As Joseph lay on his deathbed, he made his brethren swear a solemn oath. He didn't just ask it of them, but instructed them to have their sons swear it too: when God would finally redeem them and bring them out of Egypt, they were to carry his bones to the Promised Land. "I, a ruler," Joseph said, "could have taken my father's body to the Holy Land while it was still whole. But all I ask is that you carry my bones. You can bury them anywhere in Palestine, because the family tomb is only for the three Patriarchs and their wives."
Interestingly, Joseph made this oath with his brethren, not his sons. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, he feared that the Egyptians wouldn't allow his sons to transport his bones, even remembering his favor with Pharaoh. They might argue that denying the wish of such a high-ranking official would be disrespectful.
He also adjured them not to leave Egypt until a redeemer appeared, announcing his message with the words "Pakod – I have surely visited you." This was a tradition passed down from Abraham, through Isaac, to Jacob, and finally to Joseph. Joseph even foretold that God would redeem Israel through Moses, like the Messiah, and that the redemption would begin in Tishri (fall), with freedom from slave labor, and be completed the following Nisan (spring) with their exodus.
But it wasn't just about the physical journey. Joseph urged his brethren to live righteously, emphasizing chastity and moral uprightness. He shared his own trials – the hatred of his brothers, Potiphar's wife's false accusations, and the envy of the Egyptians – to show that those who fear God are never truly forsaken. "I was sold into slavery, but the Lord delivered me. I was thrown into prison, but His strong hand helped me," he declared.
Joseph also spoke of visions revealing Israel's future, and emphasized the importance of taking the bones of his mother, Zilpah, and burying them near Bilhah and Rachel. With those words, he passed away, mourned deeply by both Israel and Egypt, who remembered his compassion and wise counsel.
Joseph's wish to be buried in the Holy Land was ultimately fulfilled when the Israelites left Egypt. And who oversaw it? None other than Moses himself! This was seen as Joseph's reward for his devotion in burying his father, Jacob. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, because Joseph handled his father's burial himself, leaving nothing for others to do, a great man like Moses busied himself with Joseph's wish.
But finding Joseph's coffin wasn't easy. For three days and nights before the Exodus, Moses searched tirelessly. He knew Israel couldn't leave without fulfilling their oath. Finally, Serah, the daughter of Asher, guided him to the Nile. The Egyptians, fearing Israel's departure, had sunk Joseph's lead coffin, sealed by magicians, in the river.
What happened next is truly fascinating. Moses took Joseph’s cup and engraved four images: a lion, an eagle, a bull, and a human figure. He threw them into the river one by one, invoking Joseph's name, proclaiming the time of redemption, and urging him to appear. Only when the plate with the human figure was cast did the coffin finally rise to the surface. Moses, overjoyed, retrieved it.
During the forty years of wandering in the desert, Joseph's coffin was carried in the midst of Israel. The Talmud teaches that it was a reward for Joseph's promise to nourish his brethren. For forty years, they would care for his bones as he had cared for them.
Imagine this: Israel carried two arks, one containing the bones of the dead Joseph, and the other containing the covenant of the Living God. Passersby would ask, "How can the ark of the dead be next to the ark of the Ever-living?" The answer, as the Sages explained, was that Joseph fulfilled the commandments enshrined in the Ark of the Covenant. He lived a life that mirrored God's law.
Upon arriving in the Holy Land, the Israelites buried Joseph's bones in Shechem. God said to the tribes, "From Shechem you stole him, and unto Shechem shall you return him."
This story leaves us with a profound thought: If God is so concerned with the bodies of the righteous, how much more so with their souls? They stand before Him, like angels, ministering to His glory. The tale of Joseph's death and burial is not just a historical account; it’s a testament to the enduring power of righteousness, the importance of fulfilling promises, and the eternal connection between the living and the dead in Jewish tradition. It reminds us that even in death, the righteous continue to inspire and guide us.
