The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-05-11
The International
Sunday-School Lesson

Second Quarter. Lesson VI. Genesis
XIV, 10, 1, 1871. May II, 1907.
JOSEPH FOltGIvEss HIS BROTHERS.
An ancient inscription describes a
certain prime minister as "the eyes OF
Pharaoh In the North and his ears in
the South" II Is not an unlikely de-
scription of Joseph himself. Twice he
Is said to have gone through all the
the interests of his sovereign as Daniel
was in Babylon. Immersed as he was
In the affairs OF administration in the
crisis hour of q vast empire, he lack
ed not the honors of state or the
amenities of home. He lived In the
superb City of the Sun, near the apex
Of the Nile Delta He wore linen
vesture worth It's weight in gold. and
Pharaoh's own ssnet flashed from his
finger The .feiter of his slave days,
transmitted to golden ornament, hung
about his neck A famed Egyptian
chariot OF embossed brass stood at the
portal OF his palace.
4 Virtuous and noble woman, prob
ably an heiress to vast landed estate,
swayed her queenly sceptre over Jo-
significant names, graced his table.
Manassch served TO remind him that
the poignancy of his servitude, and the
grief Of separation from his fathers
house. was gone And Ephraim sug-
gested constantly the abundant bless
ing of Providence.
we can scarcely believe that sucn
high civilization as that OF Egypt
tha4 principle of bureaucracy did not
maintains: and. that as In a Bedouin
tribe, all suppliants were brought at
oScc to the chief. SO all the famine
stricken suppliants were brought Inn
nediately to tho presence of the prime
minister of the realm. This case was
probably exceptional. May not the sus-
picion that they were disguised ennis
saries of some hostile nation have led
to the innovation? Joseph's quick E!t
was relied upon to detect them II they
were spies
There are sweet touches OF nature
through his story illustrating vel
that all nations are really Of one
blood-Joseph's secret tears at the re-
morse Of his brothers; Jacobs agon.
my children. am bereaved"; Josephs
lordly banquet to his brothers.; his
inquiry for his father; his hasty retire
ment to weep at sight Of his own
Rr9hep 1ua nh nn Josep Rsa dis
closure of himself after all foreign
witnesses had first been expelled; his
tact in saving his hrothers from pc.
ing swallowed UP Of oYermuch sorro"
nrovidentlal use OF their evil decd, In
the range of literature, the narrative
Is not surpassed in naturalnesss,
Twenty-Five years. and the brothers
paths. which dlyerged at the pit IN
Dothnn, converge again in the palace
OF On; years for Joseph SO crowded
with startling transitions as to make
the artless narrative fascinating be-
You'd comparison; years for his broth
ers, let us hope, Of moral improvement,
though their great crime remained un-
confessed and unatoned for.
The guilty brothers may have fur
lively scanned the face Of such domes-
tic slaves as they might chance to
meet, with small expectation Of recog-
nlzing In some mental their rejected
brother. But they looked squarely at
this mighty prince, with his Egyptian
name and retinue. without the slightest
suspicion that he was their kinsman.
He was completely metamorphosed.
But they were the same rude Bedoutns,
still in shepherd gnrb, speaking their
mother tongue, and only slightly griz-
zled by lapse of years.
Joseph knew his brothers at sight;
but not In vain had he passed through
his long series of trying situations,
Ills composure was admirable. He was