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Genesis Chapter Fifty

 

Genesis 50 Outlines

Jacob’s Death and Burial (v.1~14)

Joseph Reassures His Brothers (v.15~21)

Death of Joseph (v.22~26)

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)

Footnotes:

a.    Genesis 50:11 Literally Mourning of Egypt