The Death of Jacob

Then he told them, "Soon I will die. You must bury me with my fathers in the land of Canaan, in the cave in the field of Mach-pelah, facing Mamre--the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hethite for a burial ground. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. It is the cave which my grandfather Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth." Then, when Jacob had finished his prophecies to his sons, he lay back in the bed, breathed his last, and died.

Joseph threw himself upon his father's body and wept over him and kissed him. Afterwards he commanded his morticians to embalm the body. The embalming process required forty days, with a period of national mourning of seventy days. Then, when at last the mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh's staff and requested them to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf.

"Tell his majesty," he requested them, "that Joseph's father made Joseph swear to take his body back to the land of Canaan, to bury him there. Ask his majesty to permit me to go and bury my father; assure him that I will return promptly."

Pharaoh agreed. "Go and bury your father, as you promised," he said.

So Joseph went, and a great number of Pharaoh's counselors and assistants--all the senior officers of the land, as well as all of Joseph's people--his brothers and their families. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. So a very great number of chariots, cavalry, and people accompanied Joseph.

When they arrived at Atad (meaning "Threshing Place of Brambles"), beyond the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn funeral service, with a seven-day period of lamentation for Joseph's father. The local residents, the Canaanites, renamed the place Abel-mizraim (meaning "Egyptian mourners") for they said, "It is a place of very deep mourning by these Egyptians." So his sons did as Israel commanded them, and carried his body into the land of Canaan and buried it there in the cave of Mach-pelah--the cave Abraham had bought in the field of Ephron the Hethite, close to Mamre.

Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to the funeral of his father.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers »

TEXT SOURCE: (Genesis 49:29-33, 50:1-14) The Children's Living Bible, ©1970 Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187
TITLE SOURCE: The New Student Bible, ©1992 Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids Michigan 49530