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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 50:1

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And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

1. And Joseph ] For Joseph’s strong affection for his father, cf. Gen 45:3, Gen 46:29.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

– The Burial of Jacob

10. ‘atad Atad, the buck-thorn.

11. ‘abel–mtsraym, Abel-Mitsraim, mourning of Mizraim, or meadow of Mizraim.

This chapter records the burial of Jacob and the death of Joseph, and so completes the history of the chosen family, and the third bible for the instruction of man.

Gen 50:1-3

After the natural outburst of sorrow for his deceased parent, Joseph gave orders to embalm the body, according to the custom of Egypt. His servants, the physicians. As the grand vizier of Egypt, he has physicians in his retinue. The classes and functions of the physicians in Egypt may be learned from Herodotus (ii. 81-86). There were special physicians for each disease; and the embalmers formed a class by themselves. Forty days were employed in the process of embalming; seventy days, including the forty, were devoted to mourning for the dead. Herodotus mentions this number as the period of embalming. Diodorus (i. 91) assigns upwards of thirty days to the process. It is probable that the actual process was continued for forty days, and that the body lay in natron for the remaining thirty days of mourning. See Hengstenbergs B. B. Mos. u. Aeg., and Rawlinsons Herodotus.

Gen 50:4-6

Joseph, by means of Pharaohs courtiers, not in person, because he was a mourner, applies for leave to bury his father in the land of Kenaan, according to his oath. This leave is freely and fully allowed.

Gen 50:7-14

The funeral procession is now described. All the servants of Pharaoh. The highest honor is conferred on Jacob for Josephs sake. The elders of Pharaoh, and all the elders of the land of Mizraim. The court and state officials are here separately specified. All the house. Not only the heads, but all the sons and servants that are able to go. Chariots and horsemen accompany them as a guard on the way. The threshing-floor of Atari, or of the buck-thorn. This is said to be beyond Jordan. Deterred, probably, by some difficulty in the direct route, they seem to have gone round by the east side of the Salt Sea. A mourning of seven days. This is a last sad farewell to the departed patriarch. Abel-Mizraim. This name, like many in the East, has a double meaning. The word Abel no doubt at first meant mourning, though the name would be used by many, ignorant of its origin, in the sense of a meadow. His sons carried him. The main body of the procession seems to have halted beyond the Jordan, and awaited the return of the immediate relatives, who conveyed the body to its last resting-place. The whole company then returned together to Egypt.

Gen 50:15-21

His brethren supplicate Joseph for forgiveness. They sent unto Joseph, commissioned one of their number to speak to him. now that our common father has given us this command. And Joseph wept at the distress and doubt of his brothers. He no doubt summons them before him, when they fall down before him entreating his forgiveness. Joseph removes their fears. Am I in Gods stead? that I should take the law into my own hands, and take revenge. God has already judged them, and moreover turned their sinful deed into a blessing. He assures them of his brotherly kindness toward them.

Gen 50:22-26

The biography of Joseph is now completed. The children of the third generation – the grandsons of grandsons in the line of Ephraim. We have here an explicit proof that an interval of about twenty years between the births of the father and that of his first-born was not unusual during the lifetime of Joseph. And Joseph took an oath. He thus expressed his unwavering confidence in the return of the sons of Israel to the land of promise. God will surely visit. He was embalmed and put in a coffin, and so kept by his descendants, as was not unusual in Egypt. And on the return of the sons of Israel from Egypt they kept their oath to Joseph Exo 13:19, and buried his bones in Shekem Jos 24:32.

The sacred writer here takes leave of the chosen family, and closes the bible of the sons of Israel. It is truly a wonderful book. It lifts the veil of mystery that hangs over the present condition of the human race. It records the origin and fall of man, and thus explains the co-existence of moral evil and a moral sense, and the hereditary memory of God and judgment in the soul of man. It records the cause and mode of the confusion of tongues, and thus explains the concomitance of the unity of the race and the specific diversity of mode or form in human speech. It records the call of Abraham, and thus accounts for the preservation of the knowledge of God and his mercy in one section of the human race, and the corruption or loss of it in all the rest. We need scarcely remark that the six days creation accounts for the present state of nature. It thus solves the fundamental questions of physics, ethics, philology, and theology for the race of Adam. It notes the primitive relation of man to God, and marks the three great stages of human development that came in with Adam, Noah, and Abraham. It points out the three forms of sin that usher in these stages – the fall of Adam, the intermarriage of the sons of God with the daughters of men, and the building of the tower of Babel. It gradually unfolds the purpose and method of grace to the returning penitent through a Deliverer who is successively announced as the seed of the woman, of Shem, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. This is the second Adam, who, when the covenant of works was about to fall to the ground through the failure of the first Adam, undertook to uphold it by fulfilling all its conditions on behalf of those who are the objects of the divine grace.

Hence, the Lord establishes his covenant successively with Adam, Noah, and Abraham; with Adam after the fall tacitly, with Noah expressly, and with both generally as the representatives of the race descending from them; with Abraham especially and instrumentally as the channel through which the blessings of salvation might be at length extended to all the families of the earth. So much of this plan of mercy is revealed from time to time to the human race as comports with the progress they have made in the education of the intellectual, moral, and active faculties. This only authentic epitome of primeval history is worthy of the constant study of intelligent and responsible man.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Gen 50:1-13

Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father

The honour paid to the departed Jacob:

PRIVATE.

1. The tears of his family.

2. The respect paid to last wishes.

II. PUBLIC. (T. H. Leale.)

Ceremonies after death:

The order of the ceremonies alluded to, and on the whole agreeing with classical and monumental records, was as follows:

1. When the extinction of the vital breath could no longer be doubted, the relatives began a preliminary mourning, perhaps observed during the day of death only (Gen 50:1), and consisting in public lamentations, in covering the head and the face with mud (or dust), girding up the garments, and beating the breasts.

2. Then the body was delivered up to the embalmers, who, in the case of Jacob, completed their work in forty days (Gen 50:3), though it more frequently required seventy.

3. Simultaneously with the operations of embalming commenced the chief or real mourning, which, lasting about seventy days (Gen 50:3), usually ended together with the process of mummification, but which, in the instance of the patriarch, exceeded it by thirty days.

4. The body, after having been enclosed in a case of wood or stone (Gen 50:26), was then either deposited in the family vaults (Gen 50:13), or placed in a sepulchral chamber of the house of the nearest relative (Gen 50:26). (M. M.Kalisch, Ph. D.)

Three modes of embalming:

1. If the most expensive mode, estimated at one talent of silver, or about 250, was employed, the brain was first taken out through the nostrils, partly with an iron (or bronze) hook, and partly by the infusion of drugs; then an appointed dissector made with a sharp Ethiopian stone, a deep incision (generally about five inches long) in the left side, at a part before marked out by a scribe; but having scarcely performed this operation, he hastily fled, persecuted by those present with stones and imprecations, as one who was guilty of the heinous crime of violently mutilating the body of a fellow-man. Then one of the embalmers, holy men, who lived in the society of the priests, and enjoyed unreserved access to the temples, extracted through the incision all intestines, except the kidneys and the heart; every part of the viscera was spiced, rinsed with palm-wine, and sprinkled with pounded perfumes. The body was next filled with pure myrrh, cassia, and other aromatics, with the exception of frankincense; sewed up, and steeped in natrum during seventy days, after the expiration of which period it was washed, and wrapped in bandages of linen cloth covered with gum. By this procedure all the parts of the body, even the hair of the eyebrows and eyelids, were admirably preserved, and the very features of the countenance remained unaltered.

2. The cost of the second mode of embalming amounted to twenty mince, or about; 81. No incision was made, nor were the bowels taken out; but the body was, by means of syringes, filled with oil of cedar at the abdomen, and steeped in natrum for seventy days. When the oil was let out, the intestines and vitals came out in a state of dissolution, while the natrum consumed the flesh, so that nothing of the body remained except the skin and the bones; and this skeleton was returned to the relatives of the deceased. The possibility of an injection, as here described, without the aid of incisions, has been doubted; and, in some cases, incisions have indeed been observed near the rectum.

3. A third and very cheap method, employed for the poorer classes, consisted merely in thoroughly rinsing the abdomen with syrmaea, a purgative liquor (perhaps composed of an infusion of senna and cassia), and then steeping the body in natrum for the usual seventy days. (M. M.Kalisch, Ph. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER L

Joseph bewails the death of his father, and commands the

physicians to embalm him, 1, 2.

The Egyptians mourn for him seventy days, 3.

Joseph begs permission from Pharaoh to accompany his father’s

corpse to Canaan, 4, 5.

Pharaoh consents, 6.

Pharaoh’s domestics and elders, the elders of Egypt, Joseph and

his brethren, with chariots, horsemen, c., form the funeral

procession, 7-9.

They come to the threshing-floor of Atad, and mourn there

seven days, 10.

The Canaanites call the place Abel-Mizraim, 11.

They bury Jacob in the cove of Machpelah, 12, 13.

Joseph returns to Egypt, 14.

His brethren, fearing his displeasure, send messengers to him to

entreat his forgiveness of past wrongs, 15-17.

They follow, and prostrate themselves before him, and offer to be

his servants, 18.

Joseph receives them affectionately, and assures them and theirs

of his care and protection, 19-21.

Joseph and his brethren dwell in Egypt, and he sees the third

generation of his children, 22, 23.

Being about to die, he prophecies the return of the children of

Israel from Egypt, 24,

and causes them to swear that they will carry his bones to Canaan, 25.

Joseph dies, aged one hundred and ten years is embalmed, and put

in a coffin in Egypt, 26.

NOTES ON CHAP. L

Verse 1. Joseph fell upon his father’s face] Though this act appears to be suspended by the unnatural division of this verse from the preceding chapter, yet we may rest assured it was the immediate consequence of Jacob’s death.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And doubtless closed his eyes, as God had promised, Gen 46:4, which may be implied in this general phrase.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. Joseph fell upon his father’sface, &c.On him, as the principal member of the family,devolved the duty of closing the eyes of his venerable parent(compare Ge 46:4) and imprintingthe farewell kiss.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And Joseph fell upon his father’s face,…. Laid his own face to the cold face and pale cheeks of his dead father, out of his tender affection for him, and grief at parting with him; this shows that Joseph had been present from the time his father sent for him, and all the while he had been blessing the tribes, and giving orders about his funeral:

and wept upon him; which to do for and over the dead is neither unlawful nor unbecoming, provided it is not carried to excess, as the instances of David, Christ, and others show:

and kissed him; taking his farewell of him, as friends used to do, when parting and going a long journey, as death is. This was practised by Heathens, who had a notion that the soul went out of the body by the mouth, and they in this way received it into themselves: so Augustus Caesar died in the kisses of Livia, and Drusius in the embraces and kisses of Caesar w. Joseph no doubt at this time closed the eyes of his father also, as it is said he should, and as was usual; see

Ge 46:4.

w Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Rom. l. 1. c. 5.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Burial of Jacob. – Gen 50:1-3. When Jacob died, Joseph fell upon the face of his beloved father, wept over him, and kissed him. He then gave the body to the physicians to be embalmed, according to the usual custom in Egypt. The physicians are called his servants, because the reference is to the regular physicians in the service of Joseph, the eminent minister of state; and according to Herod. 2, 84, there were special physicians in Egypt for every description of disease, among whom the Taricheuta, who superintended the embalming, were included, as a special but subordinate class. The process of embalming lasted 40 days, and the solemn mourning 70 (Gen 50:3). This is in harmony with the statements of Herodotus and Diodorus when rightly understood (see Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 67ff.).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Burial of Jacob.

B. C. 1689.

1 And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. 4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

Joseph is here paying his last respects to his deceased father. 1. With tears and kisses, and all the tender expressions of a filial affection, he takes leave of the deserted body, v. 1. Though Jacob was old and decrepit, and must needs die in the course of nature–though he was poor comparatively, and a constant charge to his son Joseph, yet such an affection he had for a loving father, and so sensible was he of the loss of a prudent, pious, praying father, that he could not part with him without floods of tears. Note, As it is an honour to die lamented, so it is the duty of survivors to lament the death of those who have been useful in their day, though for some time they may have survived their usefulness. The departed soul is out of the reach of our tears and kisses, but with them it is proper to show our respect to the poor body, of which we look for a glorious and joyful resurrection. Thus Joseph showed his faith in God, and love to his father, by kissing his pale and cold lips, and so giving an affectionate farewell. Probably the rest of Jacob’s sons did the same, much moved, no doubt, with his dying words. 2. He ordered the body to be embalmed (v. 2), not only because he died in Egypt, and that was the manner of the Egyptians, but because he was to be carried to Canaan, which would be a work of time, and therefore it was necessary the body should be preserved as well as it might be from putrefaction. See how vile our bodies are, when the soul has forsaken them; without a great deal of art, and pains, and care, they will, in a very little time, become noisome. If the body have been dead four days, by that time it is offensive. 3. He observed the ceremony of solemn mourning for him, v. 3. Forty days were taken up in embalming the body, which the Egyptians (they say) had an art of doing so curiously as to preserve the very features of the face unchanged; all this time, and thirty days more, seventy in all, they either confined themselves and sat solitary, or, when they went out, appeared in the habit of close mourners, according to the decent custom of the country. Even the Egyptians, many of them, out of the great respect they had for Joseph (whose good offices done for the king and country were now fresh in remembrance), put themselves into mourning for his father: as with us, when the court goes into mourning, those of the best quality do so too. About ten weeks was the court of Egypt in mourning for Jacob. Note, What they did in state, we should do in sincerity, weep with those that weep, and mourn with those that mourn, as being ourselves also in the body. 4. He asked and obtained leave of Pharaoh to go to Canaan, thither to attend the funeral of his father, v. 4-6. (1.) It was a piece of necessary respect to Pharaoh that he would not go without leave; for we may suppose that, though his charge about the corn was long since over, yet he continued a prime-minister of state, and therefore would not be so long absent from his business without licence. (2.) He observed a decorum, in employing some of the royal family, or some of the officers of the household, to intercede for this licence, either because it was not proper for him in the days of his mourning to come into the presence-chamber, or because he would not presume too much upon his own interest. Note, Modesty is a great ornament to dignity. (3.) He pleaded the obligation his father had laid upon him, by an oath, to bury him in Canaan, v. 5. It was not from pride or humour, but from his regard to an indispensable duty, that he desired it. All nations reckon that oaths must be performed, and the will of the dead must be observed. (4.) He promised to return: I will come again. When we return to our own houses from burying the bodies of our relations, we say, “We have left them behind;” but, if their souls have gone to our heavenly Father’s house, we may say with more reason, “They have left us behind.” (5.) He obtained leave (v. 6): Go and bury thy father. Pharaoh was willing his business should stand still so long; but the service of Christ is more needful, and therefore he would not allow one that had work to do for him to go first and bury his father; no, Let the dead bury their dead, Matt. viii. 22.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

GENESIS – CHAPTER FIFTY

Verses 1-6:

Joseph likely fulfilled the promise God had made to Jacob, that he would close the eyes of his father (Ge 46:4). He demonstrated his intense love and deep sorrow, bending over the lifeless form of his father and pouring out his grief in tears. This expression of grief shows that sorrow and weeping are not forbidden to God’s people, in the death of a loved one. God’s children may weep for the dead, but not as those who have no hope (1Th 4:13). Jesus Himself wept at the death of a beloved friend (Joh 11:35).

Joseph ordered that the court physicians embalm Jacob’s body to prepare for burial. Physicians were held in high regard in Egypt. They belonged to the sacredotal order. Herodotus records that there were many physicians in Egypt, each being qualified to treat only a specific disorder. Both sacred and secular history refer to the extensive medical knowledge they had acquired. This knowledge enabled them to attain a high degree of skill in the embalming process. This process required a minimum of forty days and by the standards of that day was very expensive. The internal organs were removed from the body, and the cavity packed with various spices and preservatives. The corpse was then steeped in natrum or subcarbonate of soda for a period of about seventy days. Finally, the body was washed carefully, and wrapped with linen bandages which were coated with gum, then decorated with various amulets, covered with a linen shroud, then placed in a mummy case.

“Forty days” refers to one stage in the embalming process; “seventy days” refers to the complete process. This entire period was observed as a time of mourning by relatives and friends. The Scripture narrative coincides with secular history in this.

Following the period of mourning, Joseph requested permission from Pharaoh to transport his father’s body to the ancestral burial grounds in Canaan. Joseph did not come directly before Pharaoh with his request, but instead asked certain members of the court to make this request on his behalf. Various explanations may be offered for this. (1) Joseph deferred to the funeral process, including the burial. In this way he would observe proper court protocol and not alienate the powerful priestly caste. (2) Joseph may have followed Egyptian custom to let his hair grow during the time of mourning, and thus could not enter Pharaoh’s presence without shaving his beard and cutting his hair.

Joseph appealed to Pharaoh on the basis of the oath his father made him take. This would influence Pharaoh, because of the great respect of the ancients for the ancestors. Joseph further assured Pharaoh of his full intention to return to Egypt, and not remain in Canaan. When Pharaoh heard this request, he readily gave permission for Joseph to fulfill his father’s instructions.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face. In this chapter, what happened after the death of Jacob, is briefly related. Moses, however, states that Jacob’s death was honored with a double mourning — natural (so to speak) and ceremonial. That Joseph falls upon his father’s face and sheds tears, flows from true and pure affection; that the Egyptians mourn for him seventy days, since it is done for the sake of honor, and in compliance with custom, is more from ostentation and vain pomp, than from true grief: and yet the dead are generally mourned over in this manner, that the last debt due to them may be discharged. Whence also the proverb has originated, that the mourning of the heir is laughter under a mask. And although sometimes minds are penetrated with real grief; yet something is added to it, by the affectation of making a show of pious sorrow, so that they indulge largely in tears in the presence of others, who would weep more sparingly if there were no witnesses of their grief Hence those friends who meet together, under the pretext of administering consolation, often pursue a course so different, that they call forth more abundant weeping. And although the ceremony of mourning over the dead arose from a good principle; namely, that the living should meditate on the curse entailed by sin upon the human race, yet it has always been tarnished by many evils; because it has been neither directed to its true end, nor regulated by due moderation. With respect to the genuine grief which is not unnaturally elicited, but which breaks forth from the depth of our hearts, it is not, in itself, to be censured, if it be kept within due bounds. For Joseph is not here reproved because he manifests his grief by weeping; but his filial piety is rather commended. We have, however, need of the rein, and of self-government, lest, through intemperate grief, we are hurried, by a blind impulse, to murmur against God: for excessive grief always precipitates us into rebellion. Moreover, the mitigation of sorrow is chiefly to be sought for, in the hope of a future life, according to the doctrine of Paul.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

JOSEPH. GODS FAVORITE

Gen 36:1 to Gen 50:26

IF we began our study with the 36th chapter of Genesis we should have to do with the generations of Esau, who is Edom. It is a chapter filled with hard names of men, many of whom wore the title Duke, but like many of the lords and dukes of the present day, did nothing worthy the pen of inspiration. The men whose history God passes over with the mere statement of birth, name, title and death, we may be excused for skipping in our search for the more important characters and the more impressive lessons of the sacred Word.

The 37th chapter introduces us to such a character in Joseph, and launches us upon a study which has engaged the most serious thought of Scripture students for thousands of years. According to the reckoning of John Lord, in his essay on Joseph, this great-grandson of Abraham was born at Haran about 3701 years ago. The most distinguishing feature of his early life was his peculiar and prophetic dreams or visions. He comes before us in the blush of seventeen summers, nicknamed by those who knew him best, this Dreamer. Already in the visions of the night, God had vouchsafed to him the earnest of his coming supremacy and power. The eleven sheaves of his brethren had made obeisance, while Josephs sheaf had stood upright and received their homage. The sun and moon and eleven stars had gathered at his feet. And, when the dreams were known, his father gently reproved, but his brothers resolved and agreed to watch for a chance to act. The favorite of the household was to be put out of the way. The beauty of face that had made him a subject of parental partiality was to be despoiled. The jealousy-breeding coat was to become all crimson; the tattling tongue was to be silenced, and this business of first dreaming and then interpreting to his own profit was to be brought to a deserved end!

Such were the resolutions; and their chance came. Joseph is at last within their grasp, and with a shout of triumph they cry, as they lift their eyes to his sweet though envied face,

Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreamt (Gen 37:19-20).

The remainder of the story is familiar to every one of you, and I do not propose to give time to a rehearsal of its incidents, but rather to a consideration of its fundamental lessons.

DIVINE FAVORS DO NOT INSURE AGAINST HUMAN HATRED.

