Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 49:29
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,
29. gathered unto my people ] See note on Gen 25:8 (P).
bury me ] Cf. Gen 47:29-31 (J).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 49:29
Bury me with my fathers
Love in death
The patriarch Jacob, in his last request, says, Bury me with my fathers; and this feeling has illustration all along the ages in different races and climes.
What is it but the outward symbol of that which is deepest in the heart? What is it but an expression of the preciousness of these earthly relationships? Bury me with my fathers. Of course in the grave, with silence and darkness, there is no device or knowledge. So far as the perishing bodies are concerned, it cannot matter essentially where they repose when the spirit has fled. And yet they are the tenements of thought and will. They are associated with all that is most expressive in our being. With them are grouped the activities, the endearments, the acquirements, the possessions, that make up our estimate of life. When the patriarch said, Bury me with my fathers, he thought of those whom he revered and loved, whose remains were lying in the sepulchre of Machpelah; he thought of the holy friendships that had consecrated and sweetened his years; and those forms of parent and wife and kindred seemed endued with life and feeling in the strong ardour of his soul. He wished to continue the relationship, and would sleep with those from whom he descended and loved. How natural is this sentiment, and how largely is the custom observed throughout the world l When we think of death and our place of burial, it is with thoughts of others who have gone before us. A lonely grave, a burial away from friends and kindred–remote, unvisited, neglected–brings sad thoughts. We cannot help shrinking from the picture that we make of it. To die alone, to be buried by strangers, to lie afar from any dust that once was dear, is not what we would prefer. But there where our ancestors repose, where parents are entombed, where sleeps the companion of our journey, or child, or sister, or brother, or beloved friend–there, too, we would be borne by tender hands, when we can tell none how kind they are. It is the same feeling that prefers those who love us to minister to us in our last hours, and perform the last offices that friendship can render. The human cries out of the darkness of death for the beloved presence, the heart that was true and kind. And if we can feel that when we are gone there will be any to follow us with sorrow to the grave, and there to plant some symbol of affection, and, as the days and years pass, o go aside sometimes and think of us as we were, with our friendship and faith, there comes a grateful emotion. There is something sweetly tranquilizing in the thought that we shall lie down with the family around us, the revered and good who closed their eyes long ago, and those who follow us out of the doors where we followed others who have gone; and that they shall bring the children one by one to sleep by our side. All this is grateful to our thought, I say; and why? What could it mean if the heart did not reach onward to everlasting attachments, to life with the beloved beyond the grave I And oh! how dark would it be, when we come to face the dread necessity of death, were it not for the light that comes from the broken sepulchre of Christi What would be our hope without this victorious and mighty Saviour, who has put death under His feet? Dear friends, here is an assurance, glorious and indubitable, that is given for everlasting comfort and strength. He who consecrated home while on earth, with all that could sanctify and sweeten it, prepares the heavenly home. (H. N. Powers.)
Jacobs dying charge:
I. AN EXPRESSION OF NATURAL FEELING. A natural feeling it is, a strong instinctive impulse of our humanity, this concern about the body, this concern about it to the last, this desire that, when the spirit has fled, it should not be neglected–should not be thrown carelessly into the ground anywhere, but should receive a respectful interment where its mouldering remains may mingle with the dust of our nearest relatives. How instinctive the thought that the dust in the family sepulchre has still some relationship to our material frame I How instinctive the desire that our bodies and those of our beloved friends should take the long, still sleep together I Not less natural is the wish to be remembered–to be remembered in connection with those who have been so near to us in kindred and kindly fellowship. Such feelings, my friends, are not unlawful; but neither are they unprofitable. If they be kept in their own place, if they be cherished in subordination to higher principles, if they be not permitted to overgrow and stifle the desires and expectations of that which is spiritual, they are neither unbecoming nor useless. We are the better of feeling that the body is a part of man, an integral part of our personal identity, and not lost, or unworthy of care, even in its dissolution. We are the better of feeling that beyond death there is still some tie of kindred between our dust and the dust of our beloved relatives, as well as between our souls and their souls. We are the better of feeling the wish to be remembered after we are no more seen in the world–to be remembered in association with those whom we esteem and reverence.
