End of Genesis - Burial, Forgiveness, and Hope

Genesis 50:1–26

The final chapter of Genesis brings major threads together: promised-land memory, family reconciliation, and confidence that God's purposes continue beyond one generation. Jacob is buried in Canaan with great formality. Afterward, Joseph's brothers fear retaliation now that their father is gone, but Joseph responds with one of Genesis's clearest statements about providence. The book ends with Joseph's death and his request about future transport of his bones, pointing ahead to Exodus.

Jacob's Burial

Joseph falls on his father's face and weeps over him and kisses him. Joseph commands his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. The physicians embalm Israel. Forty days are required for embalming, for that is the time required for embalming.

Joseph asks Pharaoh: "If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 'My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me. Now therefore, let me go up and bury my father. Then I will return.'"

Pharaoh says: "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear."

Joseph goes up to bury his father. With him go all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds are left in the land of Goshen.

A large Egyptian delegation accompanies the procession, reflecting Joseph's public status. They go up to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they hold a very great and sorrowful lamentation. Joseph makes a lamentation for his father seven days.

When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, see the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they say: "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim, "mourning of the Egyptians."

Jacob is buried at Machpelah, in the cave of the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. Jacob is buried with his fathers, fulfilling his request. The family then returns to Egypt, where the covenant story will remain for generations.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

After they have buried their father, Joseph's brothers are afraid. They say: "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him."

So they send a message to Joseph, saying: "Your father gave this instruction before he died, 'Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father."

Joseph weeps when they speak to him. His brothers also come and fall down before him and say: "Behold, we are your servants."

But Joseph says to them: "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones."

Thus he comforts them and speaks kindly to them. Joseph refuses vengeance. Genesis 50:20 is central for many traditions because it affirms two truths at once: human intent can be evil, and God's intent can still direct history toward life-giving good.

Joseph's forgiveness includes truth-telling about the brothers' wrongdoing. He does not pretend that what they did was not evil. He names it clearly: "You meant evil against me." But he also reframes it through God's providence: "God meant it for good."

Calvin stresses Joseph's renunciation of revenge as practical theology: trust in providence produces mercy rather than personal retaliation. Joseph does not take revenge because he trusts that God is the judge, not him.

Joseph's Final Words and Death

Joseph dwells in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lives 110 years. Joseph sees Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh are born on Joseph's knees.

Joseph says to his brothers: "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

Joseph makes the sons of Israel swear, saying: "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."

Joseph dies at the age of 110 years. They embalm him, and he is placed in a coffin in Egypt. Genesis ends with expectation, not closure. Joseph's request about his bones points ahead to Exodus, where the people will indeed carry his bones out of Egypt when God brings them to the promised land.

Hebrews 11:22 later cites Joseph's bones request as faith in future fulfillment, showing that Genesis ends by projecting hope into the next book. Joseph dies in Egypt, but his faith is fixed on the promised land. His bones will be carried there when God fulfills His promise.

What to Notice

Machpelah remains the anchor site for covenant memory. Jacob is buried at Machpelah, the cave that Abraham bought. The burial links Jacob to the covenant promise and to the patriarchs who came before him. Machpelah burial language keeps covenant land memory alive at the patriarch's death.
Joseph's forgiveness includes truth-telling. Joseph does not minimize what his brothers did. He names it clearly: "You meant evil against me." But he also reframes it through God's providence. True forgiveness does not deny the wrong; it acknowledges it and moves beyond it.
Providence language does not deny evil. Genesis 50:20 is one of the clearest statements about providence in the Bible. It affirms that human evil is real and culpable, yet God can direct outcomes toward good. Evil is not denied; it is reframed within God's larger purposes.
Genesis closes in Egypt but with eyes fixed on the promised land. The covenant family is in Egypt, but their hope is in the promised land. Joseph's request about his bones shows that the story is not finished. The next chapter—Exodus—will tell how God brings the people out of Egypt to the land He promised.