These scenes strike me as some of the most realistic and relatable in Genesis so far. Jacob's parting, and then Joseph's, are full of such real emotion. He seems to be feeling what I felt at my grandfather's deathbed, with family gathered around to share in the grief, and the desire to properly honor a life like Jacob's is clear.
The description of Jacob being "gathered to his people" is a really really notable one. The author deliberately chose to state it this way, not merely to say he died. Jacob, not being after Christ's redemption, had to wait for heaven, but he was gathered, brought into the state of readiness and taken up by God. Who are "his people"? His family, clearly, the father, grandfather, wife, mother, and grandmother he spoke of being buried with. He was gathered into the burial cave they all shared, marking the foundation of their legacy in the "Promised Land." No matter how much or how little of it their people would control in the future, by Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham's burial at the very significant location of Mamre, Israel as a nation would always have a place in the land promised to them. Even more so, "his people" included the "people", the great nation Jacob was promised he would bring forth. From his eternal vision with God, he was able to watch the nation change and members of it who would die later were already present to him. Eventually, "his people" would include not the ethnic tribe of Hebrews only, not the religious tribe of Jews only, but all the people on earth who believe in The God Who Is and the salvation offered by his Son. My guess is that Jacob rejoiced to enter eternity and find out how far-reaching his spiritual paternity was, how hugely abundant the fulfillment of God's promise to make him a great nation really was.
Jacob's funeral, in which the greatest nation on Earth at the time, Egypt, mourned this one foreign man with little to catch their attention, is an example of how great his nation was already. Hebrews and Egyptians (Gentiles) came together to fulfill this man's last request, to be buried at Mamre. He was embalmed for 40 days, a number significant for completion and turning-over, renewal. The Israelites 40 years in the desert, Jesus' 40 days in the desert, the 40 days of fasting in Joel's day, were all chances to strip away the old and come to grips with the new, to be tested and consecrate oneself. Jacob was embalmed for this long, giving his family a chance to grieve, be tested, and to consecrate both him and themselves. They mourned him for 70 days, a number of spiritual completion and perfection...in a sense they mourned him forever, and in a sense, they mourned him for exactly the amount of time God wanted them to, the perfect amount.
Joseph makes his final "moral of the story", reconciling with his brothers for good and telling them that he understands that God is in control of what happened to him. All things work for good in his life, for love of God, says Joseph thousands of years before St. Paul would echo him. He lives a complete life, dandling great great grandchildren on his knee and adopting them as his own. Sadly, he's buried in Egypt, leaving his family to return to the promised land without him, and living a life just short of completeness at 110 years (11 being a number of incompleteness and just missing the mark). It would not be for him to carry on the flame, but for Judah. He has hope, however, that his descendants will carry him to the promised land and re-bury him there later, bringing the final completion after death.
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