Genesis 50
McGeeCHAPTER 50THEME: Burial of Jacob in Canaan; Joseph allays the fears of his brethren; death and burial of Joseph in EgyptThis chapter tells of the burial of Jacob in Canaan and the death and burial of Joseph in Egypt. There is, therefore, a touch of sadness about this last chapter of Genesis. We have already called attention to the emphasis put upon death in the Book of Genesis. God had told Adam, “…For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen_2:17). Paul wrote later, “…so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom_5:12). The Book of Genesis is a full example of the fact of sin and the reality of death.
It opens with God and man in the Garden of Eden and ends in a coffin in Egypt. This book recounts the entrance of sin into the human family but also relates the faithfulness of God in providing a way of life for man.
Genesis 50:1
BURIAL OF JACOB IN CANAANNaturally, he sorrowed. He loved his father.
Genesis 50:2
We know that the Egyptians were quite expert at this sort of thing. We hear of the mummies of Egypt. They had a method of preserving bodies that we have not learned yet today. So Joseph called in the physicians to embalm his father. We don’t laugh at a funeral, but I can’t help but smile when I think of their making old Jacob up into a mummy, and I am of the opinion that his mummy is in Hebron today. Remember, it had been his request to be taken and buried in the cave of Machpelah because his hope was an earthly hope. When he is raised from the dead, he will be there in the land with the nation Israel. The hope of the believer today, the member of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, is to be caught up with the Lord in the air and to go to a place called the New Jerusalem out in space. There are two different hopes, and they are both glorious.
Genesis 50:3
It took them forty days to embalm. Evidently there are several processes involved. And we note that the Egyptians mourned for him. I don’t think this was professional mourning. I think he had become a real saint in the land of Egypt and was probably respected as the father of Joseph. Joseph was the deliverer, but I believe that his father Jacob was at this time a real saint of God.
Genesis 50:4
You can see how this man was greatly respected, loved, and honored in the land of Egypt. This is probably the longest funeral procession that the world has ever seen. It went all the away from Egypt to Hebron in Canaan.
Genesis 50:8
One wonders whether Pharaoh required that they leave their little ones and their flocks so that he could be sure they would come back. Pharaoh didn’t want to lose Joseph because he still needed him.
Genesis 50:9
You may wonder why Jacob wasn’t buried with Rachel in Bethlehem, which was probably not more than twenty miles farther north. I think the reason is stated here. Abraham had bought this cave, and Jacob wanted to be buried with his fathers in a place that was bought and paid for to make sure that he would stay in the land. So he was buried with the other patriarchs. They all had the same hope of resurrection.
Genesis 50:14
JOSEPH ALLAYS THE FEARS OF HIS BRETHRENEvidently the brothers had gone to Jacob before he died and had expressed their fears regarding what would happen to them after he was gone. They were afraid that Joseph would turn on them and be against them once the father was gone. So Jacob had given them a message to tell to Joseph, and he was sure that Joseph would not persecute them to attempt to get even with them. When the brothers do come to Joseph with this confession, Joseph breaks into weeping because of it. Now they are repenting because of their sin.
Genesis 50:18
You see, the prophecy of their falling down before him has repeatedly come true.
Genesis 50:19
Joseph gives God the glory in every case. Now here is a remarkable verse of Scripture
Genesis 50:20
Friend, God has a far-off purpose that you and I do not see. I must confess how human I am about this because I can’t see any further than my nose when trouble comes to me, and I ask, “Why does God permit this to happen?” We need to remember that He has a good purpose in view. He is not going to let anything happen to you unless it will accomplish a good purpose in your life. Now listen to Joseph
Genesis 50:21
I take this to mean that Joseph was a great-great-grandfather.
Genesis 50:24
DEATH AND BURIAL OF JOSEPH IN EGYPTThis is the way the Book of Genesis ends. It began with God creating the heaven and the earth, and it ends with a coffin in Egypt. What had happened to the human family? Sin had intruded into the creation of God. Why was not Joseph taken up to Canaan and buried there at this time? I think it is obvious that Joseph was a hero in the land of Egypt and his family would not have been permitted to remove his body from Egypt at that time. I think he was one of the outstanding patriots whom the Egyptians reverenced. Probably they had a monument raised at his grave. But Joseph says to his own people, “When you go back to Canaan, don’t leave my bones down here!” In Joseph we see the same hope that we saw in Jacob; that is, a confidence that God would give them the land of Canaan as an eternal possession. And they wanted to be raised from the dead in their own land. Joseph believed that God would raise up His earthly people to inherit the land of promise. The Book of Hebrews mentions this as the crowning act of faith in the life of Joseph. “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones” (Heb_11:22). In Exodus 13 we will see how wonderfully God honored Joseph and answered his request. Moses and the children of Israel took the bones of Joseph with them when they left Egypt.