Genesis 50

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:52utc

There are three clearly marked section in this chapter: Vs. 1-14 Jacob's burial, vs. 15-21 the final reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers and vs. 22-26 Joseph's final days. Vs. 1-14. Jacob's burial.

There is an abundance of sadness and grief in this chapter. All this is the results of the fall of Adam and Eve described in chapter 3. Death came into this world through one man and through one act of sin. Paul expresses this so beautifully in Rom. 5:12 - "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...." What a contrast to the life and joy that fill the first two chapters of Genesis! In chapter 49 we got a taste of eternity in Jacob's prophetic utterances. Leaning on his staff he waited for God's salvation. Here we realize, not only the havoc sin has caused, but also how far away is the day when God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. (Rev. 7:17)

Tears are a gift of God, and antidote against the sin that tries to poison our emotions. Joseph shed a lot of tears during his life. Probably not all of them are recorded; some were held back and some streamed freely from his eyes. People who can cry keep their emotions healthy. Here, Joseph let himself go without any restraint. He had loved his father, and, as we have seen in ch. 45:3, his loud cry: "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" was more than a request for information. He said: "I want my Daddy!" Everybody needs a "Daddy," regardless of his social status in life.

On the other hand the ways emotions are expressed differ from culture to culture. Northern Europeans will not give themselves to the wailing and hand wringing, as the Southern Europeans will. This does not mean that a pale and drawn dry face is less sad than the one that opens all the sluices.

There is nothing wrong in mourning, but mourning should be accompanied by hope. That is why Paul introduces his comforting remarks about the return of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead with the words: "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." (I Thes. 4:13) Jesus' tears at Lazarus tomb are proof of the legitimacy of grief. (John 11:35)

The Egyptians had made embalming into a very sophisticated art. The well-preserved mummies testify to this. As a matter of fact the knowledge of medicine in general seems to have been rather well advanced in Egypt. The Pulpit Commentary points out that the guild of physicians was made up of specialists, each of whom was qualified to treat a single disorder. Whether the embalmers were part of this guild or belonged to a separate order is an open question.

Embalming, however, was not a science in the modern sense of the word. Maybe we should say that what we call science is not real science. Modern science does not recognize a unified field of truth. The Egyptian practice of medicine was part of a complex of knowledge in which the various parts were interrelated. Embalming was as much a religious practice as a medical one. The Egyptians were wrong in their presumption that the preservation of the body ensured the continuation of the soul. This seems to have been the major reason for embalming. As far as we know the Hebrews did not embalm their dead. We do not read about the practice in connection with the burial of Abraham and Isaac. It seems that the stronger the hope of life after death, the lesser the attention that was paid to the remains of the deceased.

The Egyptians were correct in their understanding that there is common ground between theology and medicine. Even in our modern society there is recognition that faith is helpful in psychology and that the health of the soul promotes physical health. Although this is recognized it is rarely put into practice.

In Joseph's arrangements to have his father embalmed we find a strange mixture of the two worlds to which Joseph belonged. As a child of Jacob he partook of the blessing God had given to Abraham. He believed in the promise that his people would possess the land and, probably, he understood that more was meant than the borders of Canaan. The fact that the patriarchs lived in tents and refrained from building cities expressed their conviction that God had something better in mind for them. Joseph was a son of a nomad and a pilgrim. He also was part of the sophisticated culture and society of Egypt. Somehow he balanced both extremes quite well in his life. His moral rectitude testified to this. A couple of centuries later the two elements would clash violently in Moses.

Jacob is to be buried in Canaan in the place that was the "earnest of the promise," the down payment on God's promise that Israel would posses the land one day. But Israel was embalmed in Egypt, according to the rites and customs of this sophisticated culture. The Pulpit Commentary goes into quite some detail to describe what went on behind the closed doors of the embalmer room. Some of it must have been rather gory. The tendency to cover up the ugliness of death is almost as old as man himself. The more sophisticated a civilization the better man succeeds in covering up the traces of corruption and decomposition. Primitive cultures are often more honest about the reality that man is dust and that he returns to dust. We could ask the question what is gained by making a corpse look like a sleeping beauty? The only gain made is by the funeral home.

