Joseph’s remaining days in Egypt
50
📚And Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept 📖 on him, and kissed him. 2 📚And Joseph commanded the physicians who were his servants to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel.50:2 Jacob died (Gen 49:33), Israel was embalmed. After death he was no more Jacob but Israel forever.⚜
3 📚And it took a full forty days for him, for it fully takes this many days for those who are being embalmed. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
50:3 The ancient Egyptians were very skilled in preparing bodies for burial. Some of these bodies are still in a state of preservation after 3,500 years.⚜
4 📚And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh and say, 5 📚‘My father made me swear, saying, “Look, I am dying. You must bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan”. Therefore, now please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’ ”
6 📚And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, just as he made you swear”.
7 📚And Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 📚and all the household of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father’s household, went up with him. They left behind in the land of Goshen only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds. 9 📚And both chariots and horsemen went up with him, and it was a very great company.
10 📚And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they mourned with a very great and bitter lamentation. And he observed seven days’ mourning for his father. 11 📚And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a bitter mourning to the Egyptians”. So its name was called Abel-Mizraim 📖. It is beyond the Jordan.
12 📚And his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. 13 📚For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field as a possession for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. 14 And after burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15 📚And when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Maybe Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him”. 16 📚And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave a command before he died, saying, 17 📚‘Tell Joseph this: now please forgive the transgression of your brothers, and their sin, for they did evil to you.’ So now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father”. And Joseph wept 📖 when they spoke to him.
18 📚And his brothers also went and prostrated themselves in his presence 📖. And they said, “See, we are your servants”.
19 📚And Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20 📚But as for you, you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good, so as to bring about this result, keeping many people alive, as it is today.
50:20 In this one verse Joseph shows his great trust in God, his clear grasp of spiritual truth, and his total acceptance of the will of God (compare Gen 45:5-7; Deut 23:5; Ps 76:10; Rom 8:28). In the whole of human history God has been the great king over the world (see Ps 47:2 and note there). He has been working out His good purposes and bringing the greatest good to those who trusted and loved Him, even when men and devils (and sometimes they themselves) meant the greatest evil. There are many examples of this in the Bible.
Balak tried to destroy Israel and called Balaam to curse the nation, but God turned the event into blessing for Israel and the defeat of Balak (Numbers chapters 22–24).
Saul tried to murder David and chased him in the wilderness, but God was testing and preparing David for the throne of Israel and raised him to that position in the proper time. Satan tried to ruin Job, but the result was more blessing and prosperity, both spiritual and material for Job (Job 1:9-11; 2:7; 42:10).
Evil men tried to destroy Daniel, but through that attempt God brought more glory to Himself and a higher position for Daniel (Dan 6:1-28).
Often Paul was mistreated by evil men, beaten, stoned, imprisoned. Yet he said, and fully believed, that it was all for good (Rom 8:28; 2 Cor 4:17-18; 12:10; Phil 1:12-14).
The supreme example of this principle was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Satan and wicked men meant it for evil. God meant it for good (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28), and through the acts of men at their worst He brought the greatest good to mankind, the eternal salvation of His people.
What a God! For His people He turns curses into blessings, evil into good, loss into gain, weakness into strength! God is the sovereign ruler of the universe. He is not a victim of circumstances and events. He controls circumstances and events, including the sinful acts of men, for His people’s good, and to fulfill His purposes. Let us learn, as Joseph did, to apply this great truth to our own lives. It can give us joy in troubles and peace in sorrows of every kind.⚜
21 📚Now, therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones”. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them 📖.
22 And Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 📚And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. Also the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24 📚And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely come to you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob”. 25 📚And Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely come to you, and you shall carry up my bones from here”.
26 📚So Joseph died, aged a hundred and ten 📖 years. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt 📖.