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Genesis Chapter
Fifty
Genesis 50
Outlines
New King James Version
(NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO
GENESIS 50
This chapter contains a
short account of what happened from the death of Jacob to the death of Joseph,
and is chiefly concerned with the funeral of Jacob; it first gives an account
how Joseph was affected with his father's death, of his orders to the
physicians to embalm him, and of the time of their embalming him, and of the
Egyptians mourning for him, Genesis 50:1, next
of his request to Pharaoh to give him leave to go and bury his father in
Canaan, and his grant of it, Genesis 50:4 and
then of the grand funeral procession thither, the mourning made for Jacob, and
his interment according to his orders, Genesis 50:7 upon
the return of Joseph and his brethren to Egypt, they fearing his resentment of
their former usage of him, entreat him to forgive them; which they said they
did at the direction of their father, to which Joseph readily agreed, and
comforted them, and spoke kindly to them, and bid them not fear any hurt from
him, for whatever were their intention, God meant it, and had overruled it for
good, Genesis 50:14 and
the chapter is concluded with an account of Joseph's age and death, and of his
posterity he saw before his death, and of the charge he gave to his brethren to
carry his bones with them, when they should depart from Egypt, Genesis 50:22.
Genesis 50:1. Then Joseph
fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him.
YLT 1And Joseph falleth on his father's face, and weepeth
over him, and kisseth him;
And Joseph fell
upon his father's face,....
Laid his own face to the
cold face and pale cheeks of his dead father, out of his tender affection for
him, and grief at parting with him; this shows that Joseph had been present
from the time his father sent for him, and all the while he had been blessing
the tribes, and giving orders about his funeral:
and wept upon
him;
which to do for and over
the dead is neither unlawful nor unbecoming, provided it is not carried to
excess, as the instances of David, Christ, and others show:
and kissed him;
taking his farewell of
him, as friends used to do, when parting and going a long journey, as death is.
This was practised by Heathens, who had a notion that the soul went out of the
body by the mouth, and they in this way received it into themselves: so
Augustus Caesar died in the kisses of Livia, and Drusius in the embraces and
kisses of CaesarF23Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Rom. l. 1. c. 5. .
Joseph no doubt at this time closed the eyes of his father also, as it is said
he should, and as was usual; see Genesis 46:4.
Genesis 50:2. 2 And
Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the
physicians embalmed Israel.
YLT 2and Joseph commandeth his servants, the
physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalm Israel;
And Joseph
commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father,....
Which he did, not merely
because it was the custom of the Egyptians, but because it was necessary, his
father's corpse being to be carried into Canaan to be interred there, which
would require time; and therefore it was proper to make use of some means for
the preservation of it, and these men were expert in this business, which was a
branch of the medicinal art, as PlinyF24Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c.
37. and MelaF25De Orbis Situ, l. 1. c. 9. suggest; and of these
Joseph had more than one, as great personages have their physicians ready to
attend them on any occasion, as kings and princes, and such was Joseph, being
viceroy of Egypt. HerodotusF26Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 84. says the
Egyptians had physicians peculiar to every disease, one for one disease, and
another for another; and HomerF1Odyss. 4. speaks of them as the most
skilful of all men; though the Septuagint render the word by ενταφιασται, the "buriers", such who took care of the burial of
persons, to provide for it, and among the rest to embalm, dry, and roll up the
bodies in linen:
and the
physicians embalmed him;
the manner of embalming,
as HerodotusF2lbid. c. 86. relates, was this,"first with a
crooked iron instrument they extracted the brain through the nostrils, which
they got out partly by this means, and partly by the infusion of medicines;
then with a sharp Ethiopian stone they cut about the flank, and from thence
took out all the bowels, which, when they had cleansed, they washed with palm
wine (or wine of dates), and after that again with odours, bruised; then they
filled the bowels (or hollow place out of which they were taken) with pure
myrrh beaten, and with cassia and other odours, frankincense excepted, and sewed
them up; after which they seasoned (the corpse) with nitre, hiding (or covering
it therewith) seventy days, and more than that they might not season it; the
seventy days being ended, they washed the corpse, and wrapped the whole body in
bands of fine linen, besmearing it with gum, which gum the Egyptians use
generally instead of glue.'And Diodorus SiculusF3Bibliothec. l. 1.
