Joseph's dying request to his brothers included a subtle but legally significant phrase: "And you shall bring up my bones from here with you" (Genesis 50:25). The Mekhilta zeroes in on two words that change everything: "with you."
Without those words, someone might have understood the command as requiring immediate action — that the brothers should exhume Joseph's remains right away. But "with you" means: when you yourselves go up from Egypt. Not now. When the time of redemption arrives and the entire nation departs, carry my bones with you on that journey.
This interpretation delayed the fulfillment of Joseph's oath by centuries. His bones remained in Egypt through the entire period of slavery, waiting for the generation that would finally leave.
But the Mekhilta draws out one more teaching from the phrase "from here with you." The word "with you" is plural and expansive. It teaches that the children of Israel did not bring up Joseph's bones alone — they also brought up the bones of all the other tribes. Each of <strong>Jacob's</strong> sons was carried out of Egypt alongside Joseph. No one was left behind. The Exodus was a complete departure, and even the honored dead made the journey home to the Promised Land.