Page:The Story of Joseph and His Brethren.djvu/60

Rh not even after they had accused themselves while in the presence of Joseph.

But Joseph tells his brethren that God had sent him to preserve them a posterity in the earth, and to save them by a great deliverance. He saw that it was the Divine purpose that Jacob and his family should come into Egypt, as this had indeed been declared unto Abraham, that they might be multiplied, and preserved, and prepared for a final settlement in the land of Canaan. Joseph desired his brethren to haste and go up to his father, and carry the joyful tidings that God had made him ruler over all the land of Egypt, and to tell him to come and dwell with him in the land of Goshen.

When Joseph had delivered this message to his brethren, "he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he blessed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him." The distinguishing feature of this part of the narrative is the tenderness of Joseph's love for his brethren, and for Benjamin especially. This