And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me 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?
A dying man's one urgent request
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.
The gesture and the land behind it
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.
Calm about living, fierce about burial
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.
Death as the road home
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.
Holding a promise past death
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.
Summary
- 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.