Deeper Commentary
Gen 50:1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him- As noted through Gen. 49, Jacob cursed rather than blessed many of his sons. It is Joseph who comes over as the most affectionate for Jacob, and is in charge of his burial; see on :10. To fall on the face was a sign of inferiority; Joseph did so knowing that the next time he would see Jacob, in the resurrection, Jacob and Rachel would fall before him. So he did this realizing that it was in the flesh, as part of this fallen state. The same phrase "wept on and kissed" is used of what Joseph did to his brothers, to assure them that all was forgiven (Gen. 45:15). We wonder if Joseph felt he had things to forgive Jacob for; not least Jacob's reprimand of Joseph for his dreams, and never apologizing about it later. Jacob's favouritism towards Joseph had been the root of so many problems for Joseph. In the end, we all have to come to forgiving others, and we may as well do it immediately rather than needing time to do it. And perhaps the way Jacob had removed Joseph from being the firstborn and effectively given it to Benjamin, then Ephraim and then Judah... all felt like it was something he had to forgive, as he finally accepted that all this talk about the paternal blessing was really nothing.
We note that only Joseph is recorded as weeping over his dead
father. The brothers are not mentioned as doing so, when we would rather
expect them to. This perhaps indicates again that the human ending of the
story of Joseph was not ideal. The brothers realized they had deceived
their father over Joseph and made him suffer terribly. But they never once
admitted it nor apologized to him for it. And when he dies, they do not
weep over him. Joseph's dream of restored relationships between them, on
account of his great wisdom and grace, was unfulfilled. But his dreams
will have their fulfilment in the Kingdom, when Rachel his mother shall
also arise to bow before him as he prophesied. For this was never
fulfilled in the story fo Joseph in this life.
Gen 50:2 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his
father; and the physicians embalmed Israel- The Hebrew for "physicians"
is literally the healers, those who make whole. It was not the job of
physicians to embalm. But Joseph makes them do it, perhaps to teach them
that all their Egyptian myths about prolonging life were incorrect. They had
not kept his father alive, and so he made them embalm him, dealing
personally with the body which they had failed to cure or keep alive. This
fits in with a wider theme in the Joseph story- that the ways of the true
God demonstrated the errors of Egyptian thinking.
Gen 50:3 Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the
days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days-
Jacob's sons wept for a shorter period (:10), perhaps again demonstrating
(as noted on :2) that the Egyptian ways were inferior to those of the
Hebrews; for such lengthy weeping was but a formalism compared to the true
grief of the family. We note that Jacob was embalmed; the body was not
divided into parts, perhaps in reflection of the hope of resurrection by
Joseph. Hence Joseph commands the servants specifically to embalm the
body. And the word translated "embalm" also means "to ripen". Death is as
Paul explains, the sowing of a seed, which then ripens into the
resurrection body.
Gen 50:4 When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to
the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favour in your eyes,
please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying- We wonder why Joseph did
not directly speak to Pharaoh. Perhaps a new Pharaoh had arisen, and
already there was a distance between Joseph and the new ruler. For the
rigours of famine were now 12 years in the past. There may be far more
implied in the statement "If now I have found favour in your
eyes".
Gen 50:5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I am dying. Bury me
in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan. Now
therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again’-
The burial place was therefore not simply a cave, from where bodies could
be stolen, but involved digging. This was unusual for the Egyptians, who
preferred to build structures over the bodies and keep the bodies above
the ground; but we can understand it given the Hebrew hope in
resurrection. It is not clear when exactly Jacob had this grave "dug";
perhaps he did it when leaving Canaan, so distinct was his sense of
association with the promised land. Yet Jacob himself, despite so often
asking to be buried in Canaan, had never spoken of having dug a grave. We
wonder if Joseph threw this in at the last moment to underline the need to
do it.
Gen 50:6 Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury your father, just like he made
you swear- Joseph now needs Pharaoh's permission to leave Egypt. This
is different to the relationship he had with the Pharaoh earlier, when he
could do what he wanted. And the record is pregnant with connection with
how Israel were to ask a later Pharaoh to leave Egypt and were not allowed
to. The winds of change were already blowing, and the tide of history was
turning against Israel in Egypt.
Gen 50:7 Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all
the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the
land of Egypt- Clearly the elderly Jacob had become a senior figure
in Egypt in the 17 years he lived there. These "elders" of Egypt were
those to whom Joseph had taught "wisdom" (Ps. 105:22 s.w. "senators").
