Death and Burial of Patriarch Zebulun

Zebulun breathes his last breath in the fertile plains of Goshen at the age of 114. His sons wash his body and prepare it for the long journey out of Egypt. Custom dictates laying the patriarch in a sturdy wooden coffin rather than a stone sarcophagus.

The burial caravan travels approximately 250 miles northeast from the Nile Delta into the hills of Canaan. The traditional patriarchal chronology places this migration in the second millennium b.c. His descendants carry his wooden coffin up an elevation of 3,000 feet to reach Hebron.

The final resting place is the Cave of Machpelah, a subterranean rock tomb purchased generations earlier. Heavy limestone blocks seal the entrance to protect the ancestral remains from scavengers and thieves. Here, Zebulun rests alongside his fathers in the quiet dark of the Judean mountains.

Keep the commandments of the Lord, and show mercy to your neighbors, and have compassion towards all.

With his final instructions delivered, the aged patriarch closes his eyes and passes from the living. His family mourns his departure while honoring his unwavering commitment to the God of Israel. The tribe of Zebulun now faces an uncertain future without their founding father to guide them.