Adult Lesson Plan: Genesis 42–50

OPENING (2–3 minutes)

Try this paradox on the class: Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt because they are starving, but what they really need is not grain. They need a healed family. And Joseph, who has every worldly reason to protect himself from them, chooses a path that risks emotional pain: he reopens the past so it can finally be redeemed. The Come, Follow Me introduction frames the tension beautifully: “It had been about 22 years since Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Joseph had suffered many trials, including false accusations and imprisonment. When he finally saw his brothers again, Joseph was the governor of all Egypt, second only to the pharaoh. He could easily have taken revenge on his brothers… And yet Joseph forgave them.” It then gives the line that should make us lean forward: “God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20).

Invite the class to sit with a genuine question that doesn’t have an easy answer: When someone has truly wronged you, what does it mean to “make room” for God’s purposes without pretending the pain wasn’t real?

SCRIPTURE EXPLORATION (15–20 minutes)

Begin with Joseph’s own interpretation of his story, because it is astonishingly God-centered. Come, Follow Me highlights Joseph’s words: “God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20) and explains why Joseph could say it: “because it put him in a position to save ‘all his father’s household’ (Genesis 47:12) from famine.” Even if you don’t read every narrative detail from Genesis 42–44 in class, you can help learners feel the weight of the reunion by letting Joseph’s later testimony interpret the earlier chapters. Ask: What changes when the person who was harmed refuses to narrate his life as “I am what they did to me,” and instead narrates it as “God has been at work”?

Now turn to the most explicit moments of reconciliation named in the outline: Genesis 45 and Genesis 50:15–21. The manual invites us to notice what might have made forgiveness possible: “Why might it have been hard for Joseph to forgive his brothers? (to review what they did to him, see Genesis 37). What experiences or attitudes might have given Joseph the strength to forgive? (see, for example, Genesis 45:1–15 or 50:15–21).” Let the class talk through that question slowly. Joseph is not forgiving a minor social slight; he is forgiving betrayal that altered the entire course of his life. What does the text suggest about the kind of spiritual maturity required to forgive that deeply?

Then explore the “type of Christ” theme that Come, Follow Me explicitly invites. It asks: “Have you noticed any similarities between Joseph’s life and the atoning mission of Jesus Christ?” and suggests comparisons: Genesis 37:3 with Matthew 3:17; Genesis 37:26–28 with Matthew 26:14–16; Genesis 45:5–7 with Luke 4:18; Genesis 47:12 with John 6:35. Even without reading the New Testament verses aloud, you can ask what the pattern teaches: Joseph is rejected by his own, yet becomes the one positioned to preserve them; Jesus is rejected by His own, yet becomes the Redeemer who offers life. Ask: Why would the Lord embed these echoes in scripture history? What does that do to our trust in God’s long-term purposes?

Finally, take a brief look at Jacob’s prophetic blessings in Genesis 49, because they widen the lens from one family’s healing to God’s covenant future. Come, Follow Me acknowledges the challenge: “Jacob’s blessings to his posterity contain vivid imagery, but they aren’t easy to understand.” Yet it points us to restored-gospel help, especially for Joseph’s blessing (Genesis 49:22–26) through 1 Nephi 15:12; 2 Nephi 3:4–5; Jacob 2:25; Doctrine and Covenants 50:44. The point for class discussion is not to decode every symbol, but to notice how the Lord speaks covenant identity across generations. Ask: What does it mean that God’s promises can be spoken over a family even while that family is still learning how to be a family?

DOCTRINAL DISCUSSION (10–15 minutes)

One doctrine rises repeatedly from this week’s material: forgiveness is not merely a moral courtesy; it is a healing power that reconnects what sin and pride have torn apart. Come, Follow Me states it plainly: “Forgiveness brings healing.” Then it turns the doctrine into a lived question: “Reading about Joseph forgiving his brothers… may prompt you to think about someone you are currently struggling to forgive.” That move is important. Scripture is not asking us to admire Joseph from a safe distance; it is asking us to let God do something similarly real in us.