Perhaps they had come to share the hope of Israel.
Gen 50:8 All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s
house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in
the land of Goshen- Again this points us forward to how a later
Pharaoh insisted that Israel's flocks must remain in Goshen if they wanted
to leave (Ex. 10:24). And Ex. 10:10 could imply that Pharaoh had tried to
bargain that Israel could temporarily leave Egypt to sacrifice in the
desert, but their "little ones" must remain. We are being prepared for the
Pharaohs getting more controlling and demanding of the Hebrews.
Gen 50:9 There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a
very great company- I explained on Gen. 45:7 that it was the Divine
intention that Israel leave Egypt and return to Canaan once the famine
ended; Jacob was intended to die in Canaan with Joseph next to him, and
the blessings on the tribes in Gen. 49 would have had their primary
fulfilment in the land of Canaan at that time. Israel were to become a
great company in the land of Egypt during the famine, and then return to
Canaan. And now indeed they were a great company, and were returning to
Canaan- but temporarily. They ought to have gone permanently. We too face
so many problems in our lives because we do not follow the Plan A which
God intended for us. It's not that He rejects us for not following it; but
the other plans involve so much suffering for us which would be otherwise
needless, and so much human damage.
Gen 50:10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond
the Jordan- That they crossed the Jordan is twice mentioned (:11).
We wonder why they took the more circuitous route to Mamre from
Goshen; for there was a direct highway, that didn't require them to cross
the Jordan river. Whatever the reason, it was perhaps to help Israel in
the wilderness (the first audience of the book of Genesis) to see that
their route was not in fact without precedent. And this is the whole
purpose of Biblical history; to help us see that man is not alone, no
situation is essentially unique, others have passed this way before. With
God's grace ever with them.
And there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days- We notice a separation between "they [the other sons] lamented", and Joseph's mourning ["he mourned"]. They wept in different ways. Joseph clearly led the funeral but we get the impression that the brothers were still not OK with their father at his burial, whereas Joseph was because he had forgiven him. The last words many of the sons had heard from their father were his ranting at them and effective cursing of them when he was supposed to be giving them a blessing. So perhaps they forgave this, or humbled themselves to accept that although he was unreasonable to them in his demented state, yet indeed they had done wrong and deserved his words. For otherwise it is hard to understand how they could apparently so genuinely mourn their father's passing. Perhaps they now 'got it'; that their blessing, given to each of them (Gen. 49:28), was on account of their connection with Joseph.
Gen 50:11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the
mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning by
the Egyptians. Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond
the Jordan- The Hebrews appeared as Egyptians, just as Moses was
later to appear as an Egyptian. We too may be perceived as the people of
this world, our Egypt; we look the same, wear the same clothes, pass
through the same general experiences, speak the same language. And in
moments of weakness, this can lead us to think that perhaps there is
really nothing of substance to our religion. But we are different;
circumcision is of the heart, in the hidden, inner man, as the New
Testament describes it. For the significance of them taking the route over
the Jordan, see on :10.
Gen 50:12 His sons did to him just as he commanded them- This is
laboured (:13). The record wishes all to see how "Israel" were centred
around identity with the promises made to the patriarchs, with the
patriarchs personally, and with the associated hope of the resurrection of
the body. And that is just as true for the new Israel; for the new
covenant was expressed in the promises made to the patriarchs.
Gen 50:13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried
him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the
field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, before
Mamre- Again the point is repeated, that the patriarchs had to buy
land in which to bury their dead, when God had promised them the land as
an eternal inheritance. They had to buy a possession; whereas God had
given them the land as an eternal possession. God keeps His promises,
and thus is necessitated the resurrection of the dead and the
establishment of God's eternal Kingdom in the land promised.
Gen 50:14 Joseph returned into Egypt - he, and his brothers, and all
that went up with him to bury his father - after he had buried his father-
As noted on :9, there is a tragedy to this. They ought to have taken their
children and flocks, and remained in Canaan. But it is emphasized that not
one of them remained in Canaan; they all returned to what seemed the
softer life.
Gen 50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they
said- As always with the inspired record, this has the ring of
psychological credibility. The 'seeing' or perception of another's death
sinks in some time after the burial.
