Иосиф, священная повесть, заимствованная из книги Бытия

Sacred story taken from the book of Genesis (chap. 32–50) 4 Miraculously, the thought of thanksgiving to God comes to the righteous in the midst of their misfortunes 5 - the Apostle said: “For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The practice of thanksgiving is explained with particular satisfaction in the answers of St. Barsanuphius the Great. She plucks their hearts from sadness and darkness, lifts them to God, into the realm of light and consolation. God always saves those who resort to Him with simplicity and faith. The holy patriarch Jacob returned from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan, to the land of his birth, to his inheritance predetermined by God (Gen. 32). Suddenly news came to him that the angry Esau, his brother, was coming to meet him, and that he had four hundred armed men with him. Even in his youth, Esau, agitated by envy, attempted the life of Jacob. To avoid a premature, violent death, Jacob retired to Mesopotamia. He stayed there for twenty years. Time could heal Esau's heart, wounded by anger... no, he goes to meet his brother with an armed squad. The large number of the crowd and its warlike appearance exposed malicious intent. Time did not heal the hatred in Esau: he matured, and his hatred of his brother also matured in him. Jacob was frightened: he did not know what to do: he decided to divide his estate, which consisted of household members and numerous herds, into two regiments. “If the enraged Esau,” he reasoned, “cuts down one regiment, perhaps his anger will be exhausted, and he will not touch the other regiment.” Behind the two regiments stood the wives and children of Jacob; behind everyone stood his second wife, Rachel, with her only son Joseph, the youngest of Jacob’s sons. They took the last place, as the youngest, but this place was also given to them by the special prudent love of their husband and father, as the safest. The eye of love is quick-witted, and so is the eye of jealousy. Having made such an order, the righteous man hurries to the usual refuge of the righteous, and hurries to stand before God in reverent prayer. “I am sufficient,” he confesses to God, “from all the righteousness, from all the truth, which you have done for your servant: for with this rod this Jordan passed away: but now it has fled in two regiments” (Gen. 32:10). Surrounded by misfortune everywhere, the righteous man pours out his heart before God, settles his calculations with fate, finds himself completely satisfied, finds that God, who commanded him to travel to Mesopotamia and return from it, did everything according to His promise. “I am sufficient from all righteousness, from all the truth that You have done for Your servant.” Deep, true humility! It alone is worthy to stand before God, it alone is worthy to converse with God: it is never abandoned by God. God mercifully listens to him, pouring out abundant bounties on the one praying with humility. At the behest of God, Esau’s heart changed: hitherto it had been burning with enmity, but now it suddenly burned with love for his brother. Esau throws his sword, runs into his brother’s arms, and the two brothers cry in each other’s arms (Gen. 34–35). Now Jacob has been in the land of Canaan for a long time. His beloved wife, Rachel, had already died giving birth to her second son, Benjamin. Jacob had already experienced many sorrows from his violent sons, who behaved in the promised land as if in a land acquired by conquest (Gen. 34–35). In the vicinity of his tabernacle, located near Hebron, they grazed their numerous herds, sometimes going quite far to other, richer pastures. Jacob remained constantly at home, where both summer and spiritual prosperity kept him. It attracted the old man’s mind and heart to God, and therefore he fell in love with solitude in the bush. There is no time and it is unnatural for such a person to delve into the worries of life. Inseparably with him was - his consolation - his beloved son, beautiful in soul and body, Joseph. Service to the old father and attention to the deep, holy teaching of the father-seer of God constituted the whole occupation, all the pleasure of the young man. The word of piety fell into his soul, like a seed falling on rich soil, and soon bore fruit: holy purity shone in Joseph’s soul. In the purity of the heart, God begins to be reflected, just as the sun is reflected in the mirror of quiet, clear waters. Joseph's virtue aroused in his brothers not competition, but envy: this, unfortunately, happens most often in human society. The brothers invented and launched an evil slander against Joseph - what exactly, Scripture is silent. But the insightful and gracious Jacob was not deceived by the cunningly woven invention, he continued to love - to love Joseph, and as a sign of special love he gave his son colorful clothes. The brightness and variety of colors were especially respected and are still respected in the nomadic east. Wasn't this clothing a symbol of the life that lay ahead of the young man, riddled with opposite circumstances? Inspiration inspired the perspicacious old man to depict the prophecy not in words but in a symbol: colorful clothes. This is where Joseph's strange adventures begin. He serves as a prototype, a distant biblical shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for an active life he is an example of a pious and virtuous person, exposed to various, strange disasters, during which he remains faithful to piety and virtue, is never abandoned by God, is preserved everywhere, and is finally glorified wonderfully. Let us listen, let us listen to a curious tale about the wonderful and instructive adventures of the prophet-father dressed in colorful clothes. Joseph's brothers (Gen. 37), seeing that their father loved him more than all other sons, hated him: with every word with him, with every look at him, gloomy confusion began to boil within them. But he did not understand the illness that had overcome them: his pure soul saw everyone as pure and well-intentioned. With trust he opened his heart to them. This kind heart has already been chosen by God to be a vessel of mysterious revelations. The grace of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with Joseph's youth, began to manifest its presence and action in significant dreams. Strange dreams were vividly drawn by a mysterious hand in the virgin imagination. Joseph was seventeen years old when he had his first prophetic dream. With frankness, not suspecting any evil, he retells it to his brothers: apparently, the dream left an extraordinary impression in the young man’s soul, which needed explanation. He wanted to call, to hear this explanation from the lips of his older brothers. “I dreamed,” he told them, “as if we were all knitting sheaves in the field; My sheaf suddenly rose up and stood up straight, and your sheaves turned to my sheaf and bowed down to it.” The brothers answered: “Will you really reign over us or will you become our master?” And the brothers doubled their hatred of him for his blessed dream, for his holy frankness that hurt them, reinterpreted, distorted by them. Joseph has a new dream. With childish innocence, as if to justify his first dream and to prove that significant dreams come to him involuntarily, independently of him, he tells the dream to his father and brothers: “I saw,” he says, “as if the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed to me.” The father, hearing his son's story, stopped the young man. “What is the dream you saw? - he told him. “Will I, your mother and your brothers bow down to the ground?” The experienced and spiritual father stopped his son not because he recognized his dream as a vain dream, his own work of the soul, suffering from arrogance, but in order to protect the young soul from falling into arrogance and, together with a stern remark, to somehow extinguish envy and hatred in the brothers. Thus, Christian ascetic teachers command not to pay special attention to all phenomena that appear to the mental and physical senses: they command to observe prudent coldness and saving caution in all phenomena. There are dreams from God, of which Joseph’s dreams serve as an example and proof, but the state of the one who sees dreams and visions is dangerous, very close to self-delusion. Seeing our shortcomings is a safe vision! “The spirit is crushed and humble” (Ps. 1:19) - this is an essentially useful state, alien to self-delusion, a state in which God is pleased! Reasoning capable of comprehending, evaluating and explaining visions is characteristic of those who have succeeded in spiritual feats: it is acquired over a long time, it is a gift from God. Saint James had this gift of God: he stopped his son, who was telling a prophetic dream, and he himself - Scripture testifies - kept in memory his words, which bore the anointing of the Spirit. This was not the effect the new dream had on Joseph’s brothers: it only increased their hatred and envy towards him. One day they drove the flocks to Shechem. Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are in Shechem; I want to send you to them.” Joseph answered: “I am ready.” “Go,” Jacob continued, “see if your brothers are healthy and if our sheep are healthy. Then come back and tell me.” Sometimes people part easily: when they part, they seem not to part; when they say goodbye, they almost never say goodbye. And such a farewell is often a farewell forever; It is often followed by a long, sorrowful separation. The elder did not know, when he released Joseph, that he would not see his beloved son for a long, long time! Could he think that by sending Joseph to his brothers, he was sending him to the murderers? He knew their hatred for the young man: but could it have occurred to him that this hatred would increase to a plan, to a conspiracy, to a determination to commit fratricide? The elder’s kindness was an experienced kindness - not the childish kindness that Joseph was filled with, going straight to the knife like a lamb. The wise Jacob, with all his spiritual success, with all the experience accumulated over many years of suffering, could not imagine that his violent sons were capable of the terrible crime of fratricide. It is characteristic of a shrine not to think evil about one’s neighbors; She tends to consider the most obvious, open villains less evil than what they really are. And we see many holy people, not deceived by obvious sin, deceived by their great love, their gullibility towards their neighbors. Elder! for a long time you will be separated from your beloved son, Joseph! You have the gift of prophecy and insight; but for this time God, who incomprehensibly arranges the fate of man, closed the future from you with an impenetrable curtain. You let Joseph go for a few days - you will see him after many sorrowful years. And he will see the land of Canaan, the place where your tent is pitched, when the days of your burial come - and only for the short days of this burial! His bones will be brought here; His numerous descendants will return here with them, and with an armed hand they will take possession of the inheritance of their forefather - now the young man Joseph. Joseph left his father's house, from Hebron, and came to Shechem. His brothers were no longer there. He didn’t know where to find them - so he started looking and asking questions. Suddenly a stranger met him and asked him who he was looking for. Joseph answered him: “I am looking for my brothers; tell me, do you know where they are with their flocks? The stranger answered: “Get out of here; I heard them say to each other: “Let’s go to Dofaim.” According to this man, who, as if fate had deliberately brought him to meet Joseph in order to direct him to his predestination, the young man begins to look for his brothers again - the sacrifice of his priests - and finds them in Dophaim. They recognized him from a distance and began conspiring to kill him. Horrible words about his brother were heard in the meeting of the brothers: “Here comes the dreamer. Let's kill him and say: he was eaten by a predatory beast. Let’s see what happens to his dreams then!” Following the terrible words, criminal hands also rose. But Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, took it away from them. “Let’s not kill him,” he told them, “with our own hands!” Lower him into one of the local ditches, but do not lay your hands on him!” And the softened Reuben thought of returning his beloved son to the old father. They stripped Joseph of his motley robe and threw him into a deep, dry well—alive and into a terrible grave. In the ditch Joseph, in the jaws of death!.. Holy young man, your spiritual experience begins with difficult experience! Wonderful firmness of your soul, which endured such fierce sorrow! Firmness in adversity is given by an immaculate, impeccable conscience. Teach us to acquire both your purity and firmness - powerful supports for the heart in the vicissitudes of life. Joseph in the ditch. What are the brothers doing? They sat down to eat... Ripe hatred!.. When some passion ripens in the soul, the soul no longer feels its mortal illness. It is more terrible to be with your heart in this depth of malice than with your body, with an angelic soul, in a deep ditch. The sons of Jacob committed an atrocity, as if fulfilling a duty: so much hatred of their brother was innate in them. “And he sat down to eat bread” (Gen. 37:25), says Scripture. When this meal was served, of course, nothing good was present. It was carried out violently. How else could the murderers dine? Loud laughter interrupted the terrible silence, it was the laughter of a soul that had thrown off the clothes of modesty and was enjoying its assimilated, satiated anger. From time to time, hellish words jumped out - as if from a dark abyss - from hearts determined to commit fratricide. The faces of those dining were gloomy and beast-like. Their sight and hearing wandered gloomily and wildly everywhere. Prudence no longer ruled here. What prudence! When passions take possession of a person, then the mind, deprived of dominion, serves as an obsequious and inventive servant of the passions to satisfy their crafty, whimsical, criminal demands. The sons of Jacob are feasting over the grave with the living dead, and then their darting eyes suddenly spot the travelers. They were Ishmaelites, merchants. They appeared from Gilead, on the road to Egypt. Their camels were generously loaded with styrax, balsam and incense: they carried these goods for sale in Egypt. During the frantic meal, a voice was heard: “What good will it do us if we kill our brother and hide his blood? Let's sell it to these Ishmaelites! Let our hands not be on him: after all, he is our brother and our flesh!” This voice was the voice of Judah, the fourth of the sons of Jacob; Judas offered to sell his righteous brother. After many centuries, another Judas will appear, he will say about another Righteous One, about the God-Man himself: “What do you want to give me, and I will betray Him to you?” (Matthew 26:15). The gold coins rang... Joseph had already been pulled out of the well and hastily sold to the Arabians. Not a single controversial word about the price or the prisoner was uttered from either side. Scripture would not be silent about a word worthy of memory if it were spoken. The Scripture in this story also conveys those words that are at least worth noting. Goldsmiths sound... there were twenty of them. How similar this ringing is to the ringing of thirty pieces of silver!... The blessed young man, sold for twenty pieces of gold! You have been honored to be the prototype of the One who was sold for thirty pieces of silver! Reuben was not at dinner. He was not a participant in the criminal intent and conspiracy, nor was he at the feast at which the successful crime was celebrated. He secretly comes to the ditch and calls for the buried person. No answer. Calling again... no answer! In despair, he tears his clothes, runs to his brothers, and tells them: “There is no youth in the ditch! Where am I going to go now?..” The goldsmiths began to sound in response. There were twenty of them: the nine brothers who were present at the sale proved that they had not forgotten the tenth who was absent. Meanwhile, the sons of Jacob figured out how to hide their deed with Joseph from their old father. They slaughtered a kid, stained their motley clothes with its blood, and sent it to their father with a harsh question: “We found it; find out whether these are your son’s clothes or not?” - he recognized her, he said: “This is my son’s clothing: has a fierce beast eaten him? A fierce beast has kidnapped Joseph!” Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned his son for many days. His sons and daughters gathered to him, they consoled the elder. But he did not want to be consoled, he said: “I will go down lamenting to my son into hell.” He repeated these words for a long time and cried for a long time. The Ishmaelites brought Joseph to Egypt (Gen. 39), there they resold him to Pentephry, a nobleman of the pharaoh - the kings of Egypt were called pharaohs - to the chief of the royal bodyguards. And the Lord was with Joseph, mysteriously watching over him, helping him. The master soon noticed the blessing of heaven upon his servant, and fell in love with him very much. The consequence of this special love was that Pentephry entrusted to Joseph the management of his entire house and all his property. The Lord, for Joseph’s sake, blessed the Egyptian’s property: the grace of God was poured out on all his property, on his house and on his fields. Pentefry indulged in his disposition with all carefree trustfulness, he did not even examine anything, did not pay attention to anything. Joseph was very stately and handsome. His beauty attracted the eyes of Pentefry's wife. Passion overtook her: she openly, directly declared her passion to the young man. The young man did not agree to lawlessness. He admonished his wife, who was burning with insane and criminal lust, he told her: “My master trusted me so much and rested so much on my worries that he does not even know anything that is in his house. He handed over all his goods unconsciously into my hands: in his house there is no one higher than me; everything is under my control except you, his wife. How can I act according to your words? How can I sin before God? – The criminal wife does not hear the wise words of the son of Jacob: the passion that has taken possession of her says something else. She hears only the voice of passion: Joseph’s words flew past her ears, like empty sounds without meaning or meaning. From time to time the wife repeats the proposal, always with the same open, fiery impudence. One day Joseph was working in the house according to his position; It happened that there was no one from the household here, except for the lady. She grabs him by the clothes, begs, demands that her desire be fulfilled immediately, Joseph breaks out of her hands and runs away; his outer clothing remained in the hands of the