What Does Genesis 50:13 Mean?

For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. The burial is executed with the same legal precision that Jacob used in commanding it. The description of the burial location mirrors Genesis 49:30 almost word for word: cave of the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite. The narrative's repetition of the legal chain of title in the burial account confirms that the sons obeyed completely: they buried him at the exact location, with the exact legal standing, that Jacob specified.

"His sons carried him": the sons of Jacob, not the Egyptian escorts, carry the patriarch's body for the burial. The final act of the burial is performed by family: the sons who are the bearers of the covenant and the progenitors of the twelve tribes carry the patriarch's physical remains to the place where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are already buried. The family acts with the body; the Egyptian state witnessed and mourned; but the burial itself belongs to the sons.

The burial at Machpelah completes the geographical arc of the patriarchal narratives: Abraham came to Canaan from Ur; Abraham was buried at Machpelah (Genesis 25:9 to 10); Isaac was born and died in Canaan and buried at Machpelah (Genesis 35:28 to 29); Jacob migrated to Egypt and is now brought back to Machpelah. Machpelah is the geographical anchor of the covenant family in the land of promise: the one piece of Canaan that Abraham purchased outright, where three patriarchs and three matriarchs are now gathered. The covenant family in Egypt keeps its dead in Canaan.