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Genesis Chapter
Forty-four
Genesis 44
Chapter Contents
Joseph's policy to stay his brethren, and try their
affection for Benjamin. (1-17) Judah's supplication to Joseph. (18-34)
Commentary on Genesis 44:1-17
Joseph tried how his brethren felt towards Benjamin. Had
they envied and hated the other son of Rachel as they had hated him, and if
they had the same want of feeling towards their father Jacob as heretofore,
they would now have shown it. When the cup was found upon Benjamin, they would
have a pretext for leaving him to be a slave. But we cannot judge what men are
now, by what they have been formerly; nor what they will do, by what they have
done. The steward charged them with being ungrateful, rewarding evil for good;
with folly, in taking away the cup of daily use, which would soon be missed,
and diligent search made for it; for so it may be read, Is not this it in which
my lord drinketh, as having a particular fondness for it, and for which he
would search thoroughly? Or, By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he
would make trial whether you were honest men or not? They throw themselves upon
Joseph's mercy, and acknowledge the righteousness of God, perhaps thinking of
the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now
reckoning with them. Even in afflictions wherein we believe ourselves wronged
by men, we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our sin.
Commentary on Genesis 44:18-34
Had Joseph been, as Judah supposed him, an utter stranger
to the family, he could not but be wrought upon by his powerful reasonings. But
neither Jacob nor Benjamin need an intercessor with Joseph; for he himself
loved them. Judah's faithful cleaving to Benjamin, now, in his distress, was
recompensed long afterwards by the tribe of Benjamin keeping with the tribe of
Judah, when the other tribes deserted it. The apostle, when discoursing of the
mediation of Christ, observes, that our Lord sprang out of Judah, Hebrews 7:14; and he not only made intercession
for the transgressors, but he became a Surety for them, testifying therein
tender concern, both for his Father and for his brethren. Jesus, the great
antitype of Joseph, humbles and proves his people, even after they have had
some tastes of his loving-kindness. He brings their sins to their remembrance,
that they may exercise and show repentance, and feel how much they owe to his
mercy.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 44
Verse 5
[5] Is
not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth ye have
done evil in so doing.
Is not this it in which my lord drinketh? And
for which he would search thoroughly — So it may be
rendered.
Verse 16
[16] And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or
how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants:
behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is
found.
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
[18] Then
Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee,
speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy
servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.
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, Genesis 44:20. Thus they had pleaded against
Joseph's insisting on his coming down Genesis 44:22. 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 grey 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, Genesis 49:8, 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.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
44 Chapter 44
Verses 1-15
The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack
The trials of the innocent
I.
That
there is sorrow, and sorrow on a vast scale, is a great fact--a fact both too
patent and too painful to be gainsaid. Joseph put the cup in the sack to try
his brothers’ faith, love, and loyalty to their father.
1. Sorrow was sent into the world as a preventive of greater sorrow.
2. Sorrow gives occasion for the exercise of many an else impossible
virtue.
3. This would be a lame excuse indeed if it stood alone. But grief
is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
4. When we remember our sins, we wonder, not that life has had so
many sorrows, but that it has had so few.
II. Why should
sorrow so often smite us in the most sensitive place? or, to take up the
parable of the text--
1. Why should the cup be in Benjamin’s sack? Just because it is Benjamin’s,
we reply. The very thing that leads God to smite at all, leads Him to smite you
here. God takes away earthly pleasure, and thus helps you to remember your sin
and repent of it.
2. The cup was put there to bring them to a better mind ever after.
3. It was put there to give Joseph the opportunity of making himself
known to his brethren.
4. It was put there to lead them out of the land of famine into the
land of plenty. From this we may learn three lessons:
The final trial of Joseph’s brethren
I. THE SEVERITY
OF THE TRIAL.
1. It was unexpected.
2. It exposed them to the agony of suspense between hope and fear.
3. They were conscious of innocence.
4. The trial touched them in the sorest place.
5. The bringing them into their present difficulty seemed to have
the sanction of religion.
