blessing. “Juda”, said he, “thy hand shall be on the neck of thy enemies. The sons of thy father shall bow [1] down to thee, and the sceptre[2] shall not be taken away from Juda, till He come[3] that is to. be sent, and He shall be the expectation[4] of nations.”
Then, having told them to bury him with his fathers in the land of Chanaan, he died.
When Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father’s face, weeping and kissing him. He then ordered the body to be embalmed[5].
And Pharao commanded that all Egypt should mourn Jacob for seventy days. When the time of mourning was passed, Joseph, accompanied by all the elders of the house of Pharao, set out for the land of Chanaan, and buried the remains of his father at Hebron[6].
Now, Jacob being dead, the brothers feared that Joseph would remember the wrong they had done him, and therefore they came to him and begged forgiveness. Joseph received them kindly, saying: “You thought[7] evil against me, but God turned it into good.”
Joseph lived one hundred and ten years, and saw his children’s children to the third generation. When his end drew near,
- ↑ Shall bow. Thy brothers will be subject to thee, i. e. the tribe of Juda will be the dominant tribe of the twelve.
- ↑ Sceptre. The sceptre, next to the crown, is the sign of royalty.
- ↑ Till He come. i. e. the royal dignity will last in Juda, until the Redeemer comes. Reuben, by an evil deed, had made himself unworthy of his birthright; hence, the double portion went to Joseph, and the rulership to Juda.
- ↑ Expectation. Expected with longing by all the people of the earth. As they were the heirs of the promises, God inspired the patriarchs, Noe, Isaac and Jacob, in the making of their last testaments, and they foretold the will of God, as if it were their own. The blessings they gave, and the arrangements they made, were in reality prophecies about the future destiny of the people of God.
- ↑ Embalmed. This was a custom among the Egyptians. Balm and sweet smelling drugs were introduced into the body, and the limbs tightly bandaged up. By this means the body was preserved from corruption (Fig. 17).
- ↑ At Hebron. In the double cave, where Abraham, Sara, Isaac and Rebecca were already buried.
- ↑ You thought. Your intention was to do evil.
