Forgiveness;
Wisdom; Discipline on a Nation
There
are three Hebrew words for forgiveness. The first is nasa and it basically has the idea of
lift up or carry. Its usages all relate to that basic core range. That is its
literal sense. Then it comes to being used in various metaphorical senses of
lifting up the head or the eyes as it represents a certain attitude. The second
sense of meaning that this word has it the idea of literally carrying
something, and that is transferred to the idea of bearing guilt or punishment.
So it is also a word used to teach and to talk about substitutionary atonement;
how the Messiah was to carry our sins or to bear our sins. That leads to the
third category, which is the idea of taking something away. It was used
literally in the sense of taking a wife in Ruth 1:4, but it also has the idea
of taking away in the sense of forgiveness in Genesis 50:17. Everything we are
studying leads up to that event when Joseph’s brothers ask him to forgive them
and Joseph says, ‘You meant it for evil, God meant it for good.’ We see
elements of that forgiveness all the way through this section. But the main
idea is to lift something, to carry something away, to remove it. And that is
what forgiveness is, that we are going to let something go.
The
next Hebrew word that is used for forgiveness is the word kaphar. This is the word that is
typically used to relate to atonement. The verb is the root for the term day of
atonement, Yom
Kippur. Kaphar
means to make atonement. Atonement is a word not found in the New Testament.
One of the ways it is frequently translated in the LXX is with the
Greek word KATHARIZO [kaqarizw] which means
to cleanse or purify. That is the word we find in 1 John 1:9. This is really
the main idea that is found in the whole function of confession of
sins—purification and cleansing from sins. It used to be translated
“cover,” but there has been a lot of study on this and it seems like the idea
really isn’t to cover sin, especially as the rabbis understood it when they were
translating the Old Testament into Greek, it really has to do with cleansing.
This really opens up our understanding of a lot of the sacrifices in the Old
Testament. They were related to dealing with post-salvation sins, to make an
atonement or cleansing. It would be comparable to why we confess our sins after
we are saved.
The
third word that is used in the Hebrew for forgive is the word sallach which
has the idea of forgiving, pardoning, and it is used a number of times in the
Old Testament to relate to God’s pardoning or releasing someone. It is used
almost exclusively with God as the subject—God’s work of forgiving or
releasing somebody from debt. That is another element that is in the idea of
forgiveness; APHIEMI [a)fihmi] as we get
into the New Testament word is releasing somebody from a debt, once again that
idea of letting something go.
Conclusion:
It means that when we are the objects of any kind of offence we need to learn
to step around it, to let it go. That is easy in some cases; it is much more difficult
in other cases. We have to remember that only God can forgive sin. Sin by
definition is a violation of God’s character and God’s law; therefore the only
person that we can ever sin against is God because it is His law, His
standards, and His character that we violate whenever we sin. When we commit
sin in fractions of God’s standards that always has collateral damage in the
human realm, with people we know, people we associate with, and therefore it is
necessary to go to them and also to seek forgiveness in those areas where we
have offended and hurt them. The Scriptures emphasize that there is never a
time when you don’t forgive somebody. This is emphasized in a couple of
different passages in the New Testament—Matthew 18:27, 32, 35. There are examples
in the Scriptures to teach us about forgiveness. The first example we have is
Joseph. He was maltreated by his brothers. They hated him, conspired against
him, sought to kill him, and sold him into slavery. Joseph went through a lot
of personal suffering and indignities as a result of that, but as he works
through it applying doctrine and understanding grace he gets to that point
where he can let it go. He achieved a divine viewpoint framework that even
though people may have wrong motives, that they may hate us and despise us, God
is still in control. Romans 8:28.
Then
we come to specific teaching related to forgiveness in the New Testament.
