April 27, 2024 • 23 mins
We conclude our journey through the book of Genesis with the death of Joseph. This final chapter captures the poignant moment of Jacob's death, Joseph's deep grief, and the subsequent funeral procession from Egypt to Canaan. The embalming of Jacob, an Egyptian tradition not typically observed by the Israelites, is detailed, along with the practical reasons for this unique preparation.
Witness the deep mourning that ensues, including the seven-day public lamentation and the 70-day period of grief, reflecting the profound respect the Egyptians had for Jacob. As Joseph seeks permission from Pharaoh to fulfill Jacob's final wish, we see a powerful exchange between two honorable men, showcasing the mutual trust and respect they shared.
The episode explores the rich symbolism in the burial of Jacob, the intricate relationship dynamics among Joseph's brothers, and the culmination of Joseph's story in Egypt. The theme of reconciliation continues as Joseph forgives his brothers, reminding us of the power of faith and God's ultimate plan. This final chapter of Genesis provides profound insights into family, forgiveness, and the enduring promises of God. Tune in for an emotional and spiritually enriching conclusion to our study of Genesis."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
well as always.
Thank you so much for checkingout the podcast.
I'm randy duncan and I've gotto be honest, this episode is a
little bittersweet for mebecause it's the last episode in
our study of the book ofgenesis, which is one of my
favorite books.
On the other hand, it's also avery long book and we've been at
it for quite a while now andI'm already very much looking
(00:30):
forward to what we'll betackling next in the book of
Revelation.
But as a quick reminder, in thelast episode we saw Jacob on
his deathbed bless each of hissons, although some of the
blessings were not exactly whatthe sons wanted to hear, and
also the blessings wereprophecies, not only to the sons
but also to the tribes thatwould eventually bear their
(00:52):
names.
But in closing out the lastchapter, we saw Jacob die with
his sons around him, which iswhere we now pick up in chapter
50.
And we begin with the firstthree verses, which read Then
Joseph fell on his father's faceand wept over him and kissed
him, and Joseph commanded hisservants, the physicians, to
embalm his father.
(01:12):
So the physicians embalmedIsrael.
Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are
required for embalming and theEgyptians wept for him seventy
days.
And so we see that Joseph isthere when Jacob dies.
And if you remember, back inchapter 46, god tells Jacob I am
God, do not be afraid to godown to Egypt, for I will make
(01:36):
you into a great nation there.
I will go down to Egypt withyou and I will surely bring you
back again and Joseph's own handwill close your eyes.
And here we see that Joseph isindeed there with Jacob and he
begins to make plans to haveJacob brought back out of Egypt,
just as God promised.
Now it may seem strange to youto hear that Jacob was embalmed.
(01:59):
In fact we'll read at the endof this chapter that Joseph will
also be embalmed.
Now, you may have never heardthat or remember reading it,
because it certainly wasn't apractice of the Israelites.
In fact, after this chapterit's never again mentioned in
the Bible.
But remember, they're in Egyptand we've all heard about the
(02:20):
mummies in Egypt.
The Egyptians embalmed theirhonored dead to assist in their
journey in the afterlife.
And this whole process ofembalming and mummification was
an elaborate ritual and itplayed a very important role in
the Egyptian religion, which wassort of bound up in this cult
of Osiris and their conceptionof the afterlife.
(02:41):
The Egyptians believed in anafterlife, and so it was crucial
that they preserve the bodyfrom corruption for the right of
immortality.
But the Israelites didn'tembalm bodies because they
didn't hold that belief.
The Israelites believed thatthe body should be treated
respectfully and that the deadrest peacefully until the
(03:02):
resurrection of the dead.
But Joseph embalms Jacob, bothto give him dignity in Egypt but
probably, and more importantly,to prepare his body for the
long journey back to thepromised land in Canaan.
Remember, jacob made Josephswear that he would bury him in
his own land, where his fatherswere buried, and this would have
(03:24):
been a long, slow journey, andso the body has to be prepped,
for obvious reasons.
If you recall, when Jesus wentto raise Lazarus from the dead,
he was warned that by this timethe body of Lazarus would stink
because he had been dead forfour days.
I mean, his body wasdecomposing, and let's assume
(03:44):
that the journey from Egypt backto Canaan would have been
around 250 to 300 miles.
That would have taken at leasttwo weeks, assuming that you
could travel 20 miles per day.
If not, then it would havetaken even longer, and so
naturally you're not going towant to travel with a
decomposing body along the way.
So this embalming of Jacob'sbody was necessary for the trip
(04:06):
back to where he wanted to beburied.
Now Egyptians were embalmed bypriests in sort of a religious
ritual, but notice that Josephorders his physicians to embalm
Jacob.
The embalming of Jacob has noreligious significance.
It's purely a practical measurefor the return trip and so it's
(04:26):
disconnected from any pagancontext.
But verse 3 says that theembalming took 40 days and that
the Egyptians mourned for Jacobfor 70 days.
Now it's not clear whetherthese are two separate periods
or if these periods overlap.
