When Joseph’s brothers saw their father was dead, they said,
“Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil we did to him.”
So they came to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying,
‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “I beg you, forgive the injustice of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.’ ”
Now, forgive the injustice of the servants of the God of your father.”
And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
(Gen 50:15-18)
See how great a thing virtue is, how powerful and invincible, and how profound the weakness of evil.
I mean, look, the one who endured such suffering reigns as king
whereas those who submitted their brother to such indignities beg to be slaves of the one given by them into servitude.
St. John Chrysostom, commentary on Genesis
