And Joseph said to them, Fear not am I then in the place of God?
Joseph's brothers have just buried Jacob, and now they panic: they expect the man they once sold to settle the account at last. His answer — a question about who may judge — is the last thing Genesis says about their crime.
The brothers had been living on the wrong security. One writer notes that Joseph's kindness had never depended on the old man who had now died:
When their father had died, Joseph's brothers were afraid. They thought his attitude toward them would turn hostile as he recalled the way they had treated him (v. 15). But it was not his father's mediation that caused Joseph to show kindness to them for their ill treatment. It was rather his relationship to God that moved him... More than that, Joseph's words to them had only been good (Gen. 45:4-8). Could they not simply trust his word? Sometimes those who have trusted the Lord Jesus still have lingering fears that they might be lost. Why is this? Because they do not simply take His word, such as John 5:24, at face value.
Before Joseph says anything, he weeps. A commentator reads those tears as the pain of love that is not believed:
This lack of confidence, after all the love that had been lavished upon them, broke the heart of Joseph. He "wept when they spoke to him" (v. 17). The saddest thing in all this sad world is unrequited love. But though his tears showed how deeply he felt, he speaks no word of reproach. The very tears would surely be enough to wither up their unbelief.
Their suspicion made no sense against Joseph's record:
Joseph had freely and fully forgiven them. He had spared their lives when they were entirely in his power. How could they suppose that, after so many years of kindness, he would turn on them in anger and revenge? It was a grievous wrong, and no wonder that "Joseph wept when they spoke to him." What an answer to all their unworthy fear and dark suspicion! A flood of tears! Such is love!
The question in the verse is a refusal. Joseph will not be the judge of a case in which he is the injured party:
Joseph's reply is beautiful: "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?" (v. 19). Joseph would not think of judging his own case, for only God is Judge. Also, despite his high position in Egypt, he stayed a faithful brother to all Jacob's sons.
The same words also shape what Joseph does next:
Having wept, Joseph replied, and his words show again how consistently God was before him. He was not in the place of God, and therefore not free to act without reference to Him. God had acted in the whole matter, and meant it for good. Since that was God's intention, he would not for a moment turn aside from it. His acts toward them would also be consistently for their good.
Joseph names the evil and still tells them there is nothing to dread:
"As for you," he can say, "you meant evil against me," but he can add, "Do not fear." He says, as it were, "I know all the evil of your hearts toward me, but there is nothing to fear, for there is nothing but love in my heart toward you." And so once again he removes all fear about the past and all anxiety about the future. He adds, "I will provide for you and your little ones."
This answer was not a one-off flash of nobility. It matched how Joseph had spoken in every setting of his life:
Wherever he was found, God was in all his thoughts. When tempted, he said, "How can I... sin against God?" When brought to Pharaoh, his first words are, "God will give...". When he makes himself known to his brothers, he says, "Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, for God sent me before you." When they distrust him, he says, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?"
One writer hears Joseph's opening words later on the lips of the Lord Jesus:
"And Joseph said to them, Do not fear." That is just the way the Lord Jesus loves to comfort the soul. To win the confidence of the heart, He says to the trembling one, "Do not fear: I am Jesus."
- Fear — the brothers dreaded a change of heart. They leaned on their father's mediation instead of on Joseph's own good word.
- Tears — disbelief wounds love; Joseph wept, but sent back no reproach.
- Refusal — "am I in the place of God?" is Joseph declining the judge's seat in his own case, since only God judges.
- Restraint — because he is not God, he is not free to act apart from God, so he uses his power for their good.
- Comfort — Joseph names the evil, does not excuse it, and takes away the fear anyway. The Lord Jesus speaks the same "do not fear" to a trembling heart.
Ye indeed meant evil against me God meant it for good, in order that he might do as [it is] this day, to save a great people alive.
Joseph's brothers have just buried their father. Now they expect the man they sold into slavery to take his revenge. Joseph's answer does not deny what they did. It also does not leave them sitting in their fear. In one sentence he puts their evil and God's purpose side by side.
Joseph refuses the judge's seat while still calling their act what it was. One writer holds both halves of the verse together:
Joseph's reply is beautiful: "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?" (v. 19). Joseph would not think of judging his own case, for only God is Judge. Also, though he had been raised to power in Egypt, he still kept his place as brother to all of Jacob's sons. He did not excuse their evil thoughts against him (v. 20). But he insisted that God had used their evil to bring about great good, saving many people from death.
The brothers aimed to destroy Joseph's future. What they aimed at became the very road to it:
What his brothers did to Joseph was evil, and Joseph had done nothing to deserve it. But God was at work behind it. He turned the very harm they intended into the means of carrying out His good purpose. Joseph deserved honour, yet he was pushed from one humiliation down to a worse one. God used that road to bring him to honour in the end.
That God used their sin was no excuse for it, yet it was a mercy to men carrying a heavy conscience:
Their wrath had sold Joseph into Egypt. God used their sin to make Joseph the great organizer of that time, and he saved countless lives. Nothing could excuse the terrible sin of Joseph's brothers against him. Yet their consciences accused them, and it must have been a great comfort to find that God used the anger of man to praise Him.
Commentators read this verse as the pattern of something far greater than a famine in Egypt:
Verse 20 is a fine summing up of the whole story. They had committed a grievous wrong but God had overruled it for salvation. This at once directs our thoughts to the Lord Jesus Christ. His brothers plotted evil against Joseph. That was nothing compared with what the Jews did when they rejected and crucified their Messiah. God allowed it because He meant it for good. Through it He carried out an eternal redemption. He laid the foundation on which the whole building of blessing rests, in a new creation that matches His eternal purpose.