In other words, did it take 40days to embalm and then the 70
days of mourning began, or werethe 70 days of mourning
(04:49):
including the 40 days while theembalming was being performed?
But most Jewish commentatorshold the position that the
embalming was 40 days followedby 30 days of mourning, and that
would align with the period ofpublic grief observed for both
Aaron and Moses.
And actually Jewish law, eveninto modern times, calls for a
30-day period of mourning afterburying close relatives.
(05:12):
But we continue with verses 4through 6, which read and when
the days of weeping for him werepast, joseph spoke to the
household of Pharaoh saying Ifnow I have found favor in your
eyes, please speak in the earsof Pharaoh.
Saying If now I have foundfavor in your eyes, please speak
in the ears of Pharaoh.
Saying my father made me swear,saying I am about to die In my
tomb that I have hewed out formyself in the land of Canaan.
(05:34):
There shall you bury me Now.
Therefore, let me please go upand bury my father, then I will
return.
And Pharaoh answered Go up andbury your father, as he made you
swear.
So after the period of mourningwas over, meaning the period
fixed by tradition, josephspeaks to Pharaoh's court.
(05:54):
He may not have spoken directlyto Pharaoh, because those in
mourning were considered to beunclean and so he would not be
allowed into Pharaoh's presence.
But Joseph said to them if Ihave found favor in your eyes,
go tell Pharaoh that I swore tomy father on his deathbed that I
would bury him back in hishomeland.
So please allow me to go burymy father, as I promised, and
(06:18):
then I will return.
And how does Pharaoh respond?
By telling Joseph go bury yourfather, like he made you swear.
It's interesting.
First, pharaoh recognizes theneed for a person to honor their
word, and so he's tellingJoseph to do as he promised.
But also notice that Pharaohdoesn't say and then return to
(06:42):
me.
Joseph asked Pharaoh to allowhim to go back and bury Jacob
and then return to me.
Joseph asked Pharaoh to allowhim to go back and bury Jacob
and then he would return.
Pharaoh trusts Joseph enoughthat he doesn't need to tell him
to return.
He knows Joseph well enough toknow that he will honor his word
.
This is an exchange between twomen of honor and mutual respect
.
But it's also interesting tothink about a later Pharaoh we
(07:05):
read about in Exodus, who didnot know Joseph, and when asked
by Moses to let his people go,unlike this Pharaoh, he would
not, and that didn't work out sowell for him either.
But we continue in verses 7through 9, which read so Joseph
went up to bury his father.
With him went all the servantsof Pharaoh, the elders of his
(07:27):
household and all the elders ofthe land of Egypt, as well as
all the household of Joseph, hisbrothers and his father's
household.
Only their children, theirflocks and their herds were left
in the land of Goshen, andthere went up with him both
chariots and horsemen.
It was a very great company,and so what we see is a very
large funeral procession orcortege, and this funeral
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entourage includes Joseph, ofcourse, but also the leading
Egyptian officials, all thesenior dignitaries from
Pharaoh's court, as well as asmall army of chariots, along
with the households of Josephand Jacob.
Only the children and theflocks and the herds did not go
with them, and there's also anassumption that the women didn't
go, as they likely stayedbehind to look after the
(08:12):
children.
But the funeral processioncontinues in verses 10 and 11.
When they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond
the Jordan, they lamented therewith a very great and grievous
lamentation, and he made amourning for his father seven
days.
When the inhabitants of theland, the Canaanites, saw the
mourning on the threshing floorof Atad, they said this is a
(08:35):
grievous mourning by theEgyptians.
Therefore, the place was namedAbel Mitzrayim.
It is beyond the Jordan, and soit tells us that they stopped
in Atad, which is betweenJericho and the Dead Sea.
Now this funeral takes place intwo stages.
The first is here, where we seethat the entire procession
stops, and there they mourn forseven days, which is the usual
(08:59):
time to express great grief inIsrael and the ancient Near East
.
In fact, the Hebrew word forseven is Shiva, the term that's
used to describe the seven-dayJewish ritual of mourning for
the dead.
Jewish law obligates Jews tomourn for seven days following
the death of an immediate familymember.
But this was a great publicmourning ceremony and where the
(09:22):
Egyptians could also attend, andeven the Canaanites who were in
the land observed the fact thatthis was a very great and
solemn mourning.
This was not simply a ritualbut a time of genuine and
passionate grieving.
But then the second stage iswhere the immediate family would
continue to the cave atMachpelah where Jacob's body
(09:43):
would be privately interred.
And, by the way, it tells usthat the place was named Abel
Mitzrayim.
Abel means mourning andMitzrayim means Egypt.
But we continue with verses 12through 14, reading.
Thus his sons did for him as hehad commanded them, for his
sons carried him to the land ofCanaan and buried him in the
(10:03):
cave of the field of Machpelah,to the east of Mamre, which
Abraham bought with the fieldfrom Ephron the Hittite, to
possess as a burying place.
After he had buried his father,joseph returned to Egypt with
his brothers and all who hadgone up with him to bury his
father.
