Genesis 49:31

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:28-33 Jacob blessed every one according to the blessings God in after-times intended to bestow upon them. He spoke about his burial-place, from a principle of faith in the promise of God, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his seed in due time. When he had finished both his blessing and his charge, and so had finished his testimony, he addressed himself to his dying work. He gathered up his feet into the bed, not only as one patiently submitting to the stroke, but as one cheerfully composing himself to rest, now that he was weary. He freely gave up his spirit into the hand of God, the Father of spirits. If God's people be our people, death will gather us to them. Under the care of the Shepherd of Israel, we shall lack nothing for body or soul. We shall remain unmoved until our work is finished; then, breathing out our souls into His hands for whose salvation we have waited, we shall depart in peace, and leave a blessing for our children after us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

After the benediction Jacob gives directions concerning his burial. "All these are the twelve tribes". This implies that the benedictions refer not to the heads only, but to the whole tribes. "Each according to his blessing." All are blessed, but the form of the blessing is suited to the character of the individual "Bury me with my fathers" - with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah. This dying command he now lays on the twelve, as he had before bound Joseph by oath to its performance. "Gathered up his feet into the bed." He had been sitting upright while pronouncing the benedictory address and giving his last directions. He now lies down and calmly breathes his last.

- 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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. he charged them—The charge had already been given and solemnly undertaken (Ge 47:31). But in mentioning his wishes now and rehearsing all the circumstances connected with the purchase of Machpelah, he wished to declare, with his latest breath, before all his family, that he died in the same faith as Abraham.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife,.... Abraham buried Sarah there himself, and his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him there:

there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; we have no other account of the death of Rebekah, and her burial, but here; it is probable she died before Isaac, and that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob buried him:

and there I buried Leah; of whose death and burial we also read nowhere else but here; it is probable she died before Isaac, and that Isaac buried her in this cave; and here Esau and Jacob buried him:

Geneva Study Bible

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. there they buried, &c.] See, for the burial of Sarah, Genesis 23:19; of Abraham, Genesis 25:9-10; of Isaac, Genesis 35:29. The burials of Rebekah and Leah are not recorded.

Genesis 49:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Death of Jacob. - After the blessing, Jacob again expressed to his twelve sons his desire to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers (Genesis 24), where Isaac and Rebekah and his own wife Leah lay by the side of Abraham and Sarah, which Joseph had already promised on oath to perform (Genesis 47:29-31). He then drew his feet into the bed to lie down, for he had been sitting upright while blessing his sons, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people (vid., Genesis 25:8). ויּגוע instead of ויּמת indicates that the patriarch departed from this earthly life without a struggle. His age is not given here, because that has already been done at Genesis 47:28.