94 GENESIS L- -JOSEPH COMFORTS HIS BRETHREN 7 ¶ And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15¶ And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you; and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. 22 ¶ And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. Abraham Feasts the Angels BY REMBRANDT, ONE OF HIS MOST FAMOUS MAS- "Lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. -Gen., 18, 10. T HE three angels seated themselves by Abraham's tent; and after the kindly custom of the East, their weary, dusty feet were bathed with water, and a feast was set before them. Abraham chose a tender calf from his herds. Sarah with her own hands baked for the visitors cakes of meal. As they feasted together, the Leader of the wanderers repeated to Abraham His promise that Sarah should have a son. Now Sarah was ninety years old, so that she, hearing His words from within the tent, laughed at what seemed to her an absurd promise to so old a woman. "And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh? . . . Is anything too hard for the Lord?" At this Sarah was frightened; because she saw that this unknown man had read her secret thought. So she denied that she had laughed. But the Lord knew otherwise; and Abraham had also laughed at His promise; so when less than a year afterward a son was born to Sarah, He commanded that the child be named Isaac, which means "I laugh." Thus the boy was to be an eternal reminder to his parents of their doubt, and of God's power. |