Genesis 50

Genesis 50:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 50 Jacob and Joseph die v1 Then Joseph bent over his father’s face. He wept and he kissed his father. v2 Joseph had some servants that were doctors. He ordered them to *preserve his father. So the doctors *preserved Israel. v3 They worked for 40 days. It takes 40 days to *preserve a body. The *Egyptians wept about Israel for 70 days.

v4 Then the days when the *Egyptians wept were over. Joseph then spoke to *Pharaoh’s family. He said, ‘Please do this kind thing for me and speak to *Pharaoh. v5 Please tell him that my father made me declare a very serious promise. Israel said to me, “I will soon die. Bury me in the grave that I bought for myself. I bought it in the country called Canaan. Bury me there!” Please ask *Pharaoh if I can go to bury my father. Then I will come back.’

v6 *Pharaoh replied, ‘Go up and bury your father. Do it exactly as you promised to him.’

v7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. And all *Pharaoh’s servants went with him. So did the older men in his own family, who had authority in the family. So did all the older men that had authority in the country called Egypt. v8 Joseph’s brothers and Israel’s family went up too, as well as Joseph’s family. They left only their children behind them (in Goshen). Their *flocks and *herds stayed in the region called Goshen. v9 Joseph had with him *chariots and also horsemen. It was a very large group.

v10 Joseph and his group came to a flat, open place where people separated the grains from corn. It was at Atad. That was in the country called Canaan, beyond the Jordan River. Then Joseph and his group cried. They cried for a very long time and they cried with deep emotion. Joseph arranged a special occasion when people could cry about his father. They cried for 7 days. v11 The *Canaanites that were living in the area saw it. They saw how Joseph’s group cried there. That was at Atad. It was in the place where people separate the grains from corn. The *Canaanites said, ‘The *Egyptians are very sad about this.’ So the place was called Abel-Mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan River.

v12 So Israel’s sons did as he had ordered them. v13 His sons carried him to the country called Canaan. They buried him in the cave in the field. The field is at Machpelah, east from Mamre. It is the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the *Hittite. Abraham bought it as a place to bury people. v14 Joseph went back to Egypt after he had buried his father. Joseph’s brothers also went back to Egypt. And many other people had gone up with him to bury his father. They all went back to Egypt.

v15 Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was then dead. They thought that Joseph might hate them. And he might punish the brothers for all the evil things that they had done to him. v16 So they sent a person to take a message to Joseph. The person told this message to him: ‘Before your father died, he ordered us to talk to you. v17 Your father said, “Say this to Joseph. Say that he should forgive his brothers for the evil, wrong things that they did to him. Joseph should forgive them for the bad things that they did.” Now please, we desperately ask you to forgive us for our *sins. We are the servants of your father’s God.’ Joseph wept when that person told that message to him.

v18 Joseph’s brothers themselves came and they *bowed down low in front of him. They said, ‘Look! We are your servants.’

v19 Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I am not God. v20 You certainly meant to do an evil thing to me, but God meant it for a good purpose. So, because of that, many people are alive until today. v21 Do not be afraid. I will take care of you. And I will take care of your little children.’ In that way, Joseph helped them not to be afraid any longer. So they became calm. He comforted them.

v22 So Joseph lived in Egypt. His father’s family lived there too. Joseph lived for 110 years. v23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s grandchildren. Manasseh’s son Machir also had children, whom Joseph took into his own family.

v24 Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am dying. God will come to you. And he will take you up out of this country. He will lead you to the country that he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ v25 Joseph then made Israel’s sons promise something very seriously to him (Joseph). Joseph ordered them to do this thing. He said that God would come to the family and then they must carry up his bones out of Egypt.

v26 So Joseph died when he was 110 years old. People *preserved him. And they put him in a coffin (big box to bury people in). The coffin was in Egypt.

Jacob had asked his sons to bury his body in Canaan. So, after Jacob’s death, Joseph arranged for the funeral to be in Canaan.

It was not just Jacob’s family who attended the funeral. Many *Egyptians came to the funeral too. This fact shows how many people respected Jacob. It took several days to travel from Egypt to Canaan. And it was a difficult journey.

After the funeral, Joseph’s brothers became afraid of him again. They thought that he might be angry with them. They thought that he might punish them.

Joseph wept when he heard about their fears. He never wanted to be cruel to his brothers. He had forgiven them. He was sad that they did not seem to realise this. So, he explained that God placed him in Egypt in order to do God’s work. Their actions had been evil. But they could not prevent God from doing something good.

Joseph was an old man when he died. Before he died, he gave an instruction to his family. He did not want them to bury his body in Egypt. Instead, he asked them to store his bones. At the right time, God would take their *descendants back to Canaan. (God promised this to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16.) And Joseph wanted them to take his bones with them. Joseph showed by these instructions that he trusted God (Hebrews 11:22).

And the *descendants of Joseph’s family did what he wanted (Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32). Notes on the verses Verse 1 There was special love between Joseph and Jacob. There were several reasons why such love existed between them. Joseph was the son of Rachel, Jacob’s favourite wife. Jacob and Rachel had waited for many years before Joseph was born. Jacob and Joseph were away from each other for many years. They had not thought that they would meet each other again. But particularly, they felt this love because they both served God. So, they both had the same attitudes.

