mh_parser/vol_split/1 - Genesis/Chapter 50.xml

<div2 id="Gen.li" n="li" next="Ex" prev="Gen.l" progress="30.64%" title="Chapter L">
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<h2 id="Gen.li-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
<h3 id="Gen.li-p0.2">CHAP. L.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Gen.li-p1">Here is, I. The preparation for Jacob's funeral,
<scripRef id="Gen.li-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6" parsed="|Gen|50|1|50|6" passage="Ge 50:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. The funeral
itself, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14" parsed="|Gen|50|7|50|14" passage="Ge 50:7-14">ver. 7-14</scripRef>. III.
The settling of a good understanding between Joseph and his
brethren after the death of Jacob, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21" parsed="|Gen|50|15|50|21" passage="Ge 50:15-21">ver. 15-21</scripRef>. IV. The age and death of
Joseph, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26" parsed="|Gen|50|22|50|26" passage="Ge 50:22-26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. Thus
the book of Genesis, which began with the origin of light and life,
ends with nothing but death and darkness; so sad a change has sin
made.</p>
<scripCom id="Gen.li-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50" parsed="|Gen|50|0|0|0" passage="Ge 50" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Gen.li-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6" parsed="|Gen|50|1|50|6" passage="Ge 50:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6">
<h4 id="Gen.li-p1.7">The Burial of Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p2">1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and
wept upon him, and kissed him.   2 And Joseph commanded his
servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians
embalmed Israel.   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.   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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p3">Joseph is here paying his last respects to
his deceased father. 1. With tears and kisses, and all the tender
expressions of a filial affection, he takes leave of the deserted
body, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1" parsed="|Gen|50|1|0|0" passage="Ge 50:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Though
Jacob was old and decrepit, and must needs die in the course of
nature—though he was poor comparatively, and a constant charge to
his son Joseph, yet such an affection he had for a loving father,
and so sensible was he of the loss of a prudent, pious, praying
father, that he could not part with him without floods of tears.
Note, As it is an honour to die lamented, so it is the duty of
survivors to lament the death of those who have been useful in
their day, though for some time they may have survived their
usefulness. The departed soul is out of the reach of our tears and
kisses, but with them it is proper to show our respect to the poor
body, of which we look for a glorious and joyful resurrection. Thus
Joseph showed his faith in God, and love to his father, by kissing
his pale and cold lips, and so giving an affectionate farewell.
Probably the rest of Jacob's sons did the same, much moved, no
doubt, with his dying words. 2. He ordered the body to be embalmed
(<scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.2" parsed="|Gen|50|2|0|0" passage="Ge 50:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), not only
because he died in Egypt, and that was the manner of the Egyptians,
but because he was to be carried to Canaan, which would be a work
of time, and therefore it was necessary the body should be
preserved as well as it might be from putrefaction. See how vile
our bodies are, when the soul has forsaken them; without a great
deal of art, and pains, and care, they will, in a very little time,
become noisome. If the body have been dead four days, by that time
it is offensive. 3. He observed the ceremony of solemn mourning for
him, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.3" parsed="|Gen|50|3|0|0" passage="Ge 50:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Forty days
were taken up in embalming the body, which the Egyptians (they say)
had an art of doing so curiously as to preserve the very features
of the face unchanged; all this time, and thirty days more, seventy
in all, they either confined themselves and sat solitary, or, when
they went out, appeared in the habit of close mourners, according
to the decent custom of the country. Even the Egyptians, many of
them, out of the great respect they had for Joseph (whose good
offices done for the king and country were now fresh in
remembrance), put themselves into mourning for his father: as with
us, when the court goes into mourning, those of the best quality do
so too. About ten weeks was the court of Egypt in mourning for
Jacob. Note, What they did in state, we should do in sincerity,
<i>weep with those that weep,</i> and mourn with those that mourn,
as being ourselves also in the body. 4. He asked and obtained leave
of Pharaoh to go to Canaan, thither to attend the funeral of his
father, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.4-Gen.50.6" parsed="|Gen|50|4|50|6" passage="Ge 50:4-6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>.