Joseph had, indeed, almost a monopoly of the favors to be coveted in this life. Through his veins there pulsed no common or unclean blood. Four of his brethren were of the meaner extraction of slave mothers, while six others were born to the tender-eyed Leah. It was Josephs good fortune, and doubtless his pride, to be the elder son of the beautiful Rachel, the only lawful wife of Jacob, because the woman of his selection, and the only one to whom he was bound by love. It may be a sin in the child to love his father and mother less because they are those in whom he can take no special pride, but I am sure that his joy is as commendable as natural who loves and delights in them the more, because they are virtuous, honorable and superior in every way. Such a pride was Josephs possession. Who of us are as grateful as we should be for godly and noble parentage?

Again, providence had favored this child in his own person. Joseph was a goodly person and well favored (Gen 29:6). Doubtless that fact accounts for some of Jacobs inexcusable partiality. He saw in the beautiful boy those princely features which called for a royal tunic as a natural complement. Beauty of person is one of Gods better gifts, and it has played its part in the role of human history. It was that charm and that alone that saved the child, Moses, and opened to him the princess nursery and put him in the splendid Egyptian school from which he graduated unto the great work of saving his people and serving his God. It was beauty of face and grace of form that brought Esther to the throne at the very time when the interests of Israel were trembling in the balance, and Gods people were waiting for just such a friend. The prominent role that Cleopatra played in the world is assigned almost entirely to the solitary circumstance of her personal charms. I have often wondered why the great artists have not made more of Joseph as a subject fit for the choicest marble, and worthy the best skilled brush.

In his spirit also, Joseph was divinely favored. So far as the record of his life goes, it would be dangerous to affirm that the splendid child, or the saintly man, Samuel, was ever possessed of sweeter temper than that which Joseph discovered in all the changing and trying experiences of his life. Not a single indictment against his conduct can be successfully sustained. If it be said that his brothers hated him on account of his intolerable pride, let it be remembered Eliab hurled at David this sentence, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart. In each instance the bigger brother was voicing the naughtiness of his own heart instead. If he be charged with tattling because he brought unto his father the evil report of his brethren, let us answer with a question, Is silence at the sight of sin a virtue? If a report is to be made, to whom other than the father, the rightful authority? His behavior toward the woman whose unholy love his beauty had excited discovers at once a righteousness of personal character, a keen sense of others interests, and a splendid sensitiveness to sin against God that all right thinking people must admire. His dealing with the butler whose freedom he secured, to be rewarded by base neglect for two long years, proved his patience with forgetfulness and ingratitude. Toward his fratricidal brothers, whose lives eventually fell to his disposal, he discovered only the bosom of love, treating with all tenderness those who had attempted his destruction. Blood may be a good thing, and beauty a joy forever, but that magnanimity of soul which can forget a wrong, be patient with a weakness, and treat with affection those who have subjected you to contemptthat is divine! To do that is to prove ones kinship with the Son of God.

Finally Joseph was favored with dreams of a wider and nobler life. The most promising youth is the one who enjoys such visions of the night. Guizot once wrote to his son who was contesting for a university prize, You are ambitious, my boy; you have a right to be. A man at forty may be too ambitious, but at 20, never.

Now and then the world is astonished by the sudden awakening of some sleeping Samson who discovers unsuspected powers at the attack of the Philistines of opposition; but the rule is that Longfellows, while still beardless, dream of being laureates and write to their mothers asking, Do you not think I may one day write books that will be read all over the land? I think that Dr. Hillis has called attention to an important truth when, in his book A Mans Value To Society, he emphasizes the imagination as the architect of manhood.

But let no man conclude that such Divine favors will insure against human hatred. Jealousy is the blindest of passions, and envy never sees anything save through the green glasses which convert all virtue into vice, and all merit into excuses for murder. We have already seen that Josephs conduct toward his brethren was commendable and in every instance meant for their good. But as the belligerent Israelites resented Moses plea for peace between brethren, so these sons of Leah and the concubines interpreted Josephs just report of their behavior as bad tattling. How many a noble Christian man has been insulted and cruelly criticised because, forsooth, he tried to get people to live right and when they would not, reported their sins to the church!

The modern martyr is that noble Joseph who keeps out of fights himself and says to his brethren, You must behave or I shall be compelled to report you to our spiritual mother. Yes, it is one of the most significant suggestions of the sham of modern profession that it will brook no correction from the brother of tenderest love, yea, even from the officials of the church of God elected for the very purpose of counsel and, when needful, of correction.

Again, how many, Joseph-like, are hated because they have had some dream of position, influence and real worth? You have heard it said, There is one black sheep in every flock. Yes, and the converse is equally true, In a black flock one white sheep appears. In most families there is one child that early comes into possession of that broader view of character, conduct and life. How often his first utterance of the hope for the future, that has grown big within his breast, is met with some expression of contempt for such pretensions, or scorn for such pride of heart! Josephs experience and Davids has been known to the bleeding heart of many a precocious boy. An education has been resolved upon, and he begins the long climb of attainments ladder alone. It would seem enough that he should struggle single-handed, and without assistance or sympathy, but how often he must make his way upward, carrying in memory the bitter reproaches and keen sarcasm of his brothers who see nothing in his dream save concentrated egotism and vain conceit!

If any reader has suffered at one or more of these points, I come to say, Be not discouraged! Retrace your steps in nothing! Be slow to conclude you are wrong, or that it is of no use to labor against such opposition. Christ experienced it all boiled down to its last bitterness and yet, when it did its final work of lifting Him to the cross, it only hastened His crown. Josephs brethren can sell him, but if he is always right the Lord will be with him, and the sale into slavery is only an additional push toward the waiting throne.

Now for our second suggestion,

And Josephs master took him and put him into prison. But the Lord was with Joseph (Gen 39:20-21).

INNOCENCE CANNOT BE EFFECTUALLY DISHONORED.

People sometimes make the mistake of affirming that an innocent man cannot be injured. On the contrary, history is rife with illustrations of the fact that no character is so easily sullied as that of the purest and best of men and women. The principle is easy of explanation. The whiter the sheet of paper the easier it is for dirty fingers to leave their track. Some people have the impression that after all preachers and other religious people are about as capable of immoralities as are the members of any other circle. Alas! for the poisoning power of a sensational and truthless press! Many a Joseph has been silenced, and even banished for a while by such confessed lovers of the profession. They know the ease with which that lord, Public Opinion is excited to jealousy and cruel judgment. They know, too, the inability of the best man to defend himself when accused of the meanest crimes, and so they clap their hands and seek on the spotted hounds of slander. Let us ever be slow in believing charges that are calculated to humble the best reputations to the dust, and wrong the most innocent by robbing them of their good name, and opening for them the door into some dungeon of shame!

Joseph may submit to the inevitable, and under the ban of the law, languish in silence, but God has a reckoning to make, and then the Hamans will swing on the gallows, and the Mordecais ride in the royal chariot and dictate to the throne.

Innocent men, however, can best afford to be lied about and wronged, since truth has wonderful powers of coming abroad. So far as the record of Scripture goes, Joseph complains in never a word. Who doubts that by faith he saw his final triumph; and said in his heart of that prison what the three Hebrew children, of a later time, said of the fiery furnace, Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us. The innocent and righteous man, and he alone, can employ such words and give to them their weight. I come more and more to think that no enemy can effectually injure him who walks uprightly, loves the truth and obeys God.

Dr. Talmage tells how, some years ago, two professed temperance lecturers speaking in Ohio, and taking the unusual course for that class of men, maligned Christians and preachers. Among other things they claimed to be well acquainted with Dr. Talmage and declared that their former drunkenness began with drinking wine from that clergymans table. Talmage, indignant over such a charge, went to Patrick Campbell, then chief of the Brooklyn police, and requested his company to Ohio to effect the arrest of the libelous orators. Campbell only smiled and said, Do not waste your time by chasing these men. Go home and do your work, and they can do you no harm. The advice was taken, and the falsehood died of weakness, if indeed it was not stillborn. There is not a scandal in the power of the tongue strong enough to blight the life that loves innocence and clings to God. Joseph may be imprisoned and never entertain the thought of breaking jail, and yet there are not doors enough in all the dungeons of Egypt to keep him in the narrow cell. Butlers will need his help, the king will require his wisdom and God will bring him forth. This brings us to a third lesson.

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Thou shalt he over my house and according unto thy mind shall all my people be ruled, Only in the throne shall I he greater than thou (Gen 41:39-40).

PRISONS WILL NOT HOLD THE MAN FIT TO BE PREMIER.

I know of few things that will so certainly effect recognition as merit. You cant sell into slavery the man who has it. You may set a price on him and be paid it, but you cant enslave him. There was an old colored man who trotted me on his knees the year the Civil War began. He never was a slave. He was always free! He would have been free on the southern plantations where masters rode with revolver in pocket and whip in hand. You cant enslave the man who makes himself needful to you at every turn. You can put him in prison but an hour later you will need him and bring him out again. Darius once had Daniel put into a lions den. But Daniel was still freer than the king. He curled himself up in a corner of that cage and slept, while Gods angel watched with his hand at the hungry mouths. But the king went to his palace and passed the night in fasting, and his sleep went from him, and very early in the morning he made haste to see if the Hebrew was yet alive, without whom the kingdom could not run; and so Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of

Cyrus the Persian. The city authorities at Philippi tried imprisoning Paul and Silas, but next day they came and let them forth and gave them full permission to depart in freedom. You may bind the body of Zedekiah with fetters of brass, and carrying him away to Babylon, imprison him for life; but he, in whom the spirit of Joseph is, must yet rule in the throne.

Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant; whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance; to bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senators wisdom (Psa 105:16-22).

Men are slow at times to discern merit, but even jailbirds will feel its power and witness to its presence. The incidental remarks in Acts, which say of the midnight song of Silas and Paul and the prisoners heard them, is not more significant than the sentence which informs us of Joseph that he was in favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Let no man flatter himself that he has great virtues but the world is ignorant of them. Goodness is power and will be felt, and the worlds wise men will be discovered, though a very prison seek to both hide and silence them. God knows the nooks of the universe and when there is need of a man he will find the fittest one in some corner and bring him forth.

When Saul has uncrowned himself, there is a shepherd youth known to God upon whom the mantle will fall. When Eli is old and his family are an offense to heaven, there is a boy in the temple trained, though the great outside world has never heard his name. When famine threatens Egypt and the king is unequal to the task of averting it, Joseph is lying in wait, ready to take the place by Divine appointment.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.

Gen. 50:2. The physicians.] The Egyptians had special physicians for each disease; the embalmers forming a class by themselves.

Gen. 50:3. Mourned for him three score and ten days.] The seventy days of mourning included the forty required for embalming.

Gen. 50:5. My grave which I have digged for me.] This term is applied to the preparation of a tomb (2Ch. 16:14). He thus speaks of having himself done what had been done by Abraham (Genesis 24); though it is not impossible that he had made preparations there for himself when he buried Leah. (Jacobus.)

Gen. 50:7. The elders of his house.] The court officials. The elders of the land of Egypt.] The state officials.

Gen. 50:10. Beyond Jordan.] Considered, not as written from the position of Moses, but as bearing the usual meaningEast of the Jordan.

Gen. 50:11. Abel-mizraim.] This name, like many in the East, has a double meaning. The word Abel no doubt at first meant mourning, though the name would be used by many, ignorant of its origin, in the sense of a meadow. (Murphy.)

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHGen. 50:1-13

THE HONOUR PAID TO THE DEPARTED JACOB

This was of two kinds.

I. Private. The dead body of Jacob was honoured.

1. By the tears of his family. All the sons loved their father. They performed their last office for him by laying him in the grave. (Gen. 50:12-13.) They mourned for him with true affection. But in Joseph especially is this strong filial love manifested. He fell with tears and kisses upon the dead face of his beloved father. (Gen. 50:1.) When he stood by the old mans bedside with his two sons, he listened calmly to the prophetic words which were uttered; he could bear up and control his feelings; but when the last spark of life was gone, he gave way. A crowd of overwhelming thoughts rushed upon him, and held to that dear embrace he abandons himself to grief. Jacob was honoured also.

2. By the respect paid to his last wishes. He desired to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, around which gathered so many tender and solemn memories. His sons carried out that wish. (Gen. 50:4-5; Gen. 50:12-13.) It was a bold thing for Joseph to ask so much of Pharaoh, for the journey to the grave was about three hundred miles. The embalming would be necessary in order to prepare the body to be borne such a long distance. Thus the desire of the dying man was fully accomplished. He was laid, the latest occupant, in the sepulchre whose denizens he had but a short time before enumerated. (Gen. 49:31).

II. Public. Public mourning was ordered. The Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. (Gen. 50:3). This fell but a little short of a royal mourning. Jacob was honoured by a great nation with a public funeral, on an imposing and magnificent scale. In the funeral procession there were court and state officials, a military escort of chariots and horsemen; it was a very great company. (Gen. 50:9.) The Canaanites were impressed with the sight, and called the place where the funeral procession halted by a name which signifies, the mourning of the Egyptians. (Gen. 50:11). 1 This might be objected to as merely formal. In the customs of polite nations, in the matter of court mourning, there is, no doubt, much that is mere outward form. Yet even these ought not to be despised as having no value. They are an outward witness of what men ought to be, and what they ought to feel. They show respect for departed worth, sympathy with survivors, and a thoughtful and solemn recognition of our common mortality.

2. This might be objected to as utilitarian. Some would say, this was altogether an unnecessary expense, time and labour wasted to no profit: To what purpose is this waste. (Mat. 26:8.) The disciples of our Lord objected to the costly ointment poured upon Him, in this same utilitarian spirit. But Christ discovered a native beauty in actions far surpassing the value of their outward form and use. Thus truth, goodness, and charity may be profitable in what they bestow; but they are also lovely in themselves. They are to be admired apart from the benefits they render. As they cannot be gotten for gold, so they are not to be compared with it. This mourning was imposing in its expensive grandeur, yet it produced feelings and impressions of more value than mere wealth. It produced respect for goodness. Men could not help reflecting upon that greatness of character which had won so much public homage. It strengthened the finest and noblest human feelings,love, sympathy, compassion for those in sorrow. It invited to seriousness, giving men time to pause in the midst of busy life, so that they might think upon another world. And unless this inward life of noble thoughts and feelings is encouraged, of what use is a nations wealth and splendour?

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Gen. 50:1. We are not told what Reuben or Simeon felt on this occasion; their sensibilities were not so strong as those of Joseph, but theirself-reflections must have been bitter. Josephs tears were attended with secret consolation.(Bush.)

Gen. 50:2. With wonderful propriety does Joseph unite in his own person the Israelitish truthfulnes with that which was of most value in the Egyptian customs and usages.(Lange.)

Jacob was embalmed, according to the custom of Egypt. This was done to retard the progress of corruption; for so long as the body was there, their friend seemed still among them. In that we find an intimation of immortality.(Robertson.)

Gen. 50:3. All the Egyptians saw how dear Jacob was to their lord, and thought they could not pay a more suitable token of respect to him than by mourning for his father. When good and great men die, it is proper that the general heart of the community should feel the stroke of Providence. A loud voice comes from their graves, proclaiming that soon we shall be with them. Shall we not, then, prepare for the decease which we must so soon accomplish?(Bush.)

Gen. 50:4. Joseph could not apply in person to Pharaoh, because he was in mourning attire. It had been a long established custom in the time of Esther, to exclude all such from the courts of kings. (Est. 4:2.) The palace was regarded as the image of heaven, the region of life and gladness, and therefore, the visible signs and symbols of death could not be permitted to enter.

Gen. 50:5-6. The Egyptians were very jealous of the honour of their country which they esteemed the glory of all lands. They might have thought that Joseph, who had received such honours in their land, did not discover a grateful sense of their favours, if he had carried his fathers body to be buried in another land without giving a good reason for it. The old man had himself, moreover, been treated with great generosity by Pharaoh. Joseph wished to obviate any such reflections, and therefore produced reasons for his request.(Bush.)

Gen. 50:7-13. The mourning train of Jacob, a presignal of Israels return to Canaan. The dead Jacob draws beforehand the living Israel to Canaan. Before all is the dying Christ.(Lange.)

In this there was fulfilled the promise made. (Gen. 46:4.) Jacob was literally brought back from Egypt to Canaan; since for his body did God prepare this prophetic journey.(Starke.)

So great a cavalcade attending Jacob to his long home through a part of two different countries would spread the fame of the good man, and revive the remembrance of him in the land of Canaan. And it was much for the interest of religion that his name should be known. In his life he had eminently displayed the virtues by which religion is recommended.(Bush.)

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

PART FORTY-SEVEN
THE LAST DAYS OF JACOB AND JOSEPH

(Gen. 48:1 to Gen. 50:26)

The Biblical Account
48 And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. 3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4 and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 5 And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. 6 And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

8 And Israel beheld Josephs sons, and said, Who are these? 9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, who God hath given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also. 12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israels left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israels right hand, and brought them near unto him. 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraims head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manassehs head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day, 16 the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a. multitude in the midst of the earth. 17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his fathers hand, to remove it from Ephraims head unto Manassehs head. 18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. 19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your father. 22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
49 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.

Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father.

Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength;

The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.

Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence

Because thou wentest up to thy fathers bed;
Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Simeon and Levi are brethren;

Weapons of violence are their swords.

On my soul, come not thou into their council;

Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they hocked an ox.

Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;

And their wrath, for it was cruel:

I will divide them in Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.

Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:

Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;
Thy fathers sons shall bow down before thee.

Judah is a lions whelp:

From the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the rulers staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh come;
And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

Binding his foal unto the vine,

And his asss colt unto the choice vine;
He hath washed, his garments in wine,
And his vesture in the blood of grapes;

His eyes shall be red with wine,

And his teeth white with milk.

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;

And he shall be for a haven of ships;
And his border shall be upon Sidon.

Issachar is a strong ass,

Couching down between the sheepfolds:

And he saw a resting-place that it was good,

And the land that it was pleasant;
And he bowed his shoulder to bear,
And became a servant under task-work.

Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent in the way,

An adder in the path,
That biteth the horses heels,
So that his rider falleth backward.

I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah

Gad, a troop shall press upon him;

But he shall press upon their heel.

Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

Naphtali is a hind let loose:

He giveth goodly words.

Joseph is a fruitful bough,

A fruitful bough by a fountain;
His branches run over the wall.

The archers have sorely grieved him,

And shot at him, and persecuted him:

But his bow abode in strength,

And the arms of his hands were made strong,
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),

Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee,

And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee,
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that coucheth, beneath,
Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

The blessings of thy father

Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth:

In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at even he shall divide the spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 and he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah32 the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth. 33 And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

50 And Joseph fell upon his fathers face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now l have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7 And Joseph wept to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his fathers house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15 And when Josephs brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16 And they sent a message unto Joseph saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we are thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his fathers house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraims children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Josephs knees. 24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from hence. 26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

(1) Jacobs Last Days
1. The Last Days of Jacob, Gen. 47:27 to Gen. 50:14

(1) Jacobs Request Concerning His Burial (Gen. 47:27-31. Although the years of Jacobs sojourn in Egypt were characterized by rather tragic economic problems for the Egyptians, for Jacob and his household in Goshen they were days of relative abundance and tranquility. Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years and lived to see his progeny multiply exceedingly, Gen. 47:27. Then as his end drew nearer, he sent for Joseph and made him swearby putting his hand under his fathers thigh (cf. Gen. 24:2; Gen. 24:9)that he would not bury him in Egypt, but take him out of Egypt and bury him in the sepulchre of his fathers (cf. Gen. 50:13). Egypt had served as a refuge in a time of famine, but the patriarchIsraelinsisted that his bones be interred in the land of promise alongside the bones of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and his own first wife, Leah. This Joseph was, of course, most willing to do. Thankful that Joseph had assured him of a burial in Canaan, Jacob, or Israel as he is here named, bowed down upon the beds head (Gen. 47:31). Apparently he turned over on his bed, and bent his head toward the head of the bed, as if to prostrate himself before God in worship. The Septuagint, followed by the words of Heb. 11:21, suggests a different pointing of the Hebrew words, reading bowed himself upon the top of his staff. According to this reading, which is followed by the Syriac, Jacob used his staff to raise himself in bed and thus to worship, remembering Gods blessings throughout his life. The first reading is said to be the most natural one, and is followed by the Masoretic Text. Leupold suggests that the author of the Epistle quoted from the Septuagintas he usually didwithout suggesting a change because no vital point was involved. An act of worship certainly is intended, no doubt a thanksgiving to God for the peaceful close of his troubled life, and for the assurance he now had of being gathered to his fathers.