It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him- "It may be" can as well be translated "certainly". They were sure Joseph was now going to punish them. Likewise there are some convinced of their certain condemnation who will have an eternal surprise. Why did they have this fear of him, when all the evidence was of his utter love, grace and forgiveness? It is the same question as to why God's people today doubt their acceptance with the Lord Jesus. Perhaps they had been subconsciously pricked in their conscience by passing by the pit into which they had thrown Joseph so long ago. For there was only one main route from Canaan to Egypt. And they had Joseph with them on this journey, indeed he is presented as leading the return procession. They had not fully believed his forgiveness and salvation of them . Just as we too doubt it. And so when the memory if past failure is restimulated, we too can fall into a spiritual panic attack. We are reminded in the communion service of the utter certainty of our salvation and His love. And we are to meet all our restimulations calm in that knowledge.
They recognized that the apparently single act of selling Joseph into Egypt had led to "all of the evil" which had come upon Joseph. He had clearly explained to them what had happened. And they accepted, as we should, that one bad act spawns many others for which we are responsible. The man who abuses a young child has some blame for the life of theft, drug addiction and self harm which resulted from actions which may have summed up to "just" a few hours. This is the nature of all sin- it has rolling consequences. See on :17.
The brothers still needed education in their faith in grace. The same word is used of how they had "hated" Joseph (Gen. 49:23). So they proceeded to tell a lie, to show a lack of faith, on the basis of a 'What if...' logic. And it is 'What if...?' which drives so much of our lack of faith. It drives the need to undermine others, to pursue ever more wealth, to be untruthful. God does at times pay back evil- the same words are used of Him doing this elsewhere (Jud. 9:56,57; 1 Sam. 25:39; Ps. 54:5 etc.). Joseph does not just gloss over their evil; he agrees with them that they had done evil (:20), but he tells them that he is not God (:19; although that is possible of an alternative explanation). It will not be for him to have any part in any possible repayment of them for the evil done. He doesn't rule out the possibility of God doing so; but it is for him to show grace and to only repay evil with good. This is a profound lesson which Christians have struggled to learn over the centuries.
Gen 50:16 They sent a message to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded
before he died, saying- As noted on :15, this was a lie, told on the
basis of fear of possible futures. It is those same fears which lead us to
so much poor behaviour.
The Hebrew word for "message" can mean either a
message or a messenger- hence Gen. 50:16 AV "messenger", RV "message". In
the Divine thinking which is so often reflected in the Hebrew language, the
man is his message, the messenger is the message.
Gen 50:17 ‘You shall tell Joseph, Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you’. Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father- We wonder why the emphasis upon "disobedience". The sin of selling Joseph into Egypt was the summation of much "disobedience"; and they recognized that this apparently single act of selling Joseph ["their sin"] had much more to it (see on :15). They did it because they were disobedient to Joseph as the family priest, and were disobedient to the implications of his dreams. This would be why they go on to say that they are indeed his servants, as shown in the dreams by their bowing before him. We note that they like their father Jacob are still talking about the God of their father, rather than their personal God. This is the closest we get to any famous final scene of repentance. We are set up to long for and expect some amazing human breakthrough in relationship and dramatic moment of transformation. It doesn't come, or at least, not very dramatically. And even this confession from the brothers is a very long time coming, and as noted earlier, the brothers clearly did repent in their hearts and re-think their past actions and attitudes. But only now, years after Joseph had accepted them anyway, do they move to a formal statement of repentance. And even then, it is expressed in general terms and is not specific, nor is there any specific acceptance that his dreams had come true. And it seems motivated by fear of him rather than being from the heart. And there is never any word of repentance from them to their father for lying to him and distressing him over what they did to him and Joseph. We are left wondering why exactly Joseph wept on hearing these words. This is one of those intentionally open questions which we are left to think about. Was it from joy that all his efforts to lead them to repentance had worked? Or was it from sorrow that they had still not really got there and their words were rooted in fear of him, a fear based on still misunderstanding and not accepting the greatness of his grace and patience?
Joseph wept when they spoke to him- He wept as God must weep, at the slowness of men to believe His wonderful grace. The good news of the Gospel is disbelieved so often because it is in fact too good news.
Joseph's brothers had slink away from him, and he had had to encourage them: "Come near to me, I pray you" (Gen. 45:4). They absolutely knew that they ought to be punished and killed by him, and they obviously thought he would do it. And now even years later, Joseph wept in frustration at their lack of full acceptance of his total forgiveness. These scenes are so evidently typical of the future judgment seat of Joseph / Jesus. There is even the suggestion in Rev. 7:15 that after the judgment process, the Lord will come down off His throne and mix with us, after the pattern of Joseph. See on Gen. 45:4.