p. 81,82. , who gives much the same account, says, that every part was retained
so perfectly, that the very hairs of the eyebrows, and the whole form of the
body, were invariable, and the features might be known; and the same writer
tells us, that the expense of embalming was different; the highest price was a
talent of silver, about one hundred and eighty seven pounds and ten shillings
of our money, the middlemost twenty pounds, and the last and lowest were very
small. The embalmers he calls ταριχευται, and says they
were in great esteem, and reckoned worthy of much honour, and were very
familiar with the priests, and might go into holy places when they pleased, as
the priests themselves.
Genesis 50:3. 3 Forty
days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed;
and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
YLT 3and they fulfil for him forty days, for so
they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy
days.
Forty days were
fulfilled for him,....
Were spent in embalming
him:
for so are
fulfilled the days of those that are embalmed;
so long the body lay in
the pickle, in ointment of cedar, myrrh and cinnamon, and other things, that it
might soak and penetrate thoroughly into it: and so Diodorus SiculusF4lBibliothec.
l. 1. p. 82. says, that having laid more than thirty days in such a state, it
was delivered to the kindred of the deceased:
and the
Egyptians mourned for him seventy days;
during the time of their
embalming him; for longer than seventy days the body might not lie in the
pickle, as before observed, from Herodotus. According to Diodorus SiculusF5lbid.
p. 65. , the Egyptians used to mourn for their kings seventy two days: the
account he gives is, that"upon the death of a king, all Egypt went into a
common mourning, tore their garments, shut up their temples, forbid sacrifices,
kept not the feasts for seventy two days, put clay upon their headsF6Vid.
Pompon. Mela de Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 9. , girt linen clothes under their
breasts; men and women, two or three hundred together, went about twice a day,
singing in mournful verses the praises of the deceased; they abstained from
animal food, and from wine, and all dainty things; nor did they use baths, nor
ointments, nor lie in soft beds, nor dared to use venery, but, as if it was for
the death of a beloved child, spent the said days in sorrow and mourning.'Now
these seventy days here are either a round number for seventy two, or two are
taken from them, as Quistorpius suggests, to make a difference between Jacob,
and a king of theirs, who yet being the father of their viceroy, they honoured
in such a manner. Jarchi accounts for the number thus, forty for embalming, and
thirty for mourning; which latter was the usual time for mourning with the Jews
for principal men, and which the Egyptians added to their forty of embalming;
see Numbers 20:29.
Genesis 50:4. 4 Now
when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of
Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the
hearing of Pharaoh, saying,
YLT 4And the days of his weeping pass away, and
Joseph speaketh unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, `If, I pray you, I have
found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
And when the
days of his mourning were past,....
The forty days before
mentioned, in which both the Egyptians and Jacob's family mourned for him. An
Arabic writerF7Elmacinus, p. 43. apud Hottinger. Smegma, c. 8. p.
380. says, the Egyptians mourned for Jacob forty days, which was the time of
embalming; but the text is express for sventy days:
Joseph spake
unto the house of Pharaoh;
to the court of Pharaoh,
the principal men there; so the Targum of Jonathan and the Septuagint version,
to the great men or princes of the house of Pharaoh: it may seem strange that
Joseph, being next to Pharaoh in the administration of the government, should
make use of any to speak for him to Pharaoh on the following account. It may
be, that Joseph was not in so high an office, and in so much power and
authority, as in the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine; and
it is certain that that branch of his office, respecting the corn, must have
ceased; or this might have been a piece of policy in Joseph to make these men
his friends by such obliging treatment, and by this means prevent their making
objections to his suit, or plotting against him in his absence; or if it was
the custom in Egypt, as it afterwards was in Persia, that no man might appear
before the king in a mourning habit, Esther 4:2 this
might be the reason of his not making application in person: moreover, it might
not seem so decent for him to come to court, and leave the dead, and his
father's family, in such circumstances as they were: besides, he might speak to
them not in person, but by a messenger, since it is highly probable he was now
in Goshen, at a distance from Pharaoh's court; unless it can be supposed that
these were some of Pharaoh's courtiers who were come to him in Goshen, to
condole his father's death:
saying, if now
I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh;
however, as these men had
the ear of Pharaoh, and an interest in him, Joseph entreats the favour of them
to move it to him:
saying,
as follows, in his name.