A second doctrine is just as demanding: God can weave meaning out of suffering without calling evil good. Come, Follow Me uses Joseph’s own backward glance on his trials: “Though it may not have been clear while he was going through it, Joseph was eventually able to look back on his adversity in Egypt and see that ‘God meant it unto good’ (Genesis 50:20).” Sit with the humility in that word eventually. We often want meaning on a schedule. Joseph’s story suggests that some understanding ripens only after long endurance. Ask the class: What is the difference between saying “God meant it unto good” and saying “What happened to me was good”? How does Joseph’s witness preserve both God’s sovereignty and the reality of human wrongdoing?

A third doctrine emerges from the Christ-centered framing of the entire week: Joseph’s forgiveness points beyond Joseph. The introduction teaches, “In many ways, Joseph was like Jesus Christ. Even though our sins caused Jesus great suffering, He offers forgiveness, delivering all of us from a fate far worse than famine.” That line is worth slowing down for a moment. Joseph’s brothers feared starvation; we face something deeper than hunger when we are alienated from God and each other. The Savior’s forgiveness is not only a cancellation of debt; it is deliverance, healing, and reconciliation.

Weave discussion questions naturally as you teach, letting them breathe rather than rushing to “right answers.” What would have been lost if Joseph had chosen revenge, even if it felt justified? Come, Follow Me invites this comparison directly: “What blessings came from Joseph’s forgiveness…? … How might things have turned out differently if Joseph had not been willing to forgive?” Another question: Why do you think the Lord often saves people through someone they once rejected? What does that teach us about pride and repentance? Another: When you hear “God meant it unto good,” do you feel comforted, irritated, or both—and why? Another: How do patriarchal blessings (Genesis 49) shape identity in a way that can outlast family dysfunction? Another: What does it mean to see the Savior in Joseph’s story—does it change how you read your own story?

If the conversation turns tender, gently use the manual’s pastoral wisdom. It suggests a simple but profound step: “Consider writing down the name of someone who may need your forgiveness—whether or not they have asked for forgiveness. What can you do to invite the Savior’s healing power into that situation?” It also adds hope for those who feel stuck: “If forgiving seems too difficult, consider reviewing the counsel of Elder Gerrit W. Gong in the last six paragraphs of his message ‘Happy and Forever’ (Liahona, Nov. 2022, 85). What do you find that gives you hope that you can forgive?” (The class can be invited to read that counsel at home, since the full excerpt is not included in this bundle.)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION (5–7 minutes)

Adults often carry two burdens at once: the burden of being hurt and the burden of hurting others. Joseph’s story makes room for both realities. This week, invite class members to choose one relationship where they will stop rehearsing the same old narrative and instead ask a new question: What would it look like to invite “the Savior’s healing power” into this? (Come, Follow Me, “Forgiveness brings healing.”) That might mean praying with more honesty than usual. It might mean writing a message that opens a door without demanding an immediate reunion. It might mean choosing not to speak cynically about someone who wronged you. It might mean seeking forgiveness yourself.

Also make space for those in ongoing, complex pain. The manual’s phrasing is gentle and realistic: “If forgiving seems too difficult…” It assumes that sometimes it does. Encourage learners not to confuse forgiveness with pretending, excusing, or instantly trusting. Joseph’s path to reconciliation is deliberate; it is not sentimental. The practical invitation is to take one step that aligns with Christlike healing, even if the full story isn’t finished yet.

CLOSING TESTIMONY & INVITATION (2–3 minutes)

Return to the week’s central witness: “God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20). Not because betrayal is good, not because prison is good, not because famine is good, but because God is so sovereign, so faithful to covenant, and so committed to saving families that He can take what humans meant for harm and still “preserve” His children (Come, Follow Me, “God sent me before you to preserve you.”).

Invite the class to carry one question into the week: Where might God be “preserving” me or my family right now, even if I can’t yet see how? And invite one quiet commitment: write down a name, as the manual suggests, and ask in prayer what it would mean to begin inviting the Savior’s healing power into that situation (Come, Follow Me, “Forgiveness brings healing.”).

I reverence Joseph’s story because it insists that the Lord is not only a God of doctrine, but a God of reconciliation. He can feed bodies in famine, and He can also heal what is starved in a family’s heart.