Bible Commentaries
Genesis 50

Verse 10

Genesis 50:10

Threshing floor -- Threshing floors were normally on an elevated place so that the wind could be used to separate the chaff from the grain. The week of mourning made such an impact on the local population that they named the place Abel-mizraim (v. 11), which means “the mourning of Egypt” (ESV footnote). - ESV English Standard Version

Threshing floor of Atad -- Apparently the threshing floor was known in Abraham’s day at being in the field of Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 25:8-9; Genesis 49:29; Genesis 50:13) and in the time of Jacob’s burial as the threshing floor of Atad. - WG

Abel Mizraim, -- the meadow (or mourning) This was popularly rendered “Egypt mourns, but its true meaning would be “the meadow of Egypt, or “of the Egyptians.”,

The name was popularly connected with the traditional mourning of the Egyptians for Jacob, on account of the similarity in sound between ’âbêl = “field” and ’êbel = “mourning.” For other place-names beginning with Abel, cf. Abel-cheramim (Judges 11:33), Abel of Beth-maacah (2 Samuel 20:15). - CBSC

beyond the Jordan -- The phrase can mean either east or west of the river. Here it refers to Canaan (v. 11), since the procession would logically have followed the coastal road (Via Maris; see Exodus 13:17). Via Maris The coastal road or “Way of the Sea” from Egypt to Palestine. - FSB

beyond Jordan -- The place was identified by Jerome with “Beth-Hoglah,” the modern Ain Haglah, south of Jericho.

This is said to be beyond Jordan. Deterred, probably, by some difficulty in the direct route, they seem to have gone round by the east side of the Salt Sea. - Barnes

Beyond, or on this side; for the word signifies both, and it may be taken either way here; the one in respect of Egypt, the other in regard of the place in which Moses wrote. - Poole

Neither “Goren-Atad” (the “threshing floor of Atad”) nor Abel-mizraim are known. As noted (cf. v. 5), J seems to suppose a special burial place for Jacob which, according to our passage, would be in the Transjordan area (vv. 10a, 11b). J’s account of the actual burial there would have been omitted to make room for P’s account (vv. 12-13). The name “Abel-mizraim” (’ābēl miṣrayim, “the plain of the Egyptians”) is explained by the “mourning” (’ē bel) of the Egyptians.12-13. - Jerome Bible Commentary

Strange that J’s [J, E, and P theory] understood a different place for Jacob’s burial from that which he requested and while both scripture and tradition establish that he was buried at Hebron where Abraham was buried. Actually the scriptures continues to say just where Jacob was buried, Genesis 50:12-13; Genesis 49:29-33; - WG