Story 76 Jacob Dies
Jacob blessed each of his sons with words of prophecy about the tribes that would come from each of them to make God’s holy nation. These were words of breathtaking faith. Jacob trusted that God would do what he had promised even though he could not see it. Jacob knew that he was growing old. It was time to pass on the legacy of God’s covenant promises, and his sons and all who followed them would have to take hold of the promises by faith as well.
Though Jacob’s entire clan was living in Egypt, he believed by faith that one day, they would all return to the Land of Promise. He did not want to be buried in a foreign land with its foreign gods. He wanted to be buried in the tomb of his fathers, with those who followed after his God. Well over a hundred years before, Abraham had purchased a tomb where he could lay his beloved wife Sarah. It was in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham, Isaac, and Rebekah had all been laid there as well. When Jacob’s own wife Leah died, he brought her there, too. How Jacob longed to know that he would lie with his family in the end.
He spoke to his sons, “‘I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave...in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.’”
When Jacob was finished telling his sons his last wish, he drew his feet up onto the bed, “and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people” (Gen. 49:33c). Read that again. Aren’t the words and images of Scripture beautiful? Even death is filled with grace and dignity in the light of faith in God.
Joseph saw that his father was gone and threw himself across the body of the beloved, aged man. He lay there weeping for a time, and when he was spent, he kissed his rugged face. Then Joseph ordered men to come and embalm his father. This was an Egyptian ritual that would preserve the body for as long as possible. Joseph was going to take the body all the way back to Canaan, and it had to be well mummified or the decay would bring disgrace upon his father.
The embalming took forty days to complete. Then the entire nation of Egypt took seventy days to mourn the life of Jacob. This was the time usually given to mourn the life of a king. Jacob was treated as Egyptian royalty at his death. He was the father of Joseph, the man who had saved all of Egypt from starvation and ruin. What a relief it must have been for Jacob’s family to have time to truly grieve their great loss.
When the time set aside for mourning was over, Joseph began to make preparations to keep his promise to his father. He would journey to Canaan and lay him in the tomb with Abraham and Isaac. He went to the royal court of the Pharaoh and asked for permission to go, promising to return once he had honored his father.
The Pharaoh said, “‘Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.’”
Pharaoh’s officials went with Joseph from Egypt to the Promised Land. The entire royal court went with him! Imagine the great procession of men in their elegant and dignified robes. Chariots and horsemen would have come with them to act as guards over the lives of the most powerful men in the world. The whole family of Jacob was a part of the great caravan. Only the smaller children and the animals were left in Goshen.
The great procession crossed the Jordan River and made their way to a place called Atad.They stopped there and spent seven days mourning, crying bitterly and unashamed for the loss of Jacob. It was a ceremony of grief, and it was so impassioned that the Canaanites who lived nearby renamed the place Abel Mizraim, which means “the mourning of the Egyptians.”
Then Joseph and his brothers and all the others in their company brought Jacob’s body to Abraham’s tomb. They buried their father there just as they promised. Imagine what it was like for the sons of Jacob to enter the tomb. Imagine how they felt when they saw the bones of Abraham and Isaac, beloved Sarah and Leah. They were the people of the covenant, and it would be the honor of the twelve tribes of Israel to carry it on. When they were done burying Jacob, they all turned and made the journey back to Egypt.
When their father died, the brothers of Joseph began to wonder if he had truly forgiven them for selling him into slavery. Maybe he was just waiting for Jacob to die, and then he would get his revenge! Imagine how long they had been carrying around that terrible dread and fear! Joseph’s forgiveness had been so lavish and complete that they could hardly believe it was real.
They began to huddle together and talk about what to do. Finally, they sent a message to Joseph. They said, “‘Your father left these instructions before he died: “This is what you are to say to Joseph; I ask you to forgive your brother’s the sins and wrongs they committed in treating you so badly. Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”’”
When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. How devastating to realize that they did not trust in his love! Do you think is how God feels when we don’t trust him?
Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers were watching to see what he would do. When they saw his tender heart, they threw themselves down at his feet. Can you picture that in your heads? Ten grown men, bowing low at the feet of their righteous brother. “‘We are your slaves’” they declared. Do you see the beauty of their sorrow over sin? Do you see the beauty of true repentance? They knew they deserved justice, but Joseph had only mercy to give them.
“‘Don’t be afraid’” he said, “‘Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid, I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.’” How mighty and powerful Joseph was in his love towards his brothers! They had tried to use their power to destroy his life, but power of God had the final victory in the family of His holy covenant. Joseph’s love and forgiveness was the image of God reflected in the face of a man.
Where the seed of the serpent, the children of Satan, had always sought to destroy, the seed of Eve, the children of God, were agents of restoration and grace. Caan, Lamech, the entire human race before the flood, Ham, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and sins of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi all showed the violent wickedness and perversion that pollute hearts that are far from God. But the book of Genesis teaches us that their legacy is not the one that will prevail.
Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, the repentant transformation of Eve and Jacob and Judah, and the righteous purity of Joseph all shine the goodness and glory of God. They drew near to him by faith, trusting in the LORD instead of the selfish and violent patterns of the world. And through each of them, the world was blessed and changed. The book of Genesis teaches us about the great divide that is still going on in this cursed world. It leaves each person to ask which side they will belong to. There is no place in between. And victory of Joseph and Judah is the same victory that will conquer sin and death at the end of time.
Joseph lived on to be a hundred and ten years old. He and the entire family of Jacob stayed in Egypt. When Joseph knew his time of death was coming close, he spoke with his brothers. He said, “‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of the land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’” Joseph spoke with faith about things he knew he would never see with his own eyes. But how he longed to be buried in the tomb with his forefathers! He made his brothers promise to bring his bones back with them when it was time to go back to the Land of Promise. They embalmed him just as they had with Jacob, and careful kept him in a coffin in Egypt, ready for the day that God would bring them home.