"And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that Is In the field of Ephron the Hittite." --Genesis 49:29.
Additional readings: Genesis 49, John 14, Psalms 9; 10.
Jacob - or Israel - and his sons had been brought into Egypt. They were to stay there for about two hundred and fifty years and then Moses would be called to lead them back to the land of Canaan. At the time of our text Jacob was old and knew that he was about to die. So, as the custom was, he called his sons to his side and gave them their blessings and his final instructions, namely, that they were to bury him in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and his own wife Leah were buried. This command was literally carried out and Jacob was buried in the cave which Abraham had bought for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.
Jacob said, "I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers.” We are told in the Writings that the Hebrews were more worldly than other nations of that time. They thought little of any life after the death of the body. The words which Jacob used were handed down from most ancient times, when the heavens were open and people knew that after death they were gathered with their fathers and their people in the heavenly home.
In the Arcana we read, "It was usual with the ancients to say, when anyone died, that he was gathered to his fathers or to his people, and they understood thereby that he actually came to his parents, his relatives, and his kinsfolk in another life, for they, during their abode on earth, were also at the same time with angels in heaven, and thus knew how the case was, namely that all who are in the same good meet and are together in another life, and likewise all who are in the same truth. Of the former they say that are gathered to their fathers, but of the latter that they are gathered to their people; for fathers with them signified goods, and people signified truths."
This is what is really meant by the words gathered "to my fathers" and "to my people." So today we may understand the meaning of these words handed down from ancient and more spiritual days, and they lead us to think of our spiritual relationships.
God created us in families and in this world we have relationships based upon common parentage. Similar interests and likes also create relationships. Working together in a common task draws men together. People working in the same trade are united by a common interest. People of similar tastes make congenial companions.
And there are spiritual relationships which natural relationships represent. The Lord is the common Father of all mankind. All are His children, and when people are united in their understanding of the Lord and in their desire to learn and do His will, they are most strongly bound together, for love to the Lord is the most interior bond. All other interests which bind people together are temporary and comparatively weak. Even the ties of natural relationship my not be strong enough to hold people together during natural lifetime, if there is not within them something of the spiritual. Where the spiritual is lacking even in the few short years of this life brothers drift apart and often parents and children become estranged.
The Psalmist says, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Unity occurs from the reception of good and truth from the Lord and its operation in the outward life. Heaven cannot enter into the eternal life unless it is in the internal. That is why the lord's Prayer in the original reads "as in heaven, so upon the earth." It is this unity of spirit, of affection, and of thought concerning the deepest things of life which makes it good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together.
Jacob asked to be buried with his fathers. From the spiritual point of view burial is the entering into life in the spiritual world. There the request, "Bury me with my fathers," is always fulfilled. There those are brought together who ore in like desires, affections, and interests.
In our life in this world we find much that is not harmonious. There is often misunderstanding and friction. This is because we are unregenerate and have many shortcomings in ourselves to overcome. When we take our place in our eternal homes we shall have put these hindrances aside, having overcome them, as those in the heavens have overcome them.
"In the world ye shall have tribulation." The purpose of life here, is to form a good and true character, and if we are faithful, the time will come when conflict for us will cease and we can enter into the enjoyment of living in peace with our neighbors.
We know that in a family no two children are alike. Each has his or her own individuality. So each has some new gift from the Lord to bring into the life of the family, into the life of the world, and into the life of heaven. Because each is different each can contribute to the fullness of life for all.
Spiritually to be gathered to our fathers and to our people is to find our proper place of service in our spiritual home, in the place which the Lord would have us fill. We should all pray that we may so find our appointed place in the Lord's kingdom while we are on earth that we may gladly say with Jacob, "I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers."
It is natural that we should hope to be associated in the other world with those who have been dear to us here. Families who live together in happiness, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who, as often is the case, have like interests and tastes and sympathies, grow closer together as they advance in life here. And it is not the purpose of the Lord that the love of parents and children, of brothers and sisters shall ever be brought to an end. Yet it is our spiritual development that determines our place after death. In the other life the desires we form here are confirmed, and there they work themselves out without hindrance. All those whom we love and desire to meet we shall meet, and if our love is genuine, we shall remain together and increase in love and service to each other.
It was quite natural that Jacob, sojourning in Egypt, when he knew that he was about to die should call his sons together and ask them to bury him in the family sepulchre in Hebron. "Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt," Jacob said, "but I will lie with my fathers. Bury me in their burying place." Jacob’s words express a very common wish, the wish that we may be with those near and dear to us. But we should see Jacob's request as really a prayer that we may find our eternal homes with our spiritual relatives and friends in heaven.
And we can make this come to pass. We actually pray for burial in the land of Canaan in the sepulchre of our fathers when we make the earnest and patient effort to learn and do the will of our Heavenly Father.
The story of the purchase of the cave of Machpelah by Abraham for a burial place, as we find it in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, is a very simple one. But being a story recorded in the Word it is not merely the story of buying a burial place for the body. It is the story of eternal life and eternal rest. It is the story of the preparation of our eternal homes in heaven. And inmostly it is the story of the lord’s work of redemption.
It is said of Abraham's original purchase, of the family burying place, "And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth." Abraham wanted to secure the burying place beyond all possibility of failure as a sure possession to his children. So he paid a price for it.
The purchase price is a life according to the commandments and precepts of the Word. By coming into the world and fulfilling the law and the prophets as to every jot and tittle the Lord paid the purchase price, but not in any vicarious sense. By overcoming evil and holding it subject He has brought heaven within the reach of all and made secure a place of eternal rest for His children forever.
Our real homes are not in this world. In the Father's house are many mansions. We should think of our homes as there, and that the Lord has gone before us to show us the way to them, that where He is there we may be also.
