Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
Jacob has finished blessing his sons. Now the dying man turns from their future to his own burial. His last words are not a wish but a command. The place he names is a cave bought long before, in a land he never owned, and it carries the whole weight of his faith.
The last command
Jacob had already made Joseph swear about his burial; now he binds all his sons to the same promise. One writer sees in this repetition a man for whom dying mattered more than living.
J. G. BellettWith Machpelah and his burial, Jacob ends these dying conversations with his sons, just as he began them (Gen. 47:29; Gen. 49:29). He already had Joseph's word and oath on this matter. Now he must put all of them under the same commitment to him. Death 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. In spirit he was saying, "We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
Why that cave and not another grave
Jacob had loved Rachel above all, and she lay buried elsewhere. He chose Machpelah instead, the cave named in this verse. The reason is that Abraham had bought that ground.
F. B. HoleThe closing command of Jacob to his sons now comes before us, and still we hear the accents of faith. Notice that his thoughts turned to the first spot Abraham had bought, near Mamre. Since Rachel had been such a special object of his affection, we might have expected him to want burial at her side. But no! There was this spot bought in the land. To faith it was a kind of pledge that one day God would fulfil His promise and all the land would be theirs.
A claim staked in the ground
This is not sentiment about family graves. Jacob does something with his death that he could not do while alive.
Numerical Bible NotesFirst, Jacob dies, and is buried. Again we find him charging — this time all his sons — to bury him with his fathers in Machpelah. Do we not need this striking repetition, that the promise of life is completely untouched by death? The living man sends his dead body in to take possession, in hope of his inheritance.
Resurrection, and the sellers of the field
Jacob lists the field, the seller and those already buried there. One writer finds meaning even in the name of the people who sold the ground.
Leslie M. GrantJacob keeps full possession of his senses to the end. He calmly tells his sons to bury him with his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, in the cave of Machpelah. Abraham had bought that cave from Ephron the Hittite. Jacob was showing that he had the same faith as his fathers in the resurrection power of God. He mentions that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah had been buried there. He also reminds his sons that Abraham bought the cave and the field from the children of Heth, whose name means "fear." Those who are unsaved are the children of fear. Through fear of death they are held in slavery all their lives (Heb. 2:15).
"Gathered to my people"
Jacob announces his own death before he asks for anything. He uses the same words Scripture used of his father and his grandfather.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe phrase "gathered to his people" is used of only six persons: Abraham (25:8); Ishmael (Gen. 25:17); Isaac (35:29); Jacob (49:29-33); Aaron (Num. 20:24); and Moses (Deut. 32:50).
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lie in one cave, and one writer says they share far more than that.
J. G. BellettIn this life of faith and hope, the fathers of the book of Genesis are seen to be one. It is a happy thing to know this. They illustrate different mysteries and teach us different moral lessons. But in this life of faith and hope they are one. Each in his own day — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — is alike gathered to his people. Each is a handful of sacred dust in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. That dust is laid up there in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to life and to the inheritance.
Summary
- Promise. Jacob names one spot only: the field Abraham bought. To faith, that plot was a pledge that God would one day give his family the whole land.
- Possession. He could not own the land while he lived. So he sends his dead body ahead to take hold of it, because death leaves the promise of life untouched.
- Preference. Life had kept him in Egypt. Death would carry him back to Canaan, so his burial mattered to him more than his life did.
- People. "Gathered to my people" belongs to only six men in Scripture. The words join Jacob to Abraham and Isaac in one hope, not just one grave.
- Power. Abraham bought the ground from the children of Heth, whose name means "fear." Fear of death enslaves those without God. Jacob dies resting on God's power to raise the dead.