What Does Genesis 50:7 Mean?
And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,THE KEY
Joseph’s father is buried through an ascent, and Egypt’s public life rises with him.
THE MEANING
This burial gathers far more than a family: Pharaoh’s servants, his household elders, and Egypt’s elders accompany Joseph as he carries his father. Grief crosses the boundary between household and public life, and the burial becomes a shared witness to the life that has ended.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that grief must remain a private family burden loosens here: the whole public order can accompany the bereaved.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעַל
wayyaʿal
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
to go up, rise, or bring up
“went up” in this verse is wayyaʿal. The verse names the burial journey as an ascent: Jacob’s body is carried up from Egypt toward burial. The same root appears in words for ascent and an offering that rises, letting the procession carry an image of upward movement without making the burial any less concrete.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: An offering that rises, traditionally rendered “burnt offering.”
עֹלָה
It shares the ascent-root with “went up,” linking the procession’s upward movement with the language of an offering.
ʿaliyyah: A going up or ascent.
עֲלִיָּה
It shows how the same root can name the upward passage itself, as it does in Joseph’s journey with his father.
THE PATTERN
A death moves beyond one household when a community joins the grieving and the burial.
And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.When he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried forth, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a great crowd out of the city was with her.THE THREAD
I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again, and Joseph will set his hand upon your eyes.The promise says Jacob will be brought up again from Egypt, and this verse shows Joseph leading the ascent that carries his father to burial. Both “bring thee up” and “went up” use עלה (ʿalah, go up), joining the promise to the concrete journey.
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