God Speaks
Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father’s body; so Jacob was embalmed. 3 The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.
4 When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s advisers and said, “Please do me this favor and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. 5 Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, ‘Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.’ So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay.”
6 Pharaoh agreed to Joseph’s request. “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise,” he said. 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh’s household, and all the senior officers of Egypt. 8 Joseph also took his entire household and his brothers and their households. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. 9 A great number of chariots and charioteers accompanied Joseph.
10 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father. 11 The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim, for they said, “This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians.”
12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them. 13 They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.
16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.
19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
22 So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. 23 He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own.
24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.” 26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: This last chapter in the book of Genesis (the book of beginnings) is one of endings. It contains the directions and proceedings for two funerals–Jacob’s and his son Joseph’s. After Jacob had breathed his last, Joseph hugged and kissed him good-bye and arranged to have his body embalmed. The process took 40 days, and the Egyptians mourned for an additional 30 days. It is not clear, but this longer period may have been out of gratitude to Joseph for all that he (with God’s direction) had done for the nation and its people. “Going through channels” instead of approaching Pharaoh directly demonstrates humility on Joseph’s part. Pharaoh answering him directly shows how highly he respected Joseph. The large entourage of high-ranking officials accompanying Jacob’s body to the burial site in Canaan also demonstrates this. Leaving the children and the livestock in Egypt during the journey to Canaan would have assured the Egyptian people of Joseph’s intention to return. Even the local Canaanite residents took note of the event. After returning from the burial, his brothers were worried whether Joseph would try to “settle the score” for how they had treated him in the past. He relieved their fears, honored God, and acknowledged their wrongful behavior, but he also declared what he saw as God’s purpose in allowing it. He calmed their fears, promised to provide for them, and spoke kindly to them. Joseph told his descendants what he knew of God’s plans for their future and what they should do with his body both when he died and when they left Egypt.
Prayer: Dear great and awesome God, thank You for using the selfless sacrifice of Christ to remove the sting of death. In the end, death itself will be condemned and destroyed. Thank You that although our bodies are laid in the grave, by faith those who trust in You, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, will receive new (resurrection) bodies and live with You in the new heaven and the new earth through the rest of eternity. May I (and other believers) honor my (our) parents even after their death. May I humbly show respect for my coworkers, superiors, and others in authority by “going through channels” to get permission for what I want to do rather than just forging ahead on my own. May I find favor with other people in my life so that You will be honored by them. May people turn to You because of what they see in my life. May I trust You to care for and protect the people and things I care about while I am taking care of the things You care about. Help me to always remember that You will return. I have been reconciled to You by faith; may I witness You reconciling others to Yourself as well. Use me in the process, please. May all who trust in Christ be reconciled to each other. May I follow in Joseph’s footsteps and be reconciled to my siblings and/or others. Please help me point other people to eternity with You. All for Your glory, LORD. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will “go through channels” and humbly ask permission for something I feel God wants me to do, giving valid reasons (not excuses).
- I will reassure my superior of my intensions to carry through on my promises.
- I will follow Joseph’s pattern to reconcile with those who have wronged me in the past.
- I will gently but firmly make known to my survivors what I want done with my body (and/or possessions) when I die.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.