## Chizkuni, Genesis

###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:2:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:2:1)

**לחנט את אביו** י״‎מ אותו שמן נעשה מדבר שלא הביא שליש. והוא לשון התאנה חנטה פגיה. וכן שנו רבותינו אנפקינון שמן זית שלא הביא שליש.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
...לחנוט את אביו, “in order to embalm his father.“ According to a commentary quoted by Rash’bam, some commentators understand the word לחנוט as derived from חנטה, blossoming, i.e. the oil for this embalming would have been taken from the plant when it had grown only one third to its ultimate height. The expression is familiar from Song of Songs 2,13, התאנה חנטה פגיה, “the fig tree has formed its small figs.” Accordingly, embalming (olive) oil is derived from as yet unripe olives. Compare also the Talmud in Megillah 13 on this subject.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:3:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:3:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:3:1)

**ויבכו אתו מצרים** כמה תיבות חסירות בי״‎ת אף זו חסירה והוא כאלו כתוב ויבכו אותו במצרים.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויבכו אותו מצרים, We find numerous words in the Torah where the prefix ב is missing. This is one of these words, and the phrase means: “Yaakov’s death was mourned with weeping in Egypt.”


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:3:2
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:3:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:3:2)

**שבעים יום** ארבעים יום של חניטה ושלשים של אבילות כמו שמצינו במשה ואהרן שבכו אותם שלשים יום. ד״‎א שבעים יוצאי ירכו יורדי מצרים בכוהו איש יומו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
שבעים יום “for seventy days.” 40 of these days were spent embalming him, and the remaining thirty were official mourning. We also find that both Moses and Aaron were mourned for thirty days. Compare Numbers 20,20 and Deuteronomy, 34,8. A different interpretation of the “seventy days;” each of the direct descendants of Yaakov who had come to Egypt with him mourned him for one day each.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:4:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:4:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:4:1)

**דברו נא באזני פרעה** בשביל שהוא היה המביא והמוציא כדכתיב בלעדיך לא ירים איש את ידו וגו', חשב שיקשה בעיני פרעה איך יעזוב הוא את הארץ. גם פרעה היה ירא שמא ישאר יוסף בארץ כנען ובידו כל תוקף ולב עם ארץ מצרים.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
דברו נא באזני פרעה, “please intercede on my behalf with Pharaoh;” seeing that some nineteen years earlier Pharaoh had decreed that no one in Egypt could undertake anything new until it had been approved by Joseph, Pharaoh would not look kindly at the prolonged absence from Egypt of his general manager on whom he depended so much. (Compare Genesis 41,44). Moreover, Pharaoh might be afraid that Joseph would not even return to Egypt at all. Seeing that he was familiar with all the military and political secrets of Egypt, he would be a potentially dangerous adversary.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:9:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:9:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:9:1)

**ויעל עמו** העלה עמו לשון מפעיל כמו ויעל עולות.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויעל עמו, “and there he took up with him (To Canaan) with him, etc;” The word ויעל in this verse may be understood just as the same word in ויעל עולות, in Genesis8,20, i.e. as a transitive form of the verb, “he caused the sacrifices to ascend.” (Rash’bam)


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:10:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:10:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:10:1)

**ויעש לאביו אבל שבעת ימים** י״‎מ ששם באו לכבדו אלופי עשו ונשיאי ישמעאל ובני קטורה ושם עשו אבל חדש כי כן דרך כשבא אחר מקרובי המת הם בוכים כבתחלה.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויעש לאביו אבל שבעת ימים, “he observed a seven day mourning period for his father.” Some commentators claim that the chieftains of Esau as well as the prince of the Yishmaelites and the sons or grandsons of Keturah assembled at that location to honour the memory of Yaakov. This was a new mourning. It was the custom that when a relative of the deceased arrived from afar to participate in the funeral, a new additional rite of mourning is observed and they weep anew over their loss.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:11:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:11:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:11:1)

**וירא יושב הארץ הכנעני** הוא סיחון ועוג שגם הם כנענים נקראו כמו שפרש״‎י בפ׳‎ שלח ושופטים ובכמה מקומות.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וירא יושב הארץ הכנעני, “the inhabitants of the land of the Canaanite tribes “saw;” the reference is to the Emorites under Sichon and to the ones under Og. They also called themselves “Canaanites.” Rashi explains thus in the Book of Numbers and in the Book of Judges and on several occasions.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:11:2
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:11:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:11:2)

