Genesis 49:29-33

The Dying Jacob Charges His Sons To Bury Him in Machpelah (49:28-33)

Genesis 49:29

‘And he charged them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought, with the field, from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah, the field and the cave within it which was purchased from the children of Heth.'

Jacob is aware now that death is close. He will now join those who have gone before, and he longs to be buried with them. ‘Gathered to my people', a synonym for dying (Genesis 49:33) and going to the grave, the place of the departed.

It is clear that Mamre was the place to which the family came when death was near, if they had a choice. Sarah died there (Genesis 23:2), Isaac died there (Genesis 35:27), Abraham died there by implication (Genesis 25:9), and Leah presumably died there - in a hot country burials had to take place within a fairly short time of death for physical reasons. Jacob can be taken there because of the possibility of mummification. And that is his dying wish.

Genesis 49:33

‘And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons he gathered his feet up into the bed and yielded up his breath and was gathered to his people.'

Jacob dies calmly and at peace. There is no thought of his grey hairs going with sorrow to the grave for in the end all has worked out happily, and he is content. But nor is there any thought of an afterlife. This concept does not appear in Genesis, possibly as a reaction against the extremism of the surrounding religions. The patriarchs concentrated on what God would do in this world.