And so we see that Jacob's sondid as he wanted, burying him in
(10:24):
his homeland.
And notice once again that thetext specifies where Jacob was
buried?
And as we've gone throughGenesis, have you also noticed
that every time this location ismentioned, it provides details
reiterating the fact that it waspurchased legally and from who
you know?
It's almost as if the Bibleanticipated that the Jews' right
(10:47):
to this land would be contested.
And after burying their father,they returned to Egypt, joseph
and his brothers, which is wherethe focus now turns.
And we begin reading about thatin verses 15 through 17, which
tell us when Joseph's brotherssaw that their father was dead,
they said it may be that Josephwill hate us and pay us back for
(11:08):
all the evil that we did to him.
So they sent a message toJoseph saying your father gave
this command before he died.
Say to Joseph please forgivethe transgressions of your
brothers and their sin, becausethey did evil to you, and now
please forgive the transgressionof the servants of the God of
your father.
And so the story now shiftsback to the brothers and the
(11:31):
opening theme of the entireJoseph narrative, which is the
complicated relations betweenthe brothers Joseph narrative,
which is the complicatedrelations between the brothers.
And what we see is that thedeath of Jacob has now removed
the patriarch's commandingpresence from this family and,
as we see in life, with thedeath of great people,
oftentimes what follows is greatchange.
(11:52):
And when the reality of thesituation hits them, the
brothers are concerned that,with Jacob no longer there to
exercise some control over hisfamily, that Joseph will now
seek his revenge for theterrible crime they committed
against him.
And so they send Joseph amessage through a third party
rather than risking a personalconfrontation with him.
(12:13):
They're acting out of fear ofJoseph rather than having faith
in Joseph, and they're doingthis in spite of Joseph's
earlier assurances to them.
They're not acting on Joseph'sbehavior, but on their guilty
conscience, but they send wordvia a messenger, and they know
from experience that Josephlistens to and he respects his
(12:35):
father's authority.
And so they have this messengertell Joseph that before he died
, jacob gave the command forJoseph to forgive his brothers
for the evil they committedagainst him.
Now, jacob actually giving thiscommand is almost certainly a
lie.
There's no mention of itanywhere else, nor is there any
(12:56):
mention of it during Jacob'sblessings of his sons.
No, jacob never left suchinstructions.
In fact, there's no reason tobelieve that Jacob ever even
knew what his sons had done toJoseph.
If he had, it would surely havebeen mentioned, if at no other
time than surely during hisblessings while on his deathbed.
And also, had he known and thiswas in fact his wish Jacob
(13:20):
would have certainly asked thisof Joseph himself.
Notice also that the brothersdon't make an appeal to them
being brothers as a reason toforgive them.
They appeal to Jacob, butnotice how they subtly
approached even this detail.
They don't say our father gaveus this command before he died.
No, they say your father gaveus this command.
(13:43):
In other words, they'reappealing to Joseph's love and
respect for his father, tryingto personalize it even more.
And so how does Joseph respondto all of this?
Verses 18 through 21 tell usJoseph wept when they spoke to
him.
His brothers also came and felldown before him and said Behold
, we are your servants.
(14:04):
But Joseph said to them Do notfear, for am I in the place of
God?
As for you, you meant evilagainst me, but God meant it for
good, to bring it about thatmany people should be kept alive
as they are today.
So do not fear, I will providefor you and your little ones.
(14:24):
Thus he comforted them andspoke kindly to them.
So again, how does Joseph react?
He wept.
He weeps for the second time inthis short narrative.
The first time was for hisfather, jacob, and now because
of his brothers.
But why weep this time?
Perhaps it's because after 17years now of showing kindness
(14:46):
and goodwill towards them,forgiving them and providing for
them, they still misunderstandhim.
They still fear him, afraidthat he'll finally take his
revenge.
But after sending the messenger, the brothers actually come to
Joseph and they fall at his feetsaying we are your servants.
And so, just as predicted inhis childhood dreams, the
(15:08):
brothers all bow down before him.
And how ironic or fitting thatwe've now come full circle him.
And how ironic or fitting thatwe've now come full circle going
all the way back to when Josephwas a young teenager, back in
chapter 37.
And those who sold Joseph intoslavery now offer to be his
slaves.
But Joseph says to them do notfear, for am I in the place of
(15:31):
God?
You meant it for evil againstme, but God meant it for good,
to bring it about that manypeople should be kept alive.
Joseph has no interest inseeking revenge.
It goes against his theology.
He sees the bigger picture.
He understands how God hasallowed people to exercise their
free will, even through evilacts, but has still been able to
(15:54):
orchestrate events to bringabout his will.
God can still transform theevil acts of man into ultimate
good.
Here God transforms the evilacts of the brother set on
taking a life and transforms itinto saving countless thousands
of lives.
I mean, think about theultimate evil, the crucifixion
(16:15):
of Jesus.
But out of that came theultimate good salvation of
untold millions.
As the saying goes, when all wesee is the cross, god sees the
empty tomb.