Joseph did not say this to just anyone. Notice who was standing in front of him:
But to whom were these wonderful words of grace addressed? To broken hearts and repentant spirits, and convicted consciences. To men who had learnt to say, "In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother." Only people like that can take in the truth we are looking at here.
The brothers' dread came from measuring Joseph by themselves. Their fear exposed how little they had come to know him:
They judged Joseph by what was in their own hearts. They thought he would pay them back for the evil they had done to him. Joseph wept again when they came and confessed their sin. And again he told them he would care for them and provide for them (Gen. 50:21).
Joseph's answer settles both the past and everything still ahead of them:
He can say, "As for you, you meant evil against me." But he can also say, "Do not fear." It is as if he said: "I know all the evil in your hearts toward me. Yet you have nothing to fear. There is nothing but love in my heart toward you." So once more he takes away their fear about the past. And he takes away their worry about the future.
Joseph could see God's hand when he looked back. In the middle of things, we usually cannot:
We cannot see how everything fits together. We cannot follow the turns of God's providence as it works. And we cannot weigh up how His dealings will finally turn out. So we badly need to wait on God. Above all, we need to hold on to our confidence in His love, which never changes, never fails, and never gets anything wrong. He will make everything plain. He will bring light out of darkness, life out of death, victory out of apparent defeat.
- Evil — real. Joseph never rewrites what his brothers did; their guilt stands, and only God is Judge of it.
- Overruled — higher. God worked above their crime, so the very act meant to ruin Joseph carried out His purpose of good.
- Cross — greater. Commentators see the same pattern at the cross, where man's worst act became the foundation of an eternal redemption.
- Fear — removed. The brothers judged Joseph by their own hearts; his answer told them there was nothing but love in his.
- Today — trusted. We cannot follow God's providence while we are living through it. So we hold to His unfailing love and wait for Him to bring light out of darkness.
And now, fear not I will maintain you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke consolingly to them.
Their father is dead, and Joseph's brothers are afraid. They expect him to pay back the old wrong at last. Instead he promises them food and speaks to their hearts. Every guilty conscience asks the same question: does forgiveness hold when the person who shielded us is gone?
Joseph does not deny what his brothers did to him. He sets their evil and his own heart side by side, and the second one settles the matter.
"As for you," he can say, "you meant evil against me," but he can add, "Do not fear." He says, as it were, "I know all the evil of your hearts toward me, but there is nothing to fear, for there is nothing but love in my heart toward you." And so once again he removes all fear about the past and all anxiety about the future. He adds, "I will provide for you and your little ones." That was how "he comforted them and spoke to their hearts" (margin). Perfect love casts out all fear.
The phrase rendered "spoke kindly to them" carries in the margin a warmer sense: he spoke to their hearts. God wins back His straying people the same way.
How did Joseph dispel the lingering doubts of his brothers, who had treated him so shamefully? We read that "he comforted them and spoke to their hearts" (Gen. 50:21, margin). He confirmed his love to them. And how will the Lord at last restore His backsliding people? We read these touching words in Hosea: "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her" (Hosea 2:14; older translations read "speak to her heart"). In wilderness circumstances God speaks to her heart and opens a door of hope to her. There, when love has done its work, she sings again as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Joseph promises all this to men who had just shown they did not trust him.
Yet his attitude toward them did not change in the presence of this display of unbelief. His answer was, "Do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." The benevolence of his rule was a reality whether they fully relied on it or not. The littleness of their faith in no way altered the largeness of his heart.
Joseph had already revealed himself to them years before. Their panic showed how little they had learned about the man himself. One writer applies that failure to older believers today.
Again Joseph wept when they came confessing their sin to him, and again he told them he would care for them and provide for them (Gen. 50:21). This loss of their peace showed that they had not grown in the knowledge of Joseph himself since he had made himself known to them. Had they grown, they would never have held such wrong thoughts about him. And this is just what explains the unhappy state of soul that sometimes overtakes older believers. They may have gathered a great deal of knowledge about various things, but the knowledge of God's Son — their Lord and Saviour — has been neglected.
The brothers had just called themselves Joseph's servants. He turns that power into their food supply, so forgiveness comes with a future attached.
He was so exalted in Egypt that they were indeed his servants, as they confessed. But he would use his power to feed and protect them. He comforted them by kindly speech.
What he asked in return was not payment but confidence.
For those who have repented there is not only the fullest forgiveness, but a provision of great blessing. There are words of kindness and comfort too, as we see in Joseph's assurance of blessing for his brothers (v. 21). He simply wanted them to trust him and believe his word. This is what the Lord Jesus desires of us.
The scene also points ahead. One writer sees in it a picture of how Christ will meet Israel.
Just as Joseph spoke kindly to his brothers, so will Christ speak to the repentant of Israel. He will bring them to share in the fruits of His work, with rich provision and blessing.
- Fear — Their fear grew out of how little they knew Joseph, years after he had made himself known to them.
- Love — He knew every wrong they had done and still had nothing but love toward them. Fear about the past and anxiety about the future both fell away.
- Word — "Spoke kindly" reads in the margin as spoke to their hearts. God promised to speak to His straying people the same way in the wilderness.
- Provision — Forgiveness came with food: Joseph spent his power on feeding them and their little ones.
- Trust — Their small faith never shrank his large heart. All he wanted was their trust in his word — and that is what Christ asks of us.