Egyptian woman. Unsatisfied criminal love suddenly turns into frenzied hatred: the one who for a minute was looking to enjoy the delights of beautiful flesh, now frantically thirsts to drink blood. The frantic Egyptian woman screams, calling her family with a loud squeal and scream. They come running. “Look,” the Egyptian woman tells them, “this young Hebrew was brought into our house to mock us!.. He came to me... he told me... I screamed in a loud voice... hearing my cry, he ran away from me... here is his outer garment in my hands!” She kept these clothes until Pentephry returned. Another time the clothes are a mute, heard false witness against Joseph. When the nobleman returned, his wife recounted the event to him. She spoke plaintively and quietly: “A young Jew, whom you brought to us to dishonor us, came to me and offered me iniquity. When I screamed loudly, he ran away, leaving his outerwear with me.” Hearing a plausible story, in which the simplicity and coldness of the story skillfully covered up a terrible spiritual storm and hellish slander, seeing in the hands of his wife proof of the incident - Joseph’s clothes, evidence against which, apparently, there were no refutations, Pentefry became very indignant. He recognized the questions and the trial as unnecessary, unnecessary - so the crime of the slave in his eyes was clear, vivid, obvious. He ordered Joseph to be thrown into a prison in which state criminals were kept - into a stronghold - as Scripture calls this prison. The Lord, who chose Joseph from the days of his childhood, the Lord, who helped him in captivity and in the house of Pentephry, did not leave him in prison. The heart of the prison commander was kind to Joseph: he entrusted the entire prison, all the prisoners imprisoned in it, to the young prisoner, and, like Pentephry, he rested with all his trust in Joseph’s care. Some time later, two of his nobles committed offense before the Egyptian king: the elder butler and the elder over the loaves (Gen. 40). The angry Pharaoh imprisoned them in the same prison in which Joseph was kept. The warden entrusted them to Joseph. When they had been in prison for several days, on the same night each of them had a dream. In the morning Joseph comes to them and notices that they are both confused. He asks the nobles of Pharaoh: “Why is there sadness on your faces?” They answer: “Each of us has had a dream, but there is no one to interpret our dreams.” Joseph said: “Doesn’t God give the gift of explaining the dreams that are sent from Him? Tell me your dreams." From Joseph's words one can see his spiritual prosperity, the fruit of temptations. When he saw dreams as a child, he only felt that they had meaning, and he retold them to his father and brothers, as if seeking an explanation, but not daring to add any interpretation. And here he barely heard that the elders had a dream, and already hopes to find a solution to the mysterious dreams in God, to whom he has approached, to whom he has assimilated through sorrow, faith, purity, and prayer. Dreams led him into the crucible of sorrows; dreams will lead him out of this crucible, into which Providence usually plunges people destined for great deeds. The elder cupbearer began to tell his dream: “I dreamed,” he said, “that in front of me was a grape garden; in the garden I see three vines, succulent branches have sprouted and produced ripe fruit. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took a bunch of grapes, squeezed the juice into a bowl and gave it to Pharaoh.” Joseph answered: “This is the meaning of this dream: three vines - three days. Three more days will pass, and Pharaoh will remember you, and will restore to you your former rank of elder butler: you will serve the cup to Pharaoh as before. Then, in your well-being, remember me. Do me a favor: tell Pharaoh about me, and bring me out of these gloomy walls. I was stolen from the Jewish land, and I did nothing wrong here, but I was thrown into this terrible prison.” The elder over the granaries, having heard a favorable interpretation, also recounted his dream to Joseph: “And I,” he said, “saw a dream. I imagined that I was holding three baskets of bread on my head. In the upper basket were all kinds of biscuits used by the Pharaoh. Suddenly birds swooped in and started pecking at the cookies.” Joseph answered: “This is the meaning of the dream: three baskets - three days. Three more days will pass and Pharaoh will take your head off from you! your corpse will be hanged on a tree; The birds of the air will eat your body." The third day arrived: it was Pharaoh's birthday. He gave a feast to his courtiers; In a conversation with them, the king remembered the two imprisoned elders: he returned the elder cupbearer to his former rank, and he again began to serve the cup to Pharaoh, and ordered the elder over the granaries to be executed, according to Joseph’s prediction. And the elder butler forgot about Joseph. The righteous also needed languishing in prison! He also needed the solitude and darkness of prison, so that his soul would plunge deeper into prayer, through it would draw even closer to God, and would be even more illuminated by spiritual intelligence. Two years have passed, Pharaoh has a dream (Gen. 41). He imagined that he was standing by the river: seven cows, fat and beautiful, came out of the river and began to walk along the coastal pasture. Behind them, seven other cows, skinny and unpleasant-looking, came out of the river and also began to walk with the first ones along the river bank. Suddenly the skinny cows devoured the fat ones, and it was imperceptible that the fat ones grew into them: they retained their former appearance of emaciation. Pharaoh woke up. Then he falls asleep again, sees another dream: he sees that seven ears of grain filled with ripe grains have grown from one stem, followed by seven other ears of grain, thin, as if dried out by the heat and wind. These thin ears absorbed the first seven full ears. Pharaoh woke up, his soul was troubled; When morning comes, he orders to convene all the scientists and sages of Egypt and tells them his dream. But they could not interpret the dream, which caused thoughtfulness and confusion in the king. Then the elder butler said to Pharaoh: “Now I remember my sin! When you, O king, were angry with your servants, with me and with the elder over the barns, you ordered us to be imprisoned, which was at the house of the chief of the bodyguards, each of us, on the same night, had a dream. There with us was a young Jew, a slave of the chief of the bodyguard; we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them. He predicted the return of dignity to me, and execution to my comrade. That’s what happened to both of us.” Pharaoh sent for Joseph to prison and ordered him to be brought to him. They brought Joseph out of the stronghold: the hand of God brought him out. According to the custom of the country, they cut off his hair, changed his clothes: he appeared before the face of Pharaoh. The Egyptian king recounted his dreams to him and complained about the wise men that they could not interpret these visions. “I have heard about you,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “that you explain dreams when they are told to you.” Joseph answered: “Without God, Pharaoh cannot receive a satisfactory answer.” Unwittingly, Joseph reveals his spiritual condition! He confesses a clear, wonderful, essential Divine action, the action of the Holy Spirit, independent of man, visiting a person according to the Higher will, and revealing secrets to him. Joseph felt this invisible communication with God, this grace-filled action in his soul: his constancy in virtue, adversity, suffering, or, more correctly, the grace of the Holy Spirit, constantly changing the virtuous, especially innocent sufferers, raised him to such a height of spiritual success. “Both of your dreams,” he said to Pharaoh, “have the same meaning; your dreams are one dream. Seven fat cows foreshadow seven fertile years; seven full ears of corn foreshadow the same. Seven lean cows and seven withered ears mean seven years of famine. God shows Pharaoh what He intends to do. Seven years will come: during them there will be abundant harvests in Egypt. Another seven years will come, and from their scarcity the abundance of the first seven years will be forgotten. Famine will strike and destroy the land. The very traces of the previous abundance will be erased by the subsequent scarcity: because the famine will be very strong. Pharaoh’s dream was repeated twice: this is a confirmation of God’s saying, and a sign that God will speed up the fulfillment of His decree. Tsar! Look for an intelligent man and entrust him with the land of Egypt. Let one-fifth of the entire harvest be harvested during seven fruitful years; the harvested wheat must come under the jurisdiction of the pharaoh and be stored in the cities. In this way, grain reserves will be built up for seven lean years, and the land will not perish from hunger.” Joseph's words to Pharaoh and those around him pleased him. Pharaoh said to them: “Where can we find another person who, like this one, has the Spirit of God in him?” Then, turning to Joseph, he says to him: “God reveals secrets to you, and therefore there is no person who can compare with you in wisdom and intelligence. Be the head of my house; May all my people obey you! Will I be higher than you by one throne? I make you over all the land of Egypt.” Pharaoh took the ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, clothed