The first fourteen verses of Genesis 50 don't strike me much. Israel dies, Joseph has him embalmed and takes him back to the cave near Mamre in Canaan where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are buried. The embalming seems out of keeping with Judiasm, but given the length of the trip, it's probably the only plausible way to do it with a corpse.
Things get more interesting around verse 15, where we see that Joseph's brothers are nervous that maybe now that Dad's gone Joseph is finally going to exact his revenge. So they send him a message that is purportedly from their father that he should forgive them. There's no indication that this is true, but neither that it's a lie. What we're told is that when Joseph gets it, he weeps. His brothers come and prostrate themselves before him; "We are your slaves," they say to him. His response is lovely:
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. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.Before I get to that response, though, it's worth asking why Joseph weeps. I suppose it's because he realizes that, after all the kindness he's shown his brothers, after all the ways he has disclosed his character to them, they still know him no better than to expect retribution from him. This is a sad fact about sin--it breaks relationships. Even though Joseph has forgiven his brothers, their guilty consciences still prevent them from being fully reconciled to the brother they wronged so terribly.
To get back to it, though, Joseph has the attitude that I don't even know I'm good enough to wish I possessed. First off, he recognizes that God alone meets out justice, and it isn't Joseph's place to go seeking it. Furthermore, nothing in what he either says or does indicates that he desires revenge upon his brothers. Rather, he goes beyond mercy to absolute generosity toward the men who sold him into slavery. There is, of course, also the point that Joseph, in this case, is able to see a larger picture of God's plan than many of us are fortunate to glimpse. He sees how his own suffering brought about the salvation of many (gee, foreshadowing much?) and he sees that this plan was good. I pray that I can cling to that wisdom--the wisdom that God's plan is ultimately very, very good--when I'm in the midst of my own struggles.
When Joseph was getting ready to die, he was sure that God would take his brothers to the land He promised to Abraham, and he insisted that when they went, they take his bones with them. So he died, was embalmed, and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Let's note that he was "placed in a coffin" and not "placed in a tomb. His body wasn't interred, it was...well, stuck in a box, and judging by his station, I'd wager a pretty ostentatious box. One commentator points out here that Joesph's coffin must have stood as a monument--a reminder--to God's promise to give the land of Canaan to His people. In fact, we learn in Exodus 13:19 that when the Israelites left Egypt they took Joseph's bones with them. Additionally, in Joshua 24:32 we read: "And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants."
It's worth noting that when the Godly man Joseph comes and Egypt submits to him, the entire nation is saved from the famine. But when another Godly man comes--Moses--and God's words are rejected, the entire nation is nearly destroyed.
Wendy and I will be talking about what to read next in the coming days. I'll be sure to send out an email when we've made a decision. Ashely has suggested a non-gospel New Testament book. I'm open to that--most especially the New Testament part. Feel free to post any other suggestions in the comments.
