Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Genesis 50:26
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old, etc.] The exact age assigned him by Polyhistor f1936, from Demetrius an Heathen. The Jewish writers f1937 say, that he died the first of the twelve patriarchs, though he was the youngest of them; he died, according to Bishop Usher f1938 , in the year of the world 2369, and before Christ 1635: and they embalmed him; his servants, the physicians, according to the manner of the Egyptians, and as his father Jacob had been embalmed, (see Gill on “<015002>Genesis 50:2”), and he was put into a coffin in Egypt; in an ark or chest, very probably into such an one in which the Egyptians had used to put dead bodies when embalmed; which Herodotus f1939 calls a yhka, or chest, and which they set up against a wall: in what part of Egypt this coffin was put is not certain, it was most likely in Goshen, and in the care and custody of some of Joseph’s posterity; so Leo Africanus says f1940, that he was buried in Fioum, the same with the Heracleotic nome, supposed to be Goshen; (see Gill on “<014711>Genesis 47:11”), and was dug up by Moses, when the children of Israel departed. The Targum of Jonathan says, it was sunk in the midst of the Nile of Egypt; and an Arabic writer f1941 says, the corpse of Joseph was put into a marble coffin, and cast into the Nile: the same thing is said in the Talmud f1942, from whence the story seems to be taken, and where the coffin is said to be a molten one, either of iron or brass; which might arise, as Bishop Patrick observes, from a mistake of the place where such bodies were laid; which were let down into deep wells or vaults, and put into a cave at the bottom of those wells, some of which were not far from the river Nile; and such places have been searched for mummies in late times, where they have been found, and the coffins and clothes sound and incorrupt. And so some of the Jewish writers say f1943 he was buried on the banks of the river Sihor, that is, the Nile; but others f1944 say he was buried in the sepulchre of the kings, which is much more likely. FOOTNOTES ft1 -- Leviath. par. 3. c. 33. ft2 -- Introduct. ad Libr. Bib. V. T. c. 4. sect. 2. ft3 -- Annal. Vet. Test. p. 17. ft4 -- <Arabic> “altus fuit, eminuit”, Golius, col. 1219. ft5 -- <Arabic> “quicquid humile, inferum et depressum” ib. col. 70. Hottinger. Smegma Orient. c. 5. p. 70. & Thesaur. Philolog. l. 1. c. 2. p. 234. ft6 -- Sepher Shorash. rad. ta. ft7 -- Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 30. p. 275, 276. ft8 -- Ut supra. (Sepher Shorash.) rad. arb ft9 -- hla “coluit, unde” hwla “numen colendum”, Schultens in Job. i. 1. Golius, col. 144. Hottinger. Smegma, p. 120. ft10 -- See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 33. ft11 -- So Vatablus. ft12 -- Targum Jon. & Jerus. in <010324>Genesis 3:24. T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 54. 1. & Nedarim, fol. 39. 2. ft13 -- “Quem dixere chaos, rudis indigestaque moles”, Ovid Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 1. ft14 -- htoi men protista caov etc. Hesiodi Theogonia. ft15 -- Orphei Argonautica, ver. 12. ft16 -- Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 1. p. 5. ft17 -- Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 7. ft18 -- Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 2. c. 10. p. 33. ft19 -- Laert. in Vita Thaletis, p. 18. Cicero do Natura Deorum, l. 1. ft20 -- Strabo. Geograph. l. 15. p. 491. ft21 -- Metaphysic. l. 1. c. 3. ft22 -- Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 3. and fol. 128. 3. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 2. 4. and 6. 3. Vajikra Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 156. 4. Baal Hatturim in loc. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 113. 2. ft23 -- tpjrm “incubabat”, Junius, Tremellius, Pi…
This public page shows a contextual excerpt from the locally available source text.
How to use this source
This excerpt is attributed to its named commentary. It is included as a historical study resource and should be evaluated in light of Scripture and other relevant evidence.
