What can we learn from the last verses of the last chapter in Genesis?
(A) At the end of Genesis, fear gives way to comfort (Gen 50:15-21)
Gen 50:15 begins with the word "when", reminding us that we need to know the context for what comes next. The following verses need to be understood with the previous events in mind -- namely the death of Jacob, the third participant of the covenant. Now that their father Jacob had died, the brothers were afraid that Joseph would take his revenge revenge because there would be no one to plead for them. In all honesty, they were at the mercy of Joseph, for they were living in Egypt and Joseph was also prime minister of Egypt with power to do anything he wanted to them.
In Gen 50:16-18, we read of how the brothers sent a carefully constructed message to Joseph. They invoked the name of their dead father and implied that it was their father's command to forgive (Gen 50:16). They also invoked the name of God, claiming that they too were the servants of God (Gen 50:17). Notice also the repetition of the word "evil" in Gen 50:15-17. The brothers were fully aware of what they had done to Joseph before, and repeatedly verbalized their guilt. They eventually approached Joseph (Gen 50:18), but fell down before him and proclaimed themselves as his servants. It is not hard to see the complete desperation and utter fear of these guilt-wracked brothers. Gen 50 paints for us a picture of the power of guilt, a guilt that causes us to realise that we are completely at the mercy of someone else with no one to intercede and plead on our behalf.
Careful readers might find it strange that they behaved this way. After all, hadn't the brothers already reconciled with Joseph a few chapters ago? Why were they still full of guilt and unsure about their forgiveness and status with Joseph? Yet, don't we all struggle with such deep setting guilt too? Their guilt and struggle is really a fundamental Christian problem that we all battle! Despite the objective reconciled status we have in Christ, deep inside we still doubt the pure and kind intention of the One who has done the forgiving. Though we sing songs with verses like "I'm forgiven, because You were forsaken", on a functional level we don't really live lives believing that we are truly forgiven! We still run to so many things for our worth. We still work to secure our status with God, afraid that He will get back at us.
Joseph responds carefully to what they say with 3 messages. Firstly, he begins by saying "Do not fear" (Gen 50:19), because he is not God and he is not their judge. He recognised that though they meant to do evil to him, God meant it (evil) for good (Gen 50:20). He ends his words to them with a repetition of assurance ("Do not fear") and guarantees practical steps of provisions for them and their little ones. Each of Joseph's message also has rich lessons for us:
Christians too, like Joseph, knows that we are not God and we do not bring judgment. In the way we proclaim the good news of the gospel, this has to be conveyed. It is not that we as Christians are right and superior, possessors of "absolute truth" to lord it over everyone else and everyone around us is wrong. Rather, we recognise that we all have fallen and are wrong, and there is only One that is right. There is only one judge.
Gen 50:20 is often quoted and has proven a great comfort to many. It does not mean that God calls evil, "good". This verse helps us see that God does allow evil to yield good. This is a difficult thing to understand, but this is the God of the Bible, the God that has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His Word. What do you think of God? If your God can only be praised for good and has nothing to do with evil, this may be a mere caricature and not the real God of the Bible. What is the God you believe in like?
The repetition of "Do not fear" is repeated throughout the rest of the Bible -- whenever angels appear to mortal men, at the birth of Jesus, when Jesus returned from the dead. What comfort and assurance!
Before we move on, it is also important to note the tone that Joseph adopts in his speech. Gen 50:21 tells us that he took pains to comfort them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph was loving, gracious, kind, tender. He was determined to spur them on with kindness, and took great effort to assure them thoroughly. Isn't this a picture of our Saviour?
