Genesis 47:29-30

New Living Translation

As the time of his death drew near, Jacob called for his son Joseph and said to him, “Please do me this favor. Put your hand under my thigh and swear that you will treat me with unfailing love by honoring this last request: Do not bury me in Egypt. When I die, please take my body out of Egypt and bury me with my ancestors.”

So Joseph promised, “I will do as you ask.”

For Meditation

Jacob’s burial arrangement with Joseph was essentially a deep faith statement in the promise of God. It was not a statement about location but about God’s covenant with Abraham to give Canaan to him for inheritance. Egypt, therefore, was not his home, though he lived there by default. Canaan was his Promised Land of divine inheritance. That’s where he belonged, and that was where he would end his life’s journey with Jehovah.

It was a statement to his children that so long as they lived in Egypt; they were in a foreign land. Their minds and yearning must be on their future deliverance from the slavery of Egypt by God Almighty, who gave this promise to Abraham (Gen. 15:12-16).

His statement was, therefore, a declaration of faith in the certainty of God’s promise. So, with pomp and joyful celebration, Joseph buried his father in Canaan (Gen. 50:11).

Figuratively, his burial was a statement of victory over Egypt (sin) that held his people in captivity, and their future deliverance into the Promised Land (glory).

Joseph got the message and made sure that upon his death, his bones did not remain in Egypt, but his people would bury them in the Promised Land when God came to deliver them (24-25). It was a request Moses honored (Exodus 13:19).

The same is the situation of the believer in Christ. This world is not our home. We are aliens passing through. That must be our attitude and world view.

God has delivered us from the tyranny of sin and death and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves—Christ Jesus, our Lord (Col. 1:13-14).

We live in His victory, though we dwell in this body and a dying world. When death comes, we face it with courage and joy, knowing that it has no hold on us but that our soul will find rest in the bosom of our risen and glorified Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8).

We must, therefore, live as enemies of this world (1 Jn. 2:15) to glorify the Father in Christ with everything in us (1 Cor. 10:31). Our joy is in the hope of glory, which is our encouragement and strength (Col. 1:27).

So we learn to live by dying to self daily in anticipation of our transition to glory with courage and joyful expectation of our crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Thanks be to God for giving us victory through Christ Jesus! (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Let us therefore live today to make this statement to the world that there is a better home for those who put their trust in Jesus. They have a glorious future with Him for eternity, and He calls on all to come to Him and be saved (Jn. 3:16). Amen.