Genesis

Genesis 50: God keeps His promise through death

Begin in prayer

Before we reach the end of Genesis, let us come to the God whose good purpose and sworn promise outlast His servants. Please ask Him to show us Jesus, who died and rose to give forgiveness and lasting hope to everyone who trusts Him.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

Psalm 16:9

Father, please help us understand Your good purpose and the promise Joseph trusted as he faced death. Open our eyes to Jesus and the hope of His resurrection. Make us more like Him, honest about sin and merciful toward those who wrong us. Please bless our family with faith in Christ, comfort in grief and trust in Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Joseph mourns Jacob, has him embalmed and obtains Pharaoh's leave to keep the oath to bury his father in Canaan. The family and a large Egyptian company lament at Atad, then the sons bury Jacob at Machpelah and return to Egypt. The brothers fear revenge after Jacob's death, admit their sin and ask forgiveness, sending a plea in their father's name. Joseph weeps and refuses God's place, declaring that they intended evil while God intended good to preserve many lives. He comforts them with kind words and promises food for them and their children. After seeing later generations, Joseph faces death trusting God's promised visit and requires an oath to carry his bones to the fathers' land. He dies at one hundred ten, is embalmed and lies in a coffin in Egypt while the promise remains ahead.

As you read Genesis 50, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God intends good through human evil and keeps His sworn promise beyond the deaths of His servants.

Joseph weeps over Jacob, has physicians embalm him and seeks Pharaoh's leave to keep his burial oath after the days of mourning. Embalming takes forty days and the Egyptians mourn seventy, while the later procession laments at Atad, where Joseph mourns seven days. The sons bury Jacob in Abraham's purchased cave at Machpelah, then return to Egypt, where the family's promised departure still lies ahead. After their father's death the brothers fear revenge and send a plea in Jacob's name, admitting their sin and asking Joseph to forgive. Joseph weeps and refuses God's place, naming their intended evil and God's intended good in the same deed, to preserve lives. He promises food for them and their children and speaks kindly, answering their fear with continued care rather than revenge. Joseph sees later generations, yet at death directs the family beyond his provision to God's certain visit and the land sworn to the fathers. His oath concerning his bones expresses faith, and he dies in Egypt with God's promise still ahead (Hebrews 11 verse 22). God visits and redeems His people through Christ, remembering His covenant and oath to Abraham (Luke 1 verses 68 and 72 to 73).

How does Genesis 50 show us that God intends good through human evil and keeps His sworn promise beyond the deaths of His servants?

God's faithful care gives room for grief and a kept promise.

Joseph weeps and kisses his father, then arranges embalming and asks leave to keep the oath concerning burial in Canaan. The family and Egyptian company mourn, and Jacob's sons carry him to the cave their father named before returning to Egypt. Their grief and obedience stand together while God's promise of the land remains before them.

God's good purpose holds without excusing the brothers' evil.

The brothers fear revenge after Jacob's death, admit their sin and ask forgiveness, bringing a message they attribute to their father. Joseph asks whether he is in God's place and says they intended evil while God intended good to preserve many lives. The same deed has different purposes, so God's saving work gives no excuse for the wrong they chose.

God's mercy leads Joseph to give care instead of revenge.

Joseph tells the brothers not to fear and promises to nourish them and their little ones. He comforts them and speaks kindly, continuing the provision he has given through the years. His words leave judgment with God while giving help to those who wronged him.

God's sworn promise outlasts the servant who has fed the family.

Joseph knows he is dying, yet says God will surely visit the family and bring them to the fathers' land. His oath concerning his bones rests on that promised departure, and Hebrews calls his instruction faith (Hebrews 11 verse 22). The book ends with his coffin in Egypt, leaving the family dependent on the living God who keeps His word.

Memorise

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.

Genesis 50:20

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what excused wrong or desire for revenge do I need Jesus to forgive and change?

Joseph names his brothers' evil and says, “God meant it for good”. Their wrong has not become harmless, yet God's purpose has preserved many lives. Joseph comforts them and promises food, then later faces his own death with confidence that God will visit His people. His coffin remains in Egypt while God's sworn promise stands.

In Jesus, God has visited and redeemed His people, remembering His covenant and oath (Luke 1 verses 68 and 72 to 73). Christ willingly bore His people's sins and endured God's just punishment in their place on the cross. His sacrifice fully settled their debt. He rose from the dead, and His finished work is enough to forgive every sinner who trusts Him and give them life beyond death.

Please turn from excusing your own evil or keeping revenge ready for someone else, and trust Jesus Christ. Everyone who repents and believes in Him receives forgiveness and eternal life. If you belong to Him, bring Him your grief, keep the promise before you and speak kindly where you have wanted repayment. The living Savior will raise His people and keep every word of His promise.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God intended good without making the brothers' evil right, and His promise remained after Jacob and Joseph died. Christ bore His people's judgment and rose, so call each child to repent and trust Him for forgiveness and life beyond death. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Pray that God would give them new hearts that trust His promise and seek mercy instead of revenge.

Pray together

Please confess the wrong or revenge named in the heart question and seek forgiveness through Jesus. Thank God for His good purpose, faithful promise and the hope Christ's resurrection gives believers. Invite each child to pray if they want to, asking mercy, comfort in grief or help to show kindness.

But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

1 Corinthians 15:54

Father, thank You for Your faithful promise and for Jesus, who died and rose to save His people. Please forgive the evil we excuse and the revenge we keep ready. Draw us to Your Son with repentant hearts and faith that rests on His completed sacrifice. Comfort those who grieve, teach us kindness and keep our hope in the Savior who will raise His people. Amen.