JOSEPHS FAITH CONCERNING HIS BONES

THE FAITH OF JOSEPH

GENESIS 50:22-26; EXODUS 13:19; JOSHUA 24:32

"By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concern­ing his bones."—HEBREWS 11:22

            We have noticed that the writer of this letter seems to dismiss three outstanding personalities with very brief reference. I am referring to verses 20, 21, and 22, concerning Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. There is no lengthy account of either of these men. The writer in each case has fastened upon the illustration of faith that came when they were at the end of life. In the refer­ence to the faith of Joseph is found the words, "By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh." There is noth­ing more wonderful in this chapter, nor more interesting, than the variety of the accounts, the different circum­stances in which faith is seen in operation. That be­comes even a little more remarkable when we go on beyond what we are doing now. Here we have some­thing different to anything we have seen. The circum­stances were different. The person in many respects is different from his father, Jacob, and his grandfather, Isaac, or from Abraham, or from any others to whom reference is made by the writer. Under what varied circumstances it appears, and how triumphant in those varied circumstances.

            This statement concerning Joseph is a most remark­able one. The account of Joseph is well known. Is there an account we have loved more, from our childhood up? It stands out, different from all the rest, and yet most re­markable, and I do not hesitate to use the word, fascinating to children and young life; and equally fascinating as the years pass, with yet a greater glory and glow. The account in its entirety is well known, and I need not tarry now particularly with the characteris­tics of this man. Again we have something entirely different from his father and his grandfather, and from his great-grandfather; different from any at which we have looked. If asked to speak of the characteristics of Joseph, I wonder how I should describe them. I think I should describe him first of all as ingenuous, artless, but not a fool. I should describe him as fearless in a very remarkable way as that is manifested through­out the account. 

         Then of course he was a statesman, with all the remarkable qualities of statesmanship; and he brought them to bear upon the welfare of the people, which also is an interesting fact, that I am not going to discuss now. We have heard a great deal during the last generation of men obtaining a corner on something. Well, that is the first corner you read about. Joseph gained a corner on wheat, but he did not do it for his own enrichment. He did it for the good of the people. That was real statesmanship.

            Throughout he was actuated by faith, to which I am going to return quite briefly in conclusion. I am now primarily concerned with the manifestation of his faith, to which the writer of this letter draws attention. "By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh," when all the interesting and fascinating things recorded concerning him were coming to conclusion, and very soon he would have done with earthly affairs and pass on into the life that lies beyond, mysterious and marvelous, "when his end was nigh," what did he do? "He made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones."

            Surely it is quite a remarkable declaration concerning faith. It is faith at the very end, when he speaks of his nation, and their departure; and here is the act of faith; commands something concerning his bones. The man is dying. He will soon be gone. Yes, he knows it, and he is thinking of it, that his bones will be left behind, and he has a thought concerning his bones.

            Of course it has often been observed, it is noticeable that all the Genesis account, beginning in primal order and beauty, then recording disastrous failure, and all the goodness of God and stupidity of man, ends with the significant words, "a coffin in Egypt." In that coffin there were bones. They had embalmed him after the Egyptian custom; and the act of faith to which this writer refers is what he said about those bones. He mentioned the departure of the children of Israel, and gave them instruction that, when they departed, they should carry up his bones.

            Let us see how faith was operating. First consider the command in itself; then consider the command­ment as indicating the activity of faith; then in con­clusion, as I have twice already said, I want us to see that commandment concerning his bones was consonant with all the attitudes of his life.

