Genesis 50:5-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
4When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’ ”
6Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”
7Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. 11When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12His sons did to him just as he commanded them, 13for 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, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre. 14Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv6–7 6. And Pharaoh said. We have seen that Joseph…
6. And Pharaoh said. We have seen that Joseph adopts a middle course. For he was not willing utterly to fail in his duty; yet, by catching at a pretext founded on the command of his father, he did not conduct himself with sufficient firmness. It is possible that Pharaoh was inclined, by the modesty of his manner, more easily to assent to his requests. Yet this cowardice is not, on this account, so sanctioned that the sons of God are at liberty to indulge themselves in it: for if they intrepidly follow where duty calls, the Lord will give the issue which is desired, beyond all expectation. For, although, humanly speaking, Joseph’s bland submission succeeded prosperously, it is nevertheless certain that the proud mind of the king was influenced by God to concede thus benignantly what had been desired. It is also to be observed, what great respect for an oath prevailed among blind unbelievers. For, though Pharaoh himself had not sworn, he still deemed it unlawful for him to violate, by his own authority, the pledge given by another. But at this day, reverence for God has become so far extinct, that men commonly regard it as a mere trifle to deceive, on one side or another, under the name of God. But such unbridled license, which even Pharaoh himself denounces, shall not escape the judgment of God with impunity.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v6 The very infidels would have oaths performed.
The very infidels would have oaths performed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–9 Gen 50:5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo,…
Gen 50:5 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 bury my father, and I will come again.
Ver. 5. In my grave which I have digged for me.] A usual thing of old. {2Ch 16:14 Mat 27:60} {See Trapp on "Gen 23:9"} Quintillus Plautianus, an ancient senator of Rome, in the days of Severus the Emperor, being wrongfully accused and condemned to die, desired before his death to see those things that he had long since laid by for his burial; {a} which when he saw to be little worth with long lying, Quid hoc rei est? inquit; itane cunctati sumus? What a thing is this? said he. Have we made no more haste to die than so? {b}
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{a} Postulavit, ut ea quae ad sepulturam suam comparaverat, &c.
{b} τι τουτο εβραδυνωμεν. - Dio.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Here is a triple obligation upon Joseph:
Here is a triple obligation upon Joseph:
1. His duty to fulfil the will of the dead.
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2. The obedience which he owed to his father’s command.
3. The the of a solemn oath: all which had weight even with the heathens, and were so many arguments to Pharaoh and his courtiers.
In my grave which I have digged for me, according to the manner of those ancient and succeeding times. See 2Ch 16:14; Isa 22:16; Mat 27:60. In that large cave which Abraham bought for a burying-place for his family, Jacob had digged a particular and small cell or repository for himself, as others did after him upon the like occasion. And this reason is prudently added, to show that this desire proceeded not from any contempt of Pharaoh or his land, but from that common and customary desire of persons of all ages and nations to be buried in their fathers’ sepulchres.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v7 We have here an account of Jacob's funeral. Of…
We have here an account of Jacob's funeral. Of the funerals of the kings of Judah, usually, no more is said than this, They were buried with their fathers in the city of David: but the funeral of the patriarch Jacob is more largely and fully described, to show how much better God was to him than he expected (he had spoken more than once of dying for grief, and going to the grave bereaved of his children, but, behold, he dies in honour, and is followed to the grave by all his children), and also because his orders concerning his burial were given and observed in faith, and in expectation both of the earthly and of the heavenly Canaan. Now, 1. It was a stately funeral. He was attended to the grave, not only by his own family, but by the courtiers, and all the great men of the kingdom, who, in token of their gratitude to Joseph, showed this respect to his father for his sake, and did him honour at his death. Though the Egyptians had had an antipathy to the Hebrews, and had looked upon them with disdain (Gen 43:32), yet now, that they were better acquainted with them, they began to have a respect for them. Good old Jacob had conducted himself so well among them as to gain universal esteem. Note, Professors of religion should endeavour, by wisdom and love, to remove the prejudices which many may have conceived against them because they do not know them. There went abundance of chariots and horsemen, not only to attend them a little way, but to go through with them. Note, The decent solemnities of funerals, according to a man's situation, are very commendable; and we must not say of them, To what purpose is this waste? See Act 8:2; Luk 7:12. 2. It was a sorrowful funeral (Gen 50:10, Gen 50:11); standers-by took notice of it as a grievous mourning. Note, The death of good men is a great loss to any place, and ought to be greatly lamented. Stephen dies a martyr, and yet devout men make great lamentations for him. The solemn mourning for Jacob gave a name to the place, Abel-Mizraim, the mourning of the Egyptians, which served for a testimony against the next generation of the Egyptians, who oppressed the posterity of this Jacob to whom their ancestors showed such respect.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–9 My father made me swear, saying, lo, I die,....…
