| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Genesis Chapter
Fifty
Genesis 50
Chapter Contents
The mourning for Jacob. (1-6) His funeral. (7-14)
Joseph's brethren crave his pardon
He comforts them. (15-21) Joseph's
direction concerning his bones
His death. (22-26)
Commentary on Genesis 50:1-6
Though pious relatives and friends have lived to a good
old age
and we are confident they are gone to glory
yet we may regret our own
loss
and pay respect to their memory by lamenting them. Grace does not
destroy
but it purifies
moderates
and regulates natural affection. The
departed soul is out of the reach of any tokens of our affection; but it is
proper to show respect to the body
of which we look for a glorious and joyful
resurrection
whatever may become of its remains in this world. Thus Joseph
showed his faith in God
and love to his father. He ordered the body to be
embalmed
or wrapped up with spices
to preserve it. See how vile our bodies are
when the soul has forsaken them; they will in a very little time become
noisome
and offensive.
Commentary on Genesis 50:7-14
Jacob's body was attended
not only by his own family
but by the great men of Egypt. Now that they were better acquainted with the
Hebrews
they began to respect them. Professors of religion should endeavour by
wisdom and love to remove the prejudices many have against them. Standers-by
took notice of it as a grievous mourning. The death of good men is a loss to
any place
and ought to be greatly lamented.
Commentary on Genesis 50:15-21
Various motives might cause the sons of Jacob to continue
in Egypt
notwithstanding the prophetic vision Abraham had of their bondage
there. Judging of Joseph from the general temper of human nature
they thought
he would now avenge himself on those who hated and injured him without cause.
Not being able to resist
or to flee away
they attempted to soften him by
humbling themselves. They pleaded with him as the servants of Jacob's God.
Joseph was much affected at seeing this complete fulfilment of his dreams. He
directs them not to fear him
but to fear God; to humble themselves before the
Lord
and to seek the Divine forgiveness. He assures them of his own kindness
to them. See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of
and learn of him to render
good for evil. He comforted them
and
to banish all their fears
he spake
kindly to them. Broken spirits must be bound up and encouraged. Those we love
and forgive
we must not only do well for
but speak kindly to.
Commentary on Genesis 50:22-26
Joseph having honoured his father
his days were long in
the land
which
for the present
God had given him. When he saw his death
approaching
he comforted his brethren with the assurance of their return to
Canaan in due time. We must comfort others with the same comforts with which we
have been comforted of God
and encourage them to rest on the promises which
are our support. For a confession of his own faith
and a confirmation of
theirs
he charges them to keep his remains unburied till that glorious day
when they should be settled in the land of promise. Thus Joseph
by faith in
the doctrine of the resurrection
and the promise of Canaan
gave commandment
concerning his bones. This would keep up their expectation of a speedy
departure from Egypt
and keep Canaan continually in their minds. This would
also attach Joseph's posterity to their brethren. The death
as well as the
life of this eminent saint
was truly excellent; both furnish us with strong
encouragement to persevere in the service of God. How happy to set our early in
the heavenly race
to continue stedfastly
and to finish the course with joy!
This Joseph did
this we also may do. Even when the pains of death are upon us
if we have trusted in Him upon whom the patriarchs
prophets
and apostles
depended
we need not fear to say
"My flesh and my heart faileth
but God
is the strength of my heart
and my portion for ever."
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 50
Verse 1
[1] And
Joseph fell upon his father's face
and wept upon him
and kissed him.
And Joseph fell upon his father's face and
wept upon him
and kissed him — Joseph shewed his faith in God
and love
to his father
by kissing his pale and cold lips
and so giving an affectionate
farewell. Probably the rest of Jacob's sons did the same
much moved
no doubt
with his dying words.
Verse 2
[2] And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and
the physicians embalmed Israel.
He ordered the body to be embalmed
not only
because he died in Egypt
and that was the manner of the Egyptians
but because
he was to be carried to Canaan
which would be a work of time.
Verse 3
[3] And
forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which
are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
He observed the ceremony of solemn mourning
for him. Forty days were taken up in embalming the body
which the Egyptians
had an art of doing so curiously
as to preserve the very features of the face
unchanged. All this time
and thirty days more
seventy in all
they either
confined themselves and sat solitary
or when they went out
appeared in the habit
of close mourners
according to the decent custom of the country. Even the
Egyptians
many of them
out of the respect they had for Joseph
put themselves
into mourning for his father.
Verse 5
[5] My
father made me swear
saying
Lo
I die: in my grave which I have digged for me
in the land of Canaan
there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up
I
pray thee
and bury my father
and I will come again.
He asked and obtained leave of Pharaoh to go
to Canaan
to attend the funeral of his father. It was a piece of necessary
respect to Pharaoh
that he would not go without leave; for we may suppose
though his charge about the corn was long since over
yet he continued a prime
minister of state
and therefore would not be so long absent from his business
without license.
Verse 11
[11] And when the inhabitants of the land
the Canaanites
saw the mourning in
the floor of Atad
they said
This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians:
wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim
which is beyond Jordan.
The solemn mourning for Jacob gave a name to
the place; Abel-mizraim - The mourning of the Egyptians: which served for a
testimony against the next generation of the Egyptians
who oppressed the
posterity of this Jacob
to whom their ancestors shewed such respect.
Verse 15
[15] And
when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead
they said
Joseph will
peradventure hate us
and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did
unto him.
Joseph will peradventure hate us — While their father lived
they thought themselves safe under his shadow;
but now he was dead
they feared the worst. A guilty conscience exposeth men to
continual frights; those that would be fearless must keep themselves guiltless.
Verse 16
[16] And
they sent a messenger unto Joseph
saying
Thy father did command before he
died
saying
Thy father did command — Thus in humbling ourselves to Christ by faith and repentance
we may
plead that it is the command of his father and our father we should do so.
Verse 17
[17] So
shall ye say unto Joseph
Forgive
I pray thee now
the trespass of thy
brethren
and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now
we pray thee
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept
when they spake unto him.
We are the servants of the God of thy father
- Not only children of the same Jacob
but worshippers of the same Jehovah.
