Genesis 47:29

JACOB'S RECOMMENDATION WITH RESPECT TO HIS BURIAL. — Jacob, when he dies, says to his son Joseph: If I have found grace in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and you will show me mercy and truth . Jacob obliges his son with the same oath with which Abraham had required his servant (Gen. 24:29). Abraham ordered him from where he would look for a wife for his son and Jacob indicating to him where to bury his body. In these two circumstances there are at the same time named two things which deserve special attention and interest, in whatever place of Scripture they are found; sometimes they are called mercy and justice, sometimes mercy and truth, for in one text it is said: “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth (Ps. 25:10).” In short, these two things so recommended should be highly appreciated. The servant of Abraham had said, "If you act with my lord mercy and justice (Gen. 24:29)." Jacob says to his son, "You will show me mercy and truth." If we measure with human parameters what is meant by such an important man, so solicitous a recommendation that his body not be buried in Egypt, but in the land of Canaan, with his parents, seems strange and almost absurd, and does not agree with excellence so great of a prophetic mind. But if in all these things are sought the mysteries that enclose, who discovers them will obtain the joy of a greater admiration. There is no doubt that in the law the bodies of the dead signify sins, because men, after touching them or after any contact with them, were obliged to purify themselves as if it were an impurity (Cf. Num. 19:11-13). Hence this sentence is derived: “Who purifies himself from contact with a dead man and touches him again, what good is his purification? So it is he who fasts for his sins and again goes and does the same (Sir. 34:25-26).” Therefore, the burial of the dead means the remission of sins, according to what is said in that passage: "Blessed are those whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered (Ps. 32:1)." Where, then, were the corpses of the patriarchs to be buried, which meant these things, but in that land where he was crucified for whose blood the forgiveness of sins took place? He whose blood has redeemed us from sin? For the death of the Patriarchs was the figure of sins of men. From the place where the Lord was crucified, to the one bearing the name of…

Many mean-spirited people, when we exhort them not to be overly concerned about burial or to give highest priority to having the remains of the dead brought back from foreign parts to their native land, quote this story to us, claiming that the patriarch also gave attention to it. First of all, however, as I said before, it must be remembered that the same set of values is not to be looked for at that time as it is with people of today. Second, the good man wanted this done not without reason but to let his descendants have a glimpse of the real prospect of returning themselves some day to the Promised Land.… I mean, for proof that future events become visible to the eyes of faith, listen to Jacob already calling death sleeping; he said, remember, "I want to sleep with my forebears," Hence Paul also said, "By faith these people passed on without having received what was promised but having seen it from afar and greeted it." How? By the eyes of faith. So let no one think Jacob's instruction came from meanness of spirit. It was due to the times and the vision of the return that would be theirs. Acquit the good man of any blame.I mean, today when there has been a deepening of our values in the wake of Christ's coming, it would be proper for someone to be blamed for worrying about things such as burial. Let him not think it a misfortune for someone to end his days in a foreign land or to pass from this life in solitude. After all, it is not such a person who deserves to be thought unfortunate, but the one who dies in sin, even if he dies in bed, at home, in the bosom of his family.… For proof that nothing of the kind causes any harm to the virtuous person, learn that good people generally—I mean the prophets and the apostles—with few exceptions were buried we know not where. Some, you see, were beheaded; others were stoned and so departed this life; others suffered countless punishments of different kinds for the sake of religion, while all were martyrs for Christ. No one would dare say about such people that their death was without honor; instead, it would be in keeping with those words of sacred Scripture, "Honorable in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones." Just as it called the death of holy people honorable, so listen also to Scripture calling the death of sinners wretched: "The death of sinners is wretched." … So even if one ends one's life…