GENESIS SERIES:
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| THE BIBLE |
Chapter 50 The grief of Joseph.
In chapter 50, we sense the grief of
Joseph at his father’s death and follow him with Pharaoh’s entourage to mourn
for Jacob back to the land of Caanan in Egypt as his father had requested.
After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s
brothers were frightened and, in their fear, concocted another story since they
did not completely believe that Joseph had forgiven them and that his
forgiveness was on account of his father.
Joseph had forgiven them
unconditionally and was broken-hearted that they still did not understand, but
because of his goodness, was able to reassure them that he would look after
them and he spoke kindly to them.
When the time for Joseph to die, he
told his brothers that God will surely come and bring you out of this land of
Egypt and take you back to the land he promised. He then made them promise with
an oath that they would take his body back to Caanan when they returned.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
How do we accompany others who are in
grief- do we allow them the time they need to grieve?
Do we have reservations with others
who have forgiven us?
What plans do we have organized for
our own death (requiem and burial).
Do we expect family members to
respect our wishes like Joseph or are we likely to die with our wishes ignored?
We have now reached the end of the
book of Genesis. It has been a long and interesting journey each week as
we made our way through this first book of the bible. I hope that you
have gained a greater understanding of it, and perhaps will encourage you
to be ready to examine another Old Testament book in another series next year
in 2011. At this stage I am still pondering that myself, but I will see where
the new year leads me.
May we continue to value the word of
God in Scripture and apply it in our lives.
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