G
E N E S I S
CHAP. L.
Here is, I. The preparation for Jacob's funeral,
ver. 1-6. II. The funeral itself, ver. 7-14. III. The settling of a good
understanding between Joseph and his brethren after the death of Jacob, ver.
15-21. IV. The age and death of Joseph, ver. 22-26. Thus the book of Genesis,
which began with the origin of light and life, ends with nothing but death and
darkness; so sad a change has sin made.
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The Burial of Jacob.
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B. C. 1689.
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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 those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for
him threescore and ten days. 4 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,
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.
Joseph is here
paying his last respects to his deceased father. 1. With tears and kisses, and
all the tender expressions of a filial affection, he takes leave of the
deserted body, v. 1. Though Jacob was old and decrepit, and must needs
die in the course of nature--though he was poor comparatively, and a constant
charge to his son Joseph, yet such an affection he had for a loving father,
and so sensible was he of the loss of a prudent, pious, praying father, that
he could not part with him without floods of tears. Note, As it is an honour
to die lamented, so it is the duty of survivors to lament the death of those
who have been useful in their day, though for some time they may have survived
their usefulness. The departed soul is out of the reach of our tears and
kisses, but with them it is proper to show our respect to the poor body, of
which we look for a glorious and joyful resurrection. Thus Joseph showed his
faith in God, and love to his father, by kissing his pale and cold lips, and
so giving an affectionate farewell. Probably the rest of Jacob's sons did the
same, much moved, no doubt, with his dying words. 2. He ordered the body to be
embalmed (v. 2), not only because he died in Egypt, and that was the
manner of the Egyptians, but because he was to be carried to Canaan, which
would be a work of time, and therefore it was necessary the body should be
preserved as well as it might be from putrefaction. See how vile our bodies
are, when the soul has forsaken them; without a great deal of art, and pains,
and care, they will, in a very little time, become noisome. If the body have
been dead four days, by that time it is offensive. 3. He observed the ceremony
of solemn mourning for him, v. 3. Forty days were taken up in embalming
the body, which the Egyptians (they say) had an art of doing so curiously as
to preserve the very features of the face unchanged; all this time, and thirty
days more, seventy in all, they either confined themselves and sat solitary,
or, when they went out, appeared in the habit of close mourners, according to
the decent custom of the country. Even the Egyptians, many of them, out of the
great respect they had for Joseph (whose good offices done for the king and
country were now fresh in remembrance), put themselves into mourning for his
father: as with us, when the court goes into mourning, those of the best
quality do so too. About ten weeks was the court of Egypt in mourning for
Jacob. Note, What they did in state, we should do in sincerity, weep with
those that weep, and mourn with those that mourn, as being ourselves also
in the body. 4. He asked and obtained leave of Pharaoh to go to Canaan,
thither to attend the funeral of his father, v. 4-6. (1.) It was a
piece of necessary respect to Pharaoh that he would not go without leave; for
we may suppose that, though his charge about the corn was long since over, yet
he continued a prime-minister of state, and therefore would not be so long
absent from his business without licence. (2.) He observed a decorum, in
employing some of the royal family, or some of the officers of the household,
to intercede for this licence, either because it was not proper for him in the
days of his mourning to come into the presence-chamber, or because he would
not presume too much upon his own interest. Note, Modesty is a great ornament
to dignity. (3.) He pleaded the obligation his father had laid upon him, by an
oath, to bury him in Canaan, v. 5. It was not from pride or humour, but
from his regard to an indispensable duty, that he desired it. All nations
reckon that oaths must be performed, and the will of the dead must be
observed. (4.) He promised to return: I will come again. When we return
to our own houses from burying the bodies of our relations, we say, "We
have left them behind;" but, if their souls have gone to our heavenly
Father's house, we may say with more reason, "They have left us
behind." (5.) He obtained leave (v. 6): Go and bury thy father.
Pharaoh was willing his business should stand still so long; but the service
of Christ is more needful, and therefore he would not allow one that had work
to do for him to go first and bury his father; no, Let the dead bury their
dead, Matt. viii. 22.
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 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. 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 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
buryingplace 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.