Genesis 50:5. 5 ‘My
father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for
myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please
let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’”
YLT 5My father caused me to swear, saying, Lo, I
am dying; in my burying-place which I have prepared for myself in the land of
Canaan, there dost thou bury me; and now, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury
my father, and return;'
My father made
me swear, saying, lo, I die,....
Having reason to believe
he should not live long, he sent for Joseph, and took an oath of him to do as
follows; this Joseph would have observed to Pharaoh, to show the necessity of
his application to him, and the reasonableness of his request. The words of
dying men are always to be regarded; their dying charge is always attended to
by those who have a regard to duty and honour; but much more when an oath is
annexed to them, which among all nations was reckoned sacred:
in the grave
which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me;
it was usual with persons
in their lifetime to prepare graves or sepulchres for themselves, as appears
from the instances of Shebna, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, and so Jacob
provided one for himself; and when he is said to "dig" it, it is not
to be supposed that he dug it himself, but ordered it to be dug by his
servants, and very probably this was done at the time he buried Leah. Onkelos
renders it, "which I have bought", possessed or obtained by purchase;
and so the word is used in Hosea 3:2 but the
cave of Machpelah, in which Jacob's grave was, was not bought by him, but by
Abraham; for to say, as some Jewish writersF8R. David Kimchi Sepher
Shorash. rad. כרה Ben Melech in loc. suggest, that he
bought Esau's part in it with a mess of pottage, is without foundation; it is
better to take the words in the first sense. And now, since it was Jacob's
desire, yea, his dying charge, to be buried in the grave he had provided for
himself, the mention of this to an Egyptian king could not fail of having its
desired effect; since the Egyptians, as the historianF9Diodor. Sic.
Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47. says, were more careful about their graves than about
their houses:
now therefore
let me go up, I pray thee;
to the land of Canaan,
which lay higher than Egypt:
and bury my
father;
there, in the grave he has
provided for himself:
and I will come
again:
to the land of Egypt; this
he would have said, lest it should be thought he only contrived this to get an
opportunity of going away to Canaan with all his wealth and riches.
Genesis 50:6. 6 And
Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
YLT 6and Pharaoh saith, `Go up and bury thy
father, as he caused thee to swear.'
And Pharaoh
said,....
To Joseph, by the
courtiers that waited upon him at Joseph's request, who having delivered it to
him had this answer:
go up, and bury
thy father, as he made thee swear;
the oath seems to be the
principal thing that influenced Pharaoh to grant the request, it being a sacred
thing, and not to be violated; otherwise, perhaps, he would not have chosen
that Joseph should have been so long absent from him, and might have thought a
grave in Egypt, and an honourable interment there, which he would have spared
no cost to have given, might have done as well, or better.
Genesis 50:7. 7 So
Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of
Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
YLT 7And Joseph goeth up to bury his father, and
go up with him do all the servants of Pharaoh, elders of his house, and all the
elders of the land of Egypt,
And Joseph went
up to bury his father,....
According to his request;
having obtained leave of Pharaoh, and being desirous of paying his last
respects, and doing his last office to so dear a parent, with all the honour
and decency this service could be done with:
and with him
went up all the servants of Pharaoh;
a great number of them,
some must be left to wait upon him; who these were the next words explain:
the elders of
his house:
his senators and
counsellors, his courtiers and principal officers of state:
and all the
elders of the land of Egypt;
governors of provinces and
cities, the chief officers, civil and military; all which was done by the
orders of Pharaoh, out of respect to Joseph and his family, and to make the
funeral procession grand and honourable.
Genesis 50:8. 8 as
well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only
their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of
Goshen.
YLT 8and all the house of Joseph, and his
brethren, and the house of his father; only their infants, and their flock, and
their herd, have they left in the land of Goshen;
And all the
house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house,....