Though we must be ready to forgive all that injure us
yet we must especially
take heed of bearing malice towards any that are the servants of the God of our
father; those we should always treat with a peculiar tenderness
for we and
they have the same master.
He wept when they spake to him — These were tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him
and tears of
tenderness upon their submission.
Verse 19
[19] And
Joseph said unto them
Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Am I in the place of God? — He in his great humility thought they shewed him too much respect
and
faith to them in effect
as Peter to Cornelius
Stand up
I myself also am a
man. Make your peace with God
and then you will find it an easy matter to make
your peace with me.
Verse 20
[20] But
as for you
ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good
to bring to
pass
as it is this day
to save much people alive.
Ye thought evil
but God meant it unto good — In order to the making Joseph a greater blessing to his family than
otherwise he could have been.
Verse 21
[21] Now
therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you
and your little ones. And he
comforted them
and spake kindly unto them.
Fear not
I will nourish you — See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of
and learn of him to render
good for evil. He did not tell them they were upon their good behaviour
and he
would be kind to them if he saw they carried themselves well: no
he would not
thus hold them in suspence
nor seem jealous of them
though they had been
suspicious of him. He comforted them
and
to banish all their fears
he spake
kindly to them. Those we love and forgive we must not only do well for
but
speak kindly to.
Verse 24
[24] And
Joseph said unto his brethren
I die: and God will surely visit you
and bring
you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham
to Isaac
and to
Jacob.
I die
but God will surely visit you — To this purpose Jacob had spoken to him
Genesis 48:21. Thus must we comfort others with
the same comforts wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God
and
encourage them to rest on those promises which have been our support. Joseph
was
under God
both the protector and benefactor of his brethren
and what
would become of them now he was dying? Why let this be their comfort
God will
surely visit you. God's gracious visits will serve to make up the loss of our
best friends
and bring you out of this land - And therefore
they must not
hope to settle there
nor look upon it as their rest for ever; they must set
their hearts upon the land of promise
and call that their home.
Verse 25
[25] And
Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel
saying
God will surely visit
you
and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
And ye shall carry up my bones from hence — Herein he had an eye to the promise
Genesis 15:13
14
and in God's name assures them
of the performance of it. In Egypt they buried their great men very honourably
and with abundance of pomp; but Joseph prefers a plain burial in Canaan
and
that deferred almost two hundred years
before a magnificent one in Egypt. Thus
Joseph by faith in the doctrine of the resurrection
and the promise of Canaan
gave commandment concerning his bones
Hebrews 11:22. He dies in Egypt; but lays his
bones at stake
that God will surely visit Israel
and bring them to Canaan.
Verse 26
[26] So
Joseph died
being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him
and he
was put in a coffin in Egypt.
He was put in a coffin in Egypt — But not buried till his children had received their inheritance in
Canaan
Joshua 24:32. If the soul do but return to its
rest with God
the matter is not great
though the deserted body find not at
all
or not quickly
its rest in the grave. Yet care ought to be taken of the
dead bodies of the saints
in the belief of their resurrection; for there is a
covenant with the dust which shall be remembered
and a commandment given
concerning the bones.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
50 Chapter 50
Verses 1-13
Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father
The honour paid to the departed Jacob:
I.
PRIVATE.
1. The tears of his family.
2. The respect paid to last wishes.
II. PUBLIC. (T.
H. Leale.)
Ceremonies after death:
The order of the ceremonies alluded to
and on the whole agreeing
with classical and monumental records
was as follows:
1. When the extinction of the vital breath could no longer be
doubted
the relatives began a preliminary mourning
perhaps observed during
the day of death only (Genesis 50:1)
and consisting in public
lamentations
in covering the head and the face with mud (or dust)
girding up
the garments
and beating the breasts.
2. Then the body was delivered up to the embalmers
who
in the case
of Jacob
completed their work in forty days (Genesis 50:3)
though it more frequently
required seventy.
3. Simultaneously with the operations of embalming commenced the
chief or real mourning
which
lasting about seventy days (Genesis 50:3)
usually ended together
with the process of mummification
but which
in the instance of the patriarch
exceeded it by thirty days.
4. The body
after having been enclosed in a case of wood or stone (Genesis 50:26)
was then either deposited
in the family vaults (Genesis 50:13)
or placed in a sepulchral
chamber of the house of the nearest relative (Genesis 50:26). (M. M.Kalisch
Ph. D.)
Three modes of embalming:
1. If the most expensive mode
estimated at one talent of silver
or
about £250
was employed
the brain was first taken out through the nostrils
partly with an iron (or bronze) hook
and partly by the infusion of drugs; then
an appointed dissector made with a sharp Ethiopian stone
a deep incision
(generally about five inches long) in the left side
at a part before marked
out by a scribe; but having scarcely performed this operation
he hastily fled
persecuted by those present with stones and imprecations
as one who was guilty
of the heinous crime of violently mutilating the body of a fellow-man. Then one
of the embalmers
holy men
who lived in the society of the priests
and
enjoyed unreserved access to the temples
extracted through the incision all intestines
except the kidneys and the heart; every part of the viscera was spiced
rinsed
with palm-wine
and sprinkled with pounded perfumes. The body was next filled
with pure myrrh
cassia
and other aromatics
with the exception of
frankincense; sewed up
and steeped in natrum during seventy days
after the
expiration of which period it was washed
and wrapped in bandages of linen
cloth covered with gum. By this procedure all the parts of the body
even the
hair of the eyebrows and eyelids
were admirably preserved
and the very
features of the countenance remained unaltered.
2. The cost of the second mode of embalming amounted to twenty
mince
or about; £81. No incision was made
nor were the bowels taken out; but
the body was
by means of syringes
filled with oil of cedar at the abdomen
and steeped in natrum for seventy days. When the oil was let out
the
intestines and vitals came out in a state of dissolution
while the natrum
consumed the flesh
so that nothing of the body remained except the skin and
the bones; and this skeleton was returned to the relatives of the deceased. The
possibility of an injection
as here described
without the aid of incisions
has been doubted; and
in some cases
incisions have indeed been observed near
the rectum.
