Bef. Chr. made him ride in his fecond chariot, while the men that Years of ran before it cried, Bow the knee (W). Jofeph, being raised plenty. to this height of power, took a progrefs through the whole Year of kingdom, built his granaries,appointed proper officers in every flood 633. place, and ordered all things with fuch prudence and application, that, before the feven years of plenty were over, he found his ftores filled above numbering. During this time he had two fons born of his wife Afenath: the first of whom he called Manaffeh; intimating, that God had and Emade him forget all his toils; and the next he called phraim Ephraim, becaufe GOD had made him fruitful in the land born. of his affliction. 1715. Manaffeh THESE feven plentiful years were fucceeded immediately The years by the other feven of famine; nor was the scarcity con-of famine. fined to the land of Egypt, but was felt all over the land Year of of Canaan, and all the nations round about it. As foon, flood 640. therefore, as the Egyptians came to be pinched for want Bef. Chr. of bread, they applied to Pharaoh, who commanded them 1708. to repair to Jofeph; upon which he immediately ordered his ftores to be opened, and corn to be fold to the people who flocked to him, not only from all parts of Egypt, but from all the neighbouring countries". By this time Jacob, who was not exempt from the common calamity, hearing that there was corn to be bought in Egypt, fent ten of his fons thither to buy fome, and kept only Benjamin with him. Thefe, upon their arrival "Gen. xli. p. tot. ways about the king; the other lived at On, or Heliopolis and laftly, it is not likely, that Jofeph would have married his master's daughter, left she should have proved like her mother, whofe incontinency he had fo feverely fmarted for (216). (W) The Jews, Kimchi excepted, unwilling to fuppofe, that fo religious a man as Jofeph would fuffer the ceremony of bowing the knee to be performed to him, have divided the word 71 abrek,, (216) Auguft. quæft. in Gen, i. 36. Chryfoft. bomil. 63. in Gen. Mercer. Fun. Mufcul. & al. (317) Targ, Onkel, R. Jebud. & al, in come to bim for forn. them. B. I. Jofeph's in Egypt, were directed to Jofeph, for an order; and, as brethren foon as they faw him, they proftrated themselves before him, and begged they might be fupplied with fome corn. Jofeph knew them immediately; though he was fo altered, that they could not call him to mind: he put on a fevere look, and, in an angry tone, asked them, whence they came? and, upon their answering, from the land of Canaan, he charged them with being fpies, who were come to discover the weakness of the land. Such an unexpected accufation forced them to juftify themselves, by afsuring him, in the most submiffive terms, that they were all one man's fons; that they had left another, a younger brother, with their father, besides another who was now Jofeph's no more. This was what Jofeph wanted, who, in a furly rough be commanding tone, told them, that unless one of them haviour to fetched this youngest son, whilft the reft were kept in safe cuftody, be would not be perfuaded but that they were fpies, and would punish them accordingly. To fhew that he was in earneft, he fent them all to prifon, and kept them there three days; at the end of which he fent for them; and, in a milder tone, faid to them, This do, and live; for I fear GOD: let one of you remain a prisoner with me, whilft the reft go home with provifion for your family; and, when you bring your youngest brother hither, he fhall be delivered up fafe, and you jufSimeon tified. He then commanded Simeon, who had been perkept bound.haps one of his moft zealous enemies, to be bound before their eyes, and fent to prifon, whilft he had the pleasure to hear them confefs their inhumanity towards their brother, whose bitter cries had not been able to soften them into pity; acknowleging that this misfortune had befallen them as a juft punishment for it. Here Reuben had an opportunity of justifying himself, by reminding them of the pains he took to diffuade them from the horrid fact, not imagining, any more than his brethren, who heard them; for fofeph spoke by an interpreter to them. At length, having learned all that he wanted to know, he difmiffed them, not without contriving a fresh occafion of Their mo- furprize to them after they were gone; having bid the officer, who was to fill their facks with corn, to return their money in the mouth of the facks. Accordingly, when they came to bate, and to give fome provender to their beafts, they were not a little frighted to find all their money in their facks, and failed not to make all the difmal reflections upon it that their fear could fuggeft to them; concluding, that the haughty Egyptian lord had ney returned. done done it, that he might have a pretence to enflave them at their next coming. As foon as they were got home, they acquainted their father with all thefe adventures, who, though he was grieved at the detention of his fon Simeon, was much more fo, when he found, that Benjamin must go down to redeem him. He withstood all their perfuafions as long as he could; till at length, the famine increasing, and the provifion being almost spent, Judah prevailed with him to part with his favourite fon for a time, promifing to bring him fafe back, or else to be answerable for him at the hazard of his life (X). As it was not without the utmost reluЯtancy w Gen. xliii. p. tot. (X) The whole conduct of Jofeph, from his being first brought into Egypt to his difcovering himself to his brethren, having been very much canvaffed and difapproved, it will not be amifs to inquire how far it deferves it, and how far it may be justified, even abstracting from the hand of providence being concerned in it. First, then, he is blamed for not having fent word to his father of his condition, who would have redeemed him at any rate, the city of Memphis, where he was fold, not being above eighty miles at most from Hebron, where Jacob dwelt. To this it may be answered, 1. That if he had returned home, his brethren would, in all likelihood, have taken a more effectual way to be rid of him, and, upon the first opportunity, have put their former bloody project in execution. And, fecondly, that Egypt being the place where he expected the preferment which