(2) Jacob blesses the Sons of Joseph (Gen. 48:1-22). These developments came later (as will be noted). In the subsequent history of the nation of Israel, Joseph does not appear as one of the tribes. The reason for this is here indicated. Joseph became two tribes, for his sons Ephraim and Manasseh are hereby adopted by their grandfather and given an inheritance among his own sons. This was done when Joseph, hearing that his father was ill, went to visit him taking his two sons with him. The dying patriarch blessed Joseph and his sons in the name of the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God who had fed him all his life long, the Angel who had redeemed him from all evil. Joseph had enjoyed a position of special favor with Jacob, as we know, and for this reason he now determines to adopt Josephs two sons. The reference to Rachel, Gen. 48:7, shows how keenly he had felt her loss to the day of his death. His adoption of Josephs sons seems to have been a special tribute to her. He claimed Ephraim and Manasseh for his own, placing them even before Reuben and Simeon, whose lust and violence had forfeited their birthright; and henceforth they were numbered among the heads of the tribes of Israel. Thus Rachel became the mother of three tribes: Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin.

Throughout this whole sceneit will be notedIsrael gave Ephraim the precedence over Manasseh. Though unable to see, he crossed his hands, disregarding Josephs opposition, so that in blessing them his right hand was on Ephraims head and his left hand on Manassehs. Thus was added one more lesson of Gods sovereign choice, to the examples of Abel, Shem, Abram, Isaac, and himself, all of whom were younger sons. He foretold for them a prosperity which would make them the envy of the other tribes; and he concluded by giving Joseph an extra portion above his brothers, thus marking him as his heir in respect of property; for the royal power was given to Judah, and the priesthood was assigned to Levi. The division of these great functions of the patriarchal government is already a mark of the transition from the family to the nation (ITH, 125).

It should be noted that Jacob mentions here a specific plot of ground which he allotted to Joseph. Whatever the location of this plot, and whatever the circumstances under which it was acquired, its identity continued to be a matter of tradition as late as New Testament times. Sychar is described as near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph (Joh. 4:5). (This could hardly have been the city of Shechem, having reference to the tragedy visited on that city (Genesis 34), by Jacobs sons, an act which he indignantly repudiated. (The Nuzi tablets indicate that adoption was a common procedure in patriarchal times, They also show, we are told, that an oral blessing such as that pronounced by Jacob, was considered binding when contested in court. The blessing is a kind of last will and testament. In Scriptural usage, such a blessing also conveys a prophecy concerning the future. Ephraim became the strongest of the twelve tribes, In the time of the divided kingdom the name of Ephraim was frequently used for Israel (the Northern Kingdom).

(3) Jacob Blesses His Own Sons (Gen. 49:1-27). In poetic form a predictive blessing is pronounced by Jacob on his own sons. Although in some cases severe censure is given, in no case is a tribe disinherited. Some of the tribes had positions of greater honor and usefulness than did others, but the Israelites remained conscious of their descent from the twelve sons of Jacob. Jacob called his sons together to hear the last words of Israel their father (ch. 49). He plainly declared that his words were of prophetic import, and that their fulfilment would reach even to the latter days (Gen. 48:1). Could we expound these prophetic statements fully we should probably find that, in most, if not all the several blessings, there is a referencefirst, to the personal characters and fortunes of the twelve patriarchs; secondly, to the history and circumstances of the tribes descended from them; and, lastly, a typical allusion to the twelve tribes of the spiritual Israel (Revelation 7). We can trace the first two elements in all cases, and the last is conspicuous in the blessings on Judah and Joseph, the two heads of the whole family. But the details of the interpretation are confessedly most difficult (OTH, 125). The whole prophecy should be compared with the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death (Deuteronomy 33). Like the latter, Jacobs prophecy contains a blessing on each tribe, though in some cases it is almost disguised under the censure which his sons had incurred. (For a follow-up of the historical aspects of this last Testament of Jacob, we refer the student to the textbook, Old Testament History, by Smith and Fields, published by the College Press, Joplin, Missouri.)

(4) Fulfilment of Jacobs Prophecies. The history of all the tribes would furnish striking instances of the fulfilment of these prophecies, more particularly the history of the descendants of Judah and Joseph. From Judah the country was called Judea, and the people Jews. This tribe was famous: 1. For its conquests; 2. For the kingdom of David and Solomon; 3. For the birth of the Messiah; 4. For being a distinct people, having governors of their own down to the time of Messiah or Shiloh. Moreover, while the ten tribes of Israel were carried captive into Assyria and entirely lost (by enforced intermingling with their conquering neighbors), those of Judah and Benjamin were held in captivity in Babylon for seventy years only, after which they returned to the land of their fathers. They did not actually pass from the earthly scene as tribes until the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. In Joseph, the blessing of Jacob was fulfilled in his being the progenitor of the two large tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, from whom sprang the great leader Joshua. The curse of Levi was afterward taken off on account of the zeal of the Levites in destroying the worshipers of the golden calf and consecrating themselves to God.

(5) Death and Burial of Jacob (Gen. 49:28 to Gen. 50:14). Having concluded his prophetic benedictions, Jacob charged his sons to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, and yielded up the ghost at the age of one hundred and forty-seven years. His body was embalmed by Josephs physicians, a process which lasted, we are told, forty days (Gen. 48:3) and the mourning lasted in all seventy days (Gen. 48:3); after which, Joseph obtained permission of the Pharaoh to atend to the funeral of his father. Accordingly, all the house of Jacob and Joseph, together, together with all the servants of Pharaoh and elders of Egypt, left Goshen and made their sad journey back to Canaan, where they buried Jacob in the Cave of Machpelah, having mourned at the threshing-floor of Atad beyond Jordan for seven days; which place was called Abel-mizraim, or the mourning of the Egyptians (Gen. 50:1-13). Thus they came to Goren Atad beyond the Jordan, as the procession did not take the shortest route by Gaza through the country of the Philistines, probably because so large a procession with a military escort was likely to meet with difficulties there, but went round by the Dead Sea (K-D, 410). This funeral cortege was certainly a magnificent tribute to Joseph and to the high regard in which he was held by the Egyptian powers and people. After having performed his filial duties, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brethren and all their attendants.

2. The Last Days of Joseph

(6) Joseph Again Forgives His Brethren (Gen. 48:15-21). After Josephs return to Egypt, Josephs brothers feared that he might now seek revenge for their former cruelty, but, having sent a message praying for his forgiveness, he reassured them by many kind words and good offices.

(7) The Death of Joseph (Gen. 48:22-22). At last, fifty-four years after the death of his father, Joseph having seen the grandsons of his two sons, felt that his dying hour was approaching. He assured his brothers that God would certainly lead them to the land of promise, and enjoined them to carry his bones with them. (Josephs faith surely proves that he was never a prey to the paganism of the Egyptians, but to the end of his life cherished faith in the God of his fathers). He died, at the age of one hundred and ten years; his body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in which it was preserved until the Exodus of the Children of Israel with them. The story ends as in a glorious sunset, as realized by comparing Heb. 11:22 and Jos. 24:32.

ADDENDA
PREDICTIONS CONCERNING THE DESTINIES OF THE TWELVE

1. Reuben, the first-born, who had committed incest with Bilhah. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.

2. Simeon, 3. Levi, who had treacherously slain the Shechemites for their insult to Dinah: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

4. Judah: Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy fathers children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. . . . His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

5. Zebulun: Shall be an haven for ships.

6. Issachar: Is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: . . . and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

7. Dan: Shall judge his people, . . . shall be a serpent by the way, and an adder in the path.

8. Gad: A troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

9. Asher: His bread shall be fat.

10. Naphtali: A hind let loose; he giveth goodly words.

11. Joseph: A fruitful bough by a well. . . . The God of thy father, who shall help thee; and the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and blessings of the womb: . . . the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph.

12. Benjamin: Shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. Genesis 48, 49.From Analysis and Summary of Old Testament History, by J. T. Wheeler, published 1879, by Work and Company, Philadelphia.

THE DYING BLESSING OF JACOB

In its present form the Blessing of Jacob in Genesis forty-nine is a poem of the early days of the kingdom. In Davids day the more ancient tradition regarding the patriarchs blessing was cast into this poetical form. The poem makes a striking series of characterizations of the different tribes,the morally unstable Reuben, the socially disorganized Simeon and Levi, the warlike Judah, the ignobly lazy Issachar, the brave Gad and fortunate Asher, the prosperous Joseph and alert little Benjamin. These are the conditions of the days of the developing kingdom. The tribes had varied fortunes. Some prospered, some had great reverses; some became pre-eminent, a few barely existed. The poem is very valuable as an expression of the collective consciousness of Israel on their conduct and destiny,From History of the Hebrews, by Frank Sanders, Ph.D., Scribners, 1914.

ON JOSEPH AS A TYPE

One very noticeable feature of this history (toledoth) of Jacob is the predominance of Joseph practically throughout the entire section. Yet for all that, though he is the mainspring of the movement of the history, Jacob is still the dominant character. We remind of this, for though Joseph is prominent, he is not to be esteemed too highly. God never appeared to him as He did to his father Jacob, or to Isaac and to Abraham. Joseph dare not be ranked higher on the level of faith than his forefathers. It is a case of misplaced emphasis to say that the hero himself is idealized as no other patriarchal personality is . . . (Joseph) is the ideal son, the ideal brother, the ideal servant, the ideal administrator. In contact with non-Israelites Joseph surely achieved remarkable prominence, but for the inner, spiritual history of the kingdom of God he does not come up to the level of his fathers.

There is another feature of his life which is rather striking and demands closer attention. In a more distinct way than in the lives of the fathers Joseph stands out as a type of Christ. Abraham exemplified the Fathers love who gave up His only-begotten Son. Isaac passively typifies the Son who suffers Himself to be offered up. But in Josephs case a wealth of suggestive parallels come to the surface upon closer study. Though these parallels are not stamped as typical by the New Testament, there can hardly be any doubt as to their validity. For as Joseph is a righteous man and in this capacity is strongly antagonized and made to suffer for righteousness sake, but finally triumphs over all iniquity, so the truly Righteous One, the Savior of men, experiences the same things in an intensified degree.
Lange lists the details of this type in a very excellent summary. He mentions as prefiguring what transpired in the life of the great Antitype, Jesus Christ, the following: the envy and hatred of the brethren against Joseph and the fact that he is sold; the realization of Josephs prophetic dreams by the very fact that his brethren seek to prevent his exaltation by destroying him; the fact that the malicious plot of the brethren results in the salvation of many, however, in a very particular sense for the brethren and for Jacobs house; the judgment of the Spirit upon the treachery of the brethren and the victory of forgiving love; Judahs surety for Benjamin and his rivalry with Joseph in the spirit of self-sacrifice; the revival of Jacob in his joy over the fact that the son long deemed dead was alive and eminently successful (Leupold, EG, 950951).
Pascal (Pensees) beautifully supplements this typology as follows: Jesus Christ typified by Joseph, the beloved of his father, sent by his father to see his brethren, etc., innocent, sold by his brethren for twenty pieces of silver, and thereby becoming their lord, their savior, the savior of strangers, and the savior of the world; which had not been but for their plot to destroy him, their sale and their rejection of him. In prison Joseph innocent between two criminals; Jesus Christ on the cross between two thieves. Joseph foretells freedom to the one, and death to the other, from the same omens. Jesus Christ saves the elect, and condemns the outcast for the same sins. Joseph foretells only; Jesus Christ acts. Joseph asks him who will be saved to remember him, when he comes into his glory; and he whom Jesus Christ saves asks that He will remember him, when He comes into His kingdom (Everymans Library Edition, p. 229, trans. by Trotter). The ways of divine providence could hardly be stranger, and Gods guiding hand in history is marvelously displayed to the eyes of faith (EG, 9512).

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE STORY OF JOSEPH

The substantial accuracy of the Joseph narratives has often been noted. What has been discovered in relation to Egypt in late years is in general accord with the allusions of these narratives to Egyptian usages and institutions. This supports the conclusion that they were put into form at an early date, since the Egypt of Josephs day differs in many respects from the Egypt of later times. It also emphasizes our sense of reality as read the stories.
Dr. Speiser states the basic truths concerning the narrative about Joseph and the Egyptian background against which the events are painted. No appreciable progress has been made in the effort to establish the historical setting of the episode, and with it the identity of the Pharaoh who knew Joseph. A faint hint, but no more than that, may be contained in vs. 39, which has Pharaoh refer to God with obvious reverence. An Egyptian ruler of good native stock would not be likely to do so, since he was himself regarded as a god. When the Pharaoh of the Oppression speaks of Yahweh in Exodus, he does so in defiance, or in extreme straits, but never in sincere submission. The attitude of the present Pharaoh, therefore (barring an oversight on the part of the author), might conceivably suggest that he was not a traditional Egyptian ruler; and such a description would fit best some member of the foreign Hyksos Dynasty (ca. 17301570). It has long been assumed on other grounds that the Hyksos age offered the best opportunity for the emergence of someone like Joseph. Nevertheless, the narrative before us furnishes too slender a basis for historical deductions. On the other hand, the incidental detail is authentically Egyptian. Pharaoh elevates Joseph to the typically Egyptian post of Vizier (43). This is corroborated by the transfer to Joseph of the royal seal (42), inasmuch as the Vizier was known as the Seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, as far back as the third millenium. . . . The gift of the gold chain is another authentic touch. The three names in Gen vs. 45 are Egyptian in type and components; so, too, in all probability, is the escorts cry, Abrek. While the story is the main thing, the setting is thus demonstrably factual. And although the theme and the setting together cannot as yet be fitted with an established historical niche, the details are not out of keeping with that phase of Egyptian history which can be independently synchronized with the patriarchal period. (ABG, 316).

Other Egyptianisms which may be cited are the following: Josephs position as Potiphars major domo was common in Egypt (Gen. 39:5-6); Egyptian situations similar to that of Potiphars wife appear from the later Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers (Gen. 39:7-20); from the Rosetta Stone is indicated the pharaohs custom of releasing prisoners on his birthday and on other great days (Gen. 40:20); shaving was an Egyptian custom, not Semitic (Gen. 41:14); the investiture of an official with signet, linen, and neck chain, is commonly recorded (Gen. 41:42); inscriptions indicate failure of the Nile to flood for as long as 7 years, and the distribution of grain by government officials in times of famine (Gen. 41:54); nobility and priests are kept apart, even from commoners, much more, foreigners (Gen. 43:32); Egyptians ostracized shepherds as beyond standards of cleanliness (Gen. 46:34); crown and priests got all land titles some time before the New Empire (Gen. 47:20); and embalming took time and substance (Gen. 50:2-3).

That Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt under Josephs viziership has been denied by some of the more radical critics. . . . But this historical tradition is so inextricably woven into the fabric of Jewish history that it cannot be eliminated without leaving an inexplicable gap (Albright, FSAC, 183ff.). Numerous evidences of Israels sojourn in Egypt appear in the Genesis-Exodus part of the Pentateuch (UBD, 607). (1) Among such are the following: the surprising number of Egyptian personal names that show up in the Levitical genealogies. Such names as Moses, Hophni, Phineas, Merari, Putiel, and Asir, are unquestionably Egyptian: this fact is corroborated by 1Sa. 2:27. (2) Local coloring which appears in numerous instances in the Pentateuch. Many of these bits of Egyptian coloring exist which are beautifully illustrated by Egyptological discoveries (Albright, in Youngs Analytical Concordance, 20th Ed., 1936, p. 27. See his somewhat lengthy presentation (at the back of this book), Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands. This article is 43 pages in length and is invaluable for archaeological corroboration of the Pentateuchal record). Among these bits of local coloring we mention the following: (1) the title of Egyptian officials such as the chief of the butlers and chief of the bakers (Gen. 40:2) which are the titles of bona fide palace officials mentioned in Egyptian documents (cf. also Gen. 39:4; Gen. 41:40; Gen. 41:42-43). (2) Famines of Egypt are illustrated by at least two Egyptian officials who give a resume of their charities on the walls of their tombs, listing dispensation of food to the needy in each year of want. One inscription from c. 1000 B.C., actually mentions the famine of seven years duration in the days of Pharaoh Zoser of Dynasty III, about 2700 B.C. (3) Such matters as dreams, the presence of magicians (cf. Gen. 41:8), mummification (Gen. 50:2; Gen. 50:26), and Josephs life span of 110 years (Gen. 50:22), the traditional length of a happy and prosperous life in Egypt, are abundantly illustrated by the monuments. (4) The family of Jacobs settlement in Goshen, some seventy persons (Gen. 46:26-34). This area has been clearly identified with the eastern part of the Delta around the Wadi Tumilat. This region was one of the most fertile parts of Egypt, the best of the land (Gen. 47:11). (4) A clear archaeological parallel is the representation of West Semitic immigrants going down into Middle Egypt around the year 1900 B.C. The scene is sculptured on the tomb of one of Senwosret IIs officials named Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan, A party bringing products from Southwest Asia appear under the leadership of Sheik of the highlands, Ibshe. The name and the faces are clearly Semitic. Their thick black hair falls to the neck, and their beards are pointed. They are dressed in long cloaks and are armed with spears, bows and throw sticks. The accompanying inscription reads, the arrival, bringing eye paint, which thirty-seven Asiatics bring to him (Finegan. LAP, 1946, p. 83). (5) Canaanite place names in the Delta: Succoth (Exo. 12:37), Baal-zephon (Exo. 14:2), Migdol (Exo. 14:2), Zilu (Tel Abu Zeifah), and very likely Goshen itself (Albright, FSAC, 1940, p. 84).

The sudden appointment of a foreign-born slave to unlimited authority over a rich, cultured, proud and powerful people could take place nowhere else than in an autocratically governed Oriental state. Probably it could not have occurred in Egypt except at one of two periods, the century when the Hyksos kings were rulers of Egypt (c. 16801580 B.C.) or the later portion of the eighteenth dynasty (c. 15801350 B.C.) when Egypt under the leadership of a series of conquering kings became a world power, ready to utilize brave, resourceful leadership from any source. The background of the Joseph-story is surely Egyptian. The data available do not enable us to determine with assurance under which group of rulers Joseph rose to dignity and accomplished his reforms. The very general conclusion that Rameses the Great of the nineteenth dynasty was the Pharaoh of the Oppression makes it rather necessary to choose between the two periods preceding. That Josephs Pharaoh was a later king of the eighteenth dynasty is in excellent accord with the facts as we know them today, but no one can be positive in the matter. Kings Amen-hotep III and IV (14111358 B.C.) held close relations with Asia and her peoples. Their inscriptions mention foreigners who rose in Egypt to great authority. The three hundred clay tablets discovered in 1888 at Tel-el-Amarna in Egypt are letters exchanged between foreign kings and vassals and the reigning Pharaoh. In addition to throwing a frank and vivid light upon the life of Palestine and Egypt in that day, these letters exhibit the tolerant and friendly disposition of the rulers of Egypt. A Joseph would have found a welcome at their court (HH, 4445). (The Amarna letters, excavated from the mound of Amarna, about 200 miles south of Cairo These were in the form of hundreds of clay tablets in Accadian cuneiform, sent to the Pharaohs by kings in western Asia and by petty princes in Palestine (Canaan) who were ruling there under the supervision of Egyptian inspectors in the 14th century B.C. (See BWDBA, or any up-to-date general work on Biblical archaeology.)

HERODOTUS: ON EMBALMING IN EGYPT

There are a set of men in Egypt who practise the art of embalming, and make it their proper business. These persons, when a body is brought to them, show the bearers various models of corpses, made in wood, and painted so as to resemble nature. The most perfect is said to be after the manner of him whom I do not think it religious to name in connexion with such a matter; the second sort is inferior to the first, and less costly; the third is the cheapest of all. All this the embalmers explain, and then ask in which way it is wished that the corpse should be prepared. The bearers tell them, and having concluded their bargain, take their departure, while the embalmers, left to themselves, proceed to their task. The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process is the following: They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm-wine, and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with the purest bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days, and covered entirely over. (This included the whole period of mourning. The embalming in natrum (saltpetre or soda) occupied only forty days.) After the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum, which is used generally by the Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back to the relatives, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have made for the purpose, shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in a sepulchral chamber, upright against the wall. Such is the most costly way of embalming the dead.
If persons wished to avoid expense, and choose the second process, the following is the method pursued: Syringes are filled with oil made from the cedar-tree, which is then, without any incision or disemboweling, injected into the bowel. The passage is stopped, and the body laid in natrum the prescribed number of days. At the end of the time the cedar-oil is allowed to make its escape; and such is its power that it brings with it the whole stomach and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dissolved the flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and bones. It is returned in this condition to the relatives, without any further trouble being bestowed upon it.

The third method of embalming, which is practised in the case of the poorer classes, is to clear out the intestines with a purge, and let the body lie in natrum for seventy days, after which it is at once given to those who come to fetch it away. (Herodotus, Father of History, traveled extensively, and reported what he actually witnessed himself. His account of Egyptian embalming is generally acclaimed as being on the whole very accurate. He lived in the 5th century B.C. The section quoted is from his History (The Persian Wars), Bk. II. chs. 8691. Modern Library edition, trans, by George Rawlinson.)

REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART FORTY-SEVEN

How did the Israelites fare in Egypt?

How long did Jacob sojourn in Egypt?

With what great hopes did Jacob and his household start for Egypt? How were they received by the Pharaoh?

What promises did Jacob require Joseph to make?

Who was brought to Jacob when he became ill?

How did Jacob show affection for Josephs sons?

What requests did Jacob make in regard to his burial?

How did Jacob show his affection for Josephs sons?

How did Jacob arrange his hands on Josephs sons? What did this signify?

10.

Which of Josephs sons was to become the greater? How was this fulfilled later?

11.

What did Jacob bequeath especially to Joseph? To Judah? To Levi? What happened later with respect to Levis descendants?

12.

What do we learn about adoption in Canaan from the Nuzi tablets?

13.

What was the specific ground allotted to Joseph? How is this related to what New Testament passage?

14.

For what purpose did Jacob call his own sons together?

15.

What three references were implicit or explicit in the blessings which Jacob pronounced on his sons?

16.

What striking fulfilments occurred with respect to Jacobs blessing on Judah?

17.

In what sense was this blessing Messianic? When and how was it fulfilled?

18.

How was the blessing pronounced on Joseph fulfilled?

19.

Describe the circumstances of the death and burial of Jacob. Where did it take place?

20.

What other persons were interred in this burial place?

21.

After the interment, what did Joseph do? What attitude did he take toward his brothers at this time?

22.

How old was Joseph at his death? What evidence do we have that Joseph was faithful to the faith of his fathers? What does this indicate as to his character?

23.

What was done with his corpse, and why was it done?

24.

Describe the art of embalming as Herodotus describes it in his History.

25.

Where was Joseph ultimately buried?

26.

State the analogies between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ.

27.

Name the progenitors of the twelve tribes as they appear when finally rearranged by the substitution of the two sons of Joseph.

28.

Discuss the archaeological accuracy of the Joseph Narratives. List the Egyptianisms that occur in these accounts.

29.

Where was the Land of Goshen and what were the special characteristics of this Land?

30.

Correlate Heb. 11:22 and Jos. 24:32, and show the significance of this related testimony.

31.

For what great events was the stage now set for the future unfolding of Gods Eternal Purpose?

32.

How many generations of his descendants did Joseph live to see?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

THE FUNERAL OF JACOB, Gen 50:1-14.

“The royal obsequies of Israel and Joseph fittingly end the history of the patriarchal age, and the first stage in the development of the covenant people. The father of Joseph was buried with all the magnificence of an Egyptian funeral. No prophet, or prince, or king of Israel’s line, even in the noontide glory of the Hebrew monarchy, was ever laid to his rest with such pomp and splendour. The funeral ceremony was, with the Egyptians, an elegant art, in which they concentrated their religion and highest philosophy, and on which they lavished their taste and wealth. Their belief in immortality, and in the re-union of the soul with the body after transmigration, led them to carve magnificent sepulchres out of their mountains, and decorate them with all the splendours of painting and architecture, where the embalmed body, fresh in feature and fragrant in smell, might wait, as in a palace hall, to welcome the spirit on its return from its wanderings. Thus the Greek historian, Diodorus, says that the Egyptians built only inns for the living, but eternal habitations for the dead. The temples and tombs of Egypt are not only the oldest and most massive monuments of the past, but are also monuments of man’s faith in God and the future state, which have endured from the earliest dawn of civilization.

“Magnificent funeral processions are pictured in the royal tombs of Thebes. Such an imposing pageant is here described, though with such unworldly simplicity as almost to escape the eye, when ‘all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house,’ leaving only their ‘little ones’ in the land of Goshen, with ‘chariots and horsemen,’ a ‘very great company,’ (Gen 50:7-9,) set forth from the land of Goshen on a funeral march of three hundred miles, through the desert, round the Dead Sea, to the banks of the Jordan, and halted there for seven days’ funeral rites, such as the land of Canaan never witnessed before or after, and which stamped the meadow with the name, ‘Mourning (place) of the Egyptians.’” Newhall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1. Joseph fell and wept and kissed A touching picture of the tender emotion of Joseph’s soul . The prominence given to Joseph in the account of this funeral was due to his official position in Egypt as well as to his great devotion to his father .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Burial of Jacob In Canaan (50:1-13).

Gen 50:1-3

‘And Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept on him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were taken for it, for those are the number of days taken for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.’

Joseph is heartbroken at the death of his father. Then he takes charge of preparation of the body and calls for his physicians to embalm his father. The period taken for embalming in Egypt varied in length, but required some considerable time if done properly. ‘Forty days’ probably means just over a month. The Egyptians were experts in the subject.

Embalming consisted of removal of the viscera (brain, heart, liver and so on) for separate preservation, and desiccation of the body by packing in salt Then the body was packed with impregnated linen and wrapped in linen in its entirety.

“Physicians.” This parallels the term seyen, “physician”, employed by the Egyptians to denote the embalmers.

“And the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.” This was the recognised period for mourning in Egypt for highly place persons. The ‘Egyptians wept’ because they were paid to do so or because it was sensible to do so if you belonged to Joseph’s entourage. Weeping at funerals was something that was ensured financially and performed by professionals. This was a sign of great respect. That of course is not to deny that there were genuine mourners. But the private mourning by his family is not mentioned here. Here we are dealing with the official ceremonies.

Gen 50:4-5

‘And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh saying, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Lo, I die. In my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you will bury me.” ’ Now therefore let me go up I pray, and bury my father, and I will return.” ’

“The days of weeping.” This expression reproduces the Egyptian expression herwu-en-reny, “days of weeping”, for the time observed for mourning. Its Egyptian origin is denoted by the fact that it occurs here in connection with Jacob’s mourning in Egypt, and nowhere else in the Old Testament. During the “days of weeping” there was an extraordinarily elaborate program of mourning processions, with wailing women crying aloud, rending their garments, and tearing their hair. The mourning program also comprised very complicated ceremonies in which various priests took part.

“Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh.” If there was a death in the family, it was not permissible to come into Pharaoh’s presence, however high your position, until the dead had been buried. Thus Joseph has to make his approach through court officials. His approach follows court etiquette.

“Made me swear.” He stresses that what he is seeking to do is as a result of an oath. But Pharaoh was not likely to refuse such permission. It was quite customary in Egypt to convey the dead to distant burial places and to devote long periods for mourning.

Which I have dug for myself.’ This refers to preparations Jacob had already made in the cave of Machpelah to receive his body. Joseph wants Pharaoh to know that a place has been made ready. (For ‘dug’ in this connection compare 2Ch 16:14)

Gen 50:6

‘And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father just as he made you swear.” ’

The message comes back that permission has been granted. The Pharaoh acknowledged that as his father had made him take an oath, he had to fulfil it.

Gen 50:7

‘And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt. And all the house of Joseph and his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.’

So Joseph departs from Egypt with a great funeral procession. Egypt was well known for its grand funerals and this was no exception.

“All the servants of Pharaoh.” That is all of the court officials that could be spared. The “servants of Pharaoh” were the court officials who formed a close circle round the king and stood nearest to him.

“The elders of the house.” These are identical with the shemesu – hayit, which means “the elders of the hall”. They held high-court rank.

“The elders of the land of Egypt,” These are the leading councillors representing every district of Egypt. They had seats in the supreme council of the king.

“All the house of Joseph and his brothers.” All their servants and retainers apart from a skeleton staff necessarily required to remain to care for the little ones and tend the flocks and herds.

“His father” s house.’ Jacob’s own servants and retainers. This reminds us again that the number who came down to Egypt was quite large.

Gen 50:9

‘And there went up both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company.’

The statements that the cortege was joined by a whole galaxy of high dignitaries and by horsemen and chariots, corresponds to the Egyptian custom of accompanying funeral processions to the burial place in large bands. As a matter of fact, in no other country but Egypt were funerals composed of such elaborate processions, and the interment ceremonies were carried out with the greatest pomp in the case of highly situated personages.

“Chariots and horses.” Chariots and horses were comparatively rare in Egypt before the reign of the Hyksos. This may therefore indicate an elite group. The very best is available for the burial of the father of the Vizier of Egypt. Or it may be that the Pharaoh was now one of the Hyksos. There is no reason why the Hyksos should not have allowed Joseph, as a Semite, to continue in high office. It would provide some kind of continuation in the civil service.

Gen 50:10

‘And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad which is ‘Beyond Jordan’, and there they lamented with a great and bitter lamentation, and he made mourning for his father seven days.’

The Egyptian official mourning being over, similar mourning now took place in accordance with Canaanite custom.

“The threshing floor of Atad.” This special mention of the threshing floor is significant. The threshing floor was held in great esteem as the place where the heaps of corn were piled in full view of the villagers in harvest times, speaking of blessing from heaven and providing food and happiness. It was therefore considered a place of honour in which an important villager could be honoured in death, and the threshing board was regularly used as a bier, symbolical of the work and the activity of the villager, in a similar way to a soldier being borne on his shield.

A threshingfloor was placed where the winds would be helpful for winnowing. It would be either a rock outcropping or a soil area covered with marly clay.

“Beyond Jordan.” A technical name (compare Transjordan – you can be in Transjordan and still call it Transjordan) that could refer to either side of the Jordan. Thus Moses could use it as referring to the west side of the river (Deu 3:20) and to the east side (Deu 9:10). Compare also ‘Beyond Jordan in the wilderness’ (Deu 1:1; ‘Beyond Jordan westward’ (Jos 5:1; Jos 12:7; Jos 22:7) and ‘Beyond Jordan eastward’ (Jos 13:8; Jos 18:7). See also its use in Isa 9:1.

“Made mourning seven days.” Here too there was an ostentatious funeral, with official and loud mourners and undoubtedly a period of feasting to mark the occasion.

Gen 50:11

‘And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is grievous mourning ( ’ebel) to the Egyptians.” That is why the name of it was called Abel-mizraim (‘water-course of Egypt’) which is Beyond Jordan.’

There is a pun and play on words here. ’ebel means mourning, and ’abel means water-course or brook. The Canaanites were understandably surprised by this huge gathering of Egyptians in mourning, following Canaanite customs, and it was ever linked to the place in a new name. ‘Water-course’ may refer to the flow of tears thought to be coming from Egyptian eyes. And it was not surprising that they thought that they were Egyptians for that is how they were all dressed and adorned.

Once the typical Canaanite funeral was over the main body possibly remained here while the brothers went on to Machpelah to bury their father.

“Beyond Jordan.” The site of the threshingfloor was not necessarily east of the Jordan. ‘Beyond Jordan’ is a technical name, and mention of Canaanites as ‘inhabitants of the land’ also suggests otherwise (see above on verse 10). But if it was then it would suggest that the party had deliberately taken this route as a less disturbing route. Such a large party could easily have given the wrong impression

Gen 50:12-13

‘And his sons did as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah which Abraham bought, with the field, for a possession of a burial place, from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.’

The final burial was carried out by the sons of Jacob. They bore his body to Mamre and laid him in the place he had prepared from himself in the Cave of Machpelah. So we have three ‘funerals’. The official ceremony in Egypt, a local ceremony in Abel-mizraim and a private ceremony at the tomb. Jacob has indeed died in honour. But his own choice was not to be buried in honour, but to be back in the land that God had promised. For that was where his heart was.

“Did as he commanded them.” Their filial obedience is stressed. They did what was right. They ‘carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah’. The writer is stressing that that was what he had commanded them, and that that was what they did.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Gen 50:11 Word Study on “Atad” Strong says the Hebrew name “Atad” ( ) (H329) means “a thorn-tree.”

Gen 50:11 Word Study on “Abelmizrain” Gesenius says the Hebrew name “Abelmizrain” ( ) (H67) means, “meadow of the Egyptians,” but may very well mean, “mourner of Egypt” based upon the context of this verse. Strong says it means “meadow of Egypt.” The Hebrew words “Abel” ( ) (H59), meaning “meadow,” and “ebel ( ) (H60), meaning, “mourning” are very similar.

Gen 50:15-21 Comments – Joseph Reassures His Brothers of His Kindness Towards Them Gen 50:15-21 tells us about how Joseph reassured his brothers with words of kindness after their father’s death. Joseph had it within his power to do them harm and to reap justice for their wicked act of selling him into slavery. However, we see instead that Joseph kept a heart of forgiveness because he could see the bigger picture of God’s plan for their lives. I have found great comfort in my life by looking at the long-term effects of things that have taken place. I am able to keep my heart clean towards others by knowing that God is able to work things out for His good.

Gen 50:16 “And they sent a messenger unto Joseph” – Comments – Most all civilizations had an organized system of runners, who delivered messages on a regular route. Note a quote from Joseph E. Church’s book Quest for the Highest, where he used runners in the early missionary work in Africa in the first part of the twentieth century, before transportation was modernized.

“I watched one man especially – it happened to be one of our regular post runners who did the 90 mile journey to Kabale and back twice a month to get our mail.” [263]

[263] Joseph E. Church, Quest for the Highest (Exeter, UK: The Paternoster Press, 1981), 132.

Gen 50:20 Scripture Reference Note:

Rom 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”

