And the days of Israel approached that he should die. And he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favour in thine eyes, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;
Seventeen years after arriving in Egypt, Jacob is dying, and what he asks of his most powerful son is not money or position but a grave. Why does a dying man care so much about where his body lies?
Jacob's last years in Egypt were quiet. The request that ends them reaches back to a land promised to his family long before.
F. B. HoleIn the closing verses of our chapter we return to Jacob in the land of Goshen. Seventeen more years rolled over him. He lived on until the dreadful years of famine were only an unpleasant memory. Then the time came that he had to die. He was Jacob indeed, but he spoke as Israel when he took a vow from Joseph. Joseph was not to bury him in Egypt, but to lay his body with those of his fathers in the land which was theirs by promise.
Jacob asks for a strange gesture — a hand placed under his thigh. The promise it sealed fixed on one piece of ground.
L. M. GrantAs Jacob knew he was nearing his end, he called for Joseph. He asked him to put his hand under his thigh — clearly a symbol of his willingness to do as his father asked of him (v. 29). Jacob wants to be sure that he is not buried in Egypt, but in the burial place of his fathers in Canaan. This was the land of promise, the land God had sworn to give to the seed of Abraham (Gen. 15:7), confirming it to Isaac (Gen. 26:3) and also to Jacob himself (Gen. 28:13). Jacob and his children are not to forget their homeland.
Abraham had used the same solemn ceremony once before, when he sent his servant to find a bride for Isaac. Jacob now asks it of the son whose glory lay in Egypt.
William KellyThe time drew near for Israel to die. So he called Joseph. With the same solemnity Abraham used in sending Eliezer for Isaac's bride, he made Joseph not only promise but swear to carry his body out of Egypt and bury it in the burial place of his fathers. Joseph's splendour did not in the least draw his heart away from the land of promise.
For seventeen years Jacob took whatever Egypt gave him without a word. Then he came to the matter of his burial.
J. G. BellettBut when these silent and retired years are about to close, we find him suddenly stirring and earnest. It has to do with Joseph and his burial. He will have Joseph not only promise, but swear, that he will bury him in the land of his fathers. We never find him urgent about the conditions of his life in Egypt. He seems willing to take what they give him and to be what they make him. But about his burial he is now all urgency and decision. He is earnest and insistent now, as he was indifferent before. For faith likes to see its claim clear, full, and unbreakable.
Jacob's urgency makes sense only if death gave him something Egypt could not.
J. G. BellettDeath was more important to him than life. Life kept him in Egypt, death would restore him to Canaan. Death linked him with the God and the promise of his fathers. The hopes of faith lay beyond life, and outside Egypt.
A grave seems a poor way to hold a promise. Jacob counted on God being the same God after his death as before it.
The Christian's FriendHe desired only to take possession of the land of Canaan, by death, as Abraham and Isaac had done (Gen. 47:29-31). God is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac. He is still in covenant with them. He has never dissolved His relationship with them, but is unchangeable towards them in it. Jacob had faith in God. Death would not dissolve his relationship to God, even "the God of Bethel." Like his fathers, he "died in faith, not having received the things promised" (Heb. 11:13). But he had so embraced them that he could count on God making all good in resurrection.
- Dying — Jacob knows the end is near. He speaks as Israel, and asks for a grave instead of anything Egypt could give.
- Swearing — the hand under the thigh carried the same solemnity Abraham had used. Faith wants its claim clear, full, and unbreakable.
- Refusing — for seventeen years he took whatever Egypt gave him without a word. He would not let Egypt keep his body.
- Crossing — life kept him in Egypt. Death would restore him to Canaan, and link him with the God and the promise of his fathers.
- Rising — he never owned the land while he lived. He took hold of it by burial, counting on God to make every promise good in resurrection.
but when I shall lie with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their sepulchre. And he said, I will do according to thy word.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. And Israel worshipped on the bed's head.
