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- 291 # JACOB BEFORE PHARAOH
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296 the moment to be a mere incident in the life of that splendid court, but in reality it was an occurrence which changed the entire life of humanity.
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298 The events which led to that singular scene have all the charm of romance, and yet they are really historical facts. Joseph had been in Egypt seventeen years, and in that time had risen from a slave boy to be the Governor over all the land, and second only to the King. The brothers who had sold him made several visits from their home in southern Palestine to Egypt to buy corn because of the famine then prevailing. Joseph carefully concealed from them the fact that he was their brother until the third visit, and then he made himself known to them—that he was none other than the brother whom they had sold long years before. This was not only a great surprise to them, but to the whole court, and very probably to the people of Egypt in general.
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300 In due time the news reached the ears
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303 of Pharaoh himself. He was delighted to know that the brothers of Joseph had come to his capital; and then he gave a signal proof of his confidence in Joseph and love for him, by directing him to tell his brothers to return home and bring back their father and all the household, promising that they should have for their future home the best of the land. Then Joseph gave special orders that wagons and food in abundance should be given his brothers for transporting the whole family from Palestine to Egypt, while to his father he sent a special gift of corn and bread and meat—in fact, a large supply of the “good things of Egypt.”
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305 When the sons of Jacob reached home and told their father the wonderful news that Joseph was alive, and that the family was invited to Egypt, he could not believe them at first. But when they related to him the exact words of Joseph, and, above all, when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him and his family to Egypt, he believed them. He was
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308 overwhelmed with joy. “It is enough,” he exclaimed. “Joseph, my son, is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
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310 It often happens that good fortune makes men blind to their former poor condition. They frequently imagine that they are the cause of their own prosperity, and have no reason to acknowledge their obligation to a merciful Providence. History abounds in proofs of the ease with which wonderful success makes people cease to practise the sterling virtues which had characterized the early period of their career. Alexander the Great was most exemplary and virtuous when a youth, and remained so until his brilliant achievements in India. Then he became intemperate, ceased to exercise any control over himself, and died in revelry. His great empire faded away like a mist in May. The young Napoleon of Marengo was a far purer character than when, later, he planned the Russian campaign, and expected to have all Europe at his feet.
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