20261018 Genesis 49:29-50:26 Our Hope for Edenic Life

I have wrestled with hope in the last few years. With my family growing up, we've dealt with severe mental illness, suicide, addiction, incarceration, and painful estrangement. It is really hard for me to hold some of the details without experiencing deep despair. And today, the message of Gen 49-50 is one about hope.

Genesis 49-50 conclude Genesis. When we follow the storyline of Genesis, we discover it is a book of hope. What kind of hope does Genesis offer me in my situation? What kind of hope does Genesis offer you in yours?

Genesis cultivates our hope by repeating story cycles of hope. Through the repeated cycles in each generation, Genesis trains us to expect God to be faithful to his promises. He will continue to offer a way of salvation. He will continue to offer salvation for the world. As we read Genesis, we learn to expect the New Creation for us to enjoy.

Genesis 1-11 set the tone with a cycle ending in New Creation. God created the world, and an exalted father of mankind. Then, there was sin, sibling rivalry, exile, escalation of evil, de-creation, and new-creation with a New Adam. This first cycle orients us to expect new creation The cycle repeats with Noah, then Abraham.

Abraham is the exalted Father in his cycle. God promises that in him, the Genesis 3 curses would be reversed. God’s promises blessing for all the families of the world. God’s promises to Abraham cultivate hope in us, by orienting us towards redemption after sin and new creation. The promise passes down to Isaac. It is in him that all the families of the world will be blessed.

Then, Jacob’s life cultivates hope in us. Jacob’s life foreshadows the life of the nation of Israel. Their story arc orient us to hope in the New Creation. Their stories begin with deceit and sibling rivalry or tribal rivalry. Jacob and Israel both know exile and slavery. Then there is deliverance, a covenant, and life in the Promised New Eden Land. Every cycle in Genesis cultivates our hope by teaching us to expect future enjoyment of New Creation in a New Eden.

The final section of Genesis is no different. Genesis 37-50 presents the retelling that most clearly anticipates the saving work of Christ to give us hope and to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of the world. Genesis 37-50 is about Joseph and Judah. Joseph is chosen. He is betrayed by his brothers. He is thrown in a pit. He passes his Genesis 3 test. His faithfulness leads to more suffering in a pit. He is exalted to the highest place in Egypt. He rules at Pharaoh's right hand to bring salvation for the world. Joseph offers a picture of Christ’s Redemptive mission.

In this same cycle, Judah is the one through whom the Messiah comes. Judah offered himself as a substitute for Benjamin. Judah shows us the love of God who sends Jesus to be our substitute. Judah shows us the way of salvation and is the way of salvation. To give us hope, Gen 49:8-12 taught, the snake crusher promised in Gen 3:15 comes from Judah. This is Jesus. He will reign over all people. He will punish the wicked. He will establish a New Eden, new creation for all to enjoy. Now, Gen 49-50 orient us towards redemption and new creation with the anticipation of the Exodus.

This is the book of Genesis! It is a Christian book to cultivate our Hope in Jesus, the coming King so that we would submit to his rule, we enjoy God’s New Eden promises. Now as a people captivated by such a hope, what kind of people ought we be while we suffer? Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” Only hopeful people who expect comfort will dare to mourn. It is our Hope in God’s redemption that allows us to be real with each other about our suffering.

It is our Hope in redemption that allows us to seek help for our hard marriages, hard family situations, our struggles with depression, our battles with sins, and our despair. We remain silent or suppress our pain when we don’t expect to be comforted. This is what we do when instead of being shaped by cycles of hope, we have experienced disappointment after disappointment with no care.

A hopeful people who truly believes in redemption and new Eden harmony with God, internally, with others and the world, confesses, mourns, grieves, because we expect comfort. This is why hope is so important. It allows us to be more real with each other and our hope opens us up to enjoy the comfort God offers us.

In Gen 49:29-50:26 we finish the story with more hope. We will look at:

-        Our Hope in Edenic Life even in Death,

-        Our Hope in Future World Peace

-        Our Hope in God’s Sovereign Mercy,

-        and our Hope for Eden life, today.

This hope turns us into a people that expect comfort.

First, Gen 49:29-33 Our Hope of Life even in Death

Gen 49:29-33 Gathered to His People in Paradise

In Gen 49:29-30 Jacob commanded, “I am to be gathered to my people..., bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite.” Jacob’s request concerning his burial reveals his hope in God’s promises.

The burial site is Edenic and suggests a return to paradise in death. This location is the hill country with the big trees where Abraham pitches tent and builds an altar to call on the name of the LORD. Like Eden, it is on a mountain with trees, where one enjoyed communion with God (Gen 13:18, 14:13, 18:1).

In Genesis 18, it was in this region in the East of Mamre that angels sat under a tree to eat in God's presence. Now this Edenic place serves as a burial place.

