Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sermon preached on Genesis 50 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 09/22/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
We come today to our final sermon in our Genesis series. It’s the end of this book of beginnings. And yet, the book closes out with great anticipation about the good future ahead for God’s people, even while they mourn the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. And it’s in this closing chapter, that we are taught an important doctrine. It’s a truth Christians still very much need today. It’s the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. That even when evil things befall us in this life, God has a plan. In the case of verse 20, in the past, Joseph’s brothers had meant evil against him, but God meant it for good, to save many lives. Some people refer to this as the 50:20 principle, since this is Genesis 50:20, that God turns men’s evil around to serve his good purposes, purposes especially for the good of his people. We need this truth, because life can be hard at times, sometimes really hard. These hard times can make us ask why we have to be going through it. But if we will believe that God is in control, and even to the point where he can overrule man’s sinfulness in a way that turns it around for good, then there is peace and hope to be found in the difficult times. This passage teaches this even as we see it in various ways throughout the Bible.
Let us begin in our first point then, to consider Jacob’s death with verses 1-14. Some death’s are sudden, Jacob’s apparently was not, as he lived to the ripe old age of 147 years, and Genesis has been talking about his death now since chapter 47. So, we’ve been able to prepare for his death, even as surely Joseph and his brothers prepared. But then he actually died. And we see all the sorrow that came along with it, even though it was surely not an unexpected event. The chapter confronts us with that sorrow from the very first verse, where we see Joseph weeping over his deceased father and kissing him. The whole Egyptian nation even mourned for Jacob for 70 days according to verse 3. A normal period of mourning back then was for 7 days, but apparently it was typical for an Egyptian ruler to have a national period of mourning for 72 days. In other words, surely for Joseph’s sake, there is this national honoring of Joseph’s father in his death. And then once they go to bury him in the Promised Land, after they cross the Jordan into Canaan, they spend 7 more days in lament. It was such a visibly grievous lament, the local Canaanites took notice and even named the place after it, Abel-mizraim, the “Mourning of Egypt.” Apparently, even all the Israelites appeared like Egyptians to the Canaanites.
But I wanted us to recognize the great sorrow associated with Jacob’s death. As we are at the end of Genesis, I want to remind us why Jacob died. It’s there at the start of Genesis. Adam and Eve rebelled against God. In their evil, they plunged all humanity into an estate of misery and death. Jacob is a descendant of Adam and Eve, like all of us. So, we knew he was going to die. As much as Joseph even in Genesis has been painted a savior figure, he was powerless to prevent this and could do nothing afterwards other than weep, lament, and honor him. And all of us who have lost loved ones to death, know the pain and sorrow of such time. Humanity in their evil brought the evil of death upon us. But let us return then to consider this in light of the principle there in verse 20. God has a good plan. Whatever men in their evil may do, yet God turns things around for good. Indeed, even in man’s fall into sin and death, Genesis revealed God’s immediate promise of a coming redeemer to redeem fallen mankind.
So while we struggle in our finite minds and limited perspective to fully understand God’s bigger plans when sad things like loved ones die, we can at least get some sense of the bigger picture here with Jacob. For in his death, he requests to be brought back to Canaan and buried there in the family tomb. As an aside, Joseph has him embalmed which presumably followed the normal Egyptian embalming practices, which as we see took some 40 days to complete. Let us note that such embalming was not the normal way that we later see the Hebrew people care for their dead. For example, Jesus when he was buried, we saw how it was typical for spices and ointments to be applied to the body as it is wrapped in burial cloths. That would have helped mask the odor of a dead body, for example. But that is different than actual embalming practiced by the Egyptians which would have involved various chemicals used to preserve the body and why the process took so many days. While not explicitly mentioned, such embalming would have had the pragmatic benefit of making it easier to bring Jacob’s body back to Canaan which would have been a many day journey. But that aside about embalming is to go back to the point that Jacob didn’t want to be buried in Egypt but back in Canaan. In that demand, he testified to the larger plans of God. Plans that bring good out of the bad. Yes, Jacob dies. But he is yet in faith looking ahead to God’s saving plans that he has in store for him and his descendants. Those saving plans include initially possessing the Promised Land as an inheritance. But all of that looks forward to the eternal heavenly inheritance of everlasting life that lies ahead for Jacob and all God’s chosen ones. In God’s good plan, he allows the sorrow of death even to help his good plans of redemption. Everyone’s death is at least part of God’s reminder that the world is under the condemnation of death. But if we have the hope and faith of Jacob, we can find life from such death in the resurrection. And so, Jacob’s death even demonstrates this 50:20 principle.
