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 where he chose to be buried, Genesis 47:29 . read more
The funeral of Jacob. I. THE PRIVATE SORROW . That a great and good man like Jacob, the father of a numerous family, the ancestor of an important people, the chieftain of an influential tribe, the head of the Church of God, should depart this life without eliciting from some heart a tribute of sorrow, is inconceivable. That any of his sons witnessed the last solemn act of this great spiritual wrestler, when he gathered up his feet into his bed and yielded up his spirit into the hands... read more
Retrospect and prospect. The fellowship of Egypt with the children of Israel in the burial of Jacob is full of significance. " A very great company went with them." "Abel-Mizraim" the Canaanites called it, "a grievous mourning to the Egyptians." It seemed to them altogether an Egyptian funeral. Yet we know that it was not. The work of God's grace will transform the world that it shall not be recognized. The funeral itself said, Egypt is not our home. It pointed with prophetic... read more
And his sons —the Egyptians halting at Goren Atad (Keil, Havernick, Kalisch, Murphy, etc.); but this does not appear from the narrative— did unto him according as he commanded them (the explanation of what they did being given in the next clause): for his sons carried him —not simply from Goren Atad, but from Egypt, so that this verse does not imply anything about the site of the Buckthorn threshing-floor ( vide supra, Genesis 50:11 )— into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the... read more
- The Burial of Jacob10. אטד 'āṭâd Atad, “the buck-thorn.”11. מצרים אבל 'ābêl-mı̂tsrayı̂m, Abel-Mitsraim, “mourning of Mizraim,” or meadow of Mizraim.This chapter records the burial of Jacob and the death of Joseph, and so completes the history of the chosen family, and the third bible for the instruction of man.Genesis 50:1-3After the natural outburst of sorrow for his deceased parent, Joseph gave orders to embalm the body, according to the custom of Egypt. “His servants, the physicians.”... read more
Deaths of Jacob and Joseph (49:29-50:26)Again Jacob insisted that he be buried at Machpelah, as a final witness that he died having the same faith as Abraham and Isaac (29-33; cf. 47:29-31). When Jacob died, Pharaoh declared an official time of mourning for him of seventy days. Pharaoh also sent a large group of officials and servants to Canaan with Jacob’s family to provide all necessary help and protection (50:1-9). The Canaanites were amazed that Egyptians should come all the way to Canaan... read more
his sons . . . buried him. See note on Acts 7:16 . bought. Compare Genesis 23:10 . read more
"And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre."These two verses are clearly a summary of the whole event, as the words "as he commanded them" indicate. There is no evidence whatever here that the floor of Atad was east of the Jordan, despite the preponderance of scholarly opinion to... read more
E. What Became of Jacob 37:2-50:26Here begins the tenth and last toledot in Genesis. Jacob remains a major character throughout Genesis. Moses recorded his death in chapter 49. Nevertheless Joseph replaces him as the focus of the writer’s attention at this point. [Note: For some enriching insights into the similarities between the stories of Jacob and Joseph, see Peter Miscall, "The Jacob and Joseph Stories As Analogies," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 6 (February 1978):28-40.]... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 50:7-14
We have here an account of Jacob's funeral. Of the funerals of the kings of Judah, usually, no more is said than this, They were buried with their fathers in the city of David: but the funeral of the patriarch Jacob is more largely and fully described, to show how much better God was to him than he expected (he had spoken more than once of dying for grief, and going to the grave bereaved of his children, but, behold, he dies in honour, and is followed to the grave by all his children), and... read more