Jacob did not return to the Promised Land when he was alive,
but he did ask to be buried there. Before dying, Jacob asked his sons to take
him there to be buried in the Machpelah cave, where his fathers rested.
(Genesis 49:29-32) Then he
commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me
with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the
Hittite, (30) in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east
of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from
Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. (31) There they buried
Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and
there I buried Leah— (32) the field and the cave that is in it were bought
from the Hittites.”
After blessing his sons and asking them to bury him in the
Promised Land, Jacob drew his last breath.
(Gen. 49:33) When Jacob
finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his
last and was gathered to his people.
He didn’t die without fulfilling his purpose.
MOURINING
Joseph cried because of his father’s death. What is
interesting is that it does not mention his brothers.
(Gen. 50:1) Then Joseph
fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.
Maybe it only mentioned Joseph because he was also crying in
thankfulness for how God let him see his father before he died, and to recover
the time that he didn’t see him when he was a slave.
Since Joseph was a governor in Egypt, he followed the custom
of embalming the dead, which takes time.
(Gen. 50:2-3) And Joseph
commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians
embalmed Israel. (3) Forty days were required for it, for that is how many
are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
The process of embalming a body consisted in infusing a lot
of resin-like substances in the body’s cavities. But before that, all of the
organs were taken out. Once the body was filled with balm, it was placed in a
controlled, high temperature to dry it out. This process took approximately
thirty days, followed by another forty days of anointing the body with spices.
This operation left the body cured. Afterwards it was cleaned and wrapped in
linen strips, and the edges were sealed with glue. Finally, the body was placed
in a wooden coffin with a design shaped like a human form.
PERMISSION TO BURY
HIM
Once Jacob’s body was embalmed, Joseph asked Pharaoh if he
would let him to go to the Promised Land to bury his father, and to fulfill
Jacob’s final request.
(Gen. 50:4-5) And when the
days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh,
saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of
Pharaoh, saying, (5) ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die:
in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you
bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will
return.’”
Pharaoh agreed to the petition…
(Gen. 50:6-9) And Pharaoh
answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” (7) So
Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of
Egypt, (8) as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his
father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were
left in the land of Goshen. (9) And there went up with him both chariots
and horsemen. It was a very great company.
Out of respect to the Egyptians, Joseph kept the tradition
of the country. But when he got to the Promised Land, he kept the tradition of
the people of God, mourning for seven days (which is known as “Shevah”).
(Gen. 50:10) When they came
to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there
with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his
father seven days.
The company that went with Jacob’s coffin must have been
very grand. When the Canaanites saw that such an entourage was coming, they
were admired, and thought that it must have been a very important person.
(Gen. 50:11) When the
inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing
floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.”
Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.
Atad was east of
the Jordan, which means that the funeral procession took the longest road,
probably to avoid political conflicts. The short road would have been through
the land of the Philistines.
Some commentators say that the Egyptians that went with
Joseph stopped there and did not enter Canaan, to avoid them thinking that the
Egyptians were “invading” the region. Along this funeral procession were
important people from the Egyptian society (50:6-9).
BURIED AT MACHPELAH
All of Jacob’s sons went to bury their father in Canaan, in
keeping of his last wish.
(Gen. 50:12-13) Thus his sons
did for him as he had commanded them, (13) for his sons carried him to the
land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the
east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to
possess as a burying place.
Being at the Promised Land, some of Jacob’s sons could have
had the temptation to stay in the land where they grew… but none of them did.
They all went back to Egypt.
(Gen. 50:14) After he had
buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had
gone up with him to bury his father.
Now that Jacob had died, the brothers were again afraid of
Joseph, thinking that now he would take revenge on all that they made him go
through. They still had that stain on their conscience.
(Gen. 50:15-18) When Joseph’s
brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will
hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” (16) So they
sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he
died: (17) ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your
brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive
the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when
they spoke to him. (18) His brothers also came and fell down before him
and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
But there was no reason to fear, since Joseph had already
forgiven them. Maybe the problem was that they hadn’t forgiven themselves.
Joseph wouldn’t “demand” anything of his brothers because he
had already forgiven them. Besides, he had understood God’s plan in everything
that had happened. Joseph knew that God had allowed everything to happen for a
reason.
(Gen. 50:19-20) But Joseph said
to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? (20) As for you, you
meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many
people should be kept alive, as they are today.
God uses everything for good.
(Romans 8:28) And we know
that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose.
Joseph behaved as the true firstborn and family’s patriarch.
He assured his brothers that he would look out for them.
(Gen. 50:21) So do not fear;
I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke
kindly to them.
What a great example of forgiveness, love, knowledge of God
and good leadership!
JOSEPH’S DEATH
Joseph lived for 110 years. But before he died, he
instructed the Israelites that when they left Egypt that they take his bones
along with them to the Promised Land.
(Gen. 50:22-26) So Joseph
remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. (23)
And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of
Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own. (24) And Joseph
said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you
up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob.” (25) Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will
surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” (26) So
Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt.
As a public figure of the highest range, Joseph was embalmed
and buried in Egypt. Even so, Joseph was not attached to Egypt. The truth is
that he never lost sight of the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. He knew that God would keep his word. That is why he made his family
swear that they would not leave Egypt without his bones, when they returned to
the Promised Land.
(Hebrews 11:22) By faith
Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites
and gave directions concerning his bones.
This is exactly what happened. When the Israelites left
Egypt, they took his bones. They didn’t take them to Hebron, where the
patriarchs were buried; but they took them to Shechem, in another property that
Jacob had bought, which was located in the land that was assigned to one of the
tribes of Joseph’s sons.
(Joshua 24:32) As for the
bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried
them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor
the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an
inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
WITH SPIRITUAL EYES
Jacob had received the promise that God would give land to
his descendents; however, his natural eyes did not see that happen. He did not
go back to the Promised Land after going to Egypt; nevertheless, Jacob did see
the fulfillment of the divine promise with his spiritual eyes. Jacob had the
same faith that Abraham had.
(Heb. 11:8-10) By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive
as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (9) By
faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in
tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For
he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder
is God.
(Heb. 11:13-16) These all died
in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and
greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and
exiles on the earth. (14) For people who speak thus make it clear that
they are seeking a homeland. (15) If they had been thinking of that land
from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to
return. (16) But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has
prepared for them a city.
Neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor Joseph saw the
fulfillment of God’s promises with their physical eyes… but they did see it
with their spiritual eyes.
(Heb. 11:20-22) By faith Isaac
invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. (21) By faith Jacob, when
dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of
his staff. (22) By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the
exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
Let’s learn from this faith!
Here we end the study of the book of Genesis. To end with a
“cherry on the top”, we recommend you read the study “The Two Houses of Israel”, which explains what happened with the people of
Israel… up until today (starting with the call of the patriarchs)…
THE TWO HOUSES OF ISRAEL
[Note: Click on each title to open the link]
1. Introduction
Hermoso estudio Biblico que el SEÑOR LES BENDIGA y que el estudio de la palabra de Dios siga adelente
ReplyDelete