Abel-mizraim, identified with the threshing-floor of Atad beyond the Jordan, is the site where the funeral procession for Jacob paused for an extensive public mourning. The name arose from what the local Canaanites witnessed: a great Egyptian lament for Joseph’s father.

Setting and Naming

After Jacob’s death, Joseph obtained Pharaoh’s permission to carry out his father’s burial request in Canaan. The procession included Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household and of Egypt, Joseph’s family, and chariots and horsemen; the family’s little ones and livestock remained in Goshen.

The company reached the threshing-floor of Atad, beyond the Jordan. There the mourners lamented greatly, and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. The Canaanites who saw the scene called it a grievous mourning by the Egyptians, and the place was thereafter called Abel-mizraim.

Role in Jacob’s Burial

The mourning at Abel-mizraim marks a pause on the route to the burial place Jacob had named: the cave in the field of Machpelah, in front of Mamre. Jacob’s sons carried him onward and buried him there, alongside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah.

After the burial, Joseph and the others who had gone up returned to Egypt. Abel-mizraim thus belongs to the passage between Jacob’s death in Egypt and his interment in Canaan, while its name records how that passage was witnessed by the people of the land.