Ch. 50 (J, P, E.)

  1–13.  The mourning for Jacob and his burial.

  14–21.  Joseph and his brethren.

  22–26.  Joseph’s death.

With the exception of Genesis 50:12-13, which are from P, this chapter contains the narrative of J and E. Genesis 50:1-11; Genesis 50:14 (J) follow upon Genesis 47:29-31 (Joseph being the prominent person); Genesis 50:12-13 (P) follow upon Genesis 49:29-33 (Jacob’s sons collectively acting together); Genesis 50:15-26, from E.

1. And Joseph] For Joseph’s strong affection for his father, cf. Genesis 45:3, Genesis 46:29.

2. the physicians] LXX οἱ ἐνταφιασταί; Lat. medici. By this expression we should probably understand “the guild of embalmers” (ταριχευταί, Herod. ii. 86), a large and influential class in Egypt, who, with an expert knowledge of the body and of drugs, practised embalming almost as a fine art.

to embalm] Embalming was carried out to great perfection in Egypt. It was supposed that the soul, or ka, would return to inhabit the body. The mummy was the body ready for occupation. See Budge, The Mummy (1893).

3. forty days] Herod. ii. 86 mentions 70 days, and Diodorus (i. 72) mentions 72 days as the time required for the process of embalming.

threescore and ten days] It is here specially mentioned in honour of Jacob, that the Egyptian nation mourned him for 70 days.

The period of mourning for Aaron and for Moses was 30 days (Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8). In later historic times the period of mourning for the dead was seven days (cf. 1 Samuel 31:13; Job 2:13; Sir 22:12; Jdt 16:24).

4. unto the house of Pharaoh] Joseph does not speak to Pharaoh personally, but to the court officials. As a mourner, he is unclean and would not be permitted to approach Pharaoh.

5. have digged] or, bought. Both meanings are possible. LXX and Lat. favour “digged.” Syr. Pesh. and Targ. Onk. favour “bought.” The word in the Hebrew appears for “to buy” in Deuteronomy 2:6, and for “to dig” in Genesis 26:25. It has been objected that, in the case of Jacob, neither meaning is appropriate to Machpelah (Genesis 47:30), and that this passage refers to some other grave, e.g. that of Rachel (see note on Genesis 48:7). But it is unreasonable to press this objection. Joseph’s report of Jacob’s words might well imply, that either Jacob or his forefathers had thus provided a burial-place. Moreover, he might possibly have hewn out a burial-place for himself in the rock of the cave. On the whole, “digged” seems more appropriate than “bought.” The language is not explicit enough to throw light upon the possibly independent legend of a burial-place, where Rachel was buried (Genesis 48:7). The tradition of a “purchase” of ground by Jacob is connected with Shechem (see Genesis 33:19; cf. Acts 7:16), but not with a burial-place.

I will come again] Joseph is anxious to assure his master, Pharaoh, that he is not going treacherously to leave the Egyptian service.

7. all the servants of Pharaoh] The very ample description of the Egyptian attendants at the funeral of Jacob is evidently intended (cf. Genesis 50:3) to impress the Israelite reader with the thought that Jacob, the father of their people, had been buried with royal honours by the Egyptians. “Went up,” cf. Genesis 50:5-6; Genesis 50:9. See Genesis 12:6, Genesis 42:38, “go down” to Egypt.

9. chariots and horsemen] A strange element in a burial procession, and one which it would be hard to illustrate from the records of Egypt. Possibly, we are intended to consider them in the light of a guard for the protection of the procession travelling into Canaan.

On “chariots” and “horses” in Egypt, see Genesis 47:17.

10. the threshing-floor of Atad] Goren-ha-Atad, a threshing-floor of “the thornbush,” or “bramble” (Jdg 9:14-15). The place is nowhere else referred to.

beyond Jordan] By this expression is generally meant “on the east side of Jordan.” If so, we must suppose that for some reason the burial company leaving Egypt travelled round the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. But this appears extremely improbable. The traditional burial-place of Jacob was at Machpelah. No Israelite could suppose that, even for the purpose of doing honour to Jacob, it would have been necessary to go round into trans-Jordanic territory. Winckler conjectures that the original reading was “on the other side of the river” (viz. “the River of Egypt,” or ‘El-Arîsh, the boundary of Egypt and Canaan, cf. Numbers 34:5; 1 Kings 8:65), and that this was carelessly altered by the error of a scribe to the more familiar phrase “beyond Jordan.” Whether this conjecture be accepted or not, the present text is unintelligible. It is very unlikely that any legend would have arisen connecting Jacob’s burial-place with the eastern bank of the Jordan.

seven days] See note on Genesis 50:3. “Lamentation” (cf. Genesis 23:2), i.e. the Oriental custom of “wailing” for the dead.

11. Abel-mizraim] This was popularly rendered “Egypt mourns,” cf. LXX πένθος Αἰγύπτου; Lat. planctus Egypti, but its true meaning would be “the meadow of Egypt, or “of the Egyptians.” In all probability, this name recalled some incident in the days of the Egyptian sovereignty over Palestine; and, when that had faded out of recollection, the name was popularly connected with the traditional mourning of the Egyptians for Jacob, on account of the similarity in sound between ’âbêl = “field” and ’êbel = “mourning.” For other place-names beginning with Abel, cf. Abel-cheramim (Jdg 11:33), Abel of Beth-maacah (2 Samuel 20:15).

beyond Jordan] The place was identified by Jerome with “Beth-Hoglah,” the modern Ain Haglah, south of Jericho. But the identification rests on no proof. The mention of the trans-Jordanic region presents the same difficulty here as in Genesis 50:10.

