Meditate

50. Death of Jacob and Joseph

50

Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.²Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;³they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows:⁵My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.”⁶Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

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,⁸as 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.⁹Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company.¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days.¹¹When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.¹²Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them.¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Forgives His Brothers

¹⁵ Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”¹⁶So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died,¹⁷‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.¹⁸Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

Joseph’s Last Days and Death

²² So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred ten years.²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”²⁵So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.”²⁶And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

11. The Remnant of Israel

⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,⁸as it is written,

“God gave them a sluggish spirit,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”

⁹ And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

10

let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and keep their backs forever bent.”

62. Psalm 62

Psalm 62

Song of Trust in God Alone

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1

For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

2

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

3

How long will you assail a person,

will you batter your victim, all of you,

as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4

Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.

They take pleasure in falsehood;

they bless with their mouths,

but inwardly they curse.Selah

5

For God alone my soul waits in silence,

for my hope is from him.

6

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;

my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

8

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.Selah

9

Those of low estate are but a breath,

those of high estate are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

they are together lighter than a breath.

10

Put no confidence in extortion,

and set no vain hopes on robbery;

if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

11

Once God has spoken;

twice have I heard this:

that power belongs to God,

12

and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.

For you repay to all

according to their work.