"Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." (Gen 50,21)

Shouldn't it be the other way around? After all, Joseph was the one who was hurt, he lived his hell on Earth, so it would be logical for the brothers to comfort Joseph... But there was poverty, dryness in their hearts. In their inner prison they did not find the freedom that Joseph had, and thanks to which he internally abounded with the wealth he could give out.

Joseph doesn't take revenge on his brothers - he could, but he doesn't have to. The greatness of a person, but also the simple joy of life, is apart from other things determined by what we could, but do not have to. This is also the essence of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which is not always understood correctly. Turning the other cheek is not a provision of the new commandment or a law, it does not mean that I always have to get slapped, but that I have achieved the freedom not to have to revenge.

"And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." Josef, "Safenat Paneach" - Savior of the World - comforts those who have hurt him and intended to kill him. What a perfect image of Christ who sent the Spirit of consolation to stay with us for the same purpose. He rests quietly where he is welcome, does not count thousands of grievances, and distributes the peace and love of God.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Gen 50,20)

It is uncertain whether Joseph understood his dreams at first, but his father immediately explained them. Josef was "favored" in the family, so it didn't even surprise him that his brothers would bow to him ("after all, who else is better fit to be the boss here?"). But when he was humbled, he went through the hell of a life that took a completely different direction, apparently shifting his dreams off deep into his subconscious: it will no more come true.

And lo, the brothers are here, bowing to the ground... But in the meantime, Joseph has matured into a different person than he was in the beginning. He did not give in to bitterness, he did not allow himself to be controlled by self-pity, he did not think of revenge.

It always depends on how we look at our lives, from what angle and from what height. Who are we, why are we here, where are we going to? "You intended evil against me, but God intended good". When Joseph looked at the things from above, he found that they looked quite different; he understood that the common events of his little life had far-reaching implications in God's plan.

If we don't see the whole picture, it can deceive us what things look like at the moment. But when our eyes are opened, we understand that the greatest victories of life are fought in secret, and that every little deed, when performed in God, is permanently recorded in eternity.

"Then Joseph could no longer control himself... he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” (Gen 45,1-2)

How much pain Josef had to bear all these years. His own brothers wanted to kill him, and when they did not kill him physically, they executed him at least spiritually. They did away with him forever from their and their father's world, inflicting such a hateful blow on him that it would paralyze many for the rest of their life.

When a person is harmed, he can react basically in two ways. The most common thing is to become a victim to a greater or lesser extent and to blame others and the life itself for the hardships that befell him. It's human, it's understandable - could anyone blame Josef if he didn't find strength to stand up and walked on with his head bowed and remorse in his heart for those who had hurt him so badly?

But Joseph fought in that situation ... and won. However, it must be understood that such victories are not a gift of a happy nature. They are something that a man grows into, they cost much, require struggles to forgive, a will to rise up.

The same situation that kills one can help the other one grow up and become inwardly someone else than before. Despite all the pain that people can cause others, this is also a kind of a "victory that overcomes the world ...".

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. (Gen 45,4-5)

From the outside point of view, it seemed that it were the brothers who had won, but what they gained in reality was a life of hypocrisy, fear, and guilt. The shared secret, which was not to have been revealed in any way, made them conspirators, and it was not possible for any of them to come out with the truth, because it would harm others. With all this, the brothers got into a prison worse than Joseph because it held them from within. The balance is depressing: in the end, the brothers spent more years in prison than the one they hurt.

Unlike them, it did not take long for Joseph, who was supposed to end up humiliated and defeated and found himself in prison literally, to rise up in his heart - as if the subsequent change of his position only proved what was going on inside. Like everyone else he also must have had a number of personal faults, but when he was in the whirlwind of events, he fought his inner struggle and won: he decided to forgive and not be destroyed by any bitterness. Therefore, unlike his brothers, he could walk towards the inner freedom and would have been experiencing it whether his life was outwardly successful or not.

He thus confirmed the old wisdom of Plato that it is much better for a man to be hurt than to hurt someone else.

 "And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." (Gen 41,45)

After dark night the dawn will come - yes, it will surely come and will not be late! Mother Basilea Schlink often repeated that with God a suffering is never the last thing. If we have chosen God's way and now have to go through difficulties, they too will end one day and we will be able to go out into freedom. 

Joseph was liberated after years in a dark dungeon and could rise like the sun - or better to say, he even became the sun (v. 45). Thus the followers of the Lamb, who walk in His way, even if they are lead through difficulties and self-denial, become precious to others, they are filled with the heavenly treasures of wisdom and truth.

Safenat Paneach is the perfect forerunner of the savior of the world, who was exalted to the highest glory from the deepest humiliation: "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." (Phil 2,9-10)

We can assume that the brothers, until the outbreak of hunger, because of which they went to Egypt, were not quite bad. After all, their father had an extensive farms, herds and servants, he passed on his experience to them, they started families, had children. From the human point of view, their path of life lead upward or at least was not going down significantly.

