Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath, and the Mekhilta records the exact logic behind his request. He said to them: "My father went down to Egypt of his own free will, and I brought him back to the land of Canaan by force — because he made me swear to do so (Genesis 50:5). Now I make the same demand of you."
But Joseph added a detail that cut deeper than obligation. "From the place where you stole me," he told his brothers, "there shall you return me." This was not merely a request for proper burial. It was a reminder. Joseph's brothers had sold him into slavery from the land of Canaan, and he expected them to bring his remains back to the very soil from which he was torn.
And they did exactly that. As it is written in (Joshua 24:32): "And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried in Shechem." Not in any random plot, but in Shechem — the region where his brothers had betrayed him decades earlier.
The Mekhilta's retelling transforms a simple burial request into an act of historical justice. Joseph understood that his story was not complete until his body returned to the place where it began. The circle had to close. What was broken in Shechem would be mended in Shechem.