Joseph forgives his brothers · the evil God turned into good
A Bible story to tell as a family · Genesis 45:1–15 · ages 5–12 · 12 min
The story
Jacob had twelve sons, but he loved Joseph more than the others and gave him a robe of many colors. The brothers noticed, and jealousy turned into hatred: the Bible says they could not speak a kind word to him. When Joseph told them his dreams, in which his brothers bowed down before him, their anger only grew.
One day, Jacob sent Joseph to see how his brothers were doing with the flock. They saw him from far away and said: “Here comes that dreamer!” They stripped off his robe and threw him into an empty cistern, a deep pit for storing water, with no water in it. Then they sold him to traders for twenty pieces of silver, and he was taken to Egypt as a slave. To their father they showed the robe, stained with goat’s blood. Jacob wept for many days.
The years went by. In Egypt, Joseph suffered injustice, even in prison, but God was with him, and Joseph ended up becoming governor over all of Egypt. A great famine came, and the brothers went down to Egypt to buy food. They stood before the governor without imagining who he was. Joseph recognized them and watched: had they changed?
The moment came when Joseph couldn’t hold back any longer. He ordered: “Send everyone away from me!” He was left alone with his brothers and wept so loudly that the Egyptians outside heard him. Then he said: “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” The brothers were speechless, terrified. The brother they had sold now held all the power in his hands.
But Joseph said: “Please come near me.” And he went on: “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt!” He didn’t pretend nothing had happened. He told the whole truth. And right after that, he told another truth, even greater: “it was to save lives that God sent me before you.” Because of the famine, if Joseph had not been there, the whole family might have died.
Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and promised to take care of everyone. Then he hugged his youngest brother, Benjamin, and the two wept together. He kissed each of his brothers, weeping. And the Bible ends the scene with a sentence that is simple and enormous: “And afterward his brothers talked with him.” The same brothers who once couldn’t speak a kind word to Joseph were now talking with him.
Years later, when Jacob died, the brothers were afraid Joseph would finally take revenge. They went to him and bowed down. Joseph wept and answered: “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?” And he explained: “what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good”. He promised to provide for his brothers and their little ones, and he spoke kindly to them. Forgiving was not saying the evil was small. It was leaving justice in God’s hands and choosing what is good.
1Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it. 3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence. 4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! 5And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. 6For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. 10You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. 11And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’ 12Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. 13Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” 14Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. 15Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.
What the Bible says
- v. 4: Joseph tells the plain truth: “I am Joseph, your brother,” he says, “the one you sold into Egypt!”
- v. 5–8: Joseph sees God’s hand: “it was to save lives that God sent me before you.”
- v. 15: after forgiveness, the conversation comes back: “And afterward his brothers talked with him.”
What we learn
God can bring good even out of the evil others planned against us, without evil ceasing to be evil. In Joseph’s story, forgiving is not forgetting or pretending: he names what his brothers did, and only then offers grace. Nor does it mean going back to living close to someone who keeps hurting you; Joseph first watched to see whether his brothers had changed. Joseph points to Jesus, rejected by his own people, who turned the worst injustice in history into salvation for many.
Questions to talk about
For little ones
- How do you think Joseph felt when his brothers threw him into the pit?
- What did Joseph do when he met his brothers again?
For kids
- Joseph told the truth about what his brothers had done before forgiving them. Why is that important?
- Is there someone you need to start talking with in peace again?
For teens
- What’s the difference between forgiving someone and pretending nothing happened?
- Joseph said God intended good out of evil. Does that mean God wanted the evil? How do you understand that?
For adults
- What old hurt in our family still keeps us from talking in peace?
- Where do I confuse forgiveness with letting harm continue? Forgiving doesn’t oblige anyone to stay close to someone who hurts them.
Activity
Grab a scrap of fabric or colored paper to be Joseph’s robe. Each person writes on it something that was hard to forgive or to ask forgiveness for, without names, and then you paint over it with cheerful colors while you talk about the good God brought out of evil in Joseph’s story.
To memorize: Genesis 50:20
Prayer
Father, you saw everything Joseph suffered and you did not abandon him. Give us courage to tell the truth and grace to forgive. Heal the hurts in this family and teach us to talk in peace. Amen.