3. A third and very cheap method
employed for the poorer classes
consisted merely in thoroughly rinsing the abdomen with syrmaea
a purgative
liquor (perhaps composed of an infusion of senna and cassia)
and then steeping
the body in natrum for the usual seventy days. (M. M.Kalisch
Ph. D.)
Verses 15-19
Forgive
The message of his brethren to Joseph:
The death of great characters being often followed by great changes;
conscious guilt being always alive to fear; and the chasm which succeeds a
funeral
inviting a flood of foreboding apprehensions
they find out a new
source of trouble.
But how can they disclose their suspicions? To have done it personally would
have been too much for either him or them to bear
let him take it as he might.
So they “sent messengers unto him
” to sound him. We know not who they were;
but if Benjamin were one of them
it was no more than might be expected. Mark
the delicacy and exquisite tenderness of the message. Nothing is said of their
suspicions
only that the petition implies them; yet it is expressed in such a
manner as cannot offend
but must needs melt the heart of Joseph
even though
he had been possessed of less affection than he was.
1. They introduce themselves as acting under the direction of a
mediator
and this mediator was none other than their deceased father. He
commanded us
say they
before he died
that we should say thus and thus. And
was it possible for Joseph to be offended with them for obeying his orders? But
stop a moment. May we not make a similar use of what our Saviour said to us
before He died? He commanded us to say
“Our Father--forgive us our debts.” Can
we not make the same use of this as Jacob’ssons did of their father’s
commandment?
2. They present the petition as coming from their father: “Forgive
I pray thee
the trespass of thy brethren
and their sin; for they did unto
thee evil.” And was it possible to refuse complying with his father’s desire? The
intercessor
it is to be observed
does not go about to extenuate the sin of
the offenders
but frankly acknowledges it
and that
if justice were to take
its course
they must be punished. Neither does he plead their subsequent
repentance as the ground of pardon
but requests that it may be done for his
sake
or on account of the love which the offended bore to him.
3. They unite their own confession and petition to that of their
father. Moreover
though they must make no merit of anything pertaining to
themselves
yet if there be a character which the offended party is known to
esteem above all others
and they be conscious of sustaining that character
it
will be no presumption to make mention of it. And this is what they do
and
that in a manner which must make a deep impression upon a heart like that of
Joseph. “And now
we pray thee
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God
of thy father.” It were sufficient to have gained their point
even though
Joseph had been reluctant
to have pleaded their being children of the same
father
and that father making it
as it were
his dying request; but the
consideration of their being “the servants of his father’s God” was overcoming.
But this is not all: they go in person
and “fall before his face
” and offer
to be his “servants.” This extreme abasement on their part seems to have given
a kind of gentle indignancy to Joseph’s feelings. His mind revolted at it. It
seemed to him too much. “Fear not
saith he: for am I in the place of God?” As
if he should say
“It may belong to God to take vengeance; but for a sinful
worm of the dust
who himself needs forgiveness
to do so
were highly
presumptuous: you have therefore nothing to fear from me. What farther
forgiveness you need
seek it of Him.” (A. Fuller.)
Verse 20
Ye thought evil against me
but God meant it unto good
Good out of evil:
1.
God
permits evil
but from the evil He unceasingly causes good to proceed. If good
were not destined to conquer evil
God would be conquered
or rather God would
cease to be.
2. Since the Scriptures call us to be imitators of God
like Him we
must endeavour to draw good out of evil. For believing souls there is a Divine
alchemy. Its aim is to transform evil into good. Evil
considered as a trial
comes from three different sources: it comes either from God
through the
afflictions of life; from men
through their animosity; from ourselves
through
our fault. We may learn Divine lessons from sorrow
and lessons of wisdom from
our enemies; we may even gather instruction from our faults. (E. Bersier
D.
D.)
Providence:
I. BY THE
PROVIDENCE OF GOD I MEAN THAT PRESERVING AND CONTROLLING SUPERINTENDENCE WHICH
HE EXERCISES OVER ALL THE OPERATIONS OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE
AND ALL THE
ACTIONS OF MORAL AGENTS or
as the Shorter Catechism has succinctly expressed
it
“His most holy
wise
and powerful preserving and governing all His
creatures and all their actions.” That there is such a thing is clearly taught
in the Word of God
is matter of daily observation
and follows naturally and
necessarily from the very fact of creation. That which could be produced alone
by the will of the Omnipotent can be maintained and regulated only by the same
volition.
II. Advancing now
another step
it will follow from the reasoning which we have just concluded
THAT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IS UNIVERSAL
having respect to every atom of
creation and every incident of life. Take any critical event
either in the
history of a nation or the life of an individual
and you will discover that it
has depended on the coming together and co-operation of many smaller things
which
humanly speaking
might very easily have been
and indeed almost were
different. Hence there can be no watchful superintendence over those things
which are confessedly important unless there be also a care over those which to
men seem trivial.
III. Advancing yet
another step
we may observe that THIS UNIVERSAL PROVIDENCE IS CARRIED ON IN
HARMONY WITH
OR RATHER PERHAPS I OUGHT TO SAY BY MEANS OF
THOSE MODES OF
OPERATION WHICH WE CALL NATURAL LAWS. “This is
in fact
the great miracle of
Providence
that no miracles are needed to accomplish its purposes.”
IV. But taking yet
another step
we may lay it down as a further principle THAT GOD’S PROVIDENCE
IS CARRIED ON FOR MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ENDS. There is a retributive element in
the workings of Providence. We see
we cannot but see
that idleness is
followed by rags
intemperance by disease
dishonesty by suffering or
dishonour
and deceit by cruelty. One cannot take up a newspaper without having
that fact sternly confronting him from almost every column; and though the
Nemesis may be long in overtaking the guilty
sooner or later the wrong-doer is
brought low
and men are constrained to say
“Verily He is a God that judgeth
in the earth.” Thus in the universe of God the moral and the physical go hand
in hand
and still the law is vindicated in morals as in the fields of the
agriculturist: “Whatsoever a man soweth
that shall he also reap.”
