And the sons of Jacob returned to their father in the land of Canaan, and said to him, Thy son Joseph lives, and he is the ruler of all the land of Egypt. Jacob was horrified, and did not believe them, and they assured him, and recounted exactly all the words of Joseph. When the elder saw the rich gifts and chariots sent for him by Joseph, then his spirit came to life, and Jacob said: "Great for me, if Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die."

The Patriarch got up with all the household, with all his property; having reached the so-called Well of Oath, he offered sacrifice to God near it [44]. In a night vision, God said to the elder: "Jacob! Jacob! I am the God of your fathers. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt: there I will make you a great nation. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will bring you out of there. Joseph will close your eyes with his hands."

Jacob's family, when they migrated to Egypt, consisted of seventy-five male souls, including Joseph and his sons. When he reached the land of Goshen, he sent Judas to inform Joseph of his arrival. Joseph ordered the chariots to be harnessed and rode out to meet the elder-father in the region of Goshen; Seeing him, he threw himself on his neck with a cry and sobs. And Jacob said to Joseph, Let me die now, for I have seen thy face, and thou art yet alive. When all the family had arrived in Egypt, Joseph said to his brothers, I will go to Pharaoh, and tell him of your coming, and I will say, My brethren, and all my father's house, which dwelt in the land of Canaan, have come to me. They are cattle breeders: this is the occupation of our race from time immemorial. They also brought their flocks here. If Pharaoh calls you and asks what your occupation is, answer him, 'We, your servants, have been engaged in cattle breeding from childhood to this day; our fathers were also engaged in it. And he will say to you, 'Settle yourselves in Goshen of Arabia.'" "This large plot of fertile land, very convenient for cattle breeding, has never been inhabited. The reason for the placement of the patriarch's family in a separate and uninhabited country, says the Scriptures, was the well-known belief of the Egyptians, who considered those who were engaged in sheep breeding to be unclean.

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Joseph reported to Pharaoh that his father and brothers with their flocks had come from the land of Canaan and had stopped in the land of Goshen [45]. From among the brothers, he chose five people and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Joseph's brothers, "What do you do?" and they answered, "We your servants are engaged in sheep-breeding: this occupation has been ours since childhood, and the occupation of our fathers and forefathers. Now we have come to dwell in your land: in the Canaanite side the famine is exceedingly great, and the pastures there are not sufficient for our flocks. Allow your servants to dwell in the land of Goshen." Pharaoh answered Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The whole land of Egypt is before you; Put them in the best place. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if there are men of ability among them, then appoint them elders over my flocks." Joseph also brought Jacob before Pharaoh: the elder blessed the king of Egypt. Pharaoh asked Jacob about the number of his years. "I," answered the elder, "am one hundred and thirty years old. I'm a little old! My life is full of misfortunes: I will not live as long as my fathers did." And having again blessed the king, the elder left him. Joseph did everything according to Pharaoh's command regarding the placement of his father in the land of Goshen. There the beloved son often visited his elder father and provided him with everything necessary for his maintenance.

Various details about the civil structure of Egypt in the time of Joseph, preserved for us in the Book of Genesis, are very interesting. In these details one can see a pattern of how states originally arose, how people passed from a state of savage freedom to a state of subjection; how this citizenship was at first incomplete and more suitable for patriarchal subordination; how it later became an unconditional citizenship; finally, it is immediately clear that the founder of the autocratic (or monarchical) government in Egypt was the wise, St. Joseph. The court of Pharaoh at that time, although it already presents a certain grandeur and pomp, has not yet had time to deviate from patriarchal simplicity: his supreme courtier is personally engaged in the sale of grain; another courtier carries baskets of bread on his head, a third squeezes the juice from the grapes into a cup with his own hands, and gives this cup to the king, not only on days of solemn feasts, but, as it seems, every day. The population in Egypt was still very small, so that the whole fertile region of Goshen remained uninhabited, and the inhabitants of the cities had the opportunity to engage in ploughing and cattle breeding, the Book of Genesis breathes the youth of the political world. The story of the divinely inspired writer of this book, Moses, by its naturalness transports the attentive reader to a remote, sacred antiquity, to these people who lived in wondrous simplicity, to this newly begun life, devoid of all refinements. This life and this simplicity are full of power! Whoever often immerses himself in the contemplation of Biblical stories will certainly feel a special, strange impression in his soul. This impression consists in the smell of some freshness, youth, as if from breathing the air of a beautiful summer morning. The soul becomes younger from gazing at the youth of the world, from conversation with the young world; Her strength is invigorated, strengthened, as the spirit of an elder comes to life in the company of children. It is pleasant to enjoy the freshness of the young world, to relax in it from the impressions of the modern, decrepit, crumbling.

