Genesis 50 Devotional Bible Study

Genesis 50 Chapter Summary

Joseph had Jacob embalmed, which took 40 days. Then Jacob's sons and all the dignitaries of Pharaoh's court accompanied Jacob's body to the Cave of Machpelah and buried him.

After Jacob died, Joseph's brothers were afraid Joseph would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery. They even sent him a message saying that before Jacob died, he had asked Joseph to forgive his brothers. Then they came to him and offered to serve him as slaves.

 

But Joseph said to them, "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good

to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

- Genesis 50:19-20

 

Joseph died at age 110. Before he died, Joseph made his brothers promise to carry his body back to Canaan. When he died, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

 

Who’s in Trouble?

I notice two things in this chapter. First, the brothers get scared that Joseph is going to take revenge on them now that Jacob had died, and they lie to keep themselves out of trouble. We all have that tendency, don’t we? The minute we think we’re in danger of receiving negative consequences, we lie to try to get out of it. I know that’s my first tendency. And then I (often) have to go back and admit the truth because my conscience and the Holy Spirit won’t allow me to continue with the lie.

But these brothers didn’t have to worry, did they? Joseph saw through their lie but instead of punishing them for their past sins like he could have, he acknowledged it wasn’t his place to punish; it was God’s. So, the question is, when a peer sins against you, do you try to punish them, or do you acknowledge that’s not your role and leave it to God?

To summarize, the two challenges for us from this chapter are 1) Admit when you do wrong, and 2) When others do wrong, leave it to God to punish them for it.