Genesis 50:9

9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

Genesis 50:9 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:9

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen
Which was done both for the sake of honour and grandeur, and for safety and defence, should they be attacked by robbers in the deserts, or opposed by the Canaanites, and be refused the use of the cave of Machpelah, and the right to it disputed: and it was a very great company;
both for quantity and quality; the attendants at this funeral were very numerous, and many of them great personages, and upon the whole was a very honourable company, as the word F11 signifies, and made a very great figure and grand appearance: or a very great army
F12, consisting of chariots and horsemen fit for war; if there should be any occasion for it: and the Jews F13 pretend that Esau came out with a large army, and met Joseph at the cave of Machpelah, and endeavoured to hinder the burial of Jacob there, where he lost his life, having his head struck off with the sword of Chushim, the son of Dan: some say it was Zepho, the grandson of Esau, with the sons of Esau, that made the disturbance there, on which a battle ensued, in which Joseph was the conqueror, and Zepho was taken captive, (See Gill on Genesis 36:11), the Jews F14 give us the order and manner of the above procession thus; first Joseph, next the servants of Pharaoh, or the princes, then the elders of the court of Pharaoh, then all the elders of the land of Egypt, then the whole house of Joseph, next to them the brethren of Joseph, who were followed by their eldest sons, and after them were the chariots, and last of all the horses.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (dbk) "honorabilis"; so Abendana.
F12 (hnxmh) "exercitus ille"; Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Schmidt.
F13 T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 13. 1. Targum Jon. in ver. 13. Pirke Eliezer, c. 39. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 1.
F14 R. Bechai apud Hottinger. Smegma, c. 8. p. 381.

Genesis 50:9 In-Context

7 And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.