Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him.
Jacob has just died, and chapter 50 opens with his son's reaction — not with funeral arrangements, but with tears. What place does grief have in the life of someone who believes God's promises?
Faith and grief in the same man
All Jacob's sons were at the deathbed, yet only Joseph stays in view:
F. B. HoleAll the sons of Jacob seem to have been at his deathbed, as the first verse of Genesis 49 shows. Yet the closing scenes do not mention them. Joseph alone remains before us as we open Genesis 50, and again we see him as a man of deep affection, moved to tears. These men died in faith, as Hebrews 11 tells us. Yet their faith did not weaken the love that belongs to natural family ties, and it does not weaken ours today. The breaking of the link is a very real sorrow.
Sorrow, but not the sorrow of hopelessness
If death is gain for the believer, is there still room for tears?
Hamilton SmithFaith does not set aside natural affection... Faith knows well that our loved ones who die in the Lord will rise again, and that for them death is gain. Even so, we rightly mourn and feel their loss. We have a sure and certain hope of resurrection. As the apostle reminds us, our sorrow is therefore not the sorrow of those who have no hope. But there is no word to say we are not to sorrow. No one could know the power of resurrection like the One who is Himself the resurrection and the life. Yet He wept at the grave of Lazarus.
Some people tell mourners they should rise above such feelings. Jesus never did:
C. H. MackintoshJesus did not rebuke Mary for weeping. He did not make light of her sorrow. He did not tell her she ought not to feel; that she ought to be above anything of that sort. No — that would not be like Him. Some heartless folk may talk in this style; but He knew better.
Tears from the man at the top
Joseph's tears come at a particular point in his life:
F. B. HoleThe skill and power of Joseph's hands had carried him to the top. The destinies of his brothers and of all Egypt now lay in those hands. Then the tender compassion of his heart came out and expressed itself in his tears. In Genesis 39 to 41 Joseph's hands are prominent. Genesis 42 to 50: Joseph's tears. In these later chapters it is recorded that Joseph wept no less than eight times: Gen. 42:24; Gen. 43:30; Gen. 45:2, 14, 15; Gen. 46:29; Gen. 50:1, 17.
Embalmed by Egypt, buried in Canaan
Egypt's answer to death and the Christian's stand side by side here:
G C WillisJoseph told the physicians to embalm the body. Embalming would keep the dead body for hundreds of years. In this the Egyptians were very clever. They did not know what we know about resurrection, so they kept those bodies. We Christians know that God will raise the dead. "Who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body."
Faith decided where Jacob's body would finally lie:
F. B. HoleThey were in Egypt, so they followed 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 wish, 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 substantiating of things hoped for" (Heb. 11:1). The things hoped for are real, and faith substantiates them — makes them real — to us.
(The wording quoted here is from an older translation; the ESV reads "the assurance of things hoped for.")
Forty days in the presence of death
Those forty days beside the dead body did something in Joseph's brothers:
W. T. P. WolstonMany people admit the truth of Scripture and believe the gospel, yet they do not enjoy forgiveness, salvation, and happy confidence in Christ. The reason is that they have never had their guilty history really out with God. The last chapter of Genesis illustrates this very fully. In their souls, Joseph's brothers then remembered everything and confessed everything. I have no doubt that it was looking at the dead body of their old father for those forty days which brought it about. Death is a great reality... Suppose you are kept face to face with death for forty days, as Joseph's brothers were. God will give you time to review your history as they did theirs. If you are wise, you will do it.
Summary
- Tears are honest. Joseph is a man of faith and a man of deep affection at the same time; the breaking of the link is a real sorrow.
- Tears are not hopeless. Believers mourn and feel the loss, yet not as those who have no hope. The Lord Himself wept at the grave of Lazarus.
- Tears are never rebuked. He did not tell Mary she ought to be above feeling; only heartless people talk that way.
- Tears from the throne. Joseph's tears come after his rise, not before: power in his hands, compassion in his heart, eight times recorded.
- Tears that outlast Egypt. Egypt preserved bodies because it knew nothing of resurrection. Jacob went to the land of promise instead, because faith makes the promised thing real.