Day 119 – Genesis 50:7-14
A Very Great Company
Scripture Reading – Genesis 50:7-14
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,
Genesis 50:7 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:8 KJV
And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
Genesis 50:9 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:10 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:11 KJV
And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
Genesis 50:12 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:13 KJV
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.
Genesis 50:14 KJV
Scripture Review
Pharaoh tells Joseph to bury his father as he swore. Joseph goes up with Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his house, the elders of Egypt, Joseph’s household, his brothers, and Jacob’s household. Only the little ones and flocks remain in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen make it a very great company. At the threshingfloor of Atad they mourn seven days, and the Canaanites name the place for Egypt’s grievous mourning.
Jacob entered Egypt as one aged pilgrim leaning on the promise. He leaves with a procession visible across the land. The funeral does not make him great; it makes his influence visible. Egyptians and Israelites share the road because God used Joseph to connect the household with a nation. Then the sons do exactly as Jacob commanded and bury him at Machpelah.
Joseph, the family, and Egypt’s leaders meant to honor Jacob publicly and carry out his burial instructions with solemn care.
God meant to turn the burial journey into a visible testimony that Israel belonged to a promise beyond Egypt and that Jacob’s life had touched a nation.
What this asks of me
A faithful life may influence people I never expected to walk in my procession. I should care more about living a clear testimony now than arranging an impressive remembrance later. When honoring someone who has died, the truest respect is to keep righteous commitments and continue toward the promise of God.
Consider
- What kind of testimony is my ordinary life leaving among people outside my immediate family?
- Am I honoring faithful examples just with words, or by continuing in what was right?