Jacob is dead and Joseph and his brothers have returned to Egypt after interring his body in the cave at Machpelah. Now that their father is dead, Joseph's brothers become fearful that he will take revenge on them.
"When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?'" (Genesis 50:15) These men have lived near their brother in Egypt for seventeen years and he hasn't laid a hand on them. Why do they suddenly become paranoid about their safety? I think they're afraid he held back only for the sake of their father. They know Joseph said he forgave them but as a rough and tumble bunch of hot-tempered men they can easily understand a man holding a grudge for a long time but not acting upon it until the right opportunity. That's the kind of people they were themselves at one time. Joseph's ten older brothers perpetrated a deception upon the men of Shechem in order to avenge the honor of their sister Dinah. They lied to the men of that city and promised to socially mingle with and intermarry with the people of Shechem if only all its males would become circumcised. After the men of the town complied with this request, Joseph's brothers waited three more days until the men were all in recovery and painfully indisposed at home before carrying out their plot to kill every man there and take everything that belonged to every man they killed. Joseph's brothers are men who once believed revenge was a dish best served cold, and they conspired together to commit first-degree murder on the men of Shechem, so it's not hard for them to imagine that Joseph might have waited seventeen years for their father to die before turning on them.
They acknowledge they deserve any punishment Joseph chooses to dish out when they say he might get them back for "all the wrongs we did to him". I think their awareness of their sin is why their fear looms so large. No one in Egypt or anywhere else would blame Joseph if he paid them back for their cruel treatment of him. They wouldn't blame him themselves. He's already shown them far more mercy than they deserve by allowing them to live peacefully in Goshen for the past seventeen years. There's nothing they can say in their defense, so they don't make a defense. All they make is a plea for mercy. "So they sent word to Joseph, saying, 'Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." (Genesis 50:16-17a)
Did Jacob say this? In a way I doubt it since it's hard for me to imagine his sons troubling him with their fears that Joseph might turn on them after Jacob's death. On the other hand, Jacob might not have had to be told his sons were afraid of Joseph. He was a perceptive man who, by the end of his life, also appeared to have the gift of prophecy. I don't think Jacob actually thought Joseph would do them any harm, but he may have been aware that his oldest sons harbored this fear in their hearts. Jacob may have known they'd be afraid of Joseph after his death and that they'd need the reassurance of Joseph telling them once again that he has forgiven them. It's human nature to want reassurance, isn't it? Don't we sometimes have to remind ourselves that God loves us and that He's accepted our repentance and that He's forgiven us? Doesn't it comfort our hearts to read passages of Scripture where God assures us we're saved to the uttermost and that He's cast our sins behind His back and that our sins are as far removed from His sight as something at the bottom of the sea? (Hebrews 7:25, Isaiah 38:17, Micah 7:19) Joseph's older brothers need the reassurance of hearing him say, once again, that the past is going to remain in the past. He's not going to dredge up their sins and fling them in their faces. He hasn't been plotting revenge all these years, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Instead his attitude is going to be like God's. What's forgiven is forgiven.
"When their message came to him, Joseph wept." (Genesis 50:17b) I don't know whether his brothers sent their message on paper or verbally through a messenger they sent on foot, but I like to picture Joseph sitting in the privacy of his room with the letter spread out on his lap, his hands over his face while he weeps in thankfulness that these men are not who they used to be. They acknowledge their sin. They've repented of their sin. Now the God of Jacob is their own God and they can truthfully call themselves His servants. I don't know whether God weeps with joy when we acknowledge our sins, repent of them, and accept Him as our God, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that He does.
Now Joseph either calls his brothers to his palace or else they decide to come in person to beg his forgiveness, for we find them bowing down in his presence. "His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 'We are your slaves,' they said." (Genesis 50:18) Perhaps fearing he will have them killed, they decide to offer themselves as his slaves instead. Their minds are tortured by the knowledge of how terribly they wronged him and they're so caught up in their guilt and grief and anxiety that they can't even fathom in their minds the possibility that he doesn't want to harm them in any way. They have convinced themselves that he wishes them ill and that any minute now he'll put his plans into action.