My father made me swear, saying, lo, I die,.... Having reason to believe he should not live long, he sent for Joseph, and took an oath of him to do as follows; this Joseph would have observed to Pharaoh, to show the necessity of his application to him, and the reasonableness of his request. The words of dying men are always to be regarded; their dying charge is always attended to by those who have a regard to duty and honour; but much more when an oath is annexed to them, which among all nations was reckoned sacred:
in the grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me; it was usual with persons in their lifetime to prepare graves or sepulchres for themselves, as appears from the instances of Shebna, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, and so Jacob provided one for himself; and when he is said to "dig" it, it is not to be supposed that he dug it himself, but ordered it to be dug by his servants, and very probably this was done at the time he buried Leah. Onkelos renders it, "which I have bought", possessed or obtained by purchase; and so the word is used in Hos 3:2 but the cave of Machpelah, in which Jacob's grave was, was not bought by him, but by Abraham; for to say, as some Jewish writers (h) suggest, that he bought Esau's part in it with a mess of pottage, is without foundation; it is better to take the words in the first sense. And now, since it was Jacob's desire, yea, his dying charge, to be buried in the grave he had provided for himself, the mention of this to an Egyptian king could not fail of having its desired effect; since the Egyptians, as the historian (i) says, were more careful about their graves than about their houses:
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now therefore let me go up, I pray thee; to the land of Canaan, which lay higher than Egypt:
and bury my father; there, in the grave he has provided for himself:
and I will come again: to the land of Egypt; this he would have said, lest it should be thought he only contrived this to get an opportunity of going away to Canaan with all his wealth and riches.
(h) R. David Kimchi Sepher Shorash. rad. Ben Melech in loc. (i) Diodor. Sic. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v5 He asked and obtained leave of Pharaoh to go…
He asked and obtained leave of Pharaoh to go to Canaan, to attend the funeral of his father. It was a piece of necessary respect to Pharaoh, that he would not go without leave; for we may suppose, though his charge about the corn was long since over, yet he continued a prime minister of state, and therefore would not be so long absent from his business without license.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. The elders of his house] Persons who,…
Verse 7. The elders of his house] Persons who, by reason of their age, had acquired much experience; and who on this account were deemed the best qualified to conduct the affairs of the king's household. Similar to these were the [Anglo-Saxon] Eldermen, or Aldermen, among our Saxon ancestors, who were senators and peers of the realm.
The funeral procession of Jacob must have been truly grand. Joseph, his brethren and their descendants, the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders-all the principal men, of the land of Egypt, with chariots and horsemen, must have appeared a very great company indeed. We have seen LORDS, for their greater honour, buried at the public expense; and all the male branches of the royal family, as well as the most eminent men of the nation, join in the funeral procession, as in the case of the late Lord Nelson; but what was all this in comparison of the funeral solemnity now before us? Here was no conqueror, no mighty man of valour, no person of proud descent; here was only a plain man, who had dwelt almost all his life long in tents, without any other subjects than his cattle, and whose kingdom was not of this world. Behold this man honoured by a national mourning, and by a national funeral! It may be said indeed that "all this was done out of respect to Joseph." Be it so; why was Joseph thus respected? Was it because he had conquered nations, had made his sword drunk with blood, had triumphed over the enemies of Egypt? NO! But because he had saved men alive; because he was the king's faithful servant, the rich man's counsellor, and the poor man's friend. He was a national blessing; and the nation mourns in his affliction, and unites to do him honour.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 Digged, in the sepulchre which Abraham had purchased. This…
Digged, in the sepulchre which Abraham had purchased. This circumstance, and the exact words here used by Joseph, are not mentioned elsewhere. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v7 Joseph went up to bury his father--a journey of…
Joseph went up to bury his father--a journey of three hundred miles. The funeral cavalcade, composed of the nobility and military, with their equipages, would exhibit an imposing appearance.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 9 5. Which I have digged for me — Some…
5. Which I have digged for me — Some take the word כרה, here rendered digged, in the sense of purchased, as קנה is used in reference to Abraham’s purchase in Gen_49:30. If so rendered, the language used would make Jacob speak of Abraham’s act as his own. This is an allowable explanation, but unnecessary. The more common meaning of כרה is dig, and Jacob may have excavated his own sepulchre or separate chamber in the cave after the burial of Abraham and Isaac. See on Gen_23:9.
I will come again — “The earnestness of Joseph’s entreaty, and the repetition of his solemn oath to his father, show what difficulty a naturalized foreigner would have in leaving the land of the Pharaohs. Jacob’s characteristic foresight and prudence appear in exacting this oath, which he knew Pharaoh’s religious scruples would guarantee from violation, while, at the same time, Joseph would be protected from the national jealousy.” — Newhall.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 9 5. have digged] or, bought. Both meanings are possible.…
5. have digged] or, bought. Both meanings are possible. LXX and Lat. favour “digged.” Syr. Pesh. and Targ. Onk. favour “bought.” The word in the Hebrew appears for “to buy” in Deu_2:6, and for “to dig” in Gen_26:25. It has been objected that, in the case of Jacob, neither meaning is appropriate to Machpelah (Gen_47:30), and that this passage refers to some other grave, e.g. that of Rachel (see note on Gen_48:7). But it is unreasonable to press this objection. Joseph’s report of Jacob’s words might well imply, that either Jacob or his forefathers had thus provided a burial-place. Moreover, he might possibly have hewn out a burial-place for himself in the rock of the cave. On the whole, “digged” seems more appropriate than “bought.” The language is not explicit enough to throw light upon the possibly independent legend of a burial-place, where Rachel was buried (Gen_48:7). The tradition of a “purchase” of ground by Jacob is connected with Shechem (see Gen_33:19; cf. Act_7:16), but not with a burial-place.
I will come again] Joseph is anxious to assure his master, Pharaoh, that he is not going treacherously to leave the Egyptian service.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v9 (9) A very great company.—Heb., camp, the word following…
(9) A very great company.—Heb., camp, the word following immediately upon the mention of the chariots and horsemen which went as the escort of the elders. These were the chief officers of Pharaoh’s household, and also of the districts into which Egypt was divided, of which each had its separate governor. Of the Israelites only the men of rank, Jacob’s own sons, and the officers of his house took part in the funeral procession, while their little ones—Heb., their “tafs,” translated here in the LXX. their clans, and signifying the great body of their dependents—remained with their cattle in the land of Goshen.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–7 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father,…
And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. Pharaoh"s answer would, of course, be conveyed through the courtiers.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v7 Jacob is Buried in Canaan
Jacob is Buried in Canaan
v. 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 all the elders of the land of Egypt, the most prominent court and state officials, in recognition of Joseph’s high position,
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v. 8. and all the house of Joseph, all the relatives of Joseph and of Jacob, 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.
v. 9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company, an immense caravan, under the protection of an armed escort.
v. 10. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, on the east side of the river, the caravan finding it advantageous to travel around the Dead Sea; and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days. As distinguished from the official period of mourning in Egypt, this was a week of weeping with the chanting of dirges.
v. 11. 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 (the mourning of the Egyptians), which is beyond Jordan.
v. 12. And his sons did unto him (Jacob)according as he commanded them, the Egyptians apparently remaining in camp during that time;
v. 13. 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, before Mamre. Thus they performed their last duty of love toward their father, and incidentally confessed their belief in the fact that God will finally awaken His children unto life everlasting.
v. 14. 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. The children of Israel were not to stay in Canaan at this time, but according to the will of God many years were yet to elapse before their deliverance from Egypt would come. In his hands are the destinies of all mankind.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 Joseph went up
Joseph went up
It was common to use the phrase "went up" when speaking of traveling from Egypt to Canaan.
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All the officials ... the elders ... the senior officials
All of Pharaoh's most important leaders attended the burial procession.
the elders of his household
Here "household" refers to Pharaoh's royal court.
land of Egypt, with all Joseph's household and his brothers, and his father's household
This can be translated as a new sentence: "land of Egypt. Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household also went with him" (See: Order of Events)
Chariots
Here this stands for the men riding in the chariots. (See: Metonymy)
It was a very large group of people
"It was a very large gathering"
translationWords
household
flocks
Goshen
chariot
horseman
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 50:7-9 This was Joseph’s first return to his homeland…
50:7-9 This was Joseph’s first return to his homeland in thirty-nine years. The trip was temporary. Centuries later, the family of Israel would permanently leave Egypt, taking Joseph’s bones with them for burial in the land of promise (see 50:25).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.