(last updated 7/21/05)Jan's Bible Notes
GENESIS 50
1-3 Jacob is embalmed. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob for a period two days short of the mourning period for a Pharoah; they had great respect for Joseph.
4-6 Joseph gets Pharoah’s permission to go bury Jacob. Where did Jacob want to be buried? Why? What had God promised about the land and about Abraham's seed? Gen. 12:1-3. Had this promise been fulfilled? Did Jacob believe it would be literally fulfilled? Has it happened yet? Does God always keep His Word? The Abrahamic covenant is the framework for not only Genesis but for the rest of the Bible. It encompasses God's plan for Israel as well as for the church. Jacob did not know the timetable; God reveals quite a bit of that timetable to Daniel. We will learn more details as we study the rest of God's Word.
7-14 A big to-do for the Egyptians as well as the family. This indicates how highly Jacob was thought of in Egypt as well as to the importance of Joseph. Is it wrong for believers to sorrow over the death of a loved one? Not according to the Bible. Even if they are believers and we know we will be reunited one day, we still sorrow over the hole in our hearts that they have left by passing. Yet this sorrow is tempered by the knowledge that a loving God is in control of all things, and we can place our sorrow in His hands, as Job did, Job 1:21. We don't understand His plan, nor do we need to. We are to trust Him and obey Him.
15-18 Is the relationship of the brothers a closed issue? When we repent and confess our sins to God, is there any chance that He will continue to hold that sin against us? But what about people we have sinned against? Empathizing with the brothers, we see how they continue to be aware of their past sinful behavior, and even though they have asked forgiveness, they realize that maybe Joseph only outwardly forgave them for their father's sake, but might continue to harbor thoughts of vengeance, even being willing to wait years for his revenge. So they again make it clear how sorry they are. Empathizing with Joseph, we know that believers struggle with feelings of bitterness and vengeance against those who have wronged us, even though they may have asked our forgiveness. Joseph's story is a valuable lesson--a real-life story of someone who was badly wronged but who allowed God to work in his heart and who chose not to hold onto the feelings that he surely struggled with. Feelings can rule our lives, if we let them, or we can choose not to allow them to rule our lives. Feelings are not facts. God asks us to exercise our wills and choose to obey Him, regardless of our feelings.
19-21 Joseph seems to have a much greater degree of spiritual insight and maturity than the rest of his family. Joseph recognizes and verbalizes an important spiritual principle in 21 that we find illustrated throughout the Bible, particularly in Israel's history. Time and again God tells Israel that He will use other nations--ungodly nations--to carry out His punishment against them. Those other nations are not aware that they are carrying out God's will; they think they are doing what they want, and they are. But because God is sovereign over everything that happens, He uses the actions of even the wicked to bring about His ultimate purpose, in Israel and in each of our lives, even though at the time, because of our pain, it seems like God doesn't love us, isn't present or isn't helping us. We find this same important principle repeated in the New Testament, Rom. 8:28.
22-23 Born on Joseph’s knees: placing them on his knees at their birth signified that they belonged to him.
24-26 Apparently Joseph died before at least some of the other brothers, OR, brothers is often used loosely of family connections, so it could mean their children and grandchildren. They were expecting some visitation from God. For now, they stay in Egypt. This was told to Abraham in 15:13. Joseph wants to be buried in the promised land for the same reason his father did.
Were the sons of Israel trusting in God or in Joseph? Joseph wants to make sure that they know it is God, even though up to this point God has been using Joseph as His means of caring for them. Don't we sometimes make this same mistake? We trust in our job and our paycheck, or in some person, to meet our needs. If those disappear, we need to remember who provided those, and that He is the one who was actually meeting our needs through that means. Joseph reminds them of the Abrahamic covenant, which has been the framework that their story is built around, and will continue to be, throughout the Old and the New Testaments.
The Bible is similar to a great novel, with Genesis introducing the main characters (God, Satan, man, a certain line of men, and the promise of one to come), the setting (earth, created in perfection but now under the curse of sin, which will affect everything that happens on it--and a particular spot on earth, the land of Canaan), and the plot (the spiritual warfare between God and Satan, played out on earth in the lives of men, who have fallen into sin but who have been offered the way back to God, through faith and through blood sacrifice of animals which pictures and points them to the future blood sacrifice of God's Son, the promised Messiah). Many times during the story, it appears all is lost. But the final chapter, Revelation, brings together all the conflicts, main characters, and setting, into the satisfying conclusion. It is a story that no man could have thought up or told before it happened.
In reading through the Bible, there are many levels of understanding that we can achieve. We can learn about particular events and particular characters. We can memorize verses that teach important truths. We can ask, what can I learn from this event or this character that applies to me, my situation, my life? We can ask, what does this character/event/chapter/book teach me about God? What is He like? Why did He choose to have these recorded in His Word? How does He act? Why does He act that way? Therefore, how is He likely to act in my life, and why?
One thing we see in this book is that God works through events in people's lives--both supernatural events, and seemingly ordinary events--because He is control of ALL that happens. He doesn't force us to do good, to do evil, to do His will; He has given man free will. We may choose to do right or wrong. We may make foolish decisions. We may be adversely affected by acts and decisions of others who also were given that free will. In seeing how God works in people's lives, we see that He generally works slowly, over time, through a course of various events. These observations may seem rather obvious, but we sometimes have trouble seeing how they apply in our own lives. We ask God "why?" "WHY did You allow this, or that, to happen?"
Can you summarize the book’s main characters and main events in order? What are some themes or Bible teachings we see in this book? Think about those universal questions all people ask: why are we here, what is the purpose of life, does it really matter how we live, how can we reach God, why does a good God allow evil, how does God work in our lives? Are these themes only found in this book, or are they expanded on throughout the Bible? Do this after reading each book (assuming you are reading straight through the Bible), summarizing briefly, to get a good grasp of the continuity of the Bible.
Copyright 2005 Jan Young