This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Genesis 42-50, which includes Joseph reuniting with his brothers and saving them from famine.
Following are a few quotes from past and present leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about these chapters of scripture.
Genesis 43
“It is not enough for any loving father that he has the witness himself, nor enough that he has helped others to gain a knowledge of true principles. He cannot be truly content unless those he loves best also know. It is with every true father as with Israel of old:
“‘If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved’ (Genesis 43:14). …
“I do know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. Because I know, some others have had a chance to learn. But this is not enough, my children; you must know for yourselves.”
— The late Elder Marion D. Hanks, then an assistant to the Council of the Twelve, October 1975 general conference, “You, Too, Must Know”
Genesis 44
“We have recently been studying about Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob. … A lesson I love in that account comes from Joseph’s brother Judah, who played a part in God’s personal plan for Joseph. When Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, Judah convinced them not to take Joseph’s life but to sell him into slavery (see Genesis 37:26-27).
“Many years later, Judah and his brothers needed to take their youngest brother, Benjamin, to Egypt. Initially their father resisted. But Judah made a promise to Jacob — he would bring Benjamin home.
“In Egypt, Judah’s promise was put to the test. Young Benjamin was wrongly accused of a crime. Judah, true to his promise, offered to be jailed in Benjamin’s place. ‘For,’ he said, ‘how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me?’ (See Genesis 44:33-34.) Judah was determined to keep his promise and return Benjamin safely. Do you ever feel about others the way Judah felt toward Benjamin?
“Isn’t this how parents feel about their children? How missionaries feel about people they serve? How Primary and youth leaders feel about those they teach and love?
“No matter who you are or your current circumstances, someone feels exactly this way about you. Someone wants to return to Heavenly Father with you.”
— Elder Michael T. Ringwood, General Authority Seventy, April 2022 general conference, “For God So Loved Us”
Genesis 45
“In other situations, when our worthy desires are not granted in the way we had hoped, it may actually be for our ultimate benefit. For example, Joseph the son of Jacob was envied and hated by his brothers to the point that they plotted Joseph’s murder. Instead, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. If ever a person might have felt that his prayers were not answered in the way he had hoped, it could have been Joseph. In reality, his apparent misfortune resulted in great blessings to him and saved his family from starvation. Later, after having become a trusted leader in Egypt, with great faith and wisdom he said to his brothers:
“‘Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
“‘For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
“‘And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
“‘So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God’ (Genesis 45:5-8).”
— Elder Brook P. Hales, General Authority Seventy, April 2019 general conference, “Answers to Prayer”
“When we have a yearning and don’t know what it is for, perhaps it’s our soul longing for its heartland, longing to be no longer alienated from the Lord and the pursuit of something much higher, better and more fulfilling than anything this earth has to offer.
“After Joseph, son of Jacob, had been reunited with his brothers, he asked them to return home to Canaan to bring his father, Jacob, to him in Egypt. As the brothers were preparing to depart, Joseph said to them simply, ‘See that ye fall not out by the way’ (Genesis 45:24).
“Might our Heavenly Father have given us much the same counsel as we departed His presence to begin our earthly sojourn?”
— The late Elder Marvin J. Ashton, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 1992 general conference, “A Yearning for Home”
“One deeply admires those wronged who, nevertheless, go on doing that which is right, refusing to become offended or bitter. Let others charge God foolishly; these faithful souls are magnanimous and forgiving, as was a generous Joseph in Egypt to his erring brothers: ‘Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life’ (Genesis 45:6). Such Saints fashion forgiveness where others would revel in resentment.”
— The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 1983 general conference, “‘Shine As Lights in the World’”
“Let us as women in the Church today make happy, provident living a lifestyle in our homes, approaching this goal in a spirit of challenge and innovation and thanksgiving. Let us see what creativity can do to heighten the standard of our living, not reduce it — to be provident without becoming penny-pinching, miserly or ungenerous. …
“As we serve in this vital welfare work, may we be great teachers of welfare services principles. Led by chosen priesthood leaders, may we all work together, as Joseph of old proclaimed, ‘to preserve … a posterity in the earth, and to save … lives by a great deliverance’ (Genesis 45:7).”
— The late Sister Barbara B. Smith, then the Relief Society general president, October 1980 general conference, “Follow Joyously”
Genesis 48
“The Bible speaks of a people, the Jews; their land, the Holy Land; their prophets; and the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ.
