Genesis 49:28

The Bible says in Genesis 49:28-33, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.” When Jacob first came to Egypt, he described his life to Pharaoh and this description is given in Genesis 47:9, “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” But when we look at the end of Jacob’s life, we do see that things worked out very well for him at that time. If you live to be an old age, and die before your children die, and have them around you so you can give them one last set of instructions; things have worked out quite well for you. And most importantly, if you can lay your head down for one last time and close your eyes for one last time knowing that the Lord will take you to heaven; then you have had the best of all endings to your life. When he died, Jacob was thinking of God’s promises to him and to Isaac and to Abraham. That is why in Genesis chapter 49 Jacob emphasized his desire to be buried in the promised land. Being buried in the promised land where Abraham and Isaac had been buried was important to Jacob.

Concerning the burial of Jacob, the Bible says in Genesis 50:1-14, “And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 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. 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, 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. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 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, 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. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 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. 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.”

When Joseph had his father Jacob embalmed after Jacob’s death, Joseph provided the best burial treatment for his father that money could buy in the land of Egypt. Joseph was able to provide such funeral services for his father Jacob because Joseph’s status and job position was second in command in Egypt; meaning only Pharaoh’s position of authority was higher. Perhaps there cannot be found a more faithful servant to the Lord in all of the Bible than was Joseph. And Joseph was a very rich and powerful man in the way that the world measures such things. The lesson here is that you can serve God even when you are rich. Of course, for many individuals, riches can be an obstacle to serving God. Because the possession of riches often leads to even more temptations to overcome, including temptations that might be a roadblock to coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The Bible says in Matthew 19:23-24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” If someone loves money more than God, then the love of money is evil. That is exactly what it is saying in First Timothy 6:6-11, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

The Bible says in Genesis 50:15-26, “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. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 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. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. 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. 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. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”

Thus for one more time at the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph manifests his great faith that God had been guiding his life in everything that happened to him. The greatest disaster of Joseph’s life was when he was sold into slavery as a teenager by his own brothers. Everyone who follows the Lord will have disasters and sorrows of some kind. Even Jesus was called “a man of sorrows.” It says in Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Jesus made it clear that His followers would have times of suffering in this life. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

When Joseph suffered, he trusted that the Lord had a reason for those sufferings. When others did bad things to Joseph, Joseph trusted that the Lord allowed it for a good purpose. You have to trust and surrender to God being in charge in order to live by faith. You have to be thankful for the bad things as well as the good things in your life. Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” And so we see that the book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph. Joseph lived with faith in God, and Joseph died with faith in God. Joseph knew that the children of Israel would eventually travel back to the land of Canaan, because God promised it would so happen.

The book of Genesis has been a great book to study. There are so many wonderful truths in Genesis, the book of beginnings. It is easy to see why the Lord gave us this book. In the book of Genesis, we are told about the creation of the world and all life in this world. Life came from the mind of God and from the creative act of God. Order did not come out of chaos. That is a scientific impossibility. The well-ordered world and the life in it came from the well-ordered plan of Almighty God. Of course, the New Testament places Jesus at the creative event when it says in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In the book of Genesis we are told about the origin of sin in human beings, and the solution that God provided for the sin problem: a sacrifice by an innocent one. We are told that this coming Messiah would defeat the devil, and we are told that the Messiah will be a great ruler who will bless the peoples of the world. Of course, Jesus has fulfilled these prophesies and will continue to fulfill all prophesies about the Messiah.

In the book of Genesis we are told about the human kingdoms of the world. We are told how those kingdoms will enslave people and create false religions just like they did at Babylon. And we are also told that God created one nation to be made up of people who would serve Him and do His will. That nation was the children of Israel, but the kingdom of God will be made up of those from all nations of the earth. God chose the children of Israel because they came from the lineage of Abraham. God loved Abraham and honored him because of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises. As a matter of fact the faith that Abraham had is the exact same faith that all true servants of God must have in order to be saved and in order to serve God in this world. Genesis 15:6 is one of the great Bible verses that is often quoted in a genuine discussion of salvation. Genesis 15:6 says about Abraham, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Romans 4:2-3 where Paul wrote, “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Paul wrote in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” The greatest blessing for mankind is that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ becomes a member of the spiritual kingdom of God, and inherits all the promises that were made to Abraham in the book of Genesis.

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