Able to Work Together

When conflicts are ignored in a family, the death of a parent often leads to worse problems, with the family fighting over funeral arrangements and who will get what.  When conflicts are resolved, the family can come together to find out what the parent wanted and to cooperate in doing what is needed.  Initially, Jacob told Joseph his wishes, in Genesis 47:29-31.  “And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.  And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.”

Later, in Genesis 49:29-33 he expressed his wishes to all the family.  “And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.  The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.  And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.”

Knowing what their father wanted, the brothers were satisfied to allow Joseph to take the lead, because he had more experience in dealing with the Egyptian laws and bureaucracy than they did.  While they followed the Egyptian customs, they honored their father’s request, in Genesis 50:2-13.   “And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.  And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.  And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.  And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.  And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.”

Resolving the conflicts enables us to put aside our resentments and hurt feelings and begin to work together to accomplish things, whether it is in business, in the family or in politics.  As long as we stay focused on our own agenda and desires, even things which benefit everyone become points of contention, hampering even the most mundane tasks.  This is obvious as we look at the American political system right now.  America is going to collapse if the two parties do not begin to focus on what is good for the country rather than their own feelings.