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Genesis 45 Bible study: God sent me before you

Joseph wept aloud and said, "I am Joseph." He named what his brothers did, "whom you sold", and three times what God did: "God sent me before you to preserve life." After that his brothers talked with him. Jacob didn't believe the news until he saw the wagons; then his spirit revived: "Joseph my son is still alive."

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“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.”
Genesis 45:7 · World English Bible

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“Joseph's ‘grieved’ and ‘angry’ are the Hebrew words once used of Dinah's brothers.”

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What's really going on

"I am Joseph!"

In the text

After Judah's plea, "Joseph couldn’t control himself". He sends everyone else out and makes himself known to his brothers alone. "He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard" (45:1-2). His first words are "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" and "His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence" (45:3).

Where it leads to Jesus

Made known to his brothers

Interpretation

Genesis 45:4leads toActs 7:52

This link is an interpretation. Joseph says, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt" (45:4). Stephen retells it: "The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him" (Acts 7:9), and "On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers" (Acts 7:13). He ends by telling his hearers, "As your fathers did, so you do" (Acts 7:51), and that they have become "betrayers and murderers" of "the Righteous One" (Acts 7:52); then he sees "Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Some read Stephen as setting Joseph, sold by his brothers and then sent by God "to preserve life" (45:5), beside Jesus; others read the speech as a history of God's people resisting those he sent, and Stephen doesn't call Joseph a picture of Jesus.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Genesis 45

That was a taste

The rest of Genesis 45 is waiting in Favor

  • "Whom you sold" and "God sent me"
  • Is he alive?
  • "Come down to me. Don’t wait"
  • "He sent a man before them"
  • A remnant and a great deliverance
  • 13 questions as you read
  • 6 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

מִחְיָהmichyahsay mikh-YAH

"Preservation of life, sustenance" (Brown-Driver-Briggs), a noun from the verb chayah, "live" (Strong's). "God sent me before you to preserve life" (45:5) is, literally, "for preservation of life God sent me before you". This is its only use in Genesis; it appears eight times in the Hebrew Bible. Ezra uses it twice in one prayer: "that our God may lighten our eyes, and revive us a little in our bondage" (Ezra 9:8), and God "has extended loving kindness to us... to revive us" (Ezra 9:9).

For your group

Genesis 45 Bible study questions

  1. 1Joseph said "whom you sold" and "God sent me" in the same breath. How can both be true in something that has happened to you?
  2. 2The brothers who once "couldn’t speak peaceably" to Joseph now talked with him. What does it take to start talking again after a long break in a family?
  3. 3Jacob didn't believe the words until he saw the wagons. What has helped you believe good news from God?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Genesis 45 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.

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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home