Jacob’s Death and Funeral: This report offers the assurance that Jacob was truly buried in the Cave of Machpelah. More importantly, this recounting of Jacob’s death looks ahead to his children’s going out of Egypt to return to the land of promise. This unit has three sections: Jacob’s death (49:29–33), the mourning for Jacob in Egypt (50:1–3), and Jacob’s burial in the Cave of Machpelah (50:4–14).

49:29–33 Jacob instructed all of his sons, presumably assembled for his last blessing, to bury him in the cave of Machpelah (47:27–31; 48:21–22), identified by its purchase from Ephron the Hittite and by its occupants, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. At the end of Genesis this registry functions as a review of the main characters. Jacob breathed his last and was gathered to his people (2…