Joseph's heart was heavy.

His home was abandoned, and they were in a strange land in which they must certainly be lost.
Mary, who was always outwardly calm, but inwardly bound up passionately in the child, looked at Joseph's stick, and said: "Joseph, it is a nice thought of yours to deck your staff with a flower in token of our safe arrival." Then Joseph looked at his stick and marvelled.

For from the branch which he had cut at Sinai there sprouted a living, snow-white lily.

Oh, Joseph, 'tis the flower of purity! But what was the use of all the flowers in the world when he was so full of care?
He lifted the child in his arms, and when he looked at his sunny countenance the shadows were dispersed.

But they experienced shadows enough in the land of the sun, where men had built a splendid temple to the sun-god like that which the Israelites at home had built to the great Jehovah.
Things did not go very well with these poor Jews during the long years they remained in this land.