On his death-bed Joseph took an oath of his brethren, and he bade them on their death-bed likewise take an oath of their sons, to carry his bones to Palestine, when God should visit them and bring them up out of the land of Egypt. He said: "I that am a ruler could take my father's body up to the Holy Land while it was still intact. Of you I do but make the request that ye carry my bones from hence, and you may inter them in any spot in Palestine, for I know that the burial-place of the fathers was appointed to be the tomb only of the three Patriarchs and their three wives." Joseph took the oath, to carry his remains along with them when they left Egypt, from his brethren, and not from his sons, to bury him at once in Palestine, for he feared the Egyptians would not give the latter permission to transport his bones even if they recalled what Joseph had been allowed to do with his father's body. They would object that Joseph had been the viceroy, and a wish preferred by one of so high an estate could not be denied. Furthermore, he adjured his brethren not to leave Egypt until a redeemer should appear and announce his message with the words, "Pakod— I have surely visited you"—a tradition which Joseph had received from his father, who bad it from Isaac, and Isaac in turn had beard it from Abraham. And he told them that God would redeem Israel through Moses as through the Messiah, in this world as in the world to come, and the Egyptian redemption would begin in Tishri, when Israel would be freed from slave labor, and would be completed in the following Nisan, when they would leave Egypt. Joseph also admonished his brethren to walk in the ways of the Lord, so that they might become worthy of His grace and help. Especially he impressed upon his brethren and his sons the virtue of chastity and a steadfast moral life. He told them all that had happened to him, the hatred of his brethren, the persecutions of the wife of Potiphar, the slander, envy, and malice of the Egyptians, to show how that those who fear the Lord are not forsaken by Him in darkness, or bondage, or tribulation, or distress. "I was sold into slavery," he said, "but the Lord delivered me; I was thrown into prison, but His strong hand helped me. I was tortured by hunger, but the Lord Himself gave me sustenance. I was alone, and God comforted me. And as for you, if ye will walk in the ways of chastity and purity in patience and humility of heart, the Lord will dwell among you, for He loveth a chaste life, and if you, my children, will observe the commandments of the Lord, He will raise you up here, in this world, and bless you there, in the world to come. If men seek to do evil unto you, pray for them, and you will be delivered from all evil by the Lord. On account of my forbearing patience I received the daughter of my master to wife, and her dowry was a hundred talents of gold, and God gave me also beauty like the beauty of a flower, more than all the children of Jacob, and He preserved me unto mine old age in vigor and beauty, for in all things did I resemble Jacob." Joseph continued and told them the visions he had had, in which the future of Israel was revealed to him, and then he closed with the words: "I know that the Egyptians will oppress you after my death, but God will execute vengeance for your sakes, and He will lead you to the land of promise of your fathers. But ye shall surely carry my bones with you from hence, for if my remains are taken to Canaan, the Lord will be with you in the light, and Behar will be with the Egyptians in the darkness. Also take with you the bones of your mother Zilpah, and bury them near the sepulchre of Bilhah and Rachel." These words ended, he stretched out his feet, and slept his last eternal sleep, and the whole of Israel mourned him, and the whole of Egypt was in great grief, for he had been a compassionate friend to the Egyptians, too, and he had done good unto them, and given them wise counsel and assistance in all their undertakings. Joseph's wish, that his bones should rest in the Holy Land, was fulfilled when the Israelites went forth from Egypt, and no less a personage than Moses applied himself to its execution. Such was Joseph's reward for the devotion he had displayed in the interment of his father's body, for he had done all things needful himself, leaving naught to others. Therefore so great a man as Moses busied himself with the realization of Joseph's wish. For three days and three nights preceding the exodus Moses hunted up and down through the land of Egypt for Joseph's coffin, because he knew that Israel could not leave Egypt without heeding the oath given to Joseph. But his trouble was in vain; the coffin was nowhere to be found. Serah, the daughter of Asher, met Moses, tired and exhausted, and in answer to her question about the cause of his weariness, he told her of his fruitless search. Serah took him to the Nile river, and told him that the leaden coffin made for Joseph by the Egyptians had been sunk there after having been scaled up on all sides. The Egyptians had done this at the instigation and with the help of the magicians, who, knowing that Israel could not leave the country without the coffin, had used their arts to put it in a place whence it could not be removed. Moses now took Joseph's cup, and he cut four flat pieces from it, and engraved a lion on one of them, an eagle on the second, a bull on the third, and a human figure on the fourth. He threw the first, with the lion, into the river, saying at the same time, "Joseph, Joseph, the hour for the redemption of Israel hath arrived, the Shekinah lingers here only for thy sake, the clouds of glory await thy coming. If thou wilt show thyself, well and good; if not, then we are clear from our oath." But the coffin did not appear. Then Moses threw the second plate into the water, that with the figure of the eagle, repeating the same words, but again the coffin did not rise from the bed of the Nile, and there it remained, too, when he threw in the third plate bearing the figure of the bull, and called upon Joseph a third time to come forth. But the fourth plate with the human figure and the fourth invocation to Joseph brought the coffin to the surface of the water. Moses seized it, and in joy he bore it off. While Israel had been busy gathering gold and silver from the Egyptians, Moses had been thinking of nothing but Joseph's coffin, and his happiness was great that he had been permitted to fulfil the wish of Joseph. During the forty years of wandering through the desert, the coffin was in the midst of Israel, as a reward for Joseph's promise to his brethren, "I will nourish you and take care of you." God had said, "As thou livest, for forty years they will take care of thy bones." All this time in the desert Israel carried two shrines with them, the one the coffin containing the bones of the dead man Joseph, the other the Ark containing the covenant of the Living God. The wayfarers who saw the two receptacles wondered, and they would ask, "How doth the ark of the dead come next to the ark of the Ever-living?" The answer was, "The dead man enshrined in the one fulfilled the commandments enshrined in the other. In the latter it is written, I am the Lord thy God, and he said, Am I in the place of God? Here it is written, Thou shalt have no other gods before My face, and he said, I fear God. Here it is written, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, and therefore he did not swear by God, but said, By the life of Pharaoh. Here it is written, Remember the Sabbath day, and he said to the overseer of his palace on Friday, Slay and make ready, meaning for the Sabbath. Here it is written, Honor thy father and thy mother, and he said, when his father desired to send him to his brethren, Here am I, although he knew it was perilous for him to go. Here it is written, Thou shalt not kill, and he refrained from murdering Potiphar when Potiphar's wife urged him to do it. Here it is written, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and he scorned the adulterous proposals of Potiphar's wife. Here it is written, Thou shalt not steal, and he stole nothing from Pharaoh, but gathered up all the money and brought it unto Pharaoh's house. Here it is written, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, and he told his father nothing of what his brethren had done to him, though what he might have told was the truth. Here it is written, Thou shalt not covet, and he did not covet Potiphar's wife." On their arrival in the Holy Land, the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph in Shechem, for God spake to the tribes, saying, "From Shechem did ye steal him, and unto Shechem, shall ye return him." God, who is so solicitous about the dead bodies of the pious, is even more solicitous about their souls, which stand before Him like angels, and do their service ministering unto Him.