This place on a mountain, with trees, where communion with God was enjoyed, and angel s enjoyed a meal in God's presence reveal that Jacob is returning to Eden in his death to be with his people.[i]

Application

For us, there is a sense in which, we also return to Eden through death. Both Luke 16 and Luke 23 confirm this idea. In Luke 16:22, in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, when the righteous poor man, Lazarus dies, he is carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. This is what it means to be gathered to his people.

In Luke 23:39-43, when Jesus is on the cross, one the criminals hanging on the cross next to Jesus repents from sins and asks Jesus to remember him, and Jesus says in Luke 23:43, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” The Greek Word, Paradise means “garden.”

We see like in Gen 23, 25, now in Gen 49-50, God’s people have a hope of life beyond the grave, gathered with their people, by Abraham’s side in a Garden for Eden Life! So when Christians speak of going to Heaven when we die, it is this paradise safe holding place, as we wait for the New Creation to take place. This is the hope we hold onto even as we fear death. Jacob hoped in God's deliverance, and he asked to be buried in an Edenic-like place. Now, we are a people who have Hope of Eternal/Eden Life even beyond the Grave.

Roman pagan graves were marked with hopeless inscriptions like “I was not, I became, I am not, I care not.” In contrast, Christians called their burial grounds cemeteries which comes from the Greek words that refers to "sleeping places." It is okay to be scared of death. And we can live differently knowing this life does not end for us when we die.

During plagues in the 2^nd and 3^rd century, while pagans fled cities and abandoned sick family members out of fear of death, Christians stayed behind to nurse the sick, and bury the dead, even at the cost of their own lives. Hope even in death matters.

Second, Genesis 50:1-11 Our Hope for World Peace

Genesis 50:1-11

In Gen 50:6, Pharaoh grants Joseph’s request to bury Jacob as he wished. This is where it gets fascinating. According to Gen 50:7, with Joseph to bury Jacob were the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of Pharaoh’s household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt. This was such a sight that when the Canaanites saw the grieving at Jacob’s funeral they called the place “Abel-Mizraim” which means the mourning of Egypt. This was like a state funeral. Egypt seems to have given Jacob a funeral service worthy of a Pharaoh.

Not only do we get a picture of returning to paradise when we die, but in this funeral, Egypt and Israel are joined together in the New Eden-Promised Land. This repeated pattern in Genesis of foreign nations joining Abraham and his descendants for peace in the promised land creates a prophetic expectation. One day, all nations will unite under Jacob’s descendant, Jesus, in the fullness of the New Eden in New Creation to enjoy Eden Life in its fullness together forever.

Application

Conflicts and loneliness are part of the life in the here and now. The picture of the nations gathering means we are not just a people comforted by hope, we are a people who pursues peace as we imagine God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven because of our hope. We deal with every enemy or threat imagining what peace with them would look like. This is how we live with hope in world peace in the here and now.

Jesus showed the way. Jesus died for us while we were his enemies, and it was his death that allowed a relationship with us. Our hope in world peace must lead us to be peacemakers around us. Every act of forgiveness, every bridge built across enemy lines, offers a glimpse of the world that is still to come.

Third, Gen 50:15-21 Our Hope in God’s Sovereign Mercy

Genesis 50:15-21

In Gen 50:15-21, following Jacob's death, Joseph’s brother became afraid. The brothers had sold Joseph to Egypt as a slave before he saved them from the famine. With Jacob gone, they feared Joseph would repay them for their evil. Their fear leads them to scheme. They lie, saying their father’s dying wish was that Joseph would forgive his brothers.  

In response in Gen 50:17, Joseph weeps. His brothers bow down to him which fulfills Joseph's dream from Gen 37. Joseph tells them, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” According to Gen 50:21, “He comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”

Application

Hard to believe in God’s Grace

Joseph’s brothers struggle to believe in grace. Grace feels too good to be true sometimes.

When we keep apologizing even after a person has forgiven us, we reveal we don’t believe we are forgiven.

The brothers project their shame and inner turmoil from their guilt onto Joseph. They cannot imagine that he would forgive them, and yet he did. Joseph through his forgiveness offers them peace and a relationship. They seem unable to accept it so they scheme.

We do the same with God. God loves us, delights in us, forgives our sins. But we struggle to believe in his forgiveness and so we project on God an inability to forgive us, that leads to our self-imposed alienation. We continue to sin like unforgiven people.

Some people prefer going to church to yelled at and are more comfortable being reminded that they are worthless sinners, rather, than enjoying God's fatherly delight, his compassion, and love that forgives.

Rom 2:4 tells us the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.

Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave. He spent years in prison. He was separated from his father for years. Now he forgives them but they cannot handle it. We have sinned against God, he sent his son to take our punishment, he also reminds us every Sunday – You are a forgiven people, and you are a forgiven individuals.

