Genesis 50
DOYLY— seven days.] This was the time of publick mourning among the Jews in succeeding ages, as appears from 1 Sam. xxxi. 13; Eeclus. xxii. 12; Judith xvi. 24. They rejoiced the same length of time at solemn weddings; see chap. xxix. 27. Bp. Patrick.
Thus died, and thus was honoured in his death, the founder of the Jewish nation, who, amidst many mercies, and many visitations, sudden and surprising vicissitudes of afflictions and joy, found it the greatest blessing of his varied and eventful life, that he had been the father of a dutiful and affectionate son. It has been said, and, as I believe, truly, that there is no virtuous quality belonging to the human character, of which there is not some distinct and eminent example to be found in the Bible: no relation, in which we can be placed, no duty, which we have to discharge, but that we may observe a pattern for it in the Sacred History. Of the duty of children to parents, of a son to his father, maintained under great singularities and variations of fortune, undiminished, nay rather increased, by absence, by distance, by unexampled success, by remote and foreign connections, we may see, in this most ancient of all histories, as conspicuous, and as amiable an instance, as can be met with in the records of the world, in the purest, best ages of its existence. Archdeacon Paley.
Genesis 50:4
- — Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh.] He does not speak to Pharaoh himself, perhaps because he was a mourner, and for that reason might not come into the king’s presence, being looked upon as defiled. See Esth. iv. 2. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.
Genesis 50:5
- — in my grave which I have digged for me] It was usual for men to dig their sepulchres in their lifetime. Bp. Kidder. And Jacob, it seems, had taken care to have a grave digged for himself in the cave that Abraham had bought. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 50:7
- — all the servants] That is, a great number of them; all that could well be spared. Thus in Matt. iii. 5, all Judea is said to have gone out to John’s baptism; that is, a great many of the inhabitants. Bp. Patrick, Pyle.
— the elders of his house.] Elder is a name of dig- Jacob’s funeral. Joseph returneth to Egypt. Before CHRIST 1689.
Genesis 50:9
- — and it was a very great company.] The splendour and magnificence of our Patriarch’s funeral seem to be without a parallel in history. The noble obsequies of Marcellus come nearest in comparison. But how do even these fall short of the simple narrative before us! For what are the six hundred beds, for which the Roman solemnities on this occasion were so famous, when compared to that national itinerant multitude, which swelled like a flood, and moved like a river; to “all Pharaoh’s servants, to the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,” that is, to the officers of his household, and deputies of his provinces; with “all the house” of Joseph, and his “brethren,” and his “father’s house,” conducting their solemn sorrow for near two hundred miles into a distant country? Stackhouse.
Genesis 50:10
- — the threshingfloor of Atad.] It is uncertain whether Atad is the name of a place or of a man: the threshingfloor was probably not far from Hebron. Dr. Wells.
— beyond Jordan.] Beyond, not in respect of Egypt, whence Jacob’s corpse was brought; but in respect of the place, in which Moses was when he wrote this history, and which was east of Jordan; consequently the places beyond Jordan lay on the west. Why they made this threshingfloor, rather than the place of interment, the scene of their lamentations, is not so easy to resolve. Perhaps it was a place more convenient to stay in for seven days, than the field of Machpelah: or perhaps it might be the custom at the entrance of the country, whither they were carrying the body for burial, to fall into lamentations, which they might repeat over the grave. Dr. Wells.
— they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation.] In what this lamentation consisted, we are not told; but in aftertimes they sat with their faces covered, having ashes sprinkled on their heads, crying out with a mournful voice, sometimes wringing, sometimes clapping their hands together, smiting their breasts or their
Genesis 50:15
- — Joseph will peradventure hate us.] Their guilt was so great that it continued to make them suspicious. Bp. Patrick.
This was probably twenty years after their coming He comforteth his brethren. He dieth, and is chested. Before CHRIST 1639.
