Genesis 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost… I. THE PATRIARCH DEPARTURE. 1. A hint of immortality. Amid the shadows of the past there were beams of light that spoke of a future state (life and immortality brought to life by the gospel). Jacob "was gathered to his people" (Genesis 49:33). Jehovah was known as "the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob." He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. The patriarchs were therefore living. To them Jacob was "gathered." 2. An illustration of natural sorrow. Joseph "fell on his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him." Picture this affecting sight. Wealth and power had not hardened Joseph's heart. We sorrow not, as they that have no hope. 3. An illustration of filial obedience. Joseph remembering his promise to his father (Genesis 47:29-31), had him embalmed, &c. Do we remember dying parent's wishes, not to carry him to the promised land, but to meet him there? II. THE MAGNIFICENT FUNERAL. 1. There was the usual ceremonious mourning of many days. 2. Joseph seeks permission of the king to bury his father. 3. At the head of a great retinue he passes up once more to Canaan. How great the difference between his leaving and entering Canaan. Thirty-nine years have elapsed. The youth of seventeen has become a man of fifty-six. The slave has become a prince. Both were occasions of grief. Then he was leaving his father through the treachery of his brothers; now he is burying his father with his brethren around him. 4. Such a funeral never before seen in Canaan. The Canaanites find that the old shepherd who went away seventeen years before is a great man. So sometimes men are brought back to be buried among the people who thought little of them while they lived. (Ill. the funeral of Cobden in the Sussex village, &c.). (J. G. Gray.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. |
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