On the other hand, Joseph's path kept falling lower and lower. He was first rejected by his own brothers and sold to his half-brothers, the Ishmaelites. They dragged him away and sold him to total foreigners, Egyptians. From a beloved son with an exceptional position in his father's house, he became a slave without rights. But that was not the end yet - in Egypt, which stands for "this world" in Scripture, he was condemned and found himself in the most degrading place: in a prison among criminals. And in the end he was abandoned and forgotten even by the prisoners...

Joseph's path led from the heights to the lowest position on this earth. He is thus a prototype of Christ, who "came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (John 1:11). He who was "in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross" (Phil 2,6-8). And he "was numbered with the transgressors." (Is 53:12)

If we were to compare the destiny of Joseph and the brothers since they had sold him, their paths could not have been more different. The brothers continued their business as free farmers, deciding what to do and when, where to go. They were part of the community, they had their living space (tent), families, children, their customs, entertainment, religion (to which they devoted only as much effort and heart as they wanted). They didn't have to feel alone, and within the possibilities of the world of that time, they simply didn't miss much.

On the other hand, Josef lacked everything - he was deprived of property, honor and rights, but also of the tribe, the family, his own tent. He found himself among strangers and lost any freedom of choice: as a slave, he did not decide himself. He could only live his  religion (which was strange for the Egyptians) on his own. But he remained faithful to it and lived it to the utmost, even though he again lost the little space of his own he had gained in Potiphar's house and earned imprisonment because of it.

What did he think about God and his dreams at that time? We know what the brothers thought of them: they were satisfied they had thwarted them. But what about Joseph - did he still believe that they would be fulfilled or did he push them deep into the subconscious and try to forget them? Did he feel abandoned and disappointed by God? Most likely, in the first place, he simply tried to overcome the difficulties in which he found himself as a slave and a prisoner. Scripture says "God was with him"; but would we like to be there with Josef too?

How the life of God's people goes beyond the imagination of anyone, and mostly themselves...

Joseph's brothers were certainly intelligent enough to make the right judgment about a number of things. If they had lived at a different time, they might have become well educated people or at least successful professional farmers. But no matter how clever a person can be in understanding external things, especially the dead matter, he can be pretty blind to the important things of life, human truths that directly concern him. The ability to judge them correctly is not formed in the same way as e.g. in science or technology; it depends on how we look at them, our point of view (figuratively speaking "where we are") and what values scale we have ​​within.

The brothers sold Joseph when he was 17, and until Jacob's death (i.e. for another ca 30 years) they lived with a burden that weighed heavily on their souls before confessing their guilt to Joseph. And if difficult circumstances had not helped them to travel to Egypt at that time (what a gift they can become for some of us!), they would not have probably done anything on their own to get rid of this yoke...

If a person's heart is not right, he will be basically wrong in his judgments. An adequate level of doubt about ourselves is a necessary condition for a healthy journey through life. After all, the most evil in the world was usually caused by those who did not doubt about themselves at all.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” (Gen 50,15)

At that moment, seventeen years had passed since the opening of the secret chamber of the brothers (the revelation before Joseph, Gen 47:28). This means, however, the brothers had spent all these years in fear without being sure if Joseph would not take revenge on them. This is due to the fact that they had not dealt with their guilt in the only possible way that brings solution. It consists in the obsolete term "repentance", which means to acknowledge and confess one´s guilt. As a result, the brothers cannot leave the prison of guilt and fear. They build defensive walls inside and we can see how their views of other people and the world are burdened and distorted - they suspect Josef of things he had never had in mind.

What a stone fell from their hearts, how clear and simple it all became when they finally came to Joseph confessing their guilt. I think they thought at the time that if they knew how relieved they would be, they would have done it much sooner.

How complicated the life is when a man is unwilling to confess his guilt.

Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!" (Gen 45:24)

Joseph made himself known to his brothers in Egypt: their secret chamber was open wide. Guilt will always catch one up, sooner or later, maybe not until eternity. However, a person burdened by his conscience is not free. He avoids certain situations or people, trying to convince himself that what he did was necessary. In this way, he gets himself into an internal prison.

We do not know if the brothers were relieved they had not done away with Joseph in the end. However, they soon realized that they would now have to tell the truth to the father, whom they had deceived. Josef warned them "not to quarell on the way" - he concluded it was necessary from their reactions. They began to consider who was to blame, which one more, which one less.

Although the brothers' guilt came to light, they had not gotten rid of it internally because they had not reached the point of repentance yet. They were now like the perpetrators caught in the act, so they have no choice but to confess. It makes a difference when a person's guilt comes to light with his consent - which is liberating - or he is more or less pressed by circumstances or people. But he didn't really want to, he was convicted against his will. "OK, I admit if you insist". Even these people are accepted and baptized today as pardoned sinners, but as long as man is just a little righteous in himself, he will never love God from the depth of his heart. This is one of the reasons why nowadays there are so many people in the church who do not find much joy in their religion. They do what they were convinced by others they have to.