AFTER THE DEATH of their father, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?” So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died, he told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.’ Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father’s God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received the message. Then his brothers came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves, “ they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid; I can’t put myself in the place of God. You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. You have nothing to fear. I will take care of your and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.
Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died. He lived to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. He said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow: “Promise me,” he said, “that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you.”
So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.
(Quoted from Genesis 50:15-26, Today’s English Version)
Illustration by Nestor G Malgapo Sr.