GOD MEANS IT FOR GOOD
PART LXXXIX
“We, Joseph’s brothers, are mourning the death of our father Jacob… He only passed away the other day… We miss him very much…. However, we know it was his time to die…. We are very grateful to God that our father was able to spend the last years of his life with his favourite son, our brother Jacob…We never thought we would see him again after we sold him to merchants many, many years ago… However, we should have realised that God would preserve his life since He had shown us that one day we would bow down before Joseph…. And we did… That is many years ago now…. We are so happy that God has kept Joseph alive despite what we did to him…. We were extremely cruel when we sold him so carelessly to some merchants…We can well imagine that Joseph still bears a grudge against us for doing what we did to him… It may well be that he feels he can finally take revenge now that our father is dead…. Perhaps we should speak to Joseph and ask for his forgiveness…. It may help our case if we tell him our father has asked that he be merciful towards us.”…. Please read the typed out attachment when Joseph’s brothers discuss approaching Joseph with a special request after the death of their father Jacob….
ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES
GOD MEANS IT FOR GOOD
PART LXXXIV
Jacob’s sons, who have come to live with Jacob in Egypt, became concerned for their well being after the death of their father Jacob as you can read in Genesis 50:15-17
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said: “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong we did him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: “This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly. Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When the message came to him, Joseph wept.
The brothers are afraid that Joseph may want to take revenge for all they have done to him even after they have lived with him for a number of years already.
No comments:
Post a Comment