Gen 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Ten Genealogies (Calling) – The Genealogies of Righteous Men and their Divine Callings (To Be Fruitful and Multiply) – The ten genealogies found within the book of Genesis are structured in a way that traces the seed of righteousness from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and the seventy souls that followed him down into Egypt. The book of Genesis closes with the story of the preservation of these seventy souls, leading us into the book of Exodus where we see the creation of the nation of Israel while in Egyptian bondage, which nation of righteousness God will use to be a witness to all nations on earth in His plan of redemption. Thus, we see how the book of Genesis concludes with the origin of the nation of Israel while its first eleven chapters reveal that the God of Israel is in fact that God of all nations and all creation.
The genealogies of the six righteous men in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) are the emphasis in this first book of the Old Testament, with each of their narrative stories opening with a divine commission from God to these men, and closing with the fulfillment of prophetic words concerning the divine commissions. This structure suggests that the author of the book of Genesis wrote under the office of the prophet in that a prophecy is given and fulfilled within each of the genealogies of these six primary patriarchs. Furthermore, all the books of the Old Testament were written by men of God who moved in the office of the prophet, which includes the book of Genesis. We find a reference to the fulfillment of these divine commissions by the patriarchs in Heb 11:1-40. The underlying theme of the Holy Scriptures is God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Thus, the book of Genesis places emphasis upon these men of righteousness because of the role that they play in this divine plan as they fulfilled their divine commissions. This explains why the genealogies of Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18) and of Esau (Gen 36:1-43) are relatively brief, because God does not discuss the destinies of these two men in the book of Genesis. These two men were not men of righteousness, for they missed their destinies because of sin. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Esau sold his birthright. However, it helps us to understand that God has blessed Ishmael and Esau because of Abraham although the seed of the Messiah and our redemption does not pass through their lineage. Prophecies were given to Ishmael and Esau by their fathers, and their genealogies testify to the fulfillment of these prophecies. There were six righteous men did fulfill their destinies in order to preserve a righteous seed so that God could create a righteous nation from the fruit of their loins. Illustration As a young schoolchild learning to read, I would check out biographies of famous men from the library, take them home and read them as a part of class assignments. The lives of these men stirred me up and placed a desire within me to accomplish something great for mankind as did these men. In like manner, the patriarchs of the genealogies in Genesis are designed to stir up our faith in God and encourage us to walk in their footsteps in obedience to God.
The first five genealogies in the book of Genesis bring redemptive history to the place of identifying seventy nations listed in the Table of Nations. The next five genealogies focus upon the origin of the nation of Israel and its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is much more history and events that took place surrounding these individuals emphasized in the book of Genesis, which can be found in other ancient Jewish writings, such as The Book of Jubilees. However, the Holy Scriptures and the book of Genesis focus upon the particular events that shaped God’s plan of redemption through the procreation of men of righteousness. Thus, it was unnecessary to include many of these historical events that were irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption.
In addition, if we see that the ten genealogies contained within the book of Genesis show to us the seed of righteousness that God has preserved in order to fulfill His promise that the “seed of woman” would bruise the serpent’s head in Gen 3:15, then we must understand that each of these men of righteousness had a particular calling, destiny, and purpose for their lives. We can find within each of these genealogies the destiny of each of these men of God, for each one of them fulfilled their destiny. These individual destinies are mentioned at the beginning of each of their genealogies.
It is important for us to search these passages of Scripture and learn how each of these men fulfilled their destiny in order that we can better understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for each of His children as He continues to work out His divine plan of redemption among the children of men. This means that He has a destiny for you and me. Thus, these stories will show us how other men fulfilled their destinies and help us learn how to fulfill our destiny. The fact that there are ten callings in the book of Genesis, and since the number “10” represents the concept of countless, many, or numerous, we should understand that God calls out men in each subsequent generation until God’s plan of redemption is complete.
We can even examine the meanings of each of their names in order to determine their destiny, which was determined for them from a child. Adam’s name means “ruddy, i.e. a human being” ( Strong), for it was his destiny to begin the human race. Noah’s name means, “rest” ( Strong). His destiny was to build the ark and save a remnant of mankind so that God could restore peace and rest to the fallen human race. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning, “father of a multitude” ( Strong), because his destiny was to live in the land of Canaan and believe God for a son of promise so that his seed would become fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth. Isaac’s name means, “laughter” ( Strong) because he was the child of promise. His destiny was to father two nations, believing that the elder would serve the younger. Isaac overcame the obstacles that hindered the possession of the land, such as barrenness and the threat of his enemies in order to father two nations, Israel and Esau. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “he will rule as God” ( Strong), because of his ability to prevail over his brother Esau and receive his father’s blessings, and because he prevailed over the angel in order to preserve his posterity, which was the procreation of twelve sons who later multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, his ability to prevail against all odds and father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as one who prevailed with God’s plan of being fruitful and multiplying seeds of righteousness.
In order for God’s plan to be fulfilled in each of the lives of these patriarchs, they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. It was God’s plan that the fruit of each man was to be a godly seed, a seed of righteousness. It was because of the Fall that unrighteous seed was produced. This ungodly offspring was not then nor is it today God’s plan for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Generation of the Heavens and the Earth Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26
a) The Creation of Man Gen 2:4-25
b) The Fall Gen 3:1-24
c) Cain and Abel Gen 4:1-26
2. The Generation of Adam Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8
3. The Generation of Noah Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29
4. The Generation of the Sons of Noah Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:9
5. The Generation of Shem Gen 11:10-26
6. The Generation of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
7. The Generation Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
8. The Generation of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
9. The Generation of Esau Gen 36:1-43
10. The Generation of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Calling of the Patriarchs of Israel We can find two major divisions within the book of Genesis that reveal God’s foreknowledge in designing a plan of redemption to establish a righteous people upon earth. Paul reveals this four-fold plan in Rom 8:29-30: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
The book of Genesis will reflect the first two phase of redemption, which are predestination and calling. We find in the first division in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 emphasizing predestination. The Creation Story gives us God’s predestined plan for mankind, which is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with righteous offspring. The second major division is found in Gen 2:4 to Gen 50:25, which gives us ten genealogies, in which God calls men of righteousness to play a role in His divine plan of redemption.
The foundational theme of Gen 2:4 to Gen 11:26 is the divine calling for mankind to be fruitful and multiply, which commission was given to Adam prior to the Flood (Gen 1:28-29), and to Noah after the Flood (Gen 9:1). The establishment of the seventy nations prepares us for the calling out of Abraham and his sons, which story fills the rest of the book of Genesis. Thus, God’s calling through His divine foreknowledge (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26) will focus the calling of Abraham and his descendants to establish the nation of Israel. God will call the patriarchs to fulfill the original purpose and intent of creation, which is to multiply into a righteous nation, for which mankind was originally predestined to fulfill.
The generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take up a large portion of the book of Genesis. These genealogies have a common structure in that they all begin with God revealing Himself to a patriarch and giving him a divine commission, and they close with God fulfilling His promise to each of them because of their faith in His promise. God promised Abraham a son through Sarah his wife that would multiply into a nation, and Abraham demonstrated his faith in this promise on Mount Moriah. God promised Isaac two sons, with the younger receiving the first-born blessing, and this was fulfilled when Jacob deceived his father and received the blessing above his brother Esau. Jacob’s son Joseph received two dreams of ruling over his brothers, and Jacob testified to his faith in this promise by following Joseph into the land of Egypt. Thus, these three genealogies emphasize God’s call and commission to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their response of faith in seeing God fulfill His word to each of them.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Origin of the Nation of Israel After Gen 1:1 to Gen 9:29 takes us through the origin of the heavens and the earth as we know them today, and Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26 explains the origin of the seventy nations (Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26), we see that the rest of the book of Genesis focuses upon the origin of the nation of Israel (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26). Thus, each of these major divisions serves as a foundation upon which the next division is built.
Paul the apostle reveals the four phases of God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind through His divine foreknowledge of all things in Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Predestination – Gen 1:1 to Gen 11:26 emphasizes the theme of God the Father’s predestined purpose of the earth, which was to serve mankind, and of mankind, which was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with righteousness. Calling – Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26 will place emphasis upon the second phase of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which is His divine calling to fulfill His purpose of multiplying and filling the earth with righteousness. (The additional two phases of Justification and Glorification will unfold within the rest of the books of the Pentateuch.) This second section of Genesis can be divided into five genealogies. The three genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob begin with a divine calling to a patriarch. The two shorter genealogies of Ishmael and Esau are given simply because they inherit a measure of divine blessings as descendants of Abraham, but they will not play a central role in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God will implement phase two of His divine plan of redemption by calling one man named Abraham to depart unto the Promised Land (Gen 12:1-3), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch. Isaac’s calling can also be found at the beginning of his genealogy, where God commands him to dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-6), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch Isaac. Jacob’s calling was fulfilled as he bore twelve sons and took them into Egypt where they multiplied into a nation. The opening passage of Jacob’s genealogy reveals that his destiny would be fulfilled through the dream of his son Joseph (Gen 37:1-11), which took place in the land of Egypt. Perhaps Jacob did not receive such a clear calling as Abraham and Isaac because his early life was one of deceit, rather than of righteousness obedience to God; so the Lord had to reveal His plan for Jacob through his righteous son Joseph. In a similar way, God spoke to righteous kings of Israel, and was silent to those who did not serve Him. Thus, the three patriarchs of Israel received a divine calling, which they fulfilled in order for the nation of Israel to become established in the land of Egypt. Perhaps the reason the Lord sent the Jacob and the seventy souls into Egypt to multiply rather than leaving them in the Promised Land is that the Israelites would have intermarried the cultic nations around them and failed to produce a nation of righteousness. God’s ways are always perfect.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Divine Miracles It is important to note that up until now the Scriptures record no miracles in the lives of men. Thus, we will observe that divine miracles begin with Abraham and the children of Israel. Testimonies reveal today that the Jews are still recipients of God’s miracles as He divinely intervenes in this nation to fulfill His purpose and plan for His people. Yes, God is working miracles through His New Testament Church, but miracles had their beginning with the nation of Israel.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Genealogy of Jacob The genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a common structure in that they open with God speaking to a patriarch and giving him a commission and a promise in which to believe. In each of these genealogies, the patriarch’s calling is to believe God’s promise, while this passage of Scripture serves as a witness to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling each promise. Only then does the genealogy come to a close.
Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26 gives the account of the genealogy of Jacob, Isaac’s son. Heb 11:21-22 reveals the central message in this genealogy that stirs our faith in God when Jacob and Joseph gave redemptive prophecies, saying, “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” As Abraham’s genealogy begins with a divine commission when God told him to leave Ur and to go Canaan (Gen 12:1), and Isaac’s genealogy begin with a divine commission predicting him as the father of two nations (Gen 25:23), so does Jacob’s genealogy begin with a divine encounter in the form of his son Joseph’s two dreams. These dreams make it clear that Jacob’s divine commission was to bring his clan of seventy souls into Egypt through Joseph for four hundred years while the people multiply into the nation of Israel. This genealogy closes with the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “prince of God,” because his destiny was to father a multitude of godly seed. He fathered the twelve sons, or “princes,” who multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. His ability to father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as a prince of God, as a man who ruled over a multitude of godly seed. The Scriptures testify to Jacob’s faith in God’s promise that Joseph would rule over his brethren by the fact that he followed his son into Egypt (Gen 49:22-26), and he blessed the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh (Heb 11:21-22). The fact that Jacob died in a ripe old age testifies that he fulfilled his destiny as did his fathers, Abraham and Isaac.
The Story of Joseph The last story in the origin of the nation of Israel that is recorded in the book of Genesis is the story of Joseph. Perhaps there is no other Old Testament story so moving as when he reveals himself to his brothers. There are many truths that are taught to us in this great Bible story. We learn that if we will serve the Lord amidst persecutions, God will always bring someone into our lives to bless us. Joseph had the favour and blessings of his father as a young man in the midst of his brothers’ persecutions. He then had the blessings of Potipher as a young man in Egypt. He found the favour of Pharaoh as an adult.
God gave Jeremiah some friends who stood by him and blessed him during the most difficult times in his ministry. God gave Daniel three friends in his Babylonian captivity. God gave to Paul men like Timothy and Luke to stand by him during times of persecution and even imprisonment. But for Joseph, he often stood alone, totally trusting in God.
The Chronology of the Life of Joseph – Jacob was one hundred thirty (130) years old when he went to Egypt.
Gen 47:9, “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
Jacob died at the age of 147.
Gen 47:28, “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.”
Joseph became ruler in Egypt at the age of 30.
Gen 41:46, “And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Joseph had two sons by the age of 37.
Gen 41:50, “And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.”
Joseph was 39 when his family comes to Egypt.
Gen 45:11, “And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.”
Therefore, Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born.
Also, Joseph died at the age of 110 (Gen 50:22; Gen 50:26)
Gen 50:22, “And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.”
Gen 50:26, “So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”
Joseph as a Type and Figure of Christ Jesus In many ways we can see Joseph as a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. Note some comparisons:
1. Joseph was Jacob’s beloved son, just as Jesus was the Heavenly Father’s beloved son.
Mat 3:17, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
2. Joseph was given a coat of many colours, which was similar to the seamless robe worn by Jesus Christ, of which the Roman soldiers cast lots (Joh 19:23-24).
Joh 19:23-24, “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”
3. Joseph took bread to his brothers, just like Jesus was sent as the bread of life to His people.
Mat 15:24-26, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
4. Joseph was rejected by his brothers like Jesus was rejected by His people, the Jews.
5. Joseph was thrown in the pit in Gen 37:24. This is like Jesus’ death on the cross (Psa 16:10)
Gen 37:24, “And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.”
Psa 16:10, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
6. When Joseph was betrayed by his brethren and sold as a servant. Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot for thirty pieces of sliver.
7. Joseph became a servant in the house of Potiphar, just like Jesus Christ took form of a servant (Php 2:7) and (Psa 105:17).
Gen 37:36, “And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.”
Gen 39:1, “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.”
Psa 105:17, “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:”
Php 2:7, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”
8. Joseph was sent to Egypt to deliver the house of Jacob (Israel) (Gen 45:7-8) like Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to deliver them.
Gen 45:7-8, “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: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Mat 15:24, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
9. Joseph was lifted up by Potiphar, then brought down into prison, then raised up by Pharaoh at his right hand. This is like Jesus being brought down to the grave, and then being raised to the right hand of the Father.
10. Joseph was exalted as ruler under Pharaoh, like Christians at the right hand of the Father in heaven today.
11. Some scholars suggest that Joseph’s marriage to the Egyptian is a type of Christ’s marriage to the church (especially to the Gentile church). He had two sons, which symbolizes the salvation of the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
12. Joseph’s brothers bowed down to Joseph during the famine (Gen 42:6) like Israel will bow down to Jesus one day (Rom 11:26). Israel shall be saved through the Deliverer.
Gen 42:6, “And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.”
Rom 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
13. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers on their third trip to Egypt. The ten brothers finally coming to Joseph and recognising him and receiving an inheritance is like Israel turning to and recognising Jesus and all being saved.
Rom 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
Jesus will reveal Himself to the Jews after the Church is raptured at His Second Return, thus, a third return.
14. All nations came and bowed down to Joseph, as all nations will someday come and bow down at the throne of the Lord Jesus.
15. Joseph was ruler over Egypt and the whole world, just as Jesus will reign in Zion as king of kings over the earth.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Mourning for Jacob
v. 1. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him, an evidence of deep, almost uncontrollable sorrow.
v. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, an art in which the Egyptians had reached a high degree of perfection, as the condition of most mummies shows. And the physicians embalmed Israel. They took out those organs of the body which were most easily subject to decay, filling the cavities with spices, soaking the flesh in a solution which prevented its decaying, and then wrapping the body in linen smeared with gum. 6)
v. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those embalmed, so long it took for the entire process of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days, not only during the forty days of the embalming, but for thirty days more, thus giving him the honor which was given to princes in Egypt.
v. 4. And when the days of his mourning were past, when the official, solemn mourning for Jacob had come to an end, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, to the officials of the king’s court for since he was still in mourning, he could not appear before Pharaoh in person, saying, if now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
v. 5. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Since his father had taken the solemn oath from him, Joseph asked the courtiers to do him the favor of applying to Pharaoh for leave of absence for him, that he might bury his father. Jacob, in anticipation of his death, probably at the time when he buried Leah, had prepared also his own burial-place in the cave of Machpelah. It is by no means a sign of a sickly morbidity if Christians purchase and prepare a cemetery lot for themselves where they hope eventually to rest, for they believe in the resurrection of the dead. Joseph’s request was stated: Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
v. 6. And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Pharaoh’s regard for Joseph, as for a faithful servant, had in no wise been diminished, and he readily granted the request.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION
Gen 50:1
And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. Joseph had no doubt closed the eyes of his revered and beloved parent, as God had promised to the patriarch that he would (Gen 46:4), and now, in demonstration both of the intensity of his love and of the bitterness of his sorrow, he sinks upon the couch upon which the lifeless form is lying, bonding over the pallid countenance with warm tears, and imprinting kisses of affection on the cold and irresponsive lip. It is neither unnatural nor irreligious to mourn for the dead; and he must be callous indeed who can see a parent die without an outburst of tender grief.
Gen 50:2
And Joseph commanded his servants, the physiciansliterally, the healers, from , to sew together, to mend, hence to heal, a class of persons which abounded in Ancient Egypt, each physician being only qualified to treat a single disorder (Herod; 2.84). The medical men of Egypt were held in high repute abroad, and their assistance was at various times required by persons from other countries, as, e.g; Cyrus and Darius. Their knowledge of medicines was extensive, and is referred to both in sacred (Jeremiah 66:11) and profane writings. The Egyptian doctors belonged to the sacerdotal order, and were expected to know all things relating to the body, and diseases and remedies contained in the six last of the sacred books of Hermes. According to Pliny (7.56), the study of medicine originated in Egypt. The physicians employed by Joseph were those attached to his own household, or the court practitionersto embalm his father:literally, to spice or season (the body of) his father, i.e. to prepare it for burial by means of aromatics; ut aromatibus condirent (Vulgate); (LXX.), which is putting part of a proceeding for the whole (Tayler Lewis). According to Herodotus (2. 86), the embalmers belonged to a distinct hereditary class or guild from the ordinary physicians; but either their formation into such a separate order of practitioners was of later origin (Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Kalisch), or Jacob was embalmed by the physicians instead of the embalmers proper because, not being an Egyptian, he could not be subjected to the ordinary treatment of the embalming art (‘Speaker’s Commentary’)and the physicians embalmed Israel. The method of preparing mummies in Ancient Egypt has been elaborately described, both by Herodotus (2.86) and Diodorus Sieulus (1.91), and, in the main, the accuracy of their descriptions has been confirmed by the evidence derived from the mummies themselves. According to the most expensive process, which cost one talent of silver, or about 250 sterling, the brain was first extracted through the nostrils by means of a crooked piece of iron, the skull being thoroughly cleansed of any remaining portions by rinsing with drugs; then, through an opening in the left side made with a sharp Ethiopian knife of agate or of flint, the viscera were removed, the abdomen being afterwards purified with palm wine and an infusion of aromatics; next, the disemboweled corpse was filled with every sort of spicery except frankincense, and the opening sewed up; after that the stuffed form was steeped for seventy days in natrum or subcarbonate of soda obtained from the Libyan desert, and sometimes in wax and tanning, bitumen also being employed in later times; and finally, on the expiration of that period, which was scrupulously observed, the body was washed, wrapped about with linen bandages, smeared over with gum, decorated with amulets, sometimes with a network of porcelain bugles, covered with a linen shroud, and, in due course, transferred to a mummy case.
Gen 50:3
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned (literally, wept) for him threescore and ten daysi.e. the whole period of mourning, including the forty days for embalming, extended to seventy days, a statement which strikingly coincides with the assertion of Diodorus Siculus (1:72), that the embalming process occupied about thirty days, while the mourning continued seventy-two days; the first number, seventy, being seven decades, or ten weeks of seven days, and the second 12 x 6 = 72, the duodecimal calculation being also used in Egypt. The apparent discrepancy between the accounts of Genesis and Herodotus will disappear if the seventy days of the Greek historian, during which the body lay in antrum, be viewed as the entire period of mourning, a sense which the words (Herod. 2.86)will bear, though Kalisch somewhat arbitrarily, but unconvincingly, pronounces it to be “excluded both by the context and Greek syntax.”
Gen 50:4, Gen 50:5
And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh,that Joseph did not address himself directly to Pharaoh, but through the members of the royal household, was not owing to the circumstance that, being arrayed in mourning apparel, he could not come before the king (Rosenmller), since it is not certain that this Persian custom (Est 4:2) prevailed in Egypt, but is supposed to have been due, either to a desire on Joseph’s part to put himself on a good understanding with the priesthood who composed the courtly circle, since the interment of the dead was closely connected with the religious beliefs of Egypt (Havernick), or, what was more likely, to the fact that Joseph, having, according to Egyptian custom (Herod. 2:36), allowed his beard and hair to grow, could not enter the king’s presence without being both shaven and shorn (Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Keil). It has been suggested (Kalisch) that Joseph’s power may have been restricted after the expiration of the famine, or that another Pharaoh may have succeeded to the throne who was not so friendly as his predecessor with the grand vizier of the realm; but such conjectures are not required to render Joseph’s conduct in this matter perfectly intelligiblesaying, My father made me swear (Gen 47:29), saying (i.e. my father saying), Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for menot bought (Onkelos, Drusius, Ainsworth, Bohlen, and others), but digged, (LXX.), fodi (Vulgate). Jacob may have either enlarged the original cave at Machpelah, or prepared in it the special niche which he designed to occupyin the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore (literally, and now) let me go up, I pray thee (the royal permission was required to enable Joseph to pass beyond the boundaries of Egypt, especially when accompanied by a large funeral procession), and bury my father, and I will come again.
Gen 50:6
And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Pharaoh’s answer would, of course, be conveyed through the courtiers.
Gen 50:7-9
And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh (i.e. the chief officers of the royal palace, as the next clause explains), the elders of his house (i.e. of Pharaoh’s house), and all the elders of the land of Egypt (i.e. the nobles and State officials), and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him (as an escort) both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. Delineations of funeral processions, of a most elaborate character, may be seen on the monuments. A detailed and highly interesting account of the funeral procession of an Egyptian grandee, enabling us to picture to the mind’s eye the scene of Jacob’s burial, will be found in Wilkinson’s ‘Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,’ vol. 3. p. 444, ed. 1878. First servants led the way, carrying tables laden with fruit, cakes, flowers, vases of ointment, wine and other liquids, with three young geese and a calf for sacrifice, chairs and wooden tablets, napkins, and other things. Then others followed bearing daggers, bows, fans, and the mummy cases in which the deceased and his ancestors had been kept previous to burial. Next came a table of offerings, fauteuils, couches, boxes, and a chariot. After these men appeared with gold vases and more offerings. To these succeeded the bearers of a sacred boat and the mysterious eye of Osiris, as the god of stability. Placed in the consecrated boat, the hearse containing the mummy of the deceased was drawn by four oxen and by seven men, under the direction of a superintendent who regulated the march of the funeral. Behind the hearse followed the male relations and friends of the deceased, who either beat their breasts, or gave token of their sorrow by their silence and solemn step as they walked, leaning on their long sticks; and with these the procession closed.
Gen 50:10
And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad. The threshing-floor, or goren, was a large open circular area which was used for trampling out the corn by means of oxen, and was exceedingly convenient for the accommodation of a large body of people such as accompanied Joseph. The goren at which the funeral party halted was named Atad (i.e. Buckthorn), either from the name of the owner, or from the quantity of buck-thorn which grew in the neighborhood. Which is beyond Jordanliterally, on the other side of the Jordan, i.e. west side, if the narrator wrote from his own standpoint (Jerome, Drusius, Ainsworth, Kalisch, ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ Wordsworth, et alii), in which case the funeral train would in all probability follow the direct route through the country of the Philistines, and Goren Atad would be situated somewhere south of Hebron, in the territory (afterwards) of Judah; but east side of the river if the phrase must be interpreted from the standpoint of Palestine (Clericus, Rosenmller, Hengstenberg, Kurtz, Keil, Lange, Gerlach, Havernick, Murphy, and others), in which case the burial procession must have journeyed by the wilderness, as the Israelites on a latter occasion did, and probably for not dissimilar reasons. In favor of the former interpretation may be claimed Gen 50:11, which says the Canaanites beheld the mourning, implying seemingly that it occurred within the borders of Canaan, i.e. on the west of the Jordan; while support for the latter is derived from Gen 50:13, which appears to state that after the lamentation at Goren Atad the sons of Jacob carried him into Canaan, almost necessarily involving the inference that Goren Atad was on the east of the Jordan; but vide infra. If the former is correct, Goren Atad was probably the place which Jerome calls Betagla tertio ab Hiericho lapide, duobus millibus ab Jordane; if the latter is correct, it does not prove a post-Mosaic authorship (Tuch, Bohlen, &c.), since the phrase appears to have had an ideal usage with reference to Canaan in addition to the objective geographical one. And there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation. The Egyptians were exceedingly demonstrative and vehement in their public lamentations for the dead, rending their garments, smiting on their breasts, throwing dust and mud on their heads, calling on the deceased by name, and chanting funeral dirges to the music of a tambourine with the tinkling plates removed. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. This was a special mourning before interment (cf. Ecclesiasticus 22:11).
Gen 50:11
And when (literally, and) the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they (literally, and they) said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim,i.e. the meadow () of the Egyptians, with a play upon the word () mourning (Keil, Kurtz, Gerlach, Rosenmller, &c.), if indeed the word has not been punctuated wrongly instead of (Kalisch), which latter reading appears to have been followed by the LXX. ( ) and the Vulgate (planctus AEgypti)which is beyond Jordan (vide supra).
Gen 50:12, Gen 50:13
And his sonsthe Egyptians halting at Goren Atad (Keil, Havernick, Kalisch, Murphy, etc.); but this does not appear from the narrativedid unto him according as he commanded them (the explanation of what they did being given in the next clause): for his sons carried himnot simply from Goren Atad, but from Egypt, so that this verse does not imply anything about the site of the Buckthorn threshing-floor (vide supra, Gen 50:11)into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mature (vide Gen 23:1-20.).
Gen 50:14
And Joseph returnee into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
HOMILETICS
Gen 50:1-14
The funeral of Jacob.
I. THE PRIVATE SORROW. That a great and good man like Jacob, the father of a numerous family, the ancestor of an important people, the chieftain of an influential tribe, the head of the Church of God, should depart this life without eliciting from some heart a tribute of sorrow, is inconceivable. That any of his sons witnessed the last solemn act of this great spiritual wrestler, when he gathered up his feet into his bed and yielded up his spirit into the hands of God, without a tear and without a pang of grief, although it is only the emotion of Joseph that is recorded, is what we cannot for a moment believe. Less demonstrative than was that of Joseph, less deep too, probably, since the heart of Joseph appears to have been peculiarly susceptible of tender emotions, we may yet suppose that the grief of Joseph’s brethren was not less real.
II. THE PUBLIC MOURNING. In accordance with the customs of the times, and of the country, it was needful that a public ceremonial should be observed, in honor of the dead. Accordingly, Joseph, as the first step required by the usages of the people amongst whom he lived, gave instructions to his court physicians to embalm his father. For details as to the process, which occupied a period of forty days, the Exposition may be consulted. Then, along with this, for seventy days, peculiar rites, supposed to be expressive of the heart’s grief, such as rending the garments, smiting the breast, throwing dust upon the head, calling on the deceased, were maintained with the assistance of friends, neighbors, and professional mourners.
III. THE FUNERAL PROCESSION.
1. The train of mourners. This consisted of the state and court officials of Pharaoh’s house, and of the land of Egypt, the members of the houses of Joseph and his brethren, and a troop of horsemen and charioteers for protection on the journey.
2. The line of march. This was either straight north, through the country of the Philistines, if Goren Atad was south of Hebron in Judea, or it was round about by the way of the wilderness, if the halting-place was east of Jordan.
3. The lamentation at Goren Atad. This was intended as a special demonstration before burial, and was conducted with such vehemence as to arrest the attention of the Canaanites, who called the place in consequence, Abel-Mizraim; i.e. the plain or the mourning of Mizraim.
4. The advance to Hebron. It is more than probable that the Egyptians, who had accompanied the funeral procession from Goshen, remained behind at Goren Atad, while Joseph and his brethren bore the patriarch’s body on to Hebron.
IV. THE SOLEMN INTERMENT. His sons buried him in the ancestral vault; of Mach-pelah. Reverently, affectionately, tearfully, yet hopefully, let us hope, they laid the weary pilgrim down to sleep till the resurrection morn beside the dust of his own Leah, and in the company of Abraham, and Sarah, and Isaac, and Rebekah. It must have been an affecting, as surely it was a sublime spectacle, this coming home of an aged exile to lay his bones in his native land, this returning of the heir of Canaan to claim his inheritance, this laying down of the last member of the great patriarchal family among the other inmates of Machpelah. With the burial of Jacob, the first patriarchal family was complete, and the tomb was closed. The members of the second household slept at Shechem.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Gen 50:1-26
Retrospect and prospect.
The fellowship of Egypt with the children of Israel in the burial of Jacob is full of significance. “A very great company went with them.” “Abel-Mizraim” the Canaanites called it, “a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.” It seemed to them altogether an Egyptian funeral. Yet we know that it was not. The work of God’s grace will transform the world that it shall not be recognized. The funeral itself said, Egypt is not our home. It pointed with prophetic significance to the future of God’s people. Canaan, the home of God’s people, is the symbol of the everlasting home. Strange that the conscience should wake up in the brethren of Joseph after the father’s death. How great the power of love in subduing fear! The true-hearted, tender piety of Joseph both towards God and towards his father and his kindred, is not influenced by such considerations as affected the lower characters of his brethren. They feared because they were not as true as he. “Joseph wept when they spake unto him,” wept for them, wept to think they had not yet understood him. It is a great grief to a good man, a man of large, simpler loving nature, to be thought capable of unkindness and treachery. Joseph recognized that his life had been a Divine thing. He was only an instrument in the hands of God, in the place of God. He saw Providence working with grace. The influence of real religion is to sanctify and exalt natural affections. Joseph’s end, like his father’s, was a testimony to the faithfulness of God, and a fresh consecration of the covenant people to their Divine future. “I die, and God will surely visit you. He was a truly humble man to the last. His people’s blessedness was not of his making. His death would be rather their gain than their loss. Yet “by faith he gave commandment concerning his bones” (Heb 11:22), not in any foolish feeling of relic worship, but because he would have the people while in Egypt not to be of Egypt. Those who live on the promises of God will feel that” faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” and confess, not by word only but by deed, and to the last moment of life, “that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth,” “seeking a better city, even a heavenly.”R.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Gen 50:1. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face Thus what God had promised, ch. Gen 46:4. that Joseph should close his father’s eyes, was fulfilled: and after having performed this last and tender office, he, according to the custom of those times, parted from the body with a kiss; expressing all the filial sorrow which such a loss could inspire.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