Matthew 6, the disciples’ prayer: “…forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors.” It points out that the believer is not only to go to God for the
forgiveness of sins, but just as we go to God for forgiveness we need to also
forgive others. That is restated by our Lord when He said: “For if you forgive
men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, and if you
don’t, He won’t.” What that is talking about is that if you continue to harbour
grudges, hostility, anger, resentment against somebody, and then when you
confess sin if you are at the same time still involved in mental attitude sins
you are not going to get back in fellowship. It takes time, as we have seen in
the process that Joseph goes through. The Old Testament example is Joseph; the
New Testament example is Christ on the cross. When Jesus Christ was on the
cross and had been tortured by the Roman soldiers, beaten, whipped, and
ridiculed, He was able to look at those men and pray, “Father forgive them
because they don’t know what they are doing.” Those are the two core models in
Scripture for what forgiveness is all about. When Jesus is on the cross he has
made Himself vulnerable to the abuse of the Roman soldiers because he
understands that God’s plan and purpose for His life is of such a magnitude
that He is to put Himself in that position and go to the cross and be abused.
Think of the apostle Paul, as Paul is a missionary going to all of these
various cities, and want happens? In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 he gives this
grocery list of how many times he was beaten, how many times he was thrown in
jail, how many times he was abused, how many times he was left for dead, etc.
If we apply human viewpoint rationale, which is based on an understanding of
our own self-importance, that we shouldn’t be treated poorly and in an
inappropriate manner, then we are going to last five seconds in terms of Christian
ministry and in terms of Christian service. Because as soon as we go into any
kind of mode where we are going to serve the Lord the whole cosmic system and
the angelic conflict is just going to paint a target on our rear end and
everything is going to come after us. So we say, ‘I don’t deserve this’ and
slip right over into arrogance. Paul never does that, he recognizes that as
long as we are there to serve the Lord there is that higher goal, higher
purpose that mitigates all other circumstances.
In
another dimension, in another realm we go back to Joseph because Joseph’s
situation is what fits the framework of what many of us deal with when we have
to face the fact that there are people we work with who stab us in the back,
that there are people that are friends and family that do things that hurt us;
everything from extreme cases of sexual and physical abuse to just treating us
without respect, minimizing us, diminishing the contribution that we have, all
these kinds of things. Then we have to analyse how far we are going to trust
them. So we saw those two different aspects with Joseph. He had forgiven his
brothers, he let it go, he wasn’t holding it against them. He is not controlled
by any mental attitude sin, its gone. But he knows whom he is dealing with, so
he has common sense and recognizes that he can’t trust himself to untrustworthy
people. Before he can reveal who he is to his own family he needs to find out
if they have got past their resentment and their hostility, jealousy,
small-mindedness and self-absorption. So he takes them through all these
various steps and tests to see if they are worthy of trust. That is where we
need to be. It is using wisdom in relationships. On the one hand you have
forgiveness that says you are not going to let what that person did to you
control my present mental attitude. Why should I let them get me out of
fellowship? Why should I let them cause me to not apply doctrine and to mess up
my whole life by matching sin with sin? So what we have to do is let it go. It
is in the past, it doesn’t matter what they have done. Leave it in the hands of
the Supreme Court of heaven. God is not going to let us watch what He does,
that is what the faith-rest drill is all about. We are going to trust God so
that the reality of God’s justice is more real to us than our lack of
experience in witnessing it.
Forgiveness
is related to grace orientation. Ephesians 4:32 is almost always translated
this way: “Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another just
as God in Christ has forgave you” – except the word there translated
“forgave” is not APHIEMI, it is the verb CHARIZOMAI [xarizomai] from the root
CHARIS [xarij], the noun for
grace. It emphasizes graciousness. This word is used a number of times in the
New Testament and it is translated “forgiveness” because that is the sense. It
is to deal with somebody on the basis of grace. Be kind to them. Do they
deserve your kindness? No, but the more someone doesn’t deserve our kindness
the more we should be kind to them, the more that we should treat them in a
manner where we are dealing with them in goodness, in gentleness, with mercy.
Because the standard is to deal with them in grace, just as God dealt with us
in grace. He never dealt with us on the basis of what we deserved. God deals
with on the basis of who He is and what Christ did no the cross. That is the
model.
