Genesis 37-50

 

Genesis 37–41“The Lord Was with Joseph” and Genesis 42–50 “God Meant It unto Good”

The Nature of God and our relationship to Him

God is Good

The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God” (Teachings, 345)

"I testify, as others have, that our Father in Heaven not only answers prayers but at times chooses to micromanage the details of His kingdom. This, too, is part of His divine nature. But herein lies an important lesson. It is our Heavenly Father who chooses; we do not dictate to Him time, place, or circumstance. Still, we may rest assured that our Father knows all things and He does all that He does out of love. And He does what is best for us from an eternal perspective. He asks of us our loyalty, our willingness to help others, and our repentance—for which He will reward us with the riches of eternity." Andrew Skinner, The Nature and Character of God

"Our Father in Heaven is an eternal being whose experience, wisdom, and intelligence are infinitely greater than ours.4 Not only that, but He is also eternally loving, compassionate, and focused on one blessed goal: to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life.5

"In other words, He not only knows what is best for you; He also anxiously wants you to choose what is best for you." Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Living the Gospel Joyfully 

God allows us to experience various afflictions

"Now allowing something (an affliction) is a different matter! God can and will do that if it is ultimately for our good. I am going to say it again: God does not now nor will He ever do to you a destructive, malicious, unfair thing—ever. It is not in what Peter called “the divine nature”7 to even be able to do so. By definition and in fact, God is perfectly and thoroughly, always and forever good, and everything He does is for our good.8 I promise you that God does not lie awake nights trying to figure out ways to disappoint us or harm us or crush our dreams or our faith." Jeffrey R. Holland, “A Saint Through the Atonement of Christ the Lord”

7. 2 Peter 1:4; see also verses 2–11.

8. See 2 Nephi 26:24; see also Moroni 7:12–13.

"The Lord did not cause evil to befall Joseph but he decidedly allowed it. He honors moral agency as sacrosanct even when human beings callously take the lives of their fellow humans (cf. Alma 14:8-11). Nevertheless, he can turn the bad things that happen to us and even the bad things that people do to us into a life-saving blessing for us and many others. He can do this because of his atoning sacrifice, the ultimate instance of turning evil actions and injustice into life-saving good. He can thus “consecrate” all our “afflictions for [our] gain” (2 Nephi 2:2).

“The Lord was with Joseph” in Egypt throughout all his trials, just as he was “with” Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and forever after (D&C 122:9). He was “with Joseph” just as he “stood by” Paul in prison, for whom the Lord also had a special mission to “bear witness” of him at Rome (see Acts 23:17). Joseph’s story is yet more evidence that the Lord “doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world” and always “doeth that which is good among the children of men” (2 Nephi 26:24, 33)." Matt Bowen,  “The Lord Was with Joseph”: A Scriptural Case Study in Why the Lord Allows Bad Things to Happen to Good People

"As Jesus taught, patient love and tolerant restraint are great hallmarks of our Heavenly Father’s character and personality. “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good” (Matthew 5:45), meaning that righteousness and wickedness are not—cannot be—immediately and constantly rewarded or punished. Such constant interference in the lives of men and women would thwart the plan of salvation and the purposes for which earth life was designed: to allow individuals to exercise patience, walk by faith, and be tested." Andrew Skinner, The Nature and Character of God

Our Covenant Relationship to Him

"Our Father in Heaven loves me, and He loves you. His love is not a zero-sum exercise. He does not love me less and you more because there is only so much love to go around. His love is infinite. He loves me when I think or act a little like the prodigal son, and He is patient with me when I think or act a little like the jealous older son. In truth, during our years of mortality, are we not all, even just a little bit, like both the prodigal son and the steady but jealous older brother? Does our Father in Heaven cease to be interested in our welfare when we are sinful and we need to come to ourselves? Does He turn off His care and concern for us when we are bad and turn it on again when we are good? I do not think so. The Father’s love is as broad, deep, and lasting as eternity. It encompasses all.

"Of course, God’s love does not mean that all of us will receive the same blessings and opportunities. God cannot and will not do as much for the rebellious as He can and will do for the valiant. The disobedient cannot take full advantage of the Father’s love, which love is manifested fully in the gift of His Son.

"This, I think, is the meaning of Nephi’s declaration: “Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one; [but] he that is righteous is favored of God” (1 Nephi 17:35)." Andrew Skinner, The Nature and Character of God

"Please, you beautiful young colleagues in this work: When your life seems to be one tear and tragedy and heartache after another, the meaning of which and the answers to which you cannot understand, I ask you as Alma did to “hope for things which are not seen [but] which are true.”17 As sure as you live, all of the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, are waiting for you, short-term, long-term, and forever." Jeffrey R. Holland, “A Saint Through the Atonement of Christ the Lord”

Agency

"We teach that agency is the ability and privilege God gives us to choose and “to act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon.”1 Agency is to act with accountability and responsibility for our actions. Our agency is essential to the plan of salvation. With it we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.”2" Robert D. Hales, Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life 

Forgiveness

"Victims of abuse frequently long for the day when their abuser will come to their senses, confess their wrongdoing and ask to be forgiven.