ELEVENTH SECTION
Josephs mourning. Jacobs burial in Canaan. The brothers dread of Joseph. His word of peace and trust for them. Josephs last provision for his own return home to Canaan after death, similar to the provision of his father.
Gen 50:1-26
1And Joseph fell upon his fathers face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm1 his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. 4And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, 8and all the elders of the land of Egypt. And all the house [attendants, servants] of Joseph, and his brethren, and his fathers house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company. 10And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad [buckthorn], which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians; wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 12And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them. 13For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14And Joseph returned into Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15And when Josephs brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil we did unto him. 16And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive,2 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 Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18And his brethren also went, and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants 19[literally, and more pathetically, Behold us, thy servants]. And Joseph Said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? 20But 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. 21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.3 22And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his fathers house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23And Joseph saw Ephraims children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Josephs knees. 24And Joseph said unto his brethren, 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. 25And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him; and he was put in a coffin [a sarcophagus] in Egypt.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
1. As the fundamental idea of the preceding chapter denoted, with solemn foresight, the future appearance of Israel in the promised land, so, in the closing chapter before us, the actual return of Israel to Canaan is settled, by way of anticipation, in the burial of Jacob in Canaan, and by the oath which Joseph gives to his brethren. The spirit of the theocratic home-feeling in its higher significance, and of the assurance of their return, breathes through this whole chapter. In this, Genesis points beyond, not only to the exodus of the children of Israel, but away beyond this also, to the eternal home, as the goal of Gods people.
2. According to Knobel, merely Gen 50:12-13 belongs to the ground Scripture, while all the rest is an enlargement made by the Jehovist; but then the Jehovist must be supposed to follow the first document (see p. 377, Knobel). As respects this criticism, now, must things themselves be allowed to speak, especially such things as the strong presence of Joseph, and other facts of a similar kind!
3. Contents: 1) The mourning for Jacobs death, and the preparation of his dead body in Egypt, Gen 50:1-6.2) The mourning procession to Canaan, Gen 50:7-13.3) The breaking out of an old wound. The fear of Josephs brothers, and his declaration that their guilt has been expiated under the government of Gods grace, Gen 50:14-21.
4. Josephs life and death. His provision exacted from them by an oath: that he should be carried home to Canaan at his death, Gen 50:22-26.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Gen 50:1-6.And Joseph fell.An inimitably touching expression of his souls deep emotion.And the forty days were fulfilled.For forty days did the process of embalming continue. Then follow thirty days, which make the full three-score and ten daysthe time of mourning for a prince. The embalming of the body was an Egyptian custom, practised for pay by a special class of skilled artists (), to whom the relations gave the body for that purpose. According to Herodotus, ii. 86, there were three modes of proceeding, of which the most costly was as follows: they drew out the brain through the nostrils, and filled the cavity in the head with spices; then they took out the viscera, and filled the space with all kinds of aromatics, after which they sewed it up. The next step was to salt the body with natron, and let it lie seventy days, or longer. Then they washed it off, wrapt it in fine linen, and smeared it with gum. Finally, the relatives took it back, enclosed it in a chest, and kept it in a chamber for the dead. We derive the same information from Diodorus Sic., i. 91, and, moreover, that the taricheutists (the embalmers) were held in high honor, and ranked in the society of the priests. In the several districts they had particular places for their business (Strabo, xvii. p. 795). They used asphaltum which was brought from Palestine to Egypt (Diod., xix. 99; Strabo, xvi. p. 764). From thence, too, they obtained the spices that were employed (see Gen 37:25; Gen 43:11). The intestines they put in a box and cast into the Nile; doing this because the belly was regarded as the seat of sins, especially those of gluttony and intemperate drinking. (Porphyr. Abstin., iv. 10.) See more on this subject in Friedreich (Zur. Bibel, ii. p. 199). See also Winer, Realwrterb., Embalming. Jacob was prepared as a mummy. Joseph in the same manner, Gen 50:26. This is related of no other Hebrew. The embalming mentioned later among the Jews was of a different kind (Joh 19:39). Knobel. The mourning for Aaron and Moses was observed thirty days.Speak in the ears of Pharaoh.On an occasion so peculiar he lets others speak for him; moreover it was unseemly to appear before the king in mourning.The grave which I have digged for me.This is not at variance with the supposition that Abraham had previously bought the cave. In this cave of Machpelah Jacob had, at a later time, made a special preparation of a grave for himself. It is a conjecture of Von Bohlen, with Onkel and others, that here, should be rendered bought; but there is no need of it.
2. Gen 50:7-13. The great mourning procession of the Egyptians here proceeded, on the one hand, from their recognition of Josephs high position, and, on the other, from their love of funeral festivity (Hengstenberg).Threshing-floor of Atad.So called from , thorn, because, perhaps, surrounded by thorn-bushes.Seven days.The usual time of mourning. The place is called by Hieronymus, Bethagla. Concerning the late discovered traces of the place, lying not far from the northern end of the Dead Sea, see Knobel, p. 379. It is this side of Jordan, though the account says beyond Jordan. The expression is explained, when, with the older commentators, we take into view that the traditionary mention arising from the old position of the Israelites, had become fixed. Bunsen would remove the seeming difficulty by maintaining that actually means this side of Jordan. Delitzsch and Keil suppose that the place denoted is not identical with Bethagla, but actually lay on the other side of Jordan. There probably did the Egyptian mourning-train remain behind, after having gone round the Dead Sea; whilst the sons of Jacob, according to Gen 50:13, actually entered Canaan proper. The difficult question, why the mourning-train did not take the usual direct way from Egypt to Hebron, is answered by saying, that on the usual route they would have to guard themselves against encounters with warlike tribes; and this is supported by the fact, that the children of Israel, likewise, at a later day, had to avoid the direct route on the western side. Moreover, the march was in some respects typical, presenting an anticipation, as it were, of the later journey. Even at that time the Canaanites attentively watched the mourning procession; but they had no presentiment of its significance for the later time, and were especially quiet as they looked on during this grievous mourning of the Egyptians.
3. Gen 50:14-21.And when Josephs brethren saw.The father had stood as a powerful mediator between them and Joseph; and now conscience again wakes up. In their message to him they appeal to their fathers words, and there is no ground for what Knobel says, that this was a mere pretext. Josephs weeping testifies to an elevated and noble soul. Once they had sold him for a slave, and now they offer themselves as his servants. This is the last atonement. Josephs answer contains the full reconciliation. Am I in the place of God? Can I by my own will change his purposes? God has turned the judgment into a deliverance, and in this must they find peace and reconciliation. God has forgiven them; and, therefore, he himself can no longer retain their sins; nor would he; since that would be to put himself judicially in the place of the forgiving God.What he says, Gen 50:20, gives us the grand golden key to his whole lifes historyyea, it is the germ of all theodicy in the worlds history.
4. Gen 50:22-26.The third generation.That is, great-grandchildren. The dead bodies were placed in chests of sycamore wood, and kept in the chambers of the dead. So Josephs body was kept. In the exodus of Israel it was carried along (Exo 13:19), and laid in the field of Jacob at Shechem (Jos 24:32).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. We have denoted this chapter as the chapter of the home feeling. It is a trait that breathes through it. Canaan the home-land of Israeltype of the heavenly home.
2. Josephs disposition, mourning, and truthfulness.
3. With wonderful propriety does Joseph unite in his own person the Israelitish truthfulness with that which was of most value in the Egyptian customs and usages.
4. The mourning-train of Jacob, a presignal of Israels return to Canaan.
5. As God makes Genesis glorious in the beginning, by the account of his creation,so here, at the end, by a display of his providence (Gen 50:20).
6. The admonitions of conscience.
7. Perfect love casteth out fear. Josephs word of peace for his brethren.
8. Josephs provision an act of faith. Pointing to the exodus.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Consecrated death.Consecrated mourning. The consecrated mourning usage. The pious mourning procession. The divine sighing for home. The dead Jacob draws beforehand the living Israel to Canaan. Before all is the dying Christ.The way of our future wonderfully prepared: 1. In the mourning-train; 2. in the exodus of the spirits; 3. in the going forth of the heart in its longing and sighing for home.
First Section. (Gen 50:1-6.) Starke: Extract from Herodotus ii. 85, 86, on the Egyptian mourning usages, and the embalming of the dead.Bibl. Tub.: The bodies of the dead are rightly honored, when they are buried in the earth, with the common usages, when they are not superstitious; but they are not to be exposed for spiritual reverence, or carried about for that purpose, or have ascribed to them any miracle-working power. Though we may weep for the dead, it must not be with us as it is with the heathen, who have no hope.Calwer Handbuch: Egypt swarmed with physicians, because there was one specially for each disease.
Second Section. (Gen 50:7-13.) Starke: Thus was there almost royal honor done to Jacob in his death; since for the dead Egyptian kings they used to mourn for seventy-two days.Schrder: In this there was fulfilled the promise made Gen 46:4 : Jacob was literally brought back from Egypt to Canaan; since for his body did God prepare this prophetic journey.
Third Section. (Gen 50:14-21.) Starke: Attendance upon the dead to their place of rest is a Christian act.
Gen 50:16. They sent a messenger, saying; It was probably Benjamin whom they sent.Hall: To one who means good, there can be nothing more offensive than suspicion.The same: The tie of religion is much stricter than that of nature.
Gen 50:20. Lange: The history of Joseph and his brethren an example of the wonderful providence of God.Bibl. Tub.: The wicked plots of wicked men against the pious, God turns to their best good.
Gerlach: The revelation of the most wonderfully glorious decree of Gods love and almighty power, which man cannot frustrate, yea, even the transformation of evil into blessing and salvationthis appears to have been fulfilled throughout the entire life of Joseph. His feeling, so greatly removed from the revenge which his brothers still thought him capable of, goes far beyond them. He speaks to their heart. His words drop like balm upon a wound. It is a beautiful pictorial expression which elsewhere occurs.With an act of faith of the dying Jacob, connecting the first book of Moses with the second, this history closes, and thereby points to the fulfilling of the promise that now follows.Schrder: As we have one father, they would say, so have we one God, our fathers God; forgive us, therefore, for Gods sake, the God of our father. They make mention of servitude as their deserved punishment, with reference to their evil deed to Joseph (Baumgarten).
Fourth Section. (Gen 50:22-26.) Starke: It is not probable that, at that time, the brothers were all living. [In that case the meaning would have reference to the heads of families.To the wood out of which the coffins of the dead were made, there seems to have been ascribed the property of being incorruptible?Comparison of Joseph with Christ in a series of resemblances.]God does not suffer fidelity to parents, or love and kindly deeds to ones own people, to go unrewarded.Bibl. Wirt.: God is wont, sometimes, even in this life, to recompense to believers their cross and misery. That is the best thought of death, to remember the promise of God and his gracious redemption.Schrder: It all ends with the coffin, the mourning for the dead, the funeral procession, and the glance into the future life. The age of promise is over; there follows now a silent chasm of four hundred years, until out of the rushes of the Nile there is lifted up a weeping infant in a little reed-formed ark. The age of law begins, which endures for fifteen hundred years. Then in Bethlehem-Ephratah is there born another infant, and with him begins the happy time, the day of light, and quickening grace (Krummacher).Calwer Handbuch: His place as prime minister of Egypt had not extinguished Josephs faith in the divine promise. He shared in the faith; he is to be a coheir, a sharer in the inheritance.Lisco: And so speaks Joseph yet, through faith, unto his people, though he has long been dead, and in his grave.Heim: Joseph closed his life with an act of faith.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen 50:2. occurs only here, and in Son 2:13, where it is applied to the ripening of the fig. The Arabic has also both these senses of ripening and of embalming. The LXX have rendered it , to bury, putting a part of a proceeding for the wholeto prepare him for burial. Vulgateut aromatibus condirent.T. L.]
[2][Gen 50:17., forgive; literally, lift up. The figure may be either the lifting up the supposed prostrate face, or the lifting off the burden of remembered guilt. It is most expressive either way.T. L.]
[3][Gen 50:21. . Rendered, and he spake kindly unto them. Literally, he spake unto their heart, and so the LXX have rendered it. He did not merely use good oratorical forma of encouragement, but spoke words coming from the heart, and which the heart immediately understood. It was the language of deep emotion. Compare the same expression, 1Sa 1:13, and Isa 40:2, rendered in the latter place, speak ye comfortablyliterally, speak to the heart of Jerusalem. It is to be regretted that such intensive expressions of the Hebrew had not been more generally preserved in our English version. Some of them might have sounded strangely at first, but time would have naturalized them, and given them a place among the choicest idioms in our language.T. L.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS
This Chapter which concludes the book of Genesis, concludes with it the account of the last tokens of respect shown to the Patriarch Jacob’s remains. He is embalmed by the physicians of Egypt; and after the days of mourning were expired, Joseph obtains permission from Pharaoh to carry up his father’s remains for interment into Canaan. The funeral ceremony is here related: their return to Egypt: Joseph and his brethren’s affectionate regard for each other is again mentioned: the years which Joseph lived after his father: Joseph’s death and age.
Gen 50:1
Sweet view of Joseph’s tenderness. Reader, see Joh 11:35-36 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Joseph’s Faith
Gen 50:25

Taking this incident, with the New Testament commentary upon it, it leads us to a truth which we often lose sight of, but which is indispensable if we would understand the relations of the earlier and the later days.
I. Faith is always the same though knowledge varies. There is a vast difference between a man’s creed and a man’s faith. The one may vary, does vary within very wide limits; the other remains the same. It is difficult to decide how much Joseph’s gospel contained. Even taking the widest possible view of the patriarchal creed, what a crude outline it looks beside ours! Can there be anything in common between us? Yes, as I said, faith is one thing, creed is another. Joseph and his ancestors were joined to God by the very same bond that unites us to Him. There has never been but one path of life: ‘They trusted God and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed’. In that old covenant the one thing needful was trust in the living Jehovah. In the new the one thing needful is the very same emotion, directed to the very same Lord manifested now and incarnate in the Divine Son, our Saviour.
II. Faith has its noblest office in detaching from the present. All his life long from the day of his captivity Joseph was an Egyptian in outward seeming. He filled his place at Pharaoh’s court, but his dying words open a window in his soul, and betray how little he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in the midst of which he had been content to live. Dying, he said, ‘Carry my bones up from hence’. Therefore we may be sure that, living, the hope of the inheritance must have been buried in his heart as a hidden light and made him an alien everywhere but on its blessed soil.
And faith will always produce just such effects. If the unseen is ever to rule in men’s lives, it must become not only an object for certain knowledge, but also for ardent wishes. It must cease to be doubtful, and must seem infinitely desirable.
III. Faith makes men energetic in the duties of the present. Take this story of Joseph as giving us a true view of the effect on present action of faith in, and longing for, God’s future.
He was, as I said, a true Hebrew all his days. But that did not make him run away from Pharaoh’s service. He lived by hope, and that made him the better worker in the passing moment, and kept him tugging away all his life at the oar.
IV. The one thing which saves this life from being contemptible is the thought of another. It is the horizon that gives dignity to the foreground. A picture without sky has no glory. This present, unless we see gleaming beyond it the eternal calm of the heavens, above the tossing tree-tops with withering leaves, and the smoky chimneys, is a poor thing for our eyes to gaze at, or our hearts to love, or our hands to toil on. But when we see that all paths lead to heaven, and that our eternity is affected by our acts in time, then it is blessed to gaze, it is possible to love the earthly shadows of the uncreated beauty, it is worth while to work.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, p. 130.
References. L. 25. A. Maclaren, Exposition of Holy Scripture Genesis, p. 311. L. 25. A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, p. 130. L. 26. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 370. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Genesis, p. 328.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Gen 50:1 And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
Ver. 1. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face.] As willing to have wept him alive again, if possible; yet more moderate than his father had been in the supposed death of him by an evil beast devouring him. But of mourning for the dead. See Trapp on “ Gen 23:9 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 50:1-3
1Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him. 2Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
Gen 50:1 This verse shows three signs of grieving associated with death.
1. fell on his father’s face, BDB 656, KB 709, Qal IMPERFECT, similar to Gen 33:4
2. wept over him, BDB 113, KB 129, Qal IMPERFECT
3. kissed him, BDB 676, KB 730, Qal IMPERFECT
Gen 50:2 “physicians” This is a Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE of the VERB “to heal” (BDB 950, KB 1272, cf. 2Ch 16:12). There was a group of professional embalmers, but Joseph possibly used physicians in order to side step the religious overtones of Egyptian embalming (NASB Study Bible, p. 73). Jacob was preserved so that he could later be buried in the family burial cave in Canaan (cf. Gen 49:29-32).
“embalm” This VERB (BDB 334, KB 333, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) means “spice,” “make spice” (cf. Son 2:13), or “embalm.” This was a uniquely Egyptian procedure, found only here in the OT. It had religious connections to Osiris (beginning about 2700 B.C.) and the Egyptians’ belief in an afterlife.
It involved
1. the removal of the internal organs and their separate preservation in jars
2. in a later period the brain was also removed and placed in a separate jar
3. the body was wrapped with resinated linen cloth
The only written accounts of how to embalm come from Herodotus, History 2:85-90 and Diodorus Siculus, History 1.91. For a fuller discussion see ABD, vol. 2, pp. 490-495, and James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, pp. 56-58.
This discussion is not meant in any way to address modern embalming practices. They have no religious overtones as did the Egyptian rituals. Many have assumed that the curse statement in Gen 3:19 still applies. I personally think the physical remains of life (i.e., human bodies) are not that significant!
SPECIAL TOPIC: CREMATION
SPECIAL TOPIC: BURIAL PRACTICES
Gen 50:3 “forty days” The number 40 (BDB 917) can be literal or figurative. The Hebrews mourned for 30 days (cf. Num 20:29; Deu 34:8) for national leaders. It was a sign of respect.
“seventy days” Jacob received a royal burial. Pharaoh himself was mourned for seventy-two days (the Greek historian, Diodorus [1.72]). The Egyptians mourned for Jacob out of respect for Joseph.
SPECIAL TOPIC: SYMBOLIC NUMBERS IN SCRIPTURE
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

