Exodus 13: 19
The book of Genesis ended with Joseph "in a coffin in Egypt." This may have been the end of his life, but there is still one more chapter to end his story.
The next book of the Pentateuch is Exodus, which starts with the sons of Israel still in Goshen after Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, and they were, "fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7).
Joseph had said that, "God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob" (Genesis 50: 24).
Since the sons of Israel were so comfortable in this land, what will God do to convince them to leave, to go to the Promised Land of Canaan?
God had "a new king" come to power in Egypt, "who didn't know Joseph" (V. 8). Whether this new king was aware of their history or not, he didn't consider it to be a reason to continue to honor or trust these people who never did mix in with the Egyptians. He was afraid of them, thinking that they might join with some enemy in attacking Egypt.
This had to be of God, that He would allow the devil to put this idea into his mind, for fear to induce him to be harsh with them.
The sons of Israel had been living in ease and prosperity, well respected by their Egyptian neighbors. They had multiplied in numbers and in their wealth, but they may have been rather flabby physically, as hot-house plants, and God knew that they would need to toughen up to endure the rigors of a march through the desert and to conquer the peoples who lived in Canaan.
So, God allowed His chosen family to be enslaved and mistreated, until they were so beaten down emotionally and built up physically, to be ready and willing to leave.
That's when Moses came on the scene. His story begins in a very interesting way, that we all probably know, but when he was 80 years old he was ready to lead them all out of Egypt.
God convinced this Pharaoh to let them go by inflicting on them all the "plagues of Egypt," which showed that his Egyptian gods were nothing, ending with instituting the Passover with the blood of the lambs on the door frames. Then they left Egypt. And:
(19) Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you." (Genesis 50: 25.)
This is the last chapter in Joseph's story. So the Sons of Israel had kept Joseph's coffin for the 400 years total that they were in Egypt, so they also took it with them, and carried it through the Desert with them for the 40 years they wandered. Then when they finally entered the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership, some of them must have at some point taken Joseph's bones to the ancient burial ground at the Cave of Machpelah, that Abraham had bought so long ago, and lay his bones to rest with his fathers' bones. This was culturally very important to them.
Joseph had brought his father Jacob's body back to this cave when he died, but he didn't want his own body to be buried there until all his people were there also, as owners of the land, as the Lord had promised. His coffin was a constant reminder to them that God would fulfill His promise to them.
And they also fulfilled their promise to him, after all these years had passed, to finally bury Joseph's coffin.
O my Father, You planned out the whole human story before You made anything that exists now. And You planned each of our individual stories to fit into Your grand Master Plan. You are so smart and clever! Your wisdom and power have accomplished Your will in everything You have made!
My Father, all the pieces of all the people and events fit so perfectly together in Your timing to work out all the parts, just like a gigantic puzzle. When we can see how some of these pieces fit together, then we can have a glimpse of the bigger picture that will emerge, just as You planned it all out. How you use our free choices for both good and evil, is amazing, and a convincing testimony of Your greatness and goodness.
O Father, use me; use my words; use my personality, and continue to build my character. Use every part of me to further Your program, and send me out with all of Your children to witness and testify to every living person of Your love and provision of all we need. Let everyone in every nation hear and understand clearly who You are and how You have sent Your only Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. Let every spiritually unborn child come to the birth in Your family, Father, that all my brothers and sisters and I will all grow up into the full stature of the Son of God, as His body.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of the World and all Creation, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, do come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
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