1. First, Joseph had to endure the archers of ENVY. When he was a boy, his
father loved him. The youth was fair and beautiful; in person he was to be
admired; moreover, he had a mind that was gigantic, and an intellect that was
lofty; but, best of all, in him dwelt the Spirit of the living God. He was
one who talked with God; a youth of piety and prayerfulness; beloved of God,
even more than he was by his earthly father. O! how his father loved him! for
in his fond affection, he made him a princely coat of many colors, and
treated him better than the others-a natural but foolish way of showing his
fondness. Therefore his brethren hated him. Full often did they jeer at the
youthful Joseph, when he retired to his prayers; when he was with them at a
distance from his father’s house, he was their drudge, their slave; the
taunt, the jeer, did often wound his heart, and the young child endured much
secret sorrow. On an ill day, as it happened, he was with them at a distance
from home, and they thought to slay him; but upon the entreaty of Reuben,
they put him into a pit, until, as Providence would have it, the Ishmaelites
did pass that way. They then sold him for the price of a slave, stripped him
of his coat, and sent him naked, they knew not, and they cared not, whither,
so long as he might be out of their way, and no longer provoke their envy and
their anger. Oh! the agonies he felt-parted from his father, losing his
brethren, without a friend, dragged away by cruel man-sellers, chained upon a
camel it may be, with fetters on his hands. Those who have borne the gyves
and fetters, those who have felt that they were not free men, that they had
not liberty, might tell how sorely the archers grieved him when they shot at
him the arrows of their envy. He became a slave, sold from his country,
dragged from all he loved. Farewell to home and all its pleasures-farewell to
a father’s smiles and tender cares. He must be a slave, and toil where the
slave’s task-master makes him; he must be stripped in the streets, he must be
beaten, he must be scourged, he must be reduced from the man to the animal,
from the free man to the slave. Truly the archers sorely shot at him. And, my
brethren, do you hope, if you are the Lord’s Josephs, that you shall escape
envy? I tell you, nay; that green-eyed monster, envy, lives in London as well
as elsewhere, and he creeps into God’s church, moreover. Oh! it is hardest of
all, to be envied by one’s brethren. If the devil hates us, we can bear it;
if the foes of God’s truth speak ill of us, we buckle up our harness, and
say, “Away, away, to the conflict.” But when the friends within the house
slander us; when brethren who should uphold us, turn our foes; and when they
try to tread down their younger brethren; then, sirs, there is some meaning
in the passage, “The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and
hated him.” But, blessed be God’s name, it is sweet to be informed that “his
bow abode in strength.” None of you can be the people of God without
provoking envy; and the better you are, the more you will be hated. The
ripest fruit is most pecked by the birds, and the blossoms that have been
longest on the tree, are the most easily blown down by the wind. But fear
not; you have naught to do with what man shall say of you. If God loves you,
man will hate you; if God honors you, man will dishonor you. But recollect,
could ye wear chains of iron for Christ’s sake, ye should wear chains of gold
in heaven; could ye have rings of burning iron round your waists, ye should
have your brow rimmed with gold in glory; for blessed are ye when men shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for Christ’s name’s sake; for so
persecuted they the prophets that were before you. The first archers were the
archers of envy.
2. But a worse trial than this was to overtake him. The archers of TEMPTATION
shot at him. Here I know not how to express myself. I would that some one
more qualified to speak were here, that he might tell you the tale of
Joseph’s trial, and Joseph’s triumph. Sold to a master who soon discovered
his value, Joseph was made the bailiff of the house, and the manager of the
household. His wanton mistress fixed her adulterous love on him; and he,
being continually in her presence, was perpetually, day by day, solicited by
her to evil deeds. Constantly did he refuse; still enduring a martyrdom at
the slow fire of her enticements. On one eventful day she grasped him,
seeking to compel him to crime; but he, like a true hero as he was, said to
her, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Like a wise
warrior, he knew that in such a case fleeing was the better part of valor. He
heard a voice in his ears: “Fly, Joseph, fly; there remains no way of victory
but flight;” and out he fled, leaving his garment with his adulterous
mistress. Oh, I say in all the annals of heroism there is not one that shall
surpass this. You know it is opportunity that makes a man criminal; and he
had abundant opportunity; but importunity will drive most men astray. To be
haunted day by day by solicitations of the softest kind-to be tempted hour by
hour-oh! it needs a strength super-angelic, a might more that human, a
strength which only God can grant, for a young man thus to cleanse his way,
and take heed thereto according to God’s word. He might have reasoned within
himself, “Should I submit and yield, there lies before me a life of ease and
pleasure; I shall be exalted, I shall be rich. She shall prevail over her
husband, to cover me with honors; but should I still adhere to my integrity,
I shall be cast into prison, I shall be thrown into the dungeon; there awaits
me nothing but shame and disgrace.” Oh! there was a power indeed within that
heart of his; there was an inconceivable might, which made him turn away with
unutterable disgust, with fear and trembling, while he said, “How can I? how
can I-God’s Joseph-how can I-other men might, but how can I do this great
wickedness and sin against God.” Truly the archers sorely grieved him and
shot at him; but his bow abode in strength.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
