Genesis 50:6

6 Pharaoh replied, "Go, bury your father as you promised."

Genesis 50:6 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:6

And Pharaoh said
To Joseph, by the courtiers that waited upon him at Joseph's request, who having delivered it to him had this answer: go up, and bury thy father, as he made thee swear;
the oath seems to be the principal thing that influenced Pharaoh to grant the request, it being a sacred thing, and not to be violated; otherwise, perhaps, he would not have chosen that Joseph should have been so long absent from him, and might have thought a grave in Egypt, and an honourable interment there, which he would have spared no cost to have given, might have done as well, or better.

Genesis 50:6 In-Context

4 After the period of mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's household: "If you approve my request, give Pharaoh this message:

5 My father made me promise, telling me, ‘I'm about to die. You must bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now, let me leave and let me bury my father, and then I will return."

6 Pharaoh replied, "Go, bury your father as you promised."

7 So Joseph left to bury his father. All of Pharaoh's servants went with him, together with the elder statesmen in his household and all of the elder statesmen in the land of Egypt,

8 Joseph's entire household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only the children, flocks, and cattle remained in the land of Goshen.