As
we come to this section in chapter 47 the emphasis is on Joseph as a blessing
to both his family, the descendants of Abraham, and to the Egyptians. We need
to reinterpret Genesis correctly because there are some things in this chapter
that make it look as if Joseph is cruel, or Joseph is making some decisions
that are just kind of off-center in terms of what we might understand the role
of government. But we will avoid all of that if we understand the principle
that everything in the Bible after Genesis chapter 12, especially everything in
Genesis after chapter 12, has to be interpreted within the framework of the
Abrahamic covenant, that God promised land, seed and blessing for Israel. God
said that Israel would be a blessing to all people and that God would bless
everyone through Abraham. So what is going on here with Joseph must be
understood in terms of blessing, but it has some interesting consequences. Often
there is blessing but on the other side of the coin there is divine judgment,
and that is happening here. Joseph is not only the source of blessing in
providing for the Egyptians so they can survive this horrible famine, but at
the same time that is providing a judgment on them for their idolatry, their
paganism, and their rejection of God. That is the backdrop for understanding
this passage.
Reviewing
what has happened at the end of chapter 46: “When Pharaoh calls you and says,
‘What is your occupation?’
you
shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even
until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen;
for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.” Joseph comes to the brothers
this is what we need to do. We are going to have an interview with Pharaoh but
we need to position ourselves so that we are in an area of good real estate for
us as shepherds, and the best real estate is up in the delta region of the
Nile. Joseph wants to position them in the very best location and the best real
estate for what they are going to. There is a lot of wisdom there. How are they
going to approach the Pharaoh in such a way that he will give them this land?
He is not being manipulative here; he is being wise.
In
the first twelve verses of chapter 47 we see Joseph’s wisdom in handling the
situation with Pharaoh. Genesis 47:6 NASB “The land of Egypt is at
your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land,
let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among
them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” So Joseph has presented the
circumstance in such a way that they are given the best land from Pharaoh.
Pharaoh has made an assumption here that the other eleven brothers are just as
wise as Joseph. Joseph uses that for their benefit—“ and if you know any
capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” So Pharaoh
opens the door for Joseph to elevate his brothers to key positions in the administration.
Genesis
47:10 NASB “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his
presence.” Jacob prayed to God a commendation to commend Pharaoh. He brings a
spiritual emphasis to his meeting with Pharaoh, which indicates that Jacob
assumes a leadership role in how the conversation is going. He takes the
initiative to pray for the Pharaoh both as he comes in and as he leaves.
In
vv. 11, 12 we see again the wisdom of Joseph as he gets the family situated in
the area of Goshen. [11] “So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and
gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the
land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.” What has happened here is that Joseph
establishes the family and they possess land. They are landowners and are going
to have wealth and accumulate wealth, because God is blessing them through
Joseph’s wise leadership. God is also blessing Egypt because of Joseph’s wise
leadership. At the very beginning Joseph was given the ability to interpret the
two dreams by the Pharaoh, and he put together a wise plan in order to handle
the future events. The principle there is that it is not only good but it is
wise for believers to plan in terms of future necessities and future
emergencies by laying aside money in savings accounts to prepare for the
future, to prepare for times when we may be ill, for retirement. This is
wisdom. Having the financial means at your disposal is a way of having a level
of independence and autonomy. This is very important.
The
Egyptians are going to lose everything, including their finances and their
freedom because God is judging them because of their idolatry, because of their
failure to follow the gospel as it was made available in the Old Testament, and
because they are worshipping Pharaoh. God often in His discipline gives people
more of what they think they want as a replacement to God. They have already
deified the Pharaoh. So God just gives them more of that as their discipline
and make Pharaoh even more powerful, and as part of the discipline on their
nation they are going to come into complete servitude to Pharaoh, a servitude
that is going to go on for hundreds of years because of their idolatry. Now
Joseph isn’t the one who is administering this from that vantage point. He is
simply trying to keep them alive, but this is how God works through historical
circumstances. In order to keep them alive they have to give up their freedom.
