Genesis 50

Jacob embalmed and mourned (vs. 1-3)—Chapter 49 ended with the death of Jacob; chapter 50 opens with him being embalmed according to Egyptian practices. “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” (v. 2). We know, from Egyptian sources, that 40 days for embalming and 70 days of mourning were the norm, so extra-Biblical texts confirm Moses’ record.

Jacob taken to Canaan for burial (vs. 4-14)—Joseph respectfully asks Pharaoh if he could take his father home for burial. Pharaoh graciously acquiesced. Now that the famine is over, we don’t know exactly what Joseph did in the Egyptian government, but he was obviously still very powerful because he had direct access to the king. On top of that “all the elders of the land of Egypt” went with Joseph and his family to bury their father (v. 7). “And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering” (v. 9). They stopped at the Jordan River and mourned some more (v. 10), so much so that the people of the land “saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, [and] said, ‘This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.’ Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan” (v. 11). Such visible, emotional, and lengthy periods of mourning were not unusual in ancient Middle Eastern cultures.

“So his sons did for him [Jacob] just as he had commanded them,” (v. 12), that is, “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” (v. 13). After the burial, they returned to Egypt.

Joseph reassures his brothers (vs. 15-22)—Joseph’s brothers had a concern: “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’" (v. 15). That doesn’t show a lot of faith in their brother, in fact, probably says more about them than Joseph. In other words, that might have been the way they would have responded. It is highly doubtful the thought ever went through Joseph’s mind. Nonetheless, the brothers were worried about it, “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" (vs. 16-17). If Jacob really said that—which I whole-heartedly doubt—then it isn’t recorded anywhere. In fact, I would claim it as almost an absolute that he never said this. Why would he tell it to the brothers? If he wanted Joseph to forgive them, why not to talk to Joseph himself about it? So, this appears to be just a scheme of the brothers to save their hides—which weren’t in danger in the first place. Joseph apparently believed them: “And Joseph wept when they spoke to him” (v. 17). His wisdom is manifest: “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’" (vs. 19-21). Joseph saw the providence of God working in the whole situation, and he held no animosity against his brothers for what they had done.

The death of Joseph (vs. 22-26)—Joseph died before his brothers did, or at least some of them. In verse 24, he makes a request of them, which is a marvelous statement of faith: “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.’" He was absolutely sure that, at some point in the future, after his death, God would keep the promise He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and return their people to the land of Canaan. And when He does fulfill that promise, Joseph said, “carry up my bones from here" (v. 25). He didn’t want to be buried in Egypt; he wanted to return to the land of his fathers. And, indeed, when Joshua led the people into the Promised Land, “The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph” (Joshua 24:32). That was almost 300 years later.

Joseph died at the age of 110 (v. 26). And so ends the book of Beginnings.