John Gill Commentary Genesis 46:4

"I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." — Genesis 46:4 (ASV)

I will go down with you into Egypt
Which was enough to silence all his fears; for if the presence of God went with him to protect and defend hide, to bless and prosper him, and to direct, support, and comfort, he had nothing to fear from any quarter:

and I will also surely bring you up [again] :
Jarchi takes this to be a promise that he should be buried in the land of Canaan, which has its fulfilment, when his corpse was carried out of Egypt to Machpelah, and there interred; but rather this refers to the bringing up of his posterity from thence in due time, for which Jacob might be most solicitous, and so the Targum of Jonathan, ``and I will bring up your children from thence:''

and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes :
and so close them when he was dead; this, as Aben Ezra says, was a custom of the living to the dead, and it used to be done by the nearest relations and friends, though now commonly by strangers or those not related to us: this was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, as appears from Homer, Virgil ^F16 , Ovid ^F17 , and other writers ^F18 ; and so, among the Jews, Tobias is said to shut the eyes of his wife's father and mother, and to bury them honourably. The Vulgate Latin version of Tobit 14:13 states: ``Where he became old with honour, and he buried his father and mother in law honourably, and he inherited their substance, and his father Tobit's.'' Maimonides ^F19 reckons this closing of the eyes of the dead among the rites used towards them, as does the Talmud ^F20 : By this expression, Jacob was assured that Joseph was alive, that he should live to see him, and that Joseph would outlive him and do this last office for him. As Ben Melech observes, by this he had the good news that Joseph would remain behind him to sustain and support his sons and his sons' sons all the years that he should live after him.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Aeneid. l. 9.
• F17: Trist. l. 1. Eleg. 2.
• F18: Vid. Kirchman, de Funer. Rom. l. 1. c. 6. & Kipping. Rom. Antiqu. l. 4. c. 6.
• F19: Hilchot Ebel, l. 4. sect. 1.
• F20: T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 151. 2.