28 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 50 This chapter contains a short account of what happened from the death of Jacob to the death of Joseph, and is chiefly concerned with the funeral of Jacob; it first gives an account how Joseph was affected with his father's death, of his orders to the physicians to embalm him, and of the time of their embalming him, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joseph fell upon his father's face,.... Laid his own face to the cold face and pale cheeks of his dead father, out of his tender affection for him, and grief at parting with him; this shows that Joseph had been present from the time his father sent for him, and all the while he had been blessing the tribes, and giving orders about his funeral:...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Here is, I. The preparation for Jacob's funeral, ver. 1-6. II. The funeral itself, ver. 7-14. III. The settling of a good understanding between Joseph and his brethren after the death of Jacob, ver. 15-21. IV. The age and death of Joseph, ver. 22-26. Thus the book of Genesis, which began with the origin of light and life, ends with nothing but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father,.... Which he did, not merely because it was the custom of the Egyptians, but because it was necessary, his father's corpse being to be carried into Canaan to be interred there, which would require time; and therefore it was proper to make use of some means for the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Forty days were fulfilled for him,.... Were spent in embalming him: for so are fulfilled the days of those that are embalmed; so long the body lay in the pickle, in ointment of cedar, myrrh and cinnamon, and other things, that it might soak and penetrate thoroughly into it: and so Diodorus Siculus (d) says, that having laid more than thirty days...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the days of his mourning were past,.... The forty days before mentioned, in which both the Egyptians and Jacob's family mourned for him. An Arabic writer (g) says, the Egyptians mourned for Jacob forty days, which was the time of embalming; but the text is express for sventy days: Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh; to the court of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My father made me swear, saying, lo, I die,.... Having reason to believe he should not live long, he sent for Joseph, and took an oath of him to do as follows; this Joseph would have observed to Pharaoh, to show the necessity of his application to him, and the reasonableness of his request. The words of dying men are always to be regarded; their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Pharaoh said,.... To Joseph, by the courtiers that waited upon him at Joseph's request, who having delivered it to him had this answer: go up, and bury thy father, as he made thee swear; the oath seems to be the principal thing that influenced Pharaoh to grant the request, it being a sacred thing, and not to be violated; otherwise, perhaps, he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joseph went up to bury his father,.... According to his request; having obtained leave of Pharaoh, and being desirous of paying his last respects, and doing his last office to so dear a parent, with all the honour and decency this service could be done with: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh; a great number of them, some must be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house,.... Joseph and his two sons, and his servants, and his eleven brethren and their sons that were grown up, and as many of his father's domestics as could be spared attended the funeral: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen,.... Which was done both for the sake of honour and grandeur, and for safety and defence, should they be attacked by robbers in the deserts, or opposed by the Canaanites, and be refused the use of the cave of Machpelah, and the right to it disputed: and it was a very great company; both for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad,.... Which was either the name of a man the owner of it, or of a place so called from the thorns and brambles which grew here, and with which the threshingfloor was surrounded, as Jarchi says, see Judges 9:14 and it was usual to make a hedge of thorns round about a threshingfloor (o), that it might be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,.... Who were at this time in the possession of the country where the threshingfloor of Atad was: when they saw the mourning in the floor of Atad; for so large a company of people, and such a grand funeral procession, brought multitudes from all the neighbouring parts to see the sight; and when...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them. Not only Joseph, but all the sons of Jacob were concerned in the burial of him, being all charged by him with it, and who were obedient to his commands as follows; see Genesis 49:29.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan,.... That is, they took care that he was carried there, as he desired to be; for it cannot be thought that they carried him on their shoulders thither, in like manner as the devout men carried Stephen to his burial, Acts 8:2 and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, &c. the very place...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joseph returned into Egypt,.... As he promised he would, Genesis 50:5 he and his brethren; the eleven sons of Jacob; for though they had not made the same promise, nor Joseph for them, yet they returned, having left their little ones, flocks and herds, in Egypt: and all that went up with him to bury his father; the elders and great men of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead,.... And buried; for this and what follows were after their return to Egypt, from the burial of their father; though some think it was before, and as soon as they saw their father was dead, when they thought it a proper time, while Joseph's heart was tender and affected with his father's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph,.... Not Bilhah, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, nor her sons, Dan and Naphtali, as Jarchi, grounding it on Genesis 37:1 though it is not improbable that some from among themselves were deputed, who were most interested in Joseph; since it is not very likely they would commit such an affair to a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So shall ye say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin,.... Their very great sin, and therefore more words than one are used to express it: unless this repetition should be intended, and signifies that their crime was a trespass against God, and a sin against their brother; and however they are directed...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And his brethren also went,.... The messengers being returned to them, and acquainting them with what Joseph had said, they took courage and went from Goshen to Joseph's house or palace, be it where it may: and fell down before his face; in an humble suppliant manner: and they said, behold, we be thy servants; they were content to be so, would he...