But finally Joseph comfortsthem and speaks kindly to them,
telling them again do not fear,I will provide for you and your
(16:48):
children.
Joseph here is acting as hisbrother's keeper which, if you
remember, is exactly theopposite of how Cain responded
after killing Abel Way back inGenesis, chapter 4,.
When God asked, cain respondedafter killing Abel, way back in
Genesis, chapter 4.
When God asked Cain where isyour brother Abel?
And Cain arrogantly responds amI my brother's keeper?
But that brings us now to thefinal five verses in the book of
Genesis, which ends with thedeath of Joseph, and read.
(17:11):
So Joseph remained in Egypt, heand his father's house.
Joseph lived a hundred and tenyears and Joseph saw Ephraim's
children of the third generationthe children also of Machir,
the son of Manasseh, werecounted as Joseph's own.
And Joseph said to his brothersI am about to die, but God will
visit you and bring you up outof this land to the land that he
(17:33):
swore to Abraham, to Isaac andto Jacob.
Then Joseph made the sons ofIsrael swear, saying God will
surely visit you and you shallcarry up my bones from here.
So Joseph died, being 110 yearsold.
They embalmed him and he wasput in a coffin in Egypt.
So Joseph lived to be 110 yearsold, living to see his
(17:55):
great-grandchildren, or possiblyhis great-great-grandchildren,
depending on exactly who thethird generation of children is
referring to here.
But a special blessing eitherway.
But regardless, he lives to be110 years old.
Now, in a previous episode Iattempted to point out a pattern
in the lifespans of Abraham,isaac and Jacob where, if you
(18:17):
remember, there was a clearmathematical pattern to the sum
of their ages Abraham's age of175 equaled 7 times 5 squared.
Isaac's 180 years equaled 5times 6 squared.
And Jacob's 147 years equaled 3times 7 squared.
Trust me, it's much easier tosee if you actually write it
(18:39):
down.
But now we have Joseph, who isthe successor in the line.
Now the first number in eachpatriarch shows a decrease by
two, seven, five and three, andnow Joseph is one, the number
that's squared in eachpatriarch's lifespan, increased
by one, where you saw fivesquared, then six squared and
(19:00):
then seven squared.
But get this Joseph's age isarrived at by adding up the
squared numbers of each of thethree patriarchs, abraham, isaac
and Jacob, which again was fivesquared, six squared and seven
squared.
And guess what?
Five squared plus 6 squaredplus 7 squared equals you
guessed it 110.
(19:21):
What a coincidence.
And so it seems like scriptureis suggesting that Joseph is
symbolically bringing to aconclusion the age of the
patriarchs.
But before he dies, joseph saysto his brothers I'm about to
die, but God will visit you andbring you up out of this land to
the land that he swore toAbraham and to Isaac and to
(19:44):
Jacob.
Now, when he says brothers, itcould also mean relatives or the
tribes descended from hisbrothers.
I mean, after all, joseph wasthe second youngest and he is
110 years old.
But if it means brothers in thestrict sense, then some or all
of his brothers must haveoutlived him.
But when he says that God willvisit them and bring them up out
(20:07):
of the land of Egypt, joseph isspeaking a bit like a prophet
here, referring, of course, towhat we would call the Exodus
from Egypt.
By faith, joseph spoke about theExodus of the Israelites from
Egypt and gave instructionsabout his bones.
And so, just like Jacob, hemakes them swear to carry up his
bones from Egypt and with thatJoseph dies.
(20:30):
And also, like Jacob, joseph isembalmed.
Remember, jacob was embalmedfor practical reasons, due to
the long journey back to Canaanwhere he was buried, but for
Joseph it would be later beforehe would be taken back to his
homeland.
In fact it would be much later,because this oath that was
(20:50):
sworn to Joseph is ultimatelyfilled by a man named Moses.
Was sworn to Joseph isultimately filled by a man named
Moses.
In Exodus 13, 19, we read Mosestook the bones of Joseph with
him, for Joseph had made thesons of Israel solemnly swear,
saying God will surely visit youand you shall carry up my bones
with you from here.
And so with that, we have cometo an end of our study through
(21:17):
the book of Genesis, we've movedfrom creation to a garden and
ended in a coffin in Egypt.
But I'll leave you with thisthought the Hebrew word for
coffin, aaron, is the same wordfor ark.
As in the Ark of the Covenant,joseph was placed in the Aaron,
the Ten Commandments were placedin the Aaron, and so, while the
Israelites were wandering inthe desert after the Exodus,
(21:40):
they carried two shrines withthem, one in the coffin carrying
the bones of Joseph, the othercarrying the Ten Commandments
written by the living God.
And, as we've seen and as I'vegiven several examples, for
Joseph was a type or a model, aforeshadowing of Jesus, and some
may wonder why was it that theArk of the Dead was even allowed
(22:03):
to come next to the Ark of theLiving?
Well, maybe one possible answerto the question as to why is
that?
The dead man enshrined in theone Ark fulfilled the
commandments enshrined in theother.
Now, of course, only JesusChrist actually did that.