him in scarlet clothing, placed a golden hryvnia on him, and ordered him to be placed on his second chariot: in it they carried the new dignitary around the city; A herald walked in front of the chariot, announcing to the people the dignity and power of Joseph. Joseph was then thirty years old. Pharaoh married his confidant to Asenekh, the daughter of a priest of Iliopolis, and renamed him, calling him “Psonphomphanih”. What would this name mean? It means "Savior of the world" 7. Joseph foreshadowed the descent to earth of the God-man to the fallen and lost human race, when he was sent by his father to his brothers, who were grazing cattle far from their father’s bush. He represented Him when he was sold by his brothers to foreigners. Prefigured His burial by his imprisonment; by his sudden exaltation and glory he prefigured the glory of His resurrection. The daughter of the priest of Iliopolis, who entered into marriage with Joseph, prefigured the Church of Christ, made up of pagans. The salvation of the people from death foreshadowed the salvation of humanity from eternal death. The Distributor of material bread was a pre-image of the One who is both “the Bread that came down from heaven” and the Distributor of this heavenly bread (John 6:41). From among the mysterious Old Testament prototypes, a comforting name was heard for the first time: Savior of the world! Marvelously, God's Providence foreshadowed the great work of God, the redemption of mankind, with biblical prophetic shadows. How far back in time did these shadows begin to appear! How vividly they depicted the truth! What a mystery they were for their contemporaries! How clear and obvious they became when God opened to men the understanding of the Scriptures inspired by Him. Joseph began to fulfill the duties to which God Himself called him, and which, according to God’s dispensation, the ruler of Egypt entrusted to him. He undertook a journey throughout Egypt and, having surveyed the country, made the necessary orders. For seven years the earth gave a bountiful harvest. During these seven years, Joseph accumulated grain supplies, which he stored in the cities under reliable supervision and guards in extensive storerooms. He collected countless amounts of wheat: it lay in folded places like mountains of sand. During those same fertile seven years, Asenath gave birth to two sons. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh. By calling it this way, he included a deep thought in the name of his eldest son: “God arranged me so that I forgot my suffering.” He named the second Ephraim, connecting with this name another deep and pious thought: “God raised me in the land of my humility.” Such thoughts contain these names, according to their meaning in the Hebrew language 8. Seven fertile years have passed, as everything that is subject to time passes: the hungry years have come. According to Joseph's prediction, famine began to rage throughout the land. The Egyptian people cried out to Pharaoh, asking for bread. Pharaoh answered his subjects: “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” Joseph opened the reserve granaries and began selling grain to the Egyptians from there. Famine raged across the face of the earth. Residents of neighboring countries heard that bread was being sold in Egypt, and, oppressed by hunger, they began to come to Egypt to buy wheat. The wise, prudent ruler prepared reserve grain in quantities capable of not only feeding his people, but also attracting money from other peoples to the Egyptian state. Among other lands oppressed by famine, the land of Canaan languished. The family of the holy patriarch also suffered from a lack of food. The rumor that bread was being sold in Egypt reached the elder (Gen. 42). He said to his sons: “I heard that there is wheat in Egypt: why don’t you pay attention to it? Go there, buy some bread to support our lives; otherwise, so that we don’t have to die of hunger.” Obeying the will of their father, Joseph's ten brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. Jacob and his brothers did not let Benjamin go; he said: “So that nothing bad happens to him along the way.” Arriving in Egypt, the sons of Jacob came with other buyers to the place where grain was being sold. Joseph himself was in charge of selling bread. When the brothers appeared before him, he immediately recognized them; but they had no idea that they were standing before a brother who had been sold as slaves for twenty gold coins. And how were they supposed to recognize him? When they parted with him, he was barely seventeen years old; he was now approaching forty years of age. Changed over the years, it was no less changed by the greatness and splendor of the rank, the first in the kingdom of Egypt, which was ahead of almost all other states in education, power, and internal structure. Presenting themselves before Joseph, the brothers bowed low to him, with their foreheads to the ground. Joseph remembered his dreams... Wise, virtuous Joseph! He postponed until another time to announce himself to his brothers. How much power this great soul had over itself! Wasn’t his heart consumed by the desire to immediately give the most joyful news about himself to his elderly, holy parent, who had known nothing about him for more than twenty years, and, considering him irretrievably lost, was inconsolably saddened? He does not heed the attraction of a merciful, generous heart, and chooses a course of action that is necessarily necessary for the benefit of both himself and his brothers. Joseph knew the rude, unbridled morals of these people; These were semi-wild shepherds who grew up on nomads, spending their whole lives with herds, in the freedom of wild freedom, under the open sky, in deserted deserts. They did not know any power over themselves, did not know any reins: they disobeyed their father; caused him frequent insults; every wish, no matter how criminal it was, was carried out; their hands were often stained with the blood of innocents. This is how Scripture portrays the sons of Jacob. They needed a lesson. For their own well-being, it was necessary to introduce them to humility and good behavior. Cruel souls, accustomed to trampling on conscience and the fear of God, could not otherwise be shocked, brought to their senses and self-knowledge, as by the torture of human fear. Anticipating a prolonged famine, Joseph also foresaw the need to relocate Jacob's family from Palestine to Egypt. Is this why he called his brothers, when they first arrived in Egypt, spies?.. If his brothers had brought their unbridledness, their violence with them to their new fatherland, they would soon have incurred the indignation of the Egyptians; the well-being of Jacob's family, the well-being of Joseph himself, would soon be destroyed; this family and he would have been subjected to the greatest disasters. What was acquired through long-term suffering was to be protected and preserved by wise behavior. Joseph treated his brothers importantly, sternly, like a strict ruler. "Where are you from?" - he asked them. They answered: “From the land of Canaan: they came to buy bread.” He objected: “You are spies: you have come to spy on our country!” They answered: “No, sir! Your servants have come to buy bread. We are all brothers, sons of one elder. We came with a peaceful disposition: your servants are not spies.” He said: “No, no: you have come to spy on the land!” They answered: “We are twelve brothers. Your servants are from the land of Canaan. The least of us remained with our father, but one... was gone.” Joseph remarked: “There are lies in your words! I was right when I said that you are spies. I swear by the sanctity of Pharaoh, you will not leave here unless your younger brother comes to me. With this you must justify yourself. Send one from among you: let him bring a brother. You will remain here in custody until it is explained whether your words are fair or not. If they turn out to be unjust... I swear by the sanctity of the Pharaoh, you are spies! - and with these words he gave them into custody. Three days have passed. On the third he calls them and says: “I am one of those who fear God. Here's what you should do: if you are in a peaceful mood, then go and take back the wheat you bought; one of you will be kept in custody here. Next time, bring your brother to me: this will prove the truth of your words. If you don’t bring your younger brother, then you will see my face below!” Joseph spoke to his brothers through an interpreter. He had not yet released them completely, and while he was busy with other customers, the sons of Jacob began to quietly talk among themselves in Hebrew. Could they have imagined that the formidable Egyptian nobleman understood them! And he follows every word with intense hearing and attention; their every word is caught by his soul, full of holy love, acting with holy, saving wisdom. “Really,” the sons of Jacob said to each other, “we are haunted by the sin that we committed against our brother! We neglected his deep sorrow, we did not listen to him when he begged us: it was for him that this attack came upon us!” Reuben said to the others: “Did I not tell you, do not offend the young men? You didn’t listen to me: now his blood is being exacted.” The brothers' words pierced Joseph's sensitive heart. He left them for a minute and relieved his burdened heart with streams of tears. Then he came to them again, chose Simeon from among them, and ordered that shackles be placed on him before their eyes. In the actions of the wise