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?
In return for the seventeen years that Jacob had devoted to the bringing up of Joseph, he was granted seventeen years of sojourn with his favorite son in peace and happiness. 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 end approach, he summoned Joseph to his bedside, and he told him all there was in his heart. He called for Joseph rather than one of his other sons, because he was the only one in a position to execute his wishes. Jacob said to Joseph: "If I have found grace in thy sight, bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. Only for thy sake did I come down into Egypt, and for thy sake I spoke, Now I can die. Do this for me as a true service of love, and not because thou art afraid, or because decency demands it. And when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt bury me in their burying-place. Carry me out of the land of idolatry, and bury me in the land where God hath caused His Name to dwell, and put me to rest in the place in which four husbands and wives are to be buried, I the last of them." Jacob desired not to be buried in Egypt for several reasons. He knew that the soil of Egypt would once swarm with vermin, and it revolted him to think of his corpse exposed to such uncleanness. He feared, moreover, that his descendants might say, "Were Egypt not a holy land, our father Jacob had never permitted himself to be buried there," and they might encourage themselves with this argument to make choice of Egypt as a permanent dwellingplace. Also, if his grave were there, the Egyptians might resort to it when the ten plagues came upon them, and if he were induced to pray for them to God, he would be advocating the cause of the Lord's enemies. If, on the other hand, he did not intercede for them, the Name of God would be profaned among the heathen, who would say, "Jacob is a useless saint!" Besides, it was possible that God might consider him, the "scattered sheep" of Israel, as a sacrifice for the Egyptians, and remit their punishment. From his knowledge of the people, another fear was justified, that his grave would become an object of idolatrous veneration, and the same punishment is appointed by God for the idols worshipped as for the idolaters that worship them. If Jacob had good reasons for not wanting his body to rest in the soil of Egypt, he had equally good reasons for wanting it to rest in the Holy Land. In the Messianic time, when the dead will rise, those buried in Palestine will awaken to new life without delay, while those buried elsewhere will first have to roll from land to land through the earth, hollowed out for the purpose, until they reach the Holy Land, and only then will their resurrection take place. But over and beyond this, Jacob had an especial reason for desiring to have his body interred in Palestine. God had said to him at Beth-el, "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed," and hence he made every endeavor to "lie" in the Holy Land, to make sure it would belong to him and his descendants. Nevertheless he bade Joseph strew some Egyptian earth over his dead body. Jacob expressed these his last wishes three times. Such is the requirement of good breeding in preferring a request. In the last period of Jacob's life, one can see how true it is that "even a king depends upon favors in a strange land." Jacob, the man for the sake of whose merits the whole world was created, for the sake of whom Abraham was delivered from the fiery furnace, had to ask services of others while he was among strangers, and when Joseph promised to do his bidding, he bowed himself before his own son, for it is a true saying, "Bow before the fox in his day," the day of his power. He was not satisfied with a simple promise from Joseph, that he would do his wish; he insisted upon his taking an oath by the sign of the covenant of Abraham, putting a hand under his thigh in accordance with the ceremony customary among the Patriarchs! But Joseph said: "Thou treatest me like a slave. With me thou hast no need to require an oath. Thy command sufficeth." Jacob, however, urged him, saying: "I fear Pharaoh may command thee to bury me in the sepulchre with the kings of Egypt. I insist that thou takest an oath, and then I will be at peace." Joseph gave in, though he would not submit to the ceremony that Eliezer had used to confirm the oath he took at the request of his master Abraham. The slave acted in accordance with the rules of slavery, the free man acted in accordance with the dictates of freedom. And in a son that thing would have been unseemly which was becoming in a slave. When Joseph swore to bury his father in Palestine, he added the words, "As thou commandest me to do, so also will I beg my brethren, on my death-bed, to fulfil my last wish and carry my body from Egypt to Palestine." Jacob, noticing the Shekinah over the bed's head, where she always rests in a sick room, bowed himself upon the bed's head, saying, "I thank thee, O Lord my God, that none who is unfit came forth from my bed, but my bed was perfect." He was particularly grateful for the revelation God had vouchsafed him concerning his first-born son Reuben, that he had repented of his trespass against his father, and atoned for it by penance. He was thus assured that all his sons were men worthy of being the progenitors of the twelve tribes, and he was blessed with happiness such as neither Abraham nor Isaac had known, for both of them had had unworthy as well as worthy sons. Until the time of Jacob death had always come upon men suddenly, and snatched them away before they were warned of the imminent end by sickness. Once Jacob spoke to God, saying, "O Lord of the world, a man dies suddenly, and he is not laid low first by sickness, and he cannot acquaint his children with his wishes regarding all he leaves behind. But if a man first fell sick, and felt that his end were drawing nigh, he would have time to set his house in order." And God said, "Verily, thy request is sensible, and thou shalt be the first to profit by the new dispensation," and so it happened that Jacob fell sick a little while before his death. His sickness troubled him grievously, for he had undergone much during his life. He had worked day and night while he was with Laban, and his conflicts with the angel and with Esau, though he came off victor from both, had weakened him, and he was not in a condition to endure the hardships of disease.
