The big picture
Jacob, father of Joseph and his brothers, has died in Egypt, the kingdom where his family found food during famine. Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons and a senior Egyptian official, now leads the funeral plans. Jacob had made him promise burial in Canaan, the land where the family lived before Egypt. Pharaoh, Egypt’s ruler, allows the burial trip. After the burial, Joseph’s brothers, Jacob’s other sons, fear revenge for selling him into slavery years earlier. The chapter ends with Joseph’s death and his last request about where his bones should one day go.
In this chapter
- Joseph Buries Jacob in Canaan Genesis 50:1-14
Joseph grieves openly when Jacob dies.
- Joseph Refuses to Take Revenge Genesis 50:15-21
Jacob’s death makes Joseph’s brothers afraid.
- Joseph Dies Expecting a Return Genesis 50:22-26
Joseph stays in Egypt with his family and lives to one hundred and ten years.
Central truth
Genesis closes with grief, forgiveness and death, while Jacob and Joseph both look toward their family’s future beyond Egypt.
Scripture beside the summary
Genesis · King James Version · 26Genesis 50:1-14
Joseph Buries Jacob in Canaan
Joseph grieves openly when Jacob dies. He tells Egyptian physicians to embalm his father, which preserves the body for burial. The Egyptians mourn Jacob for seventy days. Joseph then asks Pharaoh’s household for permission to keep his promise and bury Jacob in Canaan. Pharaoh agrees. Joseph travels with his brothers, other relatives, senior Egyptian officials, chariots and horsemen. At Atad, a threshing floor near the Jordan River, the group mourns for seven more days. The Canaanites, people living in Canaan, notice how great the mourning is. Jacob’s sons then bury him in the cave of Machpelah, the family burial place near Mamre, a place in Canaan. Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, had bought that field for burial. Joseph and the whole company return to Egypt.
In everyday life
A daughter living overseas carries out her father’s written funeral wishes. She arranges travel, gathers relatives and takes his body back to the family cemetery. Several respected officials attend because her father was well known. Grief and planning happen together while she keeps the promise she made. Joseph’s procession differs because the ruler and resources of ancient Egypt stand behind it.
Notice
Genesis 50:7 Senior Egyptian officials travel with Joseph to bury Jacob. Their presence shows the unusual public standing Joseph and his family now have in Egypt.
Genesis 50:1-14
King James Version1And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
4And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
6And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
7And 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,
8And 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.
9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan.
12And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Genesis 50:15-21
Joseph Refuses to Take Revenge
Jacob’s death makes Joseph’s brothers afraid. They think Joseph may now repay the evil they did to him when they sold him into slavery. They send a message asking him to forgive them. Then they come to Joseph themselves, bow before him and offer to become his servants. Joseph weeps. He tells them not to fear and asks whether he stands in God’s place. He does not deny that they meant evil against him. Instead, he says God used those same events for good by saving many people during the famine. Joseph promises to feed his brothers and their children. He comforts them and speaks kindly to them instead of taking revenge.
In everyday life
A new manager meets workers who once tried to ruin his career. Their former boss has died, and they expect him to settle the score. They admit what they did and offer to accept lower positions. The manager keeps them employed and protects their families from hardship instead. Unlike that manager, Joseph explains the outcome by pointing to God’s purpose through events meant for evil.
Notice
Genesis 50:20 Joseph says his brothers intended evil while God intended a good outcome. The good result does not turn their earlier act into something innocent.
Genesis 50:15-21
King James Version15And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
19And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Genesis 50:22-26
Joseph Dies Expecting a Return
Joseph stays in Egypt with his family and lives to one hundred and ten years. He sees several generations of his descendants. Near death, he tells his relatives that God will act for them and bring them out of Egypt. He says they will go to the land God promised to Abraham, Joseph’s great-grandfather, Isaac, his grandfather, and Jacob, his father. Joseph then makes the children of Israel, the family descended from Jacob, swear that they will carry his bones with them when they leave. Joseph dies in Egypt. His body is embalmed and placed in a coffin there. He has spent much of his life in Egypt, but his final request still points toward Canaan and a departure that has not yet happened.
In everyday life
An immigrant grandfather gives his family one last burial request. He dies in the country where they now live, but he asks them to carry his remains home if the family later returns there for good. His coffin stays where they are for now. Joseph’s request differs because he bases it on God’s promise that his family will leave Egypt.
Notice
Genesis 50:26 The last image is Joseph’s coffin still in Egypt. His body remains there, but his burial request points toward a future return to Canaan.
Genesis 50:22-26
King James Version22And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.
24And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
25And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Genesis 50:1 begins with “And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.”
Where the chapter turns
Genesis 50:19 forms a natural hinge: “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?”
The final note
Genesis 50:26 leaves the reader with “So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Joseph, father, land, brethren, bury, days help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- threescore and ten
- Seventy; a score is twenty, so three scores and ten make seventy.
- peradventure
- Perhaps or possibly; Joseph’s brothers fear he may now turn against them.
- requite
- To repay someone for what was done, here by returning evil for evil.
- visit
- Here, to come to their aid and act for them, not merely to make a social call.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
