Genesis 50:1-3 – Responsible stewardship

Israel, like his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac, believed that Canaan was God’s Promised Land to them. Through him, God raised the 12 tribes of Israel namely: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin. Just as providence would have it, the failures of Joseph’s three oldest brothers, Reuben, Simeon and Levi, propelled him into leadership for the moment. Ultimately it would be the tribe of Judah who would provide the leadership to the rest of the other tribes.

We know that Israel had spent the last 17 years of his life in Egypt with Joseph, whom he thought had died but was preserved by God to fulfil His purpose. Joseph, as we know, ascended in Egypt and became Pharaoh’s second-in-command. On top of that, he also married an Egyptian wife and had children born in Egypt. But though he lived in Egypt for a greater part of his life yet Egypt had not influenced him. He was still truly Jacob’s son, and sat listening absorbingly to his father’s every word. Genesis 46:4 tells us that Joseph would eventually close the eyes of Jacob in death. And when his father drew his last breath, Joseph did exactly that while his brothers were looking on.

Coming to Genesis 50:1 we are told that Jacob died and Joseph fell on his face and wept over him and kissed him. His heart was virtually torn as he bathed his father’s face with his tears. Then he took control of all the funeral arrangement. He ordered his physicians to have the father’s body embalmed. In Egypt, how a body was prepared for burial depended on how wealthy a person was. A poor person’s dead body would be simply washed and then buried. Whereas a rich person’s body would receive an elaborate embalming at death. In their belief, rich Egyptians would have an elaborate preparation of a dead body so that the deceased could enjoy the afterlife. This in fact bothers on superstition. Verse 2 tells us that the embalming of Israel’s body by the Egyptian physicians was elaborate. They took 40 days to embalm him. But  Joseph did not do this for his father because of any superstition. He probably did it because he wanted his father to have the best. Then we are told that the Egyptians wept for him for 70 days. This is an indication that there was a national mourning. It was probably ordered by Pharaoh who had great respect for Jacob. The 70 days mourning were actually two days short of the period the nation would usually mourn over a Pharaoh’s death. 

The lesson we take away would be this: how we want our body to be prepared at death is not as important as how we live our life now, in preparation for life after death. The Bible tells us that ultimately, we will all have to give an account for how we conduct our life here on earth. We will need to account for how we steward our God given resources - our time, money and talent. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:2 that “…it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” So, while we live now, let’s be sure to steward our resources, our time, money and talent wisely. Responsibility demands it!