(1.) It was a piece of necessary respect to Pharaoh that he would
not go without leave; for we may suppose that, though his charge
about the corn was long since over, yet he continued a
prime-minister of state, and therefore would not be so long absent
from his business without licence. (2.) He observed a decorum, in
employing some of the royal family, or some of the officers of the
household, to intercede for this licence, either because it was not
proper for him in the days of his mourning to come into the
presence-chamber, or because he would not presume too much upon his
own interest. Note, Modesty is a great ornament to dignity. (3.) He
pleaded the obligation his father had laid upon him, by an oath, to
bury him in Canaan, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.5" parsed="|Gen|50|5|0|0" passage="Ge 50:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. It was not from pride or humour, but from his regard
to an indispensable duty, that he desired it. All nations reckon
that oaths must be performed, and the will of the dead must be
observed. (4.) He promised to return: <i>I will come again.</i>
When we return to our own houses from burying the bodies of our
relations, we say, "We have left them behind;" but, if their souls
have gone to our heavenly Father's house, we may say with more
reason, "They have left us behind." (5.) He obtained leave
(<scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.6" parsed="|Gen|50|6|0|0" passage="Ge 50:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Go and
bury thy father.</i> Pharaoh was willing his business should stand
still so long; but the service of Christ is more needful, and
therefore he would not allow one that had work to do for him to go
first and bury his father; no, <i>Let the dead bury their dead,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.li-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.22" parsed="|Matt|8|22|0|0" passage="Mt 8:22">Matt. viii. 22</scripRef>.</p>
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</div><scripCom id="Gen.li-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14" parsed="|Gen|50|7|50|14" passage="Ge 50:7-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p4">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 <i>is</i> beyond
Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore
lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
  11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw
the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This <i>is</i> a
grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was
called Abel-mizraim, which <i>is</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p5">We have here an account of Jacob's funeral.
Of the funerals of the kings of Judah, usually, no more is said
than this, <i>They were buried with their fathers in the city of
David:</i> 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
also because his orders concerning his burial were given and
observed in faith, and in expectation both of the earthly and of
the heavenly Canaan. Now, 1. It was a stately funeral. He was
attended to the grave, not only by his own family, but by the
courtiers, and all the great men of the kingdom, who, in token of
their gratitude to Joseph, showed this respect to his father for
his sake, and did him honour at his death. Though the Egyptians had
had an antipathy to the Hebrews, and had looked upon them with
disdain (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0" passage="Ge 43:32"><i>ch.</i> xliii.
32</scripRef>), yet now, that they were better acquainted with
them, they began to have a respect for them. Good old Jacob had
conducted himself so well among them as to gain universal esteem.
Note, Professors of religion should endeavour, by wisdom and love,
to remove the prejudices which many may have conceived against them
because they do not know them. There went abundance of chariots and
horsemen, not only to attend them a little way, but to go through
with them. Note, The decent solemnities of funerals, according to a
man's situation, are very commendable; and we must not say of them,
<i>To what purpose is this waste?</i> See <scripRef id="Gen.li-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.2 Bible:Luke.7.12" parsed="|Acts|8|2|0|0;|Luke|7|12|0|0" passage="Ac 8:2,Lu 7:12">Acts viii. 2; Luke vii. 12</scripRef>. 2. It was a
sorrowful funeral (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.10-Gen.50.11" parsed="|Gen|50|10|50|11" passage="Ge 50:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10,
11</scripRef>); standers-by took notice of it as a grievous
mourning. Note, The death of good men is a great loss to any place,
and ought to be greatly lamented. Stephen dies a martyr, and yet
devout men make great lamentations for him. The solemn mourning for
Jacob gave a name to the place, <i>Abel-Mizraim, the mourning of
the Egyptians,</i> which served for a testimony against the next
generation of the Egyptians, who oppressed the posterity of this
Jacob to whom their ancestors showed such respect.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.li-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21" parsed="|Gen|50|15|50|21" passage="Ge 50:15-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21">
<h4 id="Gen.li-p5.5">Joseph Comforts His
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p5.6">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p6">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. And
Joseph wept when they spake unto him.   18 And his brethren
also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we
<i>be</i> thy servants.   19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear
not: for <i>am</i> I in the place of God?   20 But as for you,
ye thought evil against me; <i>but</i> God meant it unto good, to
bring to pass, as <i>it is</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p7">We have here the settling of a good
correspondence between Joseph and his brethren, now that their
father was dead. Joseph was at court, in the royal city; his
brethren were in Goshen, remote in the

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country; yet the keeping up of a good understanding, and a good
affection, between them, would be both his honour and their
interest. Note, When Providence has removed the parents by death,
the best methods ought to be taken, not only for the preventing of
quarrels among the children (which often happen about the dividing
of the estate), but for the preserving of acquaintance and love,
that unity may continue even when that centre of unity is taken
away.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p8">I. Joseph's brethren humbly make their
court to him for his favour. 1. They began to be jealous of Joseph,
not that he had given them any cause to be so, but the
consciousness of guilt, and of their own inability in such a case
to forgive and forget, made them suspicious of the sincerity and
constancy of Joseph's favour (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15" parsed="|Gen|50|15|0|0" passage="Ge 50:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>Joseph will peradventure
hate us.</i> While their father lived, they thought themselves safe
under his shadow; but now that he was dead they feared the worst
from Joseph. Note, A guilty conscience exposes men to continual
frights, even where no fear is, and makes them suspicious of every
body, as Cain, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.14" parsed="|Gen|4|14|0|0" passage="Ge 4:14"><i>ch.</i> iv.
