Genesis 50:10
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 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 records the great regard paid to Jacob at his burial, when at the threshingfloor of Atad beyond Jordan the mourners lamented him with a great and very sore lamentation and Joseph kept a mourning for his father seven days as he led the funeral procession toward Machpelah. Joseph and his brethren mourning seven days shows regard for a period of seven days and that reckoning time in weeks was recognized and preserved in the patriarchal age before Sinai. With Noah's seven days, Jacob's week, and Job's seven days, it is one of the frequent early notices of reckoning by sevens, showing the seven-day week was known long before Moses and pointing to the Sabbath instituted at creation when God rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it. Caring for a father in death in this way testifies to the authority of the fifth commandment in patriarchal family life. The history to which it belongs displays God's care for preserving the progenitors of the Seed, and shows that God can lead a person by a roundabout way and still guide him to the purpose God intends.
Narrative Setting and Mourning
Genesis 50:10 belongs to the Joseph portion of Genesis, chapters 37 to 50, which recounts the wonderful experiences and work of Joseph, and the leading thought of that whole section, including the seven-day mourning for Jacob, is summed up by the word Joseph. It belongs to the last chapters of the Book of Beginnings concluding the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren, namely the account in chapters 46 to 50 of Israel's journey to Egypt, their reception by Joseph and Pharaoh, Jacob's prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and upon his own sons, and Jacob's death and burial. That account displays God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the Seed. Chapter 50 is the close of Genesis as studied in advanced Bible study.
The verse shows the great regard paid to Jacob at his burial, for at the threshingfloor of Atad beyond the Jordan the mourners lamented him and observed seven days of mourning. There they lamented him with a great and very sore lamentation. Joseph arranged the funeral, mourned him, and led the funeral procession to the family burial place at Machpelah in a distant land, and Jacob's funeral observances with the march to bury him in a distant land exemplify the honor children showed their parents.
Jacob's family and others mourned him at Atad beyond the Jordan, where Joseph observed seven days of mourning. This was part of extended public grief in which Egyptians and Hebrews mourned Jacob seventy-seven days in all, presenting this mourning as an example of the ancient care given to bereaved families. The verse thus records a seven-day period of mourning as one of the Bible's uses of the number seven.
Sabbath Week Before Sinai
At the threshingfloor of Atad Jacob was mourned with a great lamentation for seven days by Joseph and his brothers. That seven-day mourning shows regard for a period of seven days and for the weekly cycle. It is an incidental example of a septenary division of time, of reckoning time in periods of seven days and reckoning by sevens, recognized before the Mosaic period. That reckoning of the week was preserved during the patriarchal age, and was known before the law was given at Sinai.
Joseph's seven days of mourning for his father Jacob stands among the frequent early notices of reckoning time by sevens, alongside Noah's seven days, Jacob's week, and Job's seven days. Together they show that the seven-day week was known long before Sinai. That division of time by seven points to the Sabbath instituted at the close of creation, when God rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it. Handed down by tradition to all the descendants of Adam, it was preserved in the universal division of time by seven and in reverence for the seventh day even among nations that forsook the true worship of God.
Joseph devoted seven days, a whole week, to mourning his father. This indicates that the patriarchs observed the seven-day division of time before Moses, in keeping with the original command. It further indicates that the week was associated with a special time for religious worship.
Honor Providence and Comfort
Honoring father and mother included caring for a parent in death, as the seven days of lamentation at the threshingfloor of Atad and the long funeral march to lay Jacob in the family burial place at Machpelah show. Joseph arranged the funeral, mourned his father, and led the procession to that distant grave, and the whole observance testifies that the fifth commandment had authority in patriarchal family life. The care taken to carry Jacob to a burial place in a distant land remains the example of the honor children showed their parents.
The burial belongs to the closing chapters of Genesis, the book of beginnings, and to the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren. It stands within the account in chapters 46 to 50 of Israel's journey into Egypt, their reception by Joseph and Pharaoh, Jacob's prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and upon his own sons, and then Jacob's death and burial. That whole account displays God's care for preserving the progenitors of the Seed, and Joseph's history shows that God can lead a person by a roundabout way and still bring him to the purpose God intends.
The great and very sore lamentation is deep mourning for the dead, fitting to apply when a faithful native teacher is taken away. He is missed in the school, in the Sabbath-school, on the farm, and from the kraal work, yet those who mourn bow in submission to God's will because God knows best. They trust that he has laid off his burden and is resting in Jesus, as this close of the book of Genesis is finished in advanced Bible study.