Gilliland, David: Joseph 04 In The Old Testament His Assessment ~ Genesis 49

The book of Genesis and chapter forty nine. We read the little section starting at verse twenty two. Genesis forty nine and verse twenty two. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him, but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of thy Father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Now, I think we'll just draw the line there and, uh, trust the Lord's blessing upon his word. There's a collection of chapters in, in Holy Scripture that we, uh, we perhaps could call assessment chapters. They are those chapters where we have, uh, men of God casting an eye over the lives of some of their colleagues and some of their acquaintances. And as they examine the lives of those various people, they give their assessment. The chapter that we have read from is one of those chapters, Genesis chapter forty nine. I see some folks in the vestibule there, just if you can help them in, please. One of those chapters would be this one, Genesis chapter forty nine, where the venerable patriarch Jacob is giving his assessment of, uh, the people that are here in this chapter. Another parallel chapter would be maybe the second book of Samuel chapter twenty three, um and in that chapter King David gives his assessment of those who are mentioned. If we come to the New Testament, we have also parallel chapters the likes of, uh, say Romans chapter sixteen, uh, and maybe even second Timothy chapter four. And in both of those chapters, the Apostle Paul mentions quite a number of names, makes quite a number of comments, and again, he gives his assessment of the various people that are mentioned. Again, I repeat that these kind of chapters are what we would call the assessment chapters of Holy Scripture. In fact, that's another subject that has been very much to the fore in, uh, this week. Quite a number of folks have been receiving their examination results, and we hear about these A's and A stars, and others are still waiting for their examination results. We have it ahead of us as Christians. There is a day when the eye of Christ will be cast across my life and yours. His assessment will be final, and his assessment will be fair, and we need to always keep examination result day in view. Now, just to mention those again, so that we gather all together and be able to proceed with what's upon my mind. In Genesis chapter forty nine, Jacob is assessing his son. In second Samuel chapter twenty three, King David is assessing his soldiers. In Romans chapter sixteen, the Apostle Paul is assessing the saints. And in second Timothy chapter four, the same man is assessing the servants. Jacob assesses his sons as to the part that they have played in his family. We need to think about that, but because, of course, we're in the family. David assesses his soldiers as to the part which they have played in the fight. We too are soldiers in the fight. The Apostle Paul, in Romans sixteen, he assesses the saints as to the part they have played in the fellowship, and I presume that most in this meeting are also in assembly fellowship, and that's another sphere of life where we are constantly being assessed. And you, dear believer, remember, not only will you be assessed as a son and as a soldier, but as a saint in the fellowship. And in Second Timothy chapter four, the Apostle Paul assesses the various servants in the field and the areas where they labored and the accomplishments that they had seen wrought. Now we are back then to the little section that's before us here in Genesis chapter forty nine, and particularly this section concerning Joseph. You know, when Jacob gathered his sons around him, well, he was very candid. Very candid. He didn't, as we say in our language, he didn't pull any punches. He knew the men that were looking around, and he knew their character, and he knew their conduct, and he gave the assessment of their life as he really saw it, and as he really knew them, as only a father could. I think, Ellie, that the last seventeen years of, of Jacob's life that were spent down in Egypt, so comfortable, and the old man that had been so harassed in the earlier section of his life, he had seventeen years of comfort, and he did a lot of thinking. And he looked back upon one hundred and thirty years of very, very interesting and involved pilgrimage, and he summed the whole thing up, and now we're getting his final verdict. Not only is he candid, but he's, he's very colorful. For an old gentleman, his mind is sharp, and his vision is clear, and he's very, very colorful in some of the things that he says, and he uses quite a number of different figures and little pieces of poetic language as he describes the life of his sons. I was wondering today, as I just scanned in my memory some of these verses and some of his assessments, how would you like your life to be described? You know, when he started off with the first boy, he said, uh, he said his life reminds me of, of the spillage of water. He said, my firstborn son, my strength, my excellency, the leader of the pack, the man that should have been a cornerstone in the family. He said he was unstable as water. I don't think that would be very flattering. I wonder would the Lord ever say that about the life of anyone here, as unstable as water. You remember what he said about another one of these tribes? He said, for example, he's a strong ass couching down between two burdens, and he saw that rest was good. A strong ass, plenty of potential for labor, but just lying down beneath the two burdens and relaxing instead of laboring, becoming lazy. A strong ass. You know that, uh... When you used to get your school reports, you