This chapter concludes the Book of Beginnings.
A commentator noted how gloriously this book began with the Creator speaking “In the beginning . . . “ and how the book sadly ended with this final phrase: “a coffin in Egypt.” Thus ends the story of the patriarchal stage in the formation of a people ‘set apart’ for YHWH, to play a specific role in His ultimate plan for the whole world.
Reviewing the life of Yosef . . .a ‘savior’ of ‘start-up’ Israel . . . is he a sample study for predestination, the theory that some select individuals or people, no matter what they do or do not do, have a distinct destiny? Was Yosef simply a victim of unfortunate circumstances one after another? To some extent he was, even if he made right choices which positively influenced how he would spend his sojourn in Egypt.
When you think more deeply about his stay in Egypt—actually the rest of his lifetime—he was exposed to a culture that countered what he might have been taught by his father Yaakov, who like Abraham and Isaac, were divinely-picked beneficiaries of divine instructions regarding a way of life.
From where came his strength of character, his integrity? This takes him from the bottom of Egypt’s society — an alien and a prisoner at that —- right into the seat of power, in Pharaoh’s court. In the end, he not only saves his family, he is also the ‘savior’ of Egypt! Through his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams which positions him to prepare Egypt for the coming drought and its consequences, he becomes CEO of Pharaoh’s court, surely that is power in his hands which, because of his character, he chooses to use for good. Egypt benefits as much as Yaakov’s tribe of 70 who migrate there.
In a way, Yosef is savior of both Israel and Egypt, thanks to Divine Providence as well as his own will to do the right thing each step of the way, all the way to his forgiveness of the brothers. As in Esau’s case, good fortune does much to influence one’s attitude in a positive way. A confluence of unfortunate circumstances and fortunate personal decisions plus and above all, let us not forget the invisible Divine Hand orchestrating in the background—all knitted strangely and harmoniously together in the tapestry depicting Yosef’s life.
Below, we’ve chosen an Egyptian-looking handsome image of Yosef, the Hebrew/Yaakovite/Israelite. Why? To serve as the final impression in our biblical memory that Egypt in Yosef’s time did have a good and benevolent Pharaoh . . . quite a contrast indeed to the situation of Israel after 400 years with a different kind of Pharaoh. Was Yosef still a Hebrew at heart, an heir of Yaakov/Israel’s upbringing with faith in his God —-beneath the trappings of Egyptian culture? And what does that really mean in terms of living through the realities of the life of a ‘stranger’ in Egypt?
Yaakov dies in Egypt but is buried in Canaan. Yosef dies in Egypt . . . and the history of the chosen people continues, thanks to one good Pharaoh but no thanks to the last Pharaoh at the time the chosen people are delivered from bondage.
What happened between the arrival and the departure besides ‘go and multiply/? Did Israelites remember or forget the God of their Patriarchs? Did Egypt’s culture and religion and worship of multiple gods of nature rub off on them? Were they more ‘Egyptian’ than ‘Israelite’ in thinking, diet, and all other ways? Did they assimilate ‘Egypt’ despite the fact they were separated from the Egyptian population because they were slaves?
Was there a distinct Israelite identity at that time or does that develop after deliverance and wilderness wandering, in the promised land? Think and ponder . . . .
NSB@S6K
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[Unbracketed comments from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; additional commentary by RA/Robert Alter and from EF/Everett Fox, translator of The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
Genesis/Bereshith 50
Interestingly, the Iliad also ends with an elaborate burial scene. The contrast is instructive: the Homeric epic celebrates the deeds and mourns the lost youth of a hero (Hector); Genesis reflects Yosef’s standing at court and the desire to bury Yaakov in the land of Canaan, in the family plot. Note too that Genesis has two more scenes, tending to lessen the impact of this impressive funeral sequence.
The End of the Matter (50:15-26): Drawing out the tension inherent in the Patriarch’s family relationships to the very end, the text repeats an earlier situation in Yaakov’s life—his brother’s feelings of “grudge” and threats to kill him—in the guise of his sons’ fears toward Yosef. Here, however, there can be no question of personal vengeance, since Yosef sees the brothers’ betrayal of him as but part of a larger purpose. In his words of v. 20, “God planned-it-over as good . . . to keep many people alive,” the text resolves two of the great hanging issues that have persisted throughout Genesis: sibling hatred and the threat to generational continuity.
Left hanging, of course, is the issue of the promised land, since the narrative concludes “in Egypt,” but these final chapters lead to the assurance that God will “take account” (vv.24-25) of the Sons of Israel, as they are soon to be termed.
1 Yosef flung himself on his father’s face, he wept over him and kissed him.
and Joseph. This does not imply that the other children of Jacob did not do even as Joseph did.