II. In their holier import, the words before us expressed THE PEACE AND FAITH OF THE DYING PATRIARCH. I am to be gathered unto my people–I am being gathered unto my people seems to be the proper force of the expression, pointing rather to a present than to a future event. It was the language of one who felt that the last short journey was already commenced, that his feet were already dipping into the swellings of Jordan. But there was no appearance of alarm, no token of anxiety, no struggling search as if he wanted something to rest upon, or as if the anchor of the soul were not holding firmly. All is quiet, untroubled, and peaceful. Thus he passed down–down into the dark valley–down into the rushing river–as you might speak of going home from your days work at evening. A similar inference may be drawn from the manner in which he conveyed to his sons the charge concerning his burial. Observe his careful, leisurely description of the place to which he referred, and its purchase by his grandfather: Bury me in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, &c. That was no hurried glance at a secondary matter, amid the agony of an arduous and uncertain conflict–no snatching of a moment out of engrossing anxieties and apprehensions about his spiritual interests, to indicate his desire regarding the body which was about to be resolved into the dust from which it had been taken. If he had not been at rest in reference to his undying soul, if he bad not felt a quiet, holy confidence that it was safe, would he have been so deliberately careful in describing the situation and the purchase of the sepulchre? Let us not marvel, my friends, that saints about to depart can dwell upon the thought of some earthly and temporal matter; neither should we grieve to hear them then speaking with interest about other things besides the spiritual and heavenly. It may be the very strength and quiet assurance of their hope of immortality that permit them to give some special attention still to the body, or the household, or the world which they are leaving. Whence that peace, that terrorless tranquility of Jacob in the death-hour? Here he made no particular reference to the source of it. This was not necessary. He had indicated, by his religious profession, and by the consistent piety which adorned his life, especially the latter portion of it, that his trust was in the covenant mercy of Jehovah. In the prophetic blessing also, the sound of which had scarcely left the ears of his assembled children, he had spoken of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel; he had named the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the nations would be; and had concluded his prediction respecting one of the tribes with these words, I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord. There was no need of further explanation there was no need for his declaring now that his peace was the fruit of faith, faith in the saving grace of that God who had given him the covenant with its blessings and promises, ratified by sacrifice and predictive of the Messiah. (W. Bruce, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. Bury me with my fathers, c.] From this it appears that the cave at Machpelah was a common burying-place for Hebrews of distinction and indeed the first public burying-place mentioned in history. From Ge 49:31 we find that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah, had been already deposited there, and among them Jacob wished to have his bones laid; and he left his dying charge with his children to bury him in this place, and this they conscientiously performed. See Ge 50:13.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In Canaan. Whereby he designed to withdraw their minds from Egypt, and fix them upon Canaan.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. he charged themThe chargehad already been given and solemnly undertaken (Ge47:31). But in mentioning his wishes now and rehearsing all thecircumstances connected with the purchase of Machpelah, he wished todeclare, with his latest breath, before all his family, that he diedin the same faith as Abraham.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he charged them, and said unto them,…. The same charge he had given to Joseph he here renews, and lays it upon his sons, who were everyone of them to go along with Joseph to bury him in Canaan:
I [am] to be gathered unto my people; the people of God, the spirits of just men made perfect, the souls of all the saints who before this time had departed this life, and were in a state of happiness and bliss; called his people, because he and they were of the same mystical body the church, belonged to the same general assembly, and church of the firstborn; the company of God’s elect, who were in the same covenant of grace, and partakers of the same blessings and promises of grace: this shows that the souls of men are immortal; that there is a future state after death, which is a state of happiness, and into which saints immediately enter as soon as they die, and where Jacob expected to be in a short time:
