Genesis 47:29

My Notes

What Does Genesis 47:29 Mean?

"And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt." Jacob/Israel is dying and makes a final request: don't bury me in Egypt. The request requires a solemn oath (hand under the thigh — the most binding oath form in the patriarchal world, involving the reproductive organs as the source of future generations who will be bound by the promise). The dying patriarch uses every available mechanism of solemnity: grace-appeal, oath-form, and direct request.

The burial location is theological: Jacob's body belongs in Canaan — the promised land — not in Egypt, however comfortable Egypt has been. The dying man looks past seventeen comfortable years in Egypt and says: home is Canaan. Bury me there.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What 'Egypt' (comfortable but temporary place) might you need to leave — at least in your identity orientation?
• 2.What does Jacob requesting burial in Canaan (not Egypt) teach about the relationship between comfort and calling?
• 3.How does the oath-form (hand under the thigh, binding future generations) model the seriousness of covenant commitments?
• 4.Where do your 'bones belong' — and does your life reflect that orientation?

Devotional

Don't bury me in Egypt. The dying man's last request isn't about comfort. It's about identity: I don't belong here. However good Egypt has been, my bones belong in Canaan. Take me home.

The time drew nigh that Israel must die. The narrator shifts from 'Jacob' to 'Israel' — the covenant name — because the dying request is about the covenant. Jacob lived in Egypt. Israel wants to be buried in the land God promised. The name change signals: this isn't a personal preference. It's a covenant declaration.

Put thy hand under my thigh. The most solemn oath-form available: the thigh is the seat of procreative power, and placing the hand there binds not just Joseph but Joseph's descendants to the promise. The oath encompasses the future: every generation that comes from Jacob's thigh is bound by what Joseph swears. The gravity of the request requires the gravity of the oath.

Deal kindly and truly with me. Chesed v'emeth — covenant love and faithfulness. The two words that define God's character toward Israel, Jacob now asks of Joseph. The request isn't transactional. It's covenantal: show me the same faithfulness God shows his people. Because this request is about more than funeral arrangements. It's about theological identity.

Bury me not in Egypt. The negative is emphatic: NOT in Egypt. Not in the land of comfort. Not in the land that saved the family from famine. Not in the land where Joseph is second in command. Not in Egypt. The seventeen good years in Egypt (47:28) don't change the fundamental orientation of Jacob's faith: the promised land is home. Egypt is sojourn. And the body that decomposes should decompose in the soil God promised.

The request is the same as Genesis 49:29: bury me with my fathers in the cave of Machpelah. Abraham bought the cave. Sarah was buried there. Isaac and Rebekah were buried there. Leah was buried there. And Jacob will be carried there — by Joseph's oath, by Egyptian embalming, by a massive funeral procession, back to the land where his bones belong.

The dying man knows what the comfortable years might have obscured: Egypt isn't home. However good the land of sojourn has been, the land of promise is where faith plants its bones. And the bones planted in Canaan will wait there — in the soil of the promise — until everything God said comes true.

Don't bury me in Egypt. Bury me in the promise.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture