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Genesis 50
September 20, 2004
Reading through the
Bible in one Year: 2 Chronicles 1-5, Psalm 111-113, Proverbs 25
Weekly Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15
Good Evening Brothers
and Sisters,
I missed emailing out
the study for a few days, I apologize for that. We were moving to a new
place, and time got away. The Forty days of Purpose is starting on the
25th, please keep praying at 9pm for its success in our group. Let me know
if you need a copy of the book, when we start it, we will be working from
that book. We have had a firm offer on our house, plans are going forward.
I also heard about two tragedies that happened, one over the weekend, and
one a while ago, please read the prayer list.
Genesis 50:1-22 (NASB95)
1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and
kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to
embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Now forty
days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming.
And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. 4 When the days of
mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh,
saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh,
saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about
to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you
shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then
I will return.’ ” 6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as
he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father, and
with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household
and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 and all the household
of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their
little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. 9
There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a
very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of
Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and
sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days mourning for his father.
11 Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the
mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous
mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is
beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had charged
them; 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and
buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham
had bought along with the field for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he
and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
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!” 16 So they sent a message
to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, 17
‘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. 18 Then his
brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your
servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am
I in God’s place? 20 “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. 21 “So therefore, do not be
afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them
and spoke kindly to them. 22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and
his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
[1]
In closing out
Genesis, we saw the death of Jacob in the last chapter. In this one, we see
the results of that death. Please consider that Joseph was a slave when he
went to Egypt, but no longer appears to be a slave. He has earned his
freedom by the mercy of God, and by the merit of his work.
It is intriguing that
the brothers still did not trust Joseph, even though all of them were in
their late to early 60's or better by this time, (my estimate). The point
being that they were old men, beyond the time where you would think that
they would have buried the hatchets and learned to trust Joseph.
Joseph displays a
heart of gold in his reaction to them. He is genuinely hurt by their
statement, and called the statement correctly. He knew that they had made
up the statement that was not from their father, but was from their own
paranoid hearts.
I sincerely believe
that a liar will figure that all men are liars. A thief will figure that
all men want to steal his goods. All of us will figure that everyone else
is just like us in our sin, whatever it may be. I am not sure where this
comes from unless it is from the selfishness of our hearts and the thought
that we are so important that everyone must be just like us. This has been
something that has caused me to wonder over the years, why do people read
their faults into other people? Is it a mirror of their sin, and a guilty
conscience showing through, or is it a characteristic of the way that man is
put together?
Look at Joseph's
response, he had totally forgiven them. Not only had he totally forgiven
them, he had come to recognize that God was working through his life and had
meant it for good. God did not just save Jacobs family though, He had saved
the entire known world at the time.
Joseph lived a long
life, but not as long as his fathers. He also wanted to make sure that his
bones were not buried in Egypt. Doesn't it make you wonder why Joseph did
not tell them to take his bones to bury them as Jacob had? He seemed to
know that Israel would not be allowed to leave with his body to bury it.
God had brought Israel to Egypt and they were not going to be allowed to
leave for four hundred years. Joseph seemed to know this, in a round about
way.
In closing out the
book of Genesis, it was an interesting book. It was also a book that is
foundational to understanding the rest of the Bible. We ran through it
rather quickly, and a lot was left that was not addressed. In the future,
perhaps we will be able to go over it like we did with Romans, and break it
down verse by verse. I hope to learn Hebrew by then so that I can dig into
the original languages.
Let me know how you
viewed the book study that we did on Genesis. I am open to suggestions on
how that we can improve this type of study in the future. Once we finish
the Forty days of purpose, I am hoping to either continue in Exodus, or to
take on a smaller book in the Old Testament, such as a poetry or prophecy
book. On Tuesday we will start the book of Titus and take it through the
end of the week when we start the Forty days of purpose. I would strongly
recommend that you purchase the book, or get with me and I will help you get
a free copy. I was not given permission to reproduce the material, and
don't intend to re-invent the wheel. We'll take the study day by day and
see how it works. I hope to see many of you at Starbucks over the next few
weeks as the Forty days plays out. I will email the times when I will be
there. I may also meet at Yermo, let me know if you are interested.
Father, as we close
out Genesis, I pray that each of us will reflect on our own lives,
considering our attitudes toward You and toward Your will in our lives.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation.
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