bury me with my fathers; the other part of himself, his body, which should not be gathered to his people, as his soul would be, he orders to be interred with his fathers Abraham and Isaac:
in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite; which is more particularly described in the following verse, being the place of his father’s sepulchre.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Death of Jacob. – After the blessing, Jacob again expressed to his twelve sons his desire to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers (Gen 24), where Isaac and Rebekah and his own wife Leah lay by the side of Abraham and Sarah, which Joseph had already promised on oath to perform (Gen 47:29-31). He then drew his feet into the bed to lie down, for he had been sitting upright while blessing his sons, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people (vid., Gen 25:8). instead of indicates that the patriarch departed from this earthly life without a struggle. His age is not given here, because that has already been done at Gen 47:28.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
29. And he charged them. We have seen before, that Jacob especially commanded his son Joseph to take care that his body should be buried in the land of Canaan. Moses now repeats that the same command was given to all his sons, in order that they might go to that country with one consent; and might mutually assist each other in performing this office. We have stated elsewhere why he made such a point of conscience of his sepulture; which we must always remember, lest the example of the holy man should be drawn injudiciously into a precedent for superstition. Truly he did not wish to be carried into the land of Canaan, as if he would be the nearer heaven for being buried there: but that, being dead, he might claim possession of a land which he had held during his life, only by a precarious tenure. Not that any advantage would hence accrue to him privately, seeing he had already fulfilled his course; but because it was profitable that the memory of the promise should be renewed, by this symbol, among his surviving sons, in order that they might aspire to it. Meanwhile, we gather that his mind did not cleave to the earth; because, unless he had been an heir of heaven, he would never have hoped that God, for the sake of one who was dead, would prove so bountiful towards his children. Now, to give the greater weight to his command, Jacob declares that this thing had not come first into his own mind, but that he had been thus taught by his forefathers. Abraham, he says, bought that sepulcher for himself and his family: hitherto, we have sacredly kept the law delivered to us by him. You must therefore take care not to violate it, in order that after my death also, some token of the favor of God may continue with us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
29. Bury me with my fathers The great prophet has spoken his last oracle; his sons have received his dying benedictions; and now his heart turns to his fathers, to whom he is about to be gathered . There is a touching beauty and tenderness in the allusion to Machpelah (on which see notes at Gen 23:9; Gen 23:19) and Mamre to Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah . He would have his body repose along with theirs, as, also, he expected his immortal part would be “gathered unto his people” in Sheol . See on Gen 37:35; Gen 25:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Dying Jacob Charges His Sons To Bury Him in Machpelah (49:28-33)
Gen 49:29-32
‘And he charged them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which 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 burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah, the field and the cave within it which was purchased from the children of Heth.’
Jacob is aware now that death is close. He will now join those who have gone before, and he longs to be buried with them. ‘Gathered to my people’, a synonym for dying (Gen 49:33) and going to the grave, the place of the departed.
It is clear that Mamre was the place to which the family came when death was near, if they had a choice. Sarah died there (Gen 23:2), Isaac died there (Gen 35:27), Abraham died there by implication (Gen 25:9), and Leah presumably died there – in a hot country burials had to take place within a fairly short time of death for physical reasons. Jacob can be taken there because of the possibility of mummification. And that is his dying wish.
Gen 49:33
‘And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons he gathered his feet up into the bed and yielded up his breath and was gathered to his people.’