got the marks, and that was all right, or maybe it wasn't all right. And then the teacher made the little comments beside the marks. Things like, could try harder, could do better, never achieved his full potential, and other remarks. I'll not embarrass anybody. I, I notice some of you, I know by the very look in your countenance it's all too familiar, but I'll not say anything more about it. A strong ox, a strong ox crouching between two burdens. He said he had the strength of an ass to do work, but he was so lazy that the labor was never done, never achieved his true potential. There it is. Joseph is a fruitful ba- and you say, I like that one. I like that one. I didn't like that first one, unstable as water. A strong ass too lazy to labor. Don't like those, and I'm leaving the others. I can't take time to mention them. But you say, that's a very effective one that you were starting to there. When he came down to Joseph, he said, Joseph is a fruitful bow. You would say, I would love to have that the assessment of my life, that I was just like a fruitful bow. Well, that's what I want to do. I want to just spend a minute or two, and I'm going to keep the meeting short. I'll try and pull out about twenty past eight or so, if I can at all. And I want to try and look at Jacob's verdict on the life of Joseph. And as we examine it, may we see certain principles in what he said about Joseph that might be true of our lives as well. The first matter is just the very one that I've hinted at there in this opening statement. He speaks about Joseph and his benefits. I, I, I don't mean the benefits that buy, but I mean the benefits that Joseph gave to others, because that's exactly what Jacob has in mind when he says concerning Joseph that he was a fruitful bower. He was like a, a vine, or maybe, uh, we will say more about the picture in a minute, maybe not so much a vine, maybe it's just a fruit tree. And he said, not only was there growth, and not only was there foliage, but he said there was fruit. Fruit. There weren't just branches and blossoms, but he said fruit. There was, there were things in Joseph's life that other people could benefit from. People could reach up their hand, so to speak, when they met Joseph, it was just like meeting a fruit tree, and this man had such a beauty and a bounty in his character that you could reach up your hand and take down a pear, or take down a plum, or take down a juicy piece of fruit, and after your encounter with Joseph, you went away refreshed and the better of it. He said, in all his life, he said he was a fruitful bough. He stands before him now. Joseph stands before old Jacob. He's a man of fifty six years. He was just a stripling of a teenager, seventeen years old, when he left Jacob's house. Between seventeen and fifty six, there have been many, many variegated experiences in between, and Jacob, in these recent years, has heard many a story about Joseph. He says, my conclusion is this, wherever he was and whatever he was doing, he was always yielding benefit to others. You see, a piece of fruit is a blossom. I think it's great to think about, about some of the Bible figures from agriculture. A piece of fruit is a blossom that has just been turned into a blessing. The tree could keep the blossom, and the c- the tree could just be beautiful, and it could just have a lovely flower so that everybody would say, isn't that a beautiful tree? Isn't that a lovely flower? But instead of just being covered with beautiful blossoms to be admired, the tree turns its flower into fruit. A fruit tree is not just a showpiece. That's a flower tree. But a fruit tree, being more than a showpiece, is actually a servant producing fruits and handing out the finished products of refreshment for the benefit of other people. A flower tree could be a little bit selfish, just of all the flowers for the admiration of the passers-by, but a fruit tree is not a selfish thing putting on a show to attract attention to itself. A fruit tree is a sacrificial piece of horticulture reaching out to others with the very juice of life, with the very sap of strength. Will you be like that? Wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be great if the Lord Jesus, as he would give his candid assessment of our lives when our days are over, and he could single out different individuals in this meeting tonight and say, she was a fruitful man. He was a fruitful bower. Some, there are some boys here more like thorn bushes than fruitful boughs. They have a flower, but they could, you could get a scrape from them very, very easily. They could have a nice wee bit of a smell, but they could be sharp. They could draw blood very, very quickly. Joseph wasn't a thorn bush. He wasn't a brier. He was a fruitful. But how do you get fruit, and what exactly is fruit? What does it produce as fruit in the life of a Christian? And this is something, dear believer, we have to emphasize these things. I'm not talking now about gift. You see, gift differ. And some of the gift of preaching and the gift of teaching and the gift of this and the gift of that, several gifts. Not every believer is expected to have the same gift, but every Christian is expected to yield fruit. The Apostle Paul said, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, being fruitful in every good work. It's the potential and the possibility for each believer to yield spiritual fruits for the blessing of other people. But what produces fruit? Well, you say it's education. Mm. Education is a grand thing, and we certainly recommend it. You say it's social etiquette. Well, not a bad thing, a little bit of social etiquette. I think it's something that's, uh, easily carried for those who have it, and good manners. I think good manners are becoming scarcer, becoming scarcer in our day. I say to all you young gentlemen, it amazes me, it amazes me how many young gentlemen manage to get a young lady beside them, and they just march up the hall and stumble into the room in front of the young lady. It really ama- it really impresses me. It impresses me with the good manners and the etiquette of our educated age. They haven't even the common sense to know that it's ladies first, and that, well, if you want to keep your young lady, my young man, I would advise you to get a little book of etiquette. Not Bible etiquette, we're not talking about that. I'm talking about basic etiquette, but where did I get out of that? Well, it's not just social etiquette, and it's not just secular education. Do you know what puts fruit in the life of a Christian? It's the power of the Holy Spirit producing likeness to Christ. That's what Pharaoh said. When Pharaoh was there in that day of dilemma, he said, what are we going to do here? He said, we're at a crisis in the nation. Can you find a man discreet and wise in whom the Spirit of God is? And little did Pharaoh know that standing right in front of his face was the young man from the prison that had interpreted his dreams, and in that young man there was the operation of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, long suffering, temperance. You could take that verse, any of you dear brothers could take that verse and write it across the life of Joseph. Goodness, long suffering, patience, meekness, temperance, peace, joy. I say it's no surprise to me that old Jacob said he was a fruitful bough. And the fruit, oh dear Christian, let us as a teenager, as a teenager, as a man down in the dungeon, as an administrator, as the viceroy of Egypt, as a husband, as dealing with his brothers, in every sphere of life, you can see in Joseph the evidence of the operations of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We sometimes think of fruit in terms of, I'll, I'll use the expression success, and we say, oh, you know, he's a very, there were two saved at the last meetings, and there were three saved in the last series. He's a very fruitful brother, that. We think about fruit as success in service. Now, you might just, you might just be able to get me a passage or two of the Bible that uses fruit in that sense. You might. Just might. But the Bible doesn't often speak about fruit in the sense of spiritual success and seeing souls saved. The Bible speaks of fruit in the terms of character, the production of character and the reproduction of the character of Christ. Joseph and his, his benefits, a fruitful, but a most attractive assessment of a life. The second matter that I mentioned from this blessing of Joseph, I say something about Joseph and his boundary. You see, you know this, as Jacob carries on his picture, he tells us in verse twenty two, Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well. I didn't elaborate upon that, but I think the well is like the Holy Spirit. This bough that was bearing fruit, it was having its roost- roots refreshed by those living streams from the spring that was just beside it, and the Holy Spirit is often likened in the scriptures to springing water. The Lord Jesus in John chapter four would come to mind, but he said he's a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over the wall. Now, just to k- get the picture in our minds, if we can, and in fact, I'm not altogether sure what is exactly the picture here, because this bough is beside a well, but the branches run over a wall. So as well as a well, there's a wall. Now, what was the purpose of the wall? Some, some feel that the wall was there for support. As this vine, and they think in terms of a vine, as this vine climbed up the wall and the branches went out over the wall, as I mentioned in a minute, it rested upon the wall. It was, the wall was a kind of trellis or a support. I'm not so sure of that. Some think the wall was there for shelter. And because this fruitful dove was behind the shelter of the wall, it was able to bear its precious. I'd rather think that the wall was there for safety and separation. And between this fruitful tree, I don't much in terms of a climbing vine, but I think about it as a tree, the well beside it, and the wall marking it up and marking its territory. And beside this tree was a boundary. You know, I think that was part of the secret of the success of, of Joseph's life. He had, he had boundaries. There was one day, and I'll just mention this one incident that your mind will be going to right away. There was one day, a very unprincipled lady. Her husband's name was Potiphar, and she made a, a very broad-sighted suggestion to Joseph that he should cross a boundary. He said, no. He said, you're that man's wife, my master's wife. And he said, if I would cross that boundary and do what you're asking me to do, it would be treachery upon his relationship, it would mar his marriage, and it would ruin my character. He said, no. But you see, you see, down here in Egypt, nobody worries about that. Didn't matter to Joseph, as he lived his life in the atmosphere of the fear of God and beneath the watchful eye of God, he said, there is a boundary and there is a standard of moral propriety that I cannot transgress, and if I do that, I will sin against God. Can I say to us all here tonight, dear Christians, may God help us to watch the boundaries in life. You know, a life without boundaries will never be fruitful. Joseph not only had a fruitful life, but he had a faithful life. And there was the fruit beside the fountain, but also there was the fence. In fact, it has often been pointed