." At length, however, dis- cerning unfamiliar forms in the chamber, and ascertaining they were Ephraim an,! Mano.sseh, he proceeds to give them his patriarchal benediction. 1. Tlte actions of the patriarch. (1) Requesting his gro.ndchildren to be brought to his bedside, ho tenderly embrncee them, nnd kisses them with ull o.n old mnn's affection, ut the samu 522 THE DOOK 01•' GENESIS. [CH, XLVIII. 1-22.