The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 342

to be nnm bcrecl nmongst the Isrnelites. Hence he "gave commanrlment concern in, his bon~s;" " Ancl Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely VIBlt you, ancl ye shall cnrry up my bones from hence." We discover in this an evidence of: 1. llis warm af!ection for his family. For some years of his life, for more than seven years of his prosperity and power, we bave no evidence of any interest taken by Joseph in his father and brothers; but now he manifests a tender and tenacions attachment to them. This is the more worthy of commendation when we call to mind tho grievons injury which bis brothers had done him aforetimc. Joseph loves his kindred who had treated him so ill more than the Egyptians who had treated him so well. "Love as brethren." 2. His unwavering fidd,ty to his God. Joseph'd faith in Jehovah had not been undermined or shaken by his residence in idoh1trot1s Egypt. Through life and in death he was faithful to the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "Be thou faithful unto death," etc. III. PHYBIOAL LIFE ENDING WITH A SUGGESTIVE INTIMATION' OF TRE HOPE OF IMMORTALITY. Joseph "gave commandment concerning his bones." He "took an oath of the children of Israel" that they would carry his dead body with them, when God should lead them into the land which he had promised unto their fathers. Why should so wise and good a man be so concerned concerning his hotly ? Such concern in such a man is inexplicable apart from the craving of the human heart for immortality; and not for a vague, shadowy existence after death, but for immortality associated with a distinct and recognizable form. The same craving found expression amongst the Egyptians in their embalming of tbeir dead, Joseph must have bad some measure of faith in such an immortality. Tbis craving is met in Christianity. "Our Saviour Jesus Christ bath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." "There shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust." "The hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth," etc. Both tbe immortality of tbe soul and the resurrection of the body are revealed to us as facts in the Christian Scriptures. Therefore, with our clearer revelation and richer privileges, as the end of our earthly life draws nigh we may realize a. fuller and firmer a.ssura.nce than he did whose faith we have .been considering. "For we know that if the earthly ho_use of our tabernacle be dissolved," etc. (2 Cor. v. 1).-W. J. Ver. 23.-The faith of the parents of Moses. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid," etc. The writer now passes from Joseph to Moses; from the time of the peace and prosperity of the Israelites in Egypt to the time of their heavy oppression and bitter persecution. This persecution culminated in the terrible edict that all their male children that should be born should be cast into the Nile. It was at this time that Moses was born. Hence the Jewish proverb, "When the tale of bricks is d0u bled then comes Moses." Some of our own proverbs set forth the same truth. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." "The darkest hour of the night is that which precedes the dawn." Our text tells how by faith the pneats of Moses protected their child from the fate decreed by Pharaoh, and preserved his life in infancy. W o notice- I. FAITH IN THE DIVINE Th"TEREST IN HUMAN LIFE. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his pa.rents, because they saw be was a goodly child." They seem to have believed that their lovely child was the gift of God, and that he was not unmindful of the gift which he had bestowed. Moses was distinguished for his beauty. "He was a goodly child" (Exod. ii. 2). "He was e:i:ceeding fair," or "fair unto God" (Acts vii. 20). Josephus tells that when the daughter of Pharaoh saw the babe "she was greatly in love with it, on account of its largeness and beauty." He also tells' that when he was three years old every one who saw him was "greatly surprised at the beauty of his countenance: nay, it happened frequently that those who met him as he was carried a.long the road were obliged to turn again upon seeing the child· that tht1y left what they were about, and stood still a great while to look on him ; ' for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators, and ma.de them stay longer to look upon him." 1 Probably his parents believed that so strikingly beautiful a ch_ild was destined by God for some great and good end. They may have had a presentiment that God 1 • Ant.,' II. ix. 5, 6.  334. THE EPISTLE TO TH~ HEBREWS. [OH, XI, 1-40,