As the story of Joseph draws to a close let’s think about these events from Jacob’s point of view. Jacob testifies to feeling as though he had been cursed. When his sons come back from Egypt and announce that Simeon is being held hostage and that they must return with Benjamin, Jacob says: “Everything is against me!” (42:36). What he didn’t know was that, though it seemed that everything was against him, yet God was working all things for his good (i.e. Romans 8:28). The climax of the story of Joseph is when Jacob finds out that what he took for a curse was in fact to be a great blessing for his clan. In the end they are invited to live in Egypt where they are treated to the best the land had to offer (45:18). So, this is how the Israelites end up in Egypt. They would prosper here so much that a future Pharaoh would act to supress them by enslaving them. Like Joseph, they too would become slaves and would reckon themselves cursed. But again, God will curse those who curse his people and bring blessing out of curse (in the Exodus). This is the beginning of a cycle of curse and blessing that will characterise the rest of the Bible story. It is the outworking of Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This will continue until the final permanent state of blessedness brought about at the end of Revelation.
Ask God to change curses to blessing where you see hardship and adversity.
Read Genesis 45:16 to 46:27
