Dr. Jack L. Arnold	Equipping Pastors International		Genesis

Lesson 51
Joseph: Man of Faith
Genesis 49:1-50:26

I.  INTRODUCTION
A.  All that Joseph had or came to be was by the grace of God. He was blessed of God because he was a man of faith. He knew how to believe God and take Him at His Word.
B.  The secret to Joseph?s life of faith was His unshakeable confidence in the sovereignty of God. He knew that all things that happened in his life had a Divine purpose behind them. He learned about the faith-rest life of the believer.

II.  JACOB?S PROPHECIES REGARDING HIS SONS  49:1-28
A.  This section is prophetic and tells what will happen to the twelve sons of Jacob when they become tribes. This section was prophetic when given but is now largely historical (cf. Deut. 33).
B.  A key section is in 49:9-10 since it regards Judah, in whose line will come Him whose right it is to wield the scepter of rulership. This is a reference to Jesus Christ. Judah?s line was the line of rulership (1 Chron. 5:2), and in this line came David and Christ.

III.  JACOB?S DEATH AND BURIAL 49:29-50:14
A.  On his deathbed, Jacob made his sons promise that they would carry his corpse back to the cave of Machpelah in Canaan (49:29-30) where all the other patriarchs had been buried (49:31).
B.  Joseph took the death of Jacob the hardest (50:1) and commanded his servants to embalm him (50:2-4). He then got permission from Pharaoh to take his father back to the land (50:5-6). Jacob was laid to rest in the land (50:13). NOTE.  Jacob did not get the land in his lifetime but he will get it on resurrection day. God will fulfill his promise to all believing Jews, and give them the Promised Land.

IV.  JOSEPH?S CONFIDENCE IN GOD?S SOVEREIGNTY  50:15-21
A.  After Jacob?s death, the brothers thought Joseph would vent his pent-up wrath against them (50:15). His brothers never really trusted Joseph, for they thought that all he had done for them was because of Jacob. They could not believe he was for real. The brothers sent a messenger to Joseph reminding him that Jacob had asked forgiveness for the brothers and they too were asking forgiveness (50:16-17). Joseph wept because the brothers did not trust him and believe the sincerity of his acts.
B.  Joseph assured them that he was ruler in Egypt by God?s appointment, and all their evil acts towards him God turned for good, for they were designed to save the nation of Israel (50:19-20). NOTE: Because Joseph had a firm grasp of the sovereignty of God, there was no desire on his part to retaliate, and he desired only to do right before God (50:21).

V.  JOSEPH?S FAITH IN GOD?S PROMISE 50:22-26
A.  Having lived 110 years, Joseph, on his deathbed, acknowledged his unshakeable faith in God?s promise. He knew that God would fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant (50:24).
B. So great was his faith, that he made the children of Israel take an oath that they would remove his bones from Egypt and take them to Canaan when God moved the children of Israel out of Egypt (50:25). NOTE.  His conviction of faith was that he was really associated with the land God promised, even though he had lived 93 of his 110 years outside that land. He also knew that he would get the land through resurrection because God is faithful (Heb. 11:22).
C. Contrasts Between Joseph and Christ:


     Joseph