Joseph and his two sons,
and his servants, and his eleven brethren and their sons that were grown up,
and as many of his father's domestics as could be spared attended the funeral:
only their
little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen;
there must be some
servants left, though they are not mentioned, to take care of the little ones,
and of the flocks and herds; and these being left behind, plainly show they
intended to return again, and did not make this an excuse to get out of the
land.
Genesis 50:9. 9 And
there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great
gathering.
YLT 9and there go up with him both chariot and
horsemen, and the camp is very great.
And there went
up with him both chariots and horsemen,....
Which was done both for
the sake of honour and grandeur, and for safety and defence, should they be
attacked by robbers in the deserts, or opposed by the Canaanites, and be
refused the use of the cave of Machpelah, and the right to it disputed:
and it was a
very great company;
both for quantity and
quality; the attendants at this funeral were very numerous, and many of them
great personages, and upon the whole was a very honourable company, as the wordF11כבד "honorabilis"; so Abendana. signifies, and
made a very great figure and grand appearance:
or a very great
army
F12המחנה "exercitus ille"; Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,
Drusius, Schmidt. , consisting of chariots and horsemen fit for war; if there
should be any occasion for it: and the JewsF13T. Bab. Sotah, fol.
13. 1. Targum Jon. in ver. 13. Pirke Eliezer, c. 39. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol.
5. 1. pretend that Esau came out with a large army, and met Joseph at the cave
of Machpelah, and endeavoured to hinder the burial of Jacob there, where he
lost his life, having his head struck off with the sword of Chushim, the son of
Dan: some say it was Zepho, the grandson of Esau, with the sons of Esau, that
made the disturbance there, on which a battle ensued, in which Joseph was the
conqueror, and Zepho was taken captive; see Gill on Genesis 36:11, the
JewsF14R. Bechai apud Hottinger. Smegma, c. 8. p. 381. give us the
order and manner of the above procession thus; first Joseph, next the servants
of Pharaoh, or the princes, then the elders of the court of Pharaoh, then all
the elders of the land of Egypt, then the whole house of Joseph, next to them
the brethren of Joseph, who were followed by their eldest sons, and after them
were the chariots, and last of all the horses.
Genesis 50:10. 10 Then
they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan,
and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed
seven days of mourning for his father.
YLT 10And they come unto the threshing-floor of
Atad, which [is] beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great
and very grievous; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
And they came
to the threshingfloor of Atad,....
Which was either the name
of a man the owner of it, or of a place so called from the thorns and brambles
which grew here, and with which the threshingfloor was surrounded, as Jarchi
says, see Judges 9:14 and it
was usual to make a hedge of thorns round about a threshingfloorF15T.
Bab. Sotah, fol. 13. 1. & Gloss. in ib. Aruch in voc. גרן
fol. 39. 4. , that it might be preserved; mention is made in the TalmudF16T.
Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 40. 1. of the wilderness of Atad, perhaps so called from
the thorns and brambles in it: Jerom saysF17De locis Heb. fol. 87.
G. it was three miles from Jericho and two from Jordan, and was in his time
called Bethagla, the place of a circuit, because there they went about after
the manner of mourners at the funeral of Jacob. This, according to someF18Bunting's
Travels, p. 79, 80. , was two hundred and forty miles from On, where Joseph was
supposed to live, sixteen from Jerusalem, and forty from Hebron, where Jacob
was buried: nay, AustinF19Quaest. is Gen. l. 1. p. 54. "inter
opera ejus", tom. 4. says it was above fifty miles from that place, as
affirmed by those who well knew those parts:
which is beyond
Jordan;
as it was to those that
came out of Egypt:
and there they
mourned with a great and very sore lamentation;
being now entered into the
country where the corpse was to be interred; and perhaps they might choose to
stop here and express tokens of mourning, that the inhabitants might be
apprised of their design in coming, which was not to invade them and make war
upon them, only to bury their dead: this mourning seems to be made chiefly by
the Egyptians, which was done in an external way, and it may be by persons
brought with them for that purpose; since both the name of the place after
given was from their mourning there, and the mourning of Joseph is next
observed as distinct from theirs:
and he made a
mourning for his father seven days;
which was the time of
mourning, afterwards observed by the Jews, see 1 Samuel 31:13,
this Joseph ordered and observed after he had buried his father, as Aben Ezra
says, is affirmed by their ancient Rabbins, and perhaps might be at this same
place upon their return.