out that Joseph lived in the good of Psalm one a thousand years before it was written. You know what Psalm one said? He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringeth forth its fruit in its season, leaf shall not wither, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You say that's very like Joseph. That verse that you have quoted from the middle of Psalm one is just like Joseph. Yes, but I, I didn't quote verse one. Blessed is the man that walketh not, standeth not, sitteth not. The fruitful man of Psalm one has to have the courage to say no. There's company I'm not going to keep. There are places I'm not going to visit. There are things I'm not going to do, and the negatives of verse 1 of Psalm 1 lead to the positives of verse two and three. Joseph was like that. The fruitful bow had a boundary in his life, and dear Christian, learn to have boundaries. Learn to have certain boundaries that are established by the Word of God. Boundaries in personal life, boundaries in moral life, boundaries in business life, things that you just cannot do. The world may do them, they may transgress those boundaries and apparently go unpunished, but your conscience before God and your communion with the Lord mean that you cannot go as far as that. He was a fruitful bow by a well, but he was also beside a wall. But then I have to say a little word about not only Joseph and his benefits, and Joseph and his boundary, but you can see in the text that, uh, we have mentioned for us Joseph and his branches. You see, the tree didn't go over the wall, but the branches went over the wall. And even though Joseph himself did not breach certain boundaries, he had a life that was always reaching out, reaching out to others. I believe that we need to learn the truths of separation. Maybe that's a message would do no harm here in Cardiff and do no harm in Lurgan. Separation from the world. You know, we have, I, I think, dear brethren, I think, without making a whole shout about it because I haven't the time tonight and it's not in my mind, I think, I think we have made some serious compromises with the world, and in our meetings, and in our conduct, and in our demeanor. We become at times far too much like the people that run the street without salvation. We have made compromises with the world, and many of those compromises we make with them in the name of reaching them. No, no, that's not the way to go about it, you see. You don't compromise your Christian principles and standards under the name of reaching them, but that does not mean that we live lives that are insulated and isolated. Joseph kept apart, but he didn't say, there's the wall, here's the well, and here's me, and let everybody else just go there. I don't care about them. You see, he was so vigorous as a spiritual man that when he was well rooted beside the well and never shifted, his branches reached out to all others. You think of the blessing he brought to, the blessing he brought to Pharaoh's house. Or sorry, Pharaoh's house indeed, but Potiphar's house first of all. Potiphar even acknowledged there's something about this man. He's the best employee that I have ever had. I think that Potiphar's heart was touched with the testimony and the integrity of Joseph. He said, this man is so honest that all that I have, I would put it into his hand. He says, I never need to ask. I never need to examine. He says, I don't need a camera. I don't need a camera in the corner to watch this man. He says, this man lives beneath the eye of God twenty four seven. and he said, if he lives beneath the eye of God, my camera is superfluous. And to Potiphar he reached out, and he be- what about those two prisoners in the dungeon? Two boys. I tell you, Joseph reached out to them when they had finished their little sentence, and they were doing their sentence. They felt we had never met a man like this. He could see that they weren't doing well. He could see that they were depressed. He could speak a kindly word. He could give one man a message of hope. He could tell another man, you're soon going to die. Ever you do that? The people that you work with, the people, did ever you meet anyone and talk to them about eternity? Imagine Joseph telling a man, in a few days you'll be in eternity. I hope the man got saved. If he didn't, it wasn't Joseph's fault. Joseph told him time is short. He could tell another man, you'll soon be back in the palace. Give him a message of hope. Dear brethren, let us give to the people a message of warning that is suitable, a message of hope that is suitable, but let us reach out. You think when he got to the very throne of Egypt, or at least to the chariot of Egypt, and was the administrator of its storehouses, he was still reaching out to other people and touching them with blessing. It has always been pointed out, but I just mention it here, just as I fly, move on very quickly. There's a reference, you remember, I think maybe it is a ref- an allusion. It tells us the Lord Jesus sat at the well. You have a well here, and uh, it was near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. So we have Joseph and the well in John chapter four, and the Savior's on the well. You know, if ever, if ever there was a person reached out, it was John chapter four. The Savior reached out the branch of fruit to that poor Samaritan woman, whom the disciples, when they came, they were absolutely aghast that he would even speak to such a character and a Samaritan and that. But the Savior reaching out. May God help us to believe in biblical separation, to beware of isolation, and never forget a perishing world that knows nothing about God and Christ, and we need to have branches, branches that are