Joseph was only a foreshadowingof the one who was to come, and
(22:23):
it reminds us that Joseph hadfaith that he would be brought
up out of Egypt to his homeland,that God would fulfill his
promise, and my prayer for allof you is that you would have
faith in Jesus Christ so that,even though you die because of
your faith and trust in him,like Joseph, god will come to
(22:45):
you and take you up out of thisland, that, after death, you
will also be brought into theplace promised you, the city and
the heavenly home God hasprepared for you.
I wanted to go home, home, homewhen I wanted to go home, home,
(23:23):
home when I wanted to go home,home, home.
Thank you.
well as always.
Thank you so much for checkingout the podcast.
I'm randy duncan and I've gotto be honest, this episode is a
little bittersweet for mebecause it's the last episode in
our study of the book ofgenesis, which is one of my
favorite books.
On the other hand, it's also avery long book and we've been at
it for quite a while now andI'm already very much looking
(00:30):
forward to what we'll betackling next in the book of
Revelation.
But as a quick reminder, in thelast episode we saw Jacob on
his deathbed bless each of hissons, although some of the
blessings were not exactly whatthe sons wanted to hear, and
also the blessings wereprophecies, not only to the sons
but also to the tribes thatwould eventually bear their
(00:52):
names.
But in closing out the lastchapter, we saw Jacob die with
his sons around him, which iswhere we now pick up in chapter
50.
And we begin with the firstthree verses, which read Then
Joseph fell on his father's faceand wept over him and kissed
him, and Joseph commanded hisservants, the physicians, to
embalm his father.
(01:12):
So the physicians embalmedIsrael.
Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are
required for embalming and theEgyptians wept for him seventy
days.
And so we see that Joseph isthere when Jacob dies.
And if you remember, back inchapter 46, god tells Jacob I am
God, do not be afraid to godown to Egypt, for I will make
(01:36):
you into a great nation there.
I will go down to Egypt withyou and I will surely bring you
back again and Joseph's own handwill close your eyes.
And here we see that Joseph isindeed there with Jacob and he
begins to make plans to haveJacob brought back out of Egypt,
just as God promised.
Now it may seem strange to youto hear that Jacob was embalmed.
(01:59):
In fact we'll read at the endof this chapter that Joseph will
also be embalmed.
Now, you may have never heardthat or remember reading it,
because it certainly wasn't apractice of the Israelites.
In fact, after this chapterit's never again mentioned in
the Bible.
But remember, they're in Egyptand we've all heard about the
(02:20):
mummies in Egypt.
The Egyptians embalmed theirhonored dead to assist in their
journey in the afterlife.
And this whole process ofembalming and mummification was
an elaborate ritual and itplayed a very important role in
the Egyptian religion, which wassort of bound up in this cult
of Osiris and their conceptionof the afterlife.
(02:41):
The Egyptians believed in anafterlife, and so it was crucial
that they preserve the bodyfrom corruption for the right of
immortality.
But the Israelites didn'tembalm bodies because they
didn't hold that belief.
The Israelites believed thatthe body should be treated
respectfully and that the deadrest peacefully until the
(03:02):
resurrection of the dead.
But Joseph embalms Jacob, bothto give him dignity in Egypt but
probably, and more importantly,to prepare his body for the
long journey back to thepromised land in Canaan.
Remember, jacob made Josephswear that he would bury him in
his own land, where his fatherswere buried, and this would have
(03:24):
been a long, slow journey, andso the body has to be prepped,
for obvious reasons.
If you recall, when Jesus wentto raise Lazarus from the dead,
he was warned that by this timethe body of Lazarus would stink
because he had been dead forfour days.
I mean, his body wasdecomposing, and let's assume
(03:44):
that the journey from Egypt backto Canaan would have been
around 250 to 300 miles.
That would have taken at leasttwo weeks, assuming that you
could travel 20 miles per day.
If not, then it would havetaken even longer, and so
naturally you're not going towant to travel with a
decomposing body along the way.
So this embalming of Jacob'sbody was necessary for the trip
(04:06):
back to where he wanted to beburied.
Now Egyptians were embalmed bypriests in sort of a religious
ritual, but notice that Josephorders his physicians to embalm
Jacob.
The embalming of Jacob has noreligious significance.
It's purely a practical measurefor the return trip and so it's
(04:26):
disconnected from any pagancontext.
But verse 3 says that theembalming took 40 days and that
the Egyptians mourned for Jacobfor 70 days.
Now it's not clear whetherthese are two separate periods
or if these periods overlap.
In other words, did it take 40days to embalm and then the 70
days of mourning began, or werethe 70 days of mourning
(04:49):
including the 40 days while theembalming was being performed?
But most Jewish commentatorshold the position that the
embalming was 40 days followedby 30 days of mourning, and that
would align with the period ofpublic grief observed for both
Aaron and Moses.
And actually Jewish law, eveninto modern times, calls for a
30-day period of mourning afterburying close relatives.
(05:12):
But we continue with verses 4through 6, which read and when
the days of weeping for him werepast, joseph spoke to the
household of Pharaoh saying Ifnow I have found favor in your
eyes, please speak in the earsof Pharaoh.
