Genesis 50:1

Genesis 50:1 says, And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.  Joseph was heartbroken when his father died.  They had been deprived of many years together and hadn't had too many after being reunited,  When a family member dies, we may be heartbroken, but if they are a Christian and we are also, then we know that we will see them again.  Verse two states, And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.  Joseph had his father Israel embalmed.  The Egyptians were very good at preserving bodies, but then and now only God can preserve a soul.  Though his body may have been preserved to return to the burial place of his ancestors, his soul had already gone to be with God forever.  Verse three adds, 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.  Quite a long time passed with the embalming and the mourning.  We are told that the Egyptians mourned for Israel, I believe because of their respect for or fear of Joseph.  Verse four declares, 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,  The time of mourning passed, as it always must.  Joseph then went to talk to Pharaoh.  He begin by saying that if he had found grace in the eyes of Pharaoh.  Joseph had been doing great things for Pharaoh, but Pharaoh was still in charge and Joseph needed his permission to act.  We may be doing great things for God today as followers of Christ, but we still need to acknowledge that He is in charge and we should go to Him with all our plans to make sure that they are in accordance with His will.  Verse five adds, 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.  Joseph told Pharaoh that he had sworn to his father that he would bury him in Canaan, and asked Pharaoh for permission to return there to bury him, with a promise that he would return again.  Joseph had been brought to Egypt as a slave, and still was one as far as we know.  Pharaoh could have seen this as an attempt by Joseph to escape.  Though we have great freedom with God through our faith in Christ, we must always remember that He is in charge and we must always return to Him if we are to be successful in life.  Verse six declares, And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.  Pharaoh told Joseph to go and do what he swore to Israel that he would do.  Pharaoh had to have faith that Joseph would return as he said he would.  God should have the same faith in us today that we will fulfill our promises to Him.  Verse seven says, 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,  Then verse eight adds, 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.  Many of the Egyptians went with Joseph, as well as Joseph's family.  Israel had come to Egypt in fear, but when he was returned to Canaan, his body was accompanied by many that he had feared.  Even if we come to God out of fear, if we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord then we will depart this life victorious.  Verse nine states, And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.  This simply tells us of more who accompanied Joseph.  Verse ten declares  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.  When they got to their destination, they mourned for another week.  Verse eleven adds, 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.  The people of Canaan saw the Egyptians mourning, so they named the place Abelmizram.  Naming a place to commemorate an event was not that unusual in that day.  Verse twelve states, And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:  Then verse thirteen adds, 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.  Israel's sons carried out his instructions for his burial.  Just as Israel's sons carried out their promise to him, we should even more so carry out our promises to God.