Explore "The "Washen Face" in War Time" by Archibald Alexander on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. " - Genesis 43: 31
That is what Joseph did when his feelings nearly overmastered him at the sight of his brother Benjamin standing before him, all unconscious of who he was. He "sought where to weep," says the record with quaint matter-of-factness, for of course he did not want his brothers to see him weeping just yet. So "he entered into his chamber and wept there. " But Joseph's secret affections being thus recognised and allowed their expression, he had a duty to perform. He put a curb upon his feelings. He took a firm grip of himself. He "washed his face and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. " One cannot help admiring that. It was a fine thing to do.