And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
Joseph dies at the top of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. His last words look past Egypt to a land his family had left and to God's oath to their fathers.
"I die" set against the living God
The verse holds two facts side by side: a man is going, and God stays. One commentator shows how Joseph turns his brothers' eyes off himself and onto the One who does not die. The quote below keeps an older wording of the promise: "God will surely visit you."
Hamilton SmithSo he speaks no more of man and man's small world, but of God — the living God, of the faithfulness of God, of the power of God, and the land of God. "I die," says Joseph. The life of the man who had saved other lives by a great deliverance is fast slipping away, but if Joseph dies, God lives; if Joseph departs, God remains. And into the hands of the living and unchanging God he commends his brothers. Though he may be taken from them, he can still say with full assurance of faith, "God will surely visit you."
Faith reading the future against the evidence
They had Pharaoh's favour, the best land in Egypt, and one of their own running the country. Yet Joseph speaks of a God who must come and bring them out.
J. G. BellettStrange this was, very strange! Who could believe it? … God's word was his wisdom. God's message in Genesis 15 had warned that Egypt would afflict Israel, but that God would befriend them and bring them back to Canaan. That word from God was everything to Joseph, everything to faith — appearances were nothing. Joseph believed it and remembered it. And so by faith Joseph saw Israel's affliction on the day of Israel's brightest promise and prosperity. He saw Egypt's hostility in this day of Egypt's friendship. He saw brick-kilns and slave-drivers in the fair fields and sunny harvest of Goshen.
The same writer turns this into a rule for every believer.
J. G. BellettCircumstances never give faith its object. It is the word of God that does that. Never let circumstances and appearances take the eye of faith off its object.
Egypt — not the land of rest
"Bring you out of this land" assumes the people are somewhere they do not belong.
Hamilton SmithJoseph had been long in Egypt; he saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. They were thoroughly established in the land of Egypt. To nature nothing looked more unlikely than that a time would ever come when they would leave Egypt for a land they had never seen. But faith rises above things seen and refuses to reason the way nature does. Faith sees that though the people of God may stay for a time in the land of Egypt, it is not the land of rest that God has promised for His people. Being strangers in Egypt may form part of God's ways with His people, but it has no place in God's purpose for His people.
Nearest the throne, still a stranger
Joseph's rank in Egypt did not dull his hope.
William KellyNo splendour in Egypt dimmed the light of promise to his faith. The man nearest to the throne of the world is a stranger. He looks for resurrection, and he expects Israel's restoration to the land according to the oath God swore to their fathers.
Why the promise was certain
Joseph's certainty rests on three names: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Hamilton SmithGod will visit His people in grace to bring them out of Egypt. Just as surely, He will stretch out His hand in mighty delivering power to bring them into the land of His purpose … This good land, with all its blessing and glory, unrolled before the faith of the dying Joseph. God's own unconditional promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob makes it sure. Joseph is dying, but no shadows darken the hour of his passing.
What happened four centuries later
Joseph backed his words with an oath about his bones, and Scripture records the outcome.
Edward DennettWhen Joseph lay dying, the natural eye saw little chance that his people would ever leave Egypt. But this dying saint rested on the sure word and promise of God … Years had passed away — nearly four hundred. Then God did visit His people. He remembered the oath, and the bones of the patriarch went with them when they left Egypt.
Another writer draws the pattern for anyone finishing a life of service:
The Bible TreasuryAs a faithful servant, he closes his course, testifying to the proper object of hope. While he lived, he served the people of God fully, according to their need. When he was dying, he led them to the only true prospect and hope of their souls — the inheritance of the promised land.
Summary
- Visit — Joseph's whole confidence rests on one promised action of God: He will come for His people. The servant dies; the living God remains.
- Vision — Faith saw slavery coming while Goshen was still sunny. God's word, not the current outlook, told Joseph what was ahead.
- Out — Egypt could be part of God's ways with His people, but never part of His purpose. Comfort there was temporary lodging, not home.
- In — God had already sworn the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That oath fixed the destination, so no shadow fell on Joseph's deathbed.
- Kept — Four hundred years later God came for His people, kept His oath, and Joseph's bones travelled with them. A dying believer's last work is to point others to that hope.