Genesis 50
50
1 Joseph, realizing this, fell upon his father's face, weeping and kissing him.
2 And he instructed his servant physicians to embalm his father with aromatics.
3 And while they were fulfilling his orders, forty days passed. For this was the method of embalming dead bodies. And Egypt wept for him for seventy days.
4 And when the time for mourning was fulfilled, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharaoh: "If I have found favor in your sight, speak to the ears of Pharaoh.
5 For my father made me swear, saying: 'See, I am dying. You shall bury me in my sepulcher which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.' Therefore, I shall go up and bury my father, and then return."
6 And Pharaoh said to him, "Go up and bury your father, just as he made you swear."
7 So as he went up, all the elders of the house of Pharaoh went with him, along with every patriarch in the land of Egypt,
8 and the house of Joseph with his brothers, except their little ones and flocks and also the herds, which they left behind in the land of Goshen.
9 Likewise, he had in his company chariots and horsemen. And it became a crowd without restraint.
10 And they arrived at the threshing place of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan. There they spent seven full days celebrating the funeral rites with a great and vehement lamentation.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land of Canaan had seen this, they said, "This is a great Lamentation for the Egyptians." And for this reason, the name of that place was called, "The Lamentation of Egypt."
12 And so, the sons of Jacob did just as he had instructed them.
13 And carrying him into the land of Canaan, they buried him in the double cave, which Abraham had bought along with its field, from Ephron the Hittite, as a possession for burial, opposite Mamre.
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brothers and all those of his company, having buried his father.
15 Now that he was dead, his brothers were afraid, and they said to one another: "Perhaps now he may remember the injury that he suffered and requite us for all the evil that we did to him."
16 So they sent a message to him, saying: "Your father instructed us before he died,
17 that we should say these words to you from him: 'I beg you to forget the wickedness of your brothers, and the sin and malice that they practiced against you.' Likewise, we petition you to release the servants of the God of your father from this iniquity." Hearing this, Joseph wept.
18 And his brothers went to him. And reverencing prostrate on the ground, they said, "We are your servants."
19 And he answered them: "Do not be afraid. Are we able to resist the will of God?
20 You devised evil against me. But God turned it into good, so that he might exalt me, just as you presently discern, and so that he might bring about the salvation of many peoples.
21 Do not be afraid. I will pasture you and your little ones." And he consoled them, and he spoke mildly and leniently.
22 And he lived in Egypt with all his father's house; and he survived for one hundred and ten years. And he saw the sons of Ephraim to the third generation. Likewise, the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born onto Joseph's knees.
23 After these things happened, he said to his brothers: "God will visit you after my death, and he will make you ascend from this land into the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
24 And when he had made them swear and had said, "God will visit you; carry my bones with you from this place,"
25 he died, having completed one hundred and ten years of his life. And having been embalmed with aromatics, he was laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.
Currently Selected:
Genesis 50: CPDV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Genesis 50
50
Jacob’s Funeral. 1Joseph flung himself upon his father and wept over him as he kissed him. 2Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. When the physicians embalmed Israel, 3they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. 4When the period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household. “If you please, appeal to Pharaoh, saying: 5My father made me swear: ‘I am dying. Bury me in my grave that I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ So now let me go up to bury my father. Then I will come back.”#Gn 47:30. 6Pharaoh replied, “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath.”
7So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh’s officials who were senior members of his household and all the other elders of the land of Egypt, 8as well as Joseph’s whole household, his brothers, and his father’s household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen. 9Chariots, too, and horsemen went up with him; it was a very imposing retinue.
10When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad,#Goren-ha-atad: “Threshing Floor of the Brambles.” Abel-mizraim: although the name really means “watercourse of the Egyptians,” it is understood here, by a play on the first part of the term, to mean “mourning of the Egyptians.” The site has not been identified through either reading of the name. But it is difficult to see why the mourning rites should have been held in the land beyond the Jordan when the burial was at Hebron. Perhaps an earlier form of the story placed the mourning rites beyond the Wadi of Egypt, the traditional boundary between Canaan and Egypt (Nm 34:5; Jos 15:4, 47). which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, “This is a solemn funeral on the part of the Egyptians!” That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.
12Thus Jacob’s sons did for him as he had instructed them. 13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.#Gn 23:16; Jos 24:32; Acts 7:16.
14After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.
Plea for Forgiveness. 15#The final reconciliation of the brothers. Fearful of what may happen after the death of their father, the brothers engage in a final deception, inventing the dying wish of Jacob. Again, Joseph weeps, and, again, his brothers fall down before him, offering to be his slaves (44:16, 33). Joseph’s assurance is also a summation of the story: “Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people” (v. 20). Joseph’s adoption of the children of Manasseh’s son Machir recalls Jacob’s adoption of his grandchildren (48:5, 13–20); the adoptions reflect tribal history (cf. Jgs 5:14). Now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought, “Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now most certainly will pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!” 16So they sent to Joseph and said: “Before your father died, he gave us these instructions: 17‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: Please forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you harmfully.’ So now please forgive the crime that we, the servants of the God of your father, committed.” When they said this to him, Joseph broke into tears. 18Then his brothers also proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, “We are your slaves!” 19But Joseph replied to them: “Do not fear. Can I take the place of God? 20Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people.#Gn 45:5. 21So now, do not fear. I will provide for you and for your children.” By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.#Gn 47:12.
22Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father’s household. He lived a hundred and ten years. 23He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh’s son Machir were also born on Joseph’s knees.#Nm 32:39; Jos 17:1.
Death of Joseph. 24Joseph said to his brothers: “I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you up from this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”#Ex 3:8; Heb 11:22. 25Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, “When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up from this place.”#Ex 13:19; Heb 11:22. 26Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.#Sir 49:15.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc