Chapter 44:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis 44
Joseph having entertained his brethren, dismissed them: but
here we have them brought back in a greater fright than any they
had been in yet. Observe.
I. What method he took, both to humble them farther, and to try
their affections to his brother Benjamin, by which he would be
able to judge the sincerity of their repentance for what they had
done against him. This he contrived to do by bringing Benjamin
into distress, ver. 1-17.
II. The good success of the experiment: he found them all heartily
concerned, and Judah particularly, both for the safety of
Benjamin, and for the comfort of their aged father, ver. 18-34.
Verse 5. Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh? And for which he
would search thoroughly - So it may be rendered.
Verse
16. God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants - Referring to
the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they
thought God was now reckoning with them. Even in those
afflictions wherein we apprehend ourselves wronged by men, yet
we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our iniquity. We
cannot judge what men are, by what they have been formerly, not
what they will do, by what they have done. Age and experience
may make men wiser and better, They that had sold Joseph, yet
would not abandon Benjamin.
Verse
18. And Judah said - We have here a most pathetic speech which
Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf. Either Judah was a
better friend to Benjamin than the rest, and more solicitous to
bring him off; or he thought himself under greater obligations to
endeavour it than the rest, because he had passed his word to his
father for his safe return. His address, as it is here recorded, is so
very natural, and so expressive of his present passion, that we
cannot but suppose Moses, who wrote it so long after, to have
written it under the special direction of him that made man's
mouth. A great deal of unaffected art, and unstudied rhetoric there
is in this speech.
1. He addressed himself to Joseph with a great deal of respect
calls him his Lord, himself and his brethren his servants, begs his
patient hearing, and passeth a mighty compliment upon him, Thou
art even as Pharaoh, whose favour we desire, and whose wrath we
dread as we do Pharaoh's.
2. He represented Benjamin as one well worthy of his
compassionate consideration, he was a little one, compared with
the rest; the youngest, not acquainted with the world, nor inured to
hardship, having been always brought up tenderly with his father.
It made the case the more piteous that he alone was left of his
mother, and his brother was dead, viz. Joseph; little did Judah
think what a tender point he touched upon now. Judah knew that
Joseph was sold, and therefore had reason enough to think that he
was not alive.
3. He urged it closely that Joseph had himself constrained them to
bring Benjamin with them, had expressed a desire to see him, had
forbidden them his presence, unless they brought Benjamin with
them, all which intimated, that he designed him some kindness.
And must he be brought with so much difficulty to the preferment
of a perpetual slavery? Was he not brought to Egypt in obedience,
purely in obedience to the command of Joseph, and would not he
shew him some mercy?
4. The great argument he insists upon was the insupportable grief
it would be to his aged father, if Benjamin should be left behind in
servitude. His father loves him, ver. 20. Thus they had pleaded
against Joseph's insisting on his coming down ver. 22. If he
should leave his father, his father would die, much more if he now
be left behind, never to return. This the old man of whom they
spake, had pleaded against his going down. If mischief befall him,
ye shall bring down my gray hairs, that crown of glory, with
sorrow to the grave. This therefore Judah presseth with a great
deal of earnestness, his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he
sees that the lad is not with us, he will faint away and die
immediately, or will abandon himself to such a degree of sorrow,
as will, in a few days, make an end of him, And (lastly) Judah
pleads, that, for his part, he could not bear to see this. Let me not
see the evil that shall come on my father.
5. Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's sentence, and to
shew his sincerity in this plea, offers himself to become a bond-
man instead of Benjamin. Thus the law would be satisfied; Joseph
would be no loser, for we may suppose Judah a more able bodied
man than Benjamin; Jacob would better bear that than the loss of
Benjamin. Now, so far was he from grieving at his father's
particular fondness for Benjamin, than he is himself willing to be
a bond-man to indulge it. Now, had Joseph been, as Judah
supposed, an utter stranger to the family, yet even common
humanity could not but be wrought upon by such powerful
reasonings as these; for nothing could be said more moving, more
tender; it was enough to melt a heart of stone: but to Joseph, who
was nearer a-kin to Benjamin than Judah himself, and who, at this
time, felt a greater passion for him and his aged father, than Judah
did, nothing could be more pleasingly nor more happily said.
Neither Jacob nor Benjamin needed an intercessor with Joseph,
for he himself loved them. Upon the whole, let us take notice,
(1.) How prudently Judah suppressed all mention of the crime that
was charged upon Benjamin. Had he said any thing by way of
acknowledgment of it, he had reflected on Benjamin's honesty.
Had he said any thing by way of denial of it, he had reflected on
Joseph's justice; therefore he wholly waves that head, and appeals
to Joseph's pity.
(2.) What good reason dying Jacob had to say, Judah, thou art he
whom thy brethren shall praise, chap. xlix, 8, for he excelled them
all in boldness, wisdom, eloquence, and especially tenderness for
their father and family.
(3.) Judah's faithful adherence to Benjamin now in his distress
was recompensed long after, by the constant adherence of the
tribe of Benjamin to the tribe of Judah, when all the other ten
tribes deserted it.
Chapter 44:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
