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It is not difficult for one to make enemies.  Even our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was of a meek and peaceable nature, had many enemies.  Our Saviour was perfect in every way, yet many were offended by Him.  Among those who hated Him were the religious leaders who envied His popularity, reviled His Person and rejected His teachings.

What should be our attitude towards our enemies?  In our first three articles, we considered several Scripture passages.  We also learnt from the godly example of David - how we ought to deal mercifully with those who hate or persecute us.  Today, we conclude by considering another Bible character, Joseph, whose brothers’ evil intent and deed brought much suffering to the godly young man.

Joseph’s brothers were envious of him because he was their father’s favourite son:  “… they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him” (Gen. 37: 3-4).  When the opportunity came, the brothers tried to kill Joseph.  Things took a turn, however, and Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt (v. 28).

 Subsequently, Joseph rose to become Pharaoh’s right hand man.  Jacob and his household were brought into Egypt and settled in the land of Goshen.  When their father died, Joseph’s brethren feared for their lives because they had done him evil.  They pleaded for mercy: “And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.  … And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants” (Gen. 50: 15-18). 

What was Joseph’s response to his brothers’ fervent pleas? “Joseph wept” (v. 17c) and readily forgave them:  “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:19-20).  It is evident that Joseph harboured no ill-will nor bitter feelings because he accepted his sufferings as the will of God - “to save much people alive.”  Graciously, Joseph promised to nurture his brothers and their families:  “Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones.  And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them” (v. 21).  What a merciful soul!  Joseph returned good for the evil done to him.

Like the patriarch Joseph, let us forgive our enemies.  Commit whatever wrongdoing to God Who “will repay” (Rom. 12: 19; Heb. 10: 30).  Take heed to the apostle Paul’s exhortation from Ephesians 4: 32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”    Remember that the Lord God “for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”; so also ought we to forgive those who have done us wrong.

In his sermon on this verse, C H Spurgeon made some interesting observations: “Now observe how the apostle puts it.  Does he say ‘forgiving another’?  No, that is not the text, if you look at it.  It is ‘forgiving one another.’  One another!  Ah, then that means that if you have to forgive to-day, it is very likely that you will yourself need to be forgiven tomorrow for it is ‘forgiving one another.’  It is turn and turn about, a mutual operation, a co-operative service.  …  There is something wrong about me that needs to be forgiven by my brother, but there is also something wrong about my brother which needs to be forgiven by me … Let us begin our Christian career with the full assurance that we shall have a great deal to forgive in other people, but that there will be a great deal more to be forgiven in ourselves, and let us set our account upon having to exercise gentleness, and needing its exercise from others, ‘Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’

Note again.  When we forgive, it is a poor and humble business compared with God’s forgiving us, because we are only forgiving one another, that is, forgiving fellow-servants; whereas when God forgives us it is the Judge of all the earth forgiving, not His fellows, but His rebel subjects, guilty of treason against His majesty.  For God to forgive is something great; for us to forgive, though some think it great, should be regarded as a very small matter.

Then reflect upon the matter to be forgiven.  Our Lord in his parable tells us that the fellow-servant owed a few pence, but the servant himself was debtor to his master many talents.  What we owe to God is infinite, but what our fellow creature owes to us is a very small sum.  What did he do which has so much offended you? ‘He said a very shameful thing about me.’  It was very bad of him, no doubt.  ‘Then he played me a very nasty trick, and acted very ungraciously; in fact, he behaved scandalously, and if you hear the story you will be quite indignant.’  Well, I am indignant.  He is a bad fellow, there is no doubt about it; and so are you.  So were you certainly when you first came to God; bad as he is to you, you have been much worse to the Lord.  I will warrant that his blacks towards you are whites compared with your blacks in the presence of God.  ‘Oh, but you would not believe how basely he acted.’  No, and I dare say I should hardly believe it if I heard how base you have been to the Lord; at any rate, it should make our eyes fill with tears to think how we have grieved our God, and vexed His Spirit.  … After such forgiveness as the Lord has bestowed on some of us, we should be wicked servants indeed if we were to take our brother by the throat and say, ‘Pay me what thou owest.’  We should deserve to be given over to the tormentors by our angry Master if we did not count it joy to pass by a brother’s fault.”

Brethren, let us forgive even as we have been forgiven.  Let us do good to our enemies.  In so doing, we do good to our soul (Prov. 11: 17).  The Lord knows how to deal with those who have done us wrong.  Follow the supreme example of our Saviour, “Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (I Pet. 2: 23).      

- Pastor