50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. – Genesis 50:1-3
Embalming & Faith
When reading the above passage I was struck by the statement that says the physicians embalmed Israel (Jacob). For forty days after his death, Israel was being prepared for the grave. It is ironic that the command was given by Joseph, the son Israel thought dead for so many years. While Israel was mourning the supposed loss of Joseph, Joseph was actually flourishing in Egypt. Despite the attempts of others to “destroy” him, Joseph was spared by God to save lives. Regardless of his circumstances, Joseph always trusted in God and His sovereign plans, faithfully serving wherever God led. Joseph knew the dampness of a deep pit and the loneliness of an Egyptian prison, but he was never abandoned by his Heavenly Father. But even his deep faith in God did not negate the grief he felt for the loss of Israel, his earthly father.
When Israel died, Joseph embraced him, wept over him, and kissed him. And then he ordered the embalming of his father, an Egyptian not a Hebrew tradition. But Joseph ordered the physicians to embalm Israel, not the priests of Osiris as was the norm. Joseph wasn’t buying into the Egyptian death cult, rather he wanted his father’s body to endure the long trip to the promised land per his request. Embalming Israel was not an act of compromise, but an act of faith.
Israel’s Command
29 Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” – Genesis 49:29-32
When God first called Abram, He commanded him to leave his country and go to the land He would show him (Canaan) and there God would make him a great nation. In Canaan, Abraham bought a cave in which to bury his wife Sarah. It is in this cave, where Israel’s grandparents, parents, and wife are buried; and therefore where Israel wants his body laid to rest as well. Hence the great efforts to embalm his body for the long journey. In a humble cave in Canaan, the remains of the patriarchs proclaim their conviction that they believed God’s promise to give the promised land to their family. The cave was not just a sepulcher for the patriarchs, it was also a testimony to their faith.
Wandering & Unbelief
As I thought of the testimony that Israel’s embalming represented, my mind then contrasted it with the forty years of wandering by the nation of Israel. On the brink of entering the Promised Land after God rescued them from their Egyptian slavery, the Israelites displayed unbelief and disobedience. Their fear of the inhabitants of the land was greater than their belief in God’s promises. They said they would have preferred to die in Egypt or the wilderness than conquering the Promised Land (Numbers 14:2) Be careful what you wish for. As a punishment for their disbelief, the people were cursed with forty years of wilderness wandering. The soles of their feet would never tread the land of Canaan originally promised to Abram. As the unfaithful generation died off, their bodies would lie in the wilderness. Just as the embalming of Israel’s’ body was a testimony of belief, the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness was a testament to unbelief. Afraid of dying at the hands of their enemies, they subjected themselves to the wrath of God. Their dead bodies scattered throughout the wilderness serving as constant reminder of the sin of unbelief.
Promised Land
I don’t mean to equate Canaan with Heaven, but there is a corollary in terms of the consequences of taking God at His Word. God has promised Heaven to those who place their faith in Christ, while those who do not believe will not see the “Promised Land.” But even beyond this, I believe the embalming of Israel and the wandering of the Israelites can convict us. How real is the “Promised Land” to us?
Israel blessed his sons, and then with his dying breath asked that his body is buried in Canaan. Up to the very end, he clung to the promises of God. Although he would die on a bed in Egypt, he did not want that to be his final resting place. Egypt was not his home. In an act of faith, he charged his sons to bury his body. At home. His conviction was shared by Joseph.
Me Too
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. – Genesis 50:34-26
Joseph’s faith was not in vain. In time, God did visit Israel and redeemed them from bondage. Joseph’s body was exhumed and laid to rest with those of his ancestors.
32 As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. – Joshua 24:32
Like his father, Joseph’s final instructions related to the burial of his body in the Promised Land. What impression was left on Joseph’s sons to be charged by their father and brother regarding the burial of their bodies? A long and trying time was just ahead for the nation of Israel. During the dark years of Egyptian bondage, they must have felt like they were in a grave. Do you suppose the bones of Israel and Joseph inspired them? One of them was already in the Promised Land and the other was waiting for the visitation of God so his “brothers” could reunite them. Like Joseph in the pit or the Egyptian prison, and the nation of Israel in bondage, we need to keep the faith. We never know what acts of faith will encourage our fellow believers. Who knows what act of faith we might be commended for?
22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. – Hebrews 11:22