Genesis 50:15-21: Joseph Forgives His Brothers
Bible Essentials: Set 3, Lesson 32
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Opening
Individuals: Take time to think back about your past week. Where have you seen God work in your life or answer prayer? Write down any prayer requests you have.
Group: Open the study by sharing life updates, reviewing highs and lows of your past week, or sharing prayer requests and praises.
Icebreaker: What is the biggest thing that you’ve ever had to forgive? That you’ve had to be forgiven for?
All: Begin the study with a word of prayer, asking God to open your heart for today’s study. You can also pray for any prayer requests now, or save that for the end.
Study
Read today’s passage: Genesis 50:15-21.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
What is the context for this passage?
When we last left Joseph, he had been reunited with his father, Jacob. Since then, Jacob and his family settled in Goshen where they could continue to raise their livestock. Not only that, they were put in charge of Pharaoh’s livestock. They also acquired land there and began to increase in number.
As the years of the famine went on, the people of Egypt and surrounding area became more and more desperate. First, they bought food from Pharaoh for money. Then they paid in livestock. Then they paid in land. Finally, the people of Egypt themselves became slaves to Pharaoh. Joseph set up a crop share plan, where the people would plant their fields and then give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. Because of Joseph’s planning and wisdom, not only did the people of Egypt survive the famine, Pharaoh became very wealthy.
After 17 years of living in Egypt, Jacob started to prepare for his death. He gathered Joseph to himself and gave him one final request: that he be buried with his fathers rather than in Egypt. Joseph promised to do this. Jacob then blessed Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s sons, and made them like his own sons. Jacob also blessed his own sons. When he was finished, he breathed his last and died. Joseph had Jacob embalmed, and all of Egypt mourned him for 70 days. Joseph then requested that he be given time to go bury his father, and Pharaoh gave him permission. All of Pharaoh’s officials along with all of Jacob’s family went along. Once Jacob was buried, they all returned to Egypt. This is where we start today’s passage.
Read the passage again.
Explore a different version if you have one available. If you are online, here is Genesis 50 in NIV through Bible Gateway. You can change the version by using the dropdown menu at the top right of the page.
Try to summarize the passage in your own words.
Answer these three questions about the passage:
1. What does the passage say about God?
God often works in ways that we don’t understand at first. Even though they followed God, Joseph’s brothers didn’t really see the big picture of God at work. The brothers intended to harm Joseph when they sold him into slavery, but God used that act for good.
2. What does the passage say about people?
People who have wronged others often fear that the person will hold a grudge. After their father died, Joseph’s brothers began to fear that Joseph would hold a grudge for what they had done to him. When we’ve wronged another person, we never can tell how the other person will react, even many years later.
People who have been wronged often hold a grudge and want to get revenge. Joseph’s brothers’ fear was well founded. It’s very common for people who have been wronged to hold a grudge and want revenge, even many years later. But they had not accounted for the work that God had done in Joseph’s heart.
People who are afraid try to protect themselves. In their fear, Joseph’s brothers approached Joseph with a plea: Forgive us. They say this instruction came from their father, although that is never recorded in the Bible. It’s possible they just wanted to protect themselves from Joseph’s potential revenge. They knew he had the power to do whatever he wanted with them.
People who have wronged others can ask for forgiveness. Whether the instruction to forgive came from Jacob or not, Joseph’s brothers did approach him to ask for forgiveness. They recognized that they had wronged him all those years ago, and they had been convicted of their wrongdoing. In fear and humility, they approached Joseph to ask for forgiveness.
People who follow God have a forgiving spirit. Joseph was a man who followed God, and he had developed a spirit that was like God’s—forgiving. When his brothers approached him to ask for forgiveness, Joseph forgave them quickly and willingly.
People who follow God can see God’s plan at work. As a man who followed God, Joseph was able to see God at work in his life. He knew that all the hardships that we went through—from slavery to prison—were all part of God’s plan to save lives. He held no regrets or grudges because he knew he was being used by God.
People who follow God are kind to others, even those who have wronged them. When Joseph forgave his brothers, he followed that with kindness. He didn’t have harsh words for them or push them away. He reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
3. What does the passage say about God’s plan?
God’s plan was to save many lives through Joseph. When Joseph was sold into slavery, God saw the big picture. His plan was to use Joseph to save lives during the famine, including the lives of his own family and God’s chosen people.
How does the passage fit into the overarching story of the Bible?
Sometimes it’s easier to understand a passage if you have a little outside knowledge from other passages in the Bible. This section will help provide that outside perspective.
Forgiveness. What a beautiful theme in the Bible—perhaps the most important theme other than the general character of God. As humans, we have all sinned. We all are under condemnation. Although we can sin against other humans, our greatest sin is against God. He is ultimately the one who has the power to punish sin forever, and we have all sinned against God. There’s nothing we can do to atone for our sin on our own. Yet God made a way.
In his mighty plan, God found the one and only way that sin could be atoned for—the perfect sacrifice for all sin. This sacrifice was his Son, Jesus. Jesus, one part of the Trinity, God himself, came down to earth to live as a human. He lived a perfect life without any sin, which qualified him to be the perfect sacrifice. He died a horrible death on a cross to pay the penalty for sin once and for all.
How should we respond to this sacrifice on our behalf? If we want to receive God’s forgiveness, all we have to do is believe that Jesus died and paid the penalty for sin on our behalf, and then rose again to conquer sin and death for all eternity. We have to confess our sins and repent of them, turning away from sin to follow God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Just like Joseph forgave his brothers, God will forgive us if we confess our sins to him.
How will you respond to Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf? Will you believe in him and confess your sins to receive forgiveness and eternal life? Or will you turn your back and walk away? I hope you choose forgiveness.
Discussion
Individual: Answer the following questions thoughtfully for yourself.
Group: Pose these questions for discussion.
All: If you are willing to share, I’d love to hear your thoughts to these questions. Feel free to use the comment section to start a discussion about this passage.
What else strikes you about this passage?
How does the passage affect how you view God? How you view yourself?
How does this passage affect how you will live your life?
Additional Study
For additional study related to this topic, read the verse list that goes with the God is Forgiving study in the Characteristics of God series.
Premium Resources
For Bible Essential studies, you can use my thoughts as your devotional, or you can download and use the journaling sheet to work through the passage on your own. If desired, you can then compare your thoughts to mine. Journal sheets can be downloaded and used now or later. They can be printed and filled in by hand or saved and filled out electronically. Journal sheets are available for individual or group use.
If you plan to lead a group study, a PowerPoint presentation is also available.
You can access these resources by clicking here: Genesis 50 Resources
Or you can download the journal sheets here*:
*Substack doesn’t support PowerPoint file downloads yet, so if you want to access the PowerPoint file for group study, you will need to download it from the resource page linked above.