Genesis 47-50 The Ending Matters

Joseph spent very little of his life in the Promised Land.  He was likely 17 when his brothers sold him into slavery and he died at 110.  Despite spending almost a century in Egypt, his heart was still in the Promised Land.

He returned there once to bury his father Jacob.  Then at his own death, he was embalmed and placed in a coffin and buried in Egypt.  His faith that God would restore His people to the Promised Land was based on the significant fact that he did not ask that his body be returned to Israel upon his death, as Jacob’s had been.  He’d been separated from his family for years, and now it was his desire to remain close to them in death, bearing silent witness to how God had blessed and cared for him.

Just imagine, hundreds of years later, when Moses is preparing to take the Israelites back to the Promised Land – Joseph’s dying request had to be remembered and fulfilled.  In their rush to depart following the Death Angel’s visit, someone had to go and exhume Joseph’s body to carry his bones back to the Promised Land!  For 40 years, during their travels through the desert, Joseph was carried by his people.  How unfortunate that they also carried out idols from their Egyptian task masters as they approached the Promised Land.

Father, I pray that You will direct me to live a life that honors You as Joseph did.  And I pray that one day my descendants will be able to honor my memory because I honored, worshiped, and glorified You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford