Genesis 43:1-14 And the famine was sore in the land.… "A fool rageth, and is confident"; but a wise man will yield to reason, be it from a servant, from a son, from a wife, or from any other person, though inferior to himself, in station, in good sense, or in holiness. "Ye younger, be subject to the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another; and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:3). Here you have an illustration of the apostle's precept, and the reason by which it is enforced. Jacob's sons submitted to their father in going down to Egypt, and their father complied with them in sending Benjamin along with them; and God crowned their designs with success, and gave them wonderful displays of His favour in the event of their journey. How was Jacob persuaded to comply with a motion so adverse to his feelings? Not by Reuben's, but by Judah's solicitations. Judah addressed his father in words of wisdom and meekness, He set before him the absolute necessity of parting with Benjamin for a time, and the great comfort to be expected in the issue. Far was he from reproaching his father for his manifest partiality to this favourite son, but he gave him full assurance that his partiality should be gratified, if possible and necessary; for when Judah became surety for him, he, in effect, engaged to stand between him and every danger; and this promise he did not fail to perform. Complain not, young persons, of tyranny in your parents, when the truth probably is, that you have not learned to treat with due reverence the fathers of your flesh. Do they refuse to comply with your wishes? Can you say with uprightness, that your desires were such as ought to have been granted? And if this has been the case, have you showed due respect to them in expressing your desires? and have you borne, with a meek temper, those eruptions of passion which disagreeable circumstances may sometimes produce, even in the best men? You see in the instances before us, "that by much forbearing, a prince" and a father "may be persuaded, and that a soft answer breaketh the bone." (G. Lawson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the famine was sore in the land. |
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