A Grand Funeral
After Yaakov blessed all of his sons, he said, "Please, make sure to bury me in Eretz Yisrael, in the Me'arat HaMachpaila - the burial place of my parents and their parents!"
When Yaakov passed away, he was 147 years old. His children and grandchildren were very sad, and so were the Egyptians! Why should the Egyptians be so sad? They knew that Yaakov was a righteous person, and that when he came to Egypt, blessing came with him. The great hunger stopped while Yaakov lived in Egypt -- and when he died, the years of hunger returned.
Paraoh gave Yosef permission to bring Yaakov out of Egypt to be buried in Israel. A grand procession of Yaakov's family, Egyptian noblemen, and kings from all around, escorted Yaakov's coffin on the long journey to Me'arat HaMachpaila. The kings placed their royal crowns on top of Yaakov's coffin as a sign of their great respect.
Surprise!
When they arrived at Me'arat HaMachpaila, they were all greeted by none other than... Eisav himself! Yes, Yaakov's wicked twin brother made one last appearance -- but why?
"You can't bury Yaakov here!!" shouted Eisav. "There's only one more burial place left... and I want it for myself!!"
"No, Eisav," Yosef said. "The cave doesn't belong to you. Remember, you sold it to our father long ago?"
They argued and argued and couldn't solve the disagreement. So they sent Naftali to run quickly to Egypt to get the sales contract, to prove to Eisav that the cave did indeed belong to Yaakov.
But everyone was getting restless and impatient with the hold-up. Here was Eisav, delaying his brother's burial! What a trouble-maker! It was outrageous!
Finally, Dan's son, Chushim, took matters into his own hands. He killed Eisav! At last, Yaakov was buried in his rightful place, next to his wife Leah, his parents, Yitzchak and Rivkah, and his grandparents, Avraham and Sarah.
