And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
2. And Joseph commanded his servants. Although formerly more labor was expended on funerals, and that even without superstition, than has been deemed right subsequently to the proof given of the resurrection exhibited by Christ: Que depuis que Jesus Christ nous a baille claire demonstrance de la resurrection des morts — than since the time that Jesus Christ has given us a clear demonstration of the resurrection of the dead.
Joseph is here paying his last respects to his deceased father. 1. With tears and kisses, and all the tender expressions of a filial affection, he takes leave of the deserted body, Gen 50:1. Though Jacob was old and decrepit, and must needs die in the course of nature - though he was poor comparatively, and a constant charge to his son Joseph, yet such...
Commenting on Genesis 50:1-6
And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father,.... Which he did, not merely because it was the custom of the Egyptians, but because it was necessary, his father's corpse being to be carried into Canaan to be interred there, which would require time; and therefore it was proper to make use of some means for the preservation of it, and these men...