Genesis 50:5

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.)

Genesis 50:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:5

My father made me swear, saying, lo, I die
Having reason to believe he should not live long, he sent for Joseph, and took an oath of him to do as follows; this Joseph would have observed to Pharaoh, to show the necessity of his application to him, and the reasonableness of his request. The words of dying men are always to be regarded; their dying charge is always attended to by those who have a regard to duty and honour; but much more when an oath is annexed to them, which among all nations was reckoned sacred: in the grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there
shalt thou bury me;
it was usual with persons in their lifetime to prepare graves or sepulchres for themselves, as appears from the instances of Shebna, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, and so Jacob provided one for himself; and when he is said to "dig" it, it is not to be supposed that he dug it himself, but ordered it to be dug by his servants, and very probably this was done at the time he buried Leah. Onkelos renders it, "which I have bought", possessed or obtained by purchase; and so the word is used in ( Hosea 3:2 ) but the cave of Machpelah, in which Jacob's grave was, was not bought by him, but by Abraham; for to say, as some Jewish writers ^F8 suggest, that he bought Esau's part in it with a mess of pottage, is without foundation; it is better to take the words in the first sense. And now, since it was Jacob's desire, yea, his dying charge, to be buried in the grave he had provided for himself, the mention of this to an Egyptian king could not fail of having its desired effect; since the Egyptians, as the historian ^F9 says, were more careful about their graves than about their houses: now therefore let me go up, I pray thee;
to the land of Canaan, which lay higher than Egypt; and bury my father;
there, in the grave he has provided for himself: and I will come again:
to the land of Egypt; this he would have said, lest it should be thought he only contrived this to get an opportunity of going away to Canaan with all his wealth and riches.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 R. David Kimchi Sepher Shorash. rad. (hrk) Ben Melech in loc.
F9 Diodor. Sic. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.

Genesis 50:5 In-Context

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.)

6 And Pharaoh said to him, Go up, and bury thy father, as thou art charged.

7 And when Joseph went up, all the elder men of the house of Pharaoh went with him, and all the greater men in birth of the land of Egypt; (And when Joseph went up, all the elders of Pharaoh's household, and all the men of great age, that is, the elders, of the land of Egypt, went up with him;)