2. But that also many Egyptians went along with Joseph thither, and accompanied him, signifies that Christ, when he shall bring home his bride into Paradise, will have many strangers with him, who in the time of this life knew him not as to his person or office, and yet are sprung up in him, in his love, which will all go with Christ into Paradise, and dwell and co-habit with him.
3. Their weeping and mourning signifies the eternal joy, which they should receive in Paradise, as the Magi always by weeping and mourning prefigure joy. This funeral solemnity, and what is to be understood thereby, is declared before concerning Abraham.
[ Gen. xxiii and Mysterium Magnum, ch. 51.]
4. Moses says further in this chapter: Joseph's brethren feared, after their father was dead, and said, Joseph surely is wrath with us, and will requite all the evil which we have done unto him. Therefore they caused it to be told him: your father commanded before his death, and said, Thus shall you say to Joseph, forgive, I pray you now, the misdeeds of your brethren, and their sin, that they have done so evil to you: therefore forgive the misdeeds of us the servants of the God of your father. But Joseph wept when it was told him:
and his brethren went in and fell down before him, and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Fear not, for I am under the presence of God. You thought to do evil by me, but God turned it unto good, so that he has done as it is at this day, to preserve much people. Therefore be not afraid, I will provide for you and your children. So he comforted them, and spoke friendly to them (Gen. 50. 15-21).
5. This figure is a mighty comfort to the brethren of Joseph. But seeing Joseph stands in the image and type of Christ, and his brethren in the figure of a poor converted sinner, therefore we must expound this figure thus: that is, when poor sinful man, who has committed great sins, and has turned to repentance and attained grace, and committed some fault again, then he is always in fear and trembling before the grace of God, and thinks God will impute his first committed sins to him again, and take an occasion against him by this fault; and in that regard stands in great anguish, and begins to confess his first committed sins again, and falls anew at the Lord's feet and enters again into earnest sincere repentance, and bewails his first misdeeds, as David did when he said: Lord, impute not to me the sins of my youth (Ps. xxv. 7).
6. But by this new repentance and earnest lamentation, when the poor man appears again so very earnestly and humbly before God, the heavenly Joseph is brought into such great pity and compassion (as here Joseph was), that he comforts the poor soul in its conscience, saying, it should not be afraid, all its committed sins should not only not be imputed, but they shall also turn to the best: as Joseph said,
You thought to do me evil, but God intended good thereby. Thus God in Christ not only forgives the by-past sins to the humble converted man, but he also adds to him provision for him and his children, with temporal blessing and maintenance, and turns all to the best: as Joseph did to his brethren.
7. In the end, Joseph desires an oath, that when he shall die, that they will carry his bones along with them out of Egypt to his fathers (Gen. 50. 25); which signifies to us the oath of God in Paradise, that Christ, God and Man, would come again to his brethren, and stay for ever with them, and be their High Priest and King, and nourish them with his power of love, and dwell by and in them, as Joseph by his brethren, and provide for them, as his branches and members, eternally, with his power and sap. Amen.
2. But that also many Egyptians went along with Joseph thither, and accompanied him, signifies that Christ, when he shall bring home his bride into Paradise, will have many strangers with him, who in the time of this life knew him not as to his person or office, and yet are sprung up in him, in his love, which will all go with Christ into Paradise, and dwell and co-habit with him.
3. Their weeping and mourning signifies the eternal joy, which they should receive in Paradise, as the Magi always by weeping and mourning prefigure joy. This funeral solemnity, and what is to be understood thereby, is declared before concerning Abraham.
[ Gen. xxiii and Mysterium Magnum, ch. 51.]
4. Moses says further in this chapter: Joseph's brethren feared, after their father was dead, and said, Joseph surely is wrath with us, and will requite all the evil which we have done unto him. Therefore they caused it to be told him: your father commanded before his death, and said, Thus shall you say to Joseph, forgive, I pray you now, the misdeeds of your brethren, and their sin, that they have done so evil to you: therefore forgive the misdeeds of us the servants of the God of your father. But Joseph wept when it was told him:
and his brethren went in and fell down before him, and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Fear not, for I am under the presence of God. You thought to do evil by me, but God turned it unto good, so that he has done as it is at this day, to preserve much people. Therefore be not afraid, I will provide for you and your children. So he comforted them, and spoke friendly to them (Gen. 50. 15-21).
5. This figure is a mighty comfort to the brethren of Joseph. But seeing Joseph stands in the image and type of Christ, and his brethren in the figure of a poor converted sinner, therefore we must expound this figure thus: that is, when poor sinful man, who has committed great sins, and has turned to repentance and attained grace, and committed some fault again, then he is always in fear and trembling before the grace of God, and thinks God will impute his first committed sins to him again, and take an occasion against him by this fault; and in that regard stands in great anguish, and begins to confess his first committed sins again, and falls anew at the Lord's feet and enters again into earnest sincere repentance, and bewails his first misdeeds, as David did when he said: Lord, impute not to me the sins of my youth (Ps. xxv. 7).
6. But by this new repentance and earnest lamentation, when the poor man appears again so very earnestly and humbly before God, the heavenly Joseph is brought into such great pity and compassion (as here Joseph was), that he comforts the poor soul in its conscience, saying, it should not be afraid, all its committed sins should not only not be imputed, but they shall also turn to the best: as Joseph said,
You thought to do me evil, but God intended good thereby. Thus God in Christ not only forgives the by-past sins to the humble converted man, but he also adds to him provision for him and his children, with temporal blessing and maintenance, and turns all to the best: as Joseph did to his brethren.
7. In the end, Joseph desires an oath, that when he shall die, that they will carry his bones along with them out of Egypt to his fathers (Gen. 50. 25); which signifies to us the oath of God in Paradise, that Christ, God and Man, would come again to his brethren, and stay for ever with them, and be their High Priest and King, and nourish them with his power of love, and dwell by and in them, as Joseph by his brethren, and provide for them, as his branches and members, eternally, with his power and sap. Amen.
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