Genesis 50:1 Commentary and Bible Study

This chapter is largely about future promises. It deals with Jacob’s death and funeral, and then with Joseph's death and funeral very briefly, but it is much more than just the details of two funerals. The older commentaries, such as Calvin, spend more time with the chapter and see much more of value in it, and in particular it has devotional value and help for us. It is implied that all the sons were present at the death of Jacob, and we read that in verse 33 of the previous chapter – ‘And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost’; it seems to be in the same occasion as that. In accordance with the word of God to Jacob (Genesis 46:4), it was Joseph who closed his father's eyes. But they were all there, and he has given clear instructions in verse 29 of the previous chapter that his body is to be taken from Egypt's and returned to the land of promise and be buried there. That is a tremendous act of faith on the part of Jacob, Israel, because he wants everybody to see very clearly that the promise of God is very much alive and will be carried out, and so the arrangements are going to be made for him to be buried in the promised land.It is the longest burial account in the Bible. Joseph has great grief. Why? Because he knew the hardships of Jacob’s life, the price he had paid for his mistakes, and he was indebted for the teaching he had received from him. He knew how much Jacob had grieved for him, and for the way he bore it. He knew that Jacob would be buried in the promised land and couldn’t stay in Egypt.