Genesis 42-50 (March 16–22)

Segment 1

Scriptures:
Genesis 43:14 - Israel lets Benjamin go, “God almighty give you mercy before the man that he may send away your other brother… If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved”

Segment 2

Scriptures:
Genesis 42:21 - “We are very guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul.”
Genesis 42:7 - Joseph makes himself ‘strange unto them’
Isaiah 53:2 - “When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 - A new covenant shall be made, “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Genesis 42-45 - Joseph testing his brothers a shadow of Christ, He is allowing them to change. Joseph sees the good and is giving them a chance to prove him right and they are good.

Examples of Change: 

Gen. 42:21-22,37 - Reuben expressed remorse
Gen. 42: 24 - Simeon is imprisoned
Gen. 43:8-9 - Judah will take the blame
Gen. 44:14 - They all fell to the ground in humility and remorse for the cup
Gen. 44:33 - Judah offered to take Benjamin’s punishment
Genesis 43:14 - Israel was willing to loose everything – such trust in God
Genesis 42:24; 43:30; 45:1-2 - How many times Joseph wept
Genesis 42:15 - Joseph sets up a test
Abraham 3:25 - “We shall prove them now herewith”
Doctrine and Covenants 98:12-14 - “I will try and prove you”
Deuteronomy 8:2 - He keeps them in the wilderness for 40 years to prove them

Segment 3

Scriptures:
Genesis 45:3-8 - “But God”
Genesis 50:20 - “But God”
2 Nephi 2:2 - “Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knows the greatness of God and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.”
Romans 8:28 - “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them that are called according to his purpose.”
D&C 90:24 - “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing and all things shall work together for your good.”

Words of General Authorities:

“All things for our good. A remarkable promise! Comforting assurance from God Himself! In a miraculous way, the purpose of Creation and the nature of God are to know beginning and end, to bring about all that is for our good, and to help us become sanctified and holy through Jesus Christ’s grace and Atonement. Jesus Christ’s Atonement can deliver and redeem us from sin. But Jesus Christ also intimately understands our every pain, affliction, sickness, sorrow, separation. In time and eternity, His triumph over death and hell can make all things right. He helps heal the broken and disparaged, reconcile the angry and divided, comfort the lonely and isolated, encourage the uncertain and imperfect, and bring forth miracles possible only with God.” (Gerrit W. Gong, “All Things for Our Good”, April 2024 General Conference)

Segment 4

Scriptures:
Genesis 45:26-28, 46:1-2 - How Jacob reacted when he learned that Joseph is alive

Hebrew Translations:
Beersheba = beer means well, sheba means covenant. Named after what Abraham named this place, the well of covenant. Cross referenced to Genesis 21:31.

Words of the General Authorities:
"And each single instance of forgiving immediately becomes a double blessing, touching both the person who forgives and the one who is forgiven.” (S. Michael Wilcox, Twice Blessed)

Segment 5

Scriptures:
Genesis 37:11 - Jacob observed the saying
Genesis 42:6 - Joseph’s brethren come and bow themselves down before him
Genesis 33:4 - Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation

Segment 6

Scriptures:
Genesis 49 - Patriarchal blessings:
Verse 3 - Reuben’s blessing
Verse 5 - Simeon and Levi’s blessing
Verse 8 - Judah’s blessing
Verse 13 - Zebulon’s blessing
Verse 14 - Issachar’s blessing
Verse 16 - Dan’s blessing
Verse 19 - Gad’s blessing
Verse 20 - Asher’s blessing
Verse 21 - Naphtali’s blessing
Verse 22 - Joseph’s blessing (and by Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh’s blessing)
Genesis 50 JST - The promises that are for Ephraim
Genesis 49:22 - Joseph is a fruitful bow
Moroni 10:31 - “And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.”

Words of the General Authorities:
“In the great majority of cases, Latter-day Saints are of the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe to which has been committed the leadership of the Latter-day work. Whether this lineage is of blood or adoption does not matter.” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Stake Patriarch”, October 2002 General Conference)

“It is Ephraim, today, who holds the priesthood. It is with Ephraim that the Lord has made covenant and has revealed the fulness of the everlasting gospel. It is Ephraim who is building temples and performing the ordinances in them for both the living and for the dead, When the ‘lost tribes’ come — and it will be a most wonderful sight and a marvelous thing when they do come to Zion — in fulfilment of the promises made through Isaiah and Jeremiah, they will have to receive the crowning blessings from their brother Ephraim, the ‘firstborn’ in Israel.” (Joseph F. Smith, “The Way to Perfection,” 125)