Chapter Overview
Joseph and a large portion of the land of Egypt bury Jacob. The chapter then time skips to Joseph’s death and kills him off.
Additional Thoughts
This chapter seems like it was supposed to be a climactic and triumphant moment, and it utterly fails in giving that. There’s no lead up to why the entire nation of Egypt would be mourning the death of Jacob with Joseph. As far as we know, Jacob just continued living a quiet life in Goshen as a shepherd. The people of Egypt would neither know about, nor care about, some random guy who lived on the outskirts of civilization, even if he was related to the Pharaoh’s second in command.
That brings up another question. If they would neither know nor care about Jacob, were they coerced and commanded to go along? If so, Joseph is quite a jerk to uproot such a large amount of people in order to force them to go on a long journey to honor some guy they don’t know. If that’s the case, it almost makes me wonder if the Egyptians were justified in enslaving the Israelites in the next book… not that there’s any evidence for Israelite enslavement by the Egyptians at all.
Chapter 50: Joseph Dies
- And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
- And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
- 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.
- And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
- 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.
- And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
- 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,
- 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.
- And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
- And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
- 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 Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.
- And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
- 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 buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
- 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.
- And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
- And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
- So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
- And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
- And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
- But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
- Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
- And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
- And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.
- And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
- 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.
- So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
- How touching. Jacob did also say the most kind things about Joseph.
- Sounds like they’re mixing funeral rites
- Why would they? Presumably the egyptians would neither know who this guy is nor care that he died. They probably have their own things going on.
- If we’re to believe the bible story, Joseph is literally second in command in Egypt. Why is he worried about whether or not he has “found grace” in the eyes of the pharaoh? Shouldn’t he already know that?
- I don’t think Jacob dug it. I’m pretty sure it was already dug many years before for someone else.
- Make it so!
- They’re taking all the pharaoh’s servants? I’m pretty sure the pharaoh wouldn’t actually do that. There’s no reason for it… this is just ludicrous.
- Basically, everyone and their mother, grandmother, and children show up for this. How are they feeding everyone? Why would anyone even go on this trip?
- I don’t buy it. A large portion of Egypt’s citizens showing up for a funeral procession of a guy they don’t know?
- Why are they mourning? If they really have as many people there as they said, I’m certain many would have assumed it was a festival of some kind. They don’t even know this guy. Why mourn anyways?
- A travel procession of that size would be pretty hard to miss. Especially if “all the elders of Egypt” showed up to follow the procession too. Still, why would they all follow this procession? Did they know Jacob at all?
- The he and his probably refers to Jacob here.
- See? Jacob didn’t dig it.
- At least we’re not treated to a recap of what just happened in excruciating detail like so many other times.
- Reasonable… they were dicks to him. But, and follow me on this, it’s been decades since that time. I’m pretty sure they’d know if he was still angry.
- This starts something I don’t remember hearing about. Are they lying here? I think so.
- Did the brothers just make this up because they were scared?
- This sounds like another reference to the dream that started this whole fiasco.
- AKA: I can’t judge you, that’s god’s place.
- AKA: praise the lord because he made good from evil.
- Joseph promises to take care of them.
- Surprisingly, this is the first time that I remember a person dying before 120. It took all of Genesis to get here.
- AKA: He lived a long and good life.
- Were all of his brothers still alive? Because they were older than him. Except Benjaminny, I think.
- This sounds like a retelling of how Jacob died.
- Any mention of this coffin in Egyptology? No? Oh, just asking because it’d be nice to have some evidence, ya know…