QT 1/26/2026 Gen 50:1-14, The reward of a life well-lived

Genesis 50:1–14 (ESV) —

1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’ ” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

 

NOTE: Jacob is 147 when he dies (Gen 47:28). He lived in Egypt 17 years. Since the family relocated to Egypt in the second year of the famine, Jacob lived in Egypt for the last 5 years of the famine, and another 12 years after that. At this point in time, Joseph is probably still second in command (since he literally bought all of Egypt for Pharaoh during the famine). At worse, Joseph is still remembered. By the start of Exodus, around 300 years later, Exo 1:8 says that the new Pharaoh did not know Joseph. Anyway, Pharaoh not only agrees to let Joseph leave and bury his father, his own servants, chariots, and horsemen accompany Jacobs' family. Due to the size of the entourage and the number of Egyptians, the people of the land see it as an Egyptian event of great mourning.

 

In Proverbs, it says:

 

Proverbs 22:29 (ESV) —

29 Do you see a man skillful in his work?

He will stand before kings;

he will not stand before obscure men.

 

God blessed Joseph, but Joseph was also a godly man who lived a life of obedience. He was blessed by God, but he also lived the life as he could and should. Why doesn't God bless us similarly? I'm not saying that a good life leads to material blessing, but I am saying that we need to evaluate our life. Do I live according to the bible? Am I a hard worker? Do I live in integrity? These are not promises for blessings, but they are certainly reasons for failure.

 

PONDER:

1. Is my witness something that honors and exalts God?
2. Am I embarrass to identify with Christ because I fail to live like a Christian?
3. Believers will fail and fall, but what do I do to seek God? Or am I only seeking my pleasure in life?

 

PRAYER: Father, as a book title reads, "there is no magic formula." But one can do the right thing. One can seek you. One can spend time in the word. We need to take some of the weight of failure upon ourselves for our own laziness. Open our eyes to our sin and failures. Bring us back to you.