Chapter L.
CHAP. L.
Verſe 1.Ver. 1.JOſeph fell on his Father's face.] He was tranſported by his Affection, to the tendereſt Expreſſions of it: Though he was a Man in great Dignity and Authority.
And kiſſed him.] It is likely he firſt cloſed his Eyes, as God promiſed he ſhould do, XLVI. 4. (and as the Cuſtom was) and then parted from his Body with a Kiſs. Of which we find many Examples both among Heathen and Chriſtian People: But they will not warrant us to ſay that it was done by every Body; for all that I have obſerved were ſuch near Relations as Joseph was to Jacob. Thus Ovid repreſents Niobe as kiſſing her ſlain Sons; and Meleager's Siſters kiſſing him when he lay dead: And Corippus repreſents Juſtin the younger falling upon Justinian, and weeping, and kiſſing him, juſt as Joseph did here:
Incubuit lachrymans, atque oſcula frigida carpſit
Divini patris.
Yet Dionyſ. Areopag. cap. 7. Eccleſ. Hierarch. deſcribing the Funeral of of Chriſtians, ſaith, the Biſhop prayed over the Corps when it was brought into the Church, and after Prayer, (
Greek characters), &c. both he himſelf kiſſed the dead perſon, and after him all that were preſent did the ſame: So it ſeems to have been their taking a ſolemn leave of the Dead, till they met in another World.