Severe hunger continued; Egypt and Palestine suffered from it especially: in these countries no one had bread except that which was procured by Joseph. There was no gold or silver left in both lands: all the money passed into the hands of Joseph, and he deposited it in the treasury of Pharaoh, which, it should be noted, was in the very house of the king of Egypt. The Egyptians, having no money, were in need of bread: they sold to Pharaoh first their cattle, then their lands, and finally themselves. This is the beginning of unconditional allegiance in Egypt. Only the lands of the priests remained their property: they received bread from the pharaoh free of charge, as alms. At the end of the years of famine, when the Egyptians had secured both their lands and themselves for Pharaoh, Joseph gave them seeds for sowing, so that they would give a fifth of the harvest annually as tribute to the treasury. This newly established measure regarding tribute and the very coup regarding power were accepted with pleasure and gratitude by the people of the newly-born autocratic state. "Thou hast preserved our lives," the Egyptians said to Joseph, "thou art our benefactor; let us be slaves to Pharaoh." The writer of the Book of Genesis notes that this tribute remained unchanged in his time, that is, after almost four centuries. From the writings of incomparably later writers, Herodotus and Diodorus, it is evident that the same method of collecting taxes continued until their time, and it is evident that the land in Egypt was the property of the kings of Egypt. The revenues of the kings of Egypt from the land, says Diodorus, were so satisfactory that they made any other tribute from the people unnecessary. In this order one can see the deep, bright mind of Joseph, his extraordinary ability to govern, an ability that was revealed in him from his very youth and which was so quickly and justly noticed by both the commander of the bodyguard and the commander of the prison. It establishes a strong tax, but extremely convenient for contribution according to the nature of the country. What tribute is more characteristic of fertile Egypt than a tribute of grain? It was easy to apply it where the harvest was ordinary - a hundred itself; it was easy to transport from the fields lying by the navigable river, such as all the fields of Egypt located on the banks of the Nile, to the cities with grain storerooms standing by the same river; it was easy to compensate for arrears that could occur in lean years by paying in years of exorbitant harvest. If it is possible to call any harvests exorbitant, then this name belongs mainly to the harvests of the Egyptian fields before all the harvests of the world. The sale of grain inside was quite convenient for the pharaoh from the wharves lying by the same navigable river. Later, when harbors were established near the Mediterranean Sea, on the shores of which dwelt the entire enlightened and trading world of that time, Egypt became the granary of this world and remained its granary, as long as the Mediterranean Sea remained its center; and it was the center of the educated, active world almost until modern times, almost throughout the life of the world. Joseph's decree had extraordinary solidity, for all its simplicity: therefore it was durable. The very time reveres the wise decree of the state, and after many centuries preserves it in inviolable, so beneficial for states, immutability. Through the state's beneficence, which was obvious to all, Joseph strengthened and formed the power of the pharaohs, provided the new state with capital and constant, abundant income.

Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt and, having reached the age of one hundred and forty-seven, he felt the approach of death. A few days before his death, he summoned his beloved son, Joseph, and said to him: "Do mercy and truth on me: do not bury me in Egypt. May I rest with my fathers! bring me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb." Moved by faith – not by some petty, earthly desire – the inspired elder bequeathed the transfer of his body to Palestine and its burial in a cave in the Hebron region. This is how the holy Apostle Paul explains his testament, mentioning the words of this testament as inspired from Above and containing a deep mystery. The Holy Son promises to sacredly fulfill the will of the Holy Father [47]. Jacob demanded that the promise be sealed with an oath, and Joseph took the oath; then Jacob, who was sitting on his bed, bowed down on the top of Joseph's staff. The staff was in the hand of a nobleman, either according to the custom of the time, or as a sign of high rank.

