ATAD

(Aʹtad) [thorny bush or bramble].

A place of uncertain location in the region of the Jordan was called “the threshing floor of Atad.” There Jacob’s funeral cortege stopped for seven days of mourning while en route from Egypt to the cave of the field of Machpelah in Canaan. Atad may have been a person, but the name itself appears to designate a thorny locale. The funeral party included Pharaoh’s servants and the older men of Egypt, and when the Canaanites saw the mourning rites, they exclaimed: “This is a heavy mourning for the Egyptians!” Hence, the place was called Abel-mizraim, meaning “mourning of the Egyptians.”—Gen. 50:7-13.

Various translations (for example, AS, AT, RS) use “beyond the Jordan” at Genesis 50:10, 11, and some conclude that the threshing floor of Atad was situated E of the Jordan River. This would mean that the procession took, not a direct, but a circuitous route, around the Dead Sea, which it could have done in order to avoid contact with the Philistines. However, the Hebrew word ʽeʹver, translated “beyond,” can refer to a region either E or W of the Jordan. From Moses’ viewpoint in the land of Moab at the time of the completion (and possible final editing) of the Pentateuch, “beyond the Jordan” could mean W of the river. Yet, all difficulties are overcome by NW, which accurately renders the Hebrew text “in the region of the Jordan” in these verses.