Genesis · Pentateuch (Law)

Genesis 50

Jacob is buried in Canaan, and Joseph dies in Egypt, leaving his family with the promise that God will bring them home.

c. 1859-1805 BCKey verses Genesis 50:15, 50:19-21, 50:24-26Read Genesis 50 in the ESVopens BibleGateway
Haran, about 1,250 ftAbram’s road from Haran into Canaan (Genesis 12:4-6), about 420 milesShechem, about 1,900 ft

50:20

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Genesis 50:20, ESV

The chapter at a glance

  1. 1–3Jacob mournedEmbalmed in Egypt, mourned seventy days
  2. 4–14Burial at MachpelahEgypt’s honor, Canaan’s grave
  3. 15–18The brothers’ fearForgiven men still afraid
  4. 19–21“God meant it for good”Not in the place of God
  5. 22–26Joseph’s last wordsGod will surely visit you

The chapter in brief

Joseph falls on his father’s face and weeps, then has the physicians embalm him over forty days, and Egypt weeps for him seventy days. With Pharaoh’s leave a very great company, Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of Egypt, chariots and horsemen, goes up with Joseph and his brothers to Canaan. At the threshing floor of Atad they mourn seven days, so that the Canaanites name the place Abel-mizraim, and Jacob’s sons bury him in the cave of Machpelah. Back in Egypt the brothers fear that Joseph will now pay them back. They send word that their father commanded him to forgive them, then come and fall down before him as his servants. Joseph weeps and answers, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?” What they meant for evil, God meant for good, to keep many people alive, and he promises to provide for them and their little ones. Joseph lives to 110 and sees Ephraim’s children of the third generation. Before he dies he tells his brothers, “God will surely visit you,” and makes them swear to carry his bones up from Egypt. He dies, is embalmed, and is put “in a coffin in Egypt.”

Genesis ends with one sentence that interprets the whole Joseph story and much of the book: “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Both intentions were real. The brothers’ guilt is not cancelled by God’s purpose, and God’s purpose is not defeated by their guilt. This is the shape of the cross itself, where lawless men did the worst deed in history and God, by His definite plan, made it the salvation of many (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). And the book that opened with life in a garden closes with a coffin in Egypt, but it is a coffin waiting for an exodus. Joseph’s bones are a pledge that God will visit His people and bring them home (Hebrews 11:22). The God who kept that promise (Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32) kept the greater one by raising His Son from the dead, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Points for discussion

vv. 1–3

Embalmed and mourned

Joseph’s grief is physical and unhurried: he falls on his father’s face and weeps. The embalming is Egyptian practice, used here to carry the body home, and Egypt’s seventy days of mourning give Jacob nearly royal honor. Nothing in the text rebukes the tears. Believers grieve, though not “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

vv. 4–14

A grave in Canaan

The funeral is a great procession out of Egypt and up to Canaan, with chariots and horsemen. Many readers note how it previews the exodus. “Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen” (v. 8), and a later Pharaoh will try to keep exactly those behind (Exodus 10:9-11, 24). The Canaanites name the place “the mourning of Egypt,” Abel-mizraim. Then the sons do what their father asked, and the promise of the land is held, for now, in a single cave bought by Abraham.

vv. 15–18

Forgiven, and still afraid

About seventeen years after Joseph’s forgiveness in chapter 45, the brothers still fear him. Their message cites a command from Jacob that the text does not record elsewhere. Some readers suspect they invented it out of fear; others think Jacob may well have said it. The text does not say, and the point holds either way: they had never quite believed they were forgiven. Joseph weeps when he hears it. Their plea, “please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father” (v. 17), is the first time they ask in so many words.

vv. 19–21

“God meant it for good”

“Am I in the place of God?” Joseph refuses the judge’s seat. Vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19), and so does the final verdict on what his brothers did. The Hebrew verb chashav, “meant” or “planned,” is used twice in verse 20: two plans, one event. Joseph still calls their act evil. God’s good purpose did not turn it into good; it overruled it. Then Joseph “comforted them and spoke kindly to them,” literally spoke to their hearts. A word of care: this verse is not a slogan to press on someone in fresh grief; Joseph saw it only after many years and many tears. It never makes evil good, it gives a wrongdoer no excuse, and it gives no one the right to tell the person they harmed that “God meant it.” Nor does God’s bringing good out of evil ever require a victim to return to harm.

For discussion

Acts 2:23 sets God’s “definite plan” beside the guilt of “lawless men” at the cross. How does that help us hold Genesis 50:20 rightly, and when is it wise or unwise to say this verse to someone who is suffering?

vv. 22–26

“God will surely visit you”

Joseph lives to 110 and sees great-grandchildren. His last words are about the future: “God will visit you and bring you up out of this land” (v. 24). The verb paqad, “visit,” means God’s attentive coming to act for His people, and it returns at the burning bush and when Israel hears that “the LORD had visited the people of Israel” (Exodus 4:31). The one act of Joseph’s life that Hebrews 11 names is this one: “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones” (Hebrews 11:22). The word for his coffin, aron, is the same word later used for the ark of the covenant. Genesis closes not settled but waiting.

Threads across the chapter

  • Two burials, one hope. Jacob carried to Machpelah (vv. 4-14) and Joseph’s bones kept for the exodus (vv. 24-26) both bury the dead in hope of the promised land.

  • Fear and comfort. The brothers fear (v. 15), Joseph says “Do not fear” twice (vv. 19, 21), and he speaks kindly to them (v. 21).

  • Two intentions, one event. “You meant evil” and “God meant it for good” (v. 20) gather up Genesis 45:5-8 and the whole story from chapter 37.

  • God’s visiting. “God will visit you” (v. 24) and “God will surely visit you” (v. 25) look ahead to Exodus 3:16, 4:31 and 13:19.

Key words

50:20
חָשַׁב chashav“Meant,” planned; the same verb for the brothers’ intent and for God’s
50:24–25
פָּקַד paqad“Visit”; God’s attentive coming to act for His people, taken up in Exodus 3:16 and 4:31
50:26
אֲרוֹן aron“Coffin”; the same word later used for the ark of the covenant

Cross-references

Questions for your group

  1. 1

    Why do you think Genesis ends with a coffin in Egypt rather than with the family safe and settled in Canaan?

  2. 2

    The brothers still fear Joseph years after he forgave them. Why can forgiven people find it so hard to believe they are forgiven, and what does the gospel say to that?

  3. 3

    What does Joseph mean by “am I in the place of God?” and how does that free a wronged person from the work of revenge?

  4. 4

    How does Genesis 50:20 help us read the cross, and how should we, and should we not, use it with someone who is suffering?

  5. 5

    Joseph’s last act of faith concerns his bones. What do our choices about the end of life say about our hope?

My notes