And forty days were fulfilled for him— The reader will find, in the first volume of Univ. Hist. 8vo. p. 489, a minute account of the manner of embalming, which was done without disfiguring the body; so that the very hairs remained on the brows and eyelids, and the resemblance of the countenance was preserved. At the expiration of the days allowed for embalming, they washed the whole body, and bound fillets of fine linen round every part, covering it with gum, which the AEgyptians used instead of glue. The embalmers having performed their parts, the relations received the corpse, and put it into a wooden coffin, shaped like a man, which they set upright against the wall of the edifice designed for that purpose; for several of the AEgyptians kept their dead at home with them above ground in magnificent apartments, having, by this method, the pleasure of seeing the lineaments of their ancestors; and often they brought the dried corpse of a friend as a guest to their feasts. We must not hastily condemn Joseph for following the custom of the AEgyptians in this instance, by embalming his father; for nothing less would have appeared decent in the eyes of the AEgyptians, towards the memory of his deceased parent.
The AEgyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days— In forty days the embalming was finished: the body continued thirty days more in the pickle, till it was thoroughly seasoned; and these were the set days for mourning. During this time, as Diodorus informs us, it was the custom to daub the heart with mud, as the Jews sprinkled ashes on their heads, and to go about lamenting till the corpse was buried, or otherwise properly disposed of; abstaining from bathing, from wine, from all delicate food, and fine clothes. The female relations particularly went about making great lamentations, and beating themselves.