Genesis 48-50
How Can a Good God
Allow Suffering?

Psalm 9:9-20 Knowing and Trusting

9.Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.10.Those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek You.11.Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what He has done.12.For He who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.13.Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;14.that I may show forth all Your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in Your salvation.15.The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.16.Yahweh has made Himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of His own hands. Meditation. Selah.17.The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.18.For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.19.Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in Your sight.20.Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah."

Observation

9:9-20.

Most people don't like to consider God as judge, but His justice is a source of great comfort to the oppressed, as well as a major component of His character and glory. In fact if you don't know God as a judge, you don't know Him. Those who do know Him as He is (name/character/glory) put their trust in Him, knowing that in His justice He can't forsake them. See: Glorifying God the Judge.

Application

In His justice, God will never forsake those who seek and trust Him, so seek and trust and call for help, and then praise Him when He saves you.

Prayer

Most High God, I praise You for being accessible and just; guide me in seeking You and knowing You and trusting You throughout my days; I know I won't be disappointed. Amen.

Proverbs 3:11-12 Way to Wisdom

11.“My son, don’t despise/reject/refuse Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of His reproof:12.for whom Yahweh loves, He reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.“

Observation

3:11-12.

Biblical parents should mirror God's parenting of themselves. God delights in His children, when they acknowledge that He's the parent, and they're the child. He wants what's best for them, so He brings their sin to light (reproof) and trains (disciplines/instructs) them to do what's right. Reproof is a major theme in Proverbs, and valuing it is the way to wisdom, rejecting it is the path to folly. If you clicked on the Strong's number for the noun (reproof), and the verb it comes from (reprove), you'd find these verses, and God's perspective on the subject in Proverbs. See Proverbs 1:23, 25, 30; 5:12; 6:23; 9:7,8; 10:17; 12:1; 13:18; 15:5,12,31,32; 19:25; 27:5; 24:25; 25:12 28:23; and Proverbs 29:1,15. Discipline or instruction is used 35 times in the 30 chapters of Proverbs, giving an indication of how important it is to acquiring wisdom.

Application

We start out naïve or foolish, and through the process of reproof and correction we become wiser.

Prayer

God, thanks for loving me enough to bring my sin to light so I can get rid of it, and enjoy life as You intended. Amen.

Genesis 48-50 How Can A Good God Allow Suffering?

Genesis 48 Crisscross Double Blessing!!

3.Jacob said to Joseph, “ God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,4.and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’5.Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon6....They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.11.Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also.”13.Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him.14.Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.15.He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,16.the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”17.When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.18.Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”19.His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations.”20.He blessed them that day, saying, “In you will Israel bless, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.21.Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.22.Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”

Observations

48:5.

Jacob adopts Joseph's sons for the purpose of blessing/inheritance.

48:15.

In a replay of the Jacob and Esau double cross in receiving the blessing, Joseph tries to manipulate the greater blessing to the firstborn Manasseh (under the right hand). Jacob refuses, blessing the younger Ephraim first with the greater blessing, then his brother (crisscrossing his hands). Joseph in effect is also getting the blessing of the firstborn, a double portion, above his elder brothers, by having his sons become Jacob's. Ephraim would become the dominant tribe during the period of Judges.

Application

God is able to override the plans of men, so it makes sense to trust Him to do that when it's best, and focus on being blessable.

Prayer

God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, I trust that You will look out for my interests. Amen.

Genesis 49 Prophetic Paybacks

1.Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.3.“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.4.Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it.5.“Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.6.My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.7.Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel.
8.“ Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you.9.Judah is a lion’s cub...10.The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be...22.“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.
23.The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him:24.But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),25.even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above...They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.
33.When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

Observations

49:1-10.

Reuben, Simeon and Levi forfeited their blessings by their bad behavior. Judah, next in line, gets the Messianic promises of a Preeminent Ruler, not Joseph.

49:3.

Reuben did not produce a judge, king, priest, prophet, nor any noteworthy descendent. Was it worth it? Like the Reubenites, the Simeonites also faded into the other tribes.

49:6.

Levite's descendants reversed the curse by their loyalty to the Lord in Exodus 32:26ff. We'll look at the other blessings when we see their fulfillment later in the Scriptures.

Note that God's plan to bless was modulated by the possible recipient's responses and actions. Reuben lost it; Joseph got it.

Application

Our actions affect those around us, for generations. It is never too late to turn the tide.

Hebrews 11:21 "By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff."

Prayer

Lord, help me live so others will be maximally blessed. Amen.

Genesis 50 How Can A Good God Allow Suffering?

1.Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.2.Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father...6.Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”7.Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,14.Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father15.When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him.”16.They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,17.‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.18.His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”19.Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?20.As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.21.Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
24.Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”25.Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”26.So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Observations

50:19.

Genesis opened with man seeking to be in the place of God. It ends with man recognizing reality.

50:20.

This is a great verse to keep close to your heart when you encounter injustice.

50:21.

A forgiving heart can acknowledge the hurt and bless those who cursed them. A bitter, sinful heart nourishes and cherishes the hurt rather than those who hurt them.

50:25.

Joseph expressed faith in God's promise to bring the Israelites back to the land.

Hebrews 11:22 By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave instructions concerning his bones.

Application

God frequently uses real and painful evil to bring about a greater good and blessing. How would the story have been different if Joseph were not sold, and had not submitted?

Prayer

Oh God who knows what He's doing, spare me the stupidity of not believing your promises and submitting to Your will. Amen.

Digging Deeper

This world is not all there is; there is a better world coming in which those who have demonstrated the nobler virtues will be blessed. Unjust suffering sets the stage on which we demonstrate rewardable responses.
"Suffering is a vaccine against short-sightedness of the soul" -bc

God in a nutshell: God has a purpose and plan to bless. Exactly who gets that blessing (unless otherwisespecified) is determined by how people respond to His Revelation.

Us in a nutshell: We always have a choice that influences our destiny: trust and obey, or fuss and decay. The default is to carry on the sin or our forebearers, but like Joseph, we can rise above them, and like the Levites, we can turn the tide. We can also do worse, and reap appropriate consequences.