Bibelkommentare

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,

And with him went up all the servants. — That is, most of them, as Matthew 3:5 . In doing the patriarch this honour, they stand renowned for thankful men; and such, saith one, are worth their weight in gold. "Blessed be he of the Lord, who leaveth not off his kindness to the living and to the dead." Ruth 2:20 But how base was Bonner, that railed so bitterly against his patron Cromwell, whose creature he had been, after his death; calling him the rankest heretic that ever lived, and that it had been good he had been despatched long ago! Act. and Mon., 1089. And Cardinal Pool played the unworthy man, in having an intent to take up King Henry VIII’s body at Windsor, and to have burned it. Ibid., 1905. This the Papists did to Paulus Phagius, a learned German, that died at Cambridge, being sent for over by King Edward VI. And although they never heard him speak - for he died soon after his coming into the realm, having not time either to dispute or preach here - yet they unburied him, and burnt his bones. Ibid., 1789. Of all birds, we most hate and detest crows; and of all beasts, those called jackals, a kind of foxes in Barbary: because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh; the other picks out the eyes of the dead. Featly’s Transubstantion Exploded, 219.

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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 land of Goshen.

Only their little ones. — And some to look to them.

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And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

A very great company. — This was for the honour of Jacob at his death, whose greatest care had been to honour God in his whole life.

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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.

And he made a mourning for his father. — Not seventy days, as those infidels did, Genesis 50:3 . But why mourned he at all, since God had signified his will? So far forth as something concurs with God’s will that is grievous to us, we may mourn moderately without offence.

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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, which is beyond Jordan. — A gracious providence of God, as Piscator well observeth, that for the confirmation of the Israelites’ faith, when they were to pass over Jordan, and afterwards, there should be a standing monument there of the transportation of Jacob’s body out of Egypt into Canaan, for burial’s sake. Thus, "all things work together for good to God’s beloved." Romans 8:28

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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 which we did unto him.

Joseph will peradventure hate us. — An ill conscience, we are sure, still haunts them as a hell-hag, and fills them with unquestionable conviction and horror. Better be langold [tied] to a lion than to an unquiet conscience. See Trapp on " Genesis 4:14 " See Trapp on " Genesis 42:21 " Such take no more rest than one upon a rack or bed of thorns. There were not many to kill Cain besides his father and his mother, and yet he cries, "Every one that finds me," …

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And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

Thy father did command, … — It is a just question, whether there were ever a true word of all this. For Jacob, probably, never knew how ill they had used Joseph, as is above said. But if this had been his command howsoever, as they pretend, would not Jacob have spoken himself for them to Joseph before he died? "Fear of man" causeth lying, Zephaniah 3:13 and so "brings a snare to the soul." Proverbs 29:25

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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.

Forgive, I pray thee now. — In this case a man is bound, not only to let fall all wrath and desire of revenge, but to make a solemn profession of hearty forgiveness. Luke 17:4 If the wrongdoer say, "I repent," you must say, "I forgive," as ever you hope to be forgiven of God. Our Saviour Luke 11:4 seems to make our forgiving our trespassers the intervenient cause - that which they call, sine qua non - of God’s forgiving us. Mark this, lest we be constrained to do, as Latimer reports of some in his days, that being not willing to forgive their enemies, would not say their pater noster, lest they should therein curse themselves, but instead thereof, took their lady psalter in hand, because they were persuaded that, by that they might obtain forgiveness of favour [ ex gratis ] without the putting of so hard a condition as forgiveness of their enemies.

For they did unto thee evil. — Joseph had long ago seen their sorrow; never, till now, heard their confession, and is abundantly satisfied. Think the same of God. Do but confess, and he must forgive, upon his faithfulness. 1 John 1:9 In the courts of men, it is the safest plea, saith Quintilian, to cry, Non feci; not so here. "Take away the iniquity of thy servant," saith David and to prove himself so, he adds, "For I have done foolishly." 2 Samuel 24:10 Acknowledge the debt, and God will forthwith cross the book.

Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God, … — Nothing should more persuade to unity than religion. Ephesians 4:3-5 Others may cleave together, as the clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, but the saints only incorporate into each other.

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