And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
The time drew nigh ... One only of his dying arrangements is recorded; but that one reveals his whole character. It was the disposal of his remains, which were to be carried to Canaan, not from a mere romantic attachment to his native soil, nor, like his modern descendants, from a superstitious feeling for the soil of the Holy Land, but from faith in the promises. His address to Joseph - "If now I have found grace in thy sight,"
i.e., as the vizier of Egypt-his exacting a solemn oath that his wishes would be fulfilled, and the special form of that oath (see the note at Genesis 24:2), all pointed significantly to the promise, and showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy its blessings (cf. Numbers 10:29).
Verse 31. Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. Oriental beds have neither posts nor canopy, being simply mats spread on the floor, or divans raised a little from it. The meaning is, that having probably been sitting upon it, he turned himself, and bowed in the attitude of devotional reverence, with his face toward the place where his head was usually laid. [According to the present Masoretic points, hamiTaah (H4296) signifies the bed (Genesis 48:2; Genesis 49:33). But the text of the Septuagint translators seems to have read hamaTeeh (H4294), the staff.] Since it is not said that at this time Jacob was sick, the latter interpretation may be the true one; and the apostle (Hebrews 11:21) quotes it, because the Greek version was then in common use. But perhaps it may be conjoined with the other, as we may suppose the patriarch sitting on his bed and leaning on his favourite staff. The faith of the patriarch was a mental exercise, in no way affected by the outward posture.