Genesis 50

Ionce asked a friend what the death rate was in his city, and he replied quietly, “One apiece.” That’s the ratio everywhere.

Death isn’t an accident, it’s an appointment (Heb. 9:27). “It’s not that I’m afraid to die,” wrote Woody Allen. “I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” But he’ll be there, and you and I will be there when it happens to us. Nobody has yet figured out how to peek into God’s appointment book and erase the date.

This chapter records three burials, two of them literal and one figurative, and all of them important.

The scene was a solemn one. Jacob had nothing more to say. So he drew himself into the bed, lay down, and went to sleep with his sons standing around him and his God waiting for him. He left behind the nucleus of a great nation and the testimony of what a great God can do with an imperfect man who sought to live by faith. He exchanged his pilgrim tent for a home in the heavenly city (Heb. 11:13–16).

Grief (vv. 1, 10–11). “Old men must die,” wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “or the world would grow moldy, would only breed the past again.”

Perhaps. But when old people die, those who love them feel the loss deeply. The longer you have someone in your life that you really love, the deeper the roots go into your heart and the more wrenching is the experience of having those roots pulled up. Yes, grief is a normal part of life, and believers don’t grieve “as others who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4: nkjv). But death is still an enemy, and when he slinks in and robs us of someone dear, we feel the pain for a long time.

This is the sixth time we see Joseph weeping, and it wasn’t a quiet affair. He “fell upon” his father as he had done Benjamin and his brothers at their family reunion (Gen. 45:14–15). Semitic peoples aren’t ashamed to express their emotions openly; and Joseph didn’t let his important office smother his true feelings of grief. Later, when the funeral cortege approached Canaan, Joseph led the people in a week of public mourning for Jacob (50:10).

When somebody we love dies, God expects us to weep. That’s why He gave us the ability to shed tears. Normal tears are a part of the healing process (Ps. 30:5), while abnormal grief only keeps the wounds open and prolongs the pain. In my pastoral ministry, I’ve learned that people who suppress their grief are in danger of developing emotional or physical problems that are difficult to heal. The Anglican poet and pastor John Keble called tears “the best gift of God to suffering man.”

Preparation (vv. 2–6). Jacob had prepared both himself and his family for his death, and this is a good example for us to follow. He had privately instructed Joseph concerning his burial (47:27–31) and then had repeated the instructions to all the sons publicly (49:29–32). There could be no disagreements about the matter because everything had been settled in advance.

It’s strange how many people insist on detailed preparation for a vacation or a business trip but ignore making careful preparation for the last and most important journey of all. Jacob told his sons where he wanted to be buried, and he put Joseph in charge of carrying out his wishes. Previous instruction plus a dependable person in charge kept everything running smoothly.

Joseph had his father’s body properly prepared for burial, a skill the Egyptians had mastered. To do the work, he chose the physicians and not the official embalmers, probably to avoid the pagan religious rituals that accompanied the Egyptian embalming process. Jacob was a believer in the true and living God and didn’t need the help of the gods of the Egyptians. Centuries later, Moses would call down plagues on the land and show how weak the Egyptian gods and goddesses really were.

Pharaoh commanded the Egyptians to observe an official mourning period for Jacob. After all, Jacob was the father of the second ruler in the land. This kind of recognition was usually reserved for important people like Pharaoh himself or members of his family. The forty days of the embalming period and the seventy days of the official mourning were probably concurrent.

Why did Joseph use the court officials to take his message to Pharaoh instead of speaking to him personally himself? Perhaps Joseph was considered defiled because of his father’s death, or there may have been an Egyptian tradition that prevented mourners from approaching the king (Est. 4:2). As a “father” to Pharaoh, Joseph had to get permission to leave the country, and he also had to assure Pharaoh that he and his family would return. In quoting his father’s words (Gen. 50:5), Joseph was careful not to mention that Jacob specifically requested not to be buried in Egypt (47:29–30).

