Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 50:3

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.

3. forty days ] Herod. ii. 86 mentions 70 days, and Diodorus (i. 72) mentions 72 days as the time required for the process of embalming.

threescore and ten days ] It is here specially mentioned in honour of Jacob, that the Egyptian nation mourned him for 70 days.

The period of mourning for Aaron and for Moses was 30 days (Num 20:29; Deu 34:8). In later historic times the period of mourning for the dead was seven days (cf. 1Sa 31:13; Job 2:13; Sir 22:12 ; Jdt 16:24 ).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 3. Forty days] The body it appears required this number of days to complete the process of embalming; afterwards it lay in natron thirty days more, making in the whole seventy days, according to the preceding accounts, during which the mourning was continued.

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

For him, i.e. for his embalming; that so the drugs or spices which were applied might more effectually reach to all the parts of the dead body, and keep it from corruption. And the effect of their diligence and so long continuance in this work was, that bodies have been preserved uncorrupt for some thousand of years.

Threescore and ten days, i.e. thirty days, (according to the custom of the Hebrews, Num 20:29; Deu 34:8, to which doubtless the Egyptians in this case did accommodate themselves,) besides the forty days spent in embalming him, which also was a time of mourning. And thus I suppose the Egyptians reckoned those seventy-two days which Diodorus Siculus saith they spent in mourning for their deceased kings.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. the Egyptians mourned, &c.It was made a period of public mourning, as on the death of a royalpersonage.

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

Forty days were fulfilled for him,…. Were spent in embalming him:

for so are fulfilled the days of those that are embalmed; so long the body lay in the pickle, in ointment of cedar, myrrh and cinnamon, and other things, that it might soak and penetrate thoroughly into it: and so Diodorus Siculus d says, that having laid more than thirty days in such a state, it was delivered to the kindred of the deceased:

and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days; during the time of their embalming him; for longer than seventy days the body might not lie in the pickle, as before observed, from Herodotus. According to Diodorus Siculus e, the Egyptians used to mourn for their kings seventy two days: the account he gives is, that

“upon the death of a king, all Egypt went into a common mourning, tore their garments, shut up their temples, forbid sacrifices, kept not the feasts for seventy two days, put clay upon their heads f, girt linen clothes under their breasts; men and women, two or three hundred together, went about twice a day, singing in mournful verses the praises of the deceased; they abstained from animal food, and from wine, and all dainty things; nor did they use baths, nor ointments, nor lie in soft beds, nor dared to use venery, but, as if it was for the death of a beloved child, spent the said days in sorrow and mourning.”

Now these seventy days here are either a round number for seventy two, or two are taken from them, as Quistorpius suggests, to make a difference between Jacob, and a king of theirs, who yet being the father of their viceroy, they honoured in such a manner. Jarchi accounts for the number thus, forty for embalming, and thirty for mourning; which latter was the usual time for mourning with the Jews for principal men, and which the Egyptians added to their forty of embalming; see Nu 20:29

d lBibliothec. l. 1. p. 82. e lbid. p. 65. f Vid. Pompon. Mela de Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 9.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

3. And forty days were fulfilled for him. We have shown already that Moses is speaking of a ceremonial mourning; and therefore he does not prescribe it as a law, or produce it as an example which it is right for us to follow. For, by the laws, certain days were appointed, in order that time might be given for the moderating of grief in some degree; yet something also was conceded to ambition. Another rule, however, for restraining grief is given to us by the Lord. And Joseph stooped, more than he ought, to the perverted manners of the Egyptians; for the world affects to believe that whatever is customary is lawful; so that what generally prevails, carries along everything it meets, like a violent inundation. The seventy days which Moses sets apart to solemn mourning, Herodotus, in his second book, assigns to the embalming. But Diodorus writes that the seasoning of the body was completed in thirty days. Both authors diligently describe the method of embalming. And though I will not deny that, in the course of time, the skill and industry in practicing this art increased, yet it appears to me probable that this method of proceeding was handed down from the fathers. (219)

(219) It would appear that the mourning for Jacob was a kind of royal mourning. “On the death of every Egyptian king, a general mourning was instituted throughout the country for seventy-two days.” — Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, by Sir J. G. Wilkinson, vol. 1, p. 255. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) Forty days.Herodotus (ii. 86) describes the process of embalming as occupying seventy days, but he was speaking of what he saw at Thebes, whereas Memphis was the Egyptian capital in Josephs time; and the mummies of Thebes are, we are told, far more perfectly preserved than those of Memphis. Diodorus agrees very nearly with the periods mentioned here, saying (i. 91) that the embalming took somewhat more than thirty days, and the mourning for a king seventy-two. The usual period of mourning among the Israelites was thirty days (Num. 20:29 : Deu. 34:8). Probably, therefore, the forty days spent in the embalming were included in the threescore and ten days, during which the Egyptians mourned for Jacob.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Forty days of those which are embalmed mourned for him threescore and ten days That is, it required forty days for the embalming, during which time the mourning for him went on, and after the embalming they continued to mourn for thirty days more . Thus the Egyptians honoured Jacob as though he were a great prince . “Diodorus says, that the process of embalming took more than thirty days, and that the Egyptians were accustomed to mourn seventy-two days for a king . Herodotus mentions that the body was never allowed to lie in the natron more than seventy days, 2:86. These periods, given by the classical writers, it will be seen remarkably correspond with the numbers of the text. The actual process occupied the first forty days, while the body lay for thirty days more in natron, completing thus the seventy days of mourning. Wilkinson, in Rawl., Her., ii, p. 122. There were, however, many grades and varieties of the process, according to the rank of the person, for rank is seen in the grave in Egypt as well as in Christendom.” Newhall.

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