1 Then Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;
3 forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, 'I am about to die: in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.' Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father; then I will return."
6 And Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear."
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household; only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; it was a very great company.
10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians." Therefore, the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.
Whenever the Divine Mind withdraws, no matter in what state of consciousness it has been functioning, there is a great shock to the soul, and all the forces of the natural man are filled with grief and consternation. "And he made a mourning for his father seven days." The imagination (Joseph), favorite faculty (son) of the enlightened intellect (Jacob), mourned greatly, not fully understanding that the withdrawal of the Divine Mind eventually would culminate in good.
The name Atad means "bramble," "thorn-bush," "a thorn." It was on the threshing floor of Atad that Joseph and his brethren mourned seven days for their father, Jacob. A threshing floor may be thought of as a place of judgment or separation, of letting go of that which is no longer needful to be expressed in consciousness. Atad represents the belief that vexations, trials, and sorrows are real. It is this unredeemed thought or belief in man that causes him to experience deep grief and tribulation at giving up his personal hold on old ideas and objects which are due to be released from his mind and affairs. This unredeemed belief is concerned with, and dwells on, the trial side of the process rather than on the blessing side of it.
The Canaanites symbolize the semi-spiritual in man. They changed the name (or character) of Atad. Abel-mizraim ("mourning of Egypt or Egyptians," "mourning or meadow of distress") represents the feeling of sorrow and loss in the materialistic man that often accompanies the letting go of some good idea in consciousness after it has finished its work. Man's tendency is to cling to the old ideas that have been helpful to him. But when their work is done in the individual for the time being, these old ideas, no matter how well they have served, must be released from consciousness so that other and higher ideas may take their place. This is a process of judgment, a sifting of ideas and thoughts, a letting go of the chaff and a laying hold of the wheat (on the threshing floor).
The Jordan represents a stream of thought: good, bad, and indifferent, flowing through the subconscious.
12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them;
13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a burying place.
Machpelah refers to the subconscious.
Ephron the Hittite symbolizes a phase of thought that is quick to change its thinking base. The word Hittite denotes thoughts belonging to the carnal consciousness of man.
Mamre suggests Strength and Vigor. It also represents the Seat of the Conscious Mind.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
The imagination returning to the physical consciousness (Egypt) again takes up the work of redeeming it.
15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him."
16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died,
17 'Say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 His brothers also came and fell down before him, and said, "Behold, we are your servants."
19 But Joseph said to them, "Fear not, for am I in the place of Gods?
20 As for you, you meant evil against me; but Gods meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he reassured them and comforted them.
The confession of the brothers of Joseph to their crime against him and his loving forgiveness both point to the spiritual uplift that has taken place in soul evolution.
22 So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees.
Joseph also died in Egypt but not until he had lived among the children of Ephraim unto "the third generation." This means that the Joseph qualities of mind are developing a deeper understanding of spiritual things. Machir, the name of a son of Manasseh (Understanding), means "acquired," "purchased." The children of Machir that were "born upon Joseph's knees" represent the balance and poise that must actively exist in us if we are abidingly to possess true understanding. The Joseph characteristics gradually become a part of the whole embodied consciousness.
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die; but Gods will visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
25 Then Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, "Gods will visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."
26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
The insistence by all these patriarchs that their bones be taken to Canaan for burial is emblematic of the truth that the substance of them and what they represent is to be restored to its source, Spirit. Although Joseph died and was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt, his bones were finally brought to Canaan, as stated in the last chapter of the Book of Joshua.
Here, Joseph’s being buried in Egypt symbolizes the imagination allowing the vital forces free expression in the body.