Respect (vv. 7–13). Except for the smallest children (v. 8), the whole family traveled from Egypt to Canaan to pay their last respects to the founder of the family. The trip was perhaps inconvenient for some and difficult for others, but it was the right thing to do. In our modern society, it’s becoming less and less popular for people to take time to express their sympathy or pay their respects when somebody dies whom they know. In fact, we now have “drive-through mortuaries” that make it convenient for people to view the body and sign the guestbook without having to leave their cars.

The period of mourning at Canaan made a great impression on the local residents. Joseph selected a threshing floor for the week-long observance, because threshing floors were outside the city, elevated, and offered a large clear space for many people to gather at one time.

Verse 13 suggests that the whole company didn’t go into the land of Canaan to the cave of Machpelah, but that Jacob’s twelve sons served as pallbearers and carried his body to its final resting place. Since we’re all on the way to the grave together, death and sorrow ought to bring people together. Isaac and Ishmael were brought together when they buried Abraham (25:9), and so were Esau and Jacob when they buried Isaac (35:29).

This was Joseph’s first trip back to his homeland in thirty-nine years, and it’s too bad it had to be for his father’s burial. But he didn’t linger in Canaan, for God had given Joseph a job to do in Egypt, and that’s where he belonged with his family.

When death invades a family, and you’ve done all you can to honor the deceased and comfort the sorrowing, there comes a time when you have to return to life with its duties. This doesn’t mean we forget the deceased, but it does mean that we put our grief into perspective and get back to the business of living. After all, the best way to honor the dead is to take care of the living. Prolonged mourning may bring us more sympathy, but it won’t develop more maturity or make us more useful to others. Joseph and his family returned to Egypt and went back to work, Joseph serving in Pharaoh’s court and his brothers caring for Pharaoh’s cattle.

Alarm (v. 15). When did this event occur? Was it after the family returned home from burying Jacob in Canaan, or was it during the period of official mourning in Egypt? The position of the narrative in the text suggests that it happened after the return from Canaan, but it could well have taken place during the long period of mourning prior to that trip. One day the eleven brothers became aware of the fact that their father’s death left them without anyone to mediate with Joseph, the second most powerful man in Egypt, and they were afraid.

We who read this account centuries later want to say, “Men, what’s the problem? Didn’t Joseph forgive you, kiss you, weep over you, and give you every evidence of his love? Didn’t he explain that God had overruled for good all the evil that you had done to him? Didn’t Joseph make every provision to bring you to Egypt and take care of you? Then why are you alarmed?”

The answer is simple: They didn’t believe their brother. The gracious way he spoke to them and the loving way he treated them made no impact on their hearts. But Joseph’s brothers are no different from some professed Christians today who are constantly worrying about God’s judgment and whether or not He’s really forgiven them and made them His children.

“I feel the Lord has abandoned me,” a church member said to me one day. “I’m sure I’m heading for judgment, and I’m just not saved at all.” “What would you like God to do to assure you?” I asked. “Do you want Him to perform a miracle?”

“Oh, no, that wouldn’t work. Satan can perform miracles.”

“Would you like to hear Him speak to you from heaven?”

“Well, some personal message from God would be helpful.”

“Fine. Let’s open His Word and see what He has to say about your sins and His forgiveness. After all, when we open the Bible, God opens His mouth and speaks to us.” We looked into the Scriptures together, and as she laid hold of God’s promises, the Lord gave her peace.

After all that Joseph had done to encourage them, it was cruel of his brothers to say, “Joseph will perhaps hate us and pay us back for what we did to him.” (We often suspect in others what we’d do ourselves if we had the opportunity!) When you doubt God’s Word, you soon begin to question God’s love, and then you give up all hope for the future, because faith, hope, and love go together. But it all begins with faith: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10: nkjv).

What the men should have done was to sit down and calmly review all that Joseph had said to them and done for them. In many tangible ways, Joseph had demonstrated his love and forgiveness and had given them every reason to believe that their past sins were over and forgotten. They really had nothing to fear.

How did we know God loves us and forgives those who put their faith in Christ? His unchanging Word tells us so. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5: nkjv). How we feel and what God says are two different things, and we must never judge God’s eternal Word by our transient emotions. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” asked Paul, and then he proceeded to answer the question: Nothing (Rom. 8:35, 38–39).

Appeal (vv. 16–17). Afraid to approach Joseph personally, they sent a message to him, hoping to convince him. Did Jacob actually speak the words they quoted? Probably not. If Jacob had wanted to intercede for the guilty sons, he could easily have done it when he was alone with Joseph. And he had seventeen years in which to do it! It’s likely that the brothers concocted this story, hoping that Joseph’s love for his father would give him a greater love for his brothers.

How did Joseph respond to their message? “When their message came to him, Joseph wept” (v. 17). He was deeply hurt that his own brothers didn’t believe his words or accept his kind deeds at face value as true expressions of his love and forgiveness. What more could he have done to convince them? Charles Wesley may have had Joseph and his brothers in mind when he wrote his hymn “Depth of Mercy”: Depth of mercy! Can there be Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear— Me, the chief of sinners, spare? Now incline me to repent; Let me now my sins lament; Now my foul revolt deplore, Weep, believe and sin no more. There for me the Saviour stands, Holding forth His wounded hands; God is love! I know, I feel, Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Assurance (vv. 18–21). Joseph must have summoned his brothers to his home, for it’s not likely they would go there on their own. When they arrived, they fell prostrate before him in fear, their last bow in fulfillment of Joseph’s prophetic dreams. Like the Prodigal Son, they couldn’t accept free forgiveness. That was expecting too much! The brothers offered to become servants and work their way to the place where Joseph could forgive them and accept them (Luke 15:19). If that’s your approach to forgiveness, read Ephesians 2:8–9 and claim it.

The only people God can forgive are those who know they’re sinners, who admit it and confess that they can’t do anything to merit or earn God’s forgiveness. Whether it’s the woman at the well (John 4), the tax collector in the tree (Luke 19:1–10), or the thief on the cross (23:39–43), all sinners have to admit their guilt, abandon their proud efforts to earn salvation, and throw themselves on the mercy of the Lord.

How does God assure His children that He has indeed forgiven them and forgotten their sins? The same way Joseph assured his frightened brothers: He speaks to us from His Word. Twice Joseph said, “Don’t be afraid!” He comforted them and spoke kindly to them. This is what God does for His own if they will read His Word, receive it into their hearts, and trust it completely. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid” (Isa. 12:2).

Some Christians think it’s a mark of humility and special sanctity to be fearful and insecure about their salvation. Actually, an attitude of fearful indecision and anxiety is only evidence of unbelief and a refusal to take God at His Word. It’s nothing to brag about! Can God be trusted? Does He lie? Are His promises true? Then why do people waver in unbelief?

Joseph didn’t minimize their sins, for he said, “You intended to harm me” (Gen. 50:20). He knew that there had been evil in their hearts, but he also knew that God had overruled their evil deeds to accomplish His good purposes. This reminds us of what happened on the cross. Peter said, “Him [Jesus], being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up” (Acts 2:23–24 nkjv). Out of the greatest sin ever committed by humankind, God brought the greatest blessing that ever came to humankind.

Joseph not only forgave his brothers, but he also assured them of his constant care. “I will nourish you, and your little ones” (Gen. 50:21). He gave them homes to live in, work to do, food to eat, and provision for their needs. Once again, we see here a picture of our Savior, who promises never to leave us or forsake us (Matt. 28:20; John 6:37; 10:27–29; Heb. 13:5–6) and to meet our every need (Rom. 8:32; Phil. 4:19).

For seventeen years Joseph’s brothers lived under a cloud of fear and apprehension all because they didn’t really trust him. As long as their father was alive, they trusted in human ties to protect them, but when Jacob died, their only defense was gone. Had they believed Joseph, they could have enjoyed those years with him and their father, and there wouldn’t have been clouds of fear to rob them of joy.

