Genesis 50:1-14
Faith in God’s promises shapes not only how we live but also how we are honored and remembered in death.
Scripture Text
50:1 Joseph fell on His father’s face, wept on Him, and kissed Him.
50:2 Joseph commanded His servants, the physicians, to embalm His father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
50:3 Forty days were used for Him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.
50:4 When the days of weeping for Him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in Your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
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.’ ”
50:6 Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury Your father, just like He made You swear.”
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,
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.
50:9 There went up with Him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
50:10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for His father seven days.
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.
50:12 His sons did to Him just as He commanded them,
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, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.
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.
Faith in God’s promises shapes not only how we live but also how we are honored and remembered in death.
Genesis 50:1-14 reveals that Jacob is honored with great mourning and a formal procession, and His burial in Canaan fulfills His final act of faith in God’s covenant promises.
That believers would live and die in faith, trusting God’s promises and honoring commitments even in times of grief.
- 50:1–3 Joseph falls on His father’s face, weeps over Him, kisses Him, and commands the physicians to embalm Israel. The Egyptians mourn for Jacob seventy days.
- 50:4–6 After the days of mourning, Joseph asks Pharaoh’s household for permission to go up and bury His father in the grave Jacob prepared in Canaan. Pharaoh grants the request.
- 50:7–14 Joseph goes up to bury His father with His brothers, Pharaoh’s servants, elders of His house, elders of the land of Egypt, and a great company with chariots and horsemen. They come to the threshing floor of Atad beyond the Jordan and hold a very great lament. The Canaanites name the place Abel Mizraim because of the mourning of the Egyptians. Jacob’s sons carry Him to the cave of Machpelah, the burial place Abraham bought. After burying Jacob, Joseph and all who had gone with Him return to Egypt.
- 50:15–21 After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers fear that Joseph may repay them for all the evil they did to Him. They send a message claiming that Jacob had instructed Joseph to forgive them, and then they come and fall before Joseph, offering themselves as His servants. Joseph weeps when they speak. He tells them not to fear, asking whether He is in the place of God. He declares that though they meant evil against Him, God meant it for good, to bring about the saving of many lives. He reassures them, promises to provide for them and their little ones, and speaks kindly to them.
- 50:22–26 Joseph remains in Egypt with His father’s house and lives 110 years, seeing Ephraim’s children to the third generation and also the children of Machir son of Manasseh. Joseph tells His brothers that He is dying, but God will surely visit them and bring them up out of Egypt to the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph makes the sons of Israel swear to carry up His bones. Joseph dies, is embalmed, and is placed in a coffin in Egypt.
- Do not interpret the use of Egyptian practices as compromising covenant identity.
- Do not overlook the significance of fulfilling Jacob’s burial request.
- Do not minimize the importance of public mourning.
- Do not detach this passage from the promise of the land.
- Do not ignore the role of Joseph’s leadership and faithfulness.
- Do not assume burial location is merely cultural rather than theological.
- Do not miss the connection between death and future hope.
- Covenant Significance : Genesis 50 is covenantally decisive because it closes the patriarchal age with both Jacob and Joseph oriented toward the promised land rather than toward permanent settlement in Egypt. Jacob is buried in Machpelah with the patriarchs, and Joseph binds the future sons of Israel by oath to carry up His bones when God visits them. These acts frame the covenant family’s identity around God’s sworn promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The chapter also reinforces that the preservation of the family in Egypt was never an end in itself. Egypt is temporary. The covenant future still points toward the land God promised. Joseph’s statement that God will surely visit Israel and bring them up is especially important, because it links Genesis directly to Exodus and shows that the promise remains alive beyond Joseph’s death.
- Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 23:17-20
- Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 45:5-8
- Old Testament Foundation : Genesis 49:29-33
- Old Testament Foundation : Exodus 13:19
- Old Testament Foundation : Joshua 24:32
- Thematic Parallel : Genesis 45:5-8
- Thematic Parallel : Genesis 49:29-33
- Thematic Parallel : Exodus 13:19
- Thematic Parallel : Hebrews 11:22
Jacob’s burial in the promised land points to the believer’s hope in resurrection and the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises through Christ.