6. They regard their case as hopeless.
II. THE PURPOSE OF
THE TRIAL.
1. To stir up their consciences to the depths.
2. To show whether they were capable of receiving forgiveness. (T.
H.Leale.)
Joseph puts his brethren to the test
I. THY. TEST TO
WHICH JOSEPH EXPOSED HIS BRETHREN. There is at first sight an apparent
wantonness in the manner in which this was applied; but looking deeper we see
some motives for such a mode of action.
1. Probably it was designed as a kind of penalty for their former
deeds. Joseph had been basely treated. Though he forgave his injurers, yet it
was good for them to see their crime and feel it. His was not mere maudlin
compassion; he desired first to bring them to repentance, and then he was ready
and willing to forgive. And in this he is a type of God; God is the infinitely
Forgiving One, but the Just One besides.
2. And a second motive which may be assigned for Joseph’s conduct is
that perhaps it was to compel them to feel that their lives were in his power.
They are humbled to the dust before him by the test. Now, in assigning to him
such a natural motive, we are not showing his conduct as anything superhuman.
It was magnanimous, but yet mixed with the human. Everything that man does has
in it something of evil; even his best actions have in them something that will
not bear the light of day.
3. Again, Joseph may have wished to test his brethren’s capability
of forgiveness.
II. THE CONDUCT OF
JOSEPH’S BRETHREN UNDER THE TEST.
1. Judah cannot prove that his brother is not guilty, neither can he
believe that he is guilty; he therefore leaves that question entirely aside.
Instead of denying it, in modem language he showed cause why the law should not
be put in force against him.
2. We next notice the pathos of that speech (Genesis 44:20).
3. Let us learn, in conclusion, that even in the worst of mankind
there is something good left. Judah was by no means an immaculate man; but from
what a man was, you cannot be certain what he is now. Here were men virtually
guilty of the sin of murder, really guilty of cupidity in selling their
brother; but years after we find in them something tender still, love for their
father and compassion for their brother. It is this spark of undestroyed good
in man that the Spirit of Christ takes hold of; and he alone who is able to
discover this in the hearts of the worst, he alone will be in this world
successful in turning sinners to God. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Analogies
1. We see a striking analogy between the conduct of Joseph towards
his brother Benjamin, and that of Jesus towards His people. “Whom I love, I
rebuke and chasten.” The Lord often brings us into difficulties that He may detain
us, as I may say, from leaving Him. Were it not for these, He would have fewer
importunate applications at a throne of grace than He has. He does not afflict
willingly or from His heart; but from necessity, and that He may bring us
nearer to Him.
2. We also see a striking analogy between Joseph’s conduct towards
his brethren, and that of the Lord towards us. In all he did, I suppose, it was
his design to try them. His putting the cup into Benjamin’s sack, and
convicting him of the supposed guilt, would try their love to him, and to their
aged father. Had they been of the same disposition as when they sold Joseph,
they would not have cared for him. But, happily, they are now of another mind.
God appears to have made use of this mysterious providence, and of Joseph’s
behaviour, amongst other things, to bring them to repentance. And the cup being
found in Benjamin’s sack, would give them occasion to manifest it. It must have
afforded the most heartfelt satisfaction to Joseph, amidst all the pain which it
cost him, to witness their concern for Benjamin, and for the life of their aged
father. This of itself was sufficient to excite, on his part, the fullest
forgiveness. Thus God is represented as looking upon a contrite spirit, and
even overlooking heaven and earth for it (Isaiah 66:1-2). Next to the gift of His
Son, He accounts it the greatest blessing He can bestow upon a sinful creature.
Now, that on which He set so high a value, He may be expected to produce, even
though it may be at the expense of our present peace. Nor have we any cause of
complaint, but the contrary. What were the suspense, the anxiety, and the
distress of Joseph’s brethren, in comparison of that which followed? And what
is the suspense, the anxiety, or the distress of an awakened sinner, or a tried
believer, in comparison of the joy of faith, or the grace that shall be
revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ? It will then be found that our light
affliction, which was but for a moment, has been working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (A. Fuller.)