Genesis 50:17
- — of the servants of the God of thy father.] Besides the command of their father, and their relation to him as his brethren, they urge that they are of the same religion with him. This, if rightly understood and practised, causes the greatest union of minds and affections. For how can the worshippers of the same God hate one another? Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 50:19
- — am I in the place of God [?] To whom alone belongs vengeance. Bp. Wilson. It belongs not to me to punish you for your sins, nor will it become me to remember your former faults, since God hath turned your evil into good. Bp. Kidder.
Genesis 50:20
- — but God meant it unto good, &c.] Joseph does not want his own wisdom and skill; but acknowledges God as the author of the good which befell him and his father’s house. Bp. Kidder. Herein appears the wonderful wisdom of God’s over-ruling providence; which, contrary to the nature of sin and the will of sinners, turns the evil they do into good, and directs it to the most excellent ends. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 50:22
- — Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.] Eighty of which he spent in great prosperity, being but thirty years old when he first stood before Pharaoh. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 50:23
- — Ephraim’s children of the third generation.] That is, his great grandchildren. So that Joseph had the pleasure of seeing his father’s blessing upon his own two sons in part fulfilled: for he saw great grandchildren from Ephraim; and grandchildren by one branch of Manasseh. Bp. Patrick, Pyle.
Genesis 50:24
- — his brethren.] Such of the principal heads of his family as were then alive. Pyle.
— God will surely visit you.] Accomplish His promise of giving you the land of Canaan. Pyle.
Genesis 50:25
- And Joseph took as oath] As his father had done of him, chap. xlvii. 30, 31. The oath was to oblige all such as should be alive on their going out of Egypt. Bp. Patrick, Dr. Wells.
— ye shall carry up my bones from hence.] He did
Genesis 50:26
- — he was put in a coffin in Egypt.] Such a chest, as dead bodies were inclosed in, after being embalmed; to be preserved in it, until the Israelites should go out of Egypt. Travellers, who have gone to search for mummies, tell us, they found some of the coffins made of wood, not putrefied to this day; and others of cloths pasted together, forty times double, which were as strong as wood, and not at all rotten. Bp. Patrick.
Coffins were not used universally in Egypt: and probably they were only persons of distinction that were buried in them. In times so remote as those of Joseph, they might be much less common than afterwards; and consequently Joseph’s body being put in a coffin in Egypt may be mentioned, with a design of expressing the great honours the Egyptians paid him in death as well as in life, being treated after the most sumptuous manner of the Egyptians, embalmed and put into a coffin. Harmer.
Throughout the foregoing narrative we trace in the Patriarch Joseph the character of one, who diligently
Before CHRIST 1635.
“exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.” Endowed with a solid understanding, and with a heart alive to virtuous thoughts and to kind affections, he made “the fear of God” the ruling principle of his conduct. He accordingly affords us an example of devout and rational piety; of blameless and manly virtue. To the Almighty he was humble, grateful, and resigned; zealous in promoting His glory, and resolute in keeping His commandments. To his fellow-creatures he was, as a son, dutiful and affectionate; as a brother, kind and forgiving; faithful, as a servant and a subject; discreet and benevolent, as a ruler; of integrity unshaken, and of manners uncorrupt. The concluding chapters of the book of Genesis, which are unexampled for the interesting and affecting simplicity of the nar-
rative, present us in this character of Joseph with one of the most faultless patterns for our imitation. We may therefore reasonably demand in the language of the Egyptian monarch, and with that enlarged signification, which the Christian will affix to the words, “Can we find such an one as this is; a man, in whom is the Spirit of God?” And we may then safely conclude, that we are guided by the same Spirit, when we testify our “love of God,” by that piety, faith, resignation, gratitude, and obedience; and our “love of man,” by that affectionate behaviour in our domestic relations, by that faithful discharge of our social duties, and that general tenour of kindness and benevolence, which so eminently distinguished this well-beloved son of Israel, this highly-favoured servant of God. Mant’s Parochial Sermons.
The following are the Chapters from the Book of Genesis, appointed for Proper Lessons on Sundays and Holydays :