"They can trick themselves into thinking it’s a magic pill of some sort. But it’s really hard to live a peaceful life when your peace is dependent on someone else’s actions. And, frankly, even victims who get such a speech from their abusers often find that it has no effect on how easy or hard it is for them to forgive. It’s an expensive lesson to learn, but the reality is that if your peace is in another person’s hands, you may not know much peace." Jennifer Roach, God Meant it Unto Good

"Some, no doubt with good intentions, respond to abuse in a non-forgiving way, resolutely, or teach others to do so. Often, they contend that some abuses are simply too heinous and horrible to be forgiven. It would be wrong, they say, to let the offenders off the hook. Or they say that the victims of such abuse cannot forgive, no matter how much they might wish to, because the damage inflicted is too great.

"I think this position presumes that forgiveness is designed to release the perpetrator from bondage, rather than the victim, as if the victim’s main concern were the moral standing of the perpetrator, rather than his or her own moral standing. Looked at in this way, forgiveness for abuse seems to concern what the perpetrator did, and forgiveness seems to require the victim to pretend the injury never happened. Impossible!

"But contrary to this misunderstanding, the freedom that forgiveness brings is not—at least initially—for the forgiven but for the forgiver. It concerns not what the perpetrator did in the past but what the victim is doing now. Understood in this way, forgiveness releases us from the thrall and anguish of the resentment that accompanies our belief that we’ve been irreparably damaged. It becomes an opportunity for sweet liberation. The horror happened, yes. And by forgiveness we find consolation, meaning, increased sensitivity, purification, sanctification, and Christ." C. Terry Warner, Why We Forgive

"Either we accept Christ’s payment for the losses we have suffered at others’ hands, or we demand that those persons be made to pay for these losses. If in our minds what he endured does not suffice for us, we will feel deprived and resentful. The sacrifice of the Lamb of God will seem irrelevant to us; we will want a scapegoat for our especially difficult suffering. In this way, the insistence that the person we blame should pay for making us suffer rejects the payment the Lord has made.

"Anger, resentment, bitterness—these are rejections of the Atonement. By demanding payment, we who refuse to forgive maintain that the Savior’s suffering does not apply to the offense we have suffered. His sacrifice does not suffice to cover this offense. Our offender or someone else on earth must pay the difference." C. Terry Warner, Why We Forgive

"forgiveness may not be easy to extend. On the contrary, to forgive another person might be the work of a lifetime. I do not imply by this a weakness or deficiency in the unforgiving person. I do not suggest that they should be able to forgive more readily. No work is more demanding or more significant. It heals individuals. It heals families living together. It heals generations united by blood or adoption. The work of forgiveness may take years, a lifetime. That seems to me to be quite all right, for it is among the most important work that we are put on earth to do." C. Terry Warner, Why We Forgive

For what Forgiveness is NOT, see Lynn Robbins, Be 100 Percent Responsible

"There is only one hope for humankind, there is only one hope for our families, there is only one hope for our communities and for ourselves, and that is to absorb joyfully whatever wrongs may be done for us, to understand with compassion that the person who is perpetrating them doesn’t really understand, and to forgive freely and to take joy in that Christ who more than compensates us instantaneously for any sacrifice of retribution that we might make." C. Terry Warner, Why We Forgive

Forgiveness is NOT:

· Forgiving does not excuse or condone cruelty

· Forgiving does not mean forgetting; you cannot unremember or erase a traumatic memory

· Forgiving does not mean that justice is being denied, because mercy cannot rob justice.

· Forgiving does not erase the injury, but it can begin to heal the wounds and ease the pain.

· Forgiving does not mean trusting again and giving the perpetrator another chance to. While to forgive is a commandment, trust has to be earned and evidenced by good behavior over time.

· Forgiving does not mean forgiveness of sins. Only the Lord can do that, based upon sincere repentance.



Forgiveness IS:

· To accept Christ’s payment for the wrong that was done us

· To sacrifice our desire for revenge or retribution

· To turn justice and the desire for justice over to God

· To give the offending person another chance at the Plan of Salvation

Forgiveness is about our relationship with Christ. Reconciliation is about rebuilding a relationship of trust with those who have harmed us. Reconciliation is a function of trust.

The Nature of God, The Covenant, Agency

1)    Review some key concepts of our theology: the goodness of God, the Abrahamic Covenant, and the agency of man. **On the board: God, Covenant, agency

a.     God is GOOD – he doesn’t trick or deceive.

b.   Romans 8:38-39.  God loves every one of us infinitely and perfectly, regardless of our situation. He has a relationship of love with each one of us, and that love never falters.

c.     God allows us to enter into a covenantal relationship with him – into a relationship of TRUST. Read 1 Nephi 17:35. (He that is righteous—what is righteous? Keeping covenant!) Trust is a function of responsible behavior over time. Covenants are about establishing trust.

d.    Review the Abrahamic Covenant Blessings & Obligations

Obligations Summary: Love God, Remember God, Obey God, Love Each Other  and Serve each other

Blessings Summary: Higher relationship with God, Receive the Power of God, Prosper, Land, Protection, Posterity, Gathering/Mercy, Exaltation, 

share the covenant

e.    Agency. Would the plan of Salvation work without the agency of man? Quotes…

2)    NOW we’re ready to talk about the story of Joseph.