We have here an
account of Jacob's funeral. Of the funerals of the kings of Judah, usually, no
more is said than this, They were buried with their fathers in the city of
David: but the funeral of the patriarch Jacob is more largely and fully
described, to show how much better God was to him than he expected (he had
spoken more than once of dying for grief, and going to the grave bereaved of
his children, but, behold, he dies in honour, and is followed to the grave by
all his children), and also because his orders concerning his burial were
given and observed in faith, and in expectation both of the earthly and of the
heavenly Canaan. Now, 1. It was a stately funeral. He was attended to the
grave, not only by his own family, but by the courtiers, and all the great men
of the kingdom, who, in token of their gratitude to Joseph, showed this
respect to his father for his sake, and did him honour at his death. Though
the Egyptians had had an antipathy to the Hebrews, and had looked upon them
with disdain (ch. xliii. 32), yet now, that they were better acquainted
with them, they began to have a respect for them. Good old Jacob had conducted
himself so well among them as to gain universal esteem. Note, Professors of
religion should endeavour, by wisdom and love, to remove the prejudices which
many may have conceived against them because they do not know them. There went
abundance of chariots and horsemen, not only to attend them a little way, but
to go through with them. Note, The decent solemnities of funerals, according
to a man's situation, are very commendable; and we must not say of them, To
what purpose is this waste? See Acts viii. 2; Luke vii. 12. 2. It was a
sorrowful funeral (v. 10, 11); standers-by took notice of it as a
grievous mourning. Note, The death of good men is a great loss to any place,
and ought to be greatly lamented. Stephen dies a martyr, and yet devout men
make great lamentations for him. The solemn mourning for Jacob gave a name to
the place, Abel-Mizraim, the mourning of the Egyptians, which served
for a testimony against the next generation of the Egyptians, who oppressed
the posterity of this Jacob to whom their ancestors showed such respect.
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Joseph
Comforts His Brethren.
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B. C. 1689.
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15 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. 16 And
they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he
died, saying, 17 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. 18 And his
brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be
thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am
I in the place of God? 20 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. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I
will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake
kindly unto them.
We have here the
settling of a good correspondence between Joseph and his brethren, now that
their father was dead. Joseph was at court, in the royal city; his brethren
were in Goshen, remote in the country; yet the keeping
up of a good understanding, and a good affection, between them, would be both
his honour and their interest. Note, When Providence has removed the parents
by death, the best methods ought to be taken, not only for the preventing of
quarrels among the children (which often happen about the dividing of the
estate), but for the preserving of acquaintance and love, that unity may
continue even when that centre of unity is taken away.
I. Joseph's
brethren humbly make their court to him for his favour. 1. They began to be
jealous of Joseph, not that he had given them any cause to be so, but the
consciousness of guilt, and of their own inability in such a case to forgive
and forget, made them suspicious of the sincerity and constancy of Joseph's
favour (v. 15): Joseph will peradventure hate us. While their
father lived, they thought themselves safe under his shadow; but now that he
was dead they feared the worst from Joseph. Note, A guilty conscience exposes
men to continual frights, even where no fear is, and makes them suspicious of
every body, as Cain, ch. iv. 14. Those that would be fearless must keep
themselves guiltless. If our heart reproach us not, then have we confidence
both towards God and man. 2. They humbled themselves before him, confessed
their fault, and begged his pardon. They did it by proxy (v. 17); they
did it in person, v. 18. Now that the sun and moon had set, the eleven
stars did homage to Joseph, for the further accomplishment of his dream. They
speak of their former offence with fresh regret: Forgive the trespass.
They throw themselves at Joseph's feet, and refer themselves to his mercy: We
are thy servants. Thus we must bewail the sins we committed long ago, even
those which we hope through grace are forgiven; and, when we pray to God for
pardon, we must promise to be his servants. 3. They pleaded their relation to
Jacob and to Jacob's God. (1.) To Jacob, urging that he directed them to make
this submission, rather because he questioned whether they would do their duty
in humbling themselves than because he questioned whether Joseph would do his
duty in forgiving them; nor could he reasonably expect Joseph's kindness to
them unless they thus qualified themselves for it (v. 16): Thy
father did command. Thus, in humbling ourselves to Christ by faith and
repentance, we may plead that it is the command of his Father, and our Father,
that we do so. (2.) To Jacob's God. They plead (v. 17), We are
the servants of the God of thy father; not only children of the same
Jacob, but worshippers of the same Jehovah. Note, Though we must be ready to
forgive all that are any way injurious to us, yet we must especially take heed
of bearing malice towards any that are the servants of the God of our father:
such we should always treat with a peculiar tenderness; for we and they have
the same Master.
II. Joseph, with
a great deal of compassion, confirms his reconciliation and affection to them;
his compassion appears, v. 17. He wept when they spoke to him.
These were tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him, and tears of tenderness
upon their submission. In his reply, 1. He directs them to look up to God in
their repentance (v. 19): Am I in the place of God? He, in his
great humility, thought they showed him too much respect, as if all their
happiness were bound up in his favour, and said to them, in effect, as Peter
to Cornelius, "Stand up, I myself also am a man. Make your peace
with God, and then you will find it an easy matter to make your peace with
me." Note, When we ask forgiveness of those whom we have offended we must
take heed of putting them in the place of God, by dreading their wrath and
soliciting their favour more than God's. "Am I in the place of God, to
whom alone vengeance belongs? No, I will leave you to his mercy." Those
that avenge themselves step into the place of God, Rom. xii. 19. 2. He
extenuates their fault, from the consideration of the great good which God
wonderfully brought out of it, which, though it should not make them the less
sorry for their sin, yet might make him the more willing to forgive it (v.