The cup in the sack
I. THE PRIVATE
COMPLAINT.
1. Its nature. All” the money to be returned, and the silver cup to
be placed in the sack belonging to Benjamin. It may seem strange that the
steward was to charge them with stealing a cup wherein Joseph divined (if
indeed the cup was not used for that purpose, as we believe), knowing that
Joseph was a servant of God. We may not, with the higher standard of morality
of these Christian times, approve this pretence; but it is in keeping with the
whole transaction, which is a feint throughout.
2. Motive. Doubtless to test the feeling of the rest towards
Benjamin. Did they envy this favourite as they did the other? If so, it was
very likely that on being overtaken they would abandon the man with whom the
cup was found--Benjamin--to his fate. Make no effort to procure his release.
Return home without him, as they had once gone without Joseph. Before he proceeded
further in helping his family in the famine, he would see if they had improved
morally all these years.
II. THY OBNOXIOUS
CHARGE. The confidential servant having received the command, but most likely
being ignorant of all his master’s plans and of the relation of these guests,
proceeds to put it in execution.
1. The brethren set off. Their journey. How unlike the last, when
they were full of perplexity, and had left Simeon behind. Now they talk of
their good treatment, and are accompanied by Simeon, and that Benjamin whom
they had feared to lose.
2. They are pursued. Their astonishment at seeing the steward, who Genesis 43:28) had not long before spoken
assuring words, hastening after them.
3. The charge. The steward faithfully, but to their great amazement,
repeats the command of his master.
4. Their indignant denial, Such conduct would be opposed to the will
of God (Genesis 43:7). The idea was inconsistent
with their proved honesty (Genesis 43:8). They are quite willing to
abide by the results of search. And that the punishment should be greater than
hinted.
III. THE APPALLING
DISCOVERY.
1. The search commences. They are willing. The steward begins as far
as possible from where he knows it is concealed. Thus they do not suspect him
of any complicity, and their confidence increases as he proceeds.
2. They see Benjamin’s sack opened, and there, shining in all its
beauty, is the cup! What could they think, or say, or do? They did not suffer
Benjamin to return alone. The test was successful. There was another
discovery--an altered feeling towards the old man and his favourite son. This
discovery Joseph made.
3. They could only regard it as a plot of some one--perhaps the Lord
of Egypt--to find a pretext for keeping them in bondage. What would become now
of their father, and their wives and little ones. Learn:
I. That our
religion admits not of pretences.
II. The time of
confidence may be the hour of peril. (J. C. Gray.)
Money in the sack
Frederick, King of Prussia, one day rung his bell, and nobody
answering, he opened his door, and found his page fast asleep in an elbow
chair. He advanced towards him and was going to awaken him, when he perceived
part of a letter hanging out of his pocket. His curiosity prompting him to know
what it was, he took it out and read it. It was a letter from this young man’s
mother, in which she thanked him for having sent her a part of his wages to
relieve her misery; and finished with telling him that God would reward him for
his dutiful affection. The king, after reading it, went back softly into his
chamber, took a bag full of ducats, and slipped it with the letter into the
page’s pocket. Returning to the chamber, he rang the bell so loudly, that it
awakened the page, who instantly made his appearance. “You have had a sound
sleep,” said the king. The page was at a loss how to excuse himself; and
putting his hand into his pocket by chance, to his utter astonishment, he there
found a purse of ducats. He took it out, turned pale, and looking at the king,
shed a torrent of tears without being able to utter a single word. “What is
that,” said the king, “what is the matter?” “Ah, sire,” said the young man,
throwing himself on his knees, “somebody seeks my ruin! I know nothing of this
money which I have just found in my pocket.” “My young friend,” replied Frederick,
“God often does great things for us, even in our sleep. Send that to your
mother; salute her on my part, and assure her that I will take care of both her
and you.” (Moral and Religious Anecdotes.)
Grace unknown in the heart
A child of God may have the kingdom of grace in his heart, yet not
know it. The cup was in Benjamin’s sack, though he did not know it was there;
thou mayest have faith in thy heart, the cup may be in thy sack though thou
knowest it not. Old Jacob wept for his son Joseph, when Joseph was alive; thou
mayest weep for grace, when grace may be alive in thy heart. The seed may be in
the ground, when we do not see it spring up; the seed of God may be sown in thy
heart, though thou dost not perceive the springing up of it. Think not grace is
lost because it is hid. (T. Watson.)
Divining cups
The Ancient Egyptians, and still more, the Persians, practised a
mode of divination from goblets. Small pieces of gold or silver, together with
precious stones, marked with strange figures and signs, were thrown into the
vessel; after which, certain incantations were pronounced, and the evil demon
was invoked; the latter was then supposed to give the answer, either by
intelligible words, or by pointing to some of the characters on the precious
stones, or in some other more mysterious manner. Sometimes the goblet was
filled with pure water, upon which the sun was allowed to play; and the figures
which were thus formed, or which a lively imagination fancied it saw, were
interpreted as the desired omen--a method of taking auguries still employed in
Egypt and Nubia. The goblets were usually of a spherical form; and for this
reason, as well as because they were believed to teach men all natural and many
supernatural things, they were called “celestial globes.” Most celebrated was
the magnificent vase of turquoise of the wife Jemsheed, the Solomon among the
ancient Persian kings, the founder of Persepolis; and Alexander the Great, so
eager to imitate Eastern manners, is said to have adopted the sacred goblets
also. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Verses 16-34
And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord?
--
Judah’s intercession
I. IT WAS ABLE.
II. IT WAS NOBLE.
III. IT GAVE PROMISE
OF FUTURE GREATNESS,
IV. IT SUGGESTS
SOME FEATURES OF OUR LORD’S INTERCESSION FOR US.
V. IT SUGGESTS
THE QUALITIES OF TRUE PRAYER. In true prayer the soul is stirred to its depths.
“I would give very much,” says Luther, “if I could pray to cur Lord God as well
as Judah prays to Joseph here; for it is a perfect specimen of prayer--the true
feeling there ought to be in prayer.” (T. H.Leale.)
Judah’s intercession
The whole of this intercession, taken together, is not one
twentieth part of the length which our best advocates would have made of it in
a court of justice; yet the speaker finds room to expatiate upon those parts
which are the most tender, and on which a minute description will heighten the
general effect. We are surprised, delighted, and melted with his charming
parenthesis: “Seeing his life is bound up with the lad’s life.” It is also
remarkable how he repeats things which are the most tender; as, “when I come,
and the lad be not with us . . . it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the
lad is not with us . . . ” So also in describing the effect which this would
produce: “When he seeth that the lad is not with us, he will die; and we shall
bring down the grey hairs of thy servant, my father, with sorrow to the grave.
And now, having stated his situation, he presumes to express his petition. His
withholding that to the last was holding the mind of his judge in a state of
affecting suspense, and preventing the objections which an abrupt introduction
of it at the beginning might have created. Thus Esther, when presenting her
petition to Ahasuerus, kept it back till she had, by holding him in suspense,
raised his desire to the utmost height to know what it was, and induced in him
a predisposition to grant it. And when we consider his petition, and the filial
regard from which it proceeds, we may say, that if we except the grace of
another and greater Substitute, never surely was there a more generous
proposal! (A. Fuller.)
Joseph’s love, and Judah’s charge
I. BENJAMIN’S
SURETY.
II. THE FRIENDLY
BANQUET.
III. THE STRANGE
STRATAGEM.