Do we go out in the world with the humble joy of being forgiven that extends to kindness to others? Or like the brothers, do we still believe our sin is greater than God’s grace? Do we find ourselves scheming like the brothers, creating more distance between people? If you look to Jesus and believe in God’s kindness to wash away your sins, you are a forgiven people. Let’s live like that’s true.

Tension of God’s sovereignty and freewill

This point reveals the mystery between human free-will and God’s sovereignty. What people do freely, can be intended for harm, but God uses it for good.

When we suffer, we can feel the full weight of our suffering, while also remaining hopeful.

The one who used the harm against Joseph for good also used the harm against Jesus for good. God used human evil to save the world. We benefit forever from God using what was meant for evil, for good. The murder of Jesus that was used to get rid of him was the death that washes our sins away.

Hope is always reasonable for Christians because of God’s sovereign mercy.

Fourth, Gen 50:22-26 Our Hope for Eden Today

Genesis 50:22-26

Genesis 50:22-26 close the book. Joseph makes a similar request to his father’s. On his death bed, Joseph says, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”[ii]

Joseph is dying in Egypt but he has hope. He expects the Lord to lead Israel go back to the Promised Land. When Joseph’s bones are in Egypt, Israel is in exile and slavery. When Joseph’s bones come out of Egypt, the people will be free in an Edenic land. Joseph was placed in a coffin in Egypt, but his bones will come out of the coffin. It is like Israel’s exile is seen as a kind of death, and the Exodus as a form of New Life out of the coffin.

Application

There is a relationship between Genesis 50, Ezekiel 37, and John 3.

In Genesis 50, Joseph’s bones to represent Israel. While the bones are in the coffin, Israel is in exile. When the bones are released, Israel is released.

Ezekiel 37 is the chapter about a vision of dry bones. In the vision, God brings dry bones back to life to symbolize new life and return into the Land from Babylon.

Then, in John 3, strikingly, Jesus uses Ezekiel 37 and applies is to Israelites who are in the Promised Land. He teaches that still in his day, the wind blows where it pleases to causes dead bones to become born again. The shocking message is that you can live in God's Promised Land and still live in exile unless you are born again by the Spirit of God.

We enjoy what the release Joseph's bones into the Promised Land represents. Joseph believed God would visit his people to deliver them. The Exodus did happen, and now, in Christ, we experience an even greater Exodus, with the delivery of the bondage of the slavery of sin.

We are the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 that have come to life. We enjoy today, life in Christ. It is already a kind of Genesis 1-2 kind of life. It is a life of enjoying God as they did in Eden. It is a life of enjoying rest in Christ as it was in Eden. It is a life of knowing eternal security. One marked by peace with God through the forgiveness of sins, that satisfies our souls, and fuels grace-based relationships. What Joseph hoped for in the future, is already a reality for us. We can enjoy Eden today.

Conclusion

The cycles of Genesis shape us to be a hopeful people. Though Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt and they are about to be slaves for 400 years, before the slavery even begins, Jacob and Joseph have hope in God’s deliverance. Like them, we can have hope even when we suffer, but we can have even greater confidence in God’s promises. God remains committed to be with us and to bring Eden Life to all the families of the World through a Promised individual.

Genesis traces the line of this individual who will be who bring the forgiveness to be received by faith. He will be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and he will be a Lion from the Tribe of Judah. He will rule like Joseph. He will go from an elevated state, to being betrayed by his brothers, and thrown in a pit as if he was gone for good, before being elevate to rule the world and save the world. Like Judah he will offer his life for us.

In the beginning God create a good world and humanity to thrive and rule, but they sinned. Following sin, there is hope. Jacob announced in Gen 49, in the Last Days, God will send the savior of the world to rule the world and lead humanity into Glory. Let us turn from our sins, and find refuge in this king’s reign. That is what Genesis is all about and why even in the bleakest circumstances Christians always always have hope.

 

---

[i] Another connection to Eden is found in the name of this site, the "Cave of Machpelah." A cave is part of the rock that is exposed, or naked. Then the word, "Machpelah" means double, or pair, or couple." This burial site is called the Cave of Machpelah or the place of the naked couple, or the uncovered pair.

 

[ii] From a topological perspective the story of Genesis is marked by ascents and descents. The story of the Bible began on a mountain, the Mountain of the LORD, the Garden of Eden. Then the trajectory was down with the flood. Then Noah’s Ark rest up on Mount Ararat, but the people went down to Babylon or Babel. God called Abraham out of Babylon to go up to the Promised Land, then Abraham goes down to Egypt, and then back up to the Promised Land. Jacob goes down to escape from his brother and returns back up into the Land. He goes back down to Egypt. Following his death in Egypt, his sons bring him back up to Canaan.