23 over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot 24 at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the 25 stone of Israel :) even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth 26 under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. 27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall 23 devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one 29 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 30 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 31 for a possession of a burying-place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and 32 Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the 33 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. population of the tribes springing from Joseph. By a well, cp. Ps. i. The archers.. God of Jacob: referring to the past history of Joseph. The marks of parenthesis in ver. 24 should be removed, and the words "by the name of' substituted for "from thence." The passage means that Joseph was strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel; by the God of thy father.' But the text is possibly corrupt. For the title Shepherd, see chap. xlviii. 15, note. blessings pronounced upon Joseph prevailed. unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; surpassing what Jacob himself had received, and rising as high, or lasting as long, as the everlasting hills. "made The various BENJAMIN.-27. Shall ravin as a wolf, referring to the warlike character of the tribe. JACOB'S WILL REGARDING HIS BURIAL, AND HIS DEATH.-29-33. He commands his sons to bury him not in Egypt but in Canaan, with Abraham and Isaac. he gathered up his feet. This indicates And when Jacob .. CHAP. L. I And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon 2 him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians 3 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. 4 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, 5 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 6 bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and 8 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 9 land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots 10 and horsemen and it was a very great company. And they the regard to decorum and the desire to give as little trouble as possible, often seen in dying persons. It indicates also the cheerful and composed resignation with which Jacob now withdrew from life and left the future to be evolved without him. 1. Trace the fulfilment of these blessings in the history of the tribes, citing passages which most distinctly correspond to Jacob's predictions. 2. Draw out the analogy between the characteristics of the sons of Jacob and the qualities always found among men and in the church. THE MOURNING FOR JACOB; AND JOSEPH'S END (CHAP. L.). 66 MOURNING FOR JACOB.-1-13. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. The Egyptians were so famed for their skill in medicine, that they were sometimes found attached to foreign courts as physicians. "Each physician," says Herodotus (ii. 84), treats a single disorder, and no more; thus the country swarms with medical practitioners.' He also tells us (ii. 86) that "there is a set of men in Egypt who practise the art of embalming, and make it their proper business." He fully describes the process. Much will be found that illustrates this chapter in Eber's Uarda, vol. i. When Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father, there went up all the servants of Pharaoh. Such pompous ceremonies were relished by the Egyptians. Great men were buried in state. The insignia of his order or office were carried before the body of the deceased, and if he had held any military command, his war-chariot accompanied the procession. "After this came to the threshing-floor 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. II 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 12 called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. And his sons 13 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 burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, 14 before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his-father, 15 after he had buried his father. 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 16 which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, 17 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 18 they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy came the wailing women, hired for this purpose, according to the custom of the East, and men with palm branches, the servants of the deceased, and the priests; last of all followed the sarcophagus on a boat, for the soul of the dead passed like the sun-god on a boat to the under world. The boat was on rollers, and drawn by oxen (Duncker, i. 75). They passed with the remains of Jacob to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, i.e. to the west of Jordan; this passage using the terminology which the entrance to the land from the forty years' wandering made current. And when... the Canaanites saw the mourning; the equipages of the Egyptians astonished the ruder inhabitants of Canaan, and must have given them a salutary impression of the importance of Israel. Wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, The mourning of the Egyptians; or, if differently pointed, The meadow of the Egyptians. JOSEPH BEFRIENDS HIS BRETHREN AFTER JACOB'S DEATH.—14-21. When Joseph's brethren saw... the evil which we did unto him. This fear felt by the brethren shows at least how dominant Jacob's character must have been; and shows also how difficult it is for men to believe themselves forgiven. And they sent a messenger... Whether this command of their father's was real or fictitious we have no means of knowing. Joseph wept when they spake unto him, pained, no doubt, to find that after the proofs he had given 19 servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in 20 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 21 this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he com22 forted them, and spake kindly unto them. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house: and Joseph lived an 23 hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son 24 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 25 he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely 26 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. them of his kindness and sincerity he should still be distrusted. To be distrusted seemed to be his fate through life. It is all the more to his credit, that having so much to sour him, he should think with pity of his trembling brothers. JOSEPH'S DYING CHARGE AND DEATH.-22-26. Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. Among the Egyptians this was the ideal length of life. In a court poem addressed to Seti II., the writer assures him: "Thou shalt dwell II0 years on the earth." Pierret says it is the number of years invariably adopted when a long and happy existence is sought in prayer. See Tomkins' Notes on the Life of Joseph. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die... Cp. Heb. xi. 22. Joseph's adherence to the promise is most remarkable, considering his position in Egypt. It may have become stronger as he approached the termination of life. And Joseph took an oath... carry up my bones. He was not ambitious of a pyramid, or sculptured tomb recording his deeds. "The Egyptians speak of the dwellings of the living as a lodging; but of the tombs of the dead as eternal habitations, because the dead pass an endless time in Hades. Hence they bestow less toil upon their houses; but their tombs they furnish in a most extraordinary manner" (Diodorus). So Joseph died... and they embalmed him. "No nation has devoted so much care and labour to the preservation of the corpses, whether of men or of sacred animals, as the Egyptians. It was almost the first duty of the living to attend to the dead” (Duncker, i. 74). The corpse was first put in a case adapted to its shape; on the breast the beetle of Ptah, or the open eye, the symbol of Osiris, was figured. This case again was placed in two or more coffins of costly wood, which were finally deposited, where it could be afforded, in a granite sarcophagus. 1. What was the significance of the Egyptian practice of embalming? ideas they represent. [Cannibalism as a filial duty; Parsi exposure to birds; cremation, etc.] 3. Explain the influence which Joseph's unburied coffin would exercise on the children of Israel in Egypt. 4. Ilow was the faith of Joseph shown at his death; and how was his unselfishness shown? THE END. MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, |