Burial of Jacob – Genesis 50:1-14

This passage tells us that Jacob was embalmed by the Egyptians.  The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary tells us:  “Embalming served to preserve the body of the deceased, but in Egypt the reason for doing so involved a lot of theology. They preserved the body so that it could be reinhabited by the spirit (ka) in the afterlife. Nothing in the text suggests that Joseph or his family had adopted the complex afterlife theology of ancient Egypt with its emphasis on rituals, spells, and other sorts of magic.

The physicians referred to are probably mortuary priests, who were the experts in the techniques of embalming as they prepared the body not only physically for the grave, but spiritually for the afterlife. Evidence of embalming goes back to about 2600 b.c. The principal agent used in the embalming process is natron, which served to dry out the body after the important viscera were removed. This dehydration process took about forty days. The viscera were packed in natron individually and eventually replaced in the body.

Meanwhile, the body was washed out with spiced wine, and after the process was over, it was anointed with oils and gum resins. As the body was wrapped in linen, protective amulets were included at various places. As a final step, a liquid resin was poured over the whole body.”

[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 it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

[4] And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, [5] ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” [6] And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” [7] So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, [8] as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. [9] And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. [10] When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. [11] When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. [12] Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, [13] for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. [14] After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. (Genesis 50:1–14, ESV)

It is unlikely that the Israelites embalmed Jacob for the reasons the Egyptians embalmed.  Rather, it was to preserve Jacob’s body for the long trek to burial in Canaan.  Joseph asks permission to go to Canaan to bury his father, which Pharaoh gives, and multiple leaders in Egypt honored Jacob by going with Joseph and his family.  The mourning period is the longest ever mentioned for any biblical person.  Israel has indeed been a blessing to the nation.  Jacob, as Joseph’s father, has been the rescuer of Egypt during the famine years.  All Egypt honors him, though he and his offspring will be dishonored in 400 years, indeed, enslaved.

Apparently, for reasons undetermined, the burial train travels, not directly to Hebron and Machpelah, but to Jordan first and then across the Jordan River into Canaan.  Their stop in Abel-Mizraim (‘Mourning of Egypt,’ location unknown) and the mourning they do there so impresses the locals that they give the place this name. This just so happens to correspond to the eventual route Israel will take when they come to conquer Canaan.