Genesis 50 – Jacob's Burial/Joseph's Death
Timeline: 1705 BC
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In the last chapter we saw Jacob give the blessings to his sons and died. 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. 1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. According to Jewish customs, burial had to occur within 24 hours. They would wash and wrap the body with spices and leave it in a cave to decompose for 6 months. Then the clean bones were stacked with the bones of the ancestors in a cave. In Jacob's case, they had to preserved his body until they could complete the time of mourning according to the Egyptian practices and then make the journey to Canaan. In contrast, Egyptian burial custom was done much differently. The Egyptian Priests would remove the inner organs of the body and place them in jars to store them. The jars were placed in a special chest, and stored in the tomb, next to the body.The heart, however, was left in the body. Then they packed the cavities and covered the body with linen cloth and salt to stop decay. After the mummification process, which took 70 days, the actual burial could take place. Finally, the mummy was placed in the tomb. Joseph used his own physicians rather than the Egyptian priests because of the differences in burial practices. Jewish law forbids violation of a body after death. So Jacob's organs would have remained intact. 4 Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ” Joseph did not speak directly to the Pharaoh because he was in mourning and in ancient times, it was forbidden to be sad in the presence of a king. Nehemiah was a cup bearer to the King. He went in front of King Artaxerxes and appeared sad. He risked execution when he requested to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. So Joseph made his request through Pharoah's advisors. 6 And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” The Egyptians mourned Jacob just two days less than the mandatory mourning for a pharaoh, demonstrating the respect they had for Joseph. After forty days of preparation and seventy days of mourning in Egypt, they finally made the journey of three hundred miles to Jacob's cave for burial. Then they mourned for another seven days according to the Jewish tradition. 7 So 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, as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering. There were three groups that accompanied Joseph: First were the dignitaries, Egypt's senior officials. The second group consisted of Jacob's family members. The third group was a military escort to guard the officials to provide security and safety. Their small children and their flocks and herds were left behind as a testimony that they would be coming back. 10 Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. They came to the threshing-floor of Atad which means "the plain of the thorn bushes." It was on the border between Egypt and Canaan; and as the last opportunity of indulging grief was always the most violent, the Egyptians made a prolonged halt at this spot, while the family of Jacob probably proceeded by themselves to the cave where Jacob was to be buried. 12 So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father. Although the land of Canaan was promised to Jacob's descendants, the time was not come for them to possess it. In Genesis 15:13-16, God told Abram that his descendants would be strangers in Egypt and be slaves for 400 years. After performing this final duty, Joseph returned to Egypt together with the whole company. 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. A Guilty concience can weigh heavily on the soul. Joseph had already told his brother he did not hold their sins against them but they figured that the only reason their brother held back his revenge was for the sake of their father. Joseph took it personally that they would not believe him. 18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. By this time, the famine had been over for almost twelve years. Joseph saw himself as an agent of God who was instrumental in effecting the work of God with his people. He promised to care for his brothers and their families, assuring them that they would be taken care of. Not that he was going to make sure they had plenty of food, rather that they would retain their special status and privilege that came from being related to Joseph, the second in command of all Egypt. 22 So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees. Joseph lived to see the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abram. "But in the fourth generation they shall return here (to the promised land)" Genesis 15:16. Machir is mentioned here because his descendants are referred to under the name of Machirites, being the offspring of Gilead who settled in land taken from the Amorites whom God punished because of their worship of false gods. 24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. God swore He would give Abraham's descendants the Promised Land but they were to remain in Egypt, giving the Amorites time to repent. Around 300 years later, Joseph was buried in Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. The biography of Joseph is now completed.
1. Who did Joseph have embalm Jacob?
2. How many days were required for embalming?
3. How many days did the Egyptians more for Jacob?
4. Why didn't Joseph speak to Pharoah instead of his household?
5. Who went with Joseph to bury Jacob?
6. How many days did Joseph mourn for his father in Canaan?
7. Where was Jacob buried?
8. What did Joseph's brothers fear after they buried their father?
9. How old was Joseph when he died?
10. What oath did Joseph take from the children of Israel?
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