What does Genesis 50:2 mean?

Jacob has died (Genesis 49:33). After kissing his father's face, Joseph commanded Egyptian physicians to embalm his father's body. Egyptian embalming was an extensive process resulting in what we now call mummification. It involved extracting the brain and internal organs, soaking the body in specific liquids, and wrapping it heavily in bandages. Only Jacob and, later, Joseph are described in the Old Testament as having been embalmed.

This level of attention was a sign of status in Egypt, something fitting to Joseph's position as the second in command in the nation (Genesis 41:44). Embalming would have kept Jacob's body from decomposing before Joseph and his brothers had the time to lay it to rest in the family burial tomb in Canaan (Genesis 47:29–30).