During the time of his embalming and one full month after that Jacob is mourned. Then again at the actual funeral in Canaan a time of mourning is observed. I do not know what the Egyptian philosophy of mourning was. In the primitive cultures of the tribes of Irian Jay the intent of mourning over a dead relative is to assure the departed spirit that people are genuinely sad, so that the spirit will not return and harm them. The hope is that the spirit, on his way to the other world, will only look back over his shoulder and continue his journey. The spirits of the dead can cause innumerable harms if they come back because grief was not expressed sufficiently. For the tribespeople mourning is more a means of protecting themselves than of expressing a sadness because of loss. Sadness is present, of course, but the official mourning has little to do with that. When a group decides to come together a week after the death occurred in order to spend a whole day and a night wailing, we can hardly suspect that there is real grief. Grief is spontaneous. Whether the Egyptian mourning was backed up by the same kind of philosophy is hard to determine. But I suspect that there was a strong religious element in it. There must have been more than sorrow about death and loss.

The question is how far can a Christian, or an Old Testament believer go in expressing his grief. We understand from the Bible that the spirit of man goes back to God. Salomon says in Eccl. 12:7 - "And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." Paul is sure that to die is gain, because it means, "to be with Christ." (Phil. 1:21-23)

The tears of a Christian on the occasion of death should be shed because of sin that caused death. This is so impressively expressed in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, where at the end of the first part the choir sings: O man, bewail the vastness of your sin.[ 1 ]

Several theories have been proposed to explain why Joseph did not go in person to Pharaoh with his request for a leave to go and bury his father in Canaan. A person who was in mourning or who expressed sadness could not approach the Persian monarchs. Both the stories of Esther and Nehemiah collaborate this. (Esth.4:2; Neh. 2:1,2) But the Persian court and Pharaoh's in Joseph's time were separated by several centuries. It has been suggested that Joseph had let his hair and his beard grow during the period of mourning and that he could not appear before Pharaoh without being shaven and shorn. It is obvious that he needed special permission to leave the country. He also had to promise to return to Egypt. The fact that Jacob had expressed the desire to be buried in Canaan and Joseph's oath to his father evidently carried weight with the king.

It is not clear why the sons of Jacob did not return to Canaan to stay at this time. Life in Egypt must have been easier for them. They must have been aware of God's prophecy to Abraham in Ch. 15:13, but either they did not take it seriously, or they figured that the fulfillment was to far removed to be relevant to them. They must not have been too concerned about what would happen to the future generation. Although the sojourn of Israel in Egypt and its enslavement was used by God, it could have been avoided. God's prophecy to Abraham was not self-fulfilling, I believe.

The funeral procession consisted of "a very large company," according to vs. 9. Besides the immediate family, (the children stayed behind in Egypt) there was a large group of government officials, accompanied by an army of cavalry. Vs. 7 says: "All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him; the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt." This cannot have been meant literally because such an exodus would have left Pharaoh's court empty. Most of the people must have joined the group out of respect for both Joseph and Jacob. The theory that by this time Joseph had lost his pre-eminent position in Egypt and that this was the reason why he did not appear in person before the king seems to be effectively refuted by the number of high dignitaries that accompanied the hearse.

As a matter of fact, the Egyptians must have outnumbered the family of Jacob to the point where the Canaanites believed that the mourning ceremony was for an Egyptian. (vs. 11)

According to vs. 10 there was another loud demonstration of grief at "the threshing floor of Atad," which lasted seven days. The Pulpit Commentary points out that a threshing floor, being a large open area, was a very convenient place for a group of people such as this to gather. There are differences of opinion among the learned about the meaning of "Atad," as to whether this stands for the name of a person or for the buckthorn that may have grown there. Also the phrase "near the Jordan" or "beyond the Jordan," as the KJV and RSV translate it, is open to different interpretations. It seems logical to suppose that the place would not be too far from the cave of Machpelah. It is quite possible, however, that the Egyptians stopped at the border of Canaan, because the did not want to give the impression of carrying out an invasion, and that only the immediate family went on to the grave site by themselves.

Vs. 15-21. The final reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers.

There are several problems hidden under the surface of this passage, some are psychological, some historical. The brothers were uneasy about Joseph's attitude toward them. They were not sure that he had really forgiven them. This proves in the first place that they had not forgiven themselves. It is one thing to be forgiven and another one to forgive either others or oneself. God intends the two to be connected as is clear from the application in Jesus' parable of the slave who owed his master ten thousand talents. (Matt. 18:23-35) Again, there is a difference between forgiving others and forgiving oneself, but those two are connected also. If we are able to forgive others we show that we believe in forgiveness. And if we believe in it we can accept it also.