[RA] And Joseph flung himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. These three gestures by now are strongly associated with Joseph’s character. In the great recognition scene in chapter 45, he flings himself on Benjamin’s neck, embraces and kisses him, and then does the same with his ten half brothers, and before this he has wept three times over the encounter with his brothers. Joseph is at once the intellectual, dispassionate interpreter of dreams and central economic planner, and the man of powerful spontaneous feeling. At his father’s deathbed, he only weeps, he does not speak.
2 Then Yosef charged his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Yisrael.
to embalm his father. Not in imitation of the custom of the Egyptians, who took care to preserve the body after death and keep it ready for occupation by the soul. Joseph’s purpose was merely to preserve it from dissolution before it reached the Cave of Machpelah.
[RA] his servants the physicians. Although the Hebrew term means “healer,” these are obviously experts in the intricate process of mummification, and the wording indicates that Joseph had such specialists on his personal staff. Mummification would be dictated by Jacob’s status as father of the viceroy of Egypt and also by the practical necessity of carrying the body on the long trek to central Canaan.
3 A full forty days were required for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
the Egyptians wept for him. Out of respect for Joseph. Probably the forty days of embalming formed part of the seventy days (Rashi).
forty full days. A Hebrew formulaic number is used rather than the number of days prescribed by Egyptian practice.
seventy days. Evidently the Egyptian period of mourning for a royal personage, seventy-two days, has been rounded off to the Hebrew formulaic seventy.
4 Now when the days of weeping for him had passed, Yosef spoke to Pharaoh’s household, saying: Pray, if I have found favor in your eyes, pray speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying:
unto the house of Pharaoh. Joseph, as a mourner, would not approach in the king in person.
Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh. It is a little puzzling that Joseph, as Pharaoh’s right-hand man, is compelled to approach him through intermediaries. Some commentators have explained this by invoking Joseph’s condition as mourner, which, it is claimed, would prohibit him from coming directly into Pharaoh’s presence. A more reliable key to his recourse to go-betweens may be provided by the language of imploring deference with which he introduces his message to Pharaoh—“If, pray, I have found favor in your eyes, speak, pray . . .” Joseph is something extraordinary in asking permission to go up to Canaan with his entire clan, for Pharaoh might be apprehensive that the real aim was repatriation, which would cost him his indispensable viceroy and a whole guild of valued shepherds. Joseph consequently decides to send his petition through the channel of Pharaoh’s trusted courtiers, to whom he turns in deferential court language.
5 My father had me swear, saying: Here, I am dying- in my burial-site which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you are to bury me! So now, pray let me go up, bury my father, and return.
which I have digged. ‘Which I have prepared’ (Onkelos). It is quite likely that Jacob had prepared the grave for his own interment, next tot he grave of Leah in the Cave of Machpelah.
and I will come back. Joseph assures Pharaoh that he intends to return to Egypt.
In the grave I readied me. The usual meaning of the Hebrew verb karah is “to dig,” though it can also mean “to purchase.” The latter sense is unlikely here because it would be confusing to use karah for buying a grave, when it is so naturally applied to digging the grave. But since the burial site in question is actually a cave, one must assume an extrapolation from the primary meaning of the verb to any preparation of a place for burial.
and come back. This final verb is of course a crucial consideration for Pharaoh.
6 Pharaoh said: Go up and bury your father, as he had you swear.
7 So Yosef went up to bury his father; and with him went up all of Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
the elders. The respect shown to Jacob is evidently due to the great position occupied by Joseph in Egypt. Such processions as described in our text are frequently represented on Egyptian tombs.
[RA] and all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, went up with him. This vast entourage of Egyptian dignitaries betokens Pharaoh’s desire to accord royal honors to Jacob. the presence of chariots and horsemen (verse 9) might also serve as protection against hostile Canaanites, but the whole grand Egyptian procession is surely an effective means for ensuring that Joseph and his father’s clan will return to Egypt.
8 all of Yosef’s household, his brothers and his father’s household. Only their little-ones, their sheep, and their oxen did they leave behind in the region of Goshen.
only their little ones . . . they left in the land of Goshen. Because unable to endure the fatigue of travel to Canaan.
[RA] Only their little ones. The children and flocks are left behind as a guarantee of the adults’ return.
9 And along with him went up chariots as well, and horsemen as well- the company was an exceedingly heavy one.
chariots and horsemen. To protect the procession.
[EF] heavy: Three times through v.11. The root k-b-d connotes “honor,” “importance,” “weight,” and is central here perhaps to emphasize the respect shown to Yaakov.