**אשר בעבר הירדן** היא ארץ כנען כלומר יושבי ארץ סיחון ועוג ראו את האבל בגורן האטד בארץ כנען שהיו קורין לו **בעבר הירדן** שכשם שאותם היושבים בארץ כנען שהוריש יהושע קורין לעבר סיחון ועוג עבר הירדן כך אותם היושבים בארץ סיחון ועוג קורין לארץ כנען עבר הירדן כדכתיב בפרשת מטות כי לא ננחל אותם מעבר לירדן והלאה כי באה נחלתנו אלינו מעבר הירדן מזרחה.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
אשר בעבר הירדן, “whose habitat is on the East Bank of the river Jordan.” These Kings had seen the mourning being observed at the threshing ground of Atad (verse 10) which was located on Canaanite land on the East Bank. Just as the inhabitants of the land of Canaan proper called that region “East Bank,” in the days of Joshua who settled the Israelites on the West Bank, so the people residing on the East Bank called the area across the Jordan “West Bank. We have proof of this in Numbers 32,19: כי לא ננחל אתם מעבר לירדן והלאה כי באה נחלתנו מעבר לירדן מזרחה, “for we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastwards.”


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:12:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:12:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:12:1)

**כאשר צום** לעסוק בקבורתו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
כאשר צום, “as he had commanded them;” to do during his funeral.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:13:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:13:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:13:1)

**וישאו אתו בניו** פרש״‎י ולא בני בניו מפני שהם מבנות כנען. חז״‎ק הא אמרינן בפסחים מה בת איש כנעני דגבי יהודה אילימא כנעני ממש אפשר בא אברהם והזהיר את אליעזר לא תקח אשה לבני מבנות הכנעני ובא יצחק והזהיר את יעקב ובא יהודה ולקח אלא מאי כנעני תגרא. וא״‎ת אליבא דמ״‎ד גבי ויקומו כל בניו וכל בנותיו לנחמו אחיות תאומות נולדו עם כל שבט ושבט ונשאום אמאי לא נשאוהו בני בניו, וי״‎ל התיומות מתו בלי בנים והשבטים נשאו להם כנעניות וילדו להם בנים. וא״‎ת אמאי לא נשאוהו בני שמעון שהרי מדינה קאתי כדכתיב יכין וצוחר ושאול בן הכנענית ואמרינן זו דינה שנבעלה לכנעני אלא י״‎ל שלא היה רוצה להטיל קנאה ביניהם שישאוהו בני שמעון ולא בני שאר השבטים. אבל מאפרים ומנשה שנשאוהו אין שם קנאה שהרי בני מלך היו ועוד סמכם להיותם שבטים. ועוד פרש״‎י לוי לא ישא וכו׳‎ ואין להקשות איך נשא משה ארונו של יוסף, שהרי הוא נשא את עצמו כדכתיב נוהג כצאן יוסף ולא שמשה נשאו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וישאו אותו בניו, “His sons carried him, etc;” only his sons, not any of his grandsons as they had Canaanite mothers. We have read in the Talmud tractate Pessachim folio 50, “are we to assume that Yehudah’s wife (Genesis 38,2) was really a Canaanite, in spite of the fact that Avraham had gone to great length to insure that Eliezer would not select a Canaanite wife for his son Yitzchok? (Genesis 24,3 Yitzchok) Yitzchok had similarly instructed his son Yaakov. The answer given by the Talmud is that the word Canaanite also means: “trader,” and that the Torah told us in Genesis 38,2 that Yehudah’s wife was the daughter of a well known trader, named Shua. If you were to counter how this can be squared with the opinion expressed on Genesis 37,35 where we read about Yaakov’s “sons and daughters all trying to comfort Yaakov over the disappearance and presumed death of Joseph,” that all of Yaakov’s sons had twin girls born with them, so why did Yehudah not marry one of them or a granddaughter of Yaakov? We must assume that all of these twin daughters died prematurely so that the sons of Yaakov had no other option but to marry Canaanite girls. To the additional question why they could not at least have married the children of Shimon of whom we know that he had a son by a Canaanite woman (Genesis 46,10)? B‘reshit Rabbah 80,10 suggests that Shaul borne to Shimon was actually a son of Sh’chem who had raped Dinah; one opinion offered is that Shimon buried that offspring in the land of Canaan before the brothers descended to Egypt and that this is why he is referred to as son of a Canaanite. Getting back to the question why the grandsons of Yaakov were not part of the pall bearers, of the grandfather; Joseph did not wish to do anything that could arouse jealousies among them, some being biologically qualified others not; seeing that no one would be jealous of Ephrayim and Menashe who were princes, he did not object to their being pall bearers. (They would also be founding fathers of tribes in the future) Moreover, Rashi says that Levi was not among the pall bearers, as he would be carrying the Holy Ark. More questions are raised as to how Moses could carry the coffin of Joseph at the Exodus, seeing that he too was a Levite. A suggestion is offered that Joseph’s coffin, similar to the Holy Ark, did not actually need pall bearers as it carried itself, similar to the Holy Ark which is described as carrying its bearers. (based on a verse in Psalms 80,2: כצאן יוסף יושב הכרובים, (Compare more about this in Moshav z’keynim)


