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Genesis 50

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1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.

3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; (for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed:) and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.

9 And there went with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

12 And his sons did to him according as he commanded them:

13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

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

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will perhaps hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did to him.

16 And they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Thy father commanded before he died, saying,

17 So shall ye say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did to thee evil: and now, we pray thee, Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face: and they said, Behold, we are thy servants.

19 And Joseph said to them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.

21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees.

24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2916

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2916. Give me a possession of a sepulcher with you. That this signifies that they can be regenerated, is evident from the signification of a “sepulcher,” which in the internal sense of the Word signifies life or heaven, and in the opposite sense death or hell. That it signifies life or heaven, is because the angels, who are in the internal sense of the Word, have no idea of a sepulcher because they have none of death; and therefore instead of a sepulcher they perceive nothing else than continuation of life, and thus resurrection-for man rises again as to his spirit, and is buried as to his body (see n. 1854). And because “burial” signifies resurrection, it also signifies regeneration, for regeneration is man’s first resurrection, as he then dies in respect to the former man, and rises again as to the new. By regeneration a man from being dead becomes alive; hence comes the signification of a “sepulcher” in the internal sense. That the idea of regeneration occurs to the angels when the idea of a sepulcher is presented is plain also from what was said above about little children (n. 2299).

[2] That in the opposite sense a “sepulcher” signifies death or hell is because the evil do not rise again into life; and therefore when the evil are treated of and a sepulcher is mentioned, no other idea then occurs to the angels than that of hell; this is the reason why hell in the Word is also called a “sepulcher.”

[3] That a “sepulcher” signifies resurrection, and also regeneration is plain in Ezekiel:

Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will open your sepulchers, and cause you to come up out of your sepulchers, O My people; and I will bring you to the ground of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your sepulchers, and caused you to come up out of your sepulchers, O My people; and shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you on your own ground (Ezekiel 37:12-14); where the Prophet treats of the bones that were made to live, and in the internal sense of regeneration. That he treats of regeneration is plainly evident, for it is said, “when I shall put My spirit in you and ye shall live, and I shall place you on your own ground.” “Sepulchers” here denote the former man and his evils and falsities, to “open,” and to “come up out of” which is to be regenerated. Thus the idea of a sepulcher perishes and is as it were put off, when the idea of regeneration or of the new life comes in.

[4] That the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the saints that were sleeping arose and went forth out of their sepulchers after the Lord’s resurrection, and entered into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matthew 27:52-53), involves what is similar, namely resurrection because of the Lord’s resurrection, and in a more interior sense every resurrection. That the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1 and the following verses) also involves the raising up of a new church from the Gentiles; for all the miracles wrought by the Lord, because they were Divine, involved states of His church. The signification also is similar where it is said that the man who was cast into the sepulcher of Elisha, when he touched his bones, revived (2 Kings 13:20-21); for by Elisha was represented the Lord.

[5] As “burial” signified resurrection in general, and every resurrection, therefore the ancients were very solicitous about their burials and the places where they should be buried-as Abraham, that he should be buried in Hebron in the land of Canaan; also Isaac and Jacob, with their wives (Genesis 47:29-31; 49:30-32); and Joseph, that his bones should be carried from Egypt into the land of Canaan (Genesis 50:25; Exodus 13:19; Josh. 24:32); David, and the kings who came after him, that they should be buried in Zion (1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; 14:31; 15:8, 24; 22:50; 2 Kings 8:24; 12:21; 14:20; 15:7, 38; 16:20). The reason of this was that the land of Canaan and Zion represented and signified the Lord’s kingdom, and burial represented and signified resurrection; but that the place effects nothing in regard to resurrection must be evident to everyone.

[6] That “burial” signifies resurrection to life is also plain from other representatives as that there should be no wailing for the wicked, and that they should not be buried but cast out (Jeremiah 8:2; 14:16; 16:4, 6; 20:6; 22:19; 25:33; 2 Kings 9:10; Revelation 11:9); and that wicked persons who had been buried should be cast forth from their sepulchers (Jeremiah 8:1-2; 2 Kings 23:16-18). In the opposite sense however, a “sepulcher” signifies death or hell (see Isaiah 14:19-21; Ezekiel 32:21-23, 25, 27; Psalms 88:5-6, 11-12; Numbers 19:16, 18-19).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.