Gen 50:18 His brothers also went and fell down before his face- They recognized that they had been disobedient to the implication of Joseph's dreams (see on :17), and so again they fall down before him.
And they said, Behold, we are your servants- In :18 they say that they are servants of God; here, that they are Joseph's servants. They perceived Joseph as God manifest, hence his comment in :19 "Am I in the place of God?". Or it could be that Joseph is encouraging them that he is indeed in the place of God (the Hebrew can be translated "I am in the place of God"); and he could therefore assure them that his grace towards them was indeed a reflection of God's grace to them. And God to this day arranges things and encounters in our lives to elicit repentance from us, and to help us perceive that others' grace to us is indeed God's grace to us reflected through them. "We are your servants" is what they had said to Joseph around 20 years before (Gen. 44:16). They had not moved on from this attitude to experiencing open fellowship, friendship and communion with Joseph. And this is indeed a level of relationship with the Lord Jesus which is beyond simply accepting him as our Master. For He wishes to call us friends, not servants.
Gen 50:19 Joseph said to them, Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?- Joseph doesn't point out their lie; he doesn't say 'I don't believe you, it makes no sense to say this, surely he would've told me himself as I am the one to do the forgiveness; see, again, you are back to your dishonest ways'. Rather he doesn't confront them but lets his own example of grace speak for itself, setting us a great example. See on Gen. 40:8. He might be saying that indeed "I am in the place of God" (Heb.), not acting according to my own gut feelings; and God is full of grace and forgiveness, so they need not fear him, as he was manifesting God's saving grace to them. I noted on Gen. 41:19 that Joseph was an intense manifestation of God, and the vehicle through whom God was working.
Perhaps there is a purposeful ambiguity in the Hebrew, implying both "I am in the place of God" and "Am I in the place of God?", implying he was not. So this could also be read as Joseph telling them not to fear him, because evil is repaid only by God and not himself; see on :15. ‘God manifestation’ doesn’t mean playing God. Joseph held himself back from being vindictive against his brothers by saying that he could not do so, because if he did, he would be acting ‘in God’s place’. His fear of ‘playing God’ meant that he wouldn’t presume to judge them. All too easily, a too simplistic view of ‘God manifestation’ can lead us to assume that we are to judge and condemn others, thus arrogating to ourselves what is only and rightly God’s personal prerogative.
This can as well be translated "Fear not,
for I am in God's place". Because they had just described themselves as
God's servants and now they say they are Joseph's servants. His reasoning
is that because he has forgiven them, so has God. Or because God has
forgiven them, so has he and he will therefore not punish them. This is
how what is bound on earth by us is bound in Heaven. Of course God can
forgive us whether or not man forgives us, but the point is that if we
forgive then God is eager to match that with His forgiveness. This gives
us great power over those who abuse us. In this sense we hold the keys of
the Kingdom. And this is the huge significance with which our forgiveness
is freighted.
Gen 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day- When Paul wrote that all things work together for our "good" (Rom. 8:28), he was echoing how in all the grief of Joseph's life, the rejection by his brethren, the cruel twists of fate [as they seemed at the time]... God meant it for good. This same wonderful process will come true in our lives- for they too are equally directed by a loving Father. Joseph is clear that "You sold me into Egypt" (Gen. 45:4), but he repeatedly explains that "You sold me [but in fact] God sent me" into Egypt. You sold me, but God sent me (Gen. 45:8). This is the key to coping with life, to perceive that what happens to us on one level is used by God on another.
The wonder of it all is not simply that good triumphs over evil, but that good triumphs /through /evil. And this is finally the message of the Gospel, of the cross of Christ, of the Kingdom, that even death itself becomes a magnificent defeat. Christus Viktor, Jesus Christ as victor, Lord, Master and Saviour. And this is the message we take to a world where evil appears to triumph over good, and where even children's fairytales seem to have evil triumphing. And we have a part in the cross; the Lord's victory there is ours, ultimate and eternal good shall triumph through the evil we experience now.
"To bring it to pass" is vague. What is the referrent of the "it"? Perhaps Joseph's dreams, seeing that Joseph may have seen those double dreams as he did Pharaoh's double dreams, as being "one". He was explaining that they were not about his power over his brethren, but rather their gratitude to him for grace and salvation.
