SEV Biblia, Chapter 50:10
Y llegaron hasta la era de Atad, que está al otro lado del Jordán, y endecharon allí con grande y muy grave lamentación; y José hizo a su padre duelo por siete días.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 50:10
Verse 10. The threshing-floor of Atad] As dfa atad signifies a bramble or thorn, it has been understood by the Arabic, not as a man's name, but as the name of a place; but all the other versions and the Targums consider it as the name of a man. Threshing-floors were always in a field, in the open air; and Atad was probably what we would call a great farmer or chief of some clan or tribe in that place. Jerome supposed the place to have been about two leagues from Jericho; but we have no certain information on this point. The funeral procession stopped here, probably as affording pasturage to their cattle while they observed the seven days' mourning which terminated the funeral solemnities, after which nothing remained but the interment of the corpse. The mourning of the ancient Hebrews was usually of seven days' continuance, Num. xix. 19; 1 Sam. xxxi. 13; though on certain occasions it was extended to thirty days, Numbers xx. 29; Deut. xxi. 13; xxxiv. 8, but never longer. The seventy days' mourning mentioned above was that of the Egyptians, and was rendered necessary by the long process of embalming, which obliged them to keep the body out of the grave for seventy days, as we learn both from Herodotus and Diodourus. Seven days by the order of God a man was to mourn for his dead, because during that time he was considered as unclean; but when those were finished he was to purify himself, and consider the mourning as ended; Num. xix. 11, 19. Thus God gave seven days, in some cases thirty, to mourn in: man, ever in his own estimation wiser than the word of God, has added eleven whole months to the term, which nature itself pronounces to be absurd, because it is incapable of supporting grief for such a time; and thus mourning is now, except in the first seven or thirty days, a mere solemn ill-conducted FARCE, a grave mimicry, a vain show, that convicts itself of its own hypocrisy. Who will rise up on the side of God and common sense, and restore becoming sorrow on the death of a relative to decency of garb and moderation in its continuance? Suppose the near relatives of the deceased were to be allowed seven days of seclusion from society, for the purpose of meditating on death and eternity, and after this to appear in a mourning habit for thirty days; every important end would be accomplished, and hypocrisy, the too common attendant of man, be banished, especially from that part of his life in which deep sincerity is not less becoming than in the most solemn act of his religious intercourse with God. In a kind of politico-religious institution formed by his late majesty Ferdinand IV., king of Naples and the Sicilies, I find the following rational institute relative to this point: ""There shall be no mourning among you but only on the death of a father, mother, husband, or wife. To render to these the last duties of affection, children, wives, and husbands only shall be permitted to wear a sign or emblem of grief: a man may wear a crape tied round his right arm; a woman, a black handkerchief around her neck; and this in both cases for only two months at the most."" Is there a purpose which religion, reason, or decency can demand that would not be answered by such external mourning as this? Only such relatives as the above, brothers and sisters being included, can mourn; all others make only a part of the dumb hypocritical show.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-14 - Jacob's body was attended, not only by his own family, but by the grea men of Egypt. Now that they were better acquainted with the Hebrews they began to respect them. Professors of religion should endeavour by wisdom and love to remove the prejudices many have against them Standers-by took notice of it as a grievous mourning. The death of goo men is a loss to any place, and ought to be greatly lamented.
Original Hebrew
ויבאו 935 עד 5704 גרן 1637 האטד 329 אשׁר 834 בעבר 5676 הירדן 3383 ויספדו 5594 שׁם 8033 מספד 4553 גדול 1419 וכבד 3515 מאד 3966 ויעשׂ 6213 לאביו 1 אבל 60 שׁבעת 7651 ימים׃ 3117
