Respect (vv. 7-13). Except for the smallest children (v. 8), the whole family traveled from Egypt to Canaan to pay their last respects to the founder of the family. The trip was perhaps inconvenient for some and difficult for others, but it was the right thing to do. In our modern society, it’s becoming less and less popular for people to take time to express their sympathy or pay their respects when somebody they know dies. In fact, we now have “drive-through mortuaries” that make it convenient for people to view the body and sign the guestbook without having to leave their cars.

The period of mourning at Canaan made a great impression on the local residents. Joseph selected a threshing floor for the weeklong observance, because threshing floors were outside the city, elevated, and offered a large clear space for many people to gather at one time.

Verse 13 suggests that the whole company didn’t go into the land of Canaan to the cave of Machpelah, but that Jacob’s twelve sons served as pallbearers and carried his body to its final resting place. Since we’re all on the way to the grave together, death and sorrow ought to bring people together. Isaac and Ishmael were brought together when they buried Abraham (25:9), and so were Esau and Jacob when they buried Isaac (35:29).

This was Joseph’s first trip back to his homeland in thirty-nine years, and it’s too bad it had to be for his father’s burial. But he didn’t linger in Canaan, for God had given Joseph a job to do in Egypt, and that’s where he belonged with his family.