14</scripRef>. Those that would be fearless must keep themselves
guiltless. If our heart reproach us not, then have we confidence
both towards God and man. 2. They humbled themselves before him,
confessed their fault, and begged his pardon. They did it by proxy
(<scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" passage="Ge 50:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); they did it
in person, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.18" parsed="|Gen|50|18|0|0" passage="Ge 50:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
Now that the sun and moon had set, the eleven stars did homage to
Joseph, for the further accomplishment of his dream. They speak of
their former offence with fresh regret: <i>Forgive the
trespass.</i> They throw themselves at Joseph's feet, and refer
themselves to his mercy: <i>We are thy servants.</i> Thus we must
bewail the sins we committed long ago, even those which we hope
through grace are forgiven; and, when we pray to God for pardon, we
must promise to be his servants. 3. They pleaded their relation to
Jacob and to Jacob's God. (1.) To Jacob, urging that he directed
them to make this submission, rather because he questioned whether
they would do their duty in humbling themselves than because he
questioned whether Joseph would do his duty in forgiving them; nor
could he reasonably expect Joseph's kindness to them unless they
thus qualified themselves for it (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.16" parsed="|Gen|50|16|0|0" passage="Ge 50:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>Thy father did command.</i>
Thus, in humbling ourselves to Christ by faith and repentance, we
may plead that it is the command of his Father, and our Father,
that we do so. (2.) To Jacob's God. They plead (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" passage="Ge 50:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>We</i> are the<i>servants
of the God of thy father;</i> not only children of the same Jacob,
but worshippers of the same Jehovah. Note, Though we must be ready
to forgive all that are any way injurious to us, yet we must
especially take heed of bearing malice towards any that are the
servants of the God of our father: such we should always treat with
a peculiar tenderness; for we and they have the same Master.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p9">II. Joseph, with a great deal of
compassion, confirms his reconciliation and affection to them; his
compassion appears, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" passage="Ge 50:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. <i>He wept when they spoke to him.</i> These were
tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him, and tears of tenderness
upon their submission. In his reply, 1. He directs them to look up
to God in their repentance (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.19" parsed="|Gen|50|19|0|0" passage="Ge 50:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>Am I in the place of God?</i> He, in his great
humility, thought they showed him too much respect, as if all their
happiness were bound up in his favour, and said to them, in effect,
as Peter to Cornelius, "<i>Stand up, I myself also am a man.</i>
Make your peace with God, and then you will find it an easy matter
to make your peace with me." Note, When we ask forgiveness of those
whom we have offended we must take heed of putting them in the
place of God, by dreading their wrath and soliciting their favour
more than God's. "Am I in the place of God, to whom alone vengeance
belongs? No, I will leave you to his mercy." Those that avenge
themselves step into the place of God, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.19" parsed="|Rom|12|19|0|0" passage="Ro 12:19">Rom. xii. 19</scripRef>. 2. He extenuates their fault,
from the consideration of the great good which God wonderfully
brought out of it, which, though it should not make them the less
sorry for their sin, yet might make him the more willing to forgive
it (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.20" parsed="|Gen|50|20|0|0" passage="Ge 50:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>You
thought evil</i> (to disappoint the dreams), <i>but God meant it
unto good,</i> in order to the fulfilling of the dreams, and the
making of Joseph a greater blessing to his family than otherwise he
could have been. Note, when God makes use of men's agency for the
performance of his counsels, it is common for him to mean one thing
and them another, even the quite contrary, but God's counsel shall
stand. See <scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0" passage="Isa 10:7">Isa. x. 7</scripRef>.
Again, God often brings good out of evil, and promotes the designs
of his providence even by the sins of men; not that he is the
author of sin, far be it from us to think so; but his infinite
wisdom so overrules events, and directs the chain of them, that, in
the issue, that ends in his praise which in its own nature had a
direct tendency to his dishonour; as the putting of Christ to
death, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" passage="Ac 2:23">Acts ii. 23</scripRef>. This
does not make sin the less sinful, nor sinners the less punishable,
but it redounds greatly to the glory of God's wisdom. 3. He assures
them of the continuance of his kindness to them: <i>Fear not; I
will nourish you,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.li-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.21" parsed="|Gen|50|21|0|0" passage="Ge 50:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of, and
learn of him to render good for evil. He did not tell them they
were upon their good behaviour, and he would be kind to them if he
saw they conducted themselves well; no, he would not thus hold them
in suspense, nor seem jealous of them, though they had been
suspicious of him: <i>He comforted them,</i> and, to banish all
their fears, <i>he spoke kindly to them.</i> Note,

<pb id="Gen.li-Page_269" n="269"/>

Broken spirits must be bound up and encouraged.
Those we love and forgive we must not only do well for but speak
kindly to.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.li-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26" parsed="|Gen|50|22|50|26" passage="Ge 50:22-26" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26">
<h4 id="Gen.li-p9.9">The Death of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p9.10">b. c.</span> 1635.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p10">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
<i>generation:</i> 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.   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, <i>being</i> an hundred
and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a
coffin in Egypt.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p11">Here is, I. The prolonging of Joseph's life
in Egypt: he lived to be <i>a hundred and ten years old,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.li-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22" parsed="|Gen|50|22|0|0" passage="Ge 50:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Having
honoured his father, his days were long in the land which, for the
present, God had given him; and it was a great mercy to his
relations that God continued him so long, a support and comfort to
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p12">II. The building up of Joseph's family: he
lived to see his great-grand-children by both his sons (<scripRef id="Gen.li-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.23" parsed="|Gen|50|23|0|0" passage="Ge 50:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and probably he saw
his two sons solemnly owned as heads of distinct tribes, equal to
any of his brethren. It contributes much to the comfort of aged
parents if they see their posterity in a flourishing condition,
especially if with it they see peace upon Israel, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.128.6" parsed="|Ps|128|6|0|0" passage="Ps 128:6">Ps. cxxviii. 6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p13">III. The last will and testament of Joseph
published in the presence of his brethren, when he saw his death
approaching. Those that were properly his brethren perhaps were
some of them dead before him, as several of them were older than
he; but to those of them who yet survived, and to the sons of those
who were gone, who stood up in their fathers' stead, he said this.
1. He comforted them with the assurance of their return to Canaan
in due time: <i>I die, but God will surely visit you,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.li-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.24" parsed="|Gen|50|24|0|0" passage="Ge 50:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. To this purport Jacob
had spoken to him, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.21" parsed="|Gen|48|21|0|0" passage="Ge 48:21"><i>ch.</i> xlviii.
21</scripRef>. Thus must we comfort others with the same comforts
with which we ourselves have been comforted of God, and encourage
them to rest on those promises which have been our support. Joseph
was, under God, both the protector and the benefactor of his
brethren; and what would become of them now that he was dying? Why,
let this be their comfort, <i>God will surely visit you.</i> Note,
God's gracious visits will serve to make up the loss of our best
friends. They die; but we may live, and live comfortably, if we
have the favour and presence of God with us. He bids them be
confident: <i>God will bring you out of this land,</i> and
therefore, (1.) They must not hope to settle there, nor look upon
it as their rest for ever; they must set their hearts upon the land
of promise, and call that their home. (2.) They must not fear
sinking, and being ruined there; probably he foresaw the ill usage
they would meet with there after his death, and therefore gives
them this word of encouragement: "<i>God will bring you</i> in
triumph <i>out of this land</i> at last." Herein he has an eye to
the promise, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.13-Gen.15.14" parsed="|Gen|15|13|15|14" passage="Ge 15:13,14"><i>ch.</i> xv. 13,
14</scripRef>, and, in God's name, assures them of the performance
of it. 2. For a confession of his own faith, and a confirmation of
theirs, he charges them to keep him unburied till that day, that
glorious day, should come, when they should be settled in the land
of promise, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.25" parsed="|Gen|50|25|0|0" passage="Ge 50:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
He makes them promise him with an oath that they would bury him in
Canaan. In Egypt they buried their great men very honourably and
with abundance of pomp; but Joseph prefers a significant burial in
Canaan, and that deferred too almost 200 years, before a
magnificent one in Egypt. Thus Joseph, by faith in the doctrine of
the resurrection and the promise of Canaan, gave <i>commandment
concerning his bones,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.li-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.22" parsed="|Heb|11|22|0|0" passage="Heb 11:22">Heb. xi.
22</scripRef>. He dies in Egypt; but lays his bones at stake that
God will surely visit Israel, and bring them to Canaan.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p14">IV. The death of Joseph, and the
reservation of his body for a burial in Canaan, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.26" parsed="|Gen|50|26|0|0" passage="Ge 50:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. He was <i>put in a coffin in
Egypt,</i> but not buried till his children had received their
inheritance in Canaan, <scripRef id="Gen.li-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.32" parsed="|Josh|24|32|0|0" passage="Jos 24:32">Josh. xxiv.
32</scripRef>. Note, 1. If the separate soul, at death, do but
return to its rest with God, the matter is not great though the
deserted body find not at all, or not quickly, its rest in the
grave. 2. Yet care ought to be taken of the dead bodies of the
saints, in the belief of their resurrection; for there is a
covenant with the dust, which shall be remembered, and a
commandment is given concerning the bones.</p>
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