Genesis 50)
1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face (see 42:24), and wept upon him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father (these were Egyptians and they were good at): and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; {for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed} (Israelites never embalmed. Hence the need for this parenthetical explanation): and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. (And why not? Joseph had saved every living Egyptian)
4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh (he could not speak before, for, in mourning, Egyptians never shaved, and Joseph, therefore, was not presentable. See 41:14), saying, "If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, (Pharaoh loved him)
5 'My father made me swear, saying, 'Lo, I die: in my grave which I have dug (hence, probably rock-hewn) for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt you bury me.' Now therefore let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.' "
6 And Pharaoh (he was one of the shepherd kings) said, "Go up, and bury your father, according as he made you swear."
7 And (vv.7-10 emphasizing each party) 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,
8 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.}
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. (he did not spare anything)
10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad (= thorn), which is beyond Jordan (= the descender), and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. (11 "and". #11=disorder, disorganization)
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad (probably named after the owner, as 2 Sam.6:6 "Nachor's", 2 Sam.24:16 "Araunah's"), they said, "This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians:" wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim (= the mourning of the Egyptians), which is beyond Jordan.
12 And his sons did to him according as he commanded them:
13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried (see Acts 7:16) him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought (cp. 23:16) with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. (God doesn't lose anyone, see Amos 9:9-15)
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Bł A 15-21. Brethren after Jacob's death.
B 22,23. Joseph's living in Egypt, and age.
C 24,25. Charges.
B 26-. Joseph's death in Egypt, and age.
A -26. Brethren after Joseph's death.
15 And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "Joseph will perhaps hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did to him." (they were on a guilt trip. They haven't learned yet about forgiveness)
16 And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, "Your father did command before he died, saying, (Did Jacob say this?)
17 'So shall you all say to Joseph, 'Forgive, I pray you now, the trespass of your brethren, and their sin; for they did to you evil:' ' and now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of the Elohim of your father." And Joseph wept (because they didn't get the picture, see 42:24) when they spoke to him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face (cp. 37:7-10); and they said, "Behold, we be your servants." (be careful, don't try to worship man)
19 And Joseph said to them, "Fear not: for I revere (love) God. (Type of Christ)
20 But as for you, you all thought evil against me; but God meant it to good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. (see 45:5)
21 Now therefore fear you all not: I will nourish you, and your little ones." And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them (= spoke to their hearts).
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. (#100 = children of promise, #10 = ordinal perfection)
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third [generation]: the children also of Machir (= sold. Cp. Num.26:29; 32:29. Josh.17:1) the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. (i.e. were adopted by him as soon as they were born. See 30:3)
C D 24-. Death approaching.
E y -24. Assurance of return to Canaan.
z 25-. Oath.
E y -25-. Assurance of return to Canaan.
D 26. Death experienced.
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, "I die: and God will surely visit you (Ex.3"16. Used for great emphasis. See 26:28. This was the faith Joseph referred to in Heb.11:22. He had "heard". Rom.10:17 and believed what God had said to Abraham, Gen.12:7; 15:18; 13:14,15. Isaac-26:3,5. Jacob-28:13; 35:12; 48:1-4. All 3 names united and discriminated in Ex.2:24; 3:6; Ps.105:9,10. And cp. Ex.6:3,4. Deut.11:21. Luke 1:72,73 &c.), and bring you out of this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." (Promise of Abrahamic covenant still being fulfilled to this day.)
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you all shall carry up my bones from this place with you". (Which they did. See Ex.13:19. Josh.24:32. So Jacob had charged them, Gen.49:29,30, and so they had done, 50:7-13)
1635 B.C.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old:
and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Thus the Book of Genesis begins with God, and ends with man. It begins with the creation of the heavens above, and ends with "a coffin in Egypt".)