Gen 45; 50:15–21 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Judah — the brother who once suggested selling Joseph — stood before Joseph and begged him: “Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave” (Gen 44:33).
In this lesson, Joseph can no longer hold back. This is the last lesson in the Joseph series.
1Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?” His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.
4Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest.
7God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
8So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Joseph tells his brothers to hurry home and bring their father and the whole family down to Egypt, to live in the land of Goshen; there are five more years of famine, and he will provide for them there. (vv. 9–13)
14He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
Pharaoh hears that Joseph’s brothers have come and is pleased. He tells them to take wagons and bring their father and all their households. Joseph gives them wagons, food for the journey, and gifts, as Pharaoh commanded. (vv. 16–23)
24So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”
25They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.
26They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.
27They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.
28Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
To read the whole chapter: Genesis 45, 28 verses. Joseph’s last conversation with his brothers is in Gen 50:15–21.
No one else in the room. Joseph “called out, ‘Cause everyone to go out from me!’” (v. 1). When he makes himself known, it is only him and his brothers. Then “he wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard” (v. 2). In front of his brothers, he is no longer just the ruler of Egypt.
I am Joseph. His first words are, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?” (v. 3). His brothers “couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence” (v. 3). Joseph says it again: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt” (v. 4). He does not step around what happened. He says it out loud.
God sent me. Right after that, Joseph says, “God sent me before you to preserve life” (v. 5). He says it twice more, the last time like this: “So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God” (v. 8). Joseph is not saying ‘you never sold me.’ He is saying that above their buying and selling, there was God’s sending.
Finally they talk. In Lesson 1, the brothers hated him and “couldn’t speak peaceably to him” (Gen 37:4). In this chapter, Joseph weeps over them, and “after that his brothers talked with him” (v. 15). From not speaking to speaking — the story has come a long way. As he sends them home, Joseph adds one more thing: “See that you don’t quarrel on the way” (v. 24).
The wagons. When Jacob hears that Joseph is alive, at first “his heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them” (v. 26). But “when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived” (v. 27). In Lesson 1, his sons sent back a coat dipped in blood, and Jacob “refused to be comforted” (Gen 37:35). This time, what comes back is wagons, and the news of a son who is alive.
Two meanings. After their father dies, the brothers are afraid again: “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him” (Gen 50:15). When their message reaches him, “Joseph wept when they spoke to him” (Gen 50:17). He tells them, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive” (Gen 50:20). Both halves are true. Joseph does not say ‘you didn’t really hurt me.’ He says, “you meant evil against me” (Gen 50:20). Evil is evil. God’s meaning does not turn evil into something that is not evil; God brings about good over and above what people meant for evil.
Why he does not take revenge. Joseph says, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?” (Gen 50:19), and “I will provide for you and your little ones” (Gen 50:21). He does not take revenge — not because the harm was nothing, but because judging them is not his place. The passage ends by saying that “he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them” (Gen 50:21).
God had told Abraham, “Your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them” (Gen 15:13). Now Jacob’s whole family is going down to Egypt, to live in the land of Goshen (Gen 45:10).
This family survives the famine because of a brother they once sold. God’s promise to this family did not fall to the ground because of the family’s hatred.
Seven lessons: The Coat, He Refused, Forgotten, Overnight, Recognized, In His Place, God Meant It for Good. From the pit to the prison, from being forgotten to becoming ruler overnight, to the day the brothers finally talked with him. This story seldom tells us what God said, yet it keeps writing, “the LORD was with Joseph” (Gen 39:21).
If you are living inside some harm right now, this lesson is not asking you to say right away, ‘It’s all good.’ Joseph himself wept many times. “You meant evil against me” (Gen 50:20) is true. “God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20) is also true. You can begin by honestly admitting the first, and wait for God, slowly, to let you see the second.
This week: Write down one thing that still grieves you today. Under it, write one sentence of prayer, handing it to God. There is no need to rush to write down its ‘good side.’
As he was dying, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (Gen 50:24). He made the children of Israel take an oath: “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here” (Gen 50:25).
The New Testament book of Hebrews records: “By faith Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones” (Heb 11:22).
When Hebrews puts Joseph on its list of faith, what it records is not that he became ruler of Egypt, but that at the end of his life he was still looking to God’s promise. Later, “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him” (Exod 13:19). Readers can set these verses side by side and see for themselves.
Scripture: World English Bible.