Jacob dies calmly and at peace. There is no thought of his grey hairs going with sorrow to the grave for in the end all has worked out happily, and he is content. But nor is there any thought of an afterlife. This concept does not appear in Genesis, possibly as a reaction against the extremism of the surrounding religions. The patriarchs concentrated on what God would do in this world.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Death of Jacob
v. 29. And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, v. 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 of Ephron, the Hittite, for a possession of a burying-place.
v. 31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife; and there I buried Leah.
v. 32. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. v. 33. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet in to the bed,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Would you know what it is to be gathered unto Jacob’s people, See Heb 12:18-24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 49:29 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,
Ver. 29. I am to be gathered, &c. ] That is, I am now going to heaven; whereof being so well assured, what wonder though he were so willing to die? “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” saith Job; “I know whom I have trusted,” saith Paul. And what shall become of my soul when I die, let him see to it, who laid down his life for it, saith Luther. a Death may kill me, but cannot hurt me, said another. b This assurance of heaven is, as Mr Latimer calls it, the deserts of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes in this feast, but this is the banquet.
a Ipse viderit, ubi anima mea mansura sit qui pro ea sic sollicitus fuit, ut vitam pro ea posuerit. – Luth.
b Occidere potest, laedere non potest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
gathered unto my people. Figure of speech Euphemy. Put for “death and burial”. See Gen 49:33. See note on Gen 49:33.
with my fathers. Compare Gen 23:9, Gen 23:10; Gen 47:30.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
gathered: Rom 12:6-21
bury me: Gen 15:15, Gen 25:8-17, Gen 35:29, Heb 12:23
in the cave: Gen 47:30, 2Sa 19:37
Ephron: Gen 50:13
Reciprocal: Gen 23:19 – General Gen 25:9 – in the cave Gen 49:33 – and yielded Gen 50:5 – I die Gen 50:12 – General Num 20:24 – gathered Joh 11:38 – It was Act 7:16 – the sepulchre
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 49:29. I am to be gathered unto my people Though death separate us from our children, and our people in this world, it gathers us to our fathers and to our people in the other world. Perhaps Jacob useth this expression concerning death, as a reason why his sons should bury him in Canaan: For (he saith) I am to be gathered unto my people My soul must go to the spirits of just men made perfect, and therefore bury me with my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and their wives.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15. Deaths and a promise yet to be fulfilled 49:29-50:26
Joseph received permission from Pharaoh to bury Jacob in Canaan as he had requested. He then assured his brothers of his favor in spite of how they had treated him and testified that God would fulfill His promises.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Plans to bury Jacob in Canaan 49:29-50:14
Jacob again expressed his faith in God’s promises that Canaan would be the Israelites’ homeland by requesting burial in the Cave of Machpelah near Hebron (cf. Gen 47:29-31; Gen 48:21-22).
"This scene concludes Jacob’s finest hour. On his deathbed-a scene extending from Gen 47:28 to Gen 49:32 -Jacob has assumed total and dynamic leadership of the family. Even Joseph bows down to him." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 617.]
Jacob died peacefully and was "gathered to his people" (i.e., reunited with his ancestors, implying life after death, in the place of departed spirits; cf. Gen 25:8). Jacob was 147 when he died (Gen 47:28). Joseph evidently had Jacob’s body preserved as a mummy (Gen 50:2). [Note: See Davis, Paradise to . . ., pp. 302-3, or H. Vos, p. 169, for how the Egyptians prepared mummies.]
Jacob’s elaborate funeral was probably due both to the high regard in which the Egyptians held him as Joseph’s father and to the Egyptians’ love of showy funeral ceremonies (Gen 49:7-10). [Note: See E. W. Hengstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 70-71.] It is the grandest state funeral recorded in the Bible, appropriate since Jacob’s story spans more than half of Genesis. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob just two days less than they normally mourned the death of a Pharaoh. [Note: Ross, "Genesis," p. 100.]
"This grand funeral procession and this exaltation of Jacob as a king by the Egyptians foreshadows Israel’s exodus from the world and gives a foretaste of the time when the nations hail a son of Jacob as King." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 618.]
The record of Jacob’s burial in the land is important to the purposes of Genesis. God had promised the land to Abraham and had given the patriarchs small portions of it. The faith of these men that God would fulfill His promises and do for their descendants all that He had promised is obvious in their view of Canaan as their homeland. They counted on the future faithfulness of God who had proved Himself faithful to them personally during their lifetimes.