Saying If now I have foundfavor in your eyes, please speak
in the ears of Pharaoh.
Saying my father made me swear,saying I am about to die In my
tomb that I have hewed out formyself in the land of Canaan.
(05:34):
There shall you bury me Now.
Therefore, let me please go upand bury my father, then I will
return.
And Pharaoh answered Go up andbury your father, as he made you
swear.
So after the period of mourningwas over, meaning the period
fixed by tradition, josephspeaks to Pharaoh's court.
(05:54):
He may not have spoken directlyto Pharaoh, because those in
mourning were considered to beunclean and so he would not be
allowed into Pharaoh's presence.
But Joseph said to them if Ihave found favor in your eyes,
go tell Pharaoh that I swore tomy father on his deathbed that I
would bury him back in hishomeland.
So please allow me to go burymy father, as I promised, and
(06:18):
then I will return.
And how does Pharaoh respond?
By telling Joseph go bury yourfather, like he made you swear.
It's interesting.
First, pharaoh recognizes theneed for a person to honor their
word, and so he's tellingJoseph to do as he promised.
But also notice that Pharaohdoesn't say and then return to
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me.
Joseph asked Pharaoh to allowhim to go back and bury Jacob
and then return to me.
Joseph asked Pharaoh to allowhim to go back and bury Jacob
and then he would return.
Pharaoh trusts Joseph enoughthat he doesn't need to tell him
to return.
He knows Joseph well enough toknow that he will honor his word
.
This is an exchange between twomen of honor and mutual respect
.
But it's also interesting tothink about a later Pharaoh we
(07:05):
read about in Exodus, who didnot know Joseph, and when asked
by Moses to let his people go,unlike this Pharaoh, he would
not, and that didn't work out sowell for him either.
But we continue in verses 7through 9, which read so Joseph
went up to bury his father.
With him went all the servantsof Pharaoh, the elders of his
(07:27):
household and all the elders ofthe land of Egypt, as well as
all the household of Joseph, hisbrothers and his father's
household.
Only their children, theirflocks and their herds were left
in the land of Goshen, andthere went up with him both
chariots and horsemen.
It was a very great company,and so what we see is a very
large funeral procession orcortege, and this funeral
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entourage includes Joseph, ofcourse, but also the leading
Egyptian officials, all thesenior dignitaries from
Pharaoh's court, as well as asmall army of chariots, along
with the households of Josephand Jacob.
Only the children and theflocks and the herds did not go
with them, and there's also anassumption that the women didn't
go, as they likely stayedbehind to look after the
(08:12):
children.
But the funeral processioncontinues in verses 10 and 11.
When they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond
the Jordan, they lamented therewith a very great and grievous
lamentation, and he made amourning for his father seven
days.
When the inhabitants of theland, the Canaanites, saw the
mourning on the threshing floorof Atad, they said this is a
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grievous mourning by theEgyptians.
Therefore, the place was namedAbel Mitzrayim.
It is beyond the Jordan, and soit tells us that they stopped
in Atad, which is betweenJericho and the Dead Sea.
Now this funeral takes place intwo stages.
The first is here, where we seethat the entire procession
stops, and there they mourn forseven days, which is the usual
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time to express great grief inIsrael and the ancient Near East
.
In fact, the Hebrew word forseven is Shiva, the term that's
used to describe the seven-dayJewish ritual of mourning for
the dead.
Jewish law obligates Jews tomourn for seven days following
the death of an immediate familymember.
But this was a great publicmourning ceremony and where the
(09:22):
Egyptians could also attend, andeven the Canaanites who were in
the land observed the fact thatthis was a very great and
solemn mourning.
This was not simply a ritualbut a time of genuine and
passionate grieving.
But then the second stage iswhere the immediate family would
continue to the cave atMachpelah where Jacob's body
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would be privately interred.
And, by the way, it tells usthat the place was named Abel
Mitzrayim.
Abel means mourning andMitzrayim means Egypt.
But we continue with verses 12through 14, reading.
Thus his sons did for him as hehad commanded them, for his
sons carried him to the land ofCanaan and buried him in the
(10:03):
cave of the field of Machpelah,to the east of Mamre, which
Abraham bought with the fieldfrom Ephron the Hittite, to
possess as a burying place.
After he had buried his father,joseph returned to Egypt with
his brothers and all who hadgone up with him to bury his
father.
And so we see that Jacob's sondid as he wanted, burying him in
(10:24):
his homeland.
And notice once again that thetext specifies where Jacob was
buried?
And as we've gone throughGenesis, have you also noticed
that every time this location ismentioned, it provides details
reiterating the fact that it waspurchased legally and from who
you know?
It's almost as if the Bibleanticipated that the Jews' right
(10:47):
to this land would be contested.
And after burying their father,they returned to Egypt, joseph
and his brothers, which is wherethe focus now turns.