After a few days, Joseph was informed that his father had fallen into complete exhaustion [48]. He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to his dying father. The decrepit old man lay on his deathbed in paralysis. They said to him: "Your son Joseph is coming to you." The elder gathered his strength and sat down on his bed. Did his love for his son strengthen him? Or did the overshadowing of grace descend upon him at that moment? The dying man was revived by the life of Divine inspiration. Often in God's chosen ones, the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit is suddenly added to the natural action of man. This powerful action takes man out of his ordinary state and makes him a weapon of God. Such were Jacob's dying moments. When Joseph came to him, he said to his son: "My God appeared to me in Lusa, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me, 'I will multiply you, and I will make of you families of nations, and I will give you, and after you to your descendants, this land for everlasting possession.' For this reason let your two sons, who were born to you before I came into Egypt, be mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon shall be mine. The sons that will be born to you after them will be yours and will be called to inherit under the names of these two brothers in their inheritances. Your mother Rachel died in the land of Canaan, when I was coming from Mesopotamia and approaching Ephrathah. This {p. 41} is the same as Bethlehem. Here, on the way, I buried her." When he saw Joseph's sons, he asked him, "Who is this with you?" Joseph answered, "These are my sons, whom God has given me here." And Jacob said, "Bring them to me, and I will bless them." The patriarch's eyes were dimmed by old age: he could not see clearly. When Joseph brought the children to him, he embraced them, kissed them, and said to Joseph: "Behold, I did not hope to see your face, but God has shown me also your children." Joseph led them away from the elder's knees, and they bowed down to the ground! Then, taking Ephraim in his right hand against Jacob's left, and Manasseh in his left hand against Jacob's right, he led them again to the elder; and the inspired elder stretched out his hands for blessing, folding them in the form of a cross: he put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh. For the first time, the sign of the cross appears during a blessing, the usual sign of blessing in the New Testament Church! "God," said the holy patriarch, "God, to Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac were pleased, God, Who has protected and helped me from my infancy until now, Who delivers me from all misfortunes, may He bless these children! let them be called after my name, and after the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; let a multitude of descendants come from them." When Joseph saw that the elder had laid his right hand on Ephraim, it seemed wrong to him; he took his father's hand to put it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh, and said: "My father! You put your hands in the wrong way. Here is the firstborn: on him you shall lay your right hand." The elder did not want to do this. "I know," he said, "my son, I know that because of this there will be a multitude of offspring, and this one will be great. But his younger brother will be greater: his descendants will be a whole nation." He blessed them again. "In you," he said, "blessed be Israel! They will say, May God do to you what He did to Ephraim and Manasseh." And he said to Joseph: "I am dying. God will be with you, and will bring you back from this land to the land of your fathers. In that land I give thee a land that is superfluous before thy brethren: I have taken it from the Amorites with my sword and bow." The word of the Spirit-bearing men, remarks one great instructor of ascetics, is similar to the word of the aged Jacob: by their words they transmit to their listeners the spiritual power that lives in them, acquired by them in the struggle with sin by victories over the invisible Amorites, by evil thoughts and sensations.

