🌱WEB · Genesis 50:22
What does Genesis 50:22 mean?
"Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years."
— Genesis 50:22 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.
Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.
Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
Explanation
Genesis 50:22 offers a simple biographical note: Joseph remained in Egypt for the rest of his life, along with his father's household (the extended family of Jacob who had come down to Egypt during the famine), and he lived to the age of one hundred ten years. On its surface this is a plain statement of fact, closing out the narrative of Joseph's life with the kind of summary detail common in Genesis when a major figure's story ends.
The context is the final chapter of Genesis, which brings the patriarchal narratives to a close. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers years earlier, had risen to become second-in-command in Egypt and had saved his family from famine by bringing them to settle in Goshen. By this point, Jacob has died and been buried in Canaan, and Joseph has reconciled fully with his brothers, assuring them that God intended their evil actions for good. Genesis 50:22 marks the settled aftermath of that reconciliation. Moses, understood traditionally as the author of Genesis, writes this account for the Israelites, tracing the origins of their family before their eventual slavery and exodus from Egypt. Joseph staying in Egypt, along with his father's house, explains how the children of Israel came to be established there in the first place, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.
Theologically, the verse quietly testifies to the faithfulness of God's providence. Joseph had told his brothers earlier that God had sent him ahead to Egypt to preserve life (Genesis 45:5-7). His long life in Egypt, surr
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