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I. PRESENTS FROM HOME. Those made to Joseph by men who little thought what feelings they might excite.

1. They were from his father. He would think of them as being selected by him. An act of homage.

2. They were peculiar to his native country and immediate neighbourhood. How often when a boy had he collected similar gums and nuts. They would take him back to the old time.

3. The presents we may receive from home have more of love in them than homage. We like them the better for that.

4. These presents were the gifts of poor men, who were the poorer by reason of the famine. Presents not to be valued by their intrinsic worth, but by the circumstances under which they were selected, and the feelings with which they are offered.

5. Every good gift is from above. God the author and giver of every good and perfect gift.

6. There is one unspeakable gift, made to us, suited to us; have we accepted this gift?

II. INQUIRIES ABOUT HOME.

1. They are asked concerning their welfare (see Exodus 18:7). Such inquiries from us often mean only the welfare of the body, or relate to temporal things. Family greetings pleasant. Should include an interest in highest and best things.

2. They soon regarded the absent. His father in particular, the "old man." It was about twenty-two years since he had seen his father. "Is he yet alive? A few years work great changes in families. Return to your native town after an absence of twenty-two years, and note the different names, and the vast changes. The father was poorer than when he saw him last by reason of the famine; the son was richer than when he left home to look after the shepherds in Shechem. The coat of many colours exchanged for a robe of state. The shepherd boy become a prince. Absent friends to be remembered.

3. Benjamin specially addressed.

III. THE BANQUET.

1. The president of the feast. Joseph at a raised table by himself. His state and grandeur. Perhaps the presents from home were placed before him. His knowledge of the guests, and their ignorance of him. Jesus at &he last supper knew all, and was little known; after the resurrection He was known in the breaking of bread.

2. The officers of his household. They would show the respect and honour in which he was held.

3. The Israelites. The arrangement of their places at the table. "Whence hath this man this knowledge?" Benjamin's mess. What could this mean? Whether they liked it or not, their father's regard for the younger son, whether Joseph or Benjamin, was to be respected. They needed to be taught this lesson. And we must honour our parents. As they thus sat and feasted with the prince, did they think of the time when they sat down to eat bread by the side of the pit where Joseph was once imprisoned? Joseph returned good for evil. Learn: Let us remember home, especially the heavenly home.

(J. C. Gray.).

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KJV: And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

WEB: When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.