1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Genesis 50:1 | And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face, weeping and kissing him. | Kissing him, as it was then the custom, in testimony of an ardent affection. (Menochius) |
| Genesis 50:2 | And he commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. | Physicians, whose business it was to embalm dead bodies, with a composition of myrrh, etc., in order to keep them from putrefaction, (Menochius) as the Egyptian mummies are treated. (Haydock) --- The entrails are taken out, etc., by the embalmer during 30 days, and the body is left in salt and various drugs, for other 40, in all 70 days, as Herodotus informs us, (B. 11:86,) and as Moses here insinuates, ver. 3. This was an honour peculiar to the kings. Before any person was buried, his praises were rehearsed; and it was lawful on this occasion to declare, what evil even the kings themselves had done; which sometimes caused them to be deprived of funeral honours. We have several funeral canticles preserved in Scripture: 2 Kings 1:18; 3:33; 2 Paralipomenon 35:25. (Calmet) --- The Lamentations of Jeremias were perhaps of this nature, on the death of King Josias. The usual time for mourning among the Jews, was 30 days for people of eminence, (Numbers xx.; Deuteronomy 34:8; Procopius) and seven for the rest, Ecclesiasticus 22:13. (Haydock) |
| Genesis 50:3 | And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days: for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed, and Egypt mourned for him seventy days. | |
| Genesis 50:4 | And the time of the mourning being expired, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharao: If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharao: | Expired. Before the corpse was interred, Joseph could not lay aside his mourning attire, in which it was not lawful to appear at court. (Calmet) |
| Genesis 50:5 | For my father made me swear to him, saying: Behold I die; thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre* which I have digged for myself in the land of Chanaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return. Genesis 47:29. | Digged, in the sepulchre which Abraham had purchased. This circumstance, and the exact words here used by Joseph, are not mentioned elsewhere. (Haydock) |
| Genesis 50:6 | And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he made thee swear. | |
| Genesis 50:7 | So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of Pharao's house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt. | Ancients; chief officers. (Calmet) --- This is a name of dignity; like our aldermen. (Haydock) |
| Genesis 50:8 | And the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children, and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen. | |
| Genesis 50:9 | He had also in his train chariots and horsemen: and it was a great company. | |
| Genesis 50:10 | And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days. | Atad, which was so called, from being encompassed with thorns. (Calmet) --- Beyond; with relation to Moses, (Haydock) or on the west side of the Jordan. (Calmet) |
| Genesis 50:11 | And when the inhabitants of Chanaan saw this, they said: This is a great mourning to the Egyptians. And therefore the name of that place was called, The mourning of Egypt. | Mourning: Hebrew, "Ebel Mitsraim beyond the Jordan." On this occasion they fasted till the evening: perhaps they also cut their flesh and plucked their hair, according to the manners of the Egyptians, which customs (Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1.) were prohibited to the Jews. (Tirinus) |
| Genesis 50:12 | So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them. | |
| Genesis 50:13 | And carrying him into the land of Chanaan,* they buried him in the double cave, which Abraham had bought together with the field for a possession of a burying place, of Ephron, the Hethite, over-against Mambre. Acts 7:16.; Genesis 23:17. | |
| Genesis 50:14 | And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that were in his company, after he had buried his father. | |
| Genesis 50:15 | Now he being dead, his brethren were afraid, and talked one with another : Lest perhaps he should remember the wrong he suffered, and requite us all the evil that we did to him. | |
| Genesis 50:16 | And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us before he died, | A message; perhaps by Benjamin. (Menochius) --- They hope thus to obtain pardon for the sake of their deceased father, and for the sake of their common God. |
| Genesis 50:17 | That we should say thus much to thee from him: I beseech thee to forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they practised against thee: we also pray thee, to forgive the servants of the God of thy father this wickedness. And when Joseph heard this, he wept. | Wept, that they should entertain no doubts respecting the reconciliation, which had taken place seventeen years before. (Haydock) |
| Genesis 50:18 | And his brethren came to him; and worshipping prostrate on the ground, they said: We are thy servants. | |
| Genesis 50:19 | And he answered them: Fear not: can we resist the will of God? | Resist, etc. Hebrew, "Am I not subject to God; or, Am I a God," to oppose his will. Septuagint, "I belong to the Lord." You see that your designs against me have turned to our mutual advantage. Can I, therefore, think of punishing you? Repent, and obtain pardon of God: I certainly forgive you. (Haydock) --- Thus God drew good out of the evil, in which he had no share. (St. Augustine, City of God 14:27; St. Chrysostom, hom. 67.) |
| Genesis 50:20 | *You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people. Genesis 45:5. | |
| Genesis 50:21 | *Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly. Genesis 47:12. | |
| Genesis 50:22 | And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's house; and lived a hundred and ten years. And he saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation. *The children also of Machir, the son of Manasses, were born on Joseph's knees. Numbers 32:39. | And ten; consequently he had been governor of all the land eighty years; God having made him abundant recompense, even in this world, for a transient disgrace! (Haydock) --- Knees. Joseph adopted the only son of Machir. See Genesis 30:3.; or, according to the Samaritan, "in the days of Joseph" he was born. (Calmet) |
| Genesis 50:23 | After which he told his brethren: *God will visit you after my death, and will make you go up out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hebrews 11:22. | |
| Genesis 50:24 | And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, *carry my bones with you out of this place: Exodus 13:19.; Josue 24:32. | Visit you with various persecutions; or will fulfil his promises. --- Carry my bones. He would have them to keep his bones till the time of their departure, as an earnest that they should certainly obtain the land of Chanaan; and thus his bones were visited, and after death, they prophesied, Ecclesiasticus 49:18. Perhaps the Egyptians would have been offended, (Worthington) if the corpse of Joseph had been removed out of the country immediately, as that of Jacob was; and they might have taken occasion hence to envy and persecute his brethren. (Haydock) |
| Genesis 50:25 | *And he died, being a hundred and ten years old. And being embalmed, he was laid in a coffin in Egypt. | Year of the World 2369, Year before Christ 1635. Embalmed, like the Egyptian momies, or mummies, which is a Persian word, signifying a dried corpse. Some of them are very magnificent, adorned with golden letters and hieroglyphics, various bandages, etc. They are laid in coffins. Some pretend that Joseph was afterwards adored in Egypt, under the names of Serapis and Osiris: but the grounds of this supposition are only a few uncertain etymologies and emblems, which might agree with him as well as with those modern deities: (Calmet) at least it does not at all appear probable, that he was adored in Egypt before the departure of the Israelites, as the king who persecuted them did not know Joseph, Exodus 1:8. His greatest glory was, to have prefigured Jesus Christ in so wonderful a manner during the course of his life, and to have been replenished with all the graces which could form the character of a great man and a saint. Some think, that the history of Joseph has been imitated in the fable of Proteus, or Cetes, king of Egypt. See the True History of Fabulous Times, by Juerin du Roche, a virtuous and learned ecclesiastic, who was put to death for his faith, at Paris, September 8, 1792. See also Rollin's Abridgment. (Haydock) |