“^5’My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ “

 ⁶And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

– Genesis 50:5-6 (NKJV)

” ‘My father made me swear (Joseph opens with the solemnity and gravity of the request), saying (i.e. herewith follows his exact words, verbatim, in the pattern seen in John 12:49 – “for I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak”), “Behold, I am (as a matter of sure revelation) dying; (again the solemnity and gravity of the request is solidified as the hearer comes to recognise that this is in fact a deathbed exhortation) in my grave (i.e. it has been appointed and ordained beforehand as my very own at such a time as this & in such a place as that; there can be no other) which I dug for myself (prepared in obedience to The Most High God, by the sweat of my own brow, a labour of Love for posterity’s sake and the Glory of The Kingdom, as the outworking of God’s Perfect Purposes come to pass) in the land of Canaan (the harbinger and type of The Eternal Promised Land; once again a sign for generations to come), there you shall (it will come to pass as a prophetic certainty, and yet, the humility and God-fearing wisdom in which Joseph’s request is brought cannot be sidestepped, for through it he brings Glory to The Name in his Christlikeness) bury me.” Now therefore (in light of the gravity of all the above), please (humble, without presumption, Gentle) let me go up (to The Place that is higher than this place of exile, to the prototype of the elevated Celestial City) and bury my father (i.e. my flesh and my blood, whom I Love deeply and dearly who gave me life and wrought me into this world – Israel The Father of Nations, The Abba-Father-type [Gal 4:6] that renders me the Beloved-Son-type [Matt 3:17; Gal 3:26]), and I will come back (again humbly reiterating his loyal service & commitment to govern & steward and assume responsibility in all things for the land given unto him by The Most High God, but by the direct authority of one also become His servant in the earth, namely Pharoah, to whom Joseph even here so humbly submits).’ “And Pharaoh said (it is interesting to note here that despite earlier intimations that Joseph humbly comes before Pharoah in a manner twice removed – as evidenced in the phrase “Joseph spoke to the household of  Pharaoh, saying, “if now I have found favour in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of  Pharaoh, saying,” [verse 4] – it now appears that he has gained a personal audience with his Pharoah [and friend! ☺️] and is addressing him face to face as is most proper, fitting and right at such a time as this), “Go up (Pharoah acknowledges and affirms the exalted nature of This Place above his own; consequently also acknowledging it as the harbinger of his own eternal home far above this temporary dwelling he currently rules over) and bury your father (reiterating, affirming and acknowledging all extrapolated upon in the previous verse and in a peculiar sense also thus now saying “Our Father . . . [Matt 6:9]), as he made you swear (i.e. Pharoah reveals his own God-fearing transformed nature [Ezek 36:26] as he acknowledges the weightiness and solemnity of the oath, even just the gravity of the fact that an oath has indeed been made [James 5:12]).” *

* Be encouraged Dear Friend that despite the intricacies revealed in the above, the most foundational truth we are to glean from this most fulfilling passage is that The Sovereign Will of God WILL come to pass, however lengthy, tedious and at times uncertain the process unto its fulfilment might appear, as seen for example in the palpable fear and trembling with which Joseph makes his request as well as Jacob’s anxiety that his request is not heard: repeating it even more than once, first to his most beloved son Joseph and then again in the assembly of all of his sons collectively.