Jacob has passed on and his body has undergone the forty-day embalming process in Egypt and the people of Egypt have observed a seventy-day mourning ritual for him out of respect for Joseph, their governor. Now Joseph and his brothers take their father's body back to Canaan for burial.
"When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, 'If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 'My father made me swear an oath and said, 'I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'" (Genesis 50:4-5) Why doesn't Joseph speak with Pharaoh personally, face to face, since the two of them are friends and are in the habit of working together to lead the nation? Why does Joseph speak with Pharaoh's court instead of with Pharaoh himself? I tried to find out and did a lot of research but all I came up with was one commentary that suggested there may have been some type of ceremonial uncleanness connected with Joseph due to his having had contact with the dead body of his father. It could be that, in order to officiate at some type of upcoming religious ceremony, Pharaoh could not be in close proximity with anyone who had been in mourning or who had had physical contact with the remains of a dead person. Later on in the Bible, in ancient Israel, there will be procedures that must be followed whenever a person has been in contact with the dead. Certain cleansing rituals and periods of time will have to be completed before that person can go back into the temple and participate in public worship. This law probably had more to do with preventing the spread of infectious diseases than it had to do with religion, but the government and the religious system were very closely intertwined in ancient times and in many cultures a person who had just experienced a death in the family or who had handled a body for burial had to temporarily excuse themselves from pubic worship. In our current period of "social distancing", this is something we can understand.
Joseph's request is passed on to Pharaoh who approves it. "Pharaoh said, 'Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.'" (Genesis 50:6) Joseph may be second-in-command to the king, but he still needs the king's permission to leave the country, especially since he is in charge of overseeing the grain distribution. While Joseph is away someone else will have to take care of his duties and he can't just pick up and leave without consulting the king and having someone appointed to do his work while he's gone. But Pharaoh thinks so much of Joseph that he sends high-ranking Egyptian officials to accompany him to the funeral. "So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him---the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt---besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company." (Genesis 50:7-9) Jacob is receiving a burial like that of a top official of Egypt. Only the burial of someone like Joseph or Pharaoh would be more impressive.
"When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father." (Genesis 50:10) I'm not sure what it is about this particular place that makes them cry out in their grief and decide to mourn here for an entire week. It could be that the horses needed a break in this pasture land for several days. Or it could be that, since threshing floors were large circular enclosures, the threshing floor provided a good place for this company to camp and renew their strength before proceeding on. Sometimes during all the busyness of funeral preparations we don't have time to stop and really give vent to our grief, and perhaps stopping to camp gives this group an opportunity to take stock of their feelings and express their grief in a way they haven't been able to while on the move. Some versions of the Bible translate this verse as the company having just crossed or having just passed the Jordan River, and if that's the case then it could be that this passing symbolizes for them the finality of Jacob's death. Even in modern Christian culture we find people sometimes using "crossing over Jordan" as a metaphor for death---of the "crossing over" of the soul from this life on earth into eternal life with the Lord.
Jacob's funeral procession and burial are the talk of the town in Canaan. "When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, 'The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning. That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim." (Genesis 50:11) The name means "Mourning Of The Egyptians". As far as the Canaanites are concerned, this is an Egyptian ceremony even though the dead person is a Hebrew. Jacob's family has lived in Egypt for seventeen years now and they have probably begun to look more like Egyptians than men of Canaan. Joseph has lived in Egypt for about forty years and long ago he adopted Egyptian attire and the Egyptian custom of not wearing beards. The chariots are of Egyptian design and the horses are decked out in Egyptian harnesses and decorations. The camping tents are Egyptian and more than likely bear the nation's official colors and the seal or image of Pharaoh. The officials are native Egyptians and that is made obvious by their speech and appearance. To the shepherds of Canaan this is, for all intents and purposes, an Egyptian funeral and burial. It's impressive and astonishing---something they'll never see again in their lifetime. Though I am sure some of their Canaanite chieftains were buried with a great deal of pomp, I'm also sure none of their funerals held a candle to Jacob's. I picture the Canaanites standing at respectful attention when they see this sight or when the caravan passes by them while they graze their flocks in the fields.
"So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father." (Genesis 50:12-14)
These twelve brothers have learned respect and maturity and cooperation over the years. They band together in peace to obey their father's wishes, burying him with the respect he deserves, getting along with each other as he'd want them to do. We don't see any resentment, backbiting, or arguing among them as we've seen in the past. There is a time for everything on this earth, as King Solomon once said, and that includes a time to heal, a time to to weep, a time to mourn, a time to embrace, a time to mend, a time to love, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) The sons of Jacob are putting all other things aside to observe such times during the death, mourning period, and burial of their father.
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