“And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.”
Kissing him, as it was then the custom, in testimony of an ardent affection. (Menochius)
“And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.”
Physicians, whose business it was to embalm dead bodies, with a composition of myrrh, &c., in order to keep them from putrefaction, (Menochius) as the Egyptian mummies are treated. (Haydock) — The entrails are taken out, &c., by the embalmer during 30 days, and the body is left in salt and various drugs, for other 40, in all 70 days, as Herodotus informs us, (B. xi. 86,) and as Moses here insinuates, ver. 3. This was an honour peculiar to the kings. Before any person was buried, his praises were rehearsed; and it was lawful on this occasion to declare, what evil even the kings themselves had done; which sometimes caused them to be deprived of funeral honours. We have several funeral canticles preserved in Scripture: 2 Kings i. 18; iii. 33; 2 Paralipomenon xxxv. 25. (Calmet) — The Lamentations of Jeremias were perhaps of this nature, on the death of King Josias. The usual time for mourning among the Jews, was 30 days for people of eminence, (Numbers xx.; Deuteronomy xxxiv. 8; Procopius) and seven for the rest, Ecclesiasticus xxii. 13. (Haydock)
“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,”
Expired. Before the corpse was interred, Joseph could not lay aside his mourning attire, in which it was not lawful to appear at court. (Calmet)
“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.”
Digged, in the sepulchre which Abraham had purchased. This circumstance, and the exact words here used by Joseph, are not mentioned elsewhere. (Haydock)
“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,”
Ancients; chief officers. (Calmet) — This is a name of dignity; like our aldermen. (Haydock)
“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.”
Atad, which was so called, from being encompassed with thorns. (Calmet) — Beyond; with relation to Moses, (Haydock) or on the west side of the Jordan. (Calmet)
“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 Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan. Abelmizraim: that is, The mourning of the Egyptians”
Mourning: Hebrew, “Ebel Mitsraim beyond the Jordan.” On this occasion they fasted till the evening: perhaps they also cut their flesh and plucked their hair, according to the manners of the Egyptians, which customs (Leviticus xix. 28; Deuteronomy xiv. 1.) were prohibited to the Jews. (Tirinus)
“And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, sent: Heb. charged”
A message; perhaps by Benjamin. (Menochius) — They hope thus to obtain pardon for the sake of their deceased father, and for the sake of their common God.
“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.”
Wept, that they should entertain no doubts respecting the reconciliation, which had taken place seventeen years before. (Haydock)
“And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?”
Resist, &c. Hebrew, “Am I not subject to God; or, Am I a God,” to oppose his will. Septuagint, “I belong to the Lord.” You see that your designs against me have turned to our mutual advantage. Can I, therefore, think of punishing you? Repent, and obtain pardon of God: I certainly forgive you. (Haydock) — Thus God drew good out of the evil, in which he had no share. (St. Augustine, City of God xiv. 27; St. Chrysostom, hom. 67.)
“And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.”
And ten; consequently he had been governor of all the land eighty years; God having made him abundant recompense, even in this world, for a transient disgrace! (Haydock) — Knees. Joseph adopted the only son of Machir. See chap. xxx. 3.; or, according to the Samaritan, “in the days of Joseph” he was born. (Calmet)
“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.”
Visit you with various persecutions; or will fulfil his promises. — Carry my bones. He would have them to keep his bones till the time of their departure, as an earnest that they should certainly obtain the land of Chanaan; and thus his bones were visited, and after death, they prophesied, Ecclesiasticus xlix. 18. Perhaps the Egyptians would have been offended, (Worthington) if the corpse of Joseph had been removed out of the country immediately, as that of Jacob was; and they might have taken occasion hence to envy and persecute his brethren. (Haydock)
“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.”
Embalmed, like the Egyptian momies, or mummies, which is a Persian word, signifying a dried corpse. Some of them are very magnificent, adorned with golden letters and hieroglyphics, various bandages, &c. They are laid in coffins. Some pretend that Joseph was afterwards adored in Egypt, under the names of Serapis and Osiris: but the grounds of this supposition are only a few uncertain etymologies and emblems, which might agree with him as well as with those modern deities: (Calmet) at least it does not at all appear probable, that he was adored in Egypt before the departure of the Israelites, as the king who persecuted them did not know Joseph, Exodus i. 8. His greatest glory was, to have prefigured Jesus Christ in so wonderful a manner during the course of his life, and to have been replenished with all the graces which could form the character of a great man and a saint. Some think, that the history of Joseph has been imitated in the fable of Proteus, or Cetes, king of Egypt. See the True History of Fabulous Times, by Juerin du Roche, a virtuous and learned ecclesiastic, who was put to death for his faith, at Paris, September 8, 1792. See also Rollin’s Abridgment. (Haydock)