Genesis 50:11. 11 And when the inhabitants
of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad,
they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its
name was called Abel Mizraim,[a] which is
beyond the Jordan.
YLT 11and the inhabitant of the land, the
Canaanite, see the mourning in the threshing-floor of Atad, and say, `A
grievous mourning [is] this to the Egyptians;' therefore hath [one] called its
name `The mourning of the Egyptians,' which [is] beyond the Jordan.
And when the
inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,....
Who were at this time in
the possession of the country where the threshingfloor of Atad was: when they
saw the
mourning in the floor of Atad;
for so large a company of
people, and such a grand funeral procession, brought multitudes from all the
neighbouring parts to see the sight; and when they observed the lamentation
that was made, saw their mournful gestures and actions, and heard their doleful
moan:
they said, this
is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians;
they concluded they must
have lost some great man, to make such a lamentation for him:
wherefore the
name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan;
they changed the name of
the place, and gave it another upon this occasion, which signifies the mourning
of Egypt or of the Egyptians, they being the principal persons that used the
outward and more affecting tokens of mourning; though the whole company might
be taken for Egyptians by the Canaanites, because they came out of Egypt.
Genesis 50:12. 12 So
his sons did for him just as he had commanded them.
YLT 12And his sons do to him so as he commanded
them,
And his sons
did unto him according as he commanded them.
Not only Joseph, but all
the sons of Jacob were concerned in the burial of him, being all charged by him
with it, and who were obedient to his commands as follows; see Genesis 49:29.
Genesis 50:13. 13 For
his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the
field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron
the Hittite as property for a burial place.
YLT 13and his sons bear him away to the land of
Canaan, and bury him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham
bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, from Ephron the
Hittite, on the front of Mamre.
For his sons
carried him into the land of Canaan,....
That is, they took care
that he was carried there, as he desired to be; for it cannot be thought that
they carried him on their shoulders thither, in like manner as the devout men
carried Stephen to his burial, Acts 8:2.
and buried him
in the cave of the field of Machpelah, &c.
the very place where he
chose to be buried, Genesis 47:29.
Genesis 50:14. 14 And
after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers
and all who went up with him to bury his father.
YLT 14And Joseph turneth back to Egypt, he and his
brethren, and all who are going up with him to bury his father, after his
burying his father.
And Joseph
returned into Egypt,....
As he promised he would, Genesis 50:5.
he and his
brethren;
the eleven sons of Jacob;
for though they had not made the same promise, nor Joseph for them, yet they
returned, having left their little ones, flocks and herds, in Egypt:
and all that
went up with him to bury his father;
the elders and great men
of the land of Egypt, with their attendants:
after he had
buried his father;
in the land of Canaan,
which, though given to the seed of Jacob, the time was not come for them to
possess it, nor the time of their departure out of Egypt thither, which was to
be a good while hence, and after another manner.
Genesis 50:15. 15 When
Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph
will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.”
YLT 15And the brethren of Joseph see that their
father is dead, and say, `Peradventure Joseph doth hate us, and doth certainly
return to us all the evil which we did with him.'
And when
Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead,....
And buried; for this and
what follows were after their return to Egypt, from the burial of their father;
though some think it was before, and as soon as they saw their father was dead,
when they thought it a proper time, while Joseph's heart was tender and
affected with his father's death, to compromise matters with him: but there is
no reason to invert the order of the narration, for this "seeing" is
not to be understood of their bodily sight, but of the contemplation of their
minds; they considered with themselves that their father was now dead and
buried, they had lost an affectionate parent, who was concerned for the welfare
and peace of all his family, but what a turn things would now take they knew
not:
they said,
Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil
which we did unto him;
their sin came fresh to
their remembrance, guilt arose in their consciences and flew in their faces,
and this caused fear and distrust where there was no reason for it, and led
them to treat Joseph's character very ill; who was far from being of such a
temper and disposition suggested by them, as if he retained hatred in his
breast, and was of a revengeful spirit, only hid it during his father's life,
because he would not grieve him.
Genesis 50:16. 16 So
they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he
commanded, saying,
YLT 16And they give a charge for Joseph, saying,
`Thy father commanded before his death, saying,
And they sent a
messenger unto Joseph,....
Not Bilhah, as the Targums
of Jonathan and Jerusalem, nor her sons, Dan and Naphtali, as Jarchi, grounding
it on Genesis 37:1 though
it is not improbable that some from among themselves were deputed, who were
most interested in Joseph; since it is not very likely they would commit such
an affair to a stranger or to a servant; and the most proper persons to be sent
on such an errand seem to be Judah and Benjamin, the latter as having had no
concern in the affair of selling him, and was his own brother by father and
mother's side, and very dear to him; and the former, because he saved his life,
when the rest, excepting Reuben, were for shedding his blood, and had endeared
himself also to Joseph, by his tender concern both for his father and his
brother Benjamin; however, they thought fit first to sound Joseph by a
messenger, how he stood affected to them, before they appeared in a body in
person, to whom they gave a charge, as the words may be rendered, "they
commanded unto Joseph"F20ויצוו אל־יוסף "et mandaverunt ad Joseph", Montanus;
"nuntio misso", Pagninus; "aliquos ad Josephum", Junius
& Tremellius, Piscator. ; that is, they commanded those that were deputed
by them to him:
saying, thy
father did command before he died;
some think, this was no
better than a lie, which their fear prompted them to; and that they framed the
following story, the more to work upon the mind of Joseph, and dispose it in
their favour; seeing it is a question whether Jacob ever knew anything of the
affair of their ill usage to Joseph; since otherwise it would have been, in all
likelihood, taken notice of in his last dying words, as well as the affair of
Reuben, and that of Simeon and Levi; and besides, had he been apprised of it,
he knew such was the clemency and generosity of Joseph, that he had nothing to
fear from him, nor could he entertain any suspicion of a malevolent disposition
in him towards his brethren, or that he would ever use them ill for former
offences:
saying,
as follows:
Genesis 50:17. 17 ‘Thus
you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your
brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass
of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to
him.
YLT 17Thus ye do say to Joseph, I pray thee, bear,
I pray thee, with the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for they
have done thee evil; and now, bear, we pray thee, with the transgression of the
servants of the God of thy father;' and Joseph weepeth in their speaking unto
him.
So shall ye say
unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their
sin,....
Their very great sin, and
therefore more words than one are used to express it: unless this repetition
should be intended, and signifies that their crime was a trespass against God,
and a sin against their brother; and however they are directed to ask
forgiveness for it, and urge the relation they stood in to Joseph, in order to
obtain it, which they were ready to acknowledge as a very great evil, and of
which they repented:
and now, we
pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father;
they urge not only the
common relation they stood in to Jacob, but what they stood in to the God of
Jacob, being his servants, his worshippers, as Joseph also was; and therefore,
being his brethren not only in nature but in religion and grace, they hoped he
would forgive their trespass:
and Joseph wept
when they spake unto him;
by their messenger; being
troubled that they should be in such anxiety and distress of mind, which he had
a fellow feeling with, and that they should have no better opinion of him, but
entertain such distrust of him, notwithstanding all the kindness he had shown
them, as to imagine that he should ever deal hardly with them for their former
ill usage of him, which was forgiven and forgotten by him long ago.
Genesis 50:18. 18 Then
his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold,
we are your servants.”
YLT 18And his brethren also go and fall before him,
and say, `Lo, we [are] to thee for servants.'
And his
brethren also went,....
The messengers being
returned to them, and acquainting them with what Joseph had said, they took
courage and went from Goshen to Joseph's house or palace, be it where it may:
and fell down
before his face;
in an humble suppliant
manner:
and they said,
behold, we be thy servants;
they were content to be
so, would he but forgive their sin, and not resent their ill behaviour to him;
thus they further fulfilled his dream of the eleven stars making obeisance to
him, Genesis 37:9.
Genesis 50:19. 19 Joseph
said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
YLT 19And Joseph saith unto them, `Fear not, for
[am] I in the place of God?
And Joseph said
unto them, fear not,....