reaching out to old and young for the blessing of the people. And you say, that's all great, you know, I, I would love to be like that, to be branching out and to be bountiful and to be beneficial to other people. You would say, but you don't know the problems I have in life, and that's my problem. I would be a better Christian if I didn't have so many difficulties. I have a very bad home life, and you want to see where I work? My employer is a most unscrupulous man, and he's most unfair, and when I'm at my work, I have the heavy end of things, and I'm treated in a most unfair, unprincipled way, and if it wasn't just for my circumstances, I would be a much more positive and fruitful. You see, we need to keep reading, because it tells us about this man had an awful time. This fruitful man had a difficult time. Jacob says in verse number twenty three, the archers shot at him. He says, if you think that this boy that stands before me, young ma- this man of fifty six that has lived such a fruitful life, if you think that he has been fruitful because life... He said, you're wrong. He says he was targeted. Targeted. And he says the archers shot at him, and they grieved him, and they hated him. I could just see the boys, you know, I love these pictures. I could see the boys pulling back their bow, slipping back their hand, taking a very sleek arrow out of their quiver, loading the bow, just getting Joseph in the sights, letting fling. They didn't come too close, but they let fling. You know, there are people do your harm. They won't come close enough, but they'll. You know, one of the, one of the worst arrows, one of the worst arrows in the bow of hatred and out of the quiver of malice is the arrow slander. You know, Potiphar's wife shot an arrow or two at him. She slandered him. His own brethren, his own family members, they said one or two things about him that were very hurtful, and most of them were said behind his back. I- I- I'm sure there are Christians here tonight, and you know what it is to have people take a shot at you. And you maybe have been targeted. Well, dear Christian, may God grant that we may be Joseph-like. He did not allow the opposition to so embitter his spirit or to jaundice his testimony that it robbed him from his fruit. No, no, may God help us remember difficulties, generally speaking, the men in the Bible, difficulties and problems in life didn't reduce fruit. It usually enhanced it. And there are certain fruits, you know, without going into all of horticulture, because I simply don't know them, but I know this. For the flavor of fruit and for its ripeness, you not only need the warmth of the sun, but you need the frost of the night. The heat of the day and the chill of the night. And there are some times of the year, and there are some countries of the world where fruits never ripen because it's all heat and there's no frost. You see, dear Christian, always remember that it's the difficult, contrasting, conflicting circumstances of life that cast us upon the Lord and even help us to bear more fruit and to bear better fruit for his glory. Joseph's battles were difficult. You say, how did he survive? Well, Jacob speaks about his bulwark. He said, they shot at him, but they didn't shoot him down. For in verse twenty four, he said, his bow abowed in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. That a great thing? He said the reason Joseph didn't collapse was, he said when he was standing with his double, it's just as if the hands, the arms of his hands, it's a most unusual expression. We talk about the hands of your arms, but it says the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. He says that's why Joseph, Joseph had a bulwark of strength behind him. He said God was behind him, and it's just as if when Joseph was standing with his bow, God put down his mighty hand onto Joseph's arms. Didn't touch his. The hands of Joseph were on the bow. And when things were so tense, now this is the picture, and I'll have to leave it. When things were so tense that the slightest quiver, any of these marksmen will tell you, and Joseph was a man who made his mark in life. He didn't miss. No, dear brother, he didn't miss life. He made his mark. He hit the target for God. And any of these marks then will tell you that there could come a time when you're drawing your bow and you're aiming on the least quiver. And in the nervousness and in the tension of just that final prize, the least quiver could put you yards wide of the mark. Has to be absolutely still and steady. And just when Joseph was there, it's as if the arms of the hands of God came down and gripped him by the forearm. God said, now I'll steady you, sir. Even though it was the hand of Joseph on the bow that let the arrows go, it was the hand of God that steadied the muscles. You know, dear Christians, I tell you, it's a real thing to know the steadying hand of God in your life. Supplying power when things are shaking and when the pressure's up. There are brethren and sisters in this meeting, and you know there have been days of tension in your life, and one slip or one shake could have had catastrophic consequences, but you are conscious of a supernatural strength supporting you. A teenager, a man in business, an overseer managing the whole land of Egypt. I say we have them all here tonight. Teenagers in this meeting, people at university, overseers in different spheres of life, men in business. Let me tell you, dear brother, you can still have a steady hand and a steady testimony. He said the arms of his hand were made strong by the mighty God of Jacob. Let us know that behind Christian life and testimony, there is power and there is protection, and even though the