The Evil God Turned to Good
Devotional for September 24 · Genesis 50:20 · 13-minute read
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.” 16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, 17‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 18His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!” 19But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. 21Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them. 22Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110. 23He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees. 24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” 26So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.
Context
Genesis 50 closes the first book of the Bible. Jacob, also called Israel, has just died in Egypt, and Joseph takes his father's body to be buried in Canaan, in the cave Abraham had bought (v. 13). Joseph was the son whom his brothers, out of envy, sold as a slave while he was still young (Gen 37). In Egypt he was a slave, was falsely accused, and was imprisoned, until he was raised up to be governor. During a great famine, those same brothers came to buy food, and the whole family was saved and taken in.
Many years had passed since the reconciliation told in chapter 45. But with their father's death, the old fear returns: perhaps Joseph had only been kind out of respect for Jacob. The brothers send a message attributing a request for forgiveness to their father and then bow down before him. The text does not confirm whether Jacob actually said that. It is in this fragile moment that Joseph speaks one of the best-known sentences in the Old Testament, interpreting his whole story in the light of God.
What the text says
- v. 17: Faced with the plea for forgiveness, the text says: “When their message came to him, Joseph wept.” His first reaction is not triumph, but grief and affection.
- v. 19: Joseph asks: “Am I in the place of God?” He refuses to take the place of final judge over his brothers.
- v. 20-21: Joseph does not call evil good. He says, “what you intended against me for evil,” but that God intended it for good, “to preserve the lives of many people.” And he promises to provide for his brothers and their little ones.
Reflection
It is easy to read Genesis 50:20 like an optimistic bumper sticker, as if everything that happens turns out good in the end. But Joseph does not say that. He calls what his brothers did by its right name: evil. There was envy, a pit, the sale of a brother, years of slavery and prison. The Bible does not cover up injustice. Anyone who has been hurt by someone close needs to hear this first: what was done to you was not small, and God does not ask you to pretend it was.
What Joseph affirms is that two intentions were at work in the same story. The verb used for the brothers and for God is the same: they intended, God intended. The brothers intended evil; God, without erasing their guilt, directed those very events toward a greater purpose: “to preserve the lives of many people.” The good Joseph speaks of is not only his personal comfort. It is the survival of an entire family during the famine and, through it, the continuation of the promise made to Abraham.
Notice also the question in v. 19. Joseph had the power to take revenge; his brothers were literally at his feet. But he understood that the last word about their lives did not belong to him. To forgive, here, is not to say that nothing happened. It is to give up the right to repay evil and to hand judgment over to God. And Joseph goes further: he promises to provide for the children of those who hurt him, and the text says he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. It is forgiveness that becomes concrete care.
This story points to something greater. In the New Testament, Peter says that Jesus was delivered up according to God's set plan and foreknowledge and, even so, put to death by lawless hands (Acts 2:23). At the cross, the worst injustice in history was used by God for the salvation of many. It is not that suffering is good; it is that God is able to work within it without being defeated by it.
Maybe you still do not see any good in what you have lived through, and Joseph did not see it for many years either. The text does not promise that you will understand everything in this life. But it invites you to two things: bring your pain to God without denying it, and refuse the place of final judge over the one who hurt you. Forgiving can take time and does not always mean trusting again or living close again. It can begin with an honest prayer: Lord, I do not know what to do with this; you take this story.
Connections
- Genesis 45:5-8 (cross-reference): At the reconciliation, Joseph had already interpreted his being sold as God sending him ahead to preserve life.
- Acts 2:23 (cross-reference): The cross is the supreme example of a real human evil that God used for the salvation of many.
- Romans 8:28 (editorial reading): Paul expresses the same confidence: God works all things together for the good of those who love him, without calling evil good.
To apply
- Heart: what wound from the past still defines the way I see my own story?
- Relationships: over whom have I been taking the place of final judge, demanding what only God can judge?
- Today: write down the name of someone who hurt you and pray for that person, handing judgment over to God, even if your feelings have not changed yet.
Prayer
Sovereign and good God, you govern history without ever being the author of evil, and nothing I have lived through has escaped your hands. I confess that I hold on to wounds and sometimes want to take your place, demanding from those who hurt me what only you can judge. I give you my pain and also my desire for revenge. Heal what still bleeds in me, give me courage to forgive in your time, and wisdom to care for those who depend on me. In Jesus' name, Amen.
To memorize: Genesis 50:20
Today's step: In the next 24 hours, write an honest prayer about an old wound and hand over to God the right to judge the one who caused it.
To go deeper: read Genesis 45–50 and get to know Joseph of Egypt.