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1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 4 Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, 5 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.'" 6 And Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear." ~ Genesis 50:1-6
Today, we transition into the last chapter of the book of Genesis where three burials are evident: the burial of Jacob, the burial of Joseph's brothers sin exacted upon Joseph, and Joseph's burial. Death is an inevitable part of life. While rituals conducted around death vary from culture to culture, most of them are grounded in a hope which transcends the grave.
Through Jacob, God had spoken to the sons of Israel and told them that they would be judged according to their ways. The determinant for them would be whether they would be defined by Him or by themselves. He promised them a new heart and a new spirit but only if they would simply turn to Him for salvation from self. Israel went from life to death. But in Christ, there is the hope of new life and even the resurrection to life from the dead.
In v.1-3 of today's passage we read, "1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days."
After Jacob died, Joseph showed his emotions by weeping over him and kissing him. This is the sixth time that we’ve seen Joseph weep in the book of Genesis. Throughout our lives, we all have been forced to deal with grief. And, all of us deal with our grief differently. The effects of our losses are often numbing and sometimes debilitating even to our faith in the God of the Bible. We all do well to have a process that allows us to come to terms with the death of a loved one. When we do not process our grief the emotions can become monstrous in our lives. This happens because feelings that are buried are always buried alive. When it comes to our grief, out of sight is not out of mind, they will come back to haunt us if we do not somehow deal with them. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger."
"The physicians" mentioned in v.2 of today's passage were also called "healers." This word is used 67 times in the Old Testament and the most memorable use of this word is found in Isaiah 53:5 which reads, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
The word translated physicians implies healing, like a physician would provide after an operation. Since we know that while the human body is alive, it is inextricably connected to our soul. Our soul animates our body. When that which animates departs, the body ceases and it dies. The Egyptians wrongly believed the soul after mummification would return to inhabit the body at some point after death.
In 1 Peter 2:24 we read, "(Christ) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."
Although this verse is very often incorrectly used to imply physical healing, in context the Apostle Peter spoke of healing from our sin. It is through the cross of the Lord Jesus that we have been spiritually healed and by the Lord's work believers are restored into a personal relationship with God. This is what the embalmers of Egypt had hoped for, but it was never to be because their sin problem had not been remedied. The sin problem is only reversed after we have come to trust that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin.
Joseph had the physicians embalm his father because he knew the process of embalming would cover up the foul smell that would surely come, especially since Jacob's dead body would not be buried for quite some time. The need for embalming is a testimony to the lowly state of our bodies that when the soul departs, it immediately begins to break down and smell really bad, and become offensive to everyone near. It is from this world of corruption, not to this world of corruption, that the believer in the Lord Jesus looks.
In v.4-6 of today's passage we read, "4 Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, 'If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, 5 'My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.' 6 And Pharaoh said, 'Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.'"
After 70 days of mourning, Joseph made a request of the Pharaoh that he be allowed to go back to Canaan to bury his dad there in the cave that was in the field of Machpelah. Instead of speaking directly to Pharaoh, Joseph spoke to the "household of Pharaoh" in anticipation of them then going to speak directly to Pharaoh on his behalf. By going through them, Joseph respected their authority in the matter and he was extending a courtesy that they would know in advance of his desires and intentions. In response, the Pharaoh gave his approval that Joseph could travel back to Canaan to bury his father.
Joseph was a man who understood the value of being submissive under authority. Submission is not a popular term in our world. Sadly, all degrees of sin come from our unwillingness to submit to the authority and rule of God. God has placed a system of authority in our world that requires faith to operate under its boundaries. These authority structures God has placed in our lives to protect and to guide us to His will. God created all authority to bless and to give life, but through our rebellion against His authority, we have allowed the process to become twisted. Authority no longer works as intended. Rather than acting as a skeletal structure for our good, authority can be misdirected to empower evil. There is only one limitation to the believer’s submission to human authority: namely, any law that would require disobedience to God’s Word.
