31. B.C. 1739 to 1703

B.C. 1739 to 1703

Chapter V

Timeline View:

1. Israel made some stay at Succoth, after which he proceeded to the valley between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, where Abraham first encamped on entering the Land of Promise. A city had since been built there, and the land appropriated, so that Jacob was obliged to purchase the ground on which he pitched his tents. Here a friendly understanding, and a mutually advantageous traffic, soon arose between this family of shepherds and the townspeople. The former could supply milk, and wool, and skins, and animals for use and slaughter, for which the latter could give the products of their fields and gardens, and the utensils, cloths, arms, and ornaments which towns usually produce. But it unfortunately happened that Shechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of the country, saw Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, at a public festival in the town, and, becoming enamored of her, allured her from her father’s protection to his own house, where he detained her with the promise and intention of marriage. The young man opened the matter to his father, and persuaded him to go out to Jacob’s camp, and make proposals of marriage to him.

2. Jacob was much grieved, and his sons were fired with indignation at the dishonor which the family had received, and at first refused to listen to the liberal offers which Hamor made. At last, however, they acceded to the proposed marriage, on condition that all the Shechemites should receive the rite of circumcision. To this the townspeople were induced by Hamor to consent; and on the third day, when they were least able to defend themselves, Simeon and Levi, full brothers of Dinah, entered the town, with some of their father’s men, and slew all the male inhabitants, to avenge the indignity offered to their sister, whom they took away to the camp. After this the other sons of Jacob came and plundered the place, bringing the women and children away as captives. Jacob was greatly distressed and alarmed at this atrocious action of his sons, and was glad to withdraw—in accordance with a divine intimation—from a neighborhood stained by so great a crime, to Bethel.

Rachel’s Sepulcher

3. From Bethel Jacob proceeded southward, probably with the intention of rejoining his aged father, who was still alive, and who abode in the plain of Mamre, near Hebron. When they were near Ephrath (afterwards Bethlehem), Rachel was delivered of a second son, named Benjamin; and she died in giving him birth. The bereaved husband honored the grave of his beloved wife with a sepulchral pillar, which long after stood there, but which is now replaced by a Mohammedan monumental tomb. Israel removed from Ephrath to a pasture ground in which stood a tower, called the Tower of the Flock, and, after some stay there, at length joined his old father in Mamre, and remained with him till his death. This did not occur till sixteen years after, when Isaac had reached the advanced age of 180 years. Esau was also present, and joined with Jacob in rendering the last offices of filial duty to their father, whose remains were deposited in the cave of Machpelah, with those of Sarah and Abraham. After this Esau withdrew, with the portion of the property which fell to him, to his former residence in the mountains of Seir, where his posterity became a considerable nation. At the time of Isaac’s death, Jacob was 120 years old. He continued still at Mamre, engaged with his sons in the usual pastoral employments.

4. The history now conducts us to Joseph, the eldest of Rachel’s two sons. His beauty, his engaging qualities, his early wisdom; and, more than all, his having been for many years (before Benjamin was born) the only son of Rachel, had given him the first place in his father’s love. This partiality may have been natural; but Jacob most unwisely displayed it before the eyes of his other sons, by clothing his favorite, in a gaudy “coat of many colors.” This and other things so moved the envy and jealousy of the brothers, that “they could not speak peaceably to him;” and he especially offended the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, by reporting to Jacob their misbehavior when out with the flocks. The general ill-feeling of his brothers towards him was not a little strengthened by his account of certain dreams with which he was favored, and which could only be interpreted to prefigure his own future greatness and their humiliation before him. At length their hatred rose to such a height, that they resolved to get rid of him by death as soon as a favorable opportunity should occur.

5. They had for some time been out with the flocks in distant pastures, when Israel sent Joseph from Mamre to enquire after their welfare. As soon as he came in sight they resolved to kill him; but were prevented by Reuben, who wished to deliver him out of their hands, and persuaded them to cast him into an empty pit. Afterwards, by the advice of Judah, they drew him out, and sold him for a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelitish and Midianitish merchants, who were going with costly drugs to Egypt. The brothers then took Joseph’s coat—the coat of many colors—and dipped it in the blood of a kid, to induce the belief that he had been killed by a wild beast. They then sent it home to their father, who, receiving the impression they intended to convey, was overwhelmed with anguish. He rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. This was about three years after Jacob had joined his father Isaac at Mamre.

6. Meanwhile Joseph was taken to Egypt, and sold to Potiphar, captain of the guard to Pharaoh,[*] king of Egypt. By his abilities and excellent conduct he won the entire confidence of his master, who in the end left all his affairs in his hands. But after serving Potiphar with great integrity and success for ten years, he was then thrown into prison, on account of a false accusation by his mistress, whose guilty enticements he had repelled. In the prison, his character and talents were soon appreciated by the governor, who committed all the other prisoners to his charge. Among these were the king’s chief butler and chief baker—officers of some consequence in Eastern courts. These were both, in one night, troubled with remarkable dreams, which Joseph modestly undertook to interpret; and the event corresponded to his interpretations—the butler was restored to favor, and the baker was hanged.

[*]Pharaoh, orPhrah, is not a name, but a title, meaning “king,” which accounts for its being given in Scripture to nearly all the sovereigns of that country of whom it takes notice.

7. Two years after this the king of Egypt himself had two very singular dreams in one night, which troubled him greatly, especially when be found that none of his diviners were able to discover their meaning. On this, the chief butler called to mind Joseph’s most true interpretation of his own and his companion’s dreams in prison, and spoke of this to the king. Pharaoh immediately sent to the prison for him, and related to him his dreams. Modestly disclaiming the wisdom which the king supposed him to possess, and ascribing all the honor to the God whom he served, Joseph told the king that the two dreams were to be received as a warning from God, that seven years of extreme plenty in Egypt would be succeeded by seven years of unexampled scarcity. He then proceeded to give such sound advice as to the mode in which the over-produce of the seven years of plenty might be husbanded for use during the seven years of famine, that Pharaoh at once determined to invest him with the power and station necessary for giving effect to the measures he had advised. By taking off his signet-ring, and placing it on Joseph’s finger, he conveyed to him such high powers as made him next in authority to the king. He was then arrayed in the vestures of fine muslin and the chain of gold which belonged to his high place, and, standing in the royal chariot he was conducted in grand procession through the metropolis, and proclaimed chief minister and governor of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he attained this high advancement. Soon after Pharaoh—in order to strengthen Joseph’s position, by connecting him with distinguished families—gave him in marriage a lady of high rank, Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, high-priest of On, by whom in due time he had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

8. During the seven years of plenty Joseph travelled through all the provinces, making surveys, building granaries, and filling them with corn. The effects of the years of scarcity which followed were felt not only in Egypt, but in all the adjacent countries, the inhabitants of which soon flocked to Egypt to purchase corn from the well-filled granaries of Joseph. The private stores of the Egyptians themselves were soon spent, and they became dependent upon the public stock, out of which they bought corn until they had nothing but their persons and their lands left to them. Then, at their own desire, Joseph bought their lands for the Crown, at the cost of supplying them with food during the scarcity; and for the convenience of distribution, he assembled the people of every district into the towns in which the corn was stored, and, when the famine was nearly ended, he gave them seed, and restored them their lands to farm, at the fixed Crown-rent of one-fifth of the produce. We have explained this procedure, because it appears to have been of late much misunderstood.