10 They came as far as Goren Ha-Atad/Bramble Threshing-Floor, which is in (the country) across the Jordan, and there they took up lament, an exceedingly great and heavy lament, and he held mourning for his father, for seven days.
the threshing-floor of Atad. The place Atad has not been identified.
beyond the Jordan. This cannot mean east of the Jordan, as it is unthinkable that in going to the cave of Machpelah at Hebron the company would take the circuitous route round the Dead Sea. All difficulties disappear when we remember that to Moses and the Israelites in the land of Moab, the words ‘beyond Jordan’ meant west of Jordan. This phrase therefore is another incidental confirmation of the Mosaic authorship of Genesis (W.H. Green).
seven days. This is still the Jewish period of mourning for the dead. The sacred institution of Shivah in its essence thus goes back to Patriarchal times.
[RA] Goren ha-Atad. The place name means “threshing-floor of the bramble.”
across the Jordan. The logical route from Egypt would be along the Mediterranean coast, which would necessitate construing this phrase from the perspective of someone standing to the eat of the Jordan. That, however, is implausible because “across the Jordan” in biblical usage generally means just what we mean by trans-Jordan in modern usage—the territory east of the Jordan. Perhaps a circuitous route through the Sinai to the east and then back across the Jordan is intended to prefigure the itinerary of the future exodus and return to Canaan. Perhaps local traditions for the etiology of a place-name Abel-Mizraim in trans-Jordan led to the intimation of this unlikely route.
11 Now when the settled-folk of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at Bramble Threshing-Floor, they said: This is such a heavy mourning/evel for Egypt! Therefore its name was called: Meadow/avel of Egypt, which is in (the country) across the Jordan.
a grievous mourning. Or, ‘an honourable mourning.’
[RA[ Abel-Misraim. This is construed in the folk etymology as “mourning of Egypt,” though ‘abel is actually a watercourse. Mizraim means “Egypt.”
12 So his sons did thus for him, as he had commanded them:13 his sons carried him back to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Makhpela. -Avraham had acquired that field as a burial holding from Efron the Hittite, (the field) facing Mamre.
[EF] the cave in the filed of Makhpelah: Despite God’s continual promise of the land throughout the book, this is practically all that the Patriarchs possess at the end of Genesis.
14 Then Yosef returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.15 When Yosef’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said: What if Yosef holds a grudge against us and repays, yes, repays us for all the ill that we caused him!
Joseph will hate us. A notable example of the never-to-be-silenced voice of the guilty conscience.
16 So they charged Yosef, saying: Your father commanded before his death, saying:
thy father did command. An unrecorded message.
[RA] And they charged Joseph. The verb, which most commonly refers either to giving instructions or delivering the terms of a last will and testament, is a little peculiar. If the received text is reliable here, the choice of verb would be influenced by the fact that the brothers are conveying to Joseph the terms of what they claim (perhaps dubiously) is their father’s “charge” before his death. In any case, they send this message through an intermediary, for only in verse 18 are they represented as coming before Joseph—“And his brothers then [gam] came” —so perhaps the odd use of the verb indicates indirection here.
servants of the God of thy father. Though thy father is dead, the God of thy father liveth (Rashi). They ask for his forgiveness, basing their plea on the claims of brotherhood of Faith. A fine religious appeal.
Joseph wept. Because of their want of confidence in him.
[RA] the servants of your father’s God. In the imploring language of their plea for forgiveness, they conclude by calling themselves not his brothers but the faithful servants of the God of Jacob. Rashi nicely observes, “if your father is dead, his God exists, and they are his servants.”
18 And his brothers themselves came, they flung themselves down before him and said: Here we are, servants to you!
and his brethren also went. Having originally sent others on their behalf, see v. 16, they now come in person to plead with Joseph.
behold, we are thy bondmen. Again fulfilling the old dreams, see XXXVII,6f.
19 But Yosef said to them: Do not be afraid! For am I in place of God?
It is quite impossible for any man to counteract the Divine plan.
20 Now you, you planned ill against me, (but) God planned-it-over for good, in order to do (as is) this very day- to keep many people alive.
ye meant evil. Man proposes, but God disposes. ‘To me it appears that the sale of Joseph was the work of Providence, not only for him who was to be advanced to an exalted station, but also in the benign care that resulted from it for the whole people of Israel. Therefore, Joseph’s brethren were not deserving punishment; on the contrary, Joseph repeatedly declares that in whatever they had done, they were unwittingly carrying out the design of Providence’ (Abarbanel).
save much people alive. Not only the Egyptians and the children of Israel, but other people who came to Egypt to buy corn in the time of famine.
