Fulfilling a father’s wishes

SCRIPTURE UNION DAILY GUIDE DEVOTIONAL

Tuesday, 23rd August 2022

Opening Prayer

Dear Lord, make me more like you through the power of your word as I meditate on it.

Text: Genesis 49:29‐50:14 (NLT)

Jacob’s Death and Burial

29 Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. 32 It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”

33 When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.

Chapter 50:1-14

Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father’s body; so Jacob was embalmed. 3 The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.

4 When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s advisers and said, “Please do me this favor and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. 5 Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, ‘Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.’ So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay.”

6 Pharaoh agreed to Joseph’s request. “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise,” he said. 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh’s household, and all the senior officers of Egypt. 8 Joseph also took his entire household and his brothers and their households. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. 9 A great number of chariots and charioteers accompanied Joseph.

10 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father. 11 The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim, for they said, “This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians.”

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them. 13 They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

14 After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 

Question(s) for Reflection

• Is there any example for me to follow or not to follow?

Topic: Fulfilling a father’s wishes

Earlier in 47:29‐31, Israel had made Joseph to swear solemnly to bury him in Canaan. In today’s reading this request is repeated to his children (vs.29‐31). In many parts of Africa, it is a generally accepted custom that people should be buried in their hometowns. This seems to be a cultural norm in the ancient world as well. What belief system do you think undergirds this custom (see 49.29)? 

Death is seen as a homecoming; so home must be where the fathers are also taking their rest. For us as Christians do you think it matters where we are buried since our real home is not on this earth? “There is a time for everything? a time to weep and a time to laugh?” Ecclesiastes 3:1‐4. Jacob’s death attracted international attention. The Israelites were the most closely concerned, yet the whole of Egypt and the Canaan land were involved. What an honour given to Jacob on account of his son, the Prime Minister of Egypt! When the Bible says, “all Pharaoh’s officials and dignitaries in his court” (v.7) followed Joseph to go and bury Jacob, what modern day example could this be? It is alright to give final honour to our departed parents. However, we should be careful to avoid excessive expense that could land us in debt.

•Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?

Closing Prayer

• Lord, funeral ceremonies have become a huge issue in some of our societies today. Help your Church to be a model of modesty.

NATIONAL PRAYER BULLETIN

PRAYER FOCUS CHRISTIAN MODERATION IN ALL THINGS

"All things are lawful for me" but not all things are helpful.... 1 Corinthians 6:12

THANK GOD FOR:

Teaching us to seek His glory in all we do daily.

The freedom we have in Christ to serve God and love one another

PRAY FOR:

SU brethren in all our formation to continue to maintain godly standards and not to compromise anything.

The Spirit of God to keep showing in our lives the needed spiritual moderation.

Continuous teaching of God' s word in all SU formation to strengthen all spiritually.

PRAY AGAINST:

Getting enslaved by things these days, especially things that will not bring glory to the name of our God. 

People using the freedom we have in Christ as opportunity to promote the flesh.

Offer a prayer of faith in line with Psalms 118:14