The hour of the holy patriarch's death was approaching. In those last moments of earthly life, in which the soul was ready to leave the decrepit body, the Spirit of God descended, stopped the separation, poured out grace-filled life into the departing soul, into the remaining body. The dying man has come to life with the life of the age to come. The elder hurriedly demanded all his sons to him; they hurriedly flocked to him, surrounded him. He was still sitting on his bed. As they gathered, James gave them an inspired, prophetic testament. This testament breathes youthful strength and poetry, the eternal youth of the celestials and their holy poetry. There is no man here! Here the language of man was only a tool. Thus the speaking God is heard. Thus is heard God, Who speaks His will, Who with authority disposes of the future destinies of men and their remote descendants! The testament of the patriarch is a heavenly song, sung by the Spirit for the hearing of the world. This song proclaims to the world the Redeemer, and to the peoples immersed in idolatry, the illumination of the light of Christianity. "Gather yourselves," said the dying elder to his sons, as if from the realm of that age, "gather yourselves, surround me; I will tell you the future. Gather yourselves, sons of Jacob, listen to me, listen to Israel, listen to your father. Reuben is removed from the right of primacy for pleasing sensuality; Simeon and Levin did not receive them. Their propensity for bloodshed is cursed, and their offspring are destined to be scattered among the tribes of the other brethren. All the abundance of blessing opened up over Judas: he was promised civil power, fame, primacy among his brothers, and he was especially predestined to be the forefather of the Saviour, Who, the prophesied elder announced, was the expectation of the nations. The inspired patriarch pronounced a blessing to his sons, separately to each, counting the sons according to seniority. Having reached the name of Joseph, he again invoked the blessing of heaven and earth upon him and on his descendants. This blessing was truly and powerfully expressed in the prosperity which was subsequently enjoyed by the numerous descendants of Joseph.

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With the end of the prophetic testament, James's speech changed: it was no longer animated by delight, solemnity, and heavenly majesty. It is like a body abandoned by the soul. God, speaking through the mouth of the elder, ceased His mysterious utterances: the inspired Prophet fell silent; The dying elder begins to speak in exhaustion: "I am addressing," were the last words of Jacob, "to my people; bury me in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. Abraham and Sarah are buried there; Isaac and Rebekah are buried there; there I buried Leah." Having said this, Jacob laid his feet on the bed and died. "He has joined his people," says the Scriptures, to those holy righteous men whom the earth has produced and brought up for heaven, whom it has already given up to the realm of eternity.

When Joseph saw that Jacob was dead, he fell on his father's face, kissing his face, his lips sealed with death, and watering his face with abundant tears. He commanded the physicians to prepare the body, according to the custom of Egypt, for burial. For forty days, the doctors made preparations to protect the body from rotting. All Egypt shared in Joseph's sorrow; For seventy days the Egyptians mourned the death of the holy elder, the ancestor of Israel. After the days of weeping, Joseph asked Pharaoh for permission to fulfill his father's will and his oath to him to bury the precious body of the righteous man in the land of Canaan. Pharaoh wished that the procession of his breastplate to the land of Canaan should be accompanied by due splendor. The whole court of the king of Egypt, all his nobles, accompanied Joseph; they had a multitude of chariots and horsemen with them. All the sons of Jacob, all his grandsons, who were capable of the journey, participated in it. The field on which this numerous assembly stopped, and where it performed its funeral lamentation, was called by the inhabitants of the country "the Lamentation of Egypt."

Having fulfilled his vow, Joseph returned to Egypt. The brothers were still troubled by the crime they had committed against him. They suspected the nobleman-brother of malice, and this pure, holy soul was capable only of goodness! Believing that Joseph did not want to disturb the tranquillity of his aged father by the spectacle of vengeance, that he was postponing vengeance until a convenient time, they came to him and said: "The father commanded before his death: 'Say to Joseph, 'Forgive them their trespass, forgive them their iniquity; they have committed a crime against thee, but thou shalt forgive them their transgression for the sake of the God of thy fathers." As they said this, Joseph wept. They fell down before him and said: "Behold, we give ourselves to you as slaves!" Magnanimous Joseph, Joseph, worthy of the blessings of earth and heaven, worthy of the blessing of the whole Christian race, the blessing of all who read the story of his edifying deeds, answered the brethren: "Do not be afraid! I am God's. You have conspired to do me evil, and God has counseled good things about me. And His purpose was fulfilled! Food was delivered to many people, and their lives were preserved. Do not be afraid: I will be the protector of you and your families." A living faith in God and a vision with the pure spiritual eye of God's Providence elevate a person above all calamities, above the terrible spiritual calamity: remembrance of malice and revenge.