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Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 50:3

And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned (literally, wept ) for him threescore and ten days —i.e. the whole period of mourning, including the forty days for embalming, extended to seventy days, a statement which strikingly coincides with the assertion of Diodorus Siculus (1:72), that the embalming process occupied about thirty days, while the mourning continued seventy-two days; the first number, seventy,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 50:1-26

- The Burial of Jacob10. אטד 'āṭâd Atad, “the buck-thorn.”11. מצרים אבל 'ābêl-mı̂tsrayı̂m, Abel-Mitsraim, “mourning of Mizraim,” or meadow of Mizraim.This chapter records the burial of Jacob and the death of Joseph, and so completes the history of the chosen family, and the third bible for the instruction of man.Genesis 50:1-3After the natural outburst of sorrow for his deceased parent, Joseph gave orders to embalm the body, according to the custom of Egypt. “His servants, the physicians.”... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 50:2

Genesis 50:2. He ordered the body to be embalmed, not only because he died in Egypt, and that was the manner of the Egyptians, but because he was to be carried to Canaan, which would be a work of time. “Embalming is the opening of a dead body, taking out the intestines, and filling the place with odoriferous and desiccative drugs and spices, to prevent its putrifying. The Egyptians excelled all other nations in the art of preserving bodies from corruption; for some, that they embalmed upward... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 50:3

Genesis 50:3. Forty days were fulfilled for him That is, for embalming him, this time being, at the least, requisite to go through the process. But according to Herodotus, the body often remained at the embalmer’s seventy days. The Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days Thirty days according to the custom of the Hebrews, Numbers 20:29, Deuteronomy 34:8, over and above the forty employed in embalming, which also was a time of mourning. During all which time they either confined... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 50:1-26

Deaths of Jacob and Joseph (49:29-50:26)Again Jacob insisted that he be buried at Machpelah, as a final witness that he died having the same faith as Abraham and Isaac (29-33; cf. 47:29-31). When Jacob died, Pharaoh declared an official time of mourning for him of seventy days. Pharaoh also sent a large group of officials and servants to Canaan with Jacob’s family to provide all necessary help and protection (50:1-9). The Canaanites were amazed that Egyptians should come all the way to Canaan... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 50:2

Israel. See notes on Genesis 32:28 ; Genesis 43:8 ; Genesis 45:26 , Genesis 45:28 . read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 50:3

for so, &c. Israelites never embalmed. Hence the need of this parenthetical explanation. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 50:1-3

"And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him three score and ten days."Although none of the other brothers are mentioned as displaying such emotion over Jacob's death, we should not believe that only Joseph did this. The probable reason for these... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 50:2

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

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 50:3

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

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