Joseph's brothers brought presents to Joseph, not because they loved him or wanted to honour him, but because they feared that he might punish them. Even today , some people worship Jesus and give offerings, not out of love for Him, but for fear that He might punish them if they failed to do so.
After deciding to send Benjamin, Israel said, "Let God Almighty give you mercy before that man." The Hebrew word used for "God Almighty" is "Elshaddai" which means "motherlike God". This is the first time Jacob spoke about the motherlike God or Elshaddai.
Jesus was once preaching in a synagogue in Nazareth as we see in Luke 4:16-34. In verse 22 we see that Half way through the sermon the listeners wondered at His gracious words. But in verse 29, we see that the same crowd a little later, filled with wrath, tried to throw him over a Cliff! Why?..
Revelation 14:12,13 says: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth...that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." This group of people are the martyrs of the Tribulation Period
One's end must be better than the beginning. Almost all the old testament saints faced many trials and temptations but their end was glorious. They all developed a great faith in their heart and that is the reason why they were able to die in faith..
