Day 118 – Genesis 50:1-6
Joseph Fell upon His Father’s Face
Scripture Reading – Genesis 50:1-6
And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
Genesis 50:1 KJV
And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
Genesis 50:2 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:3 KJV
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,
Genesis 50:4 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:5 KJV
And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
Genesis 50:6 KJV
Scripture Review
When Jacob dies, Joseph falls upon his father’s face, weeps, and kisses him. The ruler of Egypt does not hide behind office or hurry past grief. He then commands the physicians to embalm Israel, and Egypt mourns for seventy days. Afterward Joseph respectfully asks Pharaoh’s household to secure permission for him to keep the oath he made to his father.
Faith and grief are not enemies. Joseph knows God kept His word, knows Jacob died in faith, and still weeps. The embalming reflects their Egyptian setting and preserves the body for the journey to Canaan; the text records it without making every funeral custom a command. What Scripture clearly commends is Joseph’s love, honorable care, and determination to keep his promise when sorrow could have disordered everything.
Joseph meant to grieve his father, care honorably for the body, and obtain permission to fulfill the sworn burial request.
God meant to give Jacob’s death a public witness in Egypt and move his body toward the promised land according to his confession of faith.
What this asks of me
I do not need to apologize for tears as though sorrow disproved faith. I can grieve honestly and still handle responsibilities carefully. Promises made before a loss still deserve faithfulness after it. Love attends to both the person who died and the people who must walk through the arrangements together.
Consider
- Have I confused strong faith with hiding honest grief?
- What promise or responsibility needs careful attention even while my heart is heavy?