Exodus 1:6
6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
I. Joseph was still a son, though lord over Egypt (Genesis 45:9). His heart yearned over his father with all a child's clinging trustfulness.
II. Jacob's heart fainted, for the news was to him too good to be true. There is in life an element which is constantly upsetting probabilities; thus calling men up from lethargy. The news was too romantic at first for Jacob; but he always had an eye for the practical, and when he saw the wagons, his heart revived (vers. 25-28).
III. In the meeting of Joseph with his father there is a beautiful combination of official duty and filial piety. Joseph is administrator of the resources of Egypt; he cannot abandon his position and go away to Canaan, but he goes part of the way to meet his father (Genesis 46:29).
IV. Jacob summed up his earthly life by calling it a pilgrimage. His days seemed few and evil when he looked back upon them. We get to see the brokenness of the life, its incompleteness, its fragmentariness, when we get to the end of it (Genesis 47:7).
V. The last scene of this eventful history is given us in the text. (1) Joseph died. The best, wisest, and most useful men are withdrawn from their ministry. The world can get on without its greatest and best. The death of Joseph was a national event, an event of wide importance. (2) His brethren died. There we begin to lose individuality; we cannot all be equally conspicuous, each cannot have his name written in history as having died. The great thing is to leave behind us, not a mere name, but influences that hearts will feel.
Parker, The City Temple,1871, p. 161.
References: Exodus 1:6. R. S. Candlish, Scripture Characters and Miscellanies,p. 9.1:10-12. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvii., No. 997. Exodus 1:12. J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation,vol. ii., p. 385. 1 J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era,p. 1; Parker, vol. ii., p. 17.1:8-11, Exodus 2:5. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., pp. 50, 53.1-2. G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega,vol. ii., p. 42. 2 Parker, vol. ii., p. 19. Exodus 2:1. H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 24.Exodus 2:3 J. Hamilton, Works,vol. v., p. 1.Exodus 2:5. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 55.Exodus 2:6. T. Champness, Little Foxes,p. 72.Exodus 2:6. F. W. Robertson, Sermons,4th series, p. 250. Exodus 2:10. Parker, vol. ii., p. 26. Exodus 2:1. W. M. Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver,p. 7.