Our Mummified Patriarchs: Jacob and Joseph

The end of Genesis tells the story of Jacob’s death and burial. As Jacob dies in Egypt, but wishes to be buried in Canaan, in the cave where his ancestors (and wife) had been buried, Jacob’s son Joseph, an Egyptian official at the time of Jacob’s death, has his servants embalm his father’s body. This would have kept it from decaying during the long journey, probably using an Egyptian practice we call mummification. Though the preservation of the body through the elimination of fluids after death is not exclusive to ancient Egypt, the word “mummy” or the image of a wrapped body, often with its arms crossed over the chest, invariably calls Egypt to mind.