And we begin reading about thatin verses 15 through 17, which
tell us when Joseph's brotherssaw that their father was dead,
they said it may be that Josephwill hate us and pay us back for
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all the evil that we did to him.
So they sent a message toJoseph saying your father gave
this command before he died.
Say to Joseph please forgivethe transgressions of your
brothers and their sin, becausethey did evil to you, and now
please forgive the transgressionof the servants of the God of
your father.
And so the story now shiftsback to the brothers and the
(11:31):
opening theme of the entireJoseph narrative, which is the
complicated relations betweenthe brothers Joseph narrative,
which is the complicatedrelations between the brothers.
And what we see is that thedeath of Jacob has now removed
the patriarch's commandingpresence from this family and,
as we see in life, with thedeath of great people,
oftentimes what follows is greatchange.
(11:52):
And when the reality of thesituation hits them, the
brothers are concerned that,with Jacob no longer there to
exercise some control over hisfamily, that Joseph will now
seek his revenge for theterrible crime they committed
against him.
And so they send Joseph amessage through a third party
rather than risking a personalconfrontation with him.
(12:13):
They're acting out of fear ofJoseph rather than having faith
in Joseph, and they're doingthis in spite of Joseph's
earlier assurances to them.
They're not acting on Joseph'sbehavior, but on their guilty
conscience, but they send wordvia a messenger, and they know
from experience that Josephlistens to and he respects his
(12:35):
father's authority.
And so they have this messengertell Joseph that before he died
, jacob gave the command forJoseph to forgive his brothers
for the evil they committedagainst him.
Now, jacob actually giving thiscommand is almost certainly a
lie.
There's no mention of itanywhere else, nor is there any
(12:56):
mention of it during Jacob'sblessings of his sons.
No, jacob never left suchinstructions.
In fact, there's no reason tobelieve that Jacob ever even
knew what his sons had done toJoseph.
If he had, it would surely havebeen mentioned, if at no other
time than surely during hisblessings while on his deathbed.
And also, had he known and thiswas in fact his wish Jacob
(13:20):
would have certainly asked thisof Joseph himself.
Notice also that the brothersdon't make an appeal to them
being brothers as a reason toforgive them.
They appeal to Jacob, butnotice how they subtly
approached even this detail.
They don't say our father gaveus this command before he died.
No, they say your father gaveus this command.
(13:43):
In other words, they'reappealing to Joseph's love and
respect for his father, tryingto personalize it even more.
And so how does Joseph respondto all of this?
Verses 18 through 21 tell usJoseph wept when they spoke to
him.
His brothers also came and felldown before him and said Behold
, we are your servants.
(14:04):
But Joseph said to them Do notfear, for am I in the place of
God?
As for you, you meant evilagainst me, but God meant it for
good, to bring it about thatmany people should be kept alive
as they are today.
So do not fear, I will providefor you and your little ones.
(14:24):
Thus he comforted them andspoke kindly to them.
So again, how does Joseph react?
He wept.
He weeps for the second time inthis short narrative.
The first time was for hisfather, jacob, and now because
of his brothers.
But why weep this time?
Perhaps it's because after 17years now of showing kindness
(14:46):
and goodwill towards them,forgiving them and providing for
them, they still misunderstandhim.
They still fear him, afraidthat he'll finally take his
revenge.
But after sending the messenger, the brothers actually come to
Joseph and they fall at his feetsaying we are your servants.
And so, just as predicted inhis childhood dreams, the
(15:08):
brothers all bow down before him.
And how ironic or fitting thatwe've now come full circle him.
And how ironic or fitting thatwe've now come full circle going
all the way back to when Josephwas a young teenager, back in
chapter 37.
And those who sold Joseph intoslavery now offer to be his
slaves.
But Joseph says to them do notfear, for am I in the place of
(15:31):
God?
You meant it for evil againstme, but God meant it for good,
to bring it about that manypeople should be kept alive.
Joseph has no interest inseeking revenge.
It goes against his theology.
He sees the bigger picture.
He understands how God hasallowed people to exercise their
free will, even through evilacts, but has still been able to
(15:54):
orchestrate events to bringabout his will.
God can still transform theevil acts of man into ultimate
good.
Here God transforms the evilacts of the brother set on
taking a life and transforms itinto saving countless thousands
of lives.
I mean, think about theultimate evil, the crucifixion
(16:15):
of Jesus.
But out of that came theultimate good salvation of
untold millions.
As the saying goes, when all wesee is the cross, god sees the
empty tomb.
But finally Joseph comfortsthem and speaks kindly to them,
telling them again do not fear,I will provide for you and your
(16:48):
children.
Joseph here is acting as hisbrother's keeper which, if you
remember, is exactly theopposite of how Cain responded
after killing Abel Way back inGenesis, chapter 4,.
When God asked, cain respondedafter killing Abel, way back in
Genesis, chapter 4.
When God asked Cain where isyour brother Abel?
And Cain arrogantly responds amI my brother's keeper?
But that brings us now to thefinal five verses in the book of
Genesis, which ends with thedeath of Joseph, and read.
(17:11):
So Joseph remained in Egypt, heand his father's house.