"But Joseph said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?'" (Genesis 50:19) If God wants to rebuke these men and discipline them in some way for their own good and for their further development of character, that's up to Him. But God hasn't chosen Joseph to be the instrument of their correction. As we discussed when these men first came to Joseph in Egypt, God is the only one who can exact revenge on behalf of His children without getting His hands dirty and soiling His character. When we exact revenge for ourselves, we always end up wallowing in the mud (spiritually speaking) along with the person who wronged us. We get down on their level. We harm our character and our testimony. But God, who is the Lawgiver and whose laws were broken by the sin, can pass judgment and punishment upon the sin without harming His holy character in any way. It's up to Him how He chooses to deal with those who sin against us. I personally believe Joseph has so utterly forgiven his brothers that he wouldn't even want to see the Lord disciplining them. I think he wants nothing but good for them. It's enough for him that they're sorry and that they've given their hearts to the Lord. What he probably wants most is for them to continue growing in their relationship with the Lord.
Joseph goes on to remind his brothers that, even though they did something very bad, God brought good out of the situation. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.' And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them." (Genesis 50:19-21)
We can say the same thing to our human enemies and to Satan that Joseph says to his brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God used it for my good." I wouldn't be writing this Bible study if no human enemies and no spiritual enemy had ever tried to harm me. God allowed some things to enter my life a number of years back that were shocking and unexpected. I never saw them coming. In a million years, I would never have expected this particular set of circumstances to take place. I'm not going to go into further detail about it; you can just insert your own personal struggles, betrayals, shocks, and enemy attacks here. Most of us, if we're old enough, have already had the rug pulled out from under us in an unexpected and unprovoked way at least once in our lives. You probably know what I mean when I say you can be going about your business, living your daily life, and suddenly be confronted by something you never thought of in your wildest dreams. These things can either knock us down for the count or bring us to our knees before an Almighty God who is able to reverse our fortunes in the right time and in the right way. Instead of letting his circumstances knock him down for the count, Joseph sank to his knees before the God who can do all things, trusting God even though he didn't understand at the time why God allowed such heartbreak and hardship and betrayal into his life. Because Joseph let God help him be better instead of bitter, he developed a Christlike attitude toward those who harmed him. Because Joseph loved and forgave his brothers, they got a glimpse of the Lord in him, and that made them want to know the Lord for themselves.
I still don't fully understand all the reasons the Lord allowed some of the things He's allowed to happen in my life, but I can see how He's used those things to draw me closer to Him and to help me develop a relationship with Him that's made me love the holy Scriptures like I do. I can promise you I wouldn't be studying the Bible with you right now if some shocking and cruel things hadn't happened to me. I don't know where I'd be this morning or what I'd be doing, but there's no doubt in my mind I wouldn't be sitting here with God's holy word enjoying this sweet fellowship with Him and enjoying this sweet fellowship with you as we honor and worship the Lord together. I'm convinced I wouldn't love my Savior as much as I love Him if He hadn't walked through that dark valley with me and if He hadn't sustained me and if He hadn't been my refuge and strength. The promises of the Bible became real to me in a way they never were before because now they've been tested and found to be true. When He says, "My grace is sufficient for you," He means it. (2 Corinthians 12:9) When He says He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies, that's exactly what He does. (Psalm 23:5) When He says He's going to supply all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus, He follows through. (Philippians 4:19) When He says His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me and that He has a future and a hope stored up for me, I can take that to the bank. (Jeremiah 29:11) These promises aren't just words on a page to me anymore. These promises are tried and true. Satan intended to harm me. Some of my fellow human beings intended to harm me. And God allowed it, for a season, to bring about something good---something that can never be taken away from me.
In what way will the Lord show you good through the bad things that have happened to you? In what way might He use our current world situation to bring good out of bad? If we let Him, He'll do great things we never dreamed of, but it's up to us. We can either let ourselves go down for the count or we can get on our knees in the presence of the One who can do all things and allow Him to have His way with our hearts and lives. We can wallow in bitterness or we can let Him make us better. Joseph never imagined being betrayed by his brothers, but he also never imagined becoming second-in-command to the king of Egypt. If he'd allowed himself to become bitter, and if he hadn't submitted himself to the Lord, he never would have been Pharaoh's right-hand man. He'd have wallowed in anger and self-pity for the rest of his life and the Lord wouldn't have been able to promote him and use him to do great things.
The Lord wants to do great things in our lives. Let's let Him.
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