That any hurt would be
done by him to them, or that he would use them ill for their treatment of him:
for am I in the
place of God?
to receive such homage
from you, that you should be my servants, as Saadiah Gaon gives the sense; or
rather to take vengeance for injury done, which belongs to God alone: or,
"am I not under God"F21התחת אלהים אני "annon enim sub
Deo sum?" Vatablus. ? subject to him, a servant of his, and why should you
be mine? nor is it in my power, if I had a will to it, to change his purposes,
to alter his providences, or contradict his will, and do hurt to those whom God
hath blessed; and so may have regard to the late patriarchal benediction of his
father, under the direction of the Holy Spirit: or, "am I in the place of
God?" and under him a father of them, as he had been a provider for them,
and a supporter of them, and still would be.
Genesis 50:20. 20 But
as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in
order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
YLT 20As for you, ye devised against me evil -- God
devised it for good, in order to do as [at] this day, to keep alive a numerous
people;
But as for you,
ye thought evil against me,....
That must be said and
owned, that their intentions were bad; they thought to have contradicted his
dreams, and made them of none effect, to have token away his life, or however
to have made him a slave all his days:
but God meant it unto good;
he designed good should
come by it, and he brought good out of it: this shows that this action, which
was sinful in itself, fell under the decree of God, or was the object of it,
and that there was a concourse of providence in it; not that God was the author
of sin, which neither his decree about it, nor the concourse of providence with
the action as such supposes; he leaving the sinner wholly to his own will in
it, and having no concern in the ataxy or disorder of it, but in the issue,
through his infinite wisdom, causes it to work for good, as follows:
to bring to
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive;
the nation of the
Egyptians and the neighbouring nations, as the Canaanites and others, and
particularly his father's family: thus the sin of the Jews in crucifying
Christ, which, notwithstanding the determinate counsel of God, they most freely
performed, was what wrought about the greatest good, the salvation of men.
Genesis 50:21. 21 Now therefore, do not be
afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and
spoke kindly to them.
YLT 21and now, fear not: I do nourish you and your
infants;' and he comforteth them, and speaketh unto their heart.
Now therefore,
fear ye not,....
Which, is repeated to
dispossess them of every fear they might entertain of him on any account
whatever:
I will nourish
you, and your little ones;
provide food for them, and
their families, not only for themselves and their sons, now grown up, but their
grandchildren and even the youngest and latest of their families should share
in his favours:
and he
comforted them, and spake kindly to them;
even "to their
heart"F23על לבם
"ad cor eorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, &c. ; such things as
were quite pleasing and agreeable to them, served to banish their fears, revive
their spirits, and afford comfort to them. Just so God and Christ do with
backsliding sinners, and would have done with his own people by his servants;
see Isaiah 40:1.
Genesis 50:22. 22 So
Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one
hundred and ten years.
YLT 22And Joseph dwelleth in Egypt, he and the
house of his father, and Joseph liveth a hundred and ten years,
And Joseph
dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house,....
Comfortably, quietly, and
in great prosperity, not only he, but his brethren and their families, as long
as he lived:
and Joseph
lived one hundred and ten years;
and all but seventeen of
them in Egypt, for at that age it was when he was brought thither: thirteen
years he lived in Potiphar's house, and in prison, for he was thirty years of
age when he was brought to Pharaoh, and stood before him, and fourscore years
he lived in the greatest honour and prosperity that a man could well wish for.
Genesis 50:23. 23 Joseph
saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir,
the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.
YLT 23and Joseph looketh on Ephraim's sons of the
third [generation]; sons also of Machir, son of Manasseh, have been born on the
knees of Joseph.
And Joseph saw
Ephraim's children of the third generation,....
His great grandchildren's
children; and which shows, as most interpreters observe, that Jacob's
prediction, that Ephraim should be the greatest and most numerous, very early
began to take place:
and the
children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's
knees;
Machir had but one son by
his first wife, whose name was Gilead; but marrying a second wife, he had two
sons, Peresh and Sheresh; see 1 Chronicles 7:14
who might be born before the death of Joseph, and be said to be brought up upon
his knees, being educated by him, and often took up in his lap, and dandled on
his knees, as grandfathers, being fond of their grandchildren, are apt to do.
