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As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 50:20 ESV

I was using this very familiar verse yesterday, talking about how God can bring great good even out of great evil. As I spoke about it, something struck me that (as with most of these posts) I really should have seen before.

God used the brothers’ evil actions not only to bless their innocent victim, or even just to bless others through him. He also allowed the perpetrators to benefit.

He saved Joseph’s life. He saved thousands of Egyptians and people from neighbouring countries. He saved Joseph’s grieving father. And he also saved the lives of the ‘baddies’, and all their families and flocks and herds, too.

In chapter 45 Joseph said,

“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.”

Genesis 45:7 ESV (my emphasis)

God’s grace and mercy are so amazing, aren’t they? Yes, God wanted to preserve his people, and he had promised Abraham descendants to outnumber the stars, but to explicitly preserve a remnant for the brothers is just above and beyond.

What an amazing God.