Joseph

Genesis 50:15-26

We have come to the end of Joseph’s story, which is also the end of the book of Genesis. However, this is really not an ending – It is actually the beginning of the story about the nation of Israel, which will continue in Exodus.

When we first meet Joseph, he is a young boy who is given dreams from God – Ones which foretold of his eventual rise to a position of power where all his brothers would bow down to him. We see this being fulfilled in v. 18 where the brothers fall down before Joseph, offering themselves as Joseph’s slaves.

Joseph’s response to his brothers shows that Joseph now knows why all of these things happened – To fulfill God’s plan to transform the family into a great nation – The fulfillment of the promise that was originally given to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob.

The brothers are still fearful that Joseph still holds a grudge against them, and that he has the power of life and death over them. So, they make up a story about the message their father asked them to deliver to Joseph – To forgive their crime against Joseph. Joseph probably knows that this is just made up, since if Jacob wanted to give him a message, he would have done so directly, and not go through the brothers.

Joseph seems to understand that vengeance is up to God, and not to humans. The phrase he uses in verse 19, “Am I in the place of God?” is reminiscent of what Jacob said to Rachel in Genesis 30. This is when Rachel, being jealous of the fact that Leah had given sons to Jacob, but she had not, demanded that Jacob give her babies. Even though Jacob was the husband, he knew that he could not guarantee that Rachel would become pregnant – Only God could do that. Likewise, Joseph now understands that vengeance is God’s and not his.

Even though all parties must have been aware of God’s promise of a great nation to come from Jacob, none were privy to the details of how this would come to be. So, when God gave the two dreams of power to Joseph, they did not connect this with the Promise of a great nation. Each only were able to look at this from how this would affect them. Joseph was delighted and bragged about it to his family. The brothers did not see any good coming to them from having to bow down to their younger brother, so they decided to get rid of him. Jacob did not quite understand it either and reprimanded Joseph for bragging about the dreams.

Joseph now understands that God’s plan was to put him in power so that the promise of the nation of Israel could continue by keeping Jacob and the rest of the family alive and thriving.

The interesting part about all of this is leading up to this moment, the characters are all acting from a selfish or self-centered point of view. Events just seem to happen that progresses towards the fulfillment of God’s plan. We see that the plan of God was playing out all along. Even though each party was acting as a free agent, they were still serving God’s plan, even if they were not aware of this.

Even those who meant ill to Joseph inadvertently ended up playing roles which forwarded God’s plan — The brothers selling Joseph as a slave and the woman who falsely accused Joseph – They played a role in Joseph getting to Egypt and coming into power.

Throughout the narrative about Joseph, the older brothers of Joseph seem to be limited by their jealousy and guilt. When they hear about the dreams Joseph was given, they are driven by jealousy. After they sell Joseph and lie to their father, their lives are restricted by their guilt. Now that they are left alone with Joseph who has the power of life and death over them, they can only think about their guilt. They understand that a wronged relationship can only be made right if the wronged party is willing to have it so. The only thing that the offending party can do is to ask for forgiveness.

On the other hand, Joseph, who had every reason to be vengeful towards his older brothers, is not focused on their guilt nor revenge. The reason is that Joseph now understands God’s plan, and being part of it is his lot in life – In this case, to make sure that the family is kept safe and can grow into a nation.

We can see that in the background of everyday life, God’s plan for humanity is at work – The one that will culminate in God coming down from heaven to dwell with His people in the new earth forever. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that is the future that awaits us. If we have not, there is still time to do so, but not unlimited time. The Lord could come back at any time, or our earthly lives could come to an end suddenly, and we need to come to faith before either happens.

We can be certain that God is always at work. Sometimes, we may not know how our lives fit into His plans, while at other times He makes it clear what we are to do. While there can be hardships in our day to day lives, we can be assured that the ultimate destiny is a glorious one.

If we have wronged someone, we should ask for forgiveness. If someone has wronged us, we should be like Joseph and be willing to let it go and trust that God’s plan is at work, even if that person meant us harm.

There are a lot of things that can worry us today – The various armed conflicts, extreme weather, earthquakes, social changes, bad behavior being tolerated or even celebrated. Leaders of people leading by bad example instead of good. Hateful speech becoming the norm. But know that God is still working in the background for His ultimate plan.

Since worrying does not solve anything, let us focus on what God would have us do – The big and little assignments we get from God through the Holy Spirit or our church leaders; asking for forgiveness when we wrong people; forgiving those who wrong us; witnessing to others that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

We are in the season of Lent, where we are supposed to focus on the sufferings that Christ went through for us. Like Joseph, Jesus was wronged unjustly. Yet, Jesus was willing to die for the ones who wronged Him so that their sins could be forgiven. As hard as it was for His followers that Jesus was arrested, tortured and was crucified, when Jesus was resurrected, they realized that God was at work all along so His plan to save humanity could move forward.

So, when we are burdened with worry, have faith that even through the hard times, God is still at work. This is the hope that we have in Christ – The hope that we can share with others.

(the above is a summary of the message shared with us by Shun Takano during worship on February 25, 2024.)