Jacob dies after giving blessings to his sons. He's been on his deathbed throughout chapter 48 and 49, and now it's final. He's 'gathered to his people.'
The phrase 'gathered to his people' suggests continuity with the dead - that death is a kind of homecoming, a reunion with those who've gone before.
When my mother died, that phrase helped me. She wasn't just gone. She was gathered to her people - her mother, her father, the lineage that formed her. That's a different frame than dissolution or abandonment. It's a kind of completion.
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