R.C. Sproul

And it was just an unforgettable experience.

And that's what I think of when I think of this incident here in the book of Genesis, where all these dignitaries and their chariots go up to put Jacob to rest.

And they came to the threshing floor of Atod, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and solemn lamentation.

He observed seven days of mourning for his father, and when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atod, they said, This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.

Therefore its name was called Abel Misraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

So his sons did for him as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan,

and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephraim the Hittite as property for a burial place.

And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who went up with him to bury his father.

Now Jacob is gone.

And now a new sense of terror enters into the hearts of Joseph's brothers.

They realized that Joseph had been kind to them and not vengeful in large measure out of Joseph's dedication, devotion, and love for his father.

And now his father is gone.

In a real sense, what the brothers of Joseph are experiencing is the loss of their protector.

And they're thinking among themselves, now what is Joseph going to do?

And so we pick up this part of the narrative in verse 15 of chapter 50.

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, perhaps Joseph will hate us

and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.

And so they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.

Now please forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.

Now isn't this interesting?