“¹¹And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.”

– Genesis 50:11 (NKJV)

“And when the inhabitants of the land (those who have grown accustomed to, even taking for granted, living in the blessing of God in the land He had promised to their forefathers, stand amazed at the magnanimity and graciousness of their God – the length, breadth, height and width of the Love – in bringing this historically pagan gentile nation unto salvation; for despite Israel being yet a young nation, even really only formally established in these moments [rendering this great gentile salvation, already in its first round of sanctification, a seasonal anomaly whispering of The New Covenant, but ultimately an exception to the rule], they must have grown accustomed to the idea that The Promises of God, the sign of the covenant, is exclusive and set apart unto them; the temptation then to mock and scoff must surely have narrowly coincided with the awe-inspired marvelling that we read of here), the Canaanites, (effectively the precursing identification of The Nation of True Israel: The Nation of The Promised Land) saw (such an overt display of grief being hard to miss) the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of ○ the Egyptians.” (Most probably not having a full revelation of the salvatory processes at work here, can you imagine how amazed the Canaanites must have been at beholding this great foreign nation [currently the very epicentre of economic strength and hub of provision to the nations who seemingly do not need God, little knowing that it is because of God and the son Joseph that He has sent that they have thus prospered] mourning the death of one of their own as kinsmen and brothers, grieving the loss of their Patriarch as if he were also theirs; which of course to those Egyptians who have truly been transferred into The Kingdom of God [Col 1:13-14], he genuinely is.) Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim * (how truly grand that humble marveling won out over mocking and scoffing and a honorary title for this glorious event was awarded the territory in which it took place for posterity’s sake, even to this very day, in accordance with the Good, Acceptable and Perfect Will of God Who ordained it), which is beyond the Jordan (in The Promised Land, a harbinger of the “every tribe and tongue” that will fill it In Christ at the fulfilling of the age 😊).”

* Literally “Mourning of Egypt”

○ We recognise here also a double play on the word “of” alluding to the theme explored in verse 10 – namely the lamentation “of” those Egyptians who will fall away, as seen also in the Luke 19:41-42 narrative where it pertains to Jerusalem, and not simply “of  the Egyptians” in the traditional sense in that said mourning emanates from them.