When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
Genesis 49 ends calmly: an old man finishes his last words to his sons, settles on the bed, and dies. The verse holds three moments — commands finished, life given up, and a gathering "to his people" that means more than a burial.
A death in order
Jacob dies in good order, with nothing left undone. Commentators see in that order the sign of who was guiding him.
L. M. GrantThe evidence that Jacob was at this time led by the Spirit of God is beautiful. Everything seems ordered with calm deliberation. Every necessary thing was attended to at just the right time, so that his death was the expected end of it all. How different this was from the disorder of much of his earlier life!
Burial as a statement of faith
Before he dies, Jacob binds all his sons to bury him in Canaan, at the cave of Machpelah. He is dying in Egypt — so the charge says something about where his hope lay.
J. G. BellettWith Machpelah and his burial, Jacob ends these dying conversations with his sons, as he had begun them. He already had Joseph's word and oath on this matter, and now he must put all of them under the same commitment to him about it. 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.
What "gathered to his people" means
Scripture says the same of Abraham, Isaac, Aaron and others. Commentators note that being gathered is not the same as being buried.
VariousScripture nowhere states the soul's immortality, its imperishable existence, in so many words. Yet Scripture assumes it throughout, and weaves it into the very texture of the word. Think of the statements that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Aaron and Moses were gathered to their people, or that Josiah was gathered to his fathers as well as being gathered to his grave. Our blessed Lord explained the phrase "God of Abraham" like this: "He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." That lends its full weight to such expressions.
Death treated as one more move
Jacob speaks about dying the way a traveller speaks about moving on to the next place.
The Christian's FriendHe speaks of death "leaning on the top of his staff," as if still pursuing his pilgrim career, and about to move from one place to another. 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. Jacob had faith in God. Death would not dissolve his relationship to God, even "the God of Bethel."
Worship, not fear
One writer notes what filled Jacob's mind at the very end — and what did not.
An Outline of Sound WordsJacob also worshipped as he was about to pass through the door of death. He was not occupied with his own weakness. He was not at all afraid of what lay ahead. He was thinking of what was due to God, even when he was so weak, and when his days on earth were over. His spirit rose above all that had occupied him in blessing Joseph's sons. It rose above the foretelling of what would mark Israel in that clear prophetic history, and above the weakness of his body. His spirit went out to God in adoring worship.
A brighter hope now
Jacob's sons carried his body back to Canaan and buried it there. One writer marks the difference for those who belong to Christ.
William KellyGenesis 49 ends with Jacob's death. The closing chapter tells us of his sons carrying him to the field of Machpelah in Canaan, where his fathers were buried — a painful mourning in the eyes of the people of the land. What a difference for those who know Christ glorified in heaven, when they, "not of the world," depart to be with Him!
Summary
- Gathering his sons — Jacob's last act is to speak and command. The calm order of it marks a man led by the Spirit of God, unlike the disorder of his earlier years.
- Gathering his feet — he settles himself with calm deliberation. Death comes as the expected end of a finished task, not as an interruption.
- Gathering to Canaan — the burial charge shows where his hope lay. Life kept him in Egypt. Death would restore him to Canaan and to the God of his fathers.
- Gathered to his people — being gathered is not the same as being buried. Scripture assumes throughout that the person lives on, for God "is not God of the dead, but of the living."
- Gathered in worship — at the end he thinks not of his weakness or of what lies ahead, but of what is due to God. His spirit goes out to Him in adoring worship.