GENESIS ENDS WITH A COFFIN

The last words of Genesis are “a coffin in Egypt.” Joseph is inside it. Before he died, he made his family swear they would take his bones with them when God brought them out. “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” Genesis 50:25 KJV. Joseph had worn Pharaoh’s ring, ridden in his second chariot, and governed Egypt. He had made a life there after being brought there as a slave. By the time he died at 110, Egypt had been his home for most of his life. He still remembered what God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His family would return to the land God had given them. Joseph planned his burial around that promise. Then generations passed. Joseph and his brothers died. A new Pharaoh came to power who “knew not Joseph,” and the Israelites became slaves. The people Joseph had told were going to leave Egypt were now making bricks for it. Exodus 1:6 through 14. Keep reading until the night they finally leave. “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him...” Exodus 13:19 KJV. Moses was keeping an oath made long before he was born. Joseph had been dead for generations, and his instructions were still being followed. The burial finally appears in Joshua 24:32. They bury Joseph’s bones at Shechem, in land his father Jacob had purchased. That ground becomes the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants. You have to follow the account across three books to see his request completed. Now look at the detail Hebrews chooses to remember about him. “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” Hebrews 11:22 KJV. His burial instructions belong in the chapter on faith because he believed God would bring Israel out. Joseph knew he was going to die in Egypt. He was so sure they were leaving that he made them promise not to leave him behind. #MoreJoyMinistries