wept. See note on Gen 42:24.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 50
And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and he wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are the days which they take to embalm them: and the Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days ( Gen 50:1-3 ).
Now embalming processes took forty days and the period of mourning in Egypt for a great person was seventy days. And so it fulfilled the traditional things.
Now it would be interesting if you could find the cave of Machpelah because though you wouldn’t find any remains of Abraham and Isaac and their wives, you should find a coffin and the mummified body of Jacob still existing there. And so it would be interesting if you could come across the cave of Machpelah and go down in and see the mummy Jacob because of the embalming of Egypt. He would be preserved like King Tut and some of the others who were embalmed by the Egyptian arts of embalming. Also Joseph was embalmed. So you ought to be able to find Joseph, too. That is, if you’re interested in looking for mummies. One thing you’ll never find, that’s the body of Jesus.
And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I’m going to die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury your father, according as he has made you to swear ( Gen 50:4-6 ).
Now though he was buried in a cave and they didn’t need to dig the grave that way, yet in these caves they dug niches in the walls and they would lay the bodies in these niches in the wall.
If you’ve been to the catacombs in Rome, you’ve seen it there, the niches in the walls that they have dug out for the bodies. And the same is true in Israel; there are caves right up at the top of the Mount of Olives just below the Intercontinental Hotel. There is an interesting burial cave there and all of these niches in the wall of the cave that they dug out for the various people, who in times past were buried in them.
And so he had dug out his own niche and so that’s where he means “in the grave, which I dug”. He had dug out his niche in this cave when he dug out Leah’s niche. He probably no doubt dug out his own niche to be buried by her in the cave.
And so Joseph is now asking the Pharaoh for permission. And of course, they at this time have become an important part of the whole Egyptian prosperity and the Egyptians probably did not want them to leave at this point. And so to ensure the fact that they aren’t just migrating back now to Canaan, he’s asking permission to go and to bury his father but with the assurance that we will come back again to the land. “And I will come again”, he declares, in verse five. And Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, according as he made you to swear.”
And Joseph went to bury his father: and with him the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all of the elders of the land of Egypt, And all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen ( Gen 50:7-8 ).
So they didn’t take the children but the adults all went. Of course, leaving their children and the herds was one of the greatest guarantees that they’re not immigrating back but they’re just going for the burial. Now a great multitude went.
There went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a great company of people. And so they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and ( Gen 50:9-10 )
As they came up, they actually came up on the eastern side crossing above the Red Sea coming up on the eastern side of the Dead Sea into the area about where Joshua crossed in the area of Jericho. And from Jericho coming up the pass towards Jerusalem veering to the left, coming up through the area of Bethlehem across through the valley of Eshcol and to Hebron where the cave existed.
So they came up on the east bank of the Jordan because there are more fresh water supplies on the east bank. Coming up the West Bank of the Dead Sea, it would have been a long, hard journey without water because there are very few water tributaries coming into the Dead Sea from the west side. But there are some good streams and springs on the east side of the Dead Sea. So that’s why they made their journey up that way, then crossed the Jordan river on the north side of the Dead Sea and then on up. As I said, that valley towards Jerusalem, cutting across to Bethlehem and down through the valley of Eshcol to Hebron where Jacob was to be buried.
But they stopped for a little celebration on the east side of the Jordan River and,
there they mourned with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father for seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan ( Gen 50:10-11 ).
And so they, of course, didn’t know probably that it was actually Jacob that his sons Joseph, they just figured they were all Egyptians.
And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: for the sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father ( Gen 50:12-14 ).
Now this was Jacob’s desire and it was probably a desire; it did express faith, the faith of Jacob that this is the land God has given us up here. And so by faith Jacob made mention of his bones before he died asking them to bury him back in the land. It was a mark of faith. But really it was putting upon the family certainly an unnecessary burden. To carry that body all the way from Egypt clear on up to Hebron to bury it there, what an unnecessary strain and burden he’s putting upon the family. But there was a special purpose for it and so it was an expression of faith. This is the land that God has promised. This is the land where I want to be buried.
But let me tell you something. God hasn’t promised me any land and I don’t care where they bury me because I think that we make much too much fuss over the old house. Once the spirit has departed, all it is is an empty shell. It’s the tent in which the person used to dwell. But they now have a “building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” ( 2Co 5:1 ). And I think that we make much too much fuss over the old tent.
Sure we sorrow. And there’s nothing wrong with sorrow. Surely we grieve and that’s only natural. We’re going to miss them. We can’t help but miss them. There’s nothing sinful or wrong with sorrowing or grieving because a loved one has been taken from us. But to make a big fuss over the body, to get all upset because the casket, you know, just isn’t what you wanted or the florist just didn’t fix the flowers right, and you know to have a big old thing, such a shame.
My wife said to me the other day, “What do you want me to do with you if you should go before I do?” I said, “I really don’t care. Cremate me if you want and scatter my ashes in a big surf.” You know it really doesn’t matter. Once I leave this old tent, it really doesn’t make any difference. You say, “Oh, but cremation. Can Christians be cremated?” I look upon cremation as just a speeding up of nature’s process. Cremation will do in thirty-seven minutes what nature will do in thirty-seven years. I see no problem with it spiritually. In time if there were going to be time, the body is just going to go back to the dust again, the tent.
But the tent is me. It has never been me. It has only been the place where I have been living. Now we learn to relate people to the body and that is rightfully so. But once the person’s spirit leaves the body, we shouldn’t relate them to that body anymore. “Behold, I show you a mystery though; We’re not going to all sleep, we’re all going to be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye” ( 1Co 15:51 , 1Co 15:52 ). I’m looking forward to that.
Now when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, Aha, Joseph will now hate us, and he’ll certainly require from us all of the evil which we did him ( Gen 50:15 ).
He’s going to get even now. He’s going to requite us all of that evil.
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Your father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say to 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 Joseph wept when they spoke unto him ( Gen 50:16-17 ).
They sent messengers to Joseph saying, Your dad Jacob before he died said, “Hey, treat your brothers all right, will you?” And the brothers came in and said, “You know, hey, we’re the servants of your father’s God. Please, you know, forgive us the things that we’ve done.” And Joseph wept before them.
And his brothers also went and they fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we’ll become your slaves. And Joseph said unto them, Don’t be afraid: for am I in the place of God ( Gen 50:18-19 )?
Now this is a very illuminating phrase because it shows that Joseph has a right estimate of things. That is, that judgment belongs to God. Am I in the place of God? Am I in the place of bringing retribution? Am I in the place of bringing judgment? Am I in the place of bringing vengeance upon you? God said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” ( Rom 12:19 ).
Therefore, it is not up to me to bring judgment or vengeance upon a person who I feel has wronged me. That’s God’s place. It isn’t my place at all. And Joseph recognizing it as God’s place then had the right attitude towards his brothers in this whole thing. Am I in the place of God? That shows us actually the secret behind his attitude is his commitment to God, and that area to God. And we also need to commit to God that area of judgment.
There are people that will say horrible things against you if you do anything. If you don’t do anything, no one’s going to say anything. But if you dare to do anything for the Lord, you’re going to get your critics. Now you can waste your time going around trying to answer all your critics or you can just go on doing the work of the Lord and let the Lord take care of the critics that rise. And if you have the right perspective, you’ll just leave that in the hands of the Lord. You’ll not try to defend yourself or whatever. But, you know I think it’s one of Satan’s tricks really to get us off of the real work of God and into the area of Apologetics and Defense, get us fighting.
Fighting communism. Fighting liberalism. Fighting, you know, so many different things. And we’re no longer really proclaiming the power of God and the love of God and the work of God, but we’re fighting now all of these, you know, entities that are out there, fighting the devil. I think that it’s a trap that it’s easy to fall into.
But as for you, [Joseph said] you thought evil against me; but God intended it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, the salvation of many people alive ( Gen 50:20 ).
Now your intentions were evil. You were wrong. Your motives were wrong, but even behind it God was working. The Bible says that God uses “the wrath of man to praise His name” ( Psa 76:10 ). It is interesting to me how so many times God turns the tables on the devil. He’ll prepare a trap for the children of God and God will just turn the tables on him.
Now here the brothers of Joseph, their intentions were evil, no getting around that, but behind it God was working for good. And this is true all the way through life for “no weapon that is formed against you will prosper. This is the heritage of the children of the LORD” ( Isa 54:17 ). Though man may intend to evil and to hurt you and all, God is able to turn it around and to bring good from it. We need to have that kind of confidence in God that “all things are working together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” ( Rom 8:28 ). And even though a person might maliciously seek to malign you and hurt you, God can turn it for good. You meant it for evil but God has intended it for good, for the salvation of many people.
Now therefore don’t be afraid: for I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years ( Gen 50:21-22 ).
So another fifty-four years after his father’s death.
And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation: and the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees ( Gen 50:23 ).
So he was a great grandpa and brought up his grandkids on his knees, bounced them around and had the joy of seeing not only his grandchildren, but his great grandchildren. And I don’t know, grandkids are great and I suppose great grandkids are just that much more. So he had the joy of bouncing his great grandkids on his knees.
And Joseph said unto his brethren ( Gen 50:24 ),
And that it would indicate that some of his brothers were still alive perhaps at the time that he was going to die.
I’m going to die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he swear to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of his children of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and shall and ye shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a casket in Egypt ( Gen 50:24-26 ).
Now Joseph didn’t put them to all the trouble of carrying his bones back immediately, the body back immediately, but he at least-when you leave here and you go. And so some three hundred years later when they left, they took this casket of Joseph and the children of Israel carried it out of the land of Egypt and they brought it into the land and buried him in the land of promise. So Joseph again expressing that same faith of Jacob. This isn’t my land. I’m a stranger and a pilgrim here. I want to be buried in the land that God has promised unto us.
And so the Jews’ love for the land isn’t something that has arisen lately. It isn’t something that has risen because of the persecution in Germany or the persecution in Russia or elsewhere. That love for the land has been something that has been planted in them from the beginning. Even before they possessed the land, that love for the land was there in their hearts. And Joseph said, “Hey, keep me here for awhile but when you leave, take me with you. I want to be buried in the land that God has promised unto our fathers. And surely God will visit and bring you out.”
Now as I said, if they had been reading the Scriptures, they would have known that their time in Egypt would be quite awhile. Four hundred years they were to sojourn in Egypt, but yet the faith and confidence that one day God is going to bring them out, bring them into the land. “When He does, take me with you.” And so again, beautiful faith in the promises of God.
So now we jump a period of some three hundred years as we leave now Joseph and as we begin next week the book of Exodus. We are leaving three hundred years unaccounted for in their history because the next important event of their history is their coming out of the land of Egypt. And now under new leadership a man named Moses who was of the tribe of Levi; cruel, short-tempered, hot tempered Levi. And yet of Moses it is said, “Of all of the men upon the earth he’s probably the meekest”. So surely he did not have the characteristics of Levi, except in the beginning.
You see, he had forty years to learn meekness. In the beginning he did display that hot temper of Levi. That’s what got him into trouble. He was out and he saw the Egyptian mistreating one of the Israelites and he killed him. There’s Levi again. But by the time God was through with him after his forty years out in the backside of the wilderness, there was a real change wrought in Moses and he became one of the meekest men who ever lived.
The changes that God is able to make in a human personality are really glorious. Taking a person from a fiery hot-tempered, no control, to a meek, quiet kind of a spirit, the work of God in Moses’ life.
So we get into Exodus next week, the first five chapters. Shall we stand?
May the Lord be with you and bless you. May His hand be upon your life this week and may God work in your life in the changing of your nature. With open face may you behold the glory of the Lord. And as you gaze into His glory, may His Spirit work in you, changing you from glory to glory into His image. That God might conform you into the image of Christ that you might become the person that God wants you to be.
Not governed by your own will but governed by the Spirit of God. Reacting and responding not after the flesh but after the Spirit that your life might be a testimony in your home, in the office, at your place of work, wherever you are, as that nature and character of Christ is revealed in you. And thus may men be drawn unto our Lord and may your life be used as a witness for God’s glory. In Jesus’ name “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Here we have a strange and wonderful sight. Jacob was buried with Egyptian pomp, yet in the land of promise. Thus, at last, after a career checkered from the beginning, Jacob entered into his rest. The study of his life reveals little to his own credit, but much to the strength of the grace of God. Nevertheless the activity of that principle of faith which is ever the basis of divine operation was revealed throughout. Well for us if from the story we learn to avoid his mistakes.
Jacob being dead and buried, Joseph’s brethren were afraid. How little they knew their brother’s heart. Again, with splendid magnanimity, he triumphed over their fear when he said to them, ‘Ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” It is always the prerogative of one whose life is lived in close relationship with God to be magnanimous toward those who, while attempting to harm him, do, nevertheless, carry out the divine intention of blessing.
At length, Joseph came to his last hour, declaring his confidence that his people would ultimately return to the God-appointed land, and charging them that in the day of their going they should take his bones with them.
Thus ends the Book of Genesis. It is a story of beginnings and not of completions. That which commenced with the majestic phrase, “In the beginning God,” ends with the equally suggestive phrase, “a coffin in Egypt.” Genesis demands a way out of Egypt for that coffin or else the faith of the man whose bones rest therein was of no effect. The name of the next Book is in itself an answer-Exodus.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Jacobs Last Directions and Death
Gen 49:28-33; Gen 50:1-3
Jacob gave a final charge as to his burial in Machpelah-that his dust at least should be there to welcome his children and childrens children, when they came thither in due course, as God had promised. Then the weary pilgrim gathered up those tired feet, which had paced out their last mile, into the bed, and gave up his spirit to God. When we are told that he was gathered to his people it must mean more than that his dust mingled with their dust in the place of burial. There are great gatherings of loving friends awaiting us on the other side. See Heb 11:40. At the ladder-scene in Bethel, God had told him that He would not leave him till He had done what He promised, and surely not one good thing had failed. Life may be hard and sad, but God will end it rightly. Be of good cheer and trust!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Gen 50:25
This is the one act of Joseph’s life which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith. It was at once a proof of how entirely he believed God’s promise, and of how earnestly he longed for its fulfilment. It was a sign of how little he felt himself at home in Egypt, though to outward appearance he had become completely one of its people. The ancestral spirit was in him true and strong, though he was “separate from his brethren.” This incident, with the New Testament commentary on it, leads us to a truth which we often lose sight of.
I. Faith is always the same, though knowledge varies. There is a vast difference between a man’s creed and a man’s faith. The one may vary-does vary within very wide limits; the other remains the same. What makes a Christian is not theology in the head, but faith and love in the heart. The dry light of the understanding is of no use to anybody. Our creed must be turned into a faith before it has power to bless and save.
II. Faith has its noblest office in detaching from the present. All his life long, from the day of his captivity, Joseph was an Egyptian in outward seeming. He filled his place at Pharaoh’s court; but his dying words open a window into his soul, and betray how little he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in which he had been content to live. He too confessed that here he had no continuing city, but sought one to come. Dying, he said, “Carry my bones up from hence.” Living, the hope of the inheritance must have burned in his heart as a hidden light, and made him an alien everywhere but upon its blessed soil. Faith will produce just such effects. Does anything but Christian faith engage the heart to love and all the longing wishes to set towards the things that are unseen and eternal? Whatever makes a man live in the past and in the future raises him; but high above all others stand those to whom the past is an apocalypse of God, with Calvary for its centre, and all the future is fellowship with Christ and joy in the heavens.
III. Faith makes men energetic in the duties of the present. Joseph was a true Hebrew all his days; but that did not make him run away from Pharaoh’s service. He lived by hope, and that made him the better worker in the passing moment. True Christian faith teaches us that this is the workshop where God makes men, and the next the palace where He shows them. The end makes the means important. This is the secret of doing with our might whatsoever our hand finds to do-to trust Christ, to live with Him and by the hope of the inheritance.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, p. 130.
Reference: Gen 50:26.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 370.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 50 The Burial of Jacob and Josephs Return and Death
1. The grief of Joseph (Gen 50:1-3)
2. The burial (Gen 50:4-13)
3. The return to Egypt (Gen 50:14-23)
4. The death of Joseph (Gen 50:24-26)
This great book which begins with the perfect and good creation of God ends with a burial and the last words are a coffin in Egypt. What havoc sin has wrought. Jacob died 147 years old and after his body was embalmed was carried to Canaan. Read in connection with Josephs death Exo 13:19, Jos 24:32 and Heb 11:22.
Genesis and Geology
Genesis is a revelation from God; geology is a discovery of man. A revelation from God can be augmented by God only; a discovery by man may be improved, matured, advanced, ripened progressively, till the end of the world. We therefore assume that Genesis is perfect and beyond the possibility of contradiction or improvement by us; and we equally assume that geology, because the discovery of man, and the subject of the investigation of man, may be improved by greater experience and more profound acquaintance with those phenomena which lie concealed in the bosom of the earth, waiting for man to evoke, explain, and arrange them. I am sure, therefore, that Genesis, as Gods Word, is beyond the reach of the blow of the geologists hammer; or the detection of a single flaw by microscope or telescope; it will stand the crucible of the chemist; and the severer the ordeal to which it is subjected, the more pure, resplendent, and beautiful it will emerge, indicating its origin to be from above, and its issue to be the glory of God, and the supreme happiness of mankind. Geology has before now retraced its steps; Genesis never. Before now it has been discovered, that what were thought to be facts incontrovertible were fallacies. It is found that phenomena described and discussed as true, were mistakes and misapprehensions, which maturer investigations have disposed of, and therefore I am not speaking dogmatically and without reason, when I say, that while Genesis must be true, geology–having already erred, may err again, and some of its very loudest assertions, made rashly by those who have least acquaintance with its data–may yet be proved to be wrong. But certain facts in it are now beyond all dispute. Let geology and Genesis be alleged to clash, and the discovery from the depths of the earth contradict the text from the page of the Bible; in such a case, I would submit first these questions: Are you sure that there is a real contradiction between the fact of geology and the text of the Bible, or is it only a contradiction between the fact discovered by science, and the interpretation that you put upon the text of the Bible? In the next place, if there be in any instance contradiction between a clear text of the Bible and a supposed fact or discovery made by the geologist, my inference, and without hesitation, is, that the geologist must have made a mistake, that Moses has made none; and there fore the advice we give to the geologist is, not to say, Gods work beneath contradicts Gods Word without, but just to go back again, read more carefully the stony page, excavate more laboriously in the subterranean chambers of the earth, and a maturer acquaintance with the facts of science may yet elicit the desirable result, that there is harmony where we thought discord, and perfect agreement where to us there seemed only discrepancy and conflict. We have instances of the possibility of some deductions of science being wrong in other departments of it. Astronomy was once quoted as contradicting the express declarations of the Word of God; maturer acquaintance with it has proved its perfect coincidence. Again, the hieroglyphics on the banks of the Nile, as deciphered by Young and Champollion, were instanced to prove a far greater age of the human race than that declared in the Bible; but subsequent investigation showed that the hieroglyphics were wrongly interpreted, not that Gods Word was untrue. The traditions of the Chinese were viewed as upsetting the records of the Mosaic history, but subsequent investigation has proved that those were wrong, and that Gods Word is true.
The Bible, whether we take it in Genesis or in the Gospels, contains no error; it has not a single scientific error in it. Yet it was not designed to teach science; but wherever it touches the province of science, it touches so delicately that we can see the main object is to teach men how to be saved, while its slight intimations of scientific principles or natural phenomena have in every instance been demonstrated to be exactly and strictly true. If the Bible said in any part of it, as the ancient philosopher alleged, that there were two suns, one for the upper hemisphere, and the other for the lower, then science would prove that Scripture was wrong; or if the Scripture said, as the Hindus believe, that the earth is a vast plain, with concentric seas of milk, honey, and sugar, supported by an elephant, and that the earthquakes and convulsions of the globe are the movements of that elephant as he bears it on his back, then science would have proved that to be absurd; and if Scripture has asserted it, such assertion would be demonstrably untrue. But the striking fact is that you find no such assertion, nor anything approaching such assertions in the Bible. How comes it to pass, then, that Moses has spoken so purely and truly on science where he does speak, and has been silent where there was such a provocative to speak-his very silence being as significant as his utterance? How happens it that Moses, with no greater education than the Hindu, or the ancient philosopher, has written his book, touching science at a thousand points so accurately, that scientific research has discovered no flaws in it; and has spoken on subjects the most delicate, the most difficult, the most involved; and yet in those investigations which have taken place in more recent centuries, it has not been shown that he has committed one single error, or made one solitary assertion which can be proved by maturest science or the most eagle-eyed philosopher to be incorrect scientifically or historically? The answer is, that Moses wrote by the inspiration of God, and therefore what he writes are the words of faithfulness and of truth. (Cumings.)
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

fell: Gen 46:4, Deu 6:7, Deu 6:8, Eph 6:4
wept: Gen 23:2, 2Ki 13:14, Mar 5:38, Mar 5:39, Joh 11:35-38, Act 8:2, 1Th 4:13
Reciprocal: Gen 46:19 – Joseph
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