Joseph lived a hundred and tenyears and Joseph saw Ephraim's
children of the third generationthe children also of Machir,
the son of Manasseh, werecounted as Joseph's own.
And Joseph said to his brothersI am about to die, but God will
visit you and bring you up outof this land to the land that he
(17:33):
swore to Abraham, to Isaac andto Jacob.
Then Joseph made the sons ofIsrael swear, saying God will
surely visit you and you shallcarry up my bones from here.
So Joseph died, being 110 yearsold.
They embalmed him and he wasput in a coffin in Egypt.
So Joseph lived to be 110 yearsold, living to see his
(17:55):
great-grandchildren, or possiblyhis great-great-grandchildren,
depending on exactly who thethird generation of children is
referring to here.
But a special blessing eitherway.
But regardless, he lives to be110 years old.
Now, in a previous episode Iattempted to point out a pattern
in the lifespans of Abraham,isaac and Jacob where, if you
(18:17):
remember, there was a clearmathematical pattern to the sum
of their ages Abraham's age of175 equaled 7 times 5 squared.
Isaac's 180 years equaled 5times 6 squared.
And Jacob's 147 years equaled 3times 7 squared.
Trust me, it's much easier tosee if you actually write it
(18:39):
down.
But now we have Joseph, who isthe successor in the line.
Now the first number in eachpatriarch shows a decrease by
two, seven, five and three, andnow Joseph is one, the number
that's squared in eachpatriarch's lifespan, increased
by one, where you saw fivesquared, then six squared and
(19:00):
then seven squared.
But get this Joseph's age isarrived at by adding up the
squared numbers of each of thethree patriarchs, abraham, isaac
and Jacob, which again was fivesquared, six squared and seven
squared.
And guess what?
Five squared plus 6 squaredplus 7 squared equals you
guessed it 110.
(19:21):
What a coincidence.
And so it seems like scriptureis suggesting that Joseph is
symbolically bringing to aconclusion the age of the
patriarchs.
But before he dies, joseph saysto his brothers I'm about to
die, but God will visit you andbring you up out of this land to
the land that he swore toAbraham and to Isaac and to
(19:44):
Jacob.
Now, when he says brothers, itcould also mean relatives or the
tribes descended from hisbrothers.
I mean, after all, joseph wasthe second youngest and he is
110 years old.
But if it means brothers in thestrict sense, then some or all
of his brothers must haveoutlived him.
But when he says that God willvisit them and bring them up out
(20:07):
of the land of Egypt, joseph isspeaking a bit like a prophet
here, referring, of course, towhat we would call the Exodus
from Egypt.
By faith, joseph spoke about theExodus of the Israelites from
Egypt and gave instructionsabout his bones.
And so, just like Jacob, hemakes them swear to carry up his
bones from Egypt and with thatJoseph dies.
(20:30):
And also, like Jacob, joseph isembalmed.
Remember, jacob was embalmedfor practical reasons, due to
the long journey back to Canaanwhere he was buried, but for
Joseph it would be later beforehe would be taken back to his
homeland.
In fact it would be much later,because this oath that was
(20:50):
sworn to Joseph is ultimatelyfilled by a man named Moses.
Was sworn to Joseph isultimately filled by a man named
Moses.
In Exodus 13, 19, we read Mosestook the bones of Joseph with
him, for Joseph had made thesons of Israel solemnly swear,
saying God will surely visit youand you shall carry up my bones
with you from here.
And so with that, we have cometo an end of our study through
(21:17):
the book of Genesis, we've movedfrom creation to a garden and
ended in a coffin in Egypt.
But I'll leave you with thisthought the Hebrew word for
coffin, aaron, is the same wordfor ark.
As in the Ark of the Covenant,joseph was placed in the Aaron,
the Ten Commandments were placedin the Aaron, and so, while the
Israelites were wandering inthe desert after the Exodus,
(21:40):
they carried two shrines withthem, one in the coffin carrying
the bones of Joseph, the othercarrying the Ten Commandments
written by the living God.
And, as we've seen and as I'vegiven several examples, for
Joseph was a type or a model, aforeshadowing of Jesus, and some
may wonder why was it that theArk of the Dead was even allowed
(22:03):
to come next to the Ark of theLiving?
Well, maybe one possible answerto the question as to why is
that?
The dead man enshrined in theone Ark fulfilled the
commandments enshrined in theother.
Now, of course, only JesusChrist actually did that.
Joseph was only a foreshadowingof the one who was to come, and
(22:23):
it reminds us that Joseph hadfaith that he would be brought
up out of Egypt to his homeland,that God would fulfill his
promise, and my prayer for allof you is that you would have
faith in Jesus Christ so that,even though you die because of
your faith and trust in him,like Joseph, god will come to
(22:45):
you and take you up out of thisland, that, after death, you
will also be brought into theplace promised you, the city and
the heavenly home God hasprepared for you.
I wanted to go home, home, homewhen I wanted to go home, home,
(23:23):
home when I wanted to go home,home, home.
Thank you.
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