“But was there only one tribe of Israel? What of Joseph, the birthright son, who saved all of Israel’s family from famine? What of Joseph, whose sons Israel blessed and said, ‘Let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac’ (Genesis 48:16)? What of Joseph, whom Israel blessed and promised that he would be ‘a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall’ (Genesis 49:22)? Where is the record of Joseph?
“We testify to the world that we have the record of Joseph — even the Book of Mormon. Like Judah, Joseph had a people — the Nephites and Lamanites. Like Judah, Joseph had a land — the Americas. Like Judah, Joseph had prophets, and his descendants also had a visitation from Jesus Christ, even the resurrected Lord.”
— The late President Ezra Taft Benson, then the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 1984 general conference, “A New Witness for Christ”
Genesis 49
“Now is the time to safeguard your birthright. Nearing the end of his life, the Old Testament prophet Jacob gave a father’s blessing to each of his sons. Reuben was the firstborn and had the birthright — special blessings intended just for him. But in his blessing to Reuben, his father said, ‘Thou art … unstable as water, thou shalt not excel’ (Genesis 49:3-4). Think for a moment about what the phrase unstable as water means. When water gets hot, it evaporates. When it gets cold, it freezes. When it is unchanneled, it causes erosion and destroys whatever may be in its path.
“As bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood, you too have a birthright. I challenge you to be obedient and strong. I challenge you not to let your resolve dribble out and your commitment to follow the Savior evaporate. Be firm as a rock in living the gospel. None of us know all the blessings that await us. The only way we lose those blessings is to give them up through disobedience. Don’t give up your eternal heritage for the things of this world. Let us be obedient and prepare now to honor, protect and receive our glorious birthright.”
— The late Elder Robert D. Hales, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2007 general conference, “To the Aaronic Priesthood: Preparing for the Decade of Decision”
“All countries are greatly blessed by the Lord, and each is uniquely different in its beauties, its people, customs and traditions.
“Today, however, I should like to confine my remarks to a discussion concerning the Western Hemisphere, and particularly to the United States of America, and to point out the destiny of America in the Lord’s eternal plan. The discovery of the Americas was not an accident. The event had been foreordained in the eternal councils. The prophets of old had it in view. Jacob foresaw it when he blessed his son Joseph, calling him ‘a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall … unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills’ (Genesis 49:22, 26).”
— The late President N. Eldon Tanner, then the first counselor in the First Presidency, April 1976 general conference, “If They Will But Serve the God of the Land”
“‘Lehi took the records … and he did search them from the beginning. … They did contain … a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of … that Joseph who was the son of Jacob’ (See 1 Nephi 5:10-14).
“Perhaps Lehi read the blessing of Joseph, received under the hand of Jacob. ‘Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall’ (Genesis 49:22), and he knew that he was in the process of fulfilling that blessing in establishing a new nation which would ‘run over the wall’ to a new promised land and would bring them to the continents now known as America.”
— The late Elder John H. Vandenberg, then an assistant to the Council of the Twelve, October 1974 general conference, “Truth Will Emerge Victorious”
Genesis 50
“These thoughts have caused me to reflect on the great sermons, blessings, testimonies and admonitions that prophets and apostles throughout the ages have left, especially as they felt themselves waxing old or preparing to go down to the dust. Some of these parting passages are among our most noteworthy and quoted scriptures. For instance, … Joseph who was sold into Egypt left these words of counsel with the people of Israel: ‘I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob’ (Genesis 50:24).
“Generations later, as fulfillment of Joseph’s prophecy was about to be realized, Moses left his blessings with all the tribes of Israel and passed the mantle of leadership to Joshua, who led the people back into the promised land.”
— The late Elder Stephen B. Oveson, then a General Authority Seventy, April 2005 general conference, “Appreciating the Counsel of Those Who Are Bowed in Years”
“Think how young Joseph had been wronged by jealous brothers anciently. They sold him into slavery. He had every reason to seek revenge. But when circumstances joined them together again in Egypt, Joseph said, ‘But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, … to save much people’ (Genesis 50:20).
“Yes, so much of heartache and grief eventually become blessings, our earthly instructions, and condition us spiritually. Even if we cannot understand the ‘whys’ of our tribulations, we can still turn to God and rededicate our lives to His safekeeping.”
— The late Elder Hugh W. Pinnock, then a General Authority Seventy, April 1982 general conference, “Beginning Again”