Joseph, everything has its own reason. Scripture is silent about the reason why chains became the lot of the wild and ferocious Simeon, not the other brother; but from the same Scripture it is clear that it was he who needed a more strict lesson. All ten brothers committed grave offenses, but Simeon stained himself with the terrible murder of the Sichemites, thereby exposing the entire family of the holy patriarch to terrible danger, from which they were saved by the special intercession of Providence. And wasn’t it his hands that rose to another murder, more terrible and criminal?.. Joseph gave a secret order to fill the brothers' sacks with wheat and to put the money given for the wheat into each sack, in addition to giving them food for the journey. Apparently, everyone paid separately for the wheat they took: this is one of those features that depict the distant customs of biblical antiquity. Having loaded the donkeys with wheat, the sons of Jacob set off on their way back. At the first camp, one of them, with the intention of feeding the donkey, took off his bag, which somehow came untied, and saw a bundle of his money in the bag, on top of the wheat. He shouted to his brothers: “My money has been returned to me! here they are... in my bag.” Their hearts were terrified, they were embarrassed, and they said to each other: “What is God doing to us?” Arriving in the land of Canaan, to their father, they told everything that had happened to them, saying: “The man, the lord of that land, treated us very harshly, even put us in prison as spies. We told him: No! Sir, we are not spies! we came with a peaceful disposition. We are twelve brothers, we are the sons of our father; one of us... was gone, but the youngest was with her father, in the land of Canaan. That man, the lord of the earth, answered us: This will be proof for me that you are not spies, but people with a peaceful disposition: leave one of you here with me; take the wheat you bought for your house and go; but bring your youngest brother to me. By this I will know that you are not spies, but peaceful people: and then I will give you your brother, who now remains a hostage with me, and you will trade freely in the land of Egypt.” When they poured the wheat out of the bags, each of them, along with the wheat, dropped out a bundle with his money given for the wheat. When they saw the bundles of their money, they got scared. Their father saw these bundles and was also afraid. “You,” he told them, “made me completely childless! Joseph is gone; Simeon is gone: and do you want to take Benjamin? All these troubles fell on my head for you.” Reuben answered him: “Kill my two sons if I do not bring Benjamin back to you.” The elder answered: “My son will not go with you! His brother died; he was left alone: ​​if evil happens to him on the road on which you are setting off, then you will bring my old age with sorrow to hell.” The famine grew stronger and stronger and overcame the land (Gen. 43). The wheat brought from Egypt ran out in Jacob’s house, and the old man said to his sons: “Go to Egypt again, buy us some bread.” Judas answered him: “The man, the lord of that land, told us, confirming his words with an oath, that we would not see his face unless our younger brother came with us.” Jacob remarked: “Why did you do this evil deed, why did you tell your husband that you have a brother?” They answered: “My husband made strict and detailed interrogations of us. He asked: is your father still alive? Do you still have a brother? We answered his questions. Did we know that he would say: Bring your brother?” Then Judas began to persuade his father: “Let the young man go with me; We will get up, go, get bread to feed you and ourselves, so that we do not die of hunger. I will take Benjamin upon my responsibility: seek him at my hand. If I do not bring him back and place him before you, may your wrath be against me throughout my life. If we hadn’t delayed so much, we would have had time to visit Egypt twice.” To this the father said: “When this is the case, then do this: take the works here and bring them to that husband as a gift. Take incense, honey, styrax and nuts. Take double money so that you can return the money found in your bags: maybe they got there due to some misunderstanding. And take your brother. Get ready and go to your husband. May my God incline your husband to mercy, so that he will let your brother and Benjamin go. I have completely become childless!” The sons of Jacob took gifts and double money with them and went to Egypt. Arriving there, they presented themselves to Joseph. Joseph saw Benjamin, his maternal brother, and his soul was indignant. He called the steward of his house and said to him: “Bring these people to my house and prepare a good dinner: at noon they will dine with me.” The steward carried out Joseph's orders and led the brothers into his house. They, seeing that they were being led to Joseph’s house, said to each other: “We are being brought here because of the money found in our bags, in order to slander us, accuse us, take us as slaves, and take possession of our donkeys.” Therefore, at the gate of the house, without entering it, they approached the steward and said to him: “We beg you, listen to us. When we came for the first time to buy bread and, taking our bags filled, set off on the way back, at the first camp we untied our bags and suddenly saw our money, each in his own bag; We have now brought this money back, in weight. And they brought other money to buy new bread. We don’t know who put the silver we gave for the first bread into our bags.” “Calm down,” answered the housekeeper, “don’t be afraid of anything. Your God, the God of your fathers, has sent you wealth into your bags. And the money you contributed is listed in my parish and is counted among those received.” He brought Simeon to them. Then water was brought, their feet were washed, and the donkeys were given food. They laid out the gifts and, having prepared them, waited for Joseph to leave at noon. When Joseph returned to the house, the brothers presented him with gifts and bowed their foreheads to the ground. He asked them: “Are you healthy? - then he added, - is the old man, your father, about whom you told me, still alive? Is he still alive? They answered: “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” “Blessed is this man before God!” - said Joseph. They bowed low to him. Looking for Benjamin between them, Joseph asked: “Is this your younger brother whom you promised to bring to me? - and to their affirmative answer he said: May God have mercy on you, my child! Joseph was confused; his heart began to beat violently; tears flowed from my eyes. He hastily went to his bedroom, where he had his fill of tearful streams; then he washed his face, went out to the brothers and, restraining himself, said: “Offer a meal.” It was prepared separately for him, and separately for the sons of Jacob, and separately for the Egyptians, who dined with the nobleman that day. The Egyptians, Scripture tells us, could not be at the same table with the Jews; They, according to their belief, abhorred any shepherd-sheep breeder. The sons of Jacob were seated directly opposite Joseph, according to their years. They were surprised to see themselves seated according to seniority. They were served food, each separately a portion of it: Joseph himself served some of it, and he served more for Benjamin than for the other brothers. Wine was also supplied. The hearts of the sons of Jacob were relieved at the luxurious and welcoming meal. Not used to being restrained, the desert shepherds ate their fill and drank copiously. This meal prefigured the spiritual meal of Christ the Savior offered to Christians at the Divine Liturgy. The Lord deigned to become our brother, He acquired dominion over the world - the mysterious Egypt - and for His brothers who suffer under the burden of sin, He “prepared a table and an intoxicating cup of power” (Ps. 23:5), His most holy body and His most holy blood. Christians, partaking of this Divine food, partake of the eternal life, are freed from sins and, in the rapture of spiritual pleasure, forget the sorrows that oppress them while wandering in Egypt - in a foreign country, in a land of exile: this country is full of sorrows and disasters, visible and invisible - earthly life. Joseph, meanwhile, gave a secret order to his subordinates (Gen. 44): “Fill the sacks of these people with wheat, add more, as long as you are able to carry it away. Place everyone's money in a bag on top of the wheat. In the smaller bag, put, in addition to money, my silver cup.” Everything was carried out according to Joseph's orders. Morning came: the sons of Jacob set off on their journey with donkeys loaded with bread. When they left the city, and were still not far away, Joseph said to his steward: “Go quickly in pursuit of these people, overtake them and say: what is this? Have you repaid my good with evil? Why did you steal my silver cup? Is this not the cup from which my lord drinks? Yes, he does magic in it.” The steward, having overtaken them, repeated word for word what Joseph had ordered. They answered: “The sir says so in vain! No, your servants did not do this. If we brought the money we found in our sacks again from the land of Canaan, then why should we steal silver and gold from your master’s house? Whoever you find the cup with will be executed, and we will be given into slavery to our lord.” The steward answered: “Let it be done according to your word: whoever has the cup, let him become