IV. THE ELOQUENT
APPEAL. Judah makes a speech which is very natural, simple, and pathetic. It is
conciliatory towards Joseph. Joseph’s greatness, power, and high rank are fully
recognized (“Thou art as Pharaoh”). It is considerate in reference to the
statements about Jacob’s peculiar reasons for sorrow. It is courageous in its
announcement of Judah’s own responsibility, and of his readiness to be a
substitute for his brother. And all through the speech tenderness and sympathy
are exhibited in a very simple but touching manner. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
Judah’s argument
To point out the force of this overwhelming argument requires a
view of the human mind, when, like a complicate machine in motion, the various
powers and passions of it are at work. The whole calamity of the family arising
from obedience to the judge’s own command; an obedience yielded to on their
part with great reluctance, because of the situation of their aged father; and
on his part with stiff greater, because his brother was, as he supposed, torn
in pieces, and he the only surviving child of a beloved wife; and the
declaration of a venerable grey-headed man, that if he lose him it will be his
death--was enough to melt the heart of any one possessed of human feelings. If
Joseph had really been what he appeared, an Egyptian nobleman, he must have
yielded the point. To have withstood it would have proved him not a man, much
less a man who “feared God,” as he professed to be. But if such would have been
his feelings even on that supposition, what must they have been to know what he
knew? It is also observable with what singular adroitness Judah avoids making
mention of this elder brother of the lad, in any other than his father’s words.
He did not say he was torn in pieces. No, he knew it was not so! But his father
had once used that language, and though he had lately spoken in a manner which
bore hard on him and his brethren, yet this is passed over, and nothing hinted
but what will turn to account. (A. Fuller.)
Judah’s intercession
I. HE REHEARSES
THE PAST (Genesis 44:18-29).
1. The speaker. Judah. Well that it was he. Had it been Reuben the
proof of penitence had not been so clear. It had been too much like the old
Reuben Genesis 37:22 with Genesis 42:22). It was Judah, and not
like the old Judah (Genesis 37:26-27). The last time Joseph
heard Judah speak of his father’s favourite was when he (Joseph) was in the
pit, and Judah, on the edge, was proposing to sell him into Bondage. Now he
intercedes to save Benjamin from bondage.
2. The subject. He
II. HE PICTURES
THE FUTURE. This he was the better able to do, from his memory of a former
occasion. That picture of sorrow and wail of agony had ever since haunted him.
It might be repeated with still more painful consequences. It might hasten the
death of his father. He records, without a censure, the endearing union of the
old father and his younger brother. There was one life between them. The death
or loss of Benjamin might be the death of the father. He relates that he had
become a surety for the safe return of the lad. As he thus earnestly and most
pathetically pleads for the release of Benjamin, what feelings must have risen
in the mind of Joseph. Chiefly of joy that Judah was so changed; but also of
attachment to a father who had mourned his own supposed death so long and
truly.
III. HE PROPOSES A
COMPROMISE.
1. Its nature. If one must be held in bondage for this supposed
crime, let it be himself, who is confessedly innocent, in place of Benjamin,
whose guilt is assumed. Judah has wife and children at home, yet will leave all
rather than abandon his brother. He will be henceforth a slave, if only
Benjamin may be free. Was ever love like this? “Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13; see especially Romans 5:6-8).
2. The motive. To spare his father all needless pain, he would
accept the position of being less loved than Benjamin. His father might grieve
at his loss, as he had at Simeon’s, but the loss of Benjamin would affect him
more.
3. The result. The test had proved to Joseph that Judah repented the
past. It was a happy discovery. What can give greater joy to a brother than to
see a right moral change in a brother? Learn:
1. Fearlessly to take the side of the innocent and the aged.
2. To bring forth fruit meet for repentance.
3. Not to be ashamed of an honourable change of heart and mind.
4. To love and honour Him who became a surety for us. (J.
C. Gray.)
Verse 30
His life is bound up in the lad’s life
The life of the lad
These words were spoken by Judah as descriptive of the tenderness
and affection which Jacob felt towards Benjamin, the youngest son of that
patriarchal family; but they are words just as appropriate to hundreds of parents
in this house--“since his life is bound up in the lad’s life.