Joseph was a very important person in Egypt. So, when his father was dying, Joseph would be the chief person by his father’s bed. God had promised that Joseph would close Jacob’s eyes when Jacob died (Genesis 46:4).

Verse 2 *Egyptians used to *preserve dead bodies. This was a special ceremony in their religion. So, usually, their priests did this task. But Joseph and Jacob did not belong to the ancient *Egyptian religion. Instead, they served the real God. So, Joseph arranged for doctors (instead of priests) to *preserve Jacob’s body.

Verse 3 ‘40 days’ may mean ‘a long time’ in the *Old Testament. However, it may actually mean 40 days here, because the writer mentions other such times also. People were usually sad for dead kings for 72 days. Jacob’s family considered him very important. The *Egyptians, too, considered him important, because he was Joseph’s father.

Verse 4 Joseph did not go to *Pharaoh himself. Probably, people did not usually go to a king while they were sad. It was probably not right to do that. Jacob wanted his family to bury him in Canaan because of God’s promises. But Joseph did not mention that reason. Perhaps he thought that it might not be polite to the people in Egypt. Joseph talked about the matter gently. He also spoke about a grave that Jacob had made for himself. Joseph did not mention that the graves of Jacob’s relatives were in the same place. Some translations have ‘the grave that I cut (out of the rock)’.

Verse 5 Joseph promised to return to Egypt.

Verse 7 All *Pharaoh’s *Egyptian servants went with Joseph. In that way, they showed great honour towards Joseph and Jacob. Perhaps the *Egyptians also wanted to be sure that Joseph would come back to Egypt.

Jacob’s funeral was a very great occasion.

Verse 9 The *descendants of people that went to the funeral would follow the *Israelites later. They chased the *Israelites when the *Israelites left Egypt for Canaan. But then, at that later time, the *Egyptians and the *Israelites were enemies.

Verse 10 We are not sure where this place was. It was usual to cry and be sad for 7 days. To separate the grains from the corn, people beat the corn. Each farmer chose a special area with flat ground for this task.

Verse 11 People could see that Joseph’s group were very sad. And people could hear it. The group made a noise and they probably tore their clothes. Probably, they threw ashes over their bodies and they shaved their hair. And they cried loudly. The name Abel-Mizraim meant that the *Egyptians were very sad there.

Verse 13 It seems that only Jacob’s family went further to his burial. (A burial is when people bury a dead person in the ground.) The *Egyptians stayed at Abel-Mizraim. Families usually buried their dead relatives in private.

Verse 14 Joseph did as he had promised to *Pharaoh. He returned to Egypt. Actually, many people went back together to Egypt. But Joseph was the most important person.

Verse 15 ‘Saw’ here means knew. The brothers were afraid. They thought that maybe Joseph would not still be friendly to them. Perhaps he was kind in the past only because he loved his father. So, Joseph’s brothers were afraid that he might now punish them. He was very powerful.

Verses 16-17 The writer does not tell us whether Jacob really told the brothers to say those things. The brothers had done bad things to Joseph. But we do not know whether Jacob ever knew that. Jacob would have wanted the family to be friendly, because God had promised great things for their future.

Maybe the brothers had not asked Joseph to forgive them before. If they had, we do not know it. But now, they asked him clearly to forgive them. They even offered to become his slaves.

Their message upset Joseph. He had already forgiven them. But it seems that they still did not realise this fact.

Their attitude was like many people today. God wants to forgive us because he is kind. He sent Jesus to die for us. Because of Jesus, God will forgive us if we humbly confess our evil deeds to him. Then, if we invite God into our lives, we become friends of God. But many people think that they must earn this by their own efforts. They are wrong. God forgives us as a free gift. God makes us his friends because he loves us.

Verses 19-20 Although Joseph had a lot of wealth and power, he had not become proud and unkind. He knew that God is the judge over everyone. He knew that God is always good. And God is powerful. Our evil deeds cannot stop God’s plans to do good things. God had a plan to use Joseph. And God’s plan succeeded. He used Joseph to save people’s lives.

Verse 21 Joseph promised to provide for his brothers’ families. They would be safe then. And they would continue to be safe during his whole life.

Verse 22 Joseph lived until he was very old.

Verse 23 In the *Hebrew of this verse, it is not clear whether the children were Ephraim’s grandchildren or Joseph’s grandchildren. Joseph adopted Manasseh’s grandchildren.

Verse 24 Joseph believed God’s promise that God would give the country called Canaan to the *Israelites. It is unlikely that many of Joseph’s actual brothers were still alive. The verse probably means that he spoke these words to his brothers’ families.

Verse 25 ‘Israel’s sons’ probably means Jacob’s grandsons, grandsons’ sons, and other *descendants. All Joseph’s brothers were older than he was, except Benjamin. Joseph used this promise to remind his family that he trusted God. And Joseph wanted them to trust God too.

Verse 26 Usually, the *Israelites buried bodies soon after death. But Joseph wanted the *Israelites to remember God’s promises. So, he told them not to bury his body. Instead, he told them to put it in a coffin. (A coffin is a big box that someone has made out of wood. People place dead bodies in it.) Whenever the *Israelites saw that coffin, they remembered God’s promise to them. God had promised that they would live in Canaan. It took several centuries before their *descendants arrived in Canaan. But, in the end, God did for them what he had promised. And, at last, they buried Joseph’s bones in the country that God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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