All the sons of Jacob appear to have been present at his deathbed, according to the first verse of Gen 49:1-33, yet no mention is made of them in the closing scenes. Joseph alone remains before us as we open Gen 50:1-26, and again we see him as a man of deep affection, moved to tears. These patriarchs died in faith, as we are told in Heb 11:1-40, yet their faith did not lessen the love proper to natural relationships, nor does it do so for us today. The breaking of the link is a very real sorrow.
Being in Egypt, the burial customs of that land were observed up to a certain point, but Jacob’s body was not to lie embalmed in an Egyptian tomb. By Jacob’s desire, as well as Joseph’s, it was to lie in the land of promise. The promise of God was a reality to their faith, since “Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for” (Heb 11:1, New Trans.). The things hoped for are real, and faith substantiates them, or, makes them real, to us.
Jacob’s funeral bore witness to the extraordinary position of power and influence to which Joseph had attained. Pharaoh’s permission was readily given. All Jacob’s sons were associated with Joseph in it, and also many important personages of Egypt. It was recognized in Canaan as a great mourning of the Egyptians. Nevertheless his body was laid in the grave that witnessed to the fact that these men of faith were still strangers and pilgrims.
Back in Egypt, one last test confronted Joseph. His brethren sent him a message which revealed that they had never quite trusted his magnanimous attitude towards them. They felt it was too good to be really true, and suspected that it was a kindness assumed for the sake of his old father, Jacob. If that had been so, now was the time for the true Joseph to reveal himself in paying off the old score. Their message revealed that they did not altogether trust him.
Their message was very diplomatic. They invoked the memory of their dead father to shelter themselves. They acknowledged their trespass of many years before, which was good, and they professed themselves to be the servants of the God of Jacob. But still they revealed all too clearly that they regarded all his former goodness as not expressive of his real self.
This was a sorrowful stab to the heart of Joseph, and for the seventh and last time we read that he wept. This last test reveals him to us in a peculiarly excellent light. Any ordinary man might have been annoyed and antagonized by such a spirit of distrust, but Joseph’s reaction was very different. He was moved to tears, expressive of wounded love, but his attitude toward them remained just as it had been, for it was the expression of his genuine nature.
In this again he is a striking type of the Lord Jesus. How many times have we, who have received of His eternal bounty, displayed either in word or deed, or in both, that we do not trust Him unreservedly; but His attitude toward us never alters, His love never wanes, His care never abates. Many years ago a servant of the Lord quoted the lines of the hymn,
“They, that trust Him wholly,
Find Him wholly true,”and then surprised everybody by adding, “But I know something more wonderful than that.” All had, however, to acknowledge that he spoke truly when he added, “It is more wonderful still that they, who do not trust Him wholly, still find Him wholly true!” This is illustrated here. Joseph’s brethren did by no means trust him wholly, yet they found him wholly true to that which was his real nature and character.
Having wept, Joseph replied and his words show afresh how consistently God was before him. He was not in the place of God, and therefore not free to act without reference to Him. God had acted in the whole matter, and meant it unto good. That being God’s intention, he would not for a moment swerve from it. His acts toward them would also be consistently for their good. His exaltation in Egypt was such that they were indeed his servants, as they confessed, but he would use his power for their nourishment and protection. He comforted them by kindly speech.
Verse Gen 50:20 is a fine summing up of the whole story. They had committed a grievous wrong but God had overruled it for salvation. This at once directs our thoughts to the Lord Jesus Christ. The evil thought, which was wrought out against Joseph by his brethren, was as nothing compared with that perpetrated by the Jews when they rejected and crucified their Messiah. God permitted it because He meant it unto good in the accomplishment of an eternal redemption; for the laying of the foundation, whereon rests securely the superstructure of blessing, in a new creation according to His eternal purpose. Thus has God made the wrath of man to praise Him.
Joseph, as we have said, saw God in the whole matter, and it preserved him from pettiness and an unbecoming spirit. With this beautiful episode the story concerning him comes to its end. He lived to be 110 years old, and may have done many other notable things before his death, but as a type of Christ his history is completed as far as Scripture is concerned, save that we are permitted to know that he too died in faith, and in expectancy that a day would come when God would redeem His promise as to the land, and the Exodus would take place. It is this closing episode that is seized upon in Heb 11:1-40, to establish that he was a man of faith.
One cannot close the book of Genesis without being struck by the last four words. It opens with a couple created in innocence and placed in a garden of delights. It closes with a coffin in Egypt, and in that cofffin a dead man, in spite of the fact that he was an eminent saint. Sin had come in, and death by sin.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Joseph’s Final Days
Joseph had experienced Egyptians embalm Jacob’s body, which took forty days. For seventy days, the Egyptians mourned Jacob’s death. Joseph asked Pharaoh to allow him to take his father’s body back to their burial place in Canaan. Permission having been granted, Joseph went, with Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of Joseph’s house and elders from the land of Egypt, to bury his father. Seven more days of mourning were fulfilled in Canaan. Then, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt.
The brothers feared Joseph would now seek revenge on them. However, he reassured them that God was working in their actions to save them all. He told them, “Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.”
Joseph lived to be one hundred ten years old. Before his death, he made his family promise not to bury him in Egypt. Instead, he said, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” When he died, the Egyptians embalmed his body and it remained in a coffin in Egypt awaiting the day of the exodus ( Gen 50:1-26 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Gen 50:1. Joseph fell upon his fathers face Having first, no doubt, closed his eyes, according as God had promised that he should; and wept upon him, and kissed His pale and cold lips, thus manifesting his love to and his sorrow for the loss of him. Probably the rest of Jacobs sons did the same, much moved, no doubt, with his dying words.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Gen 50:2. The physicians embalmed Israel. The Egyptians in early times built pyramids to contain their dead, and they preserved them from putrefaction by balsomic paste. This was performed by physicians, and in the most curious manner. They took out the brain, the viscera, and laid open the principal muscles of the limbs, inlaid the whole with this paste, and then so bandaged the corpse, that it would be durable as the mausoleum where it reposed.
Gen 50:3. The Egyptians mourned. This shows, at least, how much Joseph was beloved by that nation. And where did there ever exist a minister of state who retained like him his honours for eighty years? But Jacobs great age and descent would entitle him to very much veneration.
Gen 50:10. Mourned with a sore lamentation. The Irish still keep up the funeral cries. Women are hired for that purpose, who raise a piercing yell in the streets, about every forty or fifty paces, as the procession slowly moves. In the South-seas, men are very extravagant in their cries, and wounding their bodies; and some will even run a spear through the muscles of their arm when a prince dies. In Babylon, and still in the interior of Africa, servants are murdered the moment the shrieks of death are heard. If it be a princess, the women fly for their lives while the guards pursue, and strike off their heads, that their spirits may still attend their lady.
Gen 50:23. Joseph saw Ephraims children of the third generation. Ephraim was born when Joseph was about thirty six years of age. From his living to see the third generation we may justly conclude, that they then began to marry at about the age of twenty five, or before that time. The patriarch Jacob, and his twelve patriarchal sons, lived to see the dawn of the promise, that their seed should be as the stars of heaven.
Gen 50:25. Carry up my bones. Joseph believed in the promised Seed; in the coming and kingdom of the Messiah. Therefore he wished his bones to lie with his holy sires, that he might rise with them in the resurrection. This hope was so strongly enrooted in his heart, as to form the cheering theme of conversation when dying, nor could he be satisfied without an oath that his brethren would perform his last request. Princely honours could not naturalize this stranger to the land of Egypt.
Gen 50:26. A coffin. The Hebrews buried their dead, as did the Egyptians. Among some nations, cremation, or burning the dead, was probably introduced because God had accepted the sacrifices of men on special occasions, by fire from heaven; and therefore the body was offered by fire, as the final oblation; and the ashes put into an urn. Many such urns have been found in our English barrows. The Americans used to lay the body on the ground, and raise a heap of stones around it. At Kennet, near Marlborough, there are very large stones, [greyweathers] which have been dug out of barrows. These honours, whether splendid or humble, alike indicate a belief in the life to come.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter and book close with an account of the death of the best of fathers and the kindest of brothers. And though we may rejoice at the felicity of venerable and holy men after death; yet we cannot but lament the parting, in several views. We have lost their friendship and society, we have lost their counsel, and the salutary effects of their example. But let them still live in our recollection, that we may avoid their errors, and imitate their virtues.
From the obedience of Joseph to Jacobs commands, and the princely grandeur with which he interred his sire, we learn, that respect is due to the bodies of men. They have, while alive, been washed in some sort from sin, and made the temples of God; and they shall be honoured with a glorious resurrection. Hence they are entitled to be interred with decency, and with such devotion as may instruct the living.
But did the guilt of Josephs brethren trouble them with fears after their fathers death; and even thirty years after they had sold their brother? Ah, sin! The remembrance thereof is grievous to the soul. Did they send an embassy to him, with their fathers commands, urging him to forgive them anew? Just so, weak and dejected souls may sometimes fear, that God will still punish their former sins, though they have had many marks of acceptance, and tokens of his forgiving love. Go then, timorous souls, go anew to your Joseph in the heavens; he will still weep at your fears, and assure you anew of his favour. Often when we are perplexed with doubts and fears, in the dark and cloudy day, the Holy Spirit breaks forth suddenly with beams of heavenly love, to chase all gloom and dejection from the mind. We may farther add, that it is no small comfort to timorous and dejected believers to see how good men have died. Jacob after a long pastoral life died remarkably triumphant; and Joseph, a courtier, well prepared first by adversity, died happy too, giving commandment that his bones should not remain in Egypt. What can be more encouraging than to study the lives of these patriarchs, and see how often they were delivered from troubles, how incessantly providence interested itself for their safety, how their iniquities were all forgiven, and how gloriously they retired from a life of tears and toils? Let us, in like manner, keep our eye on the appearing of Christ, and on the heavenly Canaan; and we shall be pardoned by the same grace, and saved by the same arm, till we come to the spirits of just men made perfect, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Genesis 37 – 50
On which we shall dwell more particularly. There is not in scripture a more perfect and beautiful type of Christ than Joseph. Whether we view Christ as the object of the Father’s love, the object of the envy of His own, – in His humiliation, sufferings, death exaltation, and glory, in all we have Him strikingly typified by Joseph.
In Gen. 37 we have Joseph’s dreams, the statement of which draws out the enmity of his brethren. He was the object of his father’s love, and the subject of very high destinies, and inasmuch as the hearts of his brothers were not in communion with these things, they hated him. They had no fellowship in the father’s love. They would not yield to the thought of Joseph’s exaltation. In all this they represent the Jews in Christ’s day. He came to His own and his own received him not.” He had “no form nor comeliness in their eyes.” They would neither own Him as the Son of God, nor king of Israel. Their eyes were not open to behold “his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of “grace and truth.” They would not have Him; yea, they hated Him.
Now, in Joseph’s case, we see that he, in no wise, relaxed his testimony in consequence of his brethren’s refusal of his first dream. “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren;” and they hated him yet the more….And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren.” This was simple testimony founded upon divine revelation; but it was testimony which brought Joseph down to the pit. Had he kept back his testimony, or taken off ought of its edge and power, he might have spared himself; but no; he told them the truth, and therefore they hated him.
Thus was it with Joseph’s great Antitype. He bore witness to the truth – He witnessed a good confession He kept back nothing – He could only speak the truth because He was the truth, and His testimony to the truth was answered, on man’s part, by the cross, the vinegar, the soldier’s spear. The testimony of Christ, too, was connected with the deepest, fullest, richest grace. He not only came as “the truth,” but also as the perfect expression of all the love of the Father’s heart:” grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” He was the full disclosure to man of what God was. Hence man was left entirely without excuse. He came and showed God to man, and man hated God with a perfect hatred. The fullest exhibition of divine love was answered by the fullest exhibition of human hatred. This is seen in the cross; and we have it touchingly foreshadowed at the pit into which Joseph was cast by his brethren.
“And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh; come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit; and we will say, some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” These words forcibly remind us of the parable in Matthew 22. “But, last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” God sent His Son into the world with this thought, “They will reverence my son;” but, alas! man’s heart had no reverence for the “well beloved” of the Father. They cast him out. Earth and heaven were at issue in reference to Christ; and they are at issue still. Man crucified Him; but God raised Him from the dead. Man placed Him on a cross between two thieves; God set Him at His own right hand in the heavens. Man gave Him the very lowest place on earth; God gave Him the very highest place in heaven, in brightest majesty.
ALL this is shown out in Joseph’s history. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel;) even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breast and of the womb; the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Gen. 49: 22-26)
These verses beautifully exhibit to our view “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” “The archers” have done their work; but God was stronger than they. The true Joseph has been shot at and grievously wounded in the house of his friends; but “the arms of his hands have been made strong” in the power of resurrection, and faith now knows Him as the basis of all God’s purposes of blessing and glory in reference to the Church, Israel, and the whole creation. When we look at Joseph in the pit, and in the prison, and look; at him afterwards as ruler over all the land of Egypt, we see the difference between the thoughts of God and the. thoughts of men; and so when we look at the cross, and at “the throne of the majesty in the heavens,” we see the same thing.
Nothing ever brought out the real state of man’s heart toward God but the coming of Christ. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.” (John 15: 22) It is not that they would not have been sinners. No; but “they had not had sin.” So He says, in another place, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.” (John 9: 41) God came near to man in the Person of His Son, and man was able to say, “this is the heir;” but yet he said, “come, let us kill him.” Hence, “they have no cloak for their sin.” Those who say they see, have no excuse. confessed blindness is not at all the difficulty, but professed sight. This is a truly solemn principle for a professing age like the present. The permanence of sin is connected with the mere profession to see. A man who is blind, and knows it, can have his eyes opened; but what can be done for one who thinks he sees, when he really does not?
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Gen 49:28 b Gen 50:13. Death and Burial of Jacob.
Gen 49:28 b Gen 49:33, Gen 50:12 f. are in the main from P; Gen 50:1-11 in the main from J. The dying charge requires no comment. The body is embalmed simply because burial could not be immediate; the motive for the Egyptian practice was that the body might be preserved for the ka or double to reanimate it. Joseph does not make his request for leave of absence direct to Pharaoh, possibly because as a mourner, he was unclean, hardly because absence might seem to veil some traitorous design, though Joseph explicitly promises to return (Gen 49:5). To do his father honour, an immense company of Egyptians of high rank accompanies the body. The way to Machpelah did not pass E. of the Jordan, so that if the text of Gen 49:10 f. is right, it is possible that in one tradition the tomb was located on the E. of Jordan. Abel-mizraim means meadow (not mourning) of Egypt. The actual account of the burial is not preserved in J or E.
Gen 50:14-26. Joseph Reassures his Brothers. Josephs Death.
Gen 49:14 belongs to J, Gen 49:15-26 to E. The request for pardon put in Jacobs mouth (Gen 49:17) is not elsewhere recorded. Gen 49:20 f. suggests that the famine was over. According to P Jacob was in Egypt seventeen years (Gen 47:28), in Gen 45:11 we learn that the famine lasted five years after his arrival. Joseph survives to see the great-grandchildren of his younger son, but the VSS read grandchildren. Machir was a powerful Manassite clan; his children are adopted by Joseph. The length of Josephs life, 110 years, was regarded in Egypt as ideal. Convinced that the Israelites will go back to Canaan, he extracts an oath from them to take his bones with them, that he may participate in the return and rest in the promised land. So he, too, was embalmed and the body placed in a mummy case. The fulfilment of the pledge is recorded in Exo 13:19, Jos 24:32.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

JACOB’S BURIAL
(vs.1-14)
The sorrow of Joseph over his father’s death is seen in verse 1. It is an interesting study to consider the times in which Joseph is recorded as weeping. In contrast to burial, as in other countries, Joseph gives orders to the physicians to embalm his father. This required forty days, and he was mourned for 70 days (v.3). Much later than this, Egyptian history records that 30 days were required for embalming and 72 days of mourning were held for a king, which are not significant changes, but the implication is evident that someone did not invent this story later in history, for he would have given the figures he was acquainted with.
Joseph then gained a favorable response from Pharoah as to burying his father’s body in Canaan, as he had sworn to Jacob (vs.4-6). this called for a tremendous sized funeral procession all the way from Egypt to Canaan, including all the elders of the house of Pharoah and the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as Joseph’s brothers and families except for their little ones (vs.7-8). Not only this, but chariots and horsemen accompanied them (v.9). There was nothing like this at the funerals of Abraham or Isaac, but here God is showing to us the sovereignty of His great power and grace in producing sympathy among the Gentiles for His people Israel. Though Israel’s immediate father dies, his descendants remain, God giving them favor among the Gentiles.
Coming to the threshing floor of Atad, the company mourned deeply for seven days (v.10). On the threshing floor the chaff is separated from the grain. It speaks of blessing resulting from suffering, a picture of the nation Israel being eventually blessed through the tribulation (the threshing).
The Canaanites inhabiting the land were so impressed by this sight that they names the place Abel-mizraim, meaning. “the mourning of the Egyptians” (v.11). Because Joseph had saved Egypt, the Egyptians recognized that salvation came from Israel (Joh 4:22), and therefore Gentiles have every reason to show deep respect for Israel. We today (Christians) must never forget that our Saviour came from Israel.
The Sons of Jacob then buried him in the place he had designated (v.13), which we have seen implies Jacob’s faith in a God of resurrection. Then Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt.
JOSEPH’S CHARACTER REMAINS CONSTANT
When their father had died, the brothers of Joseph were fearful that Joseph’s attitude toward them would change to one of hostility in recalling the way they had treated him (v.15). But it was not his father’s mediatorship that caused Joseph to show kindness to them for their ill treatment. It was rather his relationship to God that moved him. He had shown the kindness of God to them, just as the Lord Jesus, in a higher way, has manifested the love and grace of God to sinners who had rebelled against Him. More than that, Joseph’s words to them had only been good (ch.45:4-8). Could they not simply trust his word? Sometime those who have trusted the Lord Jesus have lingering fears as to whether they might yet possibly be lost. Why is this? Because they do not take simply at face value the truth of His word, such as Joh 5:24.
The brothers send a message to Joseph telling him that their father had told them to request Joseph that he would forgive the trespass and sin of his brothers. Joseph was so deeply moved by this that he wept (v.17). Why? Because he was saddened to think that his brothers were doubting his faithfulness. How much more is the Lord Jesus saddened by our doubts of the fulness of His forgiveness! But the brothers even humble themselves to the point of coming to bow down to Joseph and tell Him they are his slaves (v.18).
Joseph’s reply is beautiful: “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?” (v.19). Joseph would not think of judging his own case, for only God is Judge. Also, in spite of his exaltation in Egypt, he faithfully maintained his relationship as brother to all Jacob’s sons. He did not excuse their evil thoughts against him (V.20), but insisted that God had used their evil to produce great good in saving many people from death. So also, the Jewish leaders in Israel meant only to do harm to the Lord Jesus in crucifying Him, but they actually fulfilled God’s great counsels of love toward mankind in the accomplishing of a perfect redemption. Many have been saved by this from eternal destruction, though others, sadly, have maintained cold hatred against the Lord, and can only expect judgment.
For those who have repented there is not only the fullest forgiveness, but a provision of great blessing, together with words of kindness and comfort, as is seen in Joseph’s assurance of blessing for his brothers (v.21). He desired simply that they should trust him and believe his word. This is what the Lord Jesus desires of us.
THE DEATH OF JOSEPH
(vs.24-26)
Joseph remained in Egypt till his death at 110 years of age, far beyond the end of the famine. Before his death he became a great, great grandfather of Ephraim’s descendants and also of those of Manasseh (v.23). but his years in Egypt did not change his attitude as regards the promise of God. He still had his heart set on the land of Canaan, as has been the case with Jacob’s descendants of centuries, though dispersed throughout the whole world. Though personally Joseph would not enjoy the land, yet he fully desired that the nation Israel would do so, as was true of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore Joseph, calmly speaking of his death, commanded that the children of Israel should carry his bones to Canaan for burial when God had fulfilled His promise that He would bring them back to the land. When he died, his remains were embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt (v.26). There they remained for centuries till being brought out with Moses in the Exodus (Exo 13:19), and finally buried along with the remains of his fathers in Shechem (Jos 24:32).
This vitally interesting book of Genesis, the book of life and of origins, ends in great contrast to its beginning — “in coffin in Egypt.” For it is only the beginning of God’s revelation. How much more wonderful and beautiful is the last word from God in the book of Revelation, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

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