Joseph held no grudge against his brethren, and would not be vindictive to them, because he understood something of predestination: “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good”. And because he understood that God’s good intentions were worked out through the evil intentions of others, Joseph was content to leave all in God’s hands, and on this basis he assures his brothers that given his understanding of this ‘predestination’, he wouldn’t hit back at them for what they’d done to him. This can be a helpful perspective for us in our struggles to forgive. "Meant" is literally to weave, to fabricate. Their weaving of evil plans and lies were more than matched by God's incredible weaving through the whole situation to bring about good from evil- He doesn't just walk away from evil and sin, but weaves through it. It is the word used of the "cunning work" of the tabernacle tapestry and the breastplate of judgment, where the threads of colours representing God are woven through the scarlet threads of human sin (Ex. 26:1,31; 28:15). The cherubim were made likewise; through all this, God's absolute glory shines (Ex. 36:35).
The same words and ideas of good and evil are found in 1 Sam. 20:17, where Saul does David evil, but David repays that evil with good. David was inspired by Joseph; as we should be. So often he laments that Saul and his men 'mean evil' ["devise... my hurt"], and yet God will preserve him as He did Joseph, for good (Ps. 35:4; 41:7 etc.). For these records are for our learning, that we too like David might slot ourselves into Joseph's place.
This verse is clearly alluded to in Rom. 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” We therefore have a part in all this. This is not mere history, but an actual pattern for us, and the living word speaking to us personally.
To save many people alive- God's abundant grace is revealed in the way that they devised evil against one man, and yet God through that devised good not for one man, Joseph, but to save not only him but "many people". They devised death; but through that God devised life. Paul catches this spirit when he draws up the contrasts between the death which came from the one man Adam, and the life which comes through the Lord Jesus.
Gen 50:21 Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones. He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them- Joseph alludes to his words of 17 years before, when he had first promised to "nourish" his brothers and their families in Egypt (Gen. 45:11; 47:12 s.w.). He assures them yet again that he is a man of his word, no matter how long the consequences of that word go on for. He was in this sense manifesting God to them (see on :19). The 'comfort' he gave them was really comfort in their slowness to believe in his grace. The same words are found in the prophecy of how the Elijah ministry will speak to the heart ["comfortably", s.w.] of latter day Israel, assuring them that their sin is past and forgiven (Is. 40:2).
He "spoke to their heart" (Heb.), so perhaps the story does have a happy ending in that they did finally believe in his love, forgiveness and salvation. And their names will be inscribed eternally upon the new Jerusalem, so we can assume they will indeed be saved by Joseph's grace.
However we would be mistaken if we were to conclude that this is a story of forgiveness and reconcilliation. Joseph indeed forgave his brothers and did so on God's behalf. But there is no blissful picture of reconcilliation, with the brothers and Joseph living happily together. Just as there is rarely any truly happy ending in this life. Forgiveness may be granted, and we may avoid judging those who sinned against us, and our grace may indeed lead to the final salvation of those who sinned against us. But as with Joseph and his brothers, there is often no happy reconciliation in this life; that is one of the joys of the Kingdom which awaits us all. The final fulfilment of Joseph's dream of his brothers and parents bowing together before him in gratitude will only then be fulfilled. And we therefore are wise not to join the vast majority who live and die in unfulfilled hope that there will be such interpersonal reconciliations in this life. People, even believers, live and die divided and distrusting of each other. But the final reconcilliation will come, if we on our part truly forgive. In all these situations, somebody around here has to be the Christian, and that person happens to be you. And really this is the spirit of all God's dealings with us. He forgives and saves, right now. But that doesn't achieve the intimacy with us which it should and could and ought to. But it will, finally, in the Kingdom.
Gen 50:22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph
lived one hundred ten years- After the flood, lifespans slowly
decreased. We have quite a lot of data in the Bible regarding this; my
friend Dr. John Thatcher once analyzed it and found that the recorded ages
decline precisely in line with the decay function of entropy.
