Genesis 49:29-50:26 True Reconciliation

Bulletin Questions

Why did Jacob insist on being buried in Canaan? What else stands out about his funeral?

Why were Joseph’s brothers concerned after the death of Jacob?

What do we learn from Joseph’s words “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (verse 20)?

What has changed about this family since Joseph’s dreams in ? Why is this important?

What do we learn from this passage that we can apply to our lives today?

Coming to the End

Read Genesis 49:29-50:26

Illustration on completing a task after a long time

School

College Degree

Books read

Papers written

Tests taken

Facts committed to memory

And then one day you turn in that last assignment and you get your degree

Building a house

Planning

Foundation

Framing

Walls / Electrical / Plumbing / Drywall

All of your fixtures and flooring

Painting

And then one day it’s finished! What a feeling!

Completing our study of Genesis (over 1 year!)

Redemption

What have we learned?

God has a plan to redeem fallen mankind

The blessing was lost

But God has a plan to bless the world

God’s plan to bless the world will be worked out through a specific person (Abraham) and his descendants who will become a great nation (Israel)

Is This a Good Plan?

As we have been studying, we find that this family has its own issues

Consider Abraham and Sarah

They become impatient as they wait and wait

Come up with a plan of their own to help the situation

Results in family turmoil (Sarah and Hagar; Isaac and Ishmael)

Consider Isaac

Showed favoritism to his oldest (Esau)

His wife, Rebekah, favored the younger (Jacob)

Again, family turmoil

Consider Jacob

The fighting and taking advantage of his brother, Esau

The deception of his father

The favoritism shown to his wife Rachel over Leah

The favoritism of Joseph over his other children

More family turmoil

Consider Jacob’s sons

The way they despised their brother Joseph

They were OK with his murder and his sale into slavery

They deceived their father for 20 years about what really happened to Joseph

We see from the text that there was a general lack of trust in this family

Thinking on these things makes s wonder how this is going to work

How can this family bring blessing to the world

They can’t even get along with themselves!

God at Work

As we began our study, one of the things I pointed out was that the hero of these stories is God

It is not Abraham

Nor Isaac

Nor Jacob

The primary purpose of these texts is not to draw our attention to the human figure and say “Be more like…!”

It is to point us to God

It is to teach us of God’s grace towards mankind

The men and women we have studied have proven to be deeply flawed and in need of God’s rescue

Even the men and women God is using to bring blessing to the world

God has to take these flawed and sinful people and work in them through the circumstances to prepare them for his purposes

And that is what he has been doing to Jacob and his sons!

A Reconciled Family

When we first met this family they were a mess

Favoritism

Jealousy / envy

A plan to murder Joseph

The result was great heartache and turmoil

Joseph sold into slavery

Jacob believed his son was dead

Joseph enslaved and later imprisoned (13 years)

The family members do not trust each other

But through it all, God has been working in the lives of these men

Consider what we learn about them in these final verses

Jacob’s request to be buried in Canaan (the Promised Land)

His hope is in the promise of God

Joseph’s forgiveness

After the death of Jacob, the brothers fear that Joseph may be holding a grudge against them

Hebrew - satam (hostility)

Now that Jacob is gone, he would act on it?

This is in contrast to what Joseph had told them in

Genesis 45:5–7 ESV

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

But their fear is not surprising

We are told the same about Esau in

Genesis 27:41 ESV

Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

He was waiting for his father’s death to get vengeance on Jacob

They even sent word that “Your father gave this command before he died...”

Not likely

Surely Jacob would have said it directly to Joseph if this were true

But Joseph is not like Esau

His forgiveness was true

He was even hurt because his brothers were not ready to accept his forgiveness - the reason for his weeping

But why was Joseph ready to forgive?

Notice his statement in

Genesis 50:20 ESV

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

He does not remove the blame from his brothers

As they said, they had done evil to him

They had purposed it for his harm

There was no denying that truth

At the same time, he sees God’s purpose for all that had transpired

God had purposed it for good

Joseph uses the same verb here

Translated “meant”

Other translations: plotted, intended, purposed, calculated

Some like to massage the wording here and say “you meant it, but God used it...”

But Joseph does not say that.

He recognizes the unfolding good plan of God in the evil plans of his brothers.

He has stated this understanding previously in

Genesis 45:5–7 ESV

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

Joseph sees God’s hand in his circumstances, but he does nothing to explain to us how these things fit together.

But what good has come from it?

Joseph tells us that it saved the lives of many

From the famine

It was Joseph’s planning that made that possible

It was God working through Joseph that made this possible

The interpretation of dreams

Giving Joseph the insight on what to do to prepare for the famine

But there was more than just that

Through these circumstances, this family has been changed!

No longer a divided family as in

A united family ready to bring blessing to the world

A family that has already begun to do that through famine relief

But who would be used in an even greater way as Jesus Christ comes into the world

A family that has both given and received forgiveness

Joseph’s request to be buried in Canaan (the Promised Land)

A statement of faith by a man who knew nothing good in Canaan

The best of his life was spent in Egypt

But he is trusting in the promises of God

Blessing to the World

There are multiple things we can learn from this passage

One is that we could focus on how God’s plans and purposes intersect with the planning and purposing of people

We could also focus on how we should think about the seemingly bad things that happen in our lives

But I want to focus on what I believe is the primary focus of this passage: the preparation of God’s people for God’s purpose

Here, we have God’s people, represented by this family, bound together by forgiveness and reconciliation

Ready to bring blessing to the world

I believe this is a picture of how God’s people should look in every age

A lost and sinful people who have been redeemed and prepared by God

Walking together side-by-side in forgiveness

Ready to forgive

Ready to seek forgiveness

Modeling what has been done for us by God’s grace

An Illustration of Lack of Forgiveness and It’s consequences

A young boy in Korea was a houseboy for some American soldiers. Sometimes they thought it was funny to play harmless jokes on him. They would tease him. They would tie his shoe strings together. They would lock him out of the house.

Eventually they realized that their practical jokes were not viewed as funny by the boy so they apologized. He said, “That’s okay, I will stop spitting in your soup now.”

An Illustration of Forgiveness

Dictionary of Christianity and the Bible Death

In September 1955, Nate was joined by his teammates, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian. Saint finally found a Huaorani (also known as Aucas) settlement while searching by air. To reach the tribe, Saint and the team lowered gifts to the Huaorani in a bucket tied to the plane. The Huaorani were widely feared by other Ecuadoreans, because they combined a desire to be left alone with a willingness to use force. They attacked and killed any intruders without provocation. Nevertheless, the tribe was excited on receiving the gifts and gave some gifts back. Finally, the missionaries decided to try to meet the Huaorani on the ground; and, on January 3, 1956, using the beach as a landing strip, they set up camp four miles from the Huaorani settlement. Their initial contact was encouraging; however, on Sunday, January 8, 1956, the entire team was killed on the beach (known as "Palm Beach") when armed Huaorani met and speared them.

Dictionary of Christianity and the Bible Legacy

Rachel Saint, Nate's sister, continued the mission efforts to the Huaorani, which eventually came to fruition.

Dictionary of Christianity and the Bible Legacy

Nate's older son, Steve Saint, now works with the Huaorani people and travels around the world, preaching the gospel, often accompanied by Mincaye, one of the Huaorani who attacked the missionaries at Palm Beach.

And as we live in this way, we are to bring blessing to the world

And as we live in this way, we are to bring blessing to the world

We can do that in many ways

Kind words

Clean water

Hospitals

Schools

Food, shelter, and clothing

But ultimately, we bring Jesus Christ to the world through the preaching of the gospel