Genesis 45:14 And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck. There was an instinctive delicacy in selecting that one for his first embraces who was best able to return them freely. It gave the others time. Not that he thought of that and planned it; but the instincts of a good heart are very wise. Benjamin could weep tears of unmingled joy, for he had love only to accept — not forgiveness as well. One looks eagerly through the story to find some word telling that the others wept, the ten men who were over forty years of age, the sinners convicted, humbled, pardoned. Such a word would be very welcome; but I do not find it. We have to be content to take another lesson in the mystery of restoring love — that it is easier for God to forgive us than for us to forgive ourselves; that the part of Christ's work which most proves the omnipotence of His grace, is when He persuades us to believe that He has forgiven us. That once believed by the heart, tears flow fast. There is only One who can so look on us that we shall go forth and weep bitterly. Leaving Benjamin after a time, Joseph went from one to another of his brethren, kissing them and weeping on them. I see him beginning with Reuben and Simeon, ending with Judah. The appeal, if one may translate so tender an utterance of the heart into any words, meant this, "I love and forgive you: love me and trust me, trust me and love in return." "And after that his brethren talked with him." The struggle had been a hard one, but love had conquered. It matters little what they talked about — the wonders of Egypt, the storehouses, the capabilities of Goshen, Asenath and Manasseh and Ephraim, the state of the flocks at home, the children of each, their father, the dreams; the great thing was that they talked at all. It was not now as it had been at the banquet yesterday; restraint and stratagem had gone for ever; brother talked to brother, heart to heart. (A. M. Symington, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.WEB: He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. |
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