Genesis — Chapter 50

YOU THOUGHT EVIL AGAINST ME: BUT GOD TURNED IT INTO GOOD, THAT HE MIGHT EXALT ME, AS AT PRESENT YOU SEE, AND MIGHT SAVE MANY PEOPLE. — THE THEOLOGICAL SUMMIT OF GENESIS. Joseph's final word to his brothers after Jacob's death: \"You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good.\" This is the theology of divine providence in its fullest Old Testament expression. Evil is real — the brothers genuinely sinned. But God, who writes straight with crooked lines, overruled their sin for a greater good: the salvation of many. Lapide: \"This is the answer of divine wisdom to the problem of evil — not that evil is no evil, but that God brings from it greater good.\" The type of Christ speaking to His murderers: \"You meant to kill Me, but God raised Me for the salvation of the world.\" This is the consolation of every innocent sufferer: God will bring good from your cross.

AND HE SAID TO HIS BRETHREN: AFTER MY DEATH, GOD WILL VISIT YOU, AND WILL BRING YOU OUT OF THIS LAND TO THE LAND WHICH HE SWORE TO ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. — Joseph's dying prophecy and command concerning his bones: \"Carry my bones from hence\" (v. 25). Fulfilled 400 years later: Moses carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt (Exod. 13:19) and they were buried at Shechem (Joshua 24:32). Joseph's dying faith in the promise of the Promised Land: he believed in the Exodus before it happened. Heb. 11:22 lists this as an act of faith. The closing verse of Genesis: all the promises of the patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph — point forward to the Exodus, the Law, the Promised Land, and ultimately to Christ, the fulfillment of all.