The Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide Office of the Bishop Bible Study Program – GENESIS, Chap 50 AOC

We have come to our last chapter of this Book of Beginnings. Foundations of faith have been set forth herein for, if we do not even believe the first verse of the Bible – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” – how can we believe the last – “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Rev 22:21 (KJV) Truly, the Books of our Bible are building blocks upon which the entire edifice is constructed. In chapter 49, we read of Jacob’s blessing of his sons, and, finally, his death. I began to feel that Jacob was a friend, but like all friends and family, there is always a time to say good-bye. It may interest the observer to know that the etymology of the term ‘good-bye’ comes down to us from the Old English which means, “Gud b’ wi’ ye” (God be with you). God be w’ ye, Jacob! Or better still, Jacob, be with God.

It is entirely natural for those of great faith to mourn the loss of a loved one. Being lost to our own earthly vision does not mean being lost to the eyes and heart of God – quite the opposite. But we mourn the temporary separation! 1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. Gen 50:1 (KJV) My sympathies go out to Joseph. He missed many good years of his father’s life being detached from him early in life and coming down to the far country. But his great sorrow is tempered by his faith and the certain knowledge that he (Joseph), too, will be gathered to his father in the process of years. Jacob lived to the ripe old age of 147 years. His father, Isaac, died at 180 years, and Abraham (his grandfather) at 175.

Joseph was highly respected in Egypt, not because he was a practitioner of dirty politics, but he was an honorable man and statesman who had saved the people of Egypt and the surrounding countries from starvation. And more importantly, he was savior to his people. Maybe he should run for President….. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. Gen 50:3 (KJV) It is somewhat ironic that the people of Egypt, who did not like sheep herders, would mourn the death of the chief of sheep herders. They did so out of profound respect for Joseph. 4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Gen 50:4-6

Embalming of Jacob. His body may even yet be preserved by that process in Machpelah. Like Joseph, later, and Christ, Jacob was placed in a temporary tomb. Jacob lay in Egypt for a period of forty plus days.

7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. Gen 50:7-10 (KJV) This was on the border between Egypt and Canaan and it is more than likely that this great mourning was the Egyptians final salute to Jacob – Joseph and his brethren proceeding on alone to the burial site at Machpelah.

11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. Gen 50:11-14 (KJV)

The burial site at Machpelah where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekkah, Jacob and Leah are buried until this day (more than three thousand and seven hundred years ago ).

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. Gen 50:15-17 (KJV) Guilt is a terrible burden to carry about, and it bears its own punishment. Consider how often Joseph’s brothers remembered with deep remorse the wrong they had done Joseph in selling him into slavery. Now they plead for forgiveness invoking the name of their father, but also of God. They truly have repented many times.

Please note how Christ-like is Joseph in forgiving his brethren. Remember how Christ prayed to the Father? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!” as He was hung upon the cross. 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. Gen 50:18-21 (KJV)

Joseph was a spiritually clean man of God. He had only one wife, unlike Jacob and Abraham. 22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. 24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Gen 50:22-24 (KJV) Godly men do not consider the end to be the time of their death – they look to the future of all things and place those matters into the hand of God and His people to carry out. The death of Joseph did not mean to him that God would forfeit the promises He had made to his fathers. Joseph would also make allowances for the burial of his remains in the Land of Promise.

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Gen 50:25-26 (KJV) The life of Joseph was strikingly shorter than that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The climactic change that had taken place following the flood had the effect of a gradual diminishing of the years of a man’s life. Sin also is an innate disease that takes its greater toll over time on the human race. It is debilitating and insidious. This is the opinion of Dr. Henry Morris and I could not agree more fully. I will make one more observation on the ending of Genesis.

I find it remarkable that the Book of Genesis begins with God’s creation of a perfect environment for His people at Eden, and ends, after the dreadful effects of sin, with the leader of his people in a coffin in a far country. The body of Joseph was embalmed in Egypt and later (400 years later) carried by the Children of Israel back to be buried in Shechem – the burying place of his good mother, Rachel. Tomb of Joseph in Shechem near Jacob’s Well

This is the end of the Book of Genesis, but I will make one more lesson to summarize the typical traits of Joseph that relate to our Lord Jesus Christ.