Jacob is starting his third major move to reunite with his long-lost favorite son, but it seems he is more apprehensive than excited. His does sacrifices and God appears to him in a vision and says don't worry. Why would he be worried? The move from Laban back to Esau was more dicey. I guess because this time around, he's bringing about seventy people. His flocks (and wealth) are likely decimated by the famine, and he's so old he has to ride in the carts with the small children.
We also find out that Benjamin isn't this helpless little kid, although Jacob treats him like it. Rather, he already has ten sons of his own. That's almost as many as daddy.
Judah goes ahead to find out where exactly is Goshen. That would be helpful knowledge for the caravan. Joseph meets up with his dad and cries and cries.
Joseph warns his family that shepherds are viewed negatively in Egypt. But nevertheless, he tells them to be honest about it in front of Pharaoh. That seems odd, but my guess is that shepherds are viewed negatively because of the famine. Sheep require food, which people need. Justifiably, people thought that flocks of sheep should be eaten, not fed. We later find out that the famine is bad that people are selling themselves into slavery just to survive. So, a large group of sheep or cattle would garner quite a bit of jealousy.
Pharaoh blesses this, even saying that they should watch over Pharaoh's herds.
We get quite a lot of details about how the Pharaoh is getting a lot more powerful due to the famine. First, he gets everyone's gold, then everyone's cattle, then the people themselves as slaves.
Jacob meets Joseph's kids and adopts them as his own. There is no indication he did this with any of his other grandkids. I can think of a reasons why he would do this. First, the favoritism for Joseph has returned. Second, they are half-Egyptian (the text reminds us of this fact here) so he's giving a blessing on that. Finally, he might have the spiritual blessing in mind and this is a formality to give an even special blessing to Joseph.
He gives a blessing to Joseph's kids, Ephraim and Manasseh. He intentionally gives the firstborn blessing to the younger, which is what Jacob got at Esau's expense through trickery.
Afterwards, he gives the spiritual blessing to his twelve sons. He is still really mad at Reuben for sleeping with his wife and basically takes away his firstborn privileges. He's not happy with Simeon and Levi because their wrath has caused too many problems. He says they will be scattered among the Israelites. For Levi, God turns this around as an honor and makes them a priestly tribe. The other sons that we have not heard of seem to do well with the blessings. It's couched in vague language, but some things that stand out to me - Judah is a lion and has a never-ending scepter, Benjamin is a hungry wolf, and he gives the great port city of Sidon to Zebulon.
Before dying, Jacob tells Joseph that he wanted be buried back in Canaan. We also find out that Joseph's mother, Rachel, is buried by Bethlehem. Jacob dies and is embalmed by Egyptian doctors. Uh oh. This probably means mummification. In other words, his organs are taken and put in a jar and he's wrapped in cloth. A massive funeral party that includes Egyptians goes up to Canaan to bury him.
When they return to Egypt, Joseph's brothers freak out and think he'll kill them. They beg for their lives and pledge themselves as slaves to Joseph. Here, we see forgiveness and Joseph is not mad. He accredits it all to God's plan.
Joseph dies and he is placed in a coffin. As Egyptian elite, he probably got the proper mummification ritual and a nice sarcophagus somewhere. We know what happens in Exodus. Based on that, if he got a fully stocked sarcophagus, it would likely be ransacked and pillaged by the birth of Moses.
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