Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, wept over him, and kissed him. Sermons
I. ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF A WALK WITH GOD. Not a life of austerity or of contemplation, removed from interests or cares of world. Noah's was not; nor Abraham's. Nor a life without fault. Elijah was "of like passions as we are;" and David; and St. John declares, 1 John 1:8-10. 1. It is a life of faith, i.e. a life in which the word of God is a real power. Mark in Hebrews 11. how faith worked in different circumstances. To walk with God is to trust him as a child trusts; from belief of his fatherhood, and that he is true. With texts before us such as John 3:16; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:2, why are any not rejoicing? Or with such as John 4:10; Luke 11:13, why are any not asking and receiving to the full? God puts no hindrance (Revelation 3:20). But (1) too often men do not care. To walk with God is of less importance than to be admired of men. (2) If they do care, they often will not take God's way. The simple message (2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 John 5:11) seems too simple. They look for feelings, instead of setting God's message before them and grasping it. 2. To walk with God implies desire and effort for the good of men. In an ungodly world Enoch proclaimed the coming judgment (Jude 1:14; cf. Acts 24:25). Spiritual selfishness often a snare to those who have escaped the snare of the world. It is not the mind of Christ. It springs from weakness of faith. Knowing the gift so dearly purchased, so freely offered to all, our calling is to persuade men. Not necessarily as teachers (James 1:19), but by intercession and by loving influence. III. ENOCH WAS TRANSLATED. But apostles and saints died. Yet think not that their walk with God was less blessed. Hear our Lord's words (John 11:26), and St. Paul (2 Timothy 1:10). Hear the apostle's desire (Philippians 1:23). Enoch walked with God on earth, and the communion was carried on above. Is not this our Savior's promise? (John 14:21-23; John 17:24). Death is not the putting off that which is corruptible; it is separation from the Lord. Assured that we are his forever, we may say, "O death, where is thy sting?" - M.
Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. I. PRIVATE.1. The tears of his family. 2. The respect paid to last wishes. II. PUBLIC. (T. H. Leale.) 1. When the extinction of the vital breath could no longer be doubted, the relatives began a preliminary mourning, perhaps observed during the day of death only (ver. 1), and consisting in public lamentations, in covering the head and the face with mud (or dust), girding up the garments, and beating the breasts. 2. Then the body was delivered up to the embalmers, who, in the case of Jacob, completed their work in forty days (ver. 3), though it more frequently required seventy. 3. Simultaneously with the operations of embalming commenced the chief or real mourning, which, lasting about seventy days (ver. 3), usually ended together with the process of mummification, but which, in the instance of the patriarch, exceeded it by thirty days. 4. The body, after having been enclosed in a case of wood or stone (ver. 26), was then either deposited in the family vaults (ver. 13), or placed in a sepulchral chamber of the house of the nearest relative (ver. 26). (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.) 2. The cost of the second mode of embalming amounted to twenty mince, or about; £81. No incision was made, nor were the bowels taken out; but the body was, by means of syringes, filled with oil of cedar at the abdomen, and steeped in natrum for seventy days. When the oil was let out, the intestines and vitals came out in a state of dissolution, while the natrum consumed the flesh, so that nothing of the body remained except the skin and the bones; and this skeleton was returned to the relatives of the deceased. The possibility of an injection, as here described, without the aid of incisions, has been doubted; and, in some cases, incisions have indeed been observed near the rectum. 3. A third and very cheap method, employed for the poorer classes, consisted merely in thoroughly rinsing the abdomen with syrmaea, a purgative liquor (perhaps composed of an infusion of senna and cassia), and then steeping the body in natrum for the usual seventy days. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.) People Abel, Canaanites, Egyptians, Ephron, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Machir, Mamre, Manasseh, Mizraim, PharaohPlaces Canaan, Egypt, Goshen, Jordan River, Machpelah, Mamre, RamesesTopics Face, Falleth, Father's, Fell, Joseph, Kissed, Kisseth, Kissing, Threw, Weepeth, Weeping, WeptOutline 1. The mourning for Jacob.4. Joseph gets leave of Pharaoh to go to bury him. 7. The funeral. 15. Joseph comforts his brothers, who crave his pardon. 22. His age. 23. He sees the third generation of his sons. 24. He prophesies unto his brothers of their return. 25. He takes an oath of them concerning his bones. 26. He dies, and is put into a coffin. Dictionary of Bible Themes Genesis 50:1 5436 pain Library Joseph's Faith'Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'--GENESIS l. 25. This is the one act of Joseph's life which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith. 'By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.' It was at once a proof of how entirely he believed God's promise, and of how earnestly he longed … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture A Coffin in Egypt A Calm Evening, Promising a Bright Morning The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly Genesis Links Genesis 50:1 NIVGenesis 50:1 NLT Genesis 50:1 ESV Genesis 50:1 NASB Genesis 50:1 KJV Genesis 50:1 Bible Apps Genesis 50:1 Parallel Genesis 50:1 Biblia Paralela Genesis 50:1 Chinese Bible Genesis 50:1 French Bible Genesis 50:1 German Bible Genesis 50:1 Commentaries Bible Hub |