Genesis 47:28-50:26
“Ya’akov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; thus Ya’akov lived to be 147 years old”
(Genesis 47:28).
Excerpt:
“I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave that is in the field of ‘Efron the Hitite, the cave in the field of Makhpelah, by Mamre, in the land of Ken’an, which Avraham bought together with the field from ‘Efron the Hitite as a burial place belonging to him –there they buried Avraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Yitz’ak and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah – the field and the cave in it, which was purchased from the sons of Het” (Genesis 49:29-32).
Jacob requests that he be buried with his ancestors in the cave purchased by Abraham. Twice he refers to the land as being purchased so there would never be any question as to who owned the land. After he utters his final words, Jacob takes his last breath. Only Joseph falls on his father weeping and kissing him.
Jacob was embalmed according to Egyptian culture. The embalming procedure involved washing the body in wine and water from the Nile. All vital organs and brain, except the heart, were removed from the body because these organs decompose quickly. The body was washed, covered, and filled with natron, a mineral salt found in dried lake beds.
After 40 days, the dehydrated organs were put in clay jars. Different gods’ heads topped the jars as ‘protectors’ of the organs: Imsety (human head) looked after the liver; Hapy (baboon head) looked after the lungs; Duamutef (jackel head) looked after the stomach; Qebehsenef (falcon head) looked after the intestines.
The body was washed another time with water from the Nile and rubbed with oils to keep the skin elastic. The oiled body was stuffed to make it appear lifelike and rubbed again with fragrant oils. Finally, the body was wrapped in linen, beginning with the head followed by the neck, toes, and fingers. Arms and legs were wrapped separately and between the layers amulets of the goddess Isis were placed.
While the body was being wrapped, a priest read spells to ward off evil spirits enabling the deceased enter the afterlife. Once completely wrapped, the arms and legs were tied together with the Book of the Dead placed between the hands. The body was covered with more linen strips and resin gluing the layers together. A final cloth was wrapped around the body, and a picture of the god Osiris was painted on the surface. To complete the embalming process, a large cloth was wrapped around the entire body, now called a mummy. A board of painted wood was placed on top of the mummy before it was lowered into two coffins, one inside the other.
After completing this process, a funeral was followed by a 70-day a period of mourning. In its two coffins, the body was placed inside a large stone sarcophagus in the tomb. Furniture, clothing, and valuable objects, including food and drink were arranged in the tomb. A ritual called the “Opening of the Mouth” allowed the deceased to eat and drink. The body was ready for its journey to the underworld where its heart would be judged by its good deeds on earth. If it was found to be pure, it would live eternally in the beautiful ‘Field of Reeds.’
The process of embalming coincides to what occurred for Jacob. Scripture states that the process took 40 days and also records that Jacob was mourned for 70 days (Genesis 50:3). When his body was ready for burial, Joseph requests permission from Pharaoh to take his father’s body back to Abraham’s burial place.
Jacob’s family mourned again for seven days in Canaan. The inhabitants of Atad heard the mourning cries and thought they were hearing the Egyptians; this place beyond the Jordan River was given the name Avel-Mitzrayim meaning ‘Mourning of Egypt.’ Jacob was buried in the burial cave Abraham had bought from Efron the Hittite.
“For you will always have the poor with you; and whenever you want to, you can help them. But you will not always have me. What she could do, she did do — in advance she poured perfume on my body to prepare it for burial” (Mark 14:7-8).
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