Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/337

Rh there sat each mother in her simple, black dress, amid all the magnificence and pomp of high officialdom. And the first act of each noble son, after he had taken the solemn oath of office, and the ceremony of inauguration was completed, was to turn to his aged mother, with the smile of love and loyalty on his lips, and to kiss her reverently and tenderly before all the assembled multitude. Thereby he proclaimed to the world that more than to anyone else he owed what he was, and what he might still become, to his mother. Neither president was permitted to complete his term of service. Garfield died a victim of the assassin's bullet after only a few months' of office, and McKinley suffered same fate almost immediately after his second term had begun. But each has left an example of exalted manhood, nobility, and loyalty, which may well inspire the American people for generations to come. And the the story of Joseph furnishes a like example and inspiration unto all the descendants of Jacob.

And when the old man, Jacob, stood before the mighty king, a singular thing happened. It was not the powerful king upon his throne, who proved superior, but the old man, in his simple shepherd garb, with long, flowing beard, with all the marks, not only of age, but also of dignity, of vast experience, and of actual striving and communing with God. To Pharaoh's question, "How many are the days of the years of thy life?" the old man answered simply, "The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings". In this answer there is an intimation of deep wisdom, of sad, yet invaluable experience, purchased at a great price, of inexpressible yearning to solve the riddle of all the true goodness of life, which divine wisdom keeps enshrouded in eternal mvstery, and discloses only bit by bit to those chosen mortals