Verses 1–3: Jacob reached the end of his life, and Joseph grieved deeply for him. Out of care for his father, Joseph directed his own physicians to embalm Jacob (a forty-day process). All Egypt officially honored Jacob with seventy days of mourning.
4–6: Joseph requested that Pharaoh allow him to leave Egypt to bury his father in Canaan, per the oath Joseph made in response to Jacob’s dying wish. God continued to grant Joseph amazing favor in Egypt, and Pharaoh readily granted his request.
7–11: Joseph, along with his entire family, Pharaoh’s officials, all the dignitaries of Egypt, and accompanying horsemen and chariots trekked to Canaan for the burial. Only the children and livestock of Jacob's household remained in Goshen, Egypt.
Once they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad (near the Jordan River), Joseph led everyone in another seven days of mourning for Jacob. The Canaanites living in the area witnessed their open grief, and the place became known as “Abel Mizraim,” meaning the “mourning of the Egyptians.”
12–14: All Jacob’s sons honored him, burying him in the field of Machpelah (which Abraham had purchased decades earlier) in a tomb Jacob had dug for himself there. Afterward, the entire company returned to Egypt.
15–21: With Jacob gone, Joseph’s brothers begin to fear for their lives again: What if Joseph takes revenge for what we did to him? They decided to send word to Joseph, claiming that before Jacob had died, he had asked Joseph to forgive his brothers. All the sorrow of their former betrayal visited Joseph again, and he wept over their message.
The fear of Joseph's brothers became so powerful that it drove them to desperation. They came and bowed before him again, offering to become his slaves. But there was no need to do this, as Joseph had forgiven them long ago. He reassured them with a kindness that could only have come from God himself. Don't be afraid; Am I God, that I could judge you? You meant to harm me, but God used the situation to save many lives. I don’t wish you any harm. I’ll provide for you and your own (Gen. 50:19–21, my paraphrase). And out of the power and position God had raised him to, he did.
God had so utterly transformed Joseph's heart that he had nothing but compassion and goodwill toward those who had once nearly murdered him. And God can do the same for us, regardless of the depth of trauma and tragedy we've walked through and the pain inflicted on us by others, if we partner with him in life. God has forgiven us, and we too can forgive—by the power and righteousness of God at work in us when we give our lives to him.
22–26: Joseph lived a long and full life to the age of 110, enjoying his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As he drew near to death, Joseph affirmed to his brothers the promise of God's blessing to him and their family, the budding nation of Israel. He assured them that God would help them and bring them back to their land of promise, Canaan, and made his brothers swear on oath to bury him there when that time came.
And so Joseph died, going home to live eternally with the Lord and those who had gone before him, and his brothers had him embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt, awaiting his return for burial in Canaan hundreds of years later. While his bones finally reached the earthly Promised Land, his spirit had long since found a home in his heavenly, eternal one.
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