a slave to my master.” They hastily took the sacks off the donkeys, and each one untied his own sack. The housekeeper began to search from the eldest, and reached the youngest; The cup was found in Benjamin's bag. In despair, they tore their clothes, put the sacks on the donkeys and returned to the city. Joseph was in his house: they came to him and fell to the ground before him. “What did you do? - he said to them, “didn’t you know that there is no fortuneteller on earth like me?” Judas answered: “Sir! We have nothing to answer you, nothing to say, nothing to justify ourselves with! God punishes the secret sin of your servants. We give ourselves as slaves to our master. Let us be your servants, we and the one with whom the cup was found.” “Why should I,” said Joseph, “be unjust? Let the one who found the cup be my slave, and you go freely to your father.” Then Judas approached him and said: “Sir! I beg you, let me say a few words before you and do not be angry with your servant: I know that you are second in command to Pharaoh. Mister! You asked your servants: Do you have a father or a brother? And we said to the master: we have an elderly father and a younger brother, born when the father was already advanced in years. The mother had two of them: the eldest... died; this one was left alone, and his father fell in love with him. You said to your servants: bring him to me, I want to see him. We said to the master: it is impossible for a young man to leave his father; if he leaves his father, his father will die. But you said to your servants: unless your younger brother comes, you will see my face no more. When we came to your servant our father, we conveyed to him the words of our master. The father told us: go again, buy bread. We answered: we can’t go! If our younger brother goes with us, then we will go: because without him we will not be allowed before our husband. Your servant, our father, said to us: you know that my wife bore me two. One went from me to you: you said that he was eaten by a beast; from then until now I have not seen him. If you take this too and some evil happens to him on the way, you will bring my old age with sorrow to hell. So, if I now go to your servant, our father, and the young man is not with me - after all, his soul is attached to the soul... of this! - and my father will see that the young man is not with us, he will die. And your servants will bring down the old age of your servant our father with sorrow to hell. I, your servant, took the young man from my father, saying to him: if I do not bring him to you and set him before you, let your wrath be upon me all the days of my life. Let me be your slave instead of the young man... yes! a servant to the master... And let the young man go with his brothers. How can I go to my father without a young man? I cannot bear the grief that will strike my father.” Joseph could no longer restrain and hide himself (Gen. 45). He ordered everyone present to leave; Even from those close to him and his family there were none when he revealed himself to his brothers. Everyone left; Then, weeping and screaming, Joseph exclaimed to his brothers: “I am Joseph!.. is my father still alive?” The brothers were completely bewildered and could not answer him. Joseph said to them, “Come closer to me.” They approached him. “I am Joseph,” he repeated to them, “I am your brother whom you sold into Egypt. Don’t grieve that you sold me here... So that this doesn’t bother you, don’t torment you! God, who provides for your salvation, sent me here. This is the second year of famine on earth, and there are still five years left in which the land will be plowed in vain, in which there will be no harvest. God sent me before you to prepare refuge for you on earth and to feed our large family. It was not you who sold me here: God sent me here, made me, as it were, a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire house and ruler of the entire Egyptian land. Hasten to return to my father and tell him: this is what your son Joseph says to you: “God has made me master of Egypt: come to me, do not delay. You will settle in the land of Goshen, you will be near me, you and your sons, and your sons’ sons, and your sheep, and your oxen, and all your flocks. I will provide you with food, because for another five years there will be famine on earth. Your eyes see, and the eyes of Benjamin my brother see, that I, with my mouth, tell you this. Tell my father all the glory and power that was given to me in Egypt, which you saw with your own eyes. Hurry up and bring my father here.” He threw himself on Benjamin’s neck, hugged him and cried, and Benjamin hugged him and also cried. Then, with tears, he hugged all his brothers. Then their lips, hitherto sealed with fear and bewilderment, opened: they entered into a conversation with Joseph. Rumor reached the house of Pharaoh about the arrival of Joseph's brothers; Pharaoh and his court rejoiced. Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Tell your brothers: do this, fill your sacks with bread, go to the land of Canaan and, taking your father, move to me with all your property. The riches of Egypt are open to you." Joseph gave his brothers two changes of clothing each, and Benjamin five changes and three hundred gold coins. He sent many gifts to his father on ten donkeys and gave ten mules with bread for the journey. Having thus bestowed upon his brothers, he sent them away; letting go, he said: “On the way, do not quarrel among yourselves.” The free pets of the desert needed such instruction: of course, now they gave it the proper weight, remembered and preserved it. The sons of Jacob returned to the land of Canaan, to their father, and said to him: “Your son Joseph is alive: it is he who rules the entire land of Egypt.” Jacob was horrified and did not believe them. They assured him, recounted exactly all the words of Joseph. When the elder saw the rich gifts and chariots sent for him by Joseph, then his spirit came to life, and Jacob said: “It is great for me if Joseph is still alive! I’ll go and see him before I die.” The Patriarch rose with all his household and all his property; having reached the so-called Oath Well, he offered a sacrifice to God near it (Gen. 46). In a night vision, God said to the old man: “Jacob! Jacob! I am the God of your fathers. Do not be afraid to move to Egypt: there I will make you a great nation. I will go down with you to Egypt and I will bring you out from there. Joseph will close your eyes with his hands.” The family of Jacob, when migrating to Egypt, consisted, including Joseph and his sons, of seventy-five male souls. Having reached the land of Goshen, he sent Judah to notify Joseph of his arrival. Joseph ordered the chariots to be harnessed and rode out to meet the old father in the region of Goshen; Seeing him, he threw himself on his neck, screaming and sobbing. Jacob said to Joseph: “Now let me die, because I have seen your face: you are still alive!” When the whole family arrived in Egypt, Joseph said to his brothers: “I will go to Pharaoh, inform him of your greeting, and say: my brothers and all my father’s house, who lived in the land of Canaan, have come to me. They are cattle breeders: this has been the occupation of our family since ancient times. They also brought their herds here. If Pharaoh calls you and asks what your occupation is, answer him: we, your servants, have been engaged in cattle breeding since childhood and to this day; Our fathers also did this. And he will say to you: place yourself in Goshen of Arabia.” This significant area of ​​fertile land, very convenient for cattle breeding, has never been inhabited. The reason for placing the patriarchal family in a separate and uninhabited country, says Scripture, was the well-known belief of the Egyptians, who recognized those who were engaged in sheep breeding as unclean. Joseph reported to Pharaoh that his father and brothers with their flocks arrived from the land of Canaan and stopped in the country of Goshen (Gen. 47). He chose five of the brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Joseph's brothers, "What are you doing?" They answered: “We, your servants, are engaged in sheep breeding: this occupation has been ours since childhood, and the occupation of our fathers and forefathers. Now we have come to dwell in your land: in the Canaanite side the famine has become extremely severe, and the pastures there are not sufficient for our flocks. Let your servants settle in the land of Goshen." Pharaoh answered, turning to Joseph: “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The whole land of Egypt is before you; settle them in a better place. Let them settle in the land of Goshen. If there are capable people among them, then make them elders over my flocks.” Joseph and Jacob were brought before Pharaoh: the elder blessed the king of Egypt. Pharaoh asked Jacob the number of his years. “I am,” answered the elder, “one hundred and thirty years old. I'm not many years old! My life is full of disasters: I will not live as long as my fathers lived.” And, having blessed the king again, the elder left him. Joseph carried out everything according to the orders of Pharaoh regarding the placement of his father in the land of Goshen. There, the beloved son often visited his old father and provided him with everything he needed for his maintenance. Very interesting are the various details about the civil structure of Egypt at the time of Joseph, preserved for us by the book of Genesis. In these details one can see a pattern of