Genesis Chapter 50 Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Genesis 50:1–3
Yosef fell on his father's face, wept over him and kissed him. Then Yosef ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Isra'el. Forty days were spent at this, the normal amount of time for embalming. Then the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
When Isra'el died, Yosef mourned him and we see that he was also given the customary Egyptian service of embalming and the nation mourned him for seventy days as a sign of respect.
Genesis 50:4–9
When the period of mourning was over, Yosef addressed to the household of Pharaoh: "I would like to ask a favor. Tell Pharaoh, 'My father had me swear an oath. He said, "I am going to die. You are to bury me in my grave, which I dug for myself in the land of Kena'an." Therefore, I beg you, let me go up and bury my father; I will return.'" Pharaoh responded, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear." So Yosef went up to bury his father. With him went all Pharaoh's servants, the leaders of his household and the leaders of the land of Egypt, along with the entire household of Yosef, his brothers and his father's household; only their little ones, their flocks and their cattle did they leave in the land of Goshen. Moreover, there went up with him both chariots and horsemen - it was a very large caravan.
After Egypt mourned, we see the humility of Yosef in that, instead of going in to tell Pharaoh that he had to take Isra'el back to Canaan, he asked the household servants to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf. Pharaoh gave permission for them to go and we see that it was a large group of Egyptian leaders as well as all of the house of Israel except for the young kids who went on the trip. We remember that the return of the body of Isra'el was part of the covenant that God had affirmed with him.
Genesis 50:10–13
When they arrived at the threshing-floor in Atad, beyond the Yarden, they raised a loud and bitter lamentation, mourning for his father seven days. When the local inhabitants, the Kena'ani, saw the mourning on the floor of Atad they said, "How bitterly the Egyptians are mourning!" This is why the place was given the name Avel-Mitzrayim, there beyond the Yarden. His sons did to him as he had ordered them to do - they carried him into the land of Kena'an and buried him in the cave in the field of Makhpelah, which Avraham had bought, along with the field, as a burial-place belonging to him, from 'Efron the Hitti, by Mamre.
The people of Canaan recognized the mourning and named the place "mourning of Egypt". The sons of Isra'el buried him in the cave at Makhpelah with his ancestors.
Genesis 50:14–18
Then, after burying his father, Yosef returned to Egypt, he, his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. Realizing that their father was dead, Yosef's brothers said, "Yosef may hate us now and pay us back in full for all the suffering we caused him." So they sent a message to Yosef which said, "Your father gave this order before he died: 'Say to Yosef, "I beg you now, please forgive your brothers' crime and wickedness in doing you harm."' So now, we beg of you, forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father." Yosef wept when they spoke to him; and his brothers too came, prostrated themselves before him and said, "Here, we are your slaves."
Now, we see that the brothers of Yosef had not changed spiritually as they thought of themselves and were afraid that Yosef would get revenge for the evil that they had done to him. We notice that they recognize that it was against the will of God, evil, but instead of simply going to him and asking for forgiveness, they lied to him.
Although the translation says that they "sent a message", in the Hebrew text, it says that they commanded him to forgive them based on an order from his father. They had despised the special relationship that Yosef and Ya'akov had but now they want to use it for their own gain. In the reaction of Yosef, we see that he knew they were lying and, instead of getting angry with them, he wept. Finally, they bowed down and said that they were his servants which is what they should have done when Yosef had revealed the dream to them so many years before, see chapter 37.
Genesis 50:19–21
But Yosef said to them, "Don't be afraid! Am I in the place of God? You meant to do me harm, but God meant it for good - so that it would come about as it is today, with many people's lives being saved. So don't be afraid - I will provide for you and your little ones." In this way he comforted them, speaking kindly to them.
The reaction of Yosef to the fear of his brothers is love as he assures them that God turned their evil intent into good. He says that he is under the authority of God and so he would not do anything to them. Instead, he would show them love in providing for them just as God had done for Yosef.
Genesis 50:22–26
Yosef continued living in Egypt, he and his father's household. Yosef lived 110 years. Yosef lived to see Efrayim's great-grandchildren, and the children of M'nasheh's son Makhir were born on Yosef's knees. Yosef said to his brothers, "I am dying. But God will surely remember you and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov." Then Yosef took an oath from the sons of Isra'el: "God will surely remember you, and you are to carry my bones up from here." So Yosef died at the age of 110, and they embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt.
At the age of 110, Yosef was dying but he had lived to see three generations of children born to him and that is used to show God's faithfulness in keeping His covenant. Before Yosef died, he prophesied that God would bring them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan and he had his brothers swear an oath to take his body with them when they left.
So, when Yosef died, his body was preserved through embalming and he was placed in a coffin for the time of the exodus.