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Genesis 50

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Jacob's Embalming and Burial Preparation 1–14

1
And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. ​
2
And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. ​
3
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days. ​
4
And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5
My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. ​
6
And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
7
And 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, ​
8
and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10
And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. ​
11
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12
And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13
for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. ​
14
And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

Joseph Forgives His Brothers 15–21

15
And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him. ​
16
And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17
So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. ​
18
And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we are thy servants.
19
And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? ​
20
And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. ​
21
Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Joseph's Last Instructions and Death 22–26

22
And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
23
And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph’s knees.
24
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ​
25
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. ​
26
So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 50

Verse 1

fell upon his father's face — God's word to Jacob on the way to Egypt was that 'Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes' (Gen 46:4), and Joseph is at his side at the end. At their meeting in Goshen Joseph 'fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while' (Gen 46:29): the same verbs, naphal, to fall, and bakah, to weep.

Verse 2

embalm — Chanat, to spice, the verb for embalming, used so only in this chapter (vv.2, 3, 26): for Jacob, called 'Israel', and in v.26 for Joseph. The order goes to 'his servants the physicians' (rapha, healers), so Joseph's own household prepares the body for the journey that v.5 says Jacob required.

Verse 3

forty days — The days 'fulfilled' (male) for those embalmed are forty, and the Egyptians mourned 'threescore and ten days'. Israel mourned Aaron thirty days (Num 20:29) and Moses thirty days (Deut 34:8). The mourning of the company at Atad that follows is seven days (v.10).

Verse 5

let me go up — Alah, the verb that runs through the chapter: Joseph asks to 'go up' here, 'went up' in v.7, and God will 'bring you out' (v.24) and the bones be 'carried up' (v.25). Joseph reports the oath to Pharaoh in Jacob's words, and promises, 'I will come again'. The cave is Jacob's choice (Gen 49:29–32).

Verse 7

all the servants of Pharaoh — With Joseph's house and his brethren (v.8) go Pharaoh's servants, 'the elders of his house' and 'all the elders of the land of Egypt', with 'chariots and horsemen' (v.9). Only 'their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds' stay in Goshen. 'Went up' is alah again, the climb from Egypt to Canaan.

Verse 10

seven days — Evel, mourning, kept seven days at the threshingfloor of Atad, as the men of Jabesh 'fasted seven days' for Saul (1 Sam 31:13) and Job's friends sat 'seven days and seven nights' (Job 2:13). The Canaanites who saw it named the place Abelmizraim, 'a grievous mourning to the Egyptians' (v.11).

Verse 13

the cave of the field of Machpelah — Jacob's sons carry him, as he charged them (Gen 49:29–32). Abraham had paid 'four hundred shekels of silver' (Gen 23:16), and the field and cave 'were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace' (Gen 23:20). 'Possession' is achuzzah, the word of the holding in Egypt (Gen 47:11).

Verse 15

requite us all the evil — Satam, to bear a grudge, the word for Esau, who 'hated Jacob' (Gen 27:41); 'requite' is shuv, to turn back on them. Joseph had already told them, 'be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither' (Gen 45:5). Their fear rests only on 'peradventure'.

Verse 17

Forgive — Nasa, to lift and bear away, joined with pesha, 'trespass', and chattath, 'sin': the verb and two of the three terms of Ex 34:7, 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin'. The brothers appeal as 'the servants of the God of thy father', and Joseph wept when the message came to him.

Verse 19

am I in the place of God? — Jacob put the same question to Rachel, 'Am I in God's stead' (Gen 30:2). Joseph declines the place of judge; vengeance belongs to the LORD, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord' (Rom 12:19). 'Fear not' (yare) is said again in v.21, with 'I will nourish you, and your little ones'.

Verse 20

God meant it unto good — One verb, chashab, serves both halves: 'ye thought evil' and God 'meant it unto good', the same act of planning with two purposes. Joseph had said it in Gen 45:5–7, 'God did send me before you to preserve life'. Ps 105:17 says it of the whole famine: 'He sent a man before them, even Joseph.'

Verse 24

God will surely visit you — Paqad, to visit, said twice for certainty. The words return at the burning bush: 'I have surely visited you' (Ex 3:16). Heb 11:22 says Joseph 'made mention of the departing of the children of Israel'. The land is the one he 'sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob'.

Verse 25

carry up my bones — Joseph takes an oath (shaba) of the children of Israel, as Jacob had taken his (Gen 47:31). Ex 13:19 records it kept: 'Moses took the bones of Joseph with him', and Josh 24:32 that they were buried at Shechem, 'in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought'.

Verse 26

in a coffin in Egypt — Aron, the word rendered 'ark' elsewhere, as in the ark of the covenant; the KJV has 'coffin' only here. Joseph died at 110, the age of Joshua at his death (Josh 24:29), and was embalmed (chanat, as Jacob in v.2). Genesis closes with him in Egypt under the oath of vv.24–25.