An old man in Egypt arranges his own funeral, and the arrangement turns into worship. Jacob makes Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan, then bows — and Hebrews 11 looks back at that bow as the high point of his faith.
This is not sentiment about a family grave. Jacob refuses to let Egypt become the resting place of a family God had promised a land.
L. M. GrantJacob wants to be sure that he is not buried in Egypt, but in the burial place of his fathers in Canaan. This was the land of promise, the land God had sworn to give to the seed of Abraham, confirming it to Isaac and also to Jacob himself. Jacob and his children are not to forget their homeland.
A promise between father and son would have been enough. Jacob wants an oath — and he had asked for nothing else in all his years in Egypt.
J. G. BellettWe never find him urgent about the conditions of his life in Egypt. He seems willing to take what they give him and to be what they make him. But as to his burial, he is all urgency and decision. He will have it confirmed by an oath: his son will carry his dead body to the land where God made him the promise. He is earnest and firm now, as he was indifferent before. For faith likes to read its title clear, full, and beyond dispute.
Hebrews 11 describes the same moment, but says he bowed over the head of his staff, not his bed. Commentators differ on which reading is right. One answer keeps both records.
The Bible TreasuryThe Hebrew and the Greek differ only in the vowel marks. One word means a staff, the other a bed, and both come from the same root. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the "bed" in the Old Testament, nor of the "staff" in the New Testament. The staff was in his hand while he bowed himself down upon the bed's head.
Others take staff as the right reading in Genesis too:
The Bible TreasuryThis would appear to be the correct reading. The Greek Old Testament has it so, and so does the Apostle in Hebrews 11… The staff is a picture of the word of God, the support and defence of the soul. This small action of Jacob's must matter, or we would not have it recorded twice… The fact is that now Jacob returns to the simplicity of entire dependence on God. While he was prosperous he had said that he set out and crossed the Jordan with only his staff, and that he had gained great wealth since. Now he is going to leave it all and come back to the bare staff; leaning on that alone he worships God.
The staff in his hand is not borrowed from Joseph. It carries his own history.
William KellyThere is not the least ground for making the rod or staff to be Joseph's. It was Jacob's. He had once crossed the Jordan with this staff as a poor outcast, as he tells us himself. He said so when he came back with two companies and was afraid of Esau. Now, in Egypt, before Joseph and his sons, the dying pilgrim leans on the staff that had been the companion of his own weary wanderings. He worships the God whose faithfulness he had proved all the way through.
Jacob's story is full of scheming and shortcuts. The bowing at the bed's head is where that ends.
Hamilton SmithWith the goodness of God filling his soul… he has reached the highest moment in his spiritual life — he is a worshipper. We know from the Holy Spirit's comment in Hebrews 11 that this was the crowning act of faith in Jacob's life… The scheming, the taking of another's place, the selfishness and the independence that so often spoiled his path had passed away. At last faith, dependence and worship mark Jacob.
Even the way he leaned carries a lesson.
W. T. P. WolstonWhy did he lean on the top of his staff? Because he could not hold himself up without support; he had learned to be dependent. He went off the scene worshipping, and his death was bright, even if his life was not. We should all take a lesson from this, and seek to live brightly for Christ… People sometimes ask, "How did he die?" But I want to know, "How did he live?"
- Promise — Jacob refuses an Egyptian grave. God had sworn Canaan to Abraham, to Isaac and to him, and Jacob's burial claims that promise.
- Oath — he took whatever Egypt gave him, but on this one thing he is urgent. Faith wants its title clear and beyond dispute.
- Staff — Genesis says bed and Hebrews says staff, and both are true. The staff is his own, the companion of his wanderings, and he ends life holding nothing else.
- Dependence — he leans because he cannot stand alone. The schemer has become a man who rests wholly on God.
- Worship — this bow is the crowning act of faith in his life. A stormy history ends with Jacob as a worshipper.