Exodus 13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you… And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. This rendered the march a kind of funeral procession, and such as no other history relates. Never was body so long in its conveyance to the grave, for forty years were taken up in bearing Joseph to his burial. We read at the death of Joseph that "they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." The precious deposit, likely to be cared for by some of the descendants of his own family, was dear to all. It was a memento of the vanity of human greatness. It was also a moral as well as a mortal memento. Joseph was a very pious character; he had been highly exemplary in every relation and condition of life, and much of God, of providence, and of grace was to be read in his history. What an advantage to be always reminded of such a man in having his remains always in the midst of them! But the body would be above all valuable as a pledge of their future destination. It was a present palpable sign of God's covenant with their fathers in their behalf. (A. Nevin, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. |
    |