Jacob’s Funeral. When Israel died, Joseph was very sad. He hugged his father and cried over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants to prepare his father’s body. These servants were doctors. The doctors prepared Jacob’s body to be buried. They prepared the body in the special way of the Egyptians. When the Egyptians prepared the body in this special way, they waited 40 days before they buried the body. Then the Egyptians had a special time of sadness for Jacob. This time was 70 days. After the time of sadness was finished, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s officers and said, “Please tell this to Pharaoh: ‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him. I promised that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan. This is the cave that he prepared for himself. So please let me go and bury my father. Then I will come back here to you.’” Pharaoh answered, “Keep your promise. Go and bury your father.” So Joseph went to bury his father. All of Pharaoh’s officials, personal advisors, and all the older leaders of Egypt went with Joseph. All the people in Joseph’s family, his brothers, and all the people in his father’s family went with him. Only the children and the animals stayed in the land of Goshen. Then a new king began to rule Egypt. He did not know Joseph. So there was a large crowd of people with him. There was even a group of soldiers riding in chariots and some on horses. This king said to his people, “Look at the Israelites. There are too many of them, and they are stronger than we are! They went to Goren Atad, east of the Jordan River. There they had a long funeral service for Israel, which continued for seven days. We must make plans to stop them from growing stronger. If there is a war, they might join our enemies, defeat us, and escape from the land!” When the people who lived in Canaan saw the funeral service at Goren Atad, they said, “This is a time of great sorrow for those Egyptians.” So now that place across the Jordan River is named Abel Mizraim. The Egyptians decided to make life hard for the Israelites, so they put slave masters over the people. These masters forced the Israelites to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses for the king. The king used these cities to store grain and other things. So Jacob’s sons did what their father told them. The Egyptians forced the Israelites to work harder and harder. But the harder they worked, the more they grew and spread, and the more the Egyptians became afraid of them. They carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah. This was the cave near Mamre in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite. Abraham bought that cave to use as a burial place. So the Egyptians made them work even harder. After Joseph buried his father, he and everyone in the group with him went back to Egypt. They made life hard for the Israelites. They forced the Israelites to work hard at making bricks and mortar and to work hard in the fields. The Egyptians showed no mercy in all the hard work they made the Israelites do! Genesis 50:1-14 Shalom ✞.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 02:27:48 +0000
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