Editorial February 3, 2003 Issue

The science of forgiveness

Editor

Words of forgiveness are as old as time. Hebrew Scripture offers examples that include the story of Joseph, in which the word forgive makes its first appearance in the Bible's King James Version (see Gen. 50:17). Joseph's brothers ask his forgiveness for their brutality toward him years before. And he grants it.

But earlier events in the story point out that Joseph's forgiveness of his brothers is based more on his relationship with God than on that with his brothers. In palace and prison, through years of spiritual growth and trust, Joseph nurtured his closeness to God, and this relationship culminated in one desire: to do God's will. By the time his brothers asked forgiveness, Joseph had long since come to see his life as guided by God, rather than as determined by the actions of his brothers.

Though there's no record in this regard, it's interesting to imagine what Joseph might have learned as a boy from Jacob, his father, about his relationship to God—and about forgiveness. The need to be forgiven grounds the whole drama of Jacob's desperate deceit in seeking his father's blessing; his betrayal of his twin brother, Esau; his flight from his homeland; his years of exile; and finally his journey homeward.

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