JACOB'S DEATH | JOSEPH'S DEATH

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3680

JACOB'S DEATH

JOSEPH'S DEATH

When it was time for Joseph to die, he made his brothers swear to take his mummified remains for burial in the Promised Land - more specifically in Shechem was was granted to him by Jacob and later became part of the tribal allotment of Ephraim, Joseph's son.

Some calculate that his body remained in Egypt for 400 years after his death before his body finally left Egypt with Moses in the Exodus.

Why did he make such a request that was so similar to his father Jacob's last wishes? 

Let us fast forward to the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament which states that by faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the Exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. (Heb. 11:22).

But admittedly in Hebrews 11:22, this forward-looking faith of Joseph is rather odd. 

When the Exodus finally happened,  the body of Joseph would have long since expired, and his bones would be well on their way to dust. To carry a coffin on a long journey through the hot wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula would be both burdensome and somewhat macabre. 

But such was the hope and insistence of Joseph at the end of his life. It was his dying behest. 

So, why did he make such a plea?

It was of utmost importance for him that his hope in the promises of God be actively and dramatically displayed. Indeed, Joseph’s request would serve as a catechizing echo of the past, not only as a reminder of what God had already done in Joseph’s own life but as a harbinger of what God would do for the corporate people of God—bring them out of sin’s bondage and into the blessing of covenant life. 

In a very real sense, then, Joseph’s hope was nothing less than a display of the hope of the resurrection. Joseph would die, but his bones, the very emblem of his life, would be brought up out of the land of the dead and into the land of the living. It was as though Joseph were saying: “Bury me in the land of the living, where the blessings of God ceaselessly flow. Do not leave my body—even my bones—in the land of bondage and death. Bury me in the land of the living!”

Joseph might have said, “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14). Joseph was seeking a lasting city. Though his request may appear somewhat strange to us, his hope is strikingly familiar—he was hoping in the promises of God and in the power of the resurrection.

For the hope of God’s people is no longer living in the land of the dying, but eternal life in the land of heaven above.

There is no record that his prophetic gesture was followed by the rest of his brothers.

But when their children were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years under successive pharaohs who had no recollection of Joseph, they had a constant reminder of Joseph.

For Joseph's mummified remains would be with them until they leave Egypt for their homeland where God's promises will be fulfilled as blessings upon them in a nation of freedmen and women and children.