as we have an interest in God's covenant, a place and a name among his people, and good hopes of a share in the heavenly Canaan, we must account ourselves blessed.
2. The solemn charge Jacob gave them concerning his burial, which is a repetition of what he had before given to Joseph. See how he speaks of death, now that he is dying; (v. 29.) I am to be gathered unto my people. Note, It is good to represent death to ourselves under the most desirable images, that the terror of it may be taken off. Though it separate us from our children and our people in this world, it gathers us to our fathers and to our people in the other world. Perhaps Jacob uses this expression concerning death, as a reason why his sons should bury him in Canaan; for says he, "I am to be gathered unto my people, my soul must be gone to the spirits of just men made perfect: and therefore bury me with my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and their wives," v. 31. Observe,
(1.) His heart was very much upon it, not so much from a natural affection to his native soil, as from a principle of faith in the promise of God, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his seed in due time. Thus he would keep up in his sons a remembrance of the promised land, and not only would have their acquaintance with it renewed by a journey thither on that occasion, but their desire towards it, and their expectation of it preserved.
(2.) He is very particular in describing the place, both by the situation of it, and by the purchase Abraham had made of it, for a burying-place, v. 30, 32. He was afraid lest his sons after seventeen years sojourning in Egypt, had forgotten Canaan, and even the burying-place of their ancestors there, or lest the Canaanites should dispute his title to it; and therefore he specifies it thus largely, and the purchase of it, even when he lies a-dying, not only to prevent mistakes, but to show how mindful he was of that country. Note, It is, and should be, a great pleasure to dying saints, to fix their thoughts upon the heavenly Canaan, and the rest they hope for there after death.
3. The death of Jacob, v. 33. When he had finished both his blessing and his charge, (both which are included in the commanding of his sons,) and so had finished his testimony, he addressed himself to his dying work. (1.) He put himself into a posture tor dying; having, before, seated himself upon the bed-side, to bless his sons; (the spirit of prophecy bringing fresh oil to his expiring lamp, Dan. 10. 19.) when that work was done, he gathered up his feet into the bed, that he might lie along, not only as one patiently submitting to the stroke, but as one cheerfully composing himself to rest, now that he was weary. I will lay me down, and sleep. (2.) He freely resigned his spirit into the hand of God, the Father of spirits; he yielded up the ghost. (3.) His separated soul went to the assembly of the souls of the faithful, which, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; he was gathered to his people. Note, If God's people be our people, death will gather us to them.
CHAP. L.
Here is, I. The preparation for Jacob's funeral, v. 1..6. II. The funeral itself, v 7..14. III. The settling of a good understanding between Joseph and his brethren after the death of Jacob, v. 15..21. IV. The age and death of Joseph, v. 22..26. Thus the book of Genesis, which began with the originals of light and life, ends with nothing but death and darkness; so sad a change has sin made.
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 these 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 them
