The Book of Genesis Options

[JayDawg]

50:1 wept: Joseph expressed his strong, genuine love for his father (see 45:1; 46:29).

50:2 embalm: Joseph directed that his father be embalmed so that he could be buried in Canaan. One day Joseph would also be embalmed (v. 26).

50:4 Joseph made his request to leave Egypt to bury his father's remains in Canaan. The expression to the household of Pharaoh indicates that even Joseph did not always have immediate access to the Pharaoh's presence.

50:10 At Atad in the Transjordan, the delegation mourned another seven days. This is the entrance to the Promised Land. The Canaanites were so impressed with the party of mourners that they named the place for them.

50:15 Joseph's brothers had a new fear. What if Joseph's kindness to them were something Joseph showed merely to please his father? With Jacob dead, would Joseph take revenge?

50:16, 17 The message may have been truthful or it might have been an invention of the brothers reacting to their fear. trespass sin: The evil the brothers had done to Joseph (for Jacob's use of the same words to Laban, see 31:36). Joseph wept: Joseph accepted the confession in the message as a sincere confession from his brothers.

50:20, 21 you meant evil: Joseph spoke clearly about how he viewed the events of his life (45:4). God meant it for good: God transformed the evil of a group of men into an exceedingly great work. Joseph not only saved the lives of numerous people in the ancient world, he also testified to the power and goodness of the living God. God works His good plan even through the evil plans of evil people.

50:22 one hundred and ten years: God blessed Joseph with a long life. This age may be compared to the 175 years of Abraham (25:7), 180 years of Isaac (35:28), and 147 years of Jacob (47:28).

50:23 children of Machir: The listing of the children of Ephraim before the children of Manasseh is a step in the fulfillment of Jacob's blessing. The younger son of Joseph was elevated over his older brother (see 48:8).

50:24 God will surely visit you: On his deathbed, Joseph expressed continuing faith in the promises of God. He reassured his relatives that God would continue to work in the family. In His time (see 15:12), God would keep His promise to give Canaan to Abraham's descendants (see 12:7; 26:3; 35:12; 46:4). to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob: This phrase is the standard way of referring to God's covenant to Abraham's family (see 48:15; 49:25; Ex. 2:24; 3:16). The recital of the three names reaffirms the certainty of the promise and God's commitment to fulfill it.

50:25 an oath: Joseph had buried his father Jacob in Canaan (50:7). Now he had the Israelites swear that they would take his bones to the Promised Land when the entire nation of Israel returned to Canaan. In this oath Joseph expressed his complete belief that God would keep His promise to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites (Heb. 11:22). Hundreds of years later, Moses would keep the Israelites' oath by taking Joseph's bones with the people into the wilderness (Ex. 13:19). Finally, Joshua would bury the bones of Joseph at Shechem after the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 24:32).

50:26 Joseph was embalmed, like Jacob (vv. 1) and all members of the Egyptian ruling class.