his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them, and after that his brethren talked with him.” A more interesting scene than is here exhibited, it would be very difficult to imagine. The kindness, tenderness, and sincerity of Joseph to his brethren, who had so deeply injured him, is worthy of the highest degree of admiration.

The intelligence of the arrival of Joseph's brethren in Egypt, soon reached the ears of Pharaoh; and he immediately desired him to invite his father and his whole family to come and live in Egypt, and occupy the best of the land. To remove Jacob and his substance thither, the king sent wagons and asses; and when Joseph's brothers arrived in Canaan, and communicated the happy intelligence to Jacob, that Joseph was still alive, and was governor of all Egypt, the news was so overwhelming that the old patriarch fainted; but having soon after revived, he exclaimed, "It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive. I will go down and see him before I die."

SECTION IV.

JOSEPH-Removal of Jacob's Family into Egypt-Their ReceptionSettlement in Goshen-Jacob's approaching Dissolution-His final Benediction upon his Children-His Death, and imposing Funeral – Fears of Joseph's Brethren-Joseph's renewed Promise of Protection-His Death-The Preservation of his Body.

WHEN Jacob had recovered from the effect of the joyful surprise which the intelligence he had received from Egypt, by the return of his sons, occasioned, he immedi ately took his sons, and their wives, and their children, and their flocks and herds, and all that they possessed, and set out on his journey towards Egypt. Reflecting, however, when he arrived at Beersheba, on the southern border of Canaan, that so important a step as the removing

of his whole family into a strange country, ought not to be taken without the sanction of the Almighty, he there erected an altar, and offered a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel in the vision of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob:" and he said, “Here am I." And he said, "I am the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes."

Encouraged by this express declaration of the Divine approbation, Jacob went forward, and when he reached the land of Goshen, in the northeastern part of Egypt, he sent Judah before him to inform Joseph of his arrival. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive." Joseph, having thus welcomed his father, next gave his brethren particular directions respecting their conduct when they should come into the presence of Pharaoh, and then hastened to inform the king of the arrival of his father; and Pharaoh immediately authorized Joseph to settle his father and his family in such part of Egypt as should be found best suited to their habits of life. The land of Goshen, being rich and fertile, and well adapted to the pursuits of shepherds-having the wilderness in its immediate vicinity-was at once selected by Joseph as the future abode of his father and his brethren.

The Israelites arrived in Egypt in 1706 A. C., and they were at this time, exclusive of the wives of Jacob's sons, over seventy in number.

As soon as Jacob had arranged his household, he was

presented by Joseph to Pharaoh; and the old patriarch immediately proceeded to bestow upon the king his benediction. Pharaoh, struck with his venerable appearance, at once asked him how old he was; and Jacob replied, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and I have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Jacob had, at this period, long been lame, and the difficulty with which he moved, together with the heartdesolating calamities, of which he had so frequently been the subject, doubtless caused him to appear much older than he really was.

Rameses, the particular part of Goshen which Joseph selected as the residence of his father and brothers, was the best of the land; and here he amply supplied them with provisions during the remaining four years of the famine. After the famine had ceased, the Israelites continued in the quiet possession of their new abode; and, from the fostering care of Joseph, together with the unusual luxuriance of the soil, both their number and their wealth rapidly increased.

After Jacob had resided in Egypt seventeen years, he began to feel that the time of his departure was at hand; and he therefore sent for Joseph and required of him an oath, that he would not bury him in Egypt, but would carry him, after his death, to the cave of Machpelah; the burying-place of his fathers, in the land of Canaan. He then stretched forth his hands, and crossing them before him, placed the right hand upon the head of Ephraim, and the left upon the head of Manasseh, and then pronounced his dying blessing upon the sons of Joseph, saying, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long to this day,

the angel which redeemed me from al. evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

The last important office of Jacob's life still remained to be performed. Divinely inspired, he called together all his sons, and prophetically declared to each of them the future condition of his descendants, as a tribe and nation, intimating that the moral character of the father should, in each case, be impressed upon his descendants.

Reuben, though the first born, and "the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power," was still pronounced as unstable as water, and his descendants were not to rise to great excellence or power.

Upon Simeon and Levi, for their treachery and cruelty to the Shechemites, the severe sentence was pronounced, "Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Judah, and scatter them in Israel." The last of these predictions was literally fulfilled in the after condition of these tribes ; for the descendants of Simeon had no fixed inheritance in the land of Canaan, but wandered about from place to place as itinerant schoolmasters; while the descendants of Levi, being devoted to the priestly office, were divided amongst the other tribes, each of which furnished a certain number of cities for their abode.

The patriarch's prediction with regard to the future destiny of the tribe of Judah, was rich in blessing; for not only were superior dignity and power to be their inheritance, but from them Messiah was to descend. Hence the prophecy: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."

The distinctive features of the tribes of Zebulun, Issa

char, Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, are delineated with equal accuracy. The land of the tribe of Zebulun was to be situated on the sea-coast, and hence they are described as a maritime people having ships and harbors. The tribe of Issachar was to inherit a pleasant land; but they were to be of an abject spirit, and servants of tribute. Hence they possessed no dignity, nor did they produce any distinguished personage. Of the history and character of the tribe of Dan, we know very little; but what is recorded of them, precisely corresponds with Jacob's declaration, "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel." Of Gad, the patriarch declared, "A troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last." And of Asher, "His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." But the prediction concerning Naphtali is peculiar:-"Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words."

The benediction pronounced by Jacob upon his beloved Joseph, was fraught, to a greater extent, with temporal blessings, than that pronounced even upen Judah; but then, in a spiritual sense, it was far inferior, inasmuch as out of Judah the Messiah was to come. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands wer made strong by the hand of the mighty God of Jacob: from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." By the shepherd and stone of Israel is, perhaps, intended to be indicated, that the Messiah should derive his descent from Joseph through the line of his mother. Of Benjamin. the patriarch simply said, “He shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour his prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil."