Genesis 50:1

1 Which thing Joseph saw, and he fell on his father's face, and wept, and kissed him;

Genesis 50:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:1

And Joseph fell upon his father's face
Laid his own face to the cold face and pale cheeks of his dead father, out of his tender affection for him, and grief at parting with him; this shows that Joseph had been present from the time his father sent for him, and all the while he had been blessing the tribes, and giving orders about his funeral:

and wept upon him;
which to do for and over the dead is neither unlawful nor unbecoming, provided it is not carried to excess, as the instances of David, Christ, and others show:

and kissed him;
taking his farewell of him, as friends used to do, when parting and going a long journey, as death is. This was practised by Heathens, who had a notion that the soul went out of the body by the mouth, and they in this way received it into themselves: so Augustus Caesar died in the kisses of Livia, and Drusius in the embraces and kisses of Caesar ^F23. Joseph no doubt at this time closed the eyes of his father also, as it is said he should, and as was usual; see ( Genesis 46:4 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Rom. l. 1. c. 5.

Genesis 50:1 In-Context

1 Which thing Joseph saw, and he fell on his father's face, and wept, and kissed him;

2 and he commanded his servants, (the) leeches, that they should anoint his father with sweet smelling spiceries. (and he commanded the physicians, his servants, to anoint his father with sweet smelling spices.)

3 While they fulfilled his behests, forty days passed, for this was the custom of dead bodies (that were) anointed; and Egypt bewept him (for) seventy days.

4 And when the time of wailing was fulfilled, Joseph spake to the household of Pharaoh, (and said,) If I have found grace in your sight, speak ye in the ears of Pharaoh (If I have found grace before you, speak ye to Pharaoh for me);

5 for my father charged me [with (an) oath], and said, Lo! I die; thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I digged to me in the land of Canaan; therefore I shall go up that I bury my father, and I shall turn again. (for my father charged me with an oath, and said, Lo! now I die; and thou shalt bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan; and so let me go up now, that I bury my father, and then I shall return.)