“¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may fully repay us for all the evil which we did to him.”

– Genesis 50:15 (NKJV)

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead (i.e. when the full realisation- and all implications thereof dawned on them), they said, “Perhaps (having stared into the abyss of the full devastation of their wicked sin, they are now tempted to award it greater gravity than the lovingkind, forgiving nature that Joseph has heretofore displayed unto them would permit [also see 2 Cor 2:7], therein effectively doubting his character; what a familiar picture Dear Friend! are we not oft’ tempted to do the very same? heralding our sin as stronger than Our Saviour’s Power to Forgive, leading us into all manner of self-hatred and condemnation which the enemy relishes and which fails to glorify Who Our Lord Truly Is?) Joseph will (notice how the trepidating and doubtful “perhaps ” has already taken on the more resolute form “will ” in the space of three words: the lie now having begun to take root; do not give the enemy a foothold Dear Friend [Eph 4:27]!) hate us (this is not the calm assessment that views sin with objectivity and marvels at the fact that a God who “hates ” evil should have Loved us in our wholly unsanctified condition, even “while we were yet sinners” [Rom 5:8], no, this is a fear-based, irrational self-preservational doubting of the character of God that brings him no glory 😔), and may fully (understand also the implications in the death of Jacob in their reasoning: the oversight of a loving father having now been removed, which might act as a deterrent, revives another old tale, namely that they sought to kill and ultimately sold Joseph when they were outside the territory of- and out of eye- & earshot of their father Jacob; not only are they projecting their own old sinful propensities upon Joseph, but are revealing, in the irrationality that comes with ungodly fear, their ignorance of the principle of the omnipresent communion between father and son, even when the father is not seen [Col 1:15][John 10:30]) repay us (again projecting their own propensity for revenge, also revealed within that old tale, upon the situation at hand and therein effectively insulting the character of one who has proven time and again that he “leave[s] room for God’s wrath [f]or it is written: “vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord” [Rom 12:19 BSB] and does “not repay evil for evil” [Rom 12:17]) for all the evil (there is nevertheless much cause for rejoicing and gratitude that those who will come to represent The Tribes of Israel do hold a sombre, repentant estimation of the extent of their wickedness against Joseph – the term “fully” indicating also their Biblical comprehension of the fact that they are indeed deserving of the full measure of God’s wrath apart from Christ – it is furthermore also the great miracle of their having been granted repentance by God [2 Tim 2:25] that enables them to see this clearly; even if now it causes them to fear from a place of little faith as the greatness, position, power and influence of their brother Joseph in this prosperous land once again becomes to them a daunting reality now that his vulnerability in mourning has passed) which we did to him (such frank confession and non-flattering truthtelling also being yet forever healthy and worth lauding).”