“¹Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him, and kissed him. ²And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.”

– Genesis 50:1-2 (NKJV)

“Then Joseph fell on * his father’s face (the seat of his being, where emotional expression, countenance and the windows to the soul lay), and wept over * him, and kissed * (let us take a moment to ponder reverentially the significance and weightiness of the holy kiss, as God intended it, apart from its worldly associations, as also seen in 1 Sam 20:41; 2 Cor 13:12; Rom 16:16 et al.) him. (* Another precious revelation into what precisely deep and profound Love looks like in all its forms of manifest human expression; the very fervent and deep Love we are called to enjoy with Our God: “as the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” – John 15:9) And Joseph commanded his servants (what a joy and a privilege to enjoy the liberties afforded A Child of God in a position of earthly authority and dominion, to command such things as are worthy, fitting and honouring of Our God at the right time; how perfectly Our God establishes all beforehand for the working out of His Divine Purposes) the physicians (the top medici of the time, peculiarly reminding us also of the close proximity of the physician Luke to Our Lord, as these physicians are to Our Joseph) to embalm his father (what an added joy that The Father of The Tribes of Israel – also to be heeded as such namely: ‘Israel’ and not merely ‘Jacob’ in the concluding, affirming phrase to follow – should be embalmed in a place and at a time when this otherwise often perfunctory rite was practiced with especial knowledgeability and care, therein shrouding even his earthly remains in a particular honour geared towards longevity, which in turn serves to prophetically announce, in a very real, practical & manifest sense, the implications of posterity inherent in the man ‘Israel’). So the physicians embalmed Israel (“let it be as you have said”).”