V. But if that be
so
we are prepared now to put the copestone on the pyramid of our discourse by
saying THAT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD CONTEMPLATES THE HIGHEST GOOD OF THOSE WHO
ARE ON THE SIDE OF HOLINESS AND TRUTH. “All things work together for good to
them who love God.” “God meant it unto good.” (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
Difficulties in providence mitigated by revelation
The sound of the words is comforting. They were spoken by a
brother to his brethren
in reference to events long past
yet still vivid and
present to memory and to conscience. No sorrow
and no sin
ever quite dies. No
lapse of time
no length of experience
no depth of repentance
can absolutely
divide the one life into two
while the person is the same
or cut off the
thing that was from the thing that is. But there may come a time when even
suffering--in a certain sense
when even sin--may be regarded in a light
subdued and softened; when the bitterest trial of the whole life
however
mingled and entangled (as most of life’s bitterest trials are) with human
unkindness and human sin
shall be seen to have had in it a kind as well as a
cruel intention; when the old man
or the dying man
shall be able to
distinguish in the retrospect between man’s part in it and God’s; saying
with
the noble-hearted and saintly man who speaks in the text
“As for you
ye
thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.” The mind is staggered and
astounded by the sight of the prevalence of suffering amongst beings altogether
or comparatively innocent of sin. The lower you descend in the scale of being
the more unaccountable does this suffering appear to you. That a wicked man
should find misery in his wickedness; that
even as the vultures gather to the
carcase
so sorrow and trouble should fasten upon the evil-doer--this is to be
expected
if the rule is the rule of justice. It is more difficult to
understand why this punishment should extend itself to persons not implicated
in the particular ill-doing; why
for example
a profligate spendthrift son
should be allowed to ruin his father
or why the sins of a drunken dissolute
rather should be visited upon his children (as they often are seen to be) to
the third and fourth generation. Still
in these cases
as none can plead absolute
innocence
a perfectly upright nature and an entirely sinless life
it seems
not wholly iniquitous that there should not be an exact discrimination
in
effects and consequences
between the particular sin and the general. It is
when we see the overflowing of that misery which is engendered of sin upon
whole classes and departments of being which have never sinned and never
fallen; when we see the animal world laid under the power
and subjected to the
uncontrolled tyranny
of a race called rational
but employing reason
largely
or chiefly
in ingenuity of sinning it is then that the heart revolts against
the order of things established
and finds it most of all difficult to
understand in what possible sense the text can have an application here
“But
God meant it unto good.” Now
the difficulty
though it must ever press
and
press heavily
upon thoughtful men
is evidently much lightened by the
suggestions of revelation
as to a coming time of refreshing and restoration
when these innocent ones shall cease to suffer
and the whole creation
now
“groaning and travailing
” shall be delivered
as St. Paul writes
evidently
(to careful students of the passage) with reference not only or chiefly to the
human creation
“into the glorious liberty
” into the liberty belonging to and
accompanying the glory
“of the children of God.” There may be much that is
unexplained--a dark fringe and border of mystery must ever lie around each
revelation of the unseen--still
in so far as there is revelation
there is light
and there is reconciliation. With it we can believe at least that all shall be
well; we can wait
without credulity
for the key and for the lamp; we can
expect
and not irrationally
a day
near or far off
when the text shall
receive
in this connection
its warrant and its demonstration
“But God meant
it unto good.” There are two thoughts
besides that of the glorious rest
reserved for God’s people
which bring with them
wherever they are
entertained
harmony and reconciliation at once.
1. One of these is the length of the Divine vision. “A thousand
years are with the Lord as one day.” “He sees
” it is written again
“the end
from the beginning.” “God meant it unto good”--yea
the loftiest good and the
most durable of all--if He taught one soul
by the unroofing or the unbuilding
of its home here
the comparative
the superlative importance of a house not
made with hands
eternal in the heavens. If when He severed from you
by death
or banishment or (sadder still) alienation
that friend who was your life
He
thus made you look onward towards heaven
or upward towards Himself; if He
strongly
sharply
roughly
rudely rebuked your tendency to make man your
trust
and to hew out for yourself broken cisterns which can hold no living
water--was it not unto good? Or if
by a more conspicuous visitation of one of
His four sore judgments
He should at last teach a frivolous though gallant
nation that by Him alone counsels are established
by Him alone republics
like
kings
govern
and that without Him there is neither strength nor permanence
was not this too “meant unto good”? Learn of God the length of His vision;
learn not to weigh with the light weights and false balances of time
but with
that “ shekel of the sanctuary” which is the recollection of eternity
and you
will find no cause to impugn God’s wisdom or God’s justice in the arrangements
of His providence
whether as concerning men or nations. You will say
“He hath
done all things well”; and even when He seems to provoke the prophet’s
question
“Shall there be evil in a city
and the Lord hath not done it?” you
will be able also to answer it in the end
out of a full heart and a firm
conviction
“But He meant it unto good.”
2. The other thought which suggests itself as tending powerfully
towards the justification of the ways of God is that of the largeness of the
Divine view. It differs in some respects from the former
as the breadth
differs from the length of the vision. It has special reference to those
dealings in which sin is concerned. No reflection
because no revelation
reconciles the true heart to the existence of evil. That mystery lies still in
its darkness. We fret and we struggle against it in vain. But that mystery is
not one of God’s mysteries. God’s secrets are always secret’s told. You will
find no instance in Scripture of the term “mystery” applied to things
incomprehensible. God’s mysteries
indicoverable to human search
are
apprehensible
when revealed
to human faith. The existence of evil is no
mystery
because it is a fact; the origin of evil is no mystery
in God’s
sense
because it is not revealed. But
evil being recognized as a fact and
unexplained as a secret
the question which remains is all-practical
and the
text forces it upon our attention--Is there any sense in which God has to do
with it? any sense in which God
in His mercy and compassion
deigns to use it
as His instrument “unto good”? Does He merely threaten it with judgment present
and to come? Or does He
as the text seems to say
coerce and even rule it for the
welfare of His children? We would tread warily on this perilous ground; yet
firmly too
under the guidance of the Holy One. We say that even sin is made
in some sense
to confess and to glorify God. The sin of these men addressed in
the text was made to save life. The sin of the murderers of the great Antitype
of this saint was made to save souls. Yes
we cannot evade the conclusion
“As
for you
ye thought evil
but God meant it unto good.” And it gives a very
magnificent
however incomplete
conception of the greatness and goodness of
God
that He forces even this inexplicable
this adverse existence
this sin
which He hates
into subserviency to the good of His redeemed. (Dean
Vaughan.)