Gen 50:23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The
children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees-
Ephraim and Manasseh themselves had been taken from Joseph's knees and
made the sons of Jacob. But these children of Machir and thence Manasseh,
the rejected firstborn, were counted to him; see on Gen. 48:12. If he died
at 110 he would have presumably seen many grandchildren and great
grandchildren, but these of Machir are mentioned as born on his knees
because they were counted as his. He may have wanted this to as it
were compensate for his "loss" of his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, who were
adopted by his father Jacob. Or maybe as he too faced his death, Joseph
was acting in the same way as his father Jacob; even though in this issue
of adopting grandsons as his own children, there are a range of moral and
ethical problems. Joseph clearly alludes to his father's death bed scene
when he commands his bones to be buried in Canaan and not Egypt (:24). The
same idiom is used for Bilhah bearing children on the knees of Rachel,
making them effectively Rachel's children. But it could be that because
Machir's mother was a concubine as well as a Syrian and therefore
non-Hebrew (1 Chron. 7:14; Gen. 46:20 LXX), Joseph wanted to ensure that
the children with non-Hebrew or non-standard associations were still
counted as his children. For he himself had married a non-Hebrew. And in
this case we again see Joseph's grace and desire to include the rejected.
Gen 50:24 Joseph said to his brothers, I am dying, but God will surely
visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob- In his time of dying, Joseph speaks
and wishes just like his father Jacob in his time of death; and he said
these words in faith, seeing the future as if it is now (Heb. 11:22). The
implications of the promises which comprised the covenant were identical
for every man, as they are for us this day. He emphasizes three times (:25
also) that Egypt, this world, is not the resting place of God's people
Israel. They should have returned to Canaan of their own volition (Gen.
45:7); but they did not, and so God would 'bring them up', taking the
initiative to bring about the fulfilment of the Gospel's promises- by His
grace, rather than just abandoning them to their own choice, which at the
time was Egypt over Canaan. Earlier, the brothers had been 'brought up out
of' Egypt to Canaan when Joseph had released them from the burden of their
sins by his grace (Gen. 45:25 uses the same Hebrew phrase). And on a
collective level, Israel were to be brought to the same level of
desperation and repentance before they could be brought up from Egypt to
Canaan. But like the brothers, it seemed they never really got to the
required level of repentance; but they were saved by grace all the same.
Gen 50:25 Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God
will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here-
Like Jacob, Joseph's heart was in the land of
promise. Joseph's bones were 'carried up' with them when
Israel left Egypt. The Hebrew word here is elsewhere translated 'to rise
up', 'lift up', 'spring up', clearly hinting of the resurrection which
will come at the Lord's return. I explained on Gen. 45:7 that it was God's
intention that Israel leave Goshen and return to Canaan; and they had
failed to do so. Joseph probably wanted to do so, but his brothers didn't.
He perhaps envisaged that the generation contemporary with him would do
so, as he asks them to take his bones with them. So he foresaw a special
intervention of God in Israel's collective life, God 'visiting' then, so
that they would leave Egypt. That could all have been avoided if they had
been obedient and quit the soft life and returned to Canaan immediately.
These words were fulfilled in Ex. 13:19: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the children of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away from here with you". And so we enquire whether Joseph's words were prophecy, or command. We have the same question about the prophecy / command to rebuild the temple in Ez. 40-48. Ex. 13:19 seems to present the carrying up of Joseph's bones as a fulfilment of Joseph's prophecy. But Moses and Israel had the freewill choice as to whether to take his bones with them. There was surely an inconvenience factor in locating, preparing and transporting Joseph's bones as they fled Egypt "in haste" on Passover night. So the 'prophecy' was in this sense dependent upon man to fulfil it, and in the case of human failure to obey, then the 'prophecy' would have been rescheduled or reinterpreted into some other form of fulfilment, or not fulfilled at all. And this is a principle applicable to various apparent prophecies which are in fact more command than prophecy, and obedience to command depends upon human freewill.
This could imply Joseph expected his brothers to leave Egypt very soon,
and so he asked them to take his bones with them. If they had done this as
God intended, the sufferings of Israel in Egypt could have been avoided.
We note too that here he emulated his father's attitude, focusing upon the
positives in his father rather than the negative.
We note that Joseph's bones were finally buried in Shechem (Josh. 24:32), the specific inheritance given to him by Jacob. Yet it was from Shechem that the 17 year old Joseph had gone to "seek" his brothers. And finally he returns there. It's as if his amazing work in seeking and saving his brothers was finally fulfilled; for their names will be written on the new Jerusalem, and we can assume that his work in seeking and saving them, through so much hurt, grace, wisdom, patience and forgiveness, was finally done and achieved.
Gen 50:26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt- To remain in power for 80 years in the cut throat politics of Egypt was a huge testament to his integrity. We note again that he was embalmed and put in a coffin; the body was kept intact in reflection of the hope of resurrection. See on :2,3. 'Embalm' also means 'to ripen'. Death is as Paul explains, the sowing of a seed, which then ripens into the resurrection body.
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