Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Joseph, together with his brothers and the Egyptians, mourns his deceased father and buries him in Hebron. Second, at verse 15, he consoles his brothers, who were fearful on account of their crime. Third, at verse 22, he dies and desires to be buried in Canaan.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 50:1-26
1. "When Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face, weeping and kissing him." 2. "And he commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father with spices." 3. "When they had carried out his orders, forty days passed, for this was the custom for embalmed bodies, and Egypt mourned him for seventy days." 4. "And when the time of mourning was completed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's household: 'If I have found favor in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharaoh,'" 5. "'since my father made me swear, saying: Behold, I am dying; in my sepulchre which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, you shall bury me. Let me therefore go up and bury my father, and I will return.'" 6. "And Pharaoh said to him: 'Go up and bury your father as he made you swear.'" 7. "And when he went up, all the elders of Pharaoh's house went with him, and all the chief men of the land of Egypt;" 8. "Joseph's household with his brothers, except the little ones and the flocks and herds, which they had left in the land of Goshen." 9. "He also had in his retinue chariots and horsemen, and there was a very great company." 10. "And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan, where, celebrating the funeral rites with great and vehement lamentation, they spent seven days." 11. "When the inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw this, they said: 'This is a great mourning for the Egyptians.' And therefore the name of that place was called 'The Mourning of Egypt.'" 12. "So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them," 13. "and carrying him into the land of Canaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had purchased with the field as a burial possession from Ephron the Hittite, opposite Mamre." 14. "And Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all his retinue, after burying his father." 15. "After his death, his brothers, fearing and saying to one another: 'Perhaps he will remember the injury he suffered and repay us all the evil we did to him,'" 16. "sent word to him, saying: 'Your father commanded us before he died,'" 17. "'that we should say these words to you in his name: I beg you to forgive the wickedness of your brothers, and the sin and malice they practiced against you; we also ask that you pardon this iniquity of the servants of the God of your father.' When Joseph heard these words, he wept." 18. "And his brothers came to him, and prostrating themselves on the ground said: 'We are your servants.'" 19. "He answered them: 'Do not be afraid; can we resist the will of God?'" 20. "'You devised evil against me, but God turned it to good, that He might exalt me, as you now see, and save many peoples.'" 21. "'Do not be afraid; I will feed you and your little ones.' And he comforted them and spoke kindly and gently." 22. "And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's house, and lived one hundred and ten years. And he saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. Also the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees." 23. "After these things, he said to his brothers: 'After my death, God will visit you and make you go up from this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.'" 24. "And when he had made them swear and said: 'God will visit you; carry my bones with you from this place';" 25. "he died, having completed one hundred and ten years of his life. And embalmed with spices, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt."
Verse 2: The Embalming of Jacob
"To the physicians, to embalm his father with spices," namely with balsam, myrrh, cassia, and other aromatics, which both preserve the corpse from putrefaction and give it a pleasant odor. Singular in this art of embalming bodies were the Egyptians; their mummies, that is, bodies buried many hundreds of years ago, which are now dug up and sold, and serve apothecaries for medicines, bear witness to this even today: for these are brought from Egypt. Herodotus, book III, and Diodorus, book I, describe the Egyptian custom of embalming.
Anagogically, Rabanus says: "Happy is that soul which, embalmed with the spices of virtues, while dwelling in the coffin of the body, is preserved for eternal life."
Verse 5: "Which I Dug"
"I dug," that is, I purchased. So Hosea "dug," that is, purchased for himself a wife, Hosea 3:3. Hence this phrase signifies to acquire, as I explained there. "To dig" here signifies to purchase.
You will object: In verse 13 it is said that not Jacob, but Abraham purchased this burial cave. I reply: Abraham purchased it; but since afterward a dispute was raised against Jacob by the Hittites regarding the same cave, Jacob was compelled to purchase it a second time. Others explain it thus: "which I dug," or purchased, that is, which my grandfather Abraham purchased, whose son and heir I am. But I say that "I dug" is simply to be taken literally here; for in this large double cave, various tombs could be excavated; Jacob therefore dug out his own for himself. So Vatablus, Pererius, and others.
Verse 10: The Threshing Floor of Atad
This threshing floor was called Atad in Hebrew, from the multitude of thorns. This place is situated, says Procopius, near Jericho; its name now is "Beth-hagla," that is, "house of the circle." For when they were mourning the deceased Jacob there, they stood around the corpse in the form of a circle and a crown. So says St. Jerome, except that he says they circled the corpse, which was the custom of the ancient Gentiles, as is clear from Homer and Virgil; and then they called out "Hail" and "Farewell" to the deceased, and wished them light earth, peace, and rest, as Kirchmann teaches, book III, On Funerals, chapters 3 and 9.
"Beyond the Jordan." That is, for those coming from Canaan; for those coming from Egypt, Atad is on this side of the Jordan.
Note: Joseph with his people performed this lamentation at Atad, not at Hebron where his father was to be buried, lest, if they stayed so long at Hebron, that is, in the interior of Canaan, they should arouse some suspicion of treachery among the Canaanites, or get into quarrels or war with them. At Atad, therefore, Joseph with his entire retinue mourned his father for seven days; from there he proceeded to Hebron, and having buried his father there, immediately returned home. So says St. Augustine.
Verse 16: The Brothers Send Word to Joseph
"They sent word." They sent a messenger or envoy, perhaps Benjamin, who was innocent and Joseph's full brother, who would ask these things of Joseph not so much in his own name as in the name of their deceased father. The brothers appear to be lying here, and abusing their father's name, so that, conscious of their guilt, they might protect themselves by it. For their father, being certain through experience of Joseph's virtue, gentleness, and charity shown to his brothers, feared no evil for his brothers from him; and if he had feared, he would have said so to Joseph while still alive, and would have obtained full pardon and forgiveness of past wrongs for them.
Verse 17: "To the Servants of the God of Your Father"
"That to the servants" (so it should be read with the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, not "servant") "of the God of your father." That is, that you would forgive us, who are servants of God -- God, I say, the true and ancestral God whom your father worshipped -- the iniquity which we practiced against you.
Verse 19: Joseph Wept
"Joseph wept," grieving that his brothers were anxious and mistrustful of his reconciliation. Josephus relates this faithfully: Joseph did not wish to avenge himself; for he knew that the pleasure of vengeance is momentary, but the pleasure of mercy is everlasting.
Verse 19: "Can We Resist the Will of God?"
"Do not be afraid: can we resist the will of God?" Therefore, says Melanchthon, the betrayal of Judas and the selling of Joseph are as much the work of God as the calling of Peter. So also Calvin.
I reply: first of all, the Septuagint translates it as, "Do not be afraid, I belong to God," that is, I am His servant; and the Chaldean renders it, "Do not be afraid, I fear God," as if to say: Far be it from me, who am a servant and imitator of God, to have any appetite for vengeance or desire for retribution. So St. Chrysostom and Bellarmine, book II, On the Loss of Grace, chapter 11. Suarez likewise explains our version: "Can we resist the will of God," namely, His will that I should spare you?
But for the understanding of our version, note: God by His absolute will had decreed before all things to send Joseph to Egypt, whether by Himself or through his brothers, and to exalt him there, and through him to provide for the common famine. Then He foresaw that the malice of the brothers would be a fitting means to this end, if He permitted them to carry out the hatred they had conceived against Joseph. God therefore wisely decided to permit this, and to direct it to the aforementioned end.
Note secondly, God has a twofold will and providence regarding sins: first, a permissive will, but not one that impels to sin, as Calvin claims; second, a directive will, by which He directs sin toward just punishment, or some other common or private good. Man cannot properly resist either will of God. For both reside in God alone and depend on God's freedom.
Wrongly therefore did Cicero, in order to defend the freedom of human will, deny that it is subject to God and governed by Him; hence St. Augustine rightly said of him, book V of The City of God, chapter 9: "Cicero, in order to make us free, made us sacrilegious."
You will object: Therefore man cannot resist sin either; for this necessarily follows from the permissive will of God. I reply: From this will of God, sin does not follow necessarily, but infallibly, just as it follows from God's foreknowledge; for sin does not follow God's will, but precedes it: for sin is its object. And so before God wills to permit sin, He foresees it, and sees that it will occur if He wills to permit it. For the per se and positive cause of sin is the will of man; but God's will is only a permissive cause of sin, which is only a necessary condition (a cause without which it would not occur).
Note thirdly, Joseph here, in order to show that he had forgotten his brothers' wrong, and to diminish it and console his brothers, after the manner of pious and holy men, refers this sin of his brothers to both wills of God. Hence in Hebrew it reads, "Am I in the place of God?" that is, "Am I God?" -- who, namely, ordered and arranged all these things so conveniently and fittingly, as if to say: Since God, governing and coordinating all things by His nod, decreed to send me to Egypt and set me over it, both for my good and for yours -- indeed for the common good of all, namely to relieve the public famine -- and for this purpose permitted your crime by which you sold me into Egypt, and used it as a means toward this appointment of mine: far be it from me to punish those whose crime has turned to my supreme good, and whom God wills to be saved. Rather, we should rejoice at so happy an outcome which, by the will and providence of God, has come to me and to you from your crime; and all these things should be ascribed and submitted to the will of God, who both permitted and directed them. That this is the meaning is clear from what follows and from chapter 45, verses 5 and 8.
So say the Interpreters and Doctors, and especially St. Chrysostom, homily 64, and Ambrose, book On Joseph, chapter 12; and from these, Luis de Molina, Part I, Question 19, article 9, disputation 2. So the Apostle, in Romans 11, in order to move the Gentiles to compassion, that they might not be indignant but rather share the sorrow of the Jews' unbelief, says that their unbelief and transgression became the salvation of the Gentiles: because the evangelical preaching and the heralds of the Gospel, namely the Apostles, rejected by the Jews, turned to the Gentiles and brought them to faith, salvation, and grace. And the Apostle adds that God "shut up all in unbelief," that is, permitted all to be shut up under sin, "that He might have mercy on all" -- as if to say: Therefore you too, O Gentiles, imitate God, and as God has had mercy on you, so you too have mercy on the Jews.
Thus the Saints, resigning all things to the will of God, excused the faults and afflictions inflicted on them by others, and received them with a quiet and serene mind: as David, who attributed the cursing of Shimei to the will of God, who wished to punish his sins, and therefore did not want him punished. And the Maccabees, who bore their sufferings as accepted from God and divine chastisement. Sophronius tells of an Abbot to whom a disciple through carelessness served very bitter herbs at table; the Abbot concealed the matter. When the disciple later tasted the same herbs, he recognized his error and begged pardon. To whom the Abbot said: "It was the will of God that you should serve me such food. For if God had willed otherwise, He would have caused you to set out something different." For this is an act of great humility, resignation, and conformity with the divine will, in which human and angelic perfection consists.
The pagan Pythagoras saw this dimly, who among the golden verses and precepts of his ethics, placed these among the first: "Whatever sorrows mortals suffer at the gods' sending, / As your lot has borne it, do not refuse to bear it patiently: / Yet the remedy is not to be despised."
Verse 20: "You Devised Evil Against Me"
"You devised" only, because your machinations as mere men against me, with God protecting me, you were unable to carry out.
Verse 21: "Kindly and Gently"
In Hebrew it reads, "he spoke to their heart." Let the faithful see here, let them see and let princes imitate the clemency and gentleness of Joseph, indeed of Christ, who says: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart."
The Emperor Alexander Severus was clement; his mother and wife reproached him for this, saying: "You have made your imperial dignity softer and more contemptible." He replied: "But more secure and more lasting."
The Emperor Constantius had banished the abductors of a certain virgin; the parents were indignant that they had not been punished with death. Then he said: "Let them blame the laws of clemency up to this point; but it befits an Emperor to surpass others by the laws of a most gentle spirit."
So Charlemagne, when his daughter had committed fornication with his secretary Eginhart, did not punish either of them with death though both deserved it, but joined them in marriage. Lipsius narrates the matter at length, book II, Political Admonitions, chapter 12, number 12.
Rudolph, the Austrian Emperor, having become gentler from being more severe, said: "I have sometimes regretted being severe and harsh; being lenient and forgiving, never."
A certain person asked Louis XII for the goods of a citizen of Orleans, who had been the most fierce enemy of Louis at the time when Louis was only Duke of Orleans and was at odds with King Charles VIII of France. To him Louis replied with a truly royal spirit: "Ask something else of me, and your merits will receive their reward. Forget about that man: for the King of France does not avenge the injuries of the Duke of Orleans" -- as if to say: Having become King, I do not wish to avenge the injuries inflicted on me during my Dukedom.
Alphonsus, King of Aragon, as Panormitanus attests, when asked why he was so gentle toward everyone, even the wicked, replied: "Because justice wins over the good, and clemency the bad." And when his people complained about his excessive leniency: "What then," he said, "do you want bears and lions to reign? Clemency belongs to humans, ferocity to beasts. I would rather save many by my clemency than destroy a few by my severity." Someone objected to him: Beware lest your clemency lead to ruin. To whom he replied: "On the contrary, I must endure much, lest I fall into odium." The same king, when asked what most influenced his adversaries, replied: "The reputation for being forgiving and gentle."
The same king, marching against the Venetians with his army drawn up, when they came to meet him and humbly begged for peace, and his men desired to extort whatever they could from them, Alphonsus replied: "I consider no other reward for granting peace than to give peace to enemies who have fallen on their knees before me." Rightly says Ovid: "The fitting pleasure of mankind is to save a fellow man: / and no better favor is sought by any art."
We see this now in Belgium.
Verse 22: Joseph Lived One Hundred and Ten Years
This is the span of Joseph's life: Joseph was sold by his brothers in the sixteenth year of his age, the 107th of Jacob's, and the year of the world 2216. He endured slavery and prison for 13 years. Brought out of prison, he became ruler of Egypt in the 30th year of his age, his father's 121st, the year of the world 2230. He called his father Jacob to Egypt and joyfully received him there in the 39th year of his age, his father's 130th, the year of the world 2239, which was the ninth from his exaltation and rule, and the tenth after the death of Isaac. Joseph died in the 110th year of his age, the 80th from his exaltation, the 54th after his father's death, in the year of the world 2310, 144 years before the departure of Moses and the Hebrews from Egypt.
Morally, St. Chrysostom, homily 67 and his last, says: "Have you seen how the rewards are greater than the labors, and the recompenses more abundant? For thirteen years he endured slavery and prison; for eighty years he administered the kingdom."
"The children also of Machir." "Children," that is, child: for Machir begot only one; it is an enallage (change) of number. So St. Augustine.
"Were born on his knees," that is to say, Joseph adopted Machir's son as his own as soon as he was born, and therefore placed and received him on his knees, as Rachel did, chapter 30, verse 3.
Verse 24: "Carry My Bones With You"
"Carry my bones with you," so that I may be buried with my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather in Canaan, the land promised to us by God. See what was said at chapter 47, verses 29 and 30. This is what Paul says, Hebrews 11:22: "By faith Joseph, when dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones."
But this, says St. Chrysostom, he did not do rashly; for he had two purposes: first, lest the Egyptians, remembering his benefits, since according to their custom they readily made gods of men, should have the body of the just man as an occasion for impiety; second, so that they might be entirely secure and certain that they would return. "And one could see a new and wonderful thing: he who fed all Israel in Egypt was also their leader for the return and the one who would bring them into the land of Israel." The Israelites kept the promises made to Joseph, for when they departed from Egypt they carried Joseph's bones with them and brought them into Canaan, and buried them in Shechem, as is recorded in Joshua 24:32.
Anagogically, Rabanus says: "Joseph, detesting his dwelling in the land of Egypt, longed for the promised land, so that as long as we are in this pilgrimage, we should desire the true fatherland, the land of the living, promised to the just, and wish to be transferred there after death." And therefore let us frequently sigh with the Psalmist: "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord."
Similar to Joseph's and Jacob's -- that is, pious and heavenly -- were the dying counsels and wishes of other Patriarchs and Saints: as those of Moses, Deuteronomy 31 and 32; Joshua, chapter 24; David, 2 Kings 22 and 23; Elisha, 4 Kings 13; Mattathias, 1 Maccabees 2.
Dying Words of Saints and Holy Men
So St. Basil, when dying, instructed those who gathered around him with sacred teaching, and saying: "Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit," he joyfully breathed out his soul. Nazianzen is the witness, oration 20.
St. Ambrose, when dying, said: "I have not lived in such a way that I would be ashamed to live among you. But neither do I fear to die, because we have a good Lord."
St. Augustine, when dying, said: "It is not surprising that timbers and stones fall, and that mortals die."
St. Chrysostom, in exile and great affliction, writing to Pope Innocent shortly before his death, said: "We are now in our third year of exile, exposed to pestilence, famine, war, continual raids, unspeakable solitude, daily death, and Isaurian swords." At last, worn out by these things, and dying, he said: "Glory to You, O Lord, for all things," as Nicephorus reports, book 13, chapter 37.
St. Martin, when dying, with his eyes and hands toward heaven, never relaxed his unconquered spirit from prayer; and when the priests begged him to relieve his poor body by turning on his side, he said: "Let me look toward heaven rather than earth, so that my spirit, about to go on its journey to the Lord, may be directed upward." Having said this, he saw the devil standing nearby; to whom he said: "What are you doing here, you bloody beast? You will find nothing fatal in me. The bosom of Abraham will receive me," as Sulpitius relates.
St. Fulgentius, seized by a most severe illness, said: "Lord, give me patience now, and afterward forgiveness." And asking pardon from his people for his errors, and distributing to the poor whatever money remained, he departed this life.
St. Gregory, writing near death to the patrician lady Rusticana, said: "Bitterness of soul, continual irritation, and the affliction of gout torment me, so that my body has dried up as if in a tomb. Wherefore I ask that you pray for me, that I may be led out of this prison sooner."
St. Hilarion, as St. Jerome attests, said when dying: "Go forth, why do you fear, my soul? Why do you hesitate? For nearly seventy years you have served Christ, and do you fear death?"
St. Bernard, when dying, said: "These three things I have observed in life, which I commend to you: first, I trusted my own judgment less than that of others; second, when wronged, I did not seek vengeance against the one who wronged me; third, I never wished to cause scandal to anyone; and if it ever occurred, I calmed it as best I could."
Gerard, St. Bernard's brother, said when dying: "Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest."
Ferdinand, King of Castile, said when dying: "Lord, the kingdom which I received from You, I restore to You; place me, I beseech You, in eternal light."
Charles, King of Sicily, said when dying: "O vain thoughts of men! What good does the kingdom do me now? How much better it would have been to have been a poor man, not a king!"