And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Genesis 50:16 introduces the message the brothers sent to Joseph by a messenger after Jacob died. After their father's death they were filled with gloom and distress. They feared that Joseph had only restrained his anger and concealed resentment while their father lived, out of respect for him. Now that Jacob was gone, they thought he would hate them, take revenge, and certainly repay all the evil and cruelty of their former crime against him.
To avert this, they appealed to a supposed instruction Jacob had given before he died concerning them. They claimed he had commanded Joseph to forgive the trespass and sin and wrongdoing of his brothers, acknowledging that they had done him evil. Their fear came from guilt and a mistaken belief that Joseph harbored revenge. In truth he cordially loved them and could not bear for them to think he did, and he wept when they spoke to him.
Genesis 50:16 introduces the message the brothers sent to Joseph by a messenger after Jacob died. After their father's death they were filled with gloom and distress. They feared that Joseph had only restrained his anger and concealed resentment while their father lived, out of respect for him. Now that Jacob was gone, they thought he would hate them, take revenge, and certainly repay all the evil and cruelty of their former crime against him.
To avert this, they appealed to a supposed instruction Jacob had given before he died concerning them. They claimed he had commanded Joseph to forgive the trespass and sin and wrongdoing of his brothers, acknowledging that they had done him evil. Their fear came from guilt and a mistaken belief that Joseph harbored revenge. In truth he cordially loved them and could not bear for them to think he did, and he wept when they spoke to him.