God’s providence
In the ancient city of Chester
which is one of the few links
connecting the world of this nineteenth century with the age of the Roman rule
in Great Britain
there is an old building
which some of you
perhaps
have
seen
having these words engraved on the lintel of the door; “God’s providence
is mine exheritance.” It is said that when the plague last visited the city
that was the only house which escaped the visitation
and so its inmates
sculptured these words upon it as a record of their gratitude. I trust that
God’s providence was the heritage of many who died as really as of those who
were preserved. But the Christian may always adopt that inscription as his own.
God’s providence is his inheritance
and is so as much and as really when he is
suffering calamity or enduring persecution as when he is prosperous and
honoured. Friends
if we could but believe that
how much of the bitterness
would be taken out of our trials! (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
God’s providential care
In Palestine and Asia Minor the winter of 1873-4 was unusually
severe. The snow lay at one time from two to five feet deep in the streets and
on the flat roofs of the houses. Many roofs were crushed
and many houses fell
in ruins under the unwonted burden. In Bethlehem
where Jesus was born
thirteen houses were thus prostrated. In Gaza
where of old the temple of Dagon
fell and slew Samson and three thousand of the Philistines
the following
remarkable incident occurred in connection with the great snowstorm of February
7th and 8th:--A robber during the night broke into the house. After having
collected several articles on the lower floor
he entered the chamber where the
master of the house was peacefully sleeping. His little child was also asleep
in his cradle. The robber reflected that he might be betrayed by the child
so
he took the cradle and set it outside of the house near the door. The child
began to cry. The mother hastens to the cradle
but finds it gone. The child
kept on crying. The father awoke and exclaimed
“The child is crying out of
doors. How can that be?” They both hasten to the cradle
wondering who could
have taken it out. While they are wondering and speculating on the strange
circumstance
the roof
pressed under the burden
falls
and in a moment their
house is in ruins. But they are all three unharmed. In the morning
when the
stones and lumber were taken away
a man was found dead among the ruins. The
things he had stolen were found partly sticking out of his pockets
partly tied
up in a bundle on his back. Thus God and death had overtaken him. He carried
out the child lest he should wake his father and mother by crying
and so
without meaning it
by the wonderful providence of God
he rescued the lives of
all the family
while he himself died in his sin. How truly were the words of
Joseph to his brothers fulfilled in him--“Ye meant it for evil
but God meant
it for good.” “Behold
He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
God’s angel averted the evil which the enemy would have gladly done. It would
be difficult to find a more striking instance illustrating God’s providential
care--saving those whom He resolves to save
even by the agency of the wicked
whose sin He condemns; and while He employs the agency of the sinner as a means
of life
visits upon him
according to his deserts
judgment and death.
Verse 21
He comforted them
and spake kindly unto them
Joseph’s last forgiveness of his brethren:
I.
THEIR
NEED OF FORGIVENESS.
II. THE PLEA ON
WHICH THEY URGE IT (Genesis 50:16-18).
1. The dying request of their father.
2. Their own free confession of guilt.
3. Their father’s influence with God.
4. Their willingness to utterly abase themselves.
III. THE
COMPLETENESS OF THEIR FORGIVENESS.
1. He speaks words of peace.
2. He will not presume to put himself judicially in the place of
God.
Verses 22-26
Joseph said unto his brethren
I die: and God will surely visit
you
Dying Joseph:
I.
SATISFIED
WITH THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD.
II. FULL OF FAITH.
1. Sure of God’s covenant.
2. Superior to the world.
3. The possessor of immortality. (T. H. Leale.)
The last days of Joseph:
I. THE REMOTE
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN (Genesis 50:15-17). To fear God and keep
His commandments
always
is the only safe way and sure way for the soul. Men
are peopling their future with calamity when they go one step out of the right
path.
II. The last days
of Joseph were an illustration of THE MYSTERIES OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE (Genesis 50:20). The strange problems of
human history should not cause us to lose faith. Behind the web into which so
much that seems chaotic and unintelligible is being wrought
God sits wise to
purpose and almighty to accomplish; and when His work is done
the assenting
acclaim of the universe will proclaim
“Just and true are Thy ways
Thou King
of Saints.” Morbid views of life are unwarranted. What God pleases is best
and
what God pleases is sure to come to pass.
III. Very
noticeable also is THE FAITH WHICH COMFORTED THE LAST DAYS OF JOSEPH (Genesis 50:24). He saw already the
blooming fields and laden vineyards which his descendants were to inherit
and
he “took an oath of the children of Israel
saying
God will surely visit you
and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” That same sort of faith has a place
and power among men now. Outlook and confidence are not the peculiar privileges
of any one age. The victories of faith are world-wide and world-old.
IV. Notice also
some INCIDENTAL TEACHINGS of this passage.
1. The last days of Joseph were the natural result of his first
days. He began right.
2. Righteousness pays in the long run. Men who are tempted by the
speciousness of strong temptation do well to listen to the Saviour’s question
“What shall it profit?” God’s pay-days may be in the future
but He pays well
when the time of reckoning comes.
3. What power there is in a good life. (E. S. Atwood.)
The Israelite’s grave in a foreign land:
I. THE LIFE OF
JOSEPH.
1. Its outward circumstances.
(1) Chequered with misfortune. It is the law of our humanity
as that
of Christ
that we must be perfected through suffering. And he who has not
discerned the Divine sacredness of sorrow
and the profound meaning which is
concealed in pain
has yet to learn what life is. The Cross
manifested as the
necessity of the highest life
alone interprets it.
2. The spirit of Joseph’s inner life.
II. THE DEATH OF
JOSEPH WAS IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS LIFE.