While we think of Jacob’s burial here, the text invites us to consider another 50:20 principle moment. What I have in mind is to contrast what we see here, versus what we see in Exodus when hundreds of years later, God’s people want to finally leave to return to Canaan. While here the Pharoah allows them to go to Canaan for this burial, in Exodus a different Pharoah won’t let them leave, even to just go into the wilderness to worship God. While here, the Egyptians accompany them to Canaan, with the security escort of horses and chariots, in Exodus we remember how when they are finally allowed to leave, Pharoah then changes his mind and sends chariots and horses out to pursue Israel. The kindness of this Pharoah and these Egyptians is contrasted with how evil the later Pharoah and those Egyptians will treat the future Israelites. But if the 50:20 principle is true here in Genesis 50, it will still be true in the future at the Exodus. Indeed, God will use then the evil of the Egyptians to display his power and teach Israel to depend upon God as their new Master who delivers them from a house of slavery.
Turning then to our next point, we look at verses 15-21, to consider this scene between Joseph and his brothers where further reconciliation is taking place. In the aftermath of Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers become afraid that now Joseph will exact vengeance on them for what they had done so long before in selling him into Egyptian slavery. It is not uncommon for people to find their sin plaguing them years later, and still afraid that they will have to answer for it. We could say that we can have doubts over the assurance of our forgiveness. In this case, we might remember that back in Genesis 45 that Joseph had already extended forgiveness and grace to them when he first revealed himself there in Egypt after testing their repentance. But now, years later, they revive their concerns and more clearly than ever acknowledge their former evil and formally ask their brother to forgive them.
It is in this moment, that Joseph so clearly explains this 50:20 principle. Let me read it again, starting at verse 19. “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 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. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” So, he explains how God can be doing something simultaneous to the actions of men. God can providentially permit man’s evil as part of his foreordination of all things with the plan to turn their evil into some greater good purpose. Yes, it was evil how his brothers treated Joseph when they sold him into slavery. But had they not done that, Joseph would never had risen up into power in Egypt. He would never have been there to interpret Pharoah’s dream so that the abundance during the seven years of plenty were stockpiled for the seven years of famine. Many people would have died, not just of Israel’s family, but yes, especially of Israel’s family.
Now one might ask a very reasonable question at this point. Can’t this be true, yet the brothers still be held accountable for their sin? Can’t God use their evil for good, yet they still be punished for their evil? God later did with the Babylonians, for example. God allowed that evil nation to conquer wayward Judah as a divine chastening upon them, but then ordained the Babylonians’ own destruction for their evils including their evils in afflicting Judah? Yes, God can still hold people accountable while turning around their evil for good. So why doesn’t Joseph do the same here?
Well, I believe his thinking is explained when he says that he is not in the place of God, verse 19. In other words, Joseph not only discerned that God turned their evil into a good, but that it was God’s intention to save the whole family of Israel. In other words, he was recognizing that God specifically was looking to show mercy to this undeserving band of brothers. If God was to show them mercy, he did not want to stand in opposition to God’s plans. That would be to put yourself in the place of God. To further put meat on the bones here, I believe we see earlier that Joseph was testing their brothers to show their heart of repentance. I believe Joseph also discerned how God was growing his brothers through this. That was part of how God redeemed them from their evils. Genesis paints that they learned from their former evil ways. Joseph also didn’t get in God’s way of growing his brothers.
Let us also appreciate that in verse 17, when the brothers ask for this forgiveness, the immediate reaction of Joseph was to weep. We remember that this is what he did when he first was reunited with them in Egypt. None of this history was easy for Joseph. It was emotional and still many years later there is a way that this whole matter stirred up his emotions. We can only imagine the host of emotions that this would bring to Joseph. In other words, just because Joseph so forgives them and looks to follow God’s lead, it doesn’t mean this was easy for him. No, they really had treated him with evil that left a permanent scar on his heart. But, he really did, in faith, embrace this 50:20 principle.
The central act of how Jesus saved us is such a clear New Testament example of this same 50:20 principle and seems fitting to mention here. At the last supper, Jesus foretold that he’d be betrayed unto death by one of the twelve disciples. He then says this in Luke 22:22. “For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” In other words, it was a great evil of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, but that was God’s plan to turn Judas’ evil into the good of saving many people’s lives as Jesus died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sin. What Judas meant for evil, God meant for good.
Let us turn now in our third point to consider Joseph’s death in verses 22 through 26. He lived to the ripe age of 110 years. He was able to live long enough to see his great-grandchildren. Despite those troubling, evil years earlier in life as a slave in Egypt, God had redeemed him from those evils and greatly blessed him. He could remember like his father did, that God had been his shepherd all his life.
So then, we come to Joseph’s wonderful prophecy of 24. He tells his Israelite brethren that God will visit them to bring them up out of of Egypt and back to the Promised Land. He specifically references the names of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the covenant oath God swore to them. As Joseph nears death, he reminds his family that they are the beneficiaries of this covenant.
Along these lines, he makes them swear that they will bring his bones up into the land of Canaan when they return. So then, he too is embalmed like his father, and put in a coffin, surely an Egyptian sarcophagus, which I’m sure made that easier to accomplish. But the point is he makes them swear to return his bones to be interred in the Promised Land so that he will ultimately rest with them there. In other words, he believes fully that this will happen. Even as he dies, his oath that he demands of them is a sign of such faith.
I do think it is an interesting contrast that in this chapter we see two similar but different burial plans between Jacob and Joseph. While both require their descendants to take an oath to bring them back to the Promised Land, Jacob’s was one of immediate action while Joseph’s was not. Why didn’t they just go and bury Joseph in Canaan right then? Maybe his wishes to remain in Egypt with them until the Lord’s visitation reflected his choice to express solidarity with them. He won’t go back to Canaan until they all can go. So, Jacob’s burial goes ahead them to show the destination. And Joseph will wait with them until they can all go back together. That’s a bit of speculation on my part, but it is what unfolds.
Let us then appreciate in a subtle way how this hints at God’s plans. By the time Joseph dies, Israel as a family had been in Egypt now for some 71 years. Clearly with Joseph’s dying words, it implied they were going to be there a while longer. The book of Exodus will describe how after many centuries of being there, they will find themselves afflicted by a new Pharoah and not allowed to leave until God intervenes. Remember that Moses recorded Genesis after that history of the Exodus. So, Israelites reading this chapter would have read between the lines. They would compared how at first Israel was so honored by the Egyptians, but then in the future that would all get reversed. This chapter hints at how the future Israelites would have to think about those troubles they ended up having in Egypt. Those future Israelites should be able to look back at their bondage in Egypt and recognize it as yet another 50:20 moment. That future Egyptian Pharoah would treat them with evil, but God would turn it around for good. For God would redeem them with his mighty hand. God would show the nations that he alone is God. God would simultaneously teach Israel to depend on him. God would also reveal himself as the true and good master of Israel, even as he would then give them his good law to live by, even as summarized in the Ten Commandments.
In conclusion, I hope we’ve all been reminded that our God is sovereign. Even through man’s evils, he is working his good. That good plan has so ordered even all things for our good. And our God is faithful. He will redeem us his people and vindicate us. We can have comfort and peace that whatever befalls us in this world, that this 50:20 principle continues to be true. God means good for us his people. And we are his people in Christ Jesus.
As we finish Genesis, my plan is to take an opportunity to do a brief interlude with four sermons that take us through the Ten Commandments. Then, our next sermon series will be on the book of Revelation. And indeed, we’ll see that this 50:20 principle is very much witnessed there. There, we will be reminded how many evils are being done by Satan and the world. Yet, what they mean for evil, God will mean for good, even unto our eternal vindication and salvation as he visits us and brings us to that eternal Promised Land. This will be the ultimate fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This will be the ultimate fulfillment of what Joseph promises here in verse 25. Indeed, Jesus will surely visit us to bring us up out of this present world to the world that he has sworn to give to us. And so, Revelation will be a fitting sequel to our Genesis series. Come quickly Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
