Genesis 50:3

3 And they fulfilled forty days for him, for so are the days of embalming numbered; and Egypt mourned for him seventy days.

Genesis 50:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 50:3

Forty days were fulfilled for him
Were spent in embalming him:

for so are fulfilled the days of those that are embalmed;
so long the body lay in the pickle, in ointment of cedar, myrrh and cinnamon, and other things, that it might soak and penetrate thoroughly into it: and so Diodorus Siculus ^F4 says, that having laid more than thirty days in such a state, it was delivered to the kindred of the deceased:

and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days;
during the time of their embalming him; for longer than seventy days the body might not lie in the pickle, as before observed, from Herodotus. According to Diodorus Siculus ^F5, the Egyptians used to mourn for their kings seventy two days: the account he gives is, that

``upon the death of a king, all Egypt went into a common mourning, tore their garments, shut up their temples, forbid sacrifices, kept not the feasts for seventy two days, put clay upon their heads ^F6, girt linen clothes under their breasts; men and women, two or three hundred together, went about twice a day, singing in mournful verses the praises of the deceased; they abstained from animal food, and from wine, and all dainty things; nor did they use baths, nor ointments, nor lie in soft beds, nor dared to use venery, but, as if it was for the death of a beloved child, spent the said days in sorrow and mourning.''

Now these seventy days here are either a round number for seventy two, or two are taken from them, as Quistorpius suggests, to make a difference between Jacob, and a king of theirs, who yet being the father of their viceroy, they honoured in such a manner. Jarchi accounts for the number thus, forty for embalming, and thirty for mourning; which latter was the usual time for mourning with the Jews for principal men, and which the Egyptians added to their forty of embalming; see ( Numbers 20:29 ) ( Deuteronomy 34:8 )

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 lBibliothec. l. 1. p. 82.
F5 lbid. p. 65.
F6 Vid. Pompon. Mela de Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 9.

Genesis 50:3 In-Context

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

2 And Joseph commanded his servants the embalmers to embalm his father; and the embalmers embalmed Israel.

3 And they fulfilled forty days for him, for so are the days of embalming numbered; and Egypt mourned for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the princes of Pharao, saying, If I have found favour in your sight, speak concerning me in the ears of Pharao, saying,

5 My father adjured me, saying, In the sepulchre which I dug for myself in the land of Chanaan, there thou shalt bury me; now then I will go up and bury my father, and return again.