As God’s children through faith in Christ, let’s rejoice that our sins are forgiven and forgotten, buried in the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:19), cast behind God’s back (Isa. 38:17), blotted out and remembered no more (Isa. 43:25, 44:22; Heb. 8:12, 10:17). Let’s believe what God says! The old life has been buried and we can walk in newness of life (Col. 2:13; 3:1–11).

A coffin for a special brother (50:22–26; Heb 11:22) Whether you look at Joseph as a son, a brother, or an administrator, he was certainly an exceptional man. Because of Joseph, many lives were saved during the famine, including his own family, and therefore the future of the people of Israel was guaranteed. If the family of Jacob had died out, the world would have been deprived of the Word of God and the Son of God. So we owe a lot to Joseph.

Family (vv. 22–23). Joseph was seventeen years old when he was taken to Egypt (37:2), and he lived there ninety-three years, fifty-one of them with his beloved family near him. During those years, he saw to it that the Jewish people were cared for and protected, for God had a special work for them to do. He became a grandfather and then a great-grandfather! Joseph adopted Manasseh’s grandchildren just as Jacob had adopted Joseph’s children. How this affected their future isn’t explained.

Faith (vv. 24–25). “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones” (Heb. 11: nkjv). God’s promises to Abraham (Gen. 15:13–16) were passed along to Isaac and Jacob, and Jacob shared them with Joseph (48:21). Faith isn’t a shallow emotion that we work up by ourselves, or an optimistic “hope-so” attitude of “faith in faith.” True faith is grounded on the infallible Word of God, and because God said it, we believe it and act upon it.

True faith always leads to obedient action (James 2:14–26). Joseph knew what he believed and where he belonged. Therefore, he didn’t want his coffin to remain in Egypt when God delivered his people. He made his brothers swear that they would instruct their descendants, who would then pass the word along to future generations, and they kept their promise. Moses took Joseph’s remains with him when the Jews left Egypt (Ex. 13:19), and Joshua buried him in Shechem (Josh. 24:32; see also Gen. 33:19). Since Shechem became the “capital” for Ephraim and Manasseh, the tribes founded by Joseph’s two sons, that was the ideal place for him to be interred.

When you stop to consider the matter, it’s really remarkable that Joseph had any faith at all. He had lived apart from his family for many years, and a powerful false religion in Egypt surrounded him. There was nobody in Egypt that we know of who could encourage his faith. If Joseph had resorted to the excuses people use today for rejecting God’s promises, he would have ended up a pagan himself.

His “believing” brothers had treated him cruelly, the Lord had caused him to experience severe trials, and the people he helped forgot about him in his hour of need. “If that’s what a life of faith is all about,” he might have argued, “then I’m not interested.” But Joseph’s faith, though tested, didn’t falter. All he had to go on were his dreams, but he clung to the promise that one day his brothers would bow before him, and the Lord didn’t disappoint him.

Future (50:26). Fifty-one years after Jacob’s death, at the age of 110, Joseph died. He probably outlived his older brothers, but his own grandsons knew their grandfather’s wishes regarding his mortal remains. Joseph’s coffin in Egypt was a constant reminder to the Jewish people to have faith in God. When their situation changed in Egypt and the Jews found themselves slaves instead of resident aliens (Ex. 1:8ff.), they could look at Joseph’s temporary burial place and be encouraged. During their wilderness wanderings, as they carried Joseph’s remains from place to place, he ministered to them and urged them to trust God and never give up.

“A coffin in Egypt” may appear to be a discouraging way to close a book, but from the viewpoint of faith, it couldn’t be more encouraging. After all, even though Joseph was dead, his witness was still going on. As John Wesley said, “God buries His workman, but His work goes on,” and the apostle John wrote that “he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2: nkjv). G. Campbell Morgan said: Commit your life to God, see vision, do the work that’s nearest, the work He appoints, truly and well and faithfully, and die knowing that you have started delicate influences, dynamic forces which will proceed through every succeeding generation until they gather up the harvest of glorious result about the throne of the Eternal. The man of God has not finished his work in the world when they put him in a coffin.

Yes, Joseph is still blessing us today even as we study his life!