opposition was fierce and Joseph was targeted, thank God he was strengthened by divine power. What does the hymn say? I not put it all. Finding more power than I ever dreamed. I don't know if you know anything about that. I have met Christians, I have met Christians, and they've had to go through experiences, and they've told me many a time, and some of them may be present tonight in the meeting, and they say, David, you know, when I look back... and think of all that I came through, the Lord's mercy, if I had known it was going to be as bad, they tell me before I faced it, I would never have made it. You see, they put themselves back to before the trial, and they say, I couldn't have made it, I could never have managed it. But they came through the trial, finding more power than ever they dreamed, just with the mighty resources that were available in God. He speaks about his bounty. He said, the man is like that, he have blessings. He have blessings of the heaven above, blessings of the deep beneath, blessings of the breast, blessings of the womb. He said his offspring will be strong, and they will be nourished. And he said the blessings will abound onto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hill. He said the blessing of this man will get greater and greater and greater until it will reach Himalayan heights. And those everlasting hills that have stood for centuries, they'll be dwarfed by the blessing that God will give a man like this, so fresh, so firm, so faithful, so fruitful, from his teenage days right through until he was a man at the top of Egypt. I'll stop there, dear brethren, but all I'll say is this, may God encourage us. This is what life can be. This was a verdict on one man's life in difficult times, and may God grant that we may take a page from his book so that the Lord might be able to give a similar verdict about our lives in our day. I was going to speak to you about Joseph's brow, because it does tell us, it does tell us at the end of the passage that all this distinction will be in the head of heaven. Some of the modern translations, and I wouldn't always quote from them, as you know, but some of the modern translations actually say that. Our new authorized version says they'll be on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Some of the modern translations say these blessings will be heaped upon the brow of him that was separate from his brethren. Joseph's brow will be decorated with garlands of distinction. You know, dear Christians, it's not easy living for. There are problems, there are pressures, there are always difficulties. But can I say to every Christian here, those who have done their best with the Lord's help, there'll be rewards. And the day will come when the verdict is given. If it's Joseph's verdict given to your life, just as blessings came on his brow, there will be rewards rest on your brow because God will always honor faithfulness. You know, just I'll stop. I'll try to stop anyway. Just as, uh, I was just thinking there, old Jacob lying in bed and the twelve sons all around. uh Eleven of them had farmers' coats on. They were just farmers, shepherds. And they came into his tent to hear his final blessing, dressed in the garments of their trade. But there was one son, he came in with all the decorous garments of Pharaoh's palace, the vice roi of Egypt. Well-dressed gentleman. Pinstripe suit wouldn't be in it. The vices of Egypt. And as you looked around, you said, so, Mr. Jacob, you've got twelve sons here, but there's eleven of them, sort of rough enough looking boys, but there's one of them a very well-dressed gentleman. He's different to the rest. He would say he's different to the rest. He says he always was different, and he always will be different, for it'll be upon the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. May God help us to be willing to do a little bit extra, to go a little bit further. We are satisfied, the most of us, with just blending with the medium. Joseph was a man who stood distinct, and he received the blessings for it. May God bless his word. I curtailed it and abbreviated it. Even Jacob did that. He was very brief in what he said, because I want you all to get home safely in the will of the Lord. I trust the Lord's blessing upon this short meditation. Shall we bow in prayer and give thanks? Our Father, we bow in the Lord's precious name. We thank thee for gathering so many on this particular evening. We have known preservation on our journeys here, and we ask thee to take all safely home. We thank thee for considerations of thy word. Again, as on many previous occasions, we have taken a small glimpse at the beautiful character of Joseph. We thank thee that in these ancient times, and in a foreign country, and in most unusual circumstances, a man could live so beautifully for thy glory, an exotic plant of spiritual dignity, and we pray that thou will enable us to be encouraged by his thine example. Grant that fruit might be in our lives. Help us to watch our boundaries. Help us to keep close to the fountain of perennial and spiritual refreshment, so that our lives might hit reach the mark for thy glory. We thank thee for refreshments that our brethren and sisters have prepared here. We take these good things from their hand. We give our thanks to thee and ask thy blessing upon each and every one, the Assembly of Charity, every member. All have spiritual needs and all have physical needs. Some have very special physical needs just now. We commend all thy people to thee and ask that thou will remember every case. We commit ourselves into thine hand, body, soul, and spirit for thy preservation as we render thanks in the Savior's precious name. Amen.