50:15-17
The brothers now wonder what the future held for them, remembering their past evil actions. They thought that maybe Joseph was holding off exercising revenge while Jacob was alive. Now that Jacob was gone would Joseph feel free to vent his wrath? So following in the family tradition of deception, the brothers make up a story that Jacob had told them to say to Joseph to forgive them for their transgressions. No doubt Jacob would have wanted Joseph to forgive them, but he had not said these words. They were afraid to meet Joseph face to face.
50:18-21
They did eventually go to Joseph and fell face down before him. However, their expectations of how things would be had not factored in the grace of God, and the effect that this had had on Joseph. Joseph had learnt from his experiences, his character had been changed. He knew that evil had been done against him, but he also knew that God had been working through it. Without it they would all have been dead. So Joseph focuses on the work that God was doing, on the goodness of God. And it wasn’t just Jacob and his family that were saved, many people in Egypt and beyond were saved. The goodness of God can overcome many sins.
50:22-26
Joseph lived to a fairly old age, though the age of people in the Bible is gradually dropping to what we expect as a norm, and he gets to see his great grandchildren. Joseph seems to be the first of the brothers to die. He leaves instructions for his bones to be carried to Canaan when God comes to rescue them. This instruction was carried out by Moses and Joshua. It is interesting that Joseph did not insist that he be carried to Canaan there and then, like his father. Maybe it just wasn’t practical at the time, or maybe it was a demonstration of his belief that God would come to take them out of Egypt.
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