t their families and goods. Joseph also gave to each one of them
changes of raiment, and to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and
five changes of raiment, and ten asses laden with the good things of
Egypt for their father, and ten she-asses laden with corn. As they
departed, he archly said unto them, "See that ye fall not out by
the way!"

And when they arrived at Canaan, and told their father all that had
happened and all that they had seen, he fainted. The news was too good
to be true; he would not believe them. But when he saw the wagons his
spirit revived, and he said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is yet alive.
I will go and see him before I die." The old man is again young in
spirit. He is for going immediately; he could leap,--yea, fly.

To Egypt, then, Israel with his sons and his cattle and all his wealth
hastened. His sons are astonished at the providence of God, so clearly
and impressively demonstrated on their behalf. The reconciliation of the
family is complete. All envy is buried in the unbounded prosperity of
Joseph. He is now too great for envy. He is to be venerated as the
instrument of God in saving his father's house and the land of Egypt.
They all now bow down to him, father and sons alike, and the only strife
now is who shall render him the most honor. He is the pride and glory of
his family, as he is of the land of Egypt, and of the household
of Pharaoh.

In the hospitality of the King, and his absence of jealousy of the
nomadic people whom he settled in the most fertile of his provinces, we
see additional confirmation of the fact that he was one of the Shepherd
Kings. The Pharaoh of Joseph's time seems to have affiliated with the
Israelites as natural friends,--to assist him in case of war. All the
souls that came into Egypt with Jacob were seventy in number, although
some historians think there was a much larger number. Rawlinson
estimates it at two thousand, and Dean Payne Smith at three thousand.

Jacob was one hundred and thirty years of age when he came to dwell in
the land of Goshen, and he lived seventeen years in Egypt. When he died,
Joseph was about fifty years old, and was still in power.

It was the dying wish of the old patriarch to be buried with his
fathers, and he made Joseph promise to carry his bones to the land of
Canaan and bury them in the sepulchre which Abraham had bought,--even
the cave of Machpelah.

Before Jacob died, Joseph brought his two sons to him to receiv