CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 50:15. Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.] The literal rendering is—If Joseph should now punish us, and requite all the evil that we have done to him—The sentence breaks off unfinished, requiring some such filling up as, what then? or, that would be our ruin.
Genesis 50:16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph.] From Goshen to Memphis.—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 50:14-21
JOSEPH’S LAST FORGIVENESS OF HIS BRETHREN
I. Their need of forgiveness. Their father, who was the bond of love between the brothers, was now gone; and they naturally fear lest Joseph should punish them for the previous wrong they had done him. The old wound breaks out afresh. They begin to suspect that the kindness Joseph had shown them was only for their father’s sake, that Joseph never really forgave them in his heart, and that now, when the restraint of their father’s presence is removed, he will take vengeance. Sinners find it difficult to believe in human goodness. Conscious guilt is always alive to fear. Their fears were groundless, yet conscience taught them what was true, i.e., that sinners deserve to be requited according to their works. But to appreciate the majesty of goodness, to feel and know what is godlike in another, requires a spiritual mind. Wisdom can only be justified of her own children.
II. The plea on which they urge it.
1. The dying request of their father. (Genesis 50:16-17.) They bring forward their father as a mediator. They request that his word shall be held sacred, shall still be a defence between them and the dreaded evil. They admit the justice of their punishment, but desire pardon for the sake of another.
2. Their own free confession of guilt. “The trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil.” (Genesis 50:17.) This confession they allege was prepared for them by their father, and they adopt it with all its humiliating terms.
3. Their father’s influence with God. “Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.” (Genesis 50:17.) They would strengthen the tie of nature with the tie of religion. They would say, as we have one father, so we have one God; forgive us for His sake, the God of our father. Guilty men as they were, they knew the highest principle to which they could make an appeal.
4. Their willingness to utterly abase themselves. They are ready to atone for their sin in kind. They had sold Joseph for a slave, and now they offer themselves as his servants. They make the utmost humiliation.
III. The completeness of their forgiveness. Joseph assures them of his entire forgiveness.
1. He speaks words of peace. “Fear not.” (Genesis 50:19; Genesis 50:21.) He hastens, at once, to relieve their minds, before he utters one word by way of reason or explanation. They are instantly assured of that love which casteth out fear. These words were like balm to their wounds, giving them immediate relief.
2. He will not presume to put himself judicially in the place of God.
(1.) As an instrument of vengeance. “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19.) “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” For one who himself needs forgiveness, to follow others with the last vengeance is presumption. Joseph had already judged them, and he had forgiven. He will not presume any further, and infringe the prerogatives of the Judge of all the earth.
(2.) As presuming to change God’s purposes. Joseph reminded them that God had brought good out of their evil, had turned the calamities resulting from their sinful deeds into the means of deliverance. (Genesis 50:20.) He would not presume to change this manifest purpose of God, which facts had already revealed. “God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
(3.) As presuming upon God’s prerogative of forgiveness. God had shown by events that He forgave their sin, and Joseph would not presume to reverse that act of forgiveness. He could not retain sins which God had remitted.
3. He assures them that their suspicions were unfounded. It seemed to them that with all his words of kindness and his gifts, Joseph was all along playing the hypocrite, and cherishing malignity in his heart. Therefore he shows, by implication, that their suspicions were unfounded. In Genesis 50:20 he answers them in nearly the same words as he had used seventeen years before; as if he would say, “What I told you seventeen years ago, I meant, and mean still.” God’s purpose of good in things evil was a principle which Joseph had well mastered. It was the golden key of his life’s history; and, indeed, of all human history to those who believe that God works in it.
4. He was ready to prove his forgiveness by his actions. (Genesis 50:21.) He would not have them be satisfied with mere words without deeds. He wished to see them happy, and he gave them the means of happiness. Joseph’s forgiveness brought comfort and peace, as God’s does to the sinner. And to show further how complete was his forgiveness, there was,—
5. The silent testimony of his tears. “And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.” (Genesis 50:17.) To a pure mind, to one who sincerely means good, nothing can be more painful than suspicion. It was part of our Lord’s humiliation that he had to endure the suspicion of evil. “Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?” (Luke 22:52.) The soul that cannot be injured with the substance of evil may be pained if touched with its shadow. Jesus had to endure the gainsayings of sinners against Himself. (Hebrews 12:3.)
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 50:14-21. The guilty conscience can never think itself safe: so many years’ experience of Joseph’s love could not secure his brethren of remission. Those that know they have deserved ill, are wont to misinterpret favours, and think they cannot be beloved. All that while, his goodness seemed but concealed and sleeping malice. It grieves Joseph to see their fear, and to hear them so passionately crave that which they had. “Forgive the tresspass of the servants of thy father’s God.” What a conjuration of pardon was this! They say not, the sons of thy father; but the servants of thy father’s God. How much stronger are the bonds of religion than of nature? if Joseph had been rancorous, this depreciation had charmed him; but now it resolves him into tears. They are not so ready to acknowledge their old offence as he to protest his love. Even late confession finds forgiveness. Joseph had long ago seen their sorrow; never but now heard he their humble acknowledgment. Mercy stays not for outward solemnities. How much more shall that infinite goodness pardon our sins, when He finds the truth of our repentance?—(Bp. Hall).
Behold we be thy servants. Oh that God might hear such words fall from us, prostrate at His feet! How soon would He take us up and embrace us!—(Trapp).
The spirit of Joseph’s inner life was forgiveness. Conversant as his experience was with human treachery, no expressions of bitterness escape from him. No sentimental wailing over the cruelty of relations, the falseness of friendship, or the ingratitude of the world. No rancorous outburst of misanthropy, no sarcastic scepticism of man’s integrity or woman’s honour. He meets all bravely, with calm, meek, and dignified forbearance. If ever man had cause for such doubts, he had; yet his heart was never soured. At last; after his father’s death, his brothers, apprehending his resentful recollections of their early cruelty, come to deprecate his revenge. Very touching in his reply. (Genesis 50:19-21). This is the Christian spirit before the Christian times. The mind of Christ, the Spirit of the years yet future, blended itself with life before He came; for His words were the Eternal Verities of our humanity. In all ages love is the truth of life. Love transmutes all curses, and forces them to rain down in blessings.—(Robertson).
Joseph requited his enemies with a noble revenge. (Romans 12:20.)