Genesis 50:8, commentary and pictures

Genesis 50:8 stands in Genesis 48 to 50, the closing chapters of Genesis recording the last days and deaths of Jacob and Joseph. Within Genesis it belongs to chapters 12-50, which set forth God's dealings with the chosen race, distinct from chapters 1-11, which set forth His dealings with the human race. The verse records that all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house went with Jacob's burial party, while only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. The surrounding passage describes a splendid public funeral procession and distant journey to bury Jacob in Canaan, laying him in the cave of Machpelah beside his fathers, including Joseph's care and sustenance of him in life, attendance at his dying scene, and funeral rites.

In that setting of death and burial and the regard shown to Jacob, the verse illustrates God's care in preserving the family through whom the promised Seed would come. As part of the history of Joseph, the verse belongs to a story showing that God can guide people by an indirect route to the end He intends. Joseph's care for Jacob and the funeral journey exemplify honoring parents as required by the fifth commandment. That obedience shows honor to parents was not new at Sinai but was already a binding and controlling law, part of the ten commandments that had governed the human race from creation for twenty-five hundred years before Sinai and was obeyed by God's chosen servants.

The burial account, with the Egyptians mourning Jacob alongside the Hebrews, stands as an example of sustained sympathy for the bereaved. The leaving of the little ones in Goshen shows the purpose of training children in the fear of God within the healthful precincts of the home, sheltered from corrupting heathen association, so they grow up without a taste for debasing pleasures, acquire domestic tastes, and take their place as consistent and earnest workers.