# Opinions on Joseph



## TimV (Sep 28, 2010)

> Gen 50:6 And Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear."
> Gen 50:7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
> Gen 50:8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.
> Gen 50:9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
> Gen 50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days.



That would seem excessive. I mean, if a popular American Vice-President died, you'd see nothing like that at all. Do you all think it was in honor of Joseph, or something like Israel's blessing on Pharaoh was not just smoke, but something that the Egyptians actually saw come to pass, and Israel was considered a holy man? Something else?


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## Howlin' Wolf (Sep 28, 2010)

I lived in the middle east. When a person dies there is a very long process that takes place while grieving. The fact that Pharoah sent his servants and elders would honor Joseph in his time of loss since Pharoah couldnt be there himself. It is not so much to honor Israel as this great man as it is to show support for Joseph during his mourning.


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## SolaScriptura (Sep 28, 2010)

I think Pharoah was accutely aware that Joseph had not only saved his country, but had actually increased the power and holdings of the Pharoah on top of having enhanced Egypt's international clout. As such, I think he was profoundly grateful - and perhaps there was a bit of the "keep the talent happy" mindset - and as a result he was more than willing to bend over backwards to honor someone as significant to Joseph as his father.


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## Jack K (Sep 28, 2010)

The simple, on-the-face-of-it answer is they made a bigger deal of this sort of thing because their culture believed in doing so. Ours doesn't so much. And the passage shows how highly esteemed Joseph was in Pharaoh's eyes, and how much clout Joseph had in Egypt.

The larger theological answer is that the honors shown here to Jacob are in many ways a high point of God's blessings to the covenant family. He works in spite of evil and brings it to good. He controls powerful and godless empires. He blesses his people in ways that indeed are beyond belief and far exceed our expectations. It _does_ seem excessive. But that's God for you.


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