1. The funeral was a homage paid to goodness. Little is said in the
text of Joseph’s funeral. To know what it was
we must turn to the earlier part
of the chapter
where that of Jacob is mentioned. A mourning of seventy days; a
funeral whose imposing greatness astonished the Canaanites
they said
“This is
a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.” Seventy days were the time
or nearly
so
fixed by custom for a royal funeral; and Jacob was so honoured
not for his
own sake
but because he was Joseph’s father. We cannot suppose that Joseph’s
own obsequies were on a scale less grand. Now
weigh what is implied in this.
This was not the homage paid to talent
nor to wealth
nor to birth. Joseph was
a foreign slave
raised to eminence by the simple power of goodness. Every man
in Egypt felt
at his death
that he had lost a friend. There were thousands
whose tears would fall when they recounted the preservation of lives dear to
them in the years of famine
and felt that they owed those lives to Joseph.
Grateful Egypt mourned the good foreigner; and
for once
the honours of this
world were given to the graces of another.
2. We collect from this
besides
a hint of the resurrection of the
body. The Egyptian mode of sepulture was embalming; and the Hebrews
too
attached much importance to the body after death. Joseph commanded his
countrymen to preserve his bones to take away with them. In this we detect that
unmistakable human craving
not only for immortality
but immortality
associated with a form. The opposite to spirituality is not materialism
but
sin. The form of matter does not degrade. For what is this world itself but the
form of Deity
whereby the manifoldness of His mind and beauty manifests
and
where in it clothes itself? It is idle to say that spirit can exist apart from
form. We do not know that it can. Perhaps even the Eternal Himself is more
closely bound to His works than our philosophical systems have conceived.
Perhaps matter is only a mode of thought. At all events
all that we know or
can know of mind exists in union with form. The resurrection of the body is the
Christian verity
which meets and satisfies those cravings of the ancient
Egyptian mind
that expressed themselves in the process of embalming
and the
religious reverence felt for the very bones of the departed by the Hebrews.
Finally
in the last will and testament of Joseph we find faith. He commanded
his brethren
and through them his nation
to carry his bones with them when
they migrated to Canaan. In the Epistle to the Hebrews that is reckoned an
evidence of faith. “By faith Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones.” How
did he know that his people would ever quit Egypt? We reply
by faith. Not
faith in a written word
for Joseph had no Bible; rather
faith in that
conviction of his own heart which is itself the substantial evidence of faith.
For religious faith ever dreams of something higher
more beautiful
more
perfect
than the state of things with which it feels itself surrounded. Ever
a day future lies before it; the evidence for which is its own hope. (F. W.
Robertson
M. A.)
Comfort from the thought of the eternity of God:
These words bring before us the contrast between the mortality of
men and the eternity of God. They die
but He abides “the King eternal
immortal
the only wise God.” Now this truth is full of comfort
on the one
hand
to the dying servant of God
and
on the other
to the bereaved who are
called to mourn his loss.
1. It is full of comfort to the dying
for whatever of good he has
done in the world shall not be lost when he is gone. In the words of the
appropriate inscription on the monument to the Wesleys in Westminster Abbey
“God buries the workers
but He carries on the work.” The sower may die
but
the seed which fell from his hands matures into a harvest which is reaped by
others
and becomes in its turn the food of multitudes and the germ of many
harvests more
I stood once on a Highland hill in my native land
and marked a
spot upon the landscape greener than all else around. When I inquired into the
reason
I learned that for many
many years there had been a village there
and
that the gardens of the villagers so long under cultivation kept unwonted
verdure still. So
through the operations of God’s grace
the earth is greener
where His servants have been at work
though the servants themselves have long
since passed away. The operations of grace
like those of Nature
go on after
men have died
because God lives to maintain them
and nothing done for Him is
ever allowed by Him to come to nothing. So when we are called to leave the
earth
the work in which we delighted shall not be lost. We die
but God lives;
and we may he sure that under His care it will flourish.
2. Then what consolation comes from the eternity of God to those who
are bereaved! Look at the 90th Psalm. It was written by Moses in the
wilderness
when he was depressed by the death of those who had reached man’s
estate when he led them out of Egypt. There came a time when he was left
wellnigh alone of all his generation; and then he took his comfort out of the
permanence of God
singing
“Lord Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all
generations; from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God
” and by that he was
upheld. We see the same thing in David’s case; for not far from the close of his
life
and when many of his early companions had gone into “the silent land
” he
wrote the 18th Psalm
in which he said
“The Lord liveth
and blessed be my
Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.” Yes
“the Lord liveth
”
therefore let us not refuse to be comforted when dear ones are taken from our
side. He can sustain us and He will. He is as near us as He was when they were
with us
and they were but the agents whom He used for our welfare. But He is
not tied to any instrumentality
and He can guide
uphold
and bless by one as
well as by another. He takes away the earthly prop that we may learn to lean
the more thoroughly on Himself. “He will surely visit us”; yea
He will be ever
with us
and when our death-hour comes we shall be with Him. (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
All die
but God’s work proceeds
I. THAT THE MOST
DISTINGUISHED SERVANTS OF GOD MUST DIE. Even the Great Master Himself died.
II. THAT THOUGH
THEY DIE
THE CAUSE IN WHICH THEY WERE ENGAGED WILL MOVE ON. (R. Stodhart.)
The death of Joseph:
I. HIS BODILY
FRAILTY. “I die.”
1. Not all his honours and dignities can exempt him. The princely
robe must be exchanged for the winding-sheet.
2. Not all his eminent piety can buy him off. It is the common lot.
No exception to this rule.
3. Will you not remember this? Is it wise to forget it
or try to
forget. The one thing that’s certain in your earthly history. Ought it to be
crowded out by a multitude utterly uncertain? There is nothing else I can
foresee. I cannot tell how long you will live. I cannot tell whether rich or
poor
strong or weak
joyful or sorrowful. No
I cannot discern anything of the
complexion of your course. But this I know
that your course will have an end.
And that the day
the hour will come
when (if syllable anything) you will say
“I die.” That day--don’t let it take you by surprise. Don’t leave the
preparation for death until death comes. But live habitually prepared. And see
whether it is not possible to triumph over death.
II. HIS ABOUNDING
FAITH.