his dreams had fore fignified to him, it was by no means advifeable for him to leave it, but to wait patiently there for the event. Again, he is blamed for his rough and unjuft ufage towards his brethren, which, it is pretended, favours of the rankest revenge. But, if revenge had been the chief motive of his behaviour, he could have indulged it in a more effectual way, without any danger of being called to an account for it: whereas it is plain, he had a a much better defign in it; namely, either to bring their heinous cruelty towards him into their remembrance, as it actually did (218); or, 2. in order to inform himfelf of the ftate of his family, especially of his father, and of his brother Benjamin; or laftly, to make them relish his future kindness the better, by the rough ufage they had met with before. The laft, and indeed the moft confiderable thing he is blamed for, is, his fending for his brother Benjamin, which he knew, his former behaviour confidered, would cause an in (218) Gen, xlii. 21, & feqqe Atancy that Jacob confented to this feparation, fo he failed not to give his fons the ftricteft charge about him, to take all the proper measures for their fafe return, and to gain the favour of the proud Egyptian lord. He bid them Jacob's carry double their money, and make ready fuch prefents presents to as they thought would be acceptable to him (Y); and, Jofeph. having finite deal of grief to his aged father, if not break his heart: and if he refused to fend him, the whole family muft ftarve at home, and Simeon remain in bonds. As for the latter part of the charge, Jofeph had it ftill in his power to have remedied it, fince, if he had found, that his other brethren stayed longer than ordinary, he could but have fent Simeon home with what meffage and fupply he pleafed. But, as for the other part of his behaviour, his caufing Jacob to pafs fo many days,if not weeks, in all the fear and anxiety that fo dear a ton's abfence and danger could caufe; it cannot eafily be juftified any other way, than by fuppofing, that Jofeph did certainly foresee what would happen, and that his father's grieving fome time for Benjamin, would be fo far from endangering his health, that it would only increase his joy when he faw him again, and give a greater relish to the news of his own advancement and fuccefs in Egypt. With out this fuppofition, 'tis plain, fuch a fudden tranfition from an excess of forrow to one of joy, was of itself fufficient to have endangered his life, or his fenfes. (Y) It is to be feared, the generality of our expofitors · have not been very happy in their tranflation of fome of the prefents which Jacob fent into Egypt; which has induced fome learned critics of a later date (217), to endeavour to give us a more rational account of them; fuch were the honey,nuts and almonds, which could be no great rarities in Egypt, nor indeed any of the others, except the balm, which was that of Gilead, and of great price all the world over, a fmall quantity of which was a prefent worth accepting; but as for refin and wax, as many of our interpreters have rendered it, it could not be worth fending. Bochart indeed, in the place above quoted, thinks, that it was either refin or turpentine, rather than balm of Gilead; because Gilead was on one fide Jordan, and Jacob was then at fome small distance from it on the other: but that doth not prove, that there was none to be bought there, or to be fent for upon fuch an occafion. He adds indeed, that Jofephus affirms balm to have been unknown in Judea, till the queen of Sheba brought fome of it to Solomon from Arabia (217) Bochart. pass. Le Scene's effay towards a new translation of the Bible, and others. having intreated heaven for their good fuccefs, difmiffed them; little dreaming what glorious news he should hear at their return, to make him amends for his fon's absence. They no fooner appeared before Jofeph, with their brother Benjamin, but he commanded his fteward to conduct them to his house, where he defigned they fhould dine with him. But they, who had abandoned themselves to fear, began to fufpect that fome ill defign was hatching to enflave them upon account of the money which they had found in their facks; to prevent which they, affured the fteward, that they had brought it back with a new fupply to buy fome fresh provifions; who, feeing their concern, bid them not be under any apprehenfions about it, and brought them into the house, and foon after their brother Simeon unbound to them. He afterwards acquainted ; Felix: but Jofephus may be mistaken. Befides, how came Gilead to be fo famous for it afterwards? The queen hardly brought the trees thither and, if Solomon had fent for them afterwards, he would have planted them in all likelihood nearer to him: but, whatever it was, 'tis plain that refin and turpentine could not be a present worth Jofeph's acceptance. The next is honey, which was indeed very much admired by the antients, as well Jews as Gentiles, for a delicious food (218); but, unless that of Canaan was better than ordinary, it was hardly worth fending to an Egyptian prime minifter, fince 'tis hardly poffible that country fhould be without it. It is moft likely therefore, that they were dates, which are called by the fame name (w debefh), as the Jewish doctors obferve, and which, when full ripe, yield a fort of honey, not inferior to the other. The Arabic calls dates duboos, and the honey of them dibo or dibis, to this day; and it is plain, that Judea abounded in palm-trees of all forts, more efpecially about Jericho, if we may believe Jofephus and Pliny (219). The next is what we tranflate fpices; but the Hebrew word nɔɔ nekoth doth rather fignify ftorax than fpices, being a noble aromatic gum, that was put into all precious fpicy ointments (220). Myr, or as it is in the original 1 lot, is rather the ftačte or ladanum of the Chaldee and Septuagint, the last name coming nearer the Hebrew word. It is thought to be the gum of the cypress-tree, and was one of the aromatics in the perfume prescribed by God to Mofes (221). (289) 1 Sam. xiv. 27. 2 Sam. xvii. 29. Cant. v. 1. Homer. Iliad. a. ver. 630. Ody. n. ver. 69. Sueton. de Neron. c. 27, & al. (219) See before, vol. ii. p. 388, & feqq. (220) Vid, Bechart, bierozoic, lib. iv. col. 585, 532. (221) Exod. xxx, 34. them, |