20): You thought evil (to disappoint the dreams), but God meant it
unto good, in order to the fulfilling of the dreams, and the making of
Joseph a greater blessing to his family than otherwise he could have been.
Note, When God makes use of men's agency for the performance of his counsels,
it is common for him to mean one thing and them another, even the quite
contrary, but God's counsel shall stand. See Isa. x. 7. Again, God often
brings good out of evil, and promotes the designs of his providence even by
the sins of men; not that he is the author of sin, far be it from us to think
so; but his infinite wisdom so overrules events, and directs the chain of
them, that, in the issue, that ends in his praise which in its own nature had
a direct tendency to his dishonour; as the putting of Christ to death, Acts
ii. 23. This does not make sin the less sinful, nor sinners the less
punishable, but it redounds greatly to the glory of God's wisdom. 3. He
assures them of the continuance of his kindness to them: Fear not; I will
nourish you, v. 21. See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of, and
learn of him to render good for evil. He did not tell them they were upon
their good behaviour, and he would be kind to them if he saw they conducted
themselves well; no, he would not thus hold them in suspense, nor seem jealous
of them, though they had been suspicious of him: He comforted them,
and, to banish all their fears, he spoke kindly to them. Note, Broken
spirits must be bound up and encouraged. Those we love and forgive we must not
only do well for but speak kindly to.
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The Death of Joseph.
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B. C. 1635.
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22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and
his father's house: and Joseph lived an 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 brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 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. 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 an hundred and ten years
old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Here is, I. The
prolonging of Joseph's life in Egypt: he lived to be a hundred and ten
years old, v. 22. Having honoured his father, his days were long in
the land which, for the present, God had given him; and it was a great mercy
to his relations that God continued him so long, a support and comfort to
them.
II. The building
up of Joseph's family: he lived to see his great-grand-children by both his
sons (v. 23), and probably he saw his two sons solemnly owned as heads
of distinct tribes, equal to any of his brethren. It contributes much to the
comfort of aged parents if they see their posterity in a flourishing
condition, especially if with it they see peace upon Israel, Ps. cxxviii. 6.
III. The last
will and testament of Joseph published in the presence of his brethren, when
he saw his death approaching. Those that were properly his brethren perhaps
were some of them dead before him, as several of them were older than he; but
to those of them who yet survived, and to the sons of those who were gone, who
stood up in their fathers' stead, he said this. 1. He comforted them with the
assurance of their return to Canaan in due time: I die, but God will surely
visit you, v. 24. To this purport Jacob had spoken to him, ch.
xlviii. 21. Thus must we comfort others with the same comforts with which we
ourselves have been comforted of God, and encourage them to rest on those
promises which have been our support. Joseph was, under God, both the
protector and the benefactor of his brethren; and what would become of them
now that he was dying? Why, let this be their comfort, God will surely
visit you. Note, God's gracious visits will serve to make up the loss of
our best friends. They die; but we may live, and live comfortably, if we have
the favour and presence of God with us. He bids them be confident: God will
bring you out of this land, and therefore, (1.) They must not hope to
settle there, nor look upon it as their rest for ever; they must set their
hearts upon the land of promise, and call that their home. (2.) They must not
fear sinking, and being ruined there; probably he foresaw the ill usage they
would meet with there after his death, and therefore gives them this word of
encouragement: "God will bring you in triumph out of this land
at last." Herein he has an eye to the promise, ch. xv. 13, 14,
and, in God's name, assures them of the performance of it. 2. For a confession
of his own faith, and a confirmation of theirs, he charges them to keep him
unburied till that day, that glorious day, should come, when they should be
settled in the land of promise, v. 25. He makes them promise him with
an oath that they would bury him in Canaan. In Egypt they buried their great
men very honourably and with abundance of pomp; but Joseph prefers a
significant burial in Canaan, and that deferred too almost 200 years, before a
magnificent one in Egypt. Thus Joseph, by faith in the doctrine of the
resurrection and the promise of Canaan, gave commandment concerning his
bones, Heb. xi. 22. He dies in Egypt; but lays his bones at stake that God
will surely visit Israel, and bring them to Canaan.
IV. The death of
Joseph, and the reservation of his body for a burial in Canaan, v. 26.
He was put in a coffin in Egypt, but not buried till his children had
received their inheritance in Canaan, Josh. xxiv. 32. Note, 1. If the separate
soul, at death, do but return to its rest with God, the matter is not great
though the deserted body find not at all, or not quickly, its rest in the
grave. 2. Yet care ought to be taken of the dead bodies of the saints, in the
belief of their resurrection; for there is a covenant with the dust, which
shall be remembered, and a commandment is given concerning the bones.
Contents
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