Мысли при чтении Книги Бытия (Продолжение)

Ch.45, [v.7–8]. Joseph says to his brothers: God sent me before you to leave you on earth and preserve your life with a great deliverance. So it was not you who sent me here, but God, who made me a father to Pharaoh and lord over all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Marvelous are Your destinies, Almighty God! An innocent, young, defenseless youth is sold to passing merchants. Who could have thought that this youth would eventually become the savior of the entire family of Israel from its final extermination by famine? God looked upon the offended innocence and rewarded the patience of His righteous man in a truly Divine manner. As the Ruler of all the earth, kings and peoples, He made him closest to the king, made him father to Pharaoh and lord over all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. How good it is to please God! Not a single earthly king will reward His zealous servants like the Lord does His saints. Why did the Lord favor Joseph more? For his simplicity, innocence, fear of God. How can I do this great evil, he said to the impudent lady, the wife of Pentephry, and sin before God? Be the same and the Lord of your life will favor you. Ch.46, [v.2–4]. And God said to Israel in a vision at night: Jacob! Jacob! He said: here I am. God said: I am God, the God of your father; Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation; I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring you back. Joseph will close your eyes with his hand. How good it was for the Jewish patriarchs to live under the closest guidance of God Himself! The elderly Jacob needs to get out of his land - due to famine - to Egypt, but he is afraid of offending God, who, as the King of the people of Israel, Himself controls his place of residence. God Himself appears to him and encourages him with comforting words: do not be afraid to go to Egypt. I, he says, will make you a numerous people there. I will go with you to Egypt and will guide you to the end. You will die before Joseph, and Joseph, your beloved son, will close your dead eyes. With what joy and a sense of complete security Jacob went to Egypt, having been forewarned of his future! All fear had to disappear, and the whole being of the old man had to tremble with unspeakable joy. He went to his beloved son, whom he considered dead long ago. The future did not bother him: he knew it almost as well as the present. And the uncertainty of the future in such cases worries us most of all and reduces our joy. In the words of the Lord, Jacob can see the Creator and the all-good Provider of nations. Ch.47, [v.9]. Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty years; The days of my life are small and miserable and have not reached the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their wanderings. Thus, Jacob the God-fighter, the friend of God, lived on earth less than his fathers, and despite the brevity of his life, he spent it in the deepest sorrow. Do not be embarrassed, righteous people, if your temporary sojourn on earth is filled with sorrows and various misfortunes. The all-merciful Lord does not forget, but remembers you. Your light suffering, according to the apostle, produces eternal glory for you in immeasurable abundance [2 Cor. 4:17]. Our Lord has such a law that we can only be blessed unless we have suffered many sorrows: many sorrows are fitting... [Acts. 14:22] for sins. The story of Joseph can be looked at as an example of the economy of our salvation. Jacob represents the Heavenly Father, Joseph - the Son of God, Who is the firstborn of many brothers, Joseph's brothers - the human race or those people who are of his flesh and of his bones by faith in Him and by communion of His Body and Blood. Ch.48, [vv.17–19]. And Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head; and it was unfortunate for him. And he took his father's hand to transfer it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh, and Joseph said to his father: Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head. But his father did not agree and said: I know, my son, I know; and from him shall come a nation, and he shall be great; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and from his seed will come a numerous nation. I am amazed at God’s view of patriarchal families, how close the Lord was to the patriarchs: He lived and acted in them, revealing His will to them as to His friends. The patriarchs were, in a sense, gods themselves: they knew the future as well as the present. In chapter 49, Jacob prophesies about his sons. 50 ch. Joseph buries his father and dies at the age of one hundred and ten. You might be interested in: