And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
The verse belongs to the closing last chapters of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, dealing with the last days and death of Jacob and Joseph. It belongs to the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren, full of surface and deeper helpful lessons. It stands in Genesis 12-50, the part of Genesis recording God's dealings with the chosen race as distinct from Genesis 1-11 recording His dealings with the human race. More specifically it belongs to 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 his own sons, and Jacob's death and burial, showing God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the Seed.
Pharaoh granted Joseph permission to go up to Canaan and bury his father Jacob, honoring and keeping the oath Jacob had required Joseph to make to bury him as he had sworn. The permission came after the Egyptians had mourned Jacob, and their extended mourning with the Hebrews is an example of sympathy for the bereaved. The burial and the regard shown to Jacob reflect the impression the Israelites had made in Egypt.
Pharaoh's permission is part of Joseph's care and sustenance of Jacob, the dying scene, the funeral obsequies, and the funeral march to a distant and foreign land to the cave of Machpelah where Jacob was laid beside the dust of his father. Joseph honored his father Jacob by keeping his burial oath and seeking Pharaoh's permission to carry out Jacob's wishes, and the burial and funeral journey to Machpelah exemplify the fifth commandment's call to honor parents. This obedience to the fifth commandment long before Sinai proves honor to parents was not a new idea enacted for the first time at Sinai but a subsisting law from creation that controlled God's chosen servants for twenty-five hundred years as part of the complete decalogue system afterward written on the tables.
Within the history of Joseph it illustrates God's guidance, that God may lead a person by a circuitous path but can be trusted to guide that person to the purpose intended for them. As part of the life of Joseph it contains principles designed to guide the various contingencies of life, whose underlying principles are to be discovered so that his example helps and guides anyone called to pass through similar experiences. Since the variety of human experiences recorded in Scripture means this experience has its counterpart in what people go through, its practical lesson should be as familiar as one's own name for personal spiritual good and for counseling others in similar difficulties, and the Bible including this verse is a guidebook to be trusted with confidence to the very end.
The verse belongs to the closing last chapters of Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, dealing with the last days and death of Jacob and Joseph. It belongs to the rest of the story of Joseph and his brethren, full of surface and deeper helpful lessons. It stands in Genesis 12-50, the part of Genesis recording God's dealings with the chosen race as distinct from Genesis 1-11 recording His dealings with the human race. More specifically it belongs to 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 his own sons, and Jacob's death and burial, showing God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the Seed.
Pharaoh granted Joseph permission to go up to Canaan and bury his father Jacob, honoring and keeping the oath Jacob had required Joseph to make to bury him as he had sworn. The permission came after the Egyptians had mourned Jacob, and their extended mourning with the Hebrews is an example of sympathy for the bereaved. The burial and the regard shown to Jacob reflect the impression the Israelites had made in Egypt.
Pharaoh's permission is part of Joseph's care and sustenance of Jacob, the dying scene, the funeral obsequies, and the funeral march to a distant and foreign land to the cave of Machpelah where Jacob was laid beside the dust of his father. Joseph honored his father Jacob by keeping his burial oath and seeking Pharaoh's permission to carry out Jacob's wishes, and the burial and funeral journey to Machpelah exemplify the fifth commandment's call to honor parents. This obedience to the fifth commandment long before Sinai proves honor to parents was not a new idea enacted for the first time at Sinai but a subsisting law from creation that controlled God's chosen servants for twenty-five hundred years as part of the complete decalogue system afterward written on the tables.
Within the history of Joseph it illustrates God's guidance, that God may lead a person by a circuitous path but can be trusted to guide that person to the purpose intended for them. As part of the life of Joseph it contains principles designed to guide the various contingencies of life, whose underlying principles are to be discovered so that his example helps and guides anyone called to pass through similar experiences. Since the variety of human experiences recorded in Scripture means this experience has its counterpart in what people go through, its practical lesson should be as familiar as one's own name for personal spiritual good and for counseling others in similar difficulties, and the Bible including this verse is a guidebook to be trusted with confidence to the very end.