So
they are coming to about the fifth year in that famine and the Egyptians come
to Joseph because there is no bread in the land and Joseph has gathered up all
the money that was found in the land of Egypt. He is not going out and
gathering up all the money, the point is that people are coming to the
storehouse to buy grain all the money is coming into the treasury of the
Pharaoh so that people are being left without any money. They have nothing
left; they are completely impoverished. The purpose here is not to make Joseph
wealthy. He recognizes the principle, going back to the first divine
institution of human responsibility; that the individual has to be responsible
for his own welfare. Joseph is not going to start giving them a free lunch. He
recognizes the principles of human government, that the government is
responsible to maintain a sound economy. Joseph is operating on sound economic
principles. He is not putting the government in debt. The government has stored
up resources for the future but the people have not saved, have not stored up
savings for the future, so when the crisis comes the government is in a good
position because of Joseph’s wisdom but the people are in a position of
weakness. Because they are operating on their arrogant near-sighted view of
life when the crisis comes they end up losing their freedom and becoming
enslaved to the government. [15] “When the money was all spent in the land of
Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said,
‘Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For {our} money is
gone.’”
They
came to Joseph, so Joseph says, Okay we are going to go to the barter system.
[16] “Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you {food} for
your livestock, since {your} money is gone.” So now the biggest animal
husbander in Egypt is the Pharaoh. He owns all the cattle, all the sheep, and
all the goats. The people don’t own anything anymore but they have bread and
they survive for another year. They survive because of Joseph’s wisdom. They
lose everything because of their foolishness and their failure to save. [18]
“When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, ‘We
will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my
lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.’” In
other words, all that is left is the human capital and the land. So Joseph says
he will buy all their land. [20] “So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for
Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon
them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.” So now the state owns all of the land.
The people don’t own anything so they have gone into a willing servitude, a
debt servitude. They have done that willingly and they have given up their
freedom because God in discipline brought this famine on Egypt and the result
is that it will, enslave an entire nation under a religious tyranny and a
political tyranny. That is the result of their negative volition.
There
is another shift that takes place. It is just like whenever there are major
crises in finances there are numerous other changes that take place in society.
[21] “As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s
border to the other.” So there is a massive migration from the farms to the
cities. The only exception was the priests related to the false religion of the
Egyptians, because they were already taken care of through a separate deal with
Pharaoh who provided their rations.
Genesis
47:23 NASB “Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today
bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, {here} is seed for you, and you may
sow the land.” He is going to lease the land back to them under a tenant farmer
system. But he is very gracious in the way he does it. He does this is a manner
designed to help them in order to enable them to survive. The language used
throughout this section emphasizes Joseph’s care and concern for the people.
[24] “At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall
be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your
households and as food for your little ones.” The standard procedure for tenant
farming in the ancient world was 30-50 per cent. In some cases as much as
eighty per cent went to the government and the tenant farmer only kept 20 per
cent. So in this particular case Joseph is being extremely gracious to the
people. So we see his wisdom. He is far-sighted, he plans for the future, he
plans for contingencies, and he plans for worst-case scenarios. One of the most
important principles of leadership as the head of the home, as the head of
working in a company, as leaders in a church, is that people think in terms of worst-case
scenarios. Worst case scenarios. A good and wise leader prpar5es for the
future, he plans for worst-case scenarios.
The
last section is verses 27-31 which is where Israel makes Joseph swear to return
his body to the land of his fathers. This is where the writer begins to use
foreshadowing in order to prepare us for what will happen eventually when we
get into events in the book of Exodus.
Genesis
47:27 NASB “Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen,
and they acquired property in it and were fruitful
and became very numerous.” So in contrast to the short-sighted Egyptians who
had to sell all their property to the government the Jews have been given all
this land up in Goshen and they use their position to acquire more property. So
they position themselves into a position of wealth. That will come back to
haunt them because when there is an administration change and a new Pharaoh
comes a couple of hundred years later who doesn’t know Joseph, there is
jealousy and as a result the Jews are all enslaved. But the point here is that God
blesses the Jews. They acquire property in the midst of the crisis, where as in
contrast the Egyptians have to sell all their property and they enslave
themselves to the Pharaoh. [28] “Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen
years; so the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.
[29] When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and
said to him, ‘Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand
under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not
bury me in Egypt…” He is future oriented. He understands that God is going to
take them back to the Promised Land and his bones will not stay in Egypt
forever. [30] “He said, ‘Swear to me.’ So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed
{in worship} at the head of the bed.”
Before
he dies Jacob is going to bless the sons and he is going to give them a
prophecy.