Genesis · chapter 50 of 50
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Genesis 50 tells how Joseph mourns Jacob, has him embalmed and takes him to be buried in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan, with a great Egyptian procession. On their return, the brothers fear that Joseph will take revenge, but he comforts them by saying that what they meant for evil, God meant for good. Joseph dies at 110 and asks that his bones be carried to the promised land.
Genesis 49 ended with the death of Jacob. Genesis 50 closes the book with mourning, burial and the last test of reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. It is one of the clearest statements of God's providence in Scripture, and it leaves the people of Israel in Egypt, with the hope of a return that will be fulfilled in Exodus.
Joseph falls on his father's face, kisses him and weeps. He orders the physicians to embalm him, which takes forty days, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days. When the mourning is over, Joseph asks Pharaoh's permission to go up and bury his father in Canaan, as he swore. Pharaoh agrees. A great company goes up with Joseph: Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household and of Egypt, Joseph's family, with chariots and horsemen. Only the children and flocks of Israel stay in Goshen.
They come to the threshing floor of Atad, beyond the Jordan, and hold a very great and solemn lament there for seven days. The Canaanites see it and say it is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians; so the place is called Abel-mizraim. His sons do for him as he had commanded them and bury him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre. Then Joseph returns to Egypt with his brothers and all who went with him.
When their father dies, Joseph's brothers fear that he will hate them and pay them back for all the evil they did him. They send him a message saying that before he died, Jacob commanded that they ask his forgiveness. Then they come and fall down before him, offering themselves as servants. Joseph weeps and tells them not to fear, for he is not in the place of God. They meant evil against him, but God meant it for good, to preserve the lives of many people. He comforts them and speaks kindly to them, promising to provide for them and their little ones.
Joseph lives in Egypt with his father's family, sees Ephraim's children to the third generation and dies at 110. Before dying he tells his brothers that God will visit them and bring them up out of that land to the land he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he makes them swear to carry his bones. Joseph dies, is embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Joseph tells his brothers not to fear, for he is not in the place of God, and that they meant evil against him but God meant it for good, to save many lives. It is the verse that sums up the book: a sovereign God who works even through evil.
Joseph promises to provide for his brothers and their little ones, and comforts them by speaking kindly to them. Joseph's forgiveness is not only the absence of revenge but care and gentle words, a model of the grace God gives.
Joseph tells his brothers that God will visit them and bring them up to the land he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a prophecy that Israel will leave Egypt, and it places the people's hope in God's promise, not in Egypt.
Joseph makes the sons of Israel swear that they will carry his bones up when God visits them. Though he died in Egypt, his hope was in the promised land. Hebrews 11:22 remembers this act as an act of faith.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Forty days to embalm him, and the Egyptians wept seventy days. — Genesis 50:3
Answer: In the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, in Canaan. — Genesis 50:13
Answer: They thought Joseph would hate them and pay them back for all the evil they did him. — Genesis 50:15
Answer: That they need not fear, for he was not in the place of God; they meant evil, but God meant it for good. — Genesis 50:19-20
Answer: 110 years old. — Genesis 50:22, 26
Answer: That when God visited them, they carry his bones up out of Egypt. — Genesis 50:25
Genesis 50 teaches us to look at the past with God's eyes. Joseph does not deny the evil done to him, but affirms that God used it for good. In a Sunday school class, the chapter helps those who suffer recognize that God can work even through what others planned to harm us, without that excusing the harm.
It also teaches us to respond with grace. Joseph comforts his brothers and provides for them. Ask whom you need to tell not to fear, and how you can speak kindly to those who are worried about their past. And remember that, like Joseph, our hope is not in this world but in God's promise.
Genesis 50 closes the book with Joseph dead in Egypt and the people of Israel waiting for God's promise. The book of Exodus will begin with that family grown into a great people, and with a new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph.
It means God is sovereign over evil without being its author, and uses it for his purposes. The brothers were responsible for their sin, and at the same time God used it to save lives. The Bible holds the two truths together.
Because their guilt was still alive and they thought Joseph had held back only out of respect for their father. The text shows that reconciliation needs to be confirmed with words and deeds, and Joseph answers with tenderness.
Because he believed God would keep his promise to bring Israel back to the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Joseph's bones would be a reminder of that hope, and Exodus 13:19 and Joshua 24:32 show that it was fulfilled.