how states initially arose, how people moved from a state of wild freedom to a state of citizenship; how this subjection was at first incomplete and more closely approximated by patriarchal subordination; how it later became unconditional citizenship; finally, it is immediately clear that the founder of autocratic or monarchical rule in Egypt was the wise, Saint Joseph. The court of the pharaoh at that time, although already representing some grandeur and splendor, had not yet managed to evade patriarchal simplicity: his highest courtier was personally involved in the sale of grain; another courtier carries baskets of bread on his head, a third squeezes juice from grapes into a bowl with his own hands, and serves this bowl to the king not only on the days of solemn feasts, but, apparently, every day. The population in Egypt was still very small, which is why the entire fertile region of Goshen remained uninhabited, and city residents had the opportunity to engage in arable land and cattle breeding. The book of Genesis breathes the youth of the political world. The story of the divinely inspired writer of this book, Moses, with its naturalness transports the attentive reader to distant, sacred antiquity, to these people who lived in wonderful simplicity, to this recently begun life, alien to all refinements. This life and this simplicity are full of power! Anyone who often immerses himself in the contemplation of biblical stories will certainly feel a special, strange impression in his soul. This impression consists of smelling some kind of freshness, youth, as if from breathing the air of a beautiful summer morning. The soul becomes young from gazing at the youth of the world, from conversation with the young world; her strength is invigorated, strengthened, just as the spirit of an old man comes to life among the company of children. It’s nice to enjoy the freshness of the young world, to take a break from the impressions of the modern, decrepit, crumbling world. Severe famine continued; Egypt and Palestine especially suffered from it: in these countries no one had bread except what Joseph had prepared. There was neither gold nor silver left in both lands: all the money passed into the hands of Joseph, and he brought it into the treasury of Pharaoh, which, it should be noted, was in the very house of the king of Egypt. The Egyptians, having no money, needed bread: they first sold their cattle to Pharaoh, then their lands, and finally themselves. This is the beginning of unconditional citizenship in Egypt. Only the lands of the priests remained their property: they received bread from the pharaoh free of charge, as alms. At the end of the years of famine, when the Egyptians had secured both their lands and themselves for the pharaoh, Joseph gave them seeds to sow so that they would present a fifth of the harvest annually as tribute to the treasury. This newly established measure in relation to tribute and the revolution itself in relation to power were accepted with pleasure and gratitude by the people of the newly born autocratic state. “You saved our lives,” the Egyptians said to Joseph, “you are our benefactor; We will be slaves to Pharaoh." The writer of the book of Genesis notes that this tribute remained unchanged in his time, that is, after almost four centuries. From the writings of incomparably later writers, Herodotus and Diodorus, it is clear that the same method of collecting taxes continued until their time; it is clear that the land in Egypt was the property of the kings of Egypt. The income of the kings of Egypt from the land, says Diodorus, was so satisfactory that any other tribute from the people was made unnecessary 9 . This command reveals Joseph’s deep, bright mind, his extraordinary ability to govern, an ability that was revealed in him from his youth, and which was so quickly and rightly noticed by both the chief of the bodyguards and the warden of the prison. He establishes a tax that is strong, but extremely convenient for contribution due to the nature of the country. What tribute is more typical for fertile Egypt than tribute in grain? It was easy to bring it in where the usual harvest was a hundred: it was easy to deliver it from the fields lying next to a navigable river, such as all the fields of Egypt located along the banks of the Nile, to cities with grain storehouses located along the same river; it was easy to compensate for arrears that might occur in lean years by paying in years of exorbitant harvest. If it is possible to call any harvests exorbitant, then this name, above all the harvests in the world, belongs to the harvests of Egyptian fields. Selling grain inside was quite convenient for the pharaoh from the piers that lay along the same navigable river. Subsequently, when harbors were established near the Mediterranean Sea, on the shores of which the entire enlightened and trading world of that time lived, Egypt became the breadbasket of this world and remained its breadbasket as long as the Mediterranean Sea remained its center; and it was the center of the educated, active world almost until modern times, almost throughout the entire life of the world. Joseph’s institution was of extraordinary thoroughness despite its simplicity: that is why it was durable. Time itself reveres the wise state decree, and after many centuries keeps it inviolable, so beneficial for states, immutability. Through state benefit obvious to everyone, Joseph strengthened and formed the power of the pharaohs, provided the new state with capital and constant, abundant income. Jacob lived for seventeen years in the land of Egypt and, having reached the age of forty-seven, felt the approach of death. A few days before his death, he calls on his beloved son, Joseph, and says to him: “Do mercy and truth on me: do not bury me in Egypt. May I rest with my fathers! Take me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.” Driven by faith - not by some petty, earthly desire - the inspired elder bequeaths the transfer of his body to Palestine and its burial in a cave in the Hebron region. This is how the Holy Apostle Paul explains his testament, mentioning the words of this testament as inspired from Above and containing deep mystery. The holy son promises to holyly fulfill the will of the holy father (Heb. 11:21). Jacob demanded that the promise be sealed with an oath, and Joseph swore an oath: then Jacob, sitting on his bed, bowed down to the top of Joseph's rod. The rod was in the hand of the nobleman - either according to the custom of that time, or as a sign of high rank. After a few days, Joseph was informed that his father had become completely exhausted (Gen. 48). He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to his dying father. The decrepit old man lay on his deathbed in relaxation. They said to him: “Your son Joseph is coming to you.” The elder gathered his strength and sat down on his bed. Did his love for his son strengthen him? Or did an overshadowing of grace descend upon him at that moment? The dying man came to life with the life of Divine inspiration. Often in God's chosen ones the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit is suddenly added to the natural action of man. This powerful action takes a person out of his ordinary state and makes him a weapon of God. These were Jacob's dying moments. When Joseph came to him, he said to his son: “My God appeared to me in Luz, in the land of Canaan, blessed me, and said to me: I will multiply you, make from you tribes of nations and give you, and after you, to your descendants, this land for an eternal possession. On this basis, let your two sons, born to you before I came to Egypt, be mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. The sons who will be born to you after them will be yours and will be called to the inheritance under the names of these two brothers, to their portions. Your mother Rachel died in the land of Canaan when I was coming from Mesopotamia and approaching Ephrath. This is the same as Bethlehem. Here, on the way, I buried her.” When he saw Joseph’s sons, he asked him, “Who is this with you?” Joseph answered: “These are my sons whom God has given me here.” And Jacob said: “Bring them to me: I will bless them.” The patriarch's eyes grew dim with age: he could not see clearly. When Joseph brought the children to him, he hugged them, kissed them and said to Joseph: “I did not hope to see your face, but God showed me your children.” Joseph led them away from the elder’s knees, and they bowed to the ground! Then, taking Ephraim in his right hand against Jacob's left, and Manasseh in his left against Jacob's right, he brought them again to the elder, and the inspired elder extended his hands for blessing, folding them crosswise: he put his right hand on Ephraim's head, and his left on Manasseh's head. For the first time, during a blessing, the sign of the cross appears, the usual sign of blessing in the New Testament Church! “God,” said the holy patriarch, “God, whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac pleased, God, who has protected and helped me from my infancy to this day, who has delivered me from all misfortunes, bless these children!” Let them be called by my name and by the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; may there be numerous descendants from them.” When Joseph saw that the elder laid his right hand on Ephraim, it seemed wrong to him; he took his father’s hand to transfer it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh and said: “My father! You put your hands wrong. This