Genesis 50:1-6

The Mourning for Jacob

v. 1. And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him, an evidence of deep, almost uncontrollable sorrow.

v. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, an art in which the Egyptians had reached a high degree of perfection, as the condition of most mummies shows. And the physicians embalmed Israel. They took out those organs of the body which were most easily subject to decay, filling the cavities with spices, soaking the flesh in a solution which prevented its decaying, and then wrapping the body in linen smeared with gum. 6)

v. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those embalmed, so long it took for the entire process of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days, not only during the forty days of the embalming, but for thirty days more, thus giving him the honor which was given to princes in Egypt.

v. 4. And when the days of his mourning were past, when the official, solemn mourning for Jacob had come to an end, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, to the officials of the king's court for since he was still in mourning, he could not appear before Pharaoh in person, saying, if now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

v. 5. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Since his father had taken the solemn oath from him, Joseph asked the courtiers to do him the favor of applying to Pharaoh for leave of absence for him, that he might bury his father. Jacob, in anticipation of his death, probably at the time when he buried Leah, had prepared also his own burial-place in the cave of Machpelah. It is by no means a sign of a sickly morbidity if Christians purchase and prepare a cemetery lot for themselves where they hope eventually to rest, for they believe in the resurrection of the dead. Joseph's request was stated: Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

v. 6. And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Pharaoh's regard for Joseph, as for a faithful servant, had in no wise been diminished, and he readily granted the request.