1. See his calmness in prospect of departure. “I die!” That’s all he
has to say about it. No fears--no doubts--of any kind whatever. No vain regrets
that his life come to an end. No painful forebodings of what may follow. It is
not everyone can meet the last messenger like that. But it is possible to do
so. His father Jacob did the same.
2. The consolation he gives those he leaves. “I die
but God will
surely visit.” Your earthly friend may be taken--your heavenly not forsake you.
Nay l more than this--“He will bring you out of this land
unto the land which
He sware to
Abraham
Isaac
and Jacob.” Nearly three hundred years had passed
away since this oath first uttered. More than one hundred must still pass
before the time for its fulfilment. How it will be fulfilled Joseph does not
know. But fulfilled it must be
for God had spoken it. Mark
brethren
this
triumphant faith. My bones (says this dying man) shall not rest in Egypt. You
may put them in sarcophagus--but label it “Passenger to Canaan.” For when the
people go to the promised land
take it with them. “Where they go
I will
go--where they rest
I will rest. And there will I be buried!”
3. I call that abounding faith. So the apostle seems to think it
in
Epistle to Hebrews. For he gives it a niche in that temple of faith
in chap.
11. By the side of Abel
and Noah
and Enoch--Abraham
and Isaac
and Jacob.
Figure of Joseph
with this inscription
“By faith Joseph.” And was this faith
a mere delusion?
III. A WORD OF
APPLICATION.
1. Would not such faith be precious to you? Would it not be pleasant
to be able to say
“I die!” without single fear. And to say to those we leave
behind
“God will surely?”
2. Are there no precious promises for you? You are a sinner
I
know--“If we confess our sins.” “The wages of sin is death.” “Gift of God is
eternal life.” Accept these promises--go and plead them. And all fear of death
taken away--“Have a desire.” I know you cannot take all your loved ones with
you. And you may have many a fear on their behalf. “Be careful for nothing.” “Leave
thy fatherless children
I will preserve them.” Widow’s trust.
3. Is there not precious confirmation of these? Ay! more precious
than any Joseph ever knew. He knew there should be seed of Abraham
blessing to
world--He saw bleeding lamb
emblem. But we can say the seed of Abraham has
come--Great Sacrifice offered. “Christ has died.” How all the precious promises
sealed with precious blood. “He that spared not.” (F. Tucker
B. A.)
Joseph’s dying assurance to his brethren:
I. THE REFLECTION
WHICH JOSEPH MAKES UPON HIS PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES. “I die
” or am dying.
II. THE ASSURANCE
HE GIVES THEM
THAT GOD WOULD VISIT THEM.
III. The further
assurance he gives them
THAT GOD WOULD BRING THEM INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN.
Application:
I. To aged
Christians.
1. Frequently to think and speak of dying.
2. Reflect that God will visit and take care of your posterity when
you are gone.
3. Remind your posterity of this
for their encouragement
when you
are dying and leaving the world
that “God will surely visit them.”
II. To those
descendants of good men
who are in the prime
or middle of their days.
1. Encourage yourselves with this thought
that God will surely
visit you when your parents and friends die.
2. Pray earnestly for His visits.
3. Be prepared to receive His visits. (3. Often.)
Verse 25
Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel
saying
God will
surely visit you
and ye shall carry up my bones from hence
Joseph’s faith in God
This is the one act of Joseph’s life which the author of the
Epistle to the Hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith.
It was at once a proof of how entirely he believed God’s promise
and of how
earnestly he longed for its fulfilment. It was a sign of how little he felt
himself at home in Egypt
though to outward appearance he had become completely
one of its people. The ancestral spirit was in him true and strong
though he
was “ separate from his brethren.” This incident
with the New Testament
commentary on it
leads us to a truth which we often lose sight of.
I. FAITH IS
ALWAYS THE SAME
THOUGH KNOWLEDGE VARIES. There is a vast difference between a
man’s creed and a man’s faith. The one may vary-does vary within very wide
limits; the other remains the same. What makes a Christian is not theology in
the head
but faith and love in the heart. The dry light of the understanding
is of no use to anybody. Our creed must be turned into a faith before it has
power to bless and save.
II. FAITH HAS ITS
NOBLEST OFFICE IN DETACHING FROM THE PRESENT. All his life long
from the day
of his captivity
Joseph was an Egyptian in outward seeming. He filled his
place at Pharaoh’s court; but his dying words open a window into his soul
and
betray how little he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in which
he had been content to live. He too confessed that here he had no continuing
city
but sought one to come. Dying
he said
“Carry my bones up from hence.”
Living
the hope of the inheritance must have burned in his heart as a hidden
light
and made him an alien everywhere but upon its blessed soft. Faith will
produce just such effects. Does anything but Christian faith engage the heart
to love and all the longing wishes to set towards the things that are unseen
and eternal? Whatever makes a man live in the past and in the future raises
him; but high above all others stand those to whom the past is an apocalypse of
God
with Calvary for its centre
and all the future is fellowship with Christ
and joy in the heavens.
III. FAITH MAKES
MEN ENERGETIC IN THE DUTIES OF THE PRESENT. Joseph was a true Hebrew all his
days; but that did not make him run away from Pharaoh’s service. He lived by
hope
and that made him the better worker in the passing moment. True Christian
faith teaches us that this is the workshop where God makes men
and the next
the palace where He shows them. The end makes the means important. This is the
secret of doing with our might whatsoever our hand finds to do--to trust
Christ
to live with Him and by the hope of the inheritance. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Joseph’s instructions as to the disposal of his body:
To keep alive among them the truth that they were yet to go to
Canaan
and to preserve in the midst of them the evidence of his faith that
they should ultimately possess that land
he left his body
embalmed
yet
unburied
among them
with the instruction that when they did go
they should
take it along with them. They say that at the feasts of Egypt it was usual to bring
a mummy to the table
that the guests might be reminded thereby of their
mortality. But Joseph here left his coffined body to his people
that by its
presence among them
and preservation by them
they might never forget that
Egypt was not their final resting-place--their national home--and might be
stimulated to hold themselves in constant readiness to arise and go to their
own land. (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
The fulfilment of Joseph’s request as to his body:
How was this request of Joseph’s fulfilled? Read with me these two
passages
and you will see: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for
he had straitly sworn the children of Israel
saying
God will surely visit
you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you” (Exodus 13:19). It was a terrible night.
