Sermon Tone Analysis

Thursday April 26, 2007

Genesis: Genesis 50:15-21-Joseph Reassures His Brothers He Will Not Seek Revenge

Lesson # 320

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 50:15.

This evening we will continue with our study of the fiftieth and final chapter of the book of Genesis.

The chapter is divided into three sections: (1) Joseph buries Jacob in the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 50:1-14).

(2) Joseph assures his brothers that he won’t seek revenge upon them (Genesis 50:15-21).

(3) Conclusion of Joseph’s life, his last words and death (Genesis 50:22-26).

Last evening we noted the first section, which is divided into four sections: (1) Joseph grieves for his father (Genesis 50:1).

(2) Jacob is embalmed and mourned (Genesis 50:2-3).

(3) Pharaoh grants Joseph permission to bury his father in Canaan (Genesis 50:4-6).

(4) Jacob is buried at the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 50:7-14).

This evening we will note the second section in Genesis 50:15-21, which records after Jacob’s death, Joseph assuring his brothers that he won’t seek revenge upon them.

This scene is the climax to the story of Joseph and his brothers for in it we see the tension between him and his brothers finally resolved.

Joseph had demonstrated through his words and actions in Genesis 45 that he had forgiven his brothers for selling him into slavery in Egypt.

However, although they had admitted their guilt to God according to Genesis 44:14-17, they had never asked for forgiveness from Joseph himself nor offered an apology to him.

Therefore, we see that now that their father is dead, their guilt feelings caused them to live in fear of Joseph who was the prime minister of Egypt.

Genesis 50:15, “When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!’”

This statement by Joseph’s brothers indicates that they apparently concluded that Joseph had treated them so well only for their father’s sake.

They believed that Joseph would take his revenge upon them now that their father was dead.

Their statement also reveals they with exception of Benjamin of course, still felt guilty for their past treatment of Joseph when he was seventeen years of age and attempted to kill him and then finally decided to sell him into slavery in Egypt for twenty pieces of silver.

Their sense of guilt was so strong that they could not really believe that Joseph had indeed forgiven them.

Joseph’s brothers had acknowledged their guilt to God regarding their ill treatment of Joseph in the past according to Genesis 44:14-17 and demonstrated through their conduct that they had repented of their actions but they had never admitted their guilt to Joseph.

“What if” is the conditional particle lu’ (aWl) (loo), which introduces the protasis of a 1st class condition, which indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.

A conditional sentence has an “if” part and a “then” part.

The “if” introduces the “protasis” and “then” introduces the “apodasis.”

Often, the “protasis” often introduces the “cause” and the “apodasis” the “effect.”

In Genesis 50:15, the conditional particle lu’ is introducing the protasis but the apodasis is not stated due to the figure of “aposiopesis.”

“Aposiopesis” (apo-si-o-pee-sis) is the Greek word aposiopesis, which means, “becoming silent,” from aposiopao, “to be silent after speaking, to keep silence, observe a deliberate silence.”

The name of this figure of speech may be represented in English by the expression “sudden-silence.”

It is the sudden breaking off of what is being said or written so that the mind may be the more impressed by what is too wonderful or solemn or awful for words.

In Genesis 50:15, the figure of “aposiopesis” with the apodasis of the first class condition not stated makes the fear of Joseph’s brothers appear all the more real.

This figure expresses that in their imagination there was no telling what Joseph might do to them.

Genesis 50:16-17, “So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.’

And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’

And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”

Joseph’s brothers do not speak directly to him begging his forgiveness but rather send a messenger in order to avoid a confrontation with Joseph because they fear that Joseph will kill them in retaliation for selling him into slavery.

The statement “Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sins for they did you wrong’” is a reference to selling Joseph into slavery when he was seventeen years of age as recorded in Genesis 37.

It is also a lie since the narrator does not connect their claim to historical fact and was spoken in fear that Joseph would take his revenge upon them for what they did to him when he was seventeen years of age.

If Jacob had really known the fact of Joseph’s kidnapping and sale into slavery, he would undoubtedly have made a clear reference to it in his final words to his sons.

The expression “the servants of the God of your father” indicates that Joseph’s brothers do not appeal to him on the basis that they are brothers but rather they appeal to his love and respect for their father and to the God who united them all.

Joseph weeps in response to his brothers’ request for forgiveness since they still misunderstood his magnanimity towards them when he forgave them upon revealing his identity after seventeen years in Egypt.

Joseph forgave them unconditionally since he knew that their cruel treatment of him was a part of God’s plan.

Joseph had the capacity to forgive his brothers because he knew that it was a part of God’s plan from eternity past that he would be sold into slavery by his brothers in order that he might be used by God to deliver their family from famine (See Genesis 45:1-7).

Genesis 50:18, “Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’”

When the brothers learn from the messengers of Joseph’s emotional reaction to their request for forgiveness, they feel free to approach him.

Once they have come into Joseph’s presence they fall down at his feet offering themselves as his servants, which was a fulfillment of the third and final stage of Joseph’s dream/prophecy that is recorded in Genesis 37:5-11.

Genesis 50:19, “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place?’”

Notice that he directs attention away to himself and to God who is sovereign and who ruled the personal history of his father, himself and his brothers.

Joseph’s response to his brothers’ offer was to reassure them that he would not harm them for selling him into slavery in Egypt as indicated by his statement “do not be afraid.”

His rhetorical question, “for am I in God’s place?” demands a negative response and indicates that his brothers viewed him as indeed being in the place of God.

However, they failed to realize that Joseph was a servant of God and God’s instrument and was not their judge.