is the firstborn: lay your right hand on him.” The elder did not want to do this. “I know,” he said, “my son, I know: from this there will be numerous offspring, and this one will be great. But his younger brother will be greater: his descendants will form a whole nation.” He blessed them again. “In you,” he said, “may Israel be blessed!” They will say: May God do to you what He did to Ephraim and Manasseh.” And he said to Joseph: “I am dying. God will be with you and will bring you back from this land to the land of your fathers. In that land I give you an extra plot in front of your brothers: I took it from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.” The word of spirit-bearing men, notes one great mentor of ascetics 10, is similar to the word of the elderly Jacob: with their words they convey to their listeners the spiritual power that lives in them, acquired by them in the fight against sin, victories over the invisible Ammorites - thoughts and feelings of viciousness. The hour of the death of the holy patriarch was approaching. In this dying hour, the Holy Spirit poured out on him abundantly and seemed to completely take possession of him. In those last minutes of earthly life, in which the soul was ready to leave the decaying body, the Spirit of God descended, stopped the separation, and poured grace-filled life into the departing soul and into the remaining body. The dying man came to life with the life of the next century. The elder hastily demanded all his sons; They hastily flocked to him and surrounded him. He was still sitting on the bed. As they gathered, Jacob gave them an inspired, prophetic testament. This testament breathes with youthful strength and poetry, the eternal youth of the celestials and their holy poetry. There is no person here! Here the human tongue was only a tool. This is how God can be heard speaking. So you can hear God expressing His will, with authority controlling the future destinies of people and their distant descendants! The testament of the patriarch is a heavenly song, sung by the Spirit for all the hearing of the world. This song proclaims to the world the Redeemer, and to the nations immersed in idolatry, the illumination of the light of Christianity. “Gather together,” the dying old man said to his sons, speaking as if from the region of that century, “gather together, surround me; I will tell you the future. Gather together, sons of Jacob, listen to me, listen to Israel, listen to your father. Reuben is removed from the rights of primacy for pleasing sensuality: Simeon and Levi did not receive them. Their penchant for bloodshed is cursed, and their offspring are destined to be scattered among the tribes of other brothers. All the abundance of blessings unfolded over Judas: he was promised civil power, celebrity, primacy among his brothers, and especially he was destined to be the forefather of the Savior, Who, the prophetic elder announced, is “the expectation of the nations.” The inspired patriarch pronounced a blessing on his sons, each separately, numbering the sons by seniority. Having reached the name of Joseph, he again called upon him and his descendants the blessing of heaven and earth. This blessing was truly and strongly expressed in the prosperity that Joseph’s numerous descendants subsequently enjoyed. With the end of the prophetic testament, Jacob’s speech changed: it was no longer animated by delight, solemnity, and heavenly grandeur. She is like a body abandoned by the soul. God, who spoke through the lips of the elder, stopped His mysterious broadcasts: the inspired prophet fell silent: the dying elder began to speak in exhaustion: “I turn,” were the last words of Jacob, “to my people; bury me in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. Abraham and Sarah are buried there; Isaac and Rebekah are buried there; I buried Leah there.” Having said this, Jacob lay down on his feet and died. “He joined his people,” says Scripture, to those holy righteous people whom the earth produced and raised for heaven, whom she had already delivered into the realm of eternity. Seeing that Jacob had died, Joseph fell on his father’s face, kissed his face, his lips sealed with death, and watered this face with abundant tears (Gen. 50). He ordered the doctors to prepare the body, according to the custom of Egypt, for burial. Doctors made preparations for forty days to protect the body from rotting. All Egypt shared in Joseph's sorrow; The Egyptians mourned the death of the holy elder, the ancestor of Israel, for seventy days. After days of crying, Joseph asked Pharaoh for permission to fulfill his father’s will and his oath to him, to bury the precious body of the righteous man in the land of Canaan. Pharaoh wished that the procession of his confidant into the land of Canaan would be accompanied by due splendor. The entire court of the king of Egypt, all his nobles accompanied Joseph; They had many chariots and horsemen with them. All the sons of Jacob, all his grandchildren who were capable of traveling, took part in it. Having reached the burial place, they honored the sacred body with seven days of lamentation, “great lamentation,” as Scripture calls it. The field on which this large assembly stopped, and where it performed its funeral lament, was called by the inhabitants of the country “The Lamentation of Egypt.” Having fulfilled his vow, Joseph returned to Egypt. The atrocity they committed against him still continued to bother the brothers. They suspected the noble brother of memory of malice, but this pure, holy soul was capable only of goodness! Believing that Joseph did not want to disturb the peace of his elderly father with the spectacle of vengeance, that he was postponing vengeance until a convenient time, they came to him and said: “Before his death, the father commanded: tell Joseph: forgive them their sin, forgive them their iniquity; they committed a crime against you, but you forgive them their guilt for the sake of the God of your fathers.” When they said this, Joseph wept. They fell down before him and said: “Behold, we give ourselves as your slaves!” The magnanimous Joseph, Joseph, worthy of the blessings of earth and heaven, worthy of the blessing of the entire Christian tribe, the blessing of all who read the story of his edifying deeds, answered his brothers: “Do not be afraid! I am God's. You conspired to do me evil, but God planned good things for me. And His decree was fulfilled! Food was supplied to many people and lives were saved. Do not be afraid: I will be the patron of you and your families.” Living faith in God and seeing through the pure spiritual eye of God’s Providence lift a person above all disasters, above the terrible mental disaster: malice and revenge. The Book of Genesis is silent about the further circumstances of Joseph’s life: probably, his life passed in silence and inviolable prosperity. Scripture only says that Joseph spent the rest of his days in Egypt, saw the grandchildren of Ephraim, saw the sons of Machir, the eldest son of Manasseh, and died one hundred and ten years old. Departing for eternity, he bequeathed to his: “I am dying. God will visit you and lead you out of this land into the land that He promised to give you. Then, when you migrate, take my bones from here with you to the promised land.” Having made this will, he died; His body, protected from decay, was placed in a box, prepared for the commanded transfer. And for three centuries Joseph’s body waited for the transfer, about which the will was given and accepted with such faith. Let me die and be buried in Egypt, the land of my sojourn. But I bequeath to my children, childless, I bequeath to my tribe that they move to the promised land and take my body there with them. I call children and tribe the thoughts that are born in my mind, the feelings that are born in my heart. My children! My tribe! Leave the land of Goshen, its rich pastures, only suitable for cattle breeding. Move from Egypt, from this lower world where flesh and sin reign, move to Heaven! Let my body descend for a while into the ground from which it was taken. When, excited by the trumpet of resurrection, it rises from the sleep of death, you - my thoughts and feelings - inspired by the Spirit, take up the resurrected body to heaven! Heaven is promised by God to all man: not only his soul, but also his body! So! The time will come - God will visit man, gather his body, which has crumbled into dust, mixed with the earth, and will revive this body. And if a person’s thoughts and feelings are worthy of heaven, anointed, sealed by the Spirit, then his body will change, become glorified, take wings, and fly to heaven together with his soul. The Monk Ephraim the Syrian, a church writer of the 4th century, compiled the legend of the beautiful Joseph, in the literary form of that time. This story is read, according to the instructions of the Church Charter, at Matins on Tuesday of Holy Week. Thanking God is part of smart monastic work and consists of thanking and praising God for everything that happens - both pleasant and sorrowful. This work was bequeathed by the Apostle on behalf of the Lord: “in everything give thanks,” See the very useful chapters of Gregory of Sinaite, chapter 10. Philokalia, part 1. All other Fathers of the Church hold this opinion. Porro ab Aegiptiis didicimus, quod in linqua eorum resonet: Salvator mundi, S. Hieronimi. Liber de nominibus hebraicis. Notes on the Book of Genesis by Moscow Metropolitan Philaret. Venerable Isaac the Syrian. Word 1. You might be interested in: