An overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” Sunday school lesson for teachers and Bible study leaders. This week’s lesson is for Sunday, May 26, 2024, and is based on Genesis 50:15-26, with the title, “Revenge?” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? Have you ever known someone who wanted to be buried in a particular place/a certain way??? 

(My sister Erin has served with the IMB for decades; she has traveled all over the world, and she loves the beach. So she told us that when she passes away, she wants to be cremated, and she wants us to have her ashes scattered on the beach.

You/your group can share stories you know like that, that you know, then say something like: as we open our lesson for this week, we see that Joseph’s father Jacob made a request for where he would be buried when he died — and his burial would set up a very important meeting between Joseph and his brothers. (And then at the end of our text today, we will see that Joseph makes a special request about his own burial too!)

(As an alternative introduction, later in the lesson I am going to share some quotes on REVENGE: if you are led, you could instead post one of those quotes and discuss it for the intro.)

CONTEXT

So today we finish our study in Genesis and the unfolding story of Joseph and his family.

We left off with Joseph “toying with/testing” his brothers who had come to buy food from him in Egypt during the intense famine. Finally he reveals his identity to them, that he was their brother Joseph whom they had sold into slavery — but he told them in Chapter 45, don’t be grieved, this was God’s plan, to save our lives and our family. We saw how he pointed everyone to God, but was also willing to be used himself — which is a perfect balance and a great example for us to follow as well.

So after he told them who he was, his brothers went back and got their father Jacob/Israel, and brought him to Egypt with them, where they stayed, and Joseph made sure they were cared for in the land of Goshen — a region in the country of Egypt.

In Chapter 49, Jacob, now a very old man, blesses his children, and the last verse of the chapter says that he breathed his last.

Chapter 50 opens with Joseph weeping over his father — and then he and his brothers along with a great procession from Egypt took Jacob to be buried back in the Promised Land, just as he had made Joseph promise that he would do. God had promised Jacob and his descendants that land, and he wanted to be buried there. So they had a momentous burial for him there, :14 says Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt.

Our focus passage for today picks up at :15: 

OUTLINE

I. Forgiveness for the past  (:15-19, 21)

II. Perspective for the present (:20-21)

III. Faith for the future (:22-26)

TEXT

I. Forgiveness for the past (:15-19,21)

Verse 15 starts this section: “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph bears a grudge against us …”

Here Joseph’s brothers use a key phrase that haunts so many people: “WHAT IF?” “WHAT IF Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?”

??? Had Joseph shown any signs of bearing a grudge against his brothers???

NO! In fact we saw in last week’s lesson in Genesis 45, “Do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for GOD sent me before you to preserve life.” And he said basically the same thing again later. He hadn’t shown any indication of bitterness or rancor against them, only grace and understanding that God had used all this. So the “what if” here wasn’t really based on anything but their own imagination (and probably somewhat from their own sense of guilt too!)

So “What if” can be a (harmful) mental game you play on yourself, sometimes with no basis in reality but your own imagination — but you can carry it out a long way until you get really anxious or worried or upset — about nothing!

“True confessions” time: some time ago I had a certain meeting coming up, and I jumped to a conclusion about it, and I thought those deadly words, “WHAT IF?” — “what if” they say (such and such); what if they want to do (some thing I had imagined); WHAT IF — and I got myself all riled up about something that I had no basis to believe might really happen — and in fact it did NOT happen! My “what if” never happened! It was all in my own mind.

Now, I may be preaching totally to myself, but I doubt it! Joseph’s brothers got caught up in that “what if” game — and I think a lot of us today do too. Don’t keep playing this “what if” game, that so often just causes needless worry and anxiety. 

“bears a grudge” Hebrew (satam) 

— The same word used in Genesis 27:41 of the animosity that Esau had against Jacob when the stole the blessing from him.

So they were worried that Joseph would hate them, the way that Esau hated their father Jacob.

And what was their fear based on: their sin!

“What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full FOR ALL THE WRONG WHICH WE DID TO HIM?”

So their fear here was not totally baseless; they KNEW they had done Joseph wrong. They knew that by all rights, he should have tried to get revenge on them. If he did, they would have deserved it. 

Then :16 says: “So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father charged before he died, saying “Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.’” And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’”

??? Do you think that their father Jacob really said this???

Or do you think that they were making this up, hoping that it might “trick” Joseph into not acting against them?

The very last part of :17 says, “And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”

??? You might ask your group: WHY do you think “Joseph wept when they spoke to him”?

(Really there could be several reasons: 

— because of all the hurt he had been through

— because he was sorry for the fear they still had; they didn’t understand his mercy and grace

— because they felt like they had to lie to save their lives

— Possibly/ probably a mix of all these reasons and more!

Then :18 says: “Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’”

??? What is significant about this???
(This was Joseph’s dream, about his family bowing down to him, coming true — this wasn’t the first time, as we have seen, but it IS that dream of Genesis 37, of the sheaves, and the sun and the moon and the 11 stars, bowing down before him, coming to pass!) 

So Joseph really did rule over his brothers, and they all bowed down to him. 

BUT NOTICE HIS RESPONSE: it is a good model for all of us:

:19 “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? (:20) As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. (:21) So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

His expression there: “Am I in God’s place?” is a very good one.

He’s saying, “Am I in the place of God, to judge and punish you for what you’ve done?” — or in other words, to get his own revenge.

And what’s the answer? NO! He is NOT. He is NOT God, to judge and punish and get revenge on his brothers. 

AND WHAT WE NEED TO REALIZE IS THAT NEITHER ARE WE!

This is exactly what Jesus means in Matthew 7 where He says “Judge not, lest you be judged.” (This does NOT of course, mean what a lot of people use it to mean, that you can’t say that anything anybody does is sin. A lot of people these days will look at blatant sin and say, “Well, who am I to judge?” Or if someone calls them out for blatant sin, they’ll say, “Who are you to judge?”
Saying that we are not to judge does NOT mean that we are somehow stripped of our moral sensibilities and can’t know right from wrong. No, the Bible makes it clear that we ARE to do that.

But what it means is that we are not to take the place of God, to take the punishment on others into our own hands.

NO, the Bible says, Vengeance MINE, I will repay, says the Lord. (Deuteronomy 32:35, quoted also in Romans 12:19.)

Romans 12:17-21 expands on that, saying:

17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12 there really emphasizes: DO NOT take your own revenge on people, in fact, bless them, feed them, help them.

JOSEPH WAS A LIVING EXAMPLE of this! His brothers did all this harm to him — and yet he says in :21, “So therefore, so not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” He was literally going to feed and care for those who had sought to harm him.

This is the example WE should follow too. DON’T “put yourself in God’s place,” like Joseph said, and seek to get your own revenge. Instead, leave the punishment to God, and YOU do good.

(One of the reasons why is found there in Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” If you do seek your own revenge, you will be consumed with bitterness; and it will only hurt YOU, and your relationship with God. Being “overcome by evil” means that bitterness and hatred just consume you, and take you over. 

(In Richard Osman’s book, The Man Who Died Twice, the man Ibrahim is thinking about revenge on someone who hurt him.)

“I don’t really believe in revenge. That’s what he had said to the others when they talked about Ryan Baird. And in theory he didn’t. Revenge is not a straight line, it’s a circle. It’s a grenade that goes off while you’re still in the room, and you can’t help but be caught in the blast. 

Ibrahim had once had a client, Eric Mason, who had bought a used BMW from a dealer, an old school friend, in Gillingham. He soon discovered that the car had a faulty clutch. His friend at the dealership refused to accept liability, and Eric Mason, who, it should be said, had issues around emotional control and anger management, had replaced the clutch at his own expense and then driven the BMW straight through the window of the dealership in the dead of night. 

The car had then stalled — understandably, as it had just been driven through a large window— so Eric Mason was forced to abandon it and flee as alarms blared all around him. Unfortunately, he fell and impaled himself on a large shard of glass, and was saved from bleeding to death only by the arrival of the police.

Recovering in the hospital, Eric Mason received a huge bouquet of flowers from the dealership, but, upon opening the card, discovered they had attached a court summons and a bill for £14,000. A spell of community service and bankruptcy followed. His fury grew. 

Eric’s daughter and the son of the car dealer had also been friends at school. Eric forbade his daughter from ever talking to the boy and so, as winter follows summer, they had got married two years later, with Eric refusing to attend the wedding. Another year later, and Eric’s grandson was born. Neither side would give ground, so Eric was unable to see his first grandchild. All because of a faulty clutch. …

They say a man who desires revenge should dig two graves, and this is surely right.”

(Richard Osman, The Man Who Died Twice, pp. 72-73)

You could either share that whole story — OR just one of the shorter quotes, about revenge being like a hand grenade, or digging the two graves. (Or like I said earlier, you could share or discuss one of these for the introduction to the lesson.)

Or if you’d like another short quote, there’s a classic line in John Milton’s Paradise Lost:

“Revenge, at first though sweet, 

Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.”

(John Milton, Paradise Lost, p. 180)

All this to say, don’t plot revenge. It will not merely hurt that other person; it will hurt YOU — and often it will hurt you more than it hurts them!  So God says, don’t let that happen to you! YOU determine to say like Joseph: “Am I in God’s place?” And forgive, and do good — and leave the punishment of others to God. Entrust their punishment to HIM. Don’t take it into your own hands.  

A good question for ALL of us to ask ourselves when we’re tempted to judge or seek revenge: “Am I in God’s place?”

We aren’t, of course. So like Joseph, let’s determine to show forgiveness for the past. Challenge your group: Is there anyone TODAY that you need to be careful not to act like you’re in God’s place toward; anyone you need to be sure to forgive, instead of get revenge on. It’s so important to have forgiveness for the past.

II. Perspective for the Present (:20/21?)

Joseph not only forgave his brothers for their past sins against him, he also had a godly perspective for the present, which we see in :20:  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people.”

This is such a key phrase: “You meant evil against me — but God meant it for good.” Joseph had a total trust in God’s sovereignty, that literally everything that happened to him was in God’s hands, and would work together for good. We’ve talked about this before in our study of Genesis: the balance of Man’s Responsibility and God’s Sovereignty: what they did WAS indeed “evil” — it was wrong, and Joseph called it that. But at the same time, balanced with Man’s Responsibility is God’s Sovereignty: that what they meant for evil, GOD used for good!

And what’s significant is that Joseph HAD this attitude: 

— some people who had been through all the things that Joseph had, would have become bitter — and you could see how they could: hated by all his brothers; kidnapped and thrown into a pit; threatened with murder; sold into slavery, then falsely accused and thrown into prison — it’s a terrible set of circumstances.

— but Joseph showed NO symptoms of that kind of bitterness. Instead what we see from him is a godly perspective: GOD HAS USED THIS! 

And he didn’t just say in some general way: “God’s going to use this somehow …” He saw just what God was doing: “God meant it for good — in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” So he said, I see what God did through this!

Wise people have the gracious ability to see how God is using even the difficult things in their lives for His purposes. We mentioned Charles Dickens’ “rags to riches” story a couple of weeks ago, how as a boy he was forced by his father to work in a shoe blacking factory making shoe polish. 

“In his autobiographical fragment he had written of his parents’ apparent neglect only to add that “I do not write resentfully or angrily: for I know how all these things have worked together to make me what I am…” (Ackroyd, Dickens, p. 553)

That is gracious, and wise: to be able to see how God might be using the hard things that have happened to us.

This is one of OUR big challenges too: instead of being bitter or angry or frustrated at our difficulties, to try to what is God doing. Let’s get His perspective for the present. 

III. Faith for the Future (:22-26)

So :22 and following conclude the Book of Genesis, saying:
“Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. (:23) Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manesseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.”

(Why would it say this? Because it is an indication of how God had blessed Joseph. He had a long life — to 110! And he saw his great-granchildren. Psalm 128, speaking of the man who is blessed because he fears the Lord, says “may you see your children’s children.” It’s a blessing to see your grandchildren! 

(I’m not going to be teaching this lesson Sunday, because we are going to North Carolina to see two of our granddaughters get baptized — I am not going to miss that! It’s a blessing to see your grandchildren!)

So this just shows how much MORE God blessed Joseph; not only did he see his grandchildren, but he saw “the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh” born. Manasseh was one of Joseph’s sons (Ephraim & Manasseh), so Manasseh’s son Machir was Joseph’s grandson, whose son he saw born — his great-grandson! Again, it just shows how much “above & beyond” God blessed Joseph.

Then in :24 “Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you, and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ (:25) Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, ‘God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” (:26) So Joseph died at the age of 110 years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.”

So Joseph dies, but these verses show us that he had FAITH for the future. There are several indications of this:

— First, he saw his great-grandsons born. He knew the line was going to go on! 

— Then in :24 he says, “God is going to take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised …”.

He had faith that God was still working, and that He was going to do something special yet with this family — the words the NASB translates “take care of you” is literally in Hebrew “visit” — God is going to VISIT you — in other words, God is going to reveal Himself to you; work in a special way with our family in the days ahead. And he said when He does, He’s going to bring you out of Egypt, and back to the land He promised — the land of Canaan.

But he was looking forward in faith for his family, for the days ahead.

— And then in :25 he made them promise to “carry my bones up from here.” So just like his father Jacob, Joseph made a special request for his bones to be buried in the Promised Land. He really believed God was going to bring this family back there — and he so believed it, that he even gave orders for them to take his bones with them, and bury them in that Promised Land. That’s faith!

Of course, Hebrews 11, “The Hall of Faith,” mentions the forward-looking faith that Joseph had here, when it says in :22, “By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.” 

Christianity is a lot about looking forward in faith; as Hebrews 11 says, to believe in what we can’t yet see, because God said that it would happen. As we follow the Lord, we forward to a lot of things by faith. 

The Angleton Christian School that is a part of our ministry here at First Baptist Angleton, is growing, and it has a new building program called “Forward in Faith.” I like that title! And I think it’s a good theme not only for a school, but also for a church — and also for us as individuals and families: “Forward in Faith”! Let’s not just stay where we are; let’s look “forward in faith;” let’s MOVE “forward in faith”!  

A good application for your group to ponder is: ??? In what ways do I need to look “forward in faith”??? 

— In my own life; how do I need to look forward in faith: that God is going to take of me through some illness or old age? That God will direct my steps to the job or career or spouse that I need? That He will direct me to the ministry and mission that I need to be involved in? How do you personally need to look “forward in faith”?

— Then maybe there are some ways your FAMILY needs to look forward in faith: for what God is going to do with your kids, or grandchildren, etc.

— Or your CHURCH: are we living too much in the past, and need to be looking “forward in faith” to things God has for us?

As God’s people, we need to be looking forward in faith.

Joseph not only had forgiveness for the past; he had God’s perspective for the present — and faith for the future. He’s a good example for US in all of those things. You might close this week’s lesson by asking God to help you and your class to forgive things in the past, see things from His perspective in the present, and look forward in specific ways to what He is going to do the future.

(Speaking of the future; this concludes our study of the Book of Genesis; I have enjoyed it! — but I am also looking forward to moving back to the New Testament next time, as we begin studying the great Book of Acts together!  (I’m going to be with my grandbabies next week, but I do plan on getting an overview out to help you with those first lessons; hope to see you then!)

____________________________________________________

— If you’ll type your email in the “Follow blog via email” blank on my blog home page, WordPress will automatically send you next week’s lesson and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com  and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com