Genesis 50:24. 24 And
Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and
bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob.”
YLT 24And Joseph saith unto his brethren, `I am
dying, and God doth certainly inspect you, and hath caused you to go up from
this land, unto the land which He hath sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob.'
And Joseph said
unto his brethren, I die,....
Some time before his death
he called them together, and observed to them, that he expected to die in a
little time, as all must:
and God will
surely visit you;
not in a way of wrath and
vindictive justice, as he sometimes does, but in a way of love, grace, and
mercy:
and bring you
out of this land;
the land of Egypt, in
which they then dwelt:
unto the land
which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob;
meaning the land of
Canaan, which he swore to those patriarchs that he would give to their
posterity.
Genesis 50:25. 25 Then
Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit
you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
YLT 25And Joseph causeth the sons of Israel to
swear, saying, `God doth certainly inspect you, and ye have brought up my bones
from this [place].'
And Joseph took
an oath of the children of Israel,....
Not of his brethren only,
but of their posterity, as many of them as were now grown up, that so it might
be communicated from one to another, and become well known to that generation
which should depart out of Egypt:
saying, God
will surely visit you;
which he repeats for the
certainty of it, and that it might be observed:
and ye shall carry
up my bones from hence;
when they should go from
thence to Canaan's land; he did not desire them to carry him thither when he
should die, which he knew would give umbrage to the Egyptians, and they would
not be so able to obtain leave to do it as he had for his father. This was
accordingly done; when Israel went out of Egypt, Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him, and they were buried in Shechem; see Exodus 13:19.
Genesis 50:26. 26 So
Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him,
and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
YLT 26And Joseph dieth, a son of an hundred and ten
years, and they embalm him, and he is put into a coffin in Egypt.
So Joseph died,
being an hundred and ten years old,....
The exact age assigned him
by PolyhistorF24Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425. ,
from Demetrius an Heathen. The Jewish writersF25Shalshalet Hakabala,
fol. 4. 1. & T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 13. 2. say, that he died the first of the
twelve patriarchs, though he was the youngest of them; he died, according to
Bishop UsherF26Annalea Vet. Test. A. M. 2369. , in the year of the
world 2369, and before Christ 1635:
and they
embalmed him;
his servants, the
physicians, according to the manner of the Egyptians, and as his father Jacob
had been embalmed; see Gill on Genesis 50:2,
and he was put
into a coffin in Egypt;
in an ark or chest, very
probably into such an one in which the Egyptians had used to put dead bodies
when embalmed; which HerodotusF1Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 86, 91.
calls a θηκα, or chest, and
which they set up against a wall: in what part of Egypt this coffin was put is
not certain, it was most likely in Goshen, and in the care and custody of some
of Joseph's posterity; so Leo Africanus saysF2Descriptio Africae, l.
8. p. 722. , that he was buried in Fioum, the same with the Heracleotic nome,
supposed to be Goshen; See Gill on Genesis 47:11, and
was dug up by Moses, when the children of Israel departed. The Targum of
Jonathan says, it was sunk in the midst of the Nile of Egypt; and an Arabic
writerF3Patricides, p. 24. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. c. 8. p.
379. says, the corpse of Joseph was put into a marble coffin, and cast into the
Nile: the same thing is said in the TalmudF4T. Bab. Sotah, c. 1.
fol. 13. 1. , from whence the story seems to be taken, and where the coffin is
said to be a molten one, either of iron or brass; which might arise, as Bishop
Patrick observes, from a mistake of the place where such bodies were laid;
which were let down into deep wells or vaults, and put into a cave at the
bottom of those wells, some of which were not far from the river Nile; and such
places have been searched for mummies in late times, where they have been
found, and the coffins and clothes sound and incorrupt. And so some of the
Jewish writers sayF5Sepher Hajaschar, p. 118. apud Wagenseil Sotah,
p. 300. he was buried on the banks of the river Sihor, that is, the Nile; but
othersF6In T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (c. 1. fol. 13.1.) say he was
buried in the sepulchre of the kings, which is much more likely.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New
King James Version (NKJV)
a.
Genesis 50:11
Literally Mourning of Egypt