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:15:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:15:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:15:1)

**ויאמרו לו ישטמנו יוסף** כששב מקבורת אביו עבר על בור שהשליכוהו אחיו וברך עליו שעשה לי נסים במקום הזה והם שמעו על כן יראו פן תתחדש עליו כל הרעה שעשו לו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויאמרו לו ישטמנו יוסף, they said: “perhaps Joseph will hate us.” When the brothers had returned from burying their father in Canaan, Joseph passed the pit into which the brothers had thrown him and recited the blessing: “the G-d Who has performed a miracle for me at this place.” When the brothers heard this they became afraid that old animosities might flare up again.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:16:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:16:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:16:1)

**ויצוו אל יוסף** תרגום ירושלמי ופקידו ית שבטיא דבני בלהה שפחה דרחל למימר אבוך פקוד דלא יתכניש למימר.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויצוו אל יוסף, according to the Jerusalem Targum they instructed the sons of Bilhah to tell Joseph in the name of their father that he had said before being gathered in to tell Joseph etc. etc,.”


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:17:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:17:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:17:1)

**ועתה שא נא** מדברי המגידים.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ועתה שא נא, “and now, etc;” from this word on, the sons of Bilhah added words of their own.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:18:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:18:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:18:1)

**וילכו גם אחיו** אחר שלוחיהם.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וילכו גם אחיו, Joseph’s brothers also followed themselves after having sent ahead the sons of Bilhah. (They did after they saw him weep).


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:23:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:23:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:23:1)

**גם בני מכיר בן מנשה. גם** לרבות על אפרים, כיצד יוסף לא ראה לאפרים רק בני בנים ולמנשה ראה הוא בנים לבני בניו שהרי מצינו בפרשת פנחס לאפרים בני בנים מנויין לבתי אבות ולמנשה בנים לבני בנים וקים לן כל המנויין בפ׳‎ פנחס לבתי אבות לאפרים ולמנשה נולדו בחיי יוסף.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
גם בני מכיר בן מנשה, “also the sons of Machir, a son of Menashe;” the word גם is meant to include Ephrayim and his children in what is described in this verse. How are we to understand this in practice? Joseph only saw Ephrayim’s grandchildren, whereas he did live to see Menashe’s great grandchildren. We know this from which of the descendants of Joseph are listed in the portion of Pinchas (Numbers 26,2937) there as founders of בתי אבות, clans, all of whom were born during Joseph’s life time. (Bamidbar Rabbah 14,7)


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:1
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:26:1)

**ויישם בארון** אבל לא נקבר שהרי עתידין היו להעלותו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויישם בארון, “he was placed in a coffin;” as opposed to being interred; the reason that he was not interred was so that his descendants when the time came could take his remains with them to the Holy Land as they had sworn to him that they or their children would do.


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:2
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:26:2)

**ויישם** כמו ויושם על משקל על בשר אדם לא יוסך.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
The construction of ויישם is similar in meaning to ויושם. We find a similar construction in Exodus 30,32: על בשר אדם לא ייסך, “it must not be rubbed on any person’s flesh (skin).”


###### Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:3
[Chizkuni, Genesis 50:26:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Genesis/r/50:26:3)

**בארון** הב׳‎ בקמץ ללמדך שבחייו בחרוהו לו והכינוהו. בכל שאר האבות לא נזכר הארון. שלימא סדרא דפרשת ויחי נשלם ספר בראשית בעזרת השם.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
The prefix letter ב in the word: בארון has the vowel kametz under it. This is meant to inform the reader that the coffin had already been prepared for Joseph during his lifetime, i.e. he was placed in the coffin with which he had been familiar. This is the only one of the patriarchs of which temporary burial in a casket has been reported, as the later generations, who had not even been alive when he died, would transport him from Egypt.