Genesis 50

Genesis 50 is the final chapter of Genesis. In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons, instructs them to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, and dies. This chapter opens with his funeral.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 Joseph weeps over his father. The physicians take forty days to embalm him, and the Egyptians mourn for him seventy days.
• Verses 4–6 Citing the oath he swore to his father, Joseph asks Pharaoh for permission to bury him in Canaan, and Pharaoh consents.
• Verses 7–14 Pharaoh's servants, the elders of Egypt, and Joseph's household go up together, accompanied by chariots and horsemen. They mourn for seven days at the threshingfloor of Atad, and the place is therefore named Abel-mizraim. Jacob's sons bury him in the cave of Machpelah and return to Egypt.
• Verses 15–21 Fearing that Joseph will take revenge, his brothers relay their father's instructions, ask for forgiveness, and fall down before him. Joseph weeps, reassures them, and promises to provide for them and their children.
• Verses 22–26 Joseph lives to be 110 years old and sees Ephraim's descendants to the third generation. He declares that God will bring Israel into the Promised Land and makes the children of Israel swear to carry his bones up from Egypt. He then dies and is placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Key Verses

• Genesis 50:20 "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" — This verse sums up the entire Joseph narrative in terms of God's providence.
• Genesis 50:19 "For am I in the place of God?" — This verse reveals the basis of Joseph's forgiveness: leaving judgment to God.
• Genesis 50:24 "God will surely visit you, and bring you … unto the land which he sware" — This verse links Genesis to the promise of the Exodus.

Characters and Places

• Joseph, Jacob (Israel), Pharaoh
• Joseph's brothers: after their father's death they are afraid because they had sold Joseph (Genesis 37).
• Ephraim and Manasseh: Joseph's two sons. Machir is the son of Manasseh.
• Abraham and Isaac: mentioned as the patriarchs to whom God swore the land.
• Egypt, Goshen (the region of Egypt where Jacob's household lived), Canaan, the Jordan River
• The threshingfloor of Atad (Abel-mizraim): the place the Canaanites called "a grievous mourning to the Egyptians."
• The cave of Machpelah: the burial site Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite. Genesis 23 identifies Mamre as Hebron.

Points for Reflection

• The instructions from Jacob that the brothers relay (vv. 16–17) are not recorded in the preceding chapter. Some interpreters therefore regard them as Jacob's actual last wishes, while others see them as the brothers' invention; the text does not say which is the case.
• Verse 20 speaks of both human evil intent and God's sovereign will. The Reformed tradition frequently cites this verse in support of a providence by which God governs even evil. Wesleyan and Arminian theologians tend to explain it as God turning to good the evil that human beings freely commit. The verse is often read alongside Genesis 45:5–8.
• Joseph's request concerning his bones is fulfilled in Exodus 13, when Moses carries his remains out of Egypt, and in Joshua 24, when they are buried at Shechem. In the New Testament, Hebrews 11 cites this request as an expression of Joseph's faith, and Stephen's sermon in Acts 7 also recounts this period.

In the Korean Church

Genesis 50:20 is frequently cited in sermons on God's providence and on forgiveness in the midst of suffering.