Genesis 50: Wrapping Up

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Nov 6, 2025 · 3m

“Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. It required forty days, for such is the full period of embalming. The Egyptians bewailed him seventy days”

Hebrew: וַיְצַו יוֹסֵף אֶת־עֲבָדָיו אֶת־הָרֹפְאִים לַחֲנֹט אֶת־אָבִיו וַיַּחַנְטוּ הָרֹפְאִים אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ וַיִּמְלְאוּ־לוֹ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם כִּי־כֵן יִמְלְאוּ יְמֵי הַחֲנֻטִים וַיִּבְכּוּ אֹתוֹ מִצְרַיִם שִׁבְעִים יוֹם׃

(Genesis 50:2–3).

Why did the Egyptians mourn Yaacov for seventy days while the mummification process only took forty? The commentators explain that seventy is…