I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up [again]: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
Ver. 4. I will go down with thee.] That was as good security as could be. For if Caesar could say to the fearful ferryman, in a terrible storm, Be of good cheer, thou carriest Caesar, and therefore canst not miscarry; a how much more may he presume to be safe that hath God in his company! A child in the dark fears nothing while he hath his father by the hand.
And I will also surely bring thee up again.] So saith God to his dying people when they are to enter into the grave. He will surely bring them back from the jaws of death to the joys of eternal life. Yea, by rotting, he will refine their frail bodies; as the goldsmith melts a picture of gold, or bruised piece of plate that is out of fashion, to make it up better.
And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.] An ancient and an honourable custom, in use among the Romans also, as Pliny tells us. The eyes are commonly open, lift up to heaven, when men are dying; unless they be such as that pope was, who, breathing out his last, said, Now I shall know whether the soul be immortal, or not. b Or that desperate advocate in the court of Rome, mentioned by Bellarmine, who, dying, used these words, Ego propero ad inferos, neque est, ut aliquid pro me agat Deus. But Jacob had hope in his death; and Joseph had the honour of closing up those eyes, that shall shortly "see God" again "in the flesh." Job 19:26
a Perge contra tempestatem forti animo: Caesarem fers, et fortunam Caesaris.
b Sic Benedic. IX, Alexander VI, and Leo X. - Bell., De Arte Moriendi, lib. ii. cap. 10.