Joseph’s rhetorical question reveals that he understood the limits of his authority given to him by God.

He understood and practiced the spiritual principle taught by Paul in Romans 12.

Romans 12:17, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.

Respect what is right in the sight of all men.”

Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”

Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.”

Romans 12:20, “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”

Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

When we try to exact revenge or get even we do not leave room for God to deal with the situation.

Genesis 50:20-21, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’

So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Joseph’s statement “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” means that the sale of Joseph into slavery in Egypt by his brothers was figured by God into His plan from eternity past, which is called “the divine decree.”

God had figured into the divine decree so as to fulfill His sovereign will and thus to bring glory to Himself through Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.

The divine decree is the eternal plan by which God has rendered certain all the events of the universe, including both angelic and human history-past, present and future and so therefore, God rendered certain to take place that Joseph’s brothers would sell him into slavery in Egypt and it was thus a part of God’s plan.

God’s decree rendered all things as certain to occur and He decided that they would exist and so therefore, God rendered certain to occur that Joseph’s brothers would sell him into slavery in Egypt and God decided that these things would exist.

The divine decree took place in eternity past before anything was ever created and is God’s eternal and immutable will.

Therefore, it was a part of God’s plan from eternity past that Joseph would be sold into slavery by his brothers.

The “providence” of God is the divine outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory and expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but by God.

Therefore, the fact that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt did not happen by chance or fate but because God ordained for it to take place in order to fulfill His plan for Jacob’s family and to bring glory to Himself.

The decree of God is the chosen and adopted plan of all God’s works and so it was a part of God’s chosen and adopted plan that Joseph’s brothers would sell him into slavery in Egypt so that he might be the instrument God would use to deliver his family from famine as well as the entire world.

The decree of God is His eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.

Therefore, it was part of God’s eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will for His own glory that Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery so that he might be the instrument God would use to deliver his family from famine.

The decree of God is the sovereign choice of the divine will (His sovereignty) and mentality (His omniscience) by which all things are brought into being and controlled, made subject to His pleasure, and producing His glorification.

Therefore, the fact that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers was the result of God’s sovereign will and omniscience by which this event was brought into being and was controlled and made subject to God’s pleasure and glorified Him.

The “decree of God” is His eternal, holy, wise and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, courses, conditions, successions, and relations and determining their certain futurition (i.e., that they will certainly take place).

When I say “comprehending” I mean that the omniscience of God is the source of the divine decrees by “determining” I mean that the sovereignty of God chose before anything existed which things would actually become historical events.

Therefore, the omniscience of God comprehended at once in eternity past that Joseph’s brothers would sell him into slavery.

God also comprehended at once in eternity past the course that these events would take and their conditions and relations and determined that these events would take place.

Therefore, the selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt by his brothers was sovereignly determined by God to take place and was known by God in eternity past before anything was created.

The decree of God is His eternal and immutable will regarding the future existence of events, which will happen in time and regarding the precise order and manner of their occurrence.

Therefore, it was God’s eternal and immutable will that Joseph’s brothers would sell him into slavery and that he would end up in Egypt and God decreed that these events would take place in time and the precise order of events leading up to these events and the manner in which these events would transpire.

The will of God in common usage refers to what God desires of an individual or group in a particular situation and in relation to the divine decree refers to the decision God made in eternity past, from His attribute of sovereignty, which established that certain things would actually come into being while other things would not.

The will of God is His sovereign choice as to what will take place in time.

God from His sovereignty decided in eternity past that Joseph would be sold into slavery by them and end up in Egypt and He decided that these events would take place in the exact time that they did.

God in eternity past decreed that angels and human beings would have volition and would be allowed to make decisions contrary to His sovereign will and without compromising His justice.

In giving angels and men volition, God decreed that their decisions, whatever they might be, would certainly take place-even those that are contrary to His desires.

Therefore, God decreed that the decisions of Joseph’s brothers, Joseph and Jacob himself would all take place in time and even those by Joseph’s brothers, which were contrary to His desires.

Being omniscient, God had the good sense to know ahead of time what men and angels would decide, and He not only decreed that those decisions would exist but He also decreed the exact manner, consistent with His integrity, in which He would handle their decisions.

Since God is omniscient He knew ahead of time the decisions that Joseph’s brothers would make and decreed that those decisions would exist and He also decreed the exact manner in which He would handle their decisions.

Therefore, Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers was a part of God’s sovereign will that is based upon His omniscient knowledge of all the facts concerning what will take place in the future.

The Lord knows perfectly, eternally and simultaneously all that is knowable, both the actual and the possible and thus has all knowledge of every event in human and angelic history.

Therefore, the Lord looked down the corridors of time and decreed to take place Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.

The selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt by his brothers was figured into the divine decree and was a part of the providence of God, which is the outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory.

God used the sale of Joseph into slavery in Egypt to deliver not only the Egyptians but also Joseph’s family and the entire world from starvation, which glorified God in that it manifested God’s power and love for all men.

If Joseph doesn’t get sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, he never ends up with Potiphar and if he never ends up with Potiphar in Egypt, then he would never have met Pharaoh’s cupbearer.

If Joseph does not meet Pharaoh’s cupbearer, then he never meets Pharaoh and if he never meets Pharaoh, then Joseph will never be able to interpret the dreams God gave Pharaoh, which predicted the impending seven year famine.

If he does not interpret these dreams of Pharaoh, then he will not be able to give Pharaoh the contingency plan to deal with this impending disaster and if so, then Pharaoh would have no one in his kingdom to administrate the nation of Egypt during the seven years of plenty and famine.