There’s something deeply human about wanting to know where we will be laid to rest. Personally, I don’t really care what you do with my body after I am gone. If God can resurrect people from the dead, he can surely gather my ashes from wherever they have been scattered… But many people do care about what happens to their bodies. In Jacob, we see someone who wants even his death to be tied to God’s promises to him. His request about his last resting place shows the extent of his faith. He wanted his bones to rest in God’s promises. He didn’t care about the riches of Egypt’s wealth. He knew that he was just a traveler in this world, and that his true resting place was in God’s promises. There is something beautiful about that.

Genesis 49:29–33 (ESV)

Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”

Jacob is clear: “Don’t bury me here in Egypt. Take me home.” That burial cave at Machpelah was the first piece of the promised land Abraham ever owned. Yes, it is just a field and just a cave. But it is also a kind of deposit or down payment of the full promised land God promised in the Covenant. When Jacob asks to be buried there, he is clinging to and laying claim to those promises. His hope is not in Egypt, but in the God who promised Canaan. Just like he remembers that Abraham and Sarah were buried there, just like his father Isaac was buried there, he too wants to be buried there. He wants to rest in the land of promise.

When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

One sentence later, and he dies. He dies quite unlike he lived. This was Jacob, Israel, the wrestler. But now he is given a simple quiet ending. He drew up his feet and breathed his last. How much our lives can change us! God has been patiently changing and shaping Jacob, redeeming him from the deceitful fighter, to one who ends his life clinging to the covenant promise. It is almost poetic.

We also need to pay attention to that phrase “was gathered to his people”. He didn’t just die. He wasn’t lost. He didn’t vanish. No, he was gathered. You can picture God’s large arm sweeping him up into the family.

This is the same hope and comfort every believer has. Our death is not our end. Our bodies are not destroyed. Sure we may be buried and eaten by worms, or we might be cremated and turned to dust. But we are gathered by God into his arms. And one day when Jesus comes back, even our dead bodies will be raised back to life. Jacob wanted to be buried in his Covenant home in Canaan. But we will be raised into our true eternal Covenant home. A new heaven and a new earth. That is something to look forward to!

Prayer

Father, thank You for the faith You gave Jacob, that even at the end of his life he trusted Your promises. Help us to live and die with the same hope. Remind us that our true home is not here but with You. Fix our eyes on Jesus, who has conquered death and secured our resurrection. Gather us with Your people at the last day, and keep us until then. In Jesus’ name, Amen.