Listen to today’s passage – Genesis 48 – 50
Follow Along on Blue Letter Bible – Genesis 48
(Second Milers also read – Mark 9 – 10; Proverbs 19; Psalms 91 – 95)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Psalm 119:105
Read the “0119 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “Graduation Day“
“15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.” (Gen 50:15–21)
After years of reconciliation, Jacob’s death stirs fresh fear in Joseph’s brothers. With their father gone—the one who had kept Joseph’s kindness in check—they panic. What if Joseph finally repays them for the pit, the slavery, and all the evil they did to him?
They send a message claiming Jacob commanded before he died: “Forgive thy brethren.” Yet Genesis records no such command from Jacob. Many Bible teachers (and perhaps you’ve noticed this too) see this as a fabrication—a desperate, carnal scheme to shield themselves. Instead of trusting Joseph’s proven forgiveness or God’s work in his heart, they resort to manipulation and half-truths. Fear drives them to human methods rather than faith.
Joseph’s response stands in stark contrast. He weeps—likely grieved that after all these years, his brothers still doubt his heart. Then he speaks one of the Bible’s greatest declarations of God’s sovereignty: “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
Joseph sees the entire story—the betrayal, the prison, the rise to power—not as random cruelty, but as God’s sovereign hand weaving salvation for many lives, including their own.
“5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Prov 3:5–6)
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Amen Dr Erickson
In Genesis 50 1:2-3, my footnote read: "Embalming was typical for Egyptians, but unusual for nomadic shepherds. Believing that the dead went to the next world in their physical bodies, the Egyptians embalmed bodies to preserved them so they could function in the world to come. Jacob’s family allowed him to be embalmed as a sign of courtesy, and respect to the Egyptians." I'd like to add: As Christians, we have the assurance that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Like the post!