Genesis 50:2

_AND JOSEPH COMMANDED HIS SERVANTS THE PHYSICIANS TO EMBALM HIS FATHER: AND THE PHYSICIANS EMBALMED ISRAEL._ Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. In ancient Egypt, where the state of civilization was so greatly advanced, the medical profession was subdivided into a variety of departments, almost every disease being under the care of a separate class of practitioners, as in western Europe. They were as the sacerdotal order, and a number of them were attached to every high family, such as Joseph's was (Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses,' p. 67). The embalmers were in later times a class by themselves, who performed the double office of apothecaries and undertakers. х_ HAAROPª'IYM_ (H7495), the physicians, is often confounded with _ RªPAA'IYM_ (H7497), 'giants,' 'the dead.'] There were three different ways of embalming, accordin

2._And Joseph commanded his servants_. Although formerly more labor was expended on funerals, and that even without superstition, than has been deemed right subsequently to the proof given of the resurrection exhibited by Christ: (218) yet we know that among the Egyptians there was greater expense and pomp than among the Jews. Even the ancient historians record this among the most memorable customs of that nation. Indeed it is not to be doubted (as we have said elsewhere) that the sacred rite of burial descended from the holy fathers, to be a kind of mirror of the future resurrection: but as hypocrites are always more diligent in the performance of ceremonies, than they are, who possess the solid substance of things; it happens that they who have declined from the true faith, assume a far more ostentatious appearance than the faithful, to whom pertain the truth and the right use of the s...

1-6 Though pious relatives and friends have lived to a good old age, and we are confident they are gone to glory, yet we may regret our own loss, and pay respect to their memory by lamenting them. Grace does not destroy, but it purifies, moderates, and regulates natural affection. The departed soul is out of the reach of any tokens of our affection; but it is proper to show respect to the body, of which we look for a glorious and joyful resurrection, whatever may become of its remains in this world. Thus Joseph showed his faith in God, and love to his father. He ordered the body to be embalmed, or wrapped up with spices, to preserve it. See how vile our bodies are, when the soul has forsaken them; they will in a very little time become noisome, and offensive....

Verse Genesis 50:2. _THE PHYSICIANS_] רפאים _ropheim_, the _healers_, those whose business it was to _heal_ or restore the body from sickness by the administration of proper _medicines_; and when death took place, to _heal_ or preserve it from dissolution by _embalming_, and thus give it a sort of _immortality_ or _everlasting duration_. The original word חנט _chanat_, which we translate _to embalm_, has undoubtedly the same meaning with the Arabic [Arabic] _hanata_, which also signifies _to embalm_, or to preserve from putrefaction by the application of spices, c., and hence [Arabic] _hantat_, an _embalmer_. The word is used to express the _reddening_ of leather and probably the ideal meaning may be something analogous to our _tanning_, which consists in _removing the moisture_, and _closing up_...

- The Burial of Jacob 10. אטד _'āṭâd_ Atad, “the buck-thorn.” 11. מצרים אבל _'ābêl_-_mı̂tsrayı̂m_, Abel-Mitsraim, “mourning of Mizraim,” or meadow of Mizraim. This chapter records the burial of Jacob and the death of Joseph, and so completes the history of the chosen family, and the third bible for the instruction of man. Genesis 50:1 After the natural outburst of sorrow for his deceased parent, Joseph gave orders to embalm the body, according to the custom of Egypt. “His servants, the physicians.” As the grand vizier of Egypt, he has physicians in his retinue. The classes and functions of the physicians in Egy

EXPOSITION GENESIS 50:1 AND JOSEPH FELL UPON HIS FATHER'S FACE, AND WEPT UPON HIM, AND KISSED HIM. Joseph had no doubt closed the eyes of his revered and beloved parent, as God had promised to the patriarch that he would (Genesis 46:4), and now, in demonstration both of the intensity of his love and of the bitterness of his sorrow, he sinks upon the couch upon which the lifeless form is lying, bonding over the pallid countenance with warm tears, and imprinting kisses of affection on the cold and irresponsive lip. It is neither unnatural nor irreligious to mourn for the dead; and he must be callous indeed who can see a parent die without an outburst of tender grief....

AND JOSEPH COMMANDED HIS SERVANTS, THE PHYSICIANS, TO EMBALM HIS FATHER,.... Which he did, not merely because it was the custom of the Egyptians, but because it was necessary, his father's corpse being to be carried into Canaan to be interred there, which would require time; and therefore it was proper to make use of some means for the preservation of it, and these men were expert in this business, which was a branch of the medicinal art, as Pliny x and Mela y suggest; and of these Joseph had more than one, as great personages have their physicians ready to attend them on any occasion, as kings and princes, and such was Joseph, being viceroy of Egypt. Herodotus z says the Egyptians had physicians peculiar to every disease, one for one disease, and another for another; and Homer a speaks of them as the most skilful of all men; though the Septuagint render the word by ενταφιασται, the "bu...

CHAPTER 50 THE BURIAL OF JACOB AND JOSEPH'S RETURN AND DEATH _ 1. The grief of Joseph (Genesis 50:1)_ 2. The burial (Genesis 50:4) 3. The return to Egypt (Genesis 50:14) 4. The death of Joseph (Genesis 50:24) This great book which begins with the perfect and good creation of God ends with a burial and the last words are “a coffin in Egypt.” What havoc sin has wrought. Jacob died 147 years old and after his body was embalmed was carried to Canaan. Read in connection with Joseph's death Exodus 13:19,...

GENESIS 49:28 _ b_ - GENESIS 50:13. DEATH AND BURIAL OF JACOB. Genesis 49:28 _b_ - GENESIS 49:33; GENESIS 50:12 F. are in the main from P; Genesis 50:1 in the main from J. The dying charge requires no comment. The body is embalmed simply because burial could not be immediate; the motive for the Egyptian practice was that the body might be preserved for the _ka_ or double to reanimate it. Joseph does not make his request for leave

HIS SERVANTS THE PHYSICIANS— The profession of physic appears to have been carried on in ancient times by domestics; and Joseph, as viceroy of AEgypt, may well be supposed to have kept some of these in his retinue. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus assure us, that it was the custom of the AEgyptians to embalm their dead by the hands of the physicians, or embalmers. Indeed, if we may believe Herodotus, every particular disease in AEgypt had its physician; and Homer describes AEgypt as a _land of physicians,_ every individual pretending to some skill in the medical art. See Odyss. 4: The AEgyptians, says Calmet, ascribe to _Isis_ the invention of medicine, particularly the medicine of immortality; whereby she rendered her son _Orus_ immortal, which seems to be nothing else but the art of embalming, or preserving bodies from putrefaction. Be that as it may, this custom was of great antiquity i...