We tend to judge others in the light of our own character. A person who is a liar will never put his trust in someone else's promise. Joseph's brothers could not imagine that Joseph had really forgiven them, because they would never have been able to forgive. The problem will remain as long as we start from the bottom. Our sinful human nature cannot forgive sin. Only when our sin is forgiven will God's forgiveness become a model for us in our relationship with others. Forgiveness between human beings is only possible when relations are viewed from above. That is why Paul says: "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Col. 3:13)

The historical problem is whether Jacob knew about the crime the brothers had committed against Joseph. It seems to me that Jacob would have mentioned something about it in his last words to his sons before his death. The brothers say he did, but nothing of the kind is recorded. The brothers' conscience would probably have been clearer had they made a full confession to their father. As we mentioned before, we suspect that this skeleton had remained in the closet as long as Jacob lived.

We read that Joseph wept when his brothers approached him on the subject. Joseph's tears may be accounted for by the fact that his brothers misunderstood his forgiveness, but also by the fact that the brothers were lying to him, and he knew this. Joseph loved his brothers, but they feared him. Love and fear are incompatible. Nobody puts that better than the Apostle John: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (I John 4:18)

If it is true that Jacob never knew about the crime, the brothers just made up Jacob's request to Joseph to forgive them. It is a serious sin to manipulate people by wrongly invoking the wishes of a dead person; it amounts to falsifying a testament. It would be rather naive, though, to suppose that the brothers were above such a thing. But the brothers realized that Joseph's power was awesome and that he could have crushed them easily if he wanted to do so.

Joseph's reply to his brothers touches upon the deep mysteries of God's plan with this world. Joseph shows an understanding of God's character that is unequaled in the Bible. He lifts up a tip of the veil that covers the secret of God's dealing with sin and evil in this world. Joseph gives an answer to the question millions of people has asked: "If God is love, how come..."

In the first place Joseph states that he is not in the place of God. In some ways he was, as a representative of God, in Pharaoh's own words: "one in whom is the spirit of God," (Ch. 41:38) Joseph was the savior of the world of his time. But he was not in the place of God in the sense that he was at liberty to carry out God's judgment. Joseph could have quoted Heb. 10:30 - "For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' " In vs. 20 he cuts through to the core of the mystery when he says: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

Unless we see God's acting in this world against the background of the struggle between God and Satan we will not be able to make much sense of it. It is obvious that God is not the author of evil. He created the angel who later became Satan, but He did not create evil. We could just as well blame the hen for a rotten egg that she laid one month before as we can blame God for sin. How God does it, nobody knows, but somehow He outwits the enemy at every turn. As a supreme chess master God wins the game by sacrificing His most valuable pieces. That is why Paul says in Rom. 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I believe this is the lesson of Jesus' parable of the yeast. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." (Matt. 13:33) God uses a certain measure of evil to advance His purpose.

There is no question as the whether the intent of the brothers was evil. First they wanted to kill Joseph, and when they changed their mind and decided to sell him as a slave instead, it was not because of feelings of mercy. There may have been some pity in Judah and Reuben, but certainly not in the others. But God used Joseph's suffering to bring him where He wanted him to be and to perfect him for the job he would have to do. The Father in the same fashion treated Jesus. As the writer to the Hebrews puts it: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Heb. 2:10)

This truth must have stood before Joseph's eyes throughout his thirteen some years of suffering as a slave and a prisoner. God had shown him enough glimpses of glory to come in the dreams he received as a teenager, to enable him to persevere. Joseph had understood God's plan all the way through, during all his ups and downs and God had honored his faith.

Finally, the fact that Joseph was able to forgive his brothers so completely, as if they had never done him any harm, indicates that he knew that God had forgiven him. No sins of Joseph are mentioned in the Bible. But this does not mean, of course, that he did not have any. Joseph understood something of God's plan of salvation because of the forgiveness he had received himself. Only those who are forgiven can forgive.

We read in vs. 18 "His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 'We are your slaves,' they said." This they did out of fear. Joseph never treated them as slaves. In vs. 21 he says to them: "So then, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. It is good for a man, though, to consider himself a slave of Christ after having received forgiveness from Him. Paul says in Rom. 6:19 "I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness." But Christ does not treat us as slaves, or even considers us to be His slaves. In John 15:15 He says to His disciples: "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." This is the paradox of the life of a Christian. He calls us "friends," we call ourselves "slaves."

Vs. 22-26. Joseph final days.

No explanation is given as to why Joseph and the rest of Jacob's sons went back to Egypt and stayed there. From vs. 19 we could gather that, even ten years after the seven years' famine, the world economy had not yet returned to normal yet. As far as the choice of Joseph's brothers to go back to Egypt is concerned, we suggested above that they simply enjoyed the easy life of Egypt. Joseph himself had probably not choice but to stay in Egypt. He had lived there for more than ninety years of his life and his position, as one of the most powerful men in the country would have made it impossible for him to leave. It could be that the political climate had started to change already and that the departure of Jacob's family would have been considered an act of hostility, which the Egyptians would have tried to prevent. We do not know the reasons.

