SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 24

A LOOK AHEAD

A FATHER'S BLESSINGS

From Genesis 49

After he had blessed Joseph and his sons, Jacob called his other sons to his bedside. [Come, and I will tell you of things to come in your future. Gather and listen, sons of Jacob, pay attention to your father. Reuben, my firstborn, child of my strength and youth, first in line and first in power. As changeable as water, you shall not be first now, for you defiled one of my own wives and thus defiled me. Simeon and Levi are two brothers who are alike, using their swords as weapons of violence. O my soul, have no part in their plans and have no part in their activities, for in anger they murdered and for their own pleasure they crippled oxen. Let a curse be on their anger, for it is cruel and fierce. I will divide them in the land and scatter them throughout the inheritance. Judah you will be praised by your brothers. You will overcome your enemies and your own brothers will bow before you. Judah is a young lion, rising from its prey and like an old lion, he stoops and crouches, who would dare to rouse him? The sceptre will remain with Judah and the leader’s staff also, until Shiloh comes and then the people will obey Him. He has tied his donkey to the richest vine and has washed his clothes in wine. His eyes are dark like wine and his teeth white like milk. Zebulun shall live by the sea, a harbour for ships, with his borders reaching to Sidon. Issachar is like a big donkey, lying among the sheepfolds. When he has found a comfortable place to lie and a land that is good, he willingly submits to heavy work and gives himself to be a servant. Dan shall rule as other tribal leaders in Israel. He will be like a snake that bites the horse’s heel so the rider will fall backward from the horse. O Adonai, I wait for Your salvation. Raiders will come upon Gad, but he will strike at them from the rear. Asher shall bring forth rich foods, dainties worthy of kings. Naphtali is a deer that is loosed, producing lovely fawns. Joseph is a fruitful branch beside a spring, with his branches covering the wall. The archers attacked him and shot at him and wounded him severely, but his bow remained steadfast, his arms and hands held up by the Mighty YHVH of Jacob, The Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. It is the YHVH of your father who will bless and help Joseph, yes, it is the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings from heaven above and earth below, the blessings of the breasts and womb. The blessings of your father’s YHVH reach beyond the blessings of your ancestors, giving what is best from the everlasting hills. May all these blessings be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was rejected by his brothers. Benjamin is like a hungry wolf, in the morning he devours his prey, in the evening he divides his loot.] These are the blessings placed upon the twelve tribes of Israel by Jacob, together with what he said about his sons as he blessed each of them. [I will die soon,] Jacob told his sons. [Bury me with my ancestors in the Cave of Machpelah, the cave east of Mature, which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. It is the field which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a family burial place. There with Abraham and his wife Sarah, they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. There also I buried Leah.] When Jacob had finished speaking these things to his sons, he drew up his feet into his bed. Then, in the presence of his sons, he took one last breath and died.

COMMENTARY

THE MAKING OF A MUMMY

When Jacob was about to die, he called all his sons together. With penetrating insight Jacob described the character of each, and gave a glimpse of the future of their descendants. And Jacob demanded one promise. When he died, his sons were to bury him with Abraham and Isaac in the Cave of Machpelah. The Egyptian way of embalming a body was a long and expensive process. Only members of royalty and the wealthy could afford to have their dead made into mummies before burial. For the pharaoh, it took seventy-two days; for other people it took seventy. During that period, professional mourners appeared twice a day at the house of the deceased, wailing and singing of the dead person’s virtues, and encouraging the members of the family to express their grief openly rather than hold it within and become sick. While this was going on, the embalmers had started work. The body was carefully washed. Then a long cut was made on the lower body, and the internal organs were removed. These too were washed, then stuffed with sweet-smelling herbs, and bandaged with linen. Each organ and the intestines were placed separately in jars. They were covered with a decorative lid meant to stand for the particular deity that was supposed to protect them. These canopic jars, as they were called, were then placed together in a canopic chest. The brain was considered useless stuffing and not preserved. It was removed through the nostrils with a hook, and then simply thrown away. The body itself was soaked for seventy days in a salt-like solution called natron. Removed and dried, it was then stuffed; including arms, legs, fingers and toes; with combinations of spices, gums, powdered plaster natron and bitumin, cement-like asphalt. The fingernails were painted. Jewellery with religious meaning was placed on certain parts of the body to protect it, as well as on the fingers. A religious text was included. The body was then rubbed with ointments, and the wrapping began. Fingers, toes, hands and arms were each wrapped separately. Linen strips about three inches wide and gummed on one end made up the first layer of wrappings. Wider linen bands were wound over these about every six to eight inches. These wide bands, each with its own special name, had religious passages and magic spells written on them. When the body was entirely wrapped, a single piece of linen was put over all the bandages and sewn up the back. A shroud, eight feet by four feet, covered all of that and was held in place by five other bandages. From beginning to end, approximately four hundred fifty feet of linen wrappings were used. The mummy was placed in a small coffin, which in turn was protected by a larger one that was sometimes in the shape of the shrouded body and bore the likeness of a human head and face. The mourners carried this across the Nile River on a special boat. With the priest, the funeral party then went to the tomb, where an elaborate ceremony was performed before the mummy was placed inside. Various animals were sacrificed, the tomb was sealed, and all present went to a large funeral banquet and party. Inside, with its furniture, jewellery and food, the mummy was believed ready to start its life in the underworld of death.