I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”—Genesis 50:24 & 25, NIV
Alas, his body was frail and carried the beaten and battered weight of the desert —the weight he carried as a slave; the weight he carried upon bearing a prison sentence that never had his name; the weight of a people growing desperate and hungry. His bones were rattled to the core with the weight of power and responsibility as he carried over the band of brothers that betrayed him so sheepishly and forgave him after tasting the agonizing weight of his pain. He forgave them, and they all wept. They hugged and forgot the pain of the past. But time was not working with him, unfortunately —there was one affair he had to finish before his dying breath.
—I will die, my brothers— said Joseph in his fading breath, almost whispering faintly —and I have seen how this foreign nation has treated us so fairly. I do not deserve the affections I have received until today. But I am also thankful that I can finally share this last of moments with all of you.— His brothers felt the last bits of shame fade away from their hearts.
—I will surely die, my brothers— he repeated with strength, —but surely God will come visit us from this land, and rescue us to the land of flowing milk and honey, where we will truly be free to follow our dreams without shame or reproach. And please— he begged not out of pity, but tenderness, —please do not bury me in this land. Take my bones with you and rejoice!
And he died in peace.