Genesis 29:23

6. You have the Lord saying of the Pharisees, “They sit in Moses’ seat.” The Lord did not mean them only; as if He would send those who should believe on Christ to the school of the Jews, that they might learn there wherein is the way to the kingdom of heaven. Did not the Lord come for this end, that He might establish a Church, and separate those Jews who had a good faith, and a good hope, and a good love, as wheat from the chaff, and might make them one wall of the circumcision, to which should be joined another wall from the uncircumcision of the Gentiles, of which two walls coming from different directions, Himself should be the Corner-Stone? Did not the same Lord therefore say of these two people who were to be one, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold”? Now He was speaking to the Jews; “Them also,” said He, “must I bring, that there may be one fold, and One Shepherd. …

Shall we look at other instances of evil designing, how they turn out to our good, not only by having their reward, but also by their working at the very time precisely what is for our good? This (Joseph’s) uncle (Esau) had ill designs against his father (Jacob), and drove him out of his native land: what then? ( Gen. xxvii. 41 .) He too set him (thereby) aloof from the danger; for he too got (thereby) to be in safety. He made him a wiser and a better man ( φιλοσοφώτερον ); he was the means of his having that dream ( Gen. xxviii. 12 .) But, you will say, he was a slave in a foreign land? Yes, but he arrives among his own kindred, and receives a bride, and appears worthy to his father-in-law. ( ib. xxix. 23 .) But he too cheated him? Yes, but this also turned out to his good, that he might be the father of many children. …