” The fowl in the barnyard, clumsy-footed and heavy-winged, flies fiercely at
you if you come too near the little group, and God intended every father and
mother to be the protection and the help of the child. Jesus comes into every
dwelling, and says to the father or mother: “You have been looking after this
child’s body and mind; the time has come when you ought to be looking after its
immortal soul.” I read of a vessel that foundered. The boats were launched;
many of the passengers were struggling in the water. A mother with one band
beat the wave, and with the other hand lifted up her little child towards the
lifeboat, crying: “Save my child! save my child!” The impassioned outcry of
that mother is the prayer of hundreds of Christian people who sit listening
this morning while I speak.
I. I propose to
show SOME OF THE CAUSES OF PARENTAL ANXIETY.
1. I find the first cause of parental anxiety in the inefficiency
and imperfection of parents themselves. We have a slight hope, all of us, that
our children may escape our faults. We hide our imperfections and think they
will steer clear of them. Alas, there is a poor prospect of that. There is more
probability that they will choose our vices than choose our virtues.
2. Again, parental anxiety often arises from an early exhibition of
sinfulness in the child. It is especially sad if the parent sees his own faults
copied by the child. It is very hard work to pull up a nettle that we ourselves
planted. We remember that the greatest frauds that ever shook the
banking-houses of the country started from a boy’s deception a good many years
ago; and the gleaming blade of the murderer is only another blade of the knife
with which the boy struck at his comrade. The cedar of Lebanon that wrestles
with the blast, started from seed lodged in the side of the mountain, and the
most tremendous dishonesties of the world once toddled out from a cradle. All
these things make parents anxious.
3. Anxiety on the part of parents, also, arises from a consciousness
that there are so many temptations thrown all around our young people. It may
be almost impossible to take a castle by siege--straightforward siege--but
suppose in the night there is a traitor within, and he goes down and draws the
bolt, and swings open the great door, and then the castle falls immediately.
That is the trouble with the hearts of the young; they have foes without and
foes within.
II. I shall devote
the rest of my remarks to ALLEVIATION OF PARENTAL ANXIETY. Let me say to you as
parents, that a great deal of that anxiety will be lifted if you will begin
early with your children. Tom Paine said: “The first five years of my life I
became an infidel.” A vessel goes out to sea; it has been five days out; a
storm comes on it; it springs a leak; the helm will not work; everything is out
of order. What is the matter? The ship is not seaworthy, and never was. It is a
poor time to find it out now. Under the fury of the storm, the vessel goes
down, with two hundred and fifty passengers, to a watery grave. The time to
make the ship seaworthy was in the dry-dock, before it started. Alas for us, if
we wait until our children get out into the world before we try to bring upon
them the influence of Christ’s religion. I tell you, the dry-dock of the
Christian home is the place where we are to fit them for usefulness and for
heaven. In this world, under the storm of vice and temptation, it will be too
late. In the domestic circle you decide whether your child shall be truthful or
false--whether it shall be generous or penurious. You cannot begin too early.
You stand on the bank of a river floating by. You cannot stop that river, but
you travel days and days towards the source of it, and you find, after awhile,
where it comes down, dropping from the rock, and with your knife you make a
course in this or that direction for the dropping to take, and you decide the
course of the river. You stand and see your children’s character rolling on
with great impetuosity and passion, and you cannot affect them. Go up towards
the source where the character first starts, and decide that it shall take the
right direction, and it will follow the path you give it. But I want you to
remember, O father, O mother, that it is what you do that is going to affect
your children, and not what you say. You tell your children to become
Christians while you are not, and they will not. Above all, pray. I do not mean
mere formal prayer, that amounts to nothing. Often go before God and say: “Here
are my dear children. Oh save them. Put their feet on the road to heaven. Thou
knowest how imperfectly I am training them; make up what I lack. Lord Jesus
Christ, better than anything Thou canst give, give them Jesus.” God will hear
such a prayer. He said He would: “I will be a God to thee and thy seed after
thee.” (Dr. Talmage.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》