CHAP. L. Joseph, with the permission of the king, goes and buries his father in Canaan. The sons of Jacob apprehend the resentment of their brother Joseph, conscious of their offence towards him: Joseph comforts them. He gives commandment concerning his bones and dies. Before Christ 1688 to 1635. read more
Genesis 50:1. And Joseph fell upon his father's face— Thus what God had promised, ch. Genesis 46:4. that Joseph should close his father's eyes, was fulfilled: and after having performed this last and tender office, he, according to the custom of those times, parted from the body with a kiss; expressing all the filial sorrow which such a loss could inspire. read more
Genesis 50:2. His servants the physicians— The profession of physic appears to have been carried on in ancient times by domestics; and Joseph, as viceroy of AEgypt, may well be supposed to have kept some of these in his retinue. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus assure us, that it was the custom of the AEgyptians to embalm their dead by the hands of the physicians, or embalmers. Indeed, if we may believe Herodotus, every particular disease in AEgypt had its physician; and Homer describes AEgypt as... read more
Genesis 50:3. And forty days were fulfilled for him— The reader will find, in the first volume of Univ. Hist. 8vo. p. 489, a minute account of the manner of embalming, which was done without disfiguring the body; so that the very hairs remained on the brows and eyelids, and the resemblance of the countenance was preserved. At the expiration of the days allowed for embalming, they washed the whole body, and bound fillets of fine linen round every part, covering it with gum, which the AEgyptians... read more
Genesis 50:4. Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh— Affliction and decorum forbidding Joseph to appear at court during the days of mourning; see Esther 4:1-2. he addresses himself to the great officers of Pharaoh, to inform the king of the death and last request of Jacob, concerning his burial. Those in a state of mourning were looked upon as in a state of defilement; and no one durst appear before the eastern kings in a mourning habit. Every thing which contributes to put the great men of... read more
Genesis 50:5. Which I have digged for me— Rather, according to the Hebrew, which I have cut out for me: alluding to the manner of laying the corpse in a niche cut out for that purpose in the cave, or place of burying. See ch. Genesis 23:9. read more
Genesis 50:7. All the servants of Pharaoh— All may be put here, as Mat 3:5 for a great number; the major part; all the principal officers of the court. The elders of his house, i.e.. the persons of first dignity, a title of honour used, 2 Sam. Genesis 12:17. and so in various languages, senator, senior, signior, signeur, are used as titles of distinction: so our first Saxon ancestors gave the name ealder-man to a governor of a province, as we do now to a magistrate of a city. Thus the elders of... read more
Genesis 50:10. They came to the threshing-floor of Atad— Atad is, according to some, the proper name of a person; according to others, the word is an appellative, and signifies brambles; and so should be rendered the threshing-floor of brambles. See Judges 9:14.Psalms 58:9; Psalms 58:9. The place is supposed to be about two leagues from Jericho, on the other side Jordan, at fifty miles distance from Hebron. Beyond Jordan, is, by Junius and others, translated, at the passage of Jordan, which... read more
Genesis 50:15. When Joseph's brethren saw— One cannot have a stronger proof of the restless anxiety of a guilty conscience, than in this message and address of Joseph's brethren to him; nor can any thing more finely describe the feelings of an ingenuous disposition, than the actions and words of Joseph on this occasion. Sensibly touched at the message, he wept, Gen 50:17 when it was delivered to him; while, with the utmost benignity and tenderness, he removed all their fears, when his brethren... read more
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Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 50:22-26
"And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and... read more