12, 13 (P). And his sons] The account of Jacob’s burial, according to P, is given in these two verses. They are quite distinct from the preceding narrative, and follow directly upon Genesis 49:33. Observe that, in P, no Egyptians, but only Jacob’s sons, carried him to the burying-place of Machpelah.

14–21. Joseph and his Brethren

15. It may be … hate us] Lit. “supposing Joseph were to hate us.” LXX μή ποτε μνησικακήσῃ ἡμῖν Ἰωσήφ. Joseph’s brethren fear lest, Jacob being dead, Joseph will no longer restrain his desire for revenge.

requite] Their conscience cannot leave them alone. Cf. their fear in Genesis 42:28, Genesis 44:16, Genesis 45:3.

16. sent a message] Lit. “charged” (Lat. mandaverunt), the same word as in Genesis 49:29, in the sense of “commissioned,” persons to go to Joseph. LXX παρεγένοντο and Syr. Pesh. follow a different reading, “they drew near unto.” Perhaps the original text contained the delegation of two or three brothers to go unto Joseph.

Thy father did command] An unrecorded dying charge.

17. the God of thy father] Cf. Genesis 49:26. They call themselves “the servants of the God of thy father,” as if it constituted a stronger appeal than “the sons of thy father.” They and Joseph serve one God.

Joseph wept] Cf. note on Genesis 45:1.

18. his brethren also went] These words agree with the sending of a message (Genesis 50:16), but hardly with the words of Genesis 50:17, “when they spake unto him.”

fell down] A final reminiscence of Joseph’s dreams, Genesis 37:7; Genesis 37:10.

19. am I in the place of God] i.e. “am I the person to punish for wrongdoing? God alone knows the hearts.” LXX mistakes the meaning, τοῦ γὰρ θεοῦ ἐγὼ εἰμί = “for do I belong to God”; Lat. Numbers Dei possumus resistere voluntati. Symmachus is correct, μὴ γὰρ ἀντὶ θεοῦ εἰμι ἐγώ. Cf. the occurrence of the same words in Genesis 30:2 and 2 Kings 5:7.

20. meant] i.e. devised or purposed. Joseph here, as in Genesis 45:7, points to the Divine purpose behind the petty schemes and wrong-doings of men.

as it is this day] According to P’s chronology (Genesis 47:28) the famine was long past. Here, however, in E’s narrative, it is evidently still raging; as is shewn also, in the next verse, by the words “I will nourish you.” The E narrative, therefore, must have recorded Jacob’s death as occurring not long after his arrival in Egypt.

21. nourish you] Cf. Genesis 45:11, Genesis 47:12.

kindly] Heb. to their heart. So LXX: cf. Genesis 34:3. The Latin gives the sense blande ac leniter.

22–26. Death of Joseph

22. an hundred and ten years] See Joshua 24:29. Attention has been called to passages in Egyptian records, in which this age is described as the ideal span of life.

23. of the third generation] Ephraim’s children “of the third generation” might mean his great-grandchildren; cf. Exodus 34:7. But in Exodus 20:5, Numbers 14:18, the third generation are the grandchildren, the grandparents being reckoned as the first. If this way of reckoning be here followed, Ephraim represents the first generation, and his grandchildren the third. This is also favoured by the next clause, which mentions Manasseh’s grand-children. Joseph, therefore, lived to see his great-grandchildren. On this token of blessing, see Psalm 128:6; Proverbs 13:22; Proverbs 17:6.

Machir] The name of one of the leading branches of the tribe of Manasseh; cf. Numbers 32:39; Deuteronomy 3:15; Joshua 13:31; Joshua 17:1; 1 Chronicles 7:14. From these passages it appears that the family of Machir occupied Gilead: while in Jdg 5:14 Machir takes rank with the tribes of Israel.

upon Joseph’s knees] A phrase denoting that Joseph, as head of the family, acknowledged and adopted the children. See note on Genesis 30:3, and cf. Job 3:12, Isaiah 66:12, and Homer, Od. xix. 401.

24. will surely visit you] The visitation of God in a gracious and merciful sense, as in Exodus 3:16; Exodus 4:31; cf. Luke 1:68, “He hath visited and redeemed his people.” “Bring you up,” cf. Genesis 15:16, Genesis 28:15, Genesis 46:4.

which he sware, &c.] Cf. Genesis 22:16, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 28:13.

Observe how the patriarchal narrative is closing with the promise of redemption, and with the renewal of the oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

25. Joseph took an oath] The fulfilment of this oath and Joseph’s burial at Shechem, in the land of Ephraim, are duly recorded in Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32. For these dying words of Joseph, cf. Hebrews 11:22, “by faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” As Jacob, his father, had done, Joseph forewarns his kindred that the day of the Exodus would come.

26. they embalmed him] See Genesis 50:2. Lat. conditus aromatibus.

in a coffin] LXX ἐν τῇ σορῷ; Lat. in loculo. The Hebrew word ârôn is the same as that rendered “ark” (of the covenant). Here it undoubtedly means the mummy case, or sarcophagus, in which the body, having been embalmed, was deposited. Joseph’s mummy was carried up out of Egypt by Moses, Exodus 13:19.

The peaceful death of Joseph and the preparation of his body for removal to Canaan close the Narrative of the Patriarchs.