Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was. Jacob's answer is that of a man who cheated and lied his way through life. He said, "I'm 130 years old. And my life seems short and full of evil." What a sad way to see your life. But any life that is lived just to get what you want, to fulfill your won desires, and ignores the will of God for your life will seem just like that!
Genesis 46:27-28- And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
Jacob lived for 17 more years after he moved to Egypt. He not only got to see Joseph and his two sons, but he got to see his grandsons grow up!
Genesis 46:29-31- And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
Jacob wanted to be buried in his family's tomb. He made Joseph swear that they would carry his body back to Canaan and bury him there.
Genesis 49:1-2- And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
Jacob knew he was going to die soon. So, he called all of his sons together. He told them that he knew what would be their future. He called on some of them to pay the consequences for their sins. He told some of them that they would be blessed. Then he commanded them to bury him in Canaan.
Genesis 49:29-33- And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
Jacob knew what God's will for is life was. It had always been Leah. He thought that Laban was being sneaky, but God always wanted him to marry Leah. Now, Jacob knew that he should be buried with God's will.
Leah had been buried in the family buryingplace, and Jacob wanted buried beside her.
Genesis 50:1-3- And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.
Joseph had the Egyptians bury his father in their custom- like a mummy. They wrapped him up and embalmed him with spices.
Jacob must have had a good testimony with the Egyptians, because even they mourned for him for 70 days.
Genesis 50:4-14- And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 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. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 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 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. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 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 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. And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 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 buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 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.
Many Egyptians went with the Hebrews to bury Jacob. It was such a ceremony that the Canaanites were amazed.
But, now that Jacob was dead, Joseph's brothers feared that he would be mean to them. They thought that maybe Joseph would kill them because they had sold him into slavery.
Genesis 50:15-18- 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. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 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. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
They thought if they offered themselves as servants, that Joseph wouldn't kill them. What they didn't understand was that Joseph was trusting God. Joseph knew why God had him in Egypt, and he had forgiven his brothers a long time ago.
Genesis 50:19-21- And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
Joseph lived a life that pleased God, and God richly blessed Joseph.
Genesis 50:22-26- And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Joseph lived to be 110 years old. He got to see his great grandchildren.
He knew God and what God's promise to Jacob was. He made the Hebrews promise to take him back to Canaan and bury him with his father, Jacob.
The Egyptians embalmed him- like a mummy. And then put him in a coffin, instead of a tomb, so that when the Hebrews returned to Canaan, they could carry his body back and bury it there.