(B) At the end of Genesis, one generation gives way to another (Gen 50:22-23)
A series of facts are presented between Gen 50:22-23. It is easy to gloss over these verses, but there are some familiar themes in these verses. We see at the end of Genesis how the command of Gen 1:28 is fulfilled and obeyed at the end of the book. The repetition of a mini-genealogy also highlights how this family of promise is moving outward. Joseph repeats the practice of Jacob, taking his grandson and including him as a son instead, and promising an inheritance. The writer of Genesis continues to draw out the theme of "generations" and children at the end of the book. We have seen throughout the past 49 chapters the promise moving from one generation to the next. Gen 50 is no different! And even more startling, though the book ends, the promise has not been fulfilled completely. With the benefit of hindsight, we know that this will not be done until Jesus comes, 38 books later.
What, then, are we to do with this idea of the covenant moving from one generation to another? Ps 78:5-8 were God's Words for the people of Israel:
He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. (Psalm 78:5-8 ESV)
The people were commanded to teach their children so the generation after them might set their hope in God and not forget what He had done for them. It is not hard to see the similarities with another passage in the New Testament, in 2 Tim 2:2:
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2 ESV)
Early on in the Bible in Gen 50:22-23, we are actually given a picture of discipleship! This has been God's modus operandi, His way of working in the world through his people!
(C) At the end of Genesis, death gives way to faith (Gen 50:24-26)
The chapter (and book) closes with Joseph's death. On the occasion of his death, he predicts that God will bring them out of Egypt to the promised land, for they were in the wrong place (Gen 50:24). They were in Egypt, but they were not meant to stay in Egypt.Therefore, like his father, Joseph requests that his bones be brought out when they did leave (Gen 50:25). There is no mistaking his confidence in these verses ("God will surely visit you"). How was he so confident? Simply because God had sworn and promised He would (Gen 50:24)! Because God said it, Joseph believed it.
It might be hard for us to understand this confidence that Joseph had. Many of us today could be skeptical about promises. Maybe people have failed us many time, and maybe we have broken promises too. Perhaps some of us are also afraid of the commitment that comes with promises, because we are afraid of limiting our options and losing our freedom. Interestingly enough, there is a freedom that comes with making a promise. A commitment to be faithful, to stick to the promise leads to a persevering spirit that is not affected by circumstances. This is what we are declaring in marriage covenants -- the pledge to be faithful "in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad and in joy as well as in sorrow", come what may. In the same way, God's promise, God's covenant sealed with Abraham (Gen 15), passed on to Isaac, Jacob and now Joseph is a sign of His commitment, to His people, despite and in spite of their failures, their mistakes and the unfavourable circumstances. Joseph knew this, even right to the end. So Joseph died (Gen 50:26) and the book of Genesis ends.
But that's not all. In the opening verses of Exodus, we see how the promise of a nation of offspring to Abraham had been fulfilled (Exo 1:1-7). But they were still in the wrong place. The people suffered in slavery and cried out to God (Exo 2:23). We are told that God heard and "God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob". He knew them, because He had promised to be faithful to them. God called another man, Moses, to lead His people. Moses was to deliver the people on behalf of the "I AM", "The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (Exo 3:14-17). Finally, after a series of plagues, were the people led out of Egypt (Exo 12:37-42). All in all, they spent 430 years, as was predicted in Gen 15. On that night, "it was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt" (Exo 12:42). God acted to deliver His people, because He said He would, and as He said He would 400 years ago.
What does this mean for us? At the end of Genesis, we see Joseph looking forward to the complete fulfilment of God's promises. Like his fathers, he banked his hopes on something that was yet unseen, something that he only caught glimpses of. The whole of Genesis has revealed to us God's plan of salvation, and we know that it is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. What, then, are you banking your hopes on? What are you doing with your life here on this earth? Will you fight with all of your heart and soul to believe that you are forgiven, that the gospel is good news and is true? Will you fight to ensure that the gospel does not stop with you, but goes from generation to generation?
The whole of Genesis has been a journey of digging into God's revealed Word to discover the precious promises that He has within. The Bible ends with one final, lovely promise of Jesus (Rev 22:20a) -- "Surely I am coming soon." Dear friends, let us not give up and continue fight to believe this promise, today, tomorrow and until it is fulfilled.
"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20b)