Covenantal reactions to affliction

Remember the story of Joseph from his early dreams through his being sent to Governorship in Egypt – the periods of affliction he goes through. Look for evidence of the Covenant at work in Joseph’s life.

-        Has Joseph entered into the Abrahamic Covenant?

-        Look for “Prosper” “Power of God” “Land” “Protection” “Posterity” “Mercy”

-        The narrator said, “And he could be YOU.” How does this apply to us in our times of affliction?

-        How might the thought expressed in Genesis 50:19–21 help us in times of trial?

-        Was the brothers selling Joseph into slavery an “Abrahamic Sacrifice”? Did God want the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery?  *Jeffrey Holland quote, Matt Bowen quote

-        What evidence is there that Joseph is keeping the covenant? Skim through Genesis 41. What evidence do you find of God giving covenantal blessings to Joseph?

-        C. S. Lewis says that no man can know what might have happened…what might have happened if Joseph’s brothers had been like Nephi, and gone to the Lord for an explanation of Joseph’s dream?

all things work together for [the] good [of] them that love God  (Romans 8:28)

Forgiveness and Trust

 

Even though it’s always Joseph set up as the example of being forgiving, consider this:

a)    Joseph forgave his brothers for his own sake and as an acceptance of his Savior.

b)    Upon reuniting with his brothers, Joseph gave them opportunities to build a relationship of trust with him, and

c)     The brothers come to a place where they are able to forgive themselves for what they did to Joseph. (of you it is required to forgive ALL men. All = 100%

**Forgiveness is between the person and God; it has to do with the injured person accepting the atonement as payment for the wrong done them and not requiring additional payment. 

1)    Refusing to forgive is a rejection of the atonement. **C. Terry Warner quote

2)    We see evidence that Joseph has at least begun to forgive in Gen 41:51 at the birth and naming of Mannaseh - For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

Joseph gives opportunity for the brothers to be trusted again: Genesis 42 does Joseph respond with love/without retribution? What does he do to allow his brothers to establish trust again?

-        (Forgiveness ≠Trust) Doesn’t reveal who he is “makes himself strange unto them” v7; Speaks roughly; Remembers his dreams v9; accuses them of being spies v9. To build trust: Asks pointed questions about their family, and pointedly asks if they have another brother (they tell Jacob this) (so he can gauge the truth of their answers). First he says he’ll keep them all in prison and send one back for Benjamin; throws them all in prison 3 days (this is showing he has boundaries, which you’ve got to have in a relationship of trust: shows what will and what won’t be tolerated). **Could the three days be symbolic? Christ in the tomb, Jonah in the whale, the number of times Joseph hit rock-bottom (sold to Ishmeelites, sold to Potipher, put in prison) At the end of the three days, he brings them out, and says that because he fears God he has changed his mind (does this imply that he has had some personal revelation about this? Could he possibly have NOT known the brothers would come when they did? I think we have to assume that he didn’t have a ‘master plan’ of how to deal with them at this point) Sells them grain, takes Simeon, tells them to bring Benjamin with them next time. (Allows them to be true to Simeon – will they abandon him in a pit as they did Joseph, or will they keep return with Benjamin?

-        READ 42:21-22 Joseph weeps when he hears this. He had never heard any of their side of the story. They are showing remorse, which is one of the steps of repentance.

-        Joseph gives them grain (returns their money) – he is responding in a loving way

-        43:14 Jacob using covenant language “mercy” and turns it over to God.

Trustworthy behavior:

-        They brought Benjamin with them

-        They told the steward of Joseph’s house about the money in their sacks

-        Joseph gives Benjamin 5 times the food of the others and they don’t react with jealousy

One more test, the cup in the sack Gen 44

-         They are sure of their innocence (v9); the steward excuses them all except Benjamin (v10) – but they all returned to the city, they didn’t just let the steward take Benjamin

-        Judah makes an appeal to Joseph to take him instead of Benjamin, and let Benjamin go home.

Gen 45 – the beginning of reconciliation

Gen 45:5 God sent me before you – Joseph

Gen 46:2-4 Jacob goes to Beersheba (where Abraham called on the name of the Lord) to offer sacrifice before going to Egypt. *example of seeking guidance, *Covenant blessings in God’s answer to Jacob

**Forgiveness –50:15-21

-        the brothers have not forgiven themselves yet

-        Joseph has forgiven and has recognized the hand of God in turning his afflictions for his good.

-        **Ask: was this forgiveness (Joseph’s and the brothers) an immediate thing?

-        This is 43 years after Joseph was sold into Egypt. Warner quote, Forgiveness may not be easy to extend