And his sons did unto him - This and the thirteenth verse have been supposed by Mr. Locke and others to belong to the conclusion of the preceding chapter, in which connection they certainly read more consistently than they do here. read more
Verse 7 7.And Joseph went up. Moses gives a full account of the burial. What he relates concerning the renewed mourning of Joseph and his brethren, as well as of the Egyptians, ought by no means to be established as a rule among ourselves. For we know, that since our flesh has no self government, men commonly exceed bounds both in sorrowing and in rejoicing. The tumultuous glamour, which the inhabitants of the place admired, cannot be excused. And although Joseph had a right end in view, when... read more
Verse 14 14.And Joseph returned. Although Joseph and the rest had left so many pledges in Egypt, that it would be necessary for them to return; it is yet probable that they were rather drawn back thither by the oracle of God. For God never permitted them to choose an abode at their own will; but as he had before led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their journeying, so he held their sons shut up in the land of Goshen, as within barriers. And there is no doubt that the holy fathers left that oracle... read more
The funeral of Jacob. I. THE PRIVATE SORROW . That a great and good man like Jacob, the father of a numerous family, the ancestor of an important people, the chieftain of an influential tribe, the head of the Church of God, should depart this life without eliciting from some heart a tribute of sorrow, is inconceivable. That any of his sons witnessed the last solemn act of this great spiritual wrestler, when he gathered up his feet into his bed and yielded up his spirit into the hands... read more
Retrospect and prospect. The fellowship of Egypt with the children of Israel in the burial of Jacob is full of significance. " A very great company went with them." "Abel-Mizraim" the Canaanites called it, "a grievous mourning to the Egyptians." It seemed to them altogether an Egyptian funeral. Yet we know that it was not. The work of God's grace will transform the world that it shall not be recognized. The funeral itself said, Egypt is not our home. It pointed with prophetic... read more
And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh ( i.e. the chief officers of the royal palace, as the next clause explains), the elders of his house ( i.e. of Pharaoh's house), and all the elders of the land of Egypt ( i.e. the nobles and State officials), and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with... read more
And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad. The threshing-floor, or goren , was a large open circular area which was used for trampling out the corn by means of oxen, and was exceedingly convenient for the accommodation of a large body of people such as accompanied Joseph. The goren at which the funeral party halted was named Atad ( i.e. Buckthorn), either from the name of the owner, or from the quantity of buck-thorn which grew in the neighborhood. Which is beyond Jordan— literally,... read more
And when (literally, and ) the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they (literally, and they ) said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, — i.e. the meadow ( אָבֵל ) of the Egyptians, with a play upon the word ( אֵבֶל ) mourning (Keil, Kurtz, Gerlach, Rosenmüller, &c.;), if indeed the word has not been punctuated wrongly— אָבֵל instead of אֵבֶל (Kalisch),... read more
And his sons —the Egyptians halting at Goren Atad (Keil, Havernick, Kalisch, Murphy, etc.); but this does not appear from the narrative— did unto him according as he commanded them (the explanation of what they did being given in the next clause): for his sons carried him —not simply from Goren Atad, but from Egypt, so that this verse does not imply anything about the site of the Buckthorn threshing-floor ( vide supra, Genesis 50:11 )— into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 50:10
The threshing-floor of Atad - As אטד atad signifies a bramble or thorn, it has been understood by the Arabic, not as a man's name, but as the name of a place; but all the other versions and the Targums consider it as the name of a man. Threshing-floors were always in a field, in the open air; and Atad was probably what we would call a great farmer or chief of some clan or tribe in that place. Jerome supposed the place to have been about two leagues from Jericho; but we have no certain... read more