And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
Jacob has died in Egypt, and the seventy days of mourning are over. Joseph now needs permission to take his father's body to Canaan, so he asks Pharaoh's household to speak to the king for him.
Joseph had the strength and wealth of Egypt in his hand. Yet here he asks a favour, and gets others to plead for him.
Jacob, his father, when dying, had made him swear that he would bury him in the land of Canaan. When Joseph comes to act on his oath, he seems to me to feel that he was about to venture on a serious and risky matter. He clearly braces himself for a task with its own special difficulties. He was high at court, as we may say; after all, the court physicians were his servants (Gen. 50:2). And we know that the resources of the kingdom, the strength and wealth of Egypt, were at that moment in his hand. Yet he still hesitates about burying his father in Canaan. He asks Pharaoh's close relatives to help him and to plead his case.
The difficulty was not practical but moral. Carrying Jacob out of the richest country on earth to bury him in Canaan ranked the poorer land higher.
Why all this? Was it not a small thing for so great a man to do? Yes; but asking to be buried in Canaan was, in some sense, putting a reproach on Egypt. It seemed to say that after all, the Canaan of degradation and poverty was better than the Egypt of honour and wealth.
He carried the message anyway.
This was the language of Jacob's request. Joseph felt it was a serious thing to bring such language to Pharaoh's ear. But he did. Faith again triumphed. In this way he is a witness to us. We should let the world learn plainly from us that, with all its progress and promise, it is nothing to us, while what is Christ's, though it looks weak, is our aim.
Joseph's case rests on what his father demanded years before. Not a wish — an oath.
But when these silent and retired years are about to close, we find him, rather suddenly, stirring and earnest. It is with Joseph, about his burial. He will have Joseph not only promise, but swear, that he will bury him in the land of his fathers (47:30). 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 as to his burial, he is now all urgency and decision. He will have it confirmed by an oath: his son must carry his dead body to the land where God gave him the promise. He is earnest and insistent now, as he was indifferent before. For faith likes its title clear, full, and secure.
Pharaoh agreed, and gave more than permission. Egypt's leaders joined the journey to Canaan.
Joseph then gained a favourable response from Pharaoh as to burying his father's body in Canaan, as he had sworn to Jacob (vv. 4-6). This called for a huge funeral procession all the way from Egypt to Canaan. It included all the elders of the house of Pharaoh and the elders of the land of Egypt... There was nothing like this at the funerals of Abraham or Isaac. But here God is showing us the sovereignty of His great power and grace in producing sympathy among the Gentiles for His people Israel. The nation's immediate father dies, but his descendants remain, and God gives them favour among the Gentiles.
Joseph kept Egypt's burial customs only so far. The grave itself made the point.
Because they were in Egypt, they kept the burial customs of that land up to a certain point. But Jacob's body was not to lie embalmed in an Egyptian tomb. By Jacob's desire, as well as Joseph's, it was to lie in the land of promise. The promise of God was a reality to their faith, since "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for" (Heb. 11:1). The things hoped for are real, and faith makes them real to us.
- Oath first. Jacob would not leave his burial to goodwill. He put it under oath, because faith wants its claim clear, full and secure.
- Cost next. Keeping that oath told the richest court on earth that a grave in Canaan beat an Egyptian tomb. That was a reproach on Egypt.
- Courage then. Joseph felt the risk and asked others to speak for him. He sent the message anyway, and faith triumphed.
- Favour follows. Pharaoh agreed, and Egypt's elders joined the procession. God was moving the Gentiles to feel for His people.
- Witness last. The grave outside Egypt made the promise visible. It says the world, for all it offers, is nothing to those who live for Christ.
My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I die; in my grave which I have dug myself in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. And now, let me go up, I pray thee, that I may bury my father; and I will come again.
Joseph rules Egypt. Yet after his father dies, his first move is to ask leave to carry the body out of the country, to a grave Jacob had dug for himself in Canaan. Why did a burial plot matter so much to a dying man? And why did Joseph ask so carefully?
Joseph is keeping a promise his father pressed on him hard. Jacob stayed calm about how he lived in Egypt. He was not calm about where he would lie.
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 as to his burial, he is now all urgency and decision. He wants it confirmed by an oath: his son will carry his dead body to the land that saw God's promise to him. He is earnest and firm now, as he was indifferent before. For faith likes to read its title clear, full, and secure.
The oath tied Jacob's body to a promise he would not live to see kept.
Here we have the vow which Jacob exacts from Joseph — that he shall be buried in Canaan, in the tomb of his fathers. He thus links himself with them as waiting, even in death, for the promise to be fulfilled. So the promise is a promise of life which death cannot defeat or undo.
Jacob dug this grave himself. The word he uses for it marks it off from Sheol, the unseen world of the dead.
Qeber can be dug or made. "In my grave which I have dug for me" (Gen. 50:5); "I will make your grave." Sheol is never said to be dug or made.
(The ESV reads, "in my tomb that I hewed out for myself.")
Egypt gave Jacob its funeral customs. It did not keep his body.
Being in Egypt, the burial customs of that land were observed up to a certain point, but Jacob's body was not to lie embalmed in an Egyptian tomb. By Jacob's desire, as well as Joseph's, it was to lie in the land of promise. The promise of God was a reality to their faith, since "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for." The things hoped for are real, and faith makes them real to us.
The whole family followed this pattern. They owned nothing in Canaan while they lived, yet they would lie nowhere else.
While they lived, they were content to live as strangers in Canaan without owning so much as a foot of ground. But "they died in faith." The promise of God had made over that land, that very land, to them, though they themselves would be gathered to their fathers. That was the ground of their dying in faith, in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to enjoy it. They would link their dead, though not their living, bodies with that land.
Joseph does not take this straight to Pharaoh. One writer sees real hesitation in that.
When Joseph comes to act on his oath, he seems to me to feel that he was about to venture on a serious and risky matter. He plainly treats it as a task with its own special difficulties… Yet he hesitates over burying his father in Canaan, and gets help from Pharaoh's close relatives, who speak for him.
The risk lay in what Joseph's plea said about Egypt.
Why all this? Was it not a small thing for so great a man to do? Yes; but a request to be buried in Canaan was, in a sense, putting a reproach on Egypt. It seemed to say that, after all, the Canaan of degradation and poverty was better than the Egypt of honour and wealth.
Pharaoh agreed. The funeral that followed was unlike anything in the family's story.
There was nothing like this at the funerals of Abraham or Isaac. Here God is showing us the sovereignty of His great power and grace in producing sympathy among the Gentiles for His people Israel. Israel's own father dies, but his descendants remain, and God gives them favour among the Gentiles.
- Oath — Jacob made Joseph swear, not just promise. Faith wants its claim on God's promise clear and secure.
- Grave — Jacob dug the tomb himself in Canaan. It was a real plot of ground, not a picture of the unseen world.
- Land — Egypt embalmed the body. Faith sent it to the land of promise, tying their dead bodies to a country they never owned while alive.
- Reproach — choosing Canaan over Egypt said Canaan was worth more than Egypt's wealth. That is why Joseph asked with care.
- Favour — Pharaoh's yes turned a private oath into a national procession. God produced sympathy among the Gentiles for His people.
And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
Jacob has died in Egypt, and Joseph — the man whose word ruled the land — cannot simply take his father's body out of it. He must send a request to the throne, and Pharaoh's answer rests on one thing: the oath Jacob had made his son swear.
Joseph held the highest place under Pharaoh, yet this errand made him cautious. One writer notices that he treated it as a delicate piece of business and got others to speak up for him.
When Joseph comes to act on his oath, he seems to me to feel this — that he was about to venture on a serious and risky matter. He clearly sets himself to a business that had its special difficulties. He was high at court, as we may say, since the court physicians were his servants (Gen. 50:2). But still he hesitates about burying his father in Canaan. He gets the help and intercession of Pharaoh's close relatives.
The difficulty lay in what the request implied. Asking to carry Jacob out of Egypt said, in public, that the poorer land was the better one.
Why all this? Was it not a small thing for so great a man to do? Yes — but a request to be buried in Canaan was, in some sense, putting a reproach on Egypt. It seemed to say that, after all, the Canaan of shame and poverty was better than the Egypt of honour and wealth.
Joseph brought the request anyway. What he did shows how to treat the world we live in.
This was the language of Jacob's request, and Joseph felt it was a serious thing to bring such language to Pharaoh's ear. But he did. Faith triumphed again. In this way he is a witness to us. We should let the world learn plainly from us that, with all its progress and promise, it is nothing to us, while Christ's cause, though in weakness, is our object.
Pharaoh's permission hangs on the oath. Jacob was easy-going about everything else in Egypt, and immovable about this.
We never find him pressing 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 all urgency and decision. He will have it confirmed by an oath. His son must carry his dead body to the land that witnessed God's promise to him. He is earnest and firm now, as he was indifferent before. For faith likes to read its title clear, full and unassailable.
Pharaoh raises no objection. The funeral that follows shows how far Joseph had risen. Yet the grave itself says something the procession does not.
Jacob's funeral showed how high Joseph had risen in power and influence. Pharaoh gave his permission at once. All Jacob's sons joined Joseph in it, and so did many important people of Egypt. Still, they laid his body in the grave that showed these men of faith were still strangers and pilgrims.
Another writer reads the scale of it as God's doing rather than Joseph's rank alone.
Joseph then gained a favourable response from Pharaoh about burying his father's body in Canaan, as he had sworn to Jacob (vv. 4-6). This called for an enormous funeral procession all the way from Egypt to Canaan... There was nothing like this at the funerals of Abraham or Isaac. Here God is showing us the sovereignty of His great power and grace, producing sympathy among the Gentiles for His people Israel. Though the immediate father of Israel dies, his descendants remain, and God gives them favour among the Gentiles.
The grand funeral is not held up as a model. It suited a time when resurrection was still ahead.
In other days funerals were to be splendid, because resurrection was then still in the future. Funerals then were a kind of pledge of the resurrection they expected. It was fitting that the pledge should be magnificent, matching the glory of what it pledged. But now resurrection has become real in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. So the splendid funeral is more of a reproach, as though the great mystery itself had not yet become real in its substance and power. For funeral pomp is not now the pledge of our coming resurrection — the resurrection of the Lord is that, the first-fruits of a promised harvest.
- Oath. Jacob took whatever Egypt gave him in life. About his burial he demanded a sworn promise. Faith wants its title clear and unassailable.
- Request. Asking to leave Egypt for Canaan was a quiet insult. It said the poor land of promise beat the rich land of honour.
- Courage. Joseph was second only to the throne, yet he hesitated and got others to speak for him. Still he asked. He tells us to show the world where our real interest lies.
- Permission. Pharaoh gives leave at once. The great funeral that follows shows God producing sympathy among the Gentiles for His people.
- Grave. The tomb in Canaan marks these men as strangers and pilgrims. The pomp was a pledge of resurrection. For us that is no longer a pledge — it is accomplished in the risen Christ.