Both of Joseph's sons had children, grandchildren and probably great-grandchildren during Joseph's life. Joseph saw them grow up and saw to it that they were properly educated. Some commentators interpret the words "were placed at birth on Joseph's knees" this way. Ephraim is mentioned first, which indicates that Jacob's blessing to him as the oldest son, although he was the younger of the two, had a permanent effect. In the Old Testament the

Fact that one is allowed to see his grandchildren is taken as a token of blessing. It is an image of eternal life. Prov. 17:6 says: "Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children."

Joseph's words in vs. 24 and 25 are the only examples of Joseph's faith mentioned in the epistle to the Hebrews. We read: "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.'" These words put him in "the Hall of Fame" in Heb. 11. Heb. 11:22 says: "By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones." It would seem that Joseph performed more spectacular acts of faith in his life, but they did evidently not fit into the framework of Heb. 11, where the author speaks particularly about the relationship between God's promise and faith.

It seems from the context of these last verses of Genesis that Joseph died before any of his other brothers. But the word "brothers" may be used in a wider sense than of the eleven other sons of Jacob. Again, we are not told why the descendants of Jacob made no effort to return to Canaan at any time after their father's death. We understand though why Joseph could not go or why, immediately after his death he could not be buried in Canaan. Evidently he was still considered a national hero in Egypt. The words of Joseph seem to indicate that the Israelites were in a bind and that a return to Canaan was a physical impossibility. This lends prophetic force to Joseph's words.

Joseph does not demand a burial in Canaan immediately after his death. He foresees an exodus and he wants the coffin with his remains to be part of this exodus. This shows an amazing insight on the sight of Joseph. He must have imagined what the exodus would be like and how people would respond emotionally. The presence of Joseph's remains would give to the people who were leaving Egypt a sense of history, which they would desperately need. In the thinking of the people who left Egypt, those who had been born their, who had lived there for centuries, who knew nothing but Egypt, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be a mythical figure from ancient history. The bones of Joseph would provide some link with reality, as they knew it.

There is some difference of opinion as to how long Israel spent in Egypt. Adam Clarke says that Joseph was carried to Canaan 144 years after his death. The Pulpit Commentary speaks about "a period of 360 years." I do not know where Clarke gets his figure. According to Exodus, Israel spent 430 years in Egypt. We read there: "Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt."[ 2 ] Joseph was thirty years old when he was

elevated to the position of ruler in Egypt, according to Ch. 41:46. When he invited his father and family to come to Egypt there were still five years of famine left, which means that it was nine years later, the seven years of abundance being finished. (See Ch. 45:6) This makes Joseph 39. Since he died at the age of 110 his family must have been in Egypt for 71 years at his death. 430 - 71 = 359, which brings us close to The Pulpit Commentary .

Imagine the sense of historical background of people who have lived in a country for 430 years. The American Negro's and the Israelites in Egypt are the only examples known to me of people who really care enough about their roots to take them seriously. But if we would transpose the period of Israel's stay in Egypt upon European history, we would be back in the sixteenth century. Columbus' discovery of America would be three quarter century old history. The Dutch would not have come yet to lay the foundation of New York. No European roots would have entered the soil yet. For Americans it would have been pre-history.

In spite of the fact that Israel was in Egypt for a period of time that would span almost the whole of the history of Western civilization, the knowledge of YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, did not disappear, nor was His promise forgotten. By the time Israel left Egypt Joseph's coffin had become an ancient relic, but its presence kept the memory alive.

Joseph's wishes were carried out to the letter. Exodus tell us: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.' "[ 3 ] And in Joshua, we read: "And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants."[ 4 ]

This brings us to the end of the book of Genesis, the book of "Beginnings." In it we read how God created heaven and earth and life, as we know it. We see sin and death come in and practically destroy God's creation. At the beginning stands the Tree of Life, at the end Joseph's coffin. But the coffin is not the end of life. Joseph's last words were: "God will surely come to your aid." The KJV says: "God will surely visit you." He did!

Nabire, Irian Jaya, Republik Indonesia, October 24, 1994.

[ 1 ] "O Mensch, bewein Dein Sunde gross!"

[ 2 ] Ex. 12:40,41

[ 3 ] Ex. 13:19

[ 4 ] Josh. 24:32