The destroying angel had passed through Egypt and laid low the first-born
in
every household. The panic-stricken Pharaoh had ordered the Israelites away at
once
and they started in great haste. Yet even in that crisis they did not
forget the descending obligation of the oath which their fathers had sworn to
Joseph
and they took time to carry with them his remains. Read again: “And the
bones of Joseph
which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt
buried
they in Shechem
in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor
the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the
inheritance of the children of Joseph” (Joshua 24:32). Thus
between the death
and burial of Joseph an interval of probably from three to four hundred years
elapsed
during all of which his remains were kept by the children of Israel
a
witness to the faith by which he was animated
and a prophecy of their ultimate
possession of the land of Canaan
so that the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews had a right to say
“By faith Joseph
when he died
made mention of the
departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones”
(Hebrews 11:22). (W. M. Taylor
D. D.)
Dying orders:
The narrative reminds us of the memorable orders given by Lord
Nelson when dying. As his comrades raised him from the deck where he had fallen
after receiving the fatal wound
he exclaimed
“I die.” On his way to the
cabin
whither they immediately conveyed him
his observant eye perceived that
the tiller ropes had been shot away. Still interested in circumstances from
which he was soon to take a final departure
he instantly gave the order
“Replace the ropes.” Laid upon a cot
he said to the attendant surgeon
“Leave
me; render aid to those who can be profited by it.” Entertaining the same
twofold conviction he entertained when he issued the order for battle--victory
for England
death for Nelson--he lay calmly awaiting the anticipated result.
Thinking
apparently
of the signal which for the encouragement of his soldiers
he had exhibited from the mast-head as the two fleets came within
range--“England expects every man to do his duty to-day” he whispered
I have
done my duty. As Hardy
the captain of the ship
reported
“The victory is
complete
” he slowly raised himself upon his arm to give his last order: “Bring
the fleet to anchor to-night.” When reminded that this duty would devolve upon
another
he sternly exclaimed
“Hardy
obey my order; anchor to-night.”
Obedience to that dying order might have saved many a dismantled ship and
hundreds of lives. But when the winds which scattered and nearly wrecked
England’s victorious navy were howling through the torn rigging and sinking one
disabled ship after another
the voice which gave this needed order
and could
have enforced it
was silent in death. Nelson’s last energies were expended in
giving a command in the interests of a nation whose honour he had died in
defending: a command which he hoped would be obeyed after his death
though it
might call for the surrender of present advantages in the anticipation of
future security. Believing fully that a severe storm was pending
he gave an
order which
though it could be of no value to him
might prove
if obeyed
an
inestimable blessing to those who should survive him
and might save England’s
victorious fleet. In this incident three facts are especially worthy of note
as having a parallel in the dying words of Joseph: the conviction that he stood
by death’s river
that victory awaited his countrymen
that they needed an
order which should be obeyed after his death. (J. S. Van Dyke.)
Verse 26
So Joseph died
The death of Joseph:
I.
JOSEPH’S
DEATH WAS THAT OF EMINENTLY GOOD MAN. Perhaps the best man of the Old
Testament. He was not surprised by death
nor dismayed at its coming. He had
lived to meet it--lived for the life beyond death--not for present indulgence
nor in heedless disregard of his highest good--but with wise and faithful
reference to the will of God and the monitions of the Holy Spirit.
II. JOSEPH’S DEATH
WAS THE DEATH OF A GREAT PROPHET. (P. Whitehead
D. D.)
Joseph died:
Joseph died! Then after all
he was but mortal
like ourselves I
It is important to remember this
lest we should let any of the great lessons
slip away under the delusion that Joseph was more than man. We have seen
fidelity so constant
heroism so enduring
magnanimity so--I had almost
said--divine
that we are apt to think there must have been something more than
human about this man. No. He was mortal
like ourselves. His days were consumed
as are our days; little by little his life ebbed out; and he was found
as we
shall be found
dead. So
then
if he was but mortal
why can’t we be as great
in our degree? If he was only a man
why can’t we emulate his virtue
so far as
our circumstances will enable us to do so? We can’t all be equally heroic and
sublime. We can all be
by the grace of God
equally holy
patient
and
trustful in our labour. Joseph died! Thus the best
wisest
and most useful men
are withdrawn from their ministry! This is always a mystery in life: That the
good man should be taken away in the very prime of his usefulness; that the
eloquent tongue should be smitten with death; that a kind father should be
withdrawn from his family circle; and that wretches who never have a noble
thought
who do not know what it is to have a brave heavenly impulse
should
seem to have a tenacity of life that is unconquerable; that drunken men and
hard-hearted individuals should live on and on--while the good
and the true
and the wise
and the beautiful
and the tender
are snapped off in the midst
of their days and translated to higher climes. The old proverb says
“Whom the
gods love die young.” Sirs! There is another side to this life
otherwise these
things would be inexplicable--would be chief of the mysteries of God’s ways. We
must wait
therefore
until we see the circle completed before we sit in
judgment upon God. Joseph died! Then the world can get on without its greatest
and best men. This is very humiliating to some persons. Here is
for example
a
man who has never been absent from his business for twenty years. You ask him
to take a day’s holiday
go to a church opening or to a religious festival. He
says
“My dear sir! Why
the very idea! The place would go to rack and ruin if
I was away four-and-twenty hours.” It comes to pass that God sends a most
grievous disease upon the man--imprisons him in the darkened chamber for six
months. When he gets up
at the end of six months
he finds the business has
gone on pretty much as well as if he had been wearing out his body and soul for
it all the time. Very humiliating to go and find things getting on without us!
Who are we? The preacher may die
but the truth will be preached still. The
minister perishes--the ministry is immortal. This ought to teach us
therefore
that we are not so important
after all; that our business is to work all the
little hour that we have; and to remember that God can do quite as well without
us as with us
and that He puts an honour upon us in asking us to touch the
very lowest work in any province of the infinite empire of His truth and light.
(J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》