Page 105 - Bible History

b di and buried in Chanaan
78 THE NATION FROM WHICH THE REDEEMER CAME
Concerning Joseph, he prophesied, ''Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and beautiful to behold. The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of Heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth be­ neath. The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers until the Desire of the Everlasting Hills should come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.''
These beautiful words the Church uses in the Mass of the Feast of St. Joseph, the foster father of our blessed Savior.
When he had nished speaking to his sons, Jacob lay back upon the pillow and died. Joseph ordered his body to be embalmed in the manner of the Egyptians, and then asked Pharao's permission to take the body back to Chanaan for burial. He said, ''My father made me swear to him before he died that I would bury him in the burying place of his ancestors in the Land of Chanaan.''
Pharao said to him, "Go and bury thy father accord ing as he made thee swear."
So the body of Jacob was carried in a great proces­ sion to the Land of Chanaan. All the princes of Pharao's court and the leading men of the land of Egypt went with them. They buried him in the double cave with Abraham and Sara, and Isaac and Rebecca. Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was buried at Bethlehem.