[RA[ While you meant evil toward me, God meant it for good. This whole final scene between Joseph and his brothers is a recapitulation, after Jacob’s death, of the recognition scene in Egypt. Once more the brothers feel guilt and fear. Once more Joseph weeps because of them. Once more they offer to become his slaves. (The physical act of prostration, as the early-twentieth-century German scholar Herman Gunkel observes, carries us back full circle to Joseph’s two dreams at the beginning of the story.) And once more Joseph assures them that it has been God’s purpose all along to turn evil into good, for the end of “keeping many people alive,” with Joseph continuing in his role as sustainer of the entire clan.
21 So now, do not be afraid! I myself will sustain you and your little-ones! And he comforted them and spoke to their hearts.
spoke kindly unto them. lit. ‘and he spoke to their heart’.
22 So Yosef stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Yosef lived a hundred and ten years;
a hundred and ten years. He survived his father fifty-four years. In Egyptian writings the age of 110 years is spoken of as an ideal lifetime.
[EF] a hundred and ten years: The ideal Egyptian life span.
23 Yosef saw from Efrayim sons of the third generation, and also the sons of Makhir son of Menashe were born on Yosef’s knees.
Machir. The most powerful of the clans of Manasseh; see Judg. V,14.
born upon Joseph’s knees. The symbolical act of adoption.
[EF] born on Yosef’s knees: Considered his own, see 30:3.
[RA] were born on Joseph’s knees. This gesture serves either as a ritual of adoption or of legitimation.
24 Yosef said to his brothers: I am dying, but God will take account, yes, account of you, he will bring you up from this land to the land about which he swore to Avraham, to Yitzhak, and to Yaakov.
brethren. Not necessarily brothers; near relatives is the meaning in our context.
which He swore. See XXII,16; XXVI,3.
[EF] brothers: Presumably meant in the sense of “family.”
[RA] God will surely single you out and take you up from this land. The ground is laid at the end of Genesis for the great movement out of Egypt in Exodus.
25 Yosef had the Sons of Israel swear, saying: When God takes account, yes, account of you, bring my bones up from here!
and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. He has faith in the Divine promise to redeem His people. Joseph’s bones are to participate in the return to Canaan, and to rest there. The promise was fulfilled; see Exod. XIII,19, and Josh. XXIV,32.
[EF] Sons of Israel: They are no longer merely the sons of one man but are now on their way to becoming a people.
[RA] take up my bones. Although Joseph knows that Egyptian science will turn his body into a mummy, he still thinks of his remains in Hebrew terms as he invokes his eventual restoration to the land of the Hebrews.
26 And Yosef died, a hundred and ten years old. They embalmed him and they put him in a coffin in Egypt.
coffin. Heb. aron. The same Heb. word is used of the receptacle of the Tables of the Law. This is significant. Judaism preaches respect for human personality as a duty, because man has it in his power to become a living embodiment of the Moral Law. The Rabbis tell: The nations wondered why the Children of Israel, in their wanderings through the desert, carried with them the bones of Joseph in a similar ark and in the same reverential manner as they did the Tables of the Covenant. ‘He whose remains are preserved in the one ark,’ they answered, ‘loyally obeyed the Divine commands enshrined in the other.’
in Egypt. These last words prepare the mind for the new era that awaits Israel in Egypt, and for the eventful story of the Exodus.
According to Jewish custom, the completion of any of the Five Books of the Torah is marked in the Synagogue by the congregation exclaiming ‘Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another—an echo of the words of the ancient warrior, ‘Be of good courage, and let us prove strong for our people, and for the cities of our God’ (II Sam. X,12). Be strong. i.e. to carry out the teaching contained in the Book just completed.
The Masoretic Note states the number of verses in Genesis to be 1,534; its Sedrahs (parshiyyoth) 12; its Sedarim, smaller divisions according to the Triennial Cycle, 43; and its Chapters 50.
[RA] a hundred and ten years. This is a last Egyptian touch, since this is the ideal Egyptian life span, as against 120 in the Hebrew tradition.
and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. The book that began with an image of God’s breath moving across the vast expanses of the primordial deep to bring the world and all life into being ends with this image of a body in a box, mummy in a coffin. (The Hebrews in Canaan appear not to have used coffins, and the term occurs only here.) Out of the contraction of this moment of mortuary enclosure, a new expansion, and new births, will follow. Exodus begins with a proliferation of births, a pointed repetition of the primeval blessing to be fruitful and multiply, and jsut as the survival of the Flood was represented as a second creation, the leader who is to forge the creation of the nation will be borne on the water in a little box—not the ‘aron, “the coffin,” of the end of Genesis but the tevah, “the ark,” that keeps Noah and his seed alive.
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