It’s a powerful thing, steeped in tradition and emotion. And it’s at the very heart of the story of Jacob and Joseph.
The narrative goes that Jacob enjoyed seventeen years of peace and happiness with Joseph in Egypt, a reward, so to speak, for the seventeen years Jacob had dedicated to raising his beloved son. But as we often find, life is a tapestry of joy and sorrow. According to Legends of the Jews, Ginzberg tells us that, "the wicked experience sorrow after joy; the pious must suffer first, and then they are happy, for all's well that ends well, and God permits the pious to spend the last years of their lives in felicity."
When Jacob felt his time drawing near, he summoned Joseph. He bypassed his other sons, entrusting this crucial task to Joseph alone, because Joseph held the power to fulfill it. “If I have found grace in thy sight,” Jacob implored, “bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt.”
It wasn't just a preference, it was a deep-seated conviction. Jacob declared, "Only for thy sake did I come down into Egypt... Carry me out of the land of idolatry, and bury me in the land where God hath caused His Name to dwell." He wanted to rest in the place where four husbands and wives would be buried, with him being the last.
Why was this so important to Jacob? The text gives us several reasons, each layered with significance. He didn't want his body exposed to the vermin that he knew would infest the Egyptian soil. He feared his descendants might mistakenly view Egypt as a holy land, leading them to settle there permanently.
And there’s more. Jacob worried that his grave might become a site of idolatrous veneration, a dangerous path to tread. As the text tells us, the same punishment is appointed for the idols worshipped as for the idolaters that worship them.
But beyond avoiding Egypt, Jacob yearned to be buried in the Holy Land. Why? Because, in the Messianic time, those buried in Palestine would awaken to new life without delay. Those buried elsewhere would face a long, arduous journey beneath the earth to reach the Holy Land before their resurrection.
Furthermore, God had promised Jacob at Beth-el, "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." Jacob wanted to "lie" in the Holy Land, solidifying its claim for his descendants. He even requested Joseph to sprinkle some Egyptian earth over his body, a symbolic gesture.
Jacob repeated his wish three times, a detail the text attributes to good breeding. He, a man of immense stature, found himself dependent on the favor of his son in a foreign land. "Even a king," the text says, "depends upon favors in a strange land." Jacob, the man for the sake of whose merits the whole world was created, had to ask services of others while he was among strangers.
When Joseph promised to fulfill his father's wish, Jacob bowed before him, acknowledging Joseph's power in that moment. "Bow before the fox in his day," the saying goes, "the day of his power."
But Jacob wasn't content with just a promise. He insisted on an oath, a formal swearing by the sign of the covenant of Abraham. Joseph initially resisted, feeling it was beneath them. "Thou treatest me like a slave," he protested. "With me thou hast no need to require an oath. Thy command sufficeth."
Jacob, however, persisted, fearing Pharaoh might command Joseph to bury him in the royal sepulcher. Joseph relented, swearing to bury his father in Palestine and even pledging to ask his brothers to carry his bones there after his own death.
Observing the Shekinah (שְׁכִינָה), the Divine Presence, above his bed, Jacob bowed his head in gratitude. He was thankful that all his sons were worthy, progenitors of the twelve tribes. This was a blessing neither Abraham nor Isaac had fully experienced, as they both had children deemed unworthy.
According to Midrash Rabbah, until Jacob's time, death had always come suddenly. Jacob had pleaded with God for a warning, a chance to set his house in order. "O Lord of the world," he had prayed, "a man dies suddenly... But if a man first fell sick... he would have time to set his house in order."
And so, Jacob fell ill, granting him the opportunity to impart his final wishes. The sickness troubled him deeply, a culmination of a life filled with hardship and struggle. He had labored tirelessly with Laban, and his encounters with the angel and Esau, though victorious, had left him weakened.
Jacob’s story reminds us of the power of legacy, the importance of honoring our ancestors, and the enduring human desire to find meaning, even in death. It makes you wonder, what final wish would you impart, and what lengths would you go to in order to fulfill such a profound request?