Story: Jacob’s Death and Burial
Passage: Genesis 49:28-50:14
Characters: Jacob,
Joseph
Summary: Jacob requested
to be buried in the same field as Abraham.
He then died. Joseph had him
embalmed and Egypt mourned for him.
Pharaoh let Joseph and his family take Jacob to Canaan to bury him. The family returned to Egypt.
Notes: Jacob knew he was a foreigner in Egypt. He wanted to be buried in Canaan. When he died, Joseph fell on him
weeping. It is obvious that the bond
between Joseph and his father was something special. Joseph was greatly grieved when his father
died. Jacob was obviously well respected
in Egypt. The entire nation mourned his
death. It is interesting that Joseph had
the Egyptians embalm Jacob. Basically,
he was mummified. Pharaoh allowed the
entire family to bury Jacob in Canaan.
It is interesting to me that they came back. I am under the impression that the famine is
over at this point, but maybe it isn’t.
If it is, I wonder why they didn’t just stay in Canaan. Maybe it was because of Joseph’s role of
leadership there. I find it interesting
that Jacob chose to be buried in an obscure cave. With the respect he had, he could have been
buried in one of Egypt’s tombs. Egypt is
obviously known for their magnificent tombs.
This burial is very magnificent.
It is probably the largest burial mentioned in the Bible. The Canaanites even renamed the place as a
result of the grieving of the family. This
was a big deal. A family who had had
such obvious leaders had lost their leader.
Now the leadership was fairly evenly spread throughout the family.
Questions: Who took
charge of the family? If Jacob was
mummified, is his body still out there today?
What made the burial so unusual that the Canaanites took notice?
Lessons: Jacob knew
Egypt was not his home. Throughout his
life and even in his death, he showed that he knew he was from a different
land: the Promised Land. We are the
same. Our citizenship is in heaven. Do we live and die like we believe that?
No comments:
Post a Comment