            Now to begin with, the command in itself. What was Joseph talking about? Have in mind his position at the moment. He was talking about the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment that, when they departed, his bones were to be carried up with them. The departure of the children of Israel. Now we must get back into the actual historic setting of this fact. We must notice where these people were, and then think of them as living where they were.         De­parting and going into Canaan is, in itself, a strange thing. The departure of the children of Israel was contrary to reasonableness. Why should they leave Egypt? Why should they go back into Canaan? Ca­naan had never been kind to them up till now. It cer­tainly had not been kind to Joseph. You remember he reached Canaan when he was about six or seven years old, a motherless boy, and I am afraid it must be ad­mitted, not that I think it had a great effect upon his character, I think his father rather petted him and spoiled him, that child of Rachel, his dearly loved. Canaan was not kind to him. Again, there sprang up the hostility of his brethren.             Loved by his father, cared for by his father, and loyal to his father; but if you have ten or eleven brothers hostile to you, you do not have the easiest time. I do not say that of experience, but of observation. No, his memory of Canaan could not be a particularly happy one; and certainly his father and his brethren and their families had not found Canaan particularly happy.       The last thing had been there was a scarcity of food, and they were driven out of Canaan by hunger, in order to obtain something to eat. It was not reasonable to talk about going back. It was faith that talked about going back, and not reason.

            And yet again. It was contrary to all appearances. There was no appearance at the time when Joseph laid that commandment upon them, that they would ever go back. They were living then, we know, in most com­fortable circumstances. They were occupying the land of Goshen, and it was the most fertile and beautiful part in the land of Egypt. It was an irrigated land, a plain, a land fit for flocks—and they were shepherds. Why should they leave it? Remember that this command­ment of Joseph was given 144 years before the exodus. It was not then a people enslaved to whom he gave that commandment. That came later with all its brutal bit­terness, but it was not true now. They were well off. They were cared for. They were in a most privileged position; and even when they were afraid, after the death of Jacob, that Joseph would turn on them and avenge them, he promised he would nourish them, and he was able to keep the promise. All the conditions made it contrary to any necessity to go. Why talk about leaving, and going back to Canaan? Appear­ances did not suggest a journey. What did? Faith, and already you see gleaming through the account the fact that we have been looking at the natural outlook, and faith always looks beyond that; and if it does not, it is not faith at all.

            What was the supernatural outlook? They were the people of God. They knew that. They knew their his­tory. They knew the purpose of God as it had been revealed by God to the great founder, Abraham, and repeated to Isaac and Jacob, and unquestionably it was well known to Joseph himself. He knew that in the divine purpose those people were not going to stay in Egypt.         I do not for a moment say that Joseph saw what would happen. In that dark time when another Pharaoh arose that knew not Joseph, they were led into the most brutal form of slavery. But he did see be­yond it, and his outlook was that they could not stay there, that there must come the day when they went back to the land, which, as he said, God had promised to Abraham, and to Isaac and Jacob.

            And now the act of personal faith. He knew his re­lationship with that people, and he knew that he would not be there when they marched, when they actually left Egypt and went back to Canaan. Not only was he ignorant of the circumstances; he had no knowledge of when they would go, but he knew he would not be there. Carry my bones up; I belong to you, I belong to this movement; I am in this purpose of God, and though as to bodily presence, and the possibility of help and leadership I shall not be there, at any rate carry my bones up. "By faith he spake of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones."

            Now mark well the activity of faith as seen there. First of all it was the outward and onward look that made him give that commandment. He was not looking at circumstances. He knew them, he saw them, it is quite evident; but all his activities show how alive he was to the facts in the midst of which they were living, and in which he was living and exercising his authority.

            Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and assur­ance means confidence; and in the soul of Joseph burned the confidence that one day God's purpose must be fulfilled, however unreasonable it appeared at the present moment. That is faith. Faith is the assurance, the confidence of things hoped for, and therefore he was looking not only through and on, but into the meaning of the present; and looking into the meaning of the present he knew perfectly well that the future must be according to the divine purpose. "He made mention of the departure of the children of Israel"; faith in the purpose of God. He was proving in his soul the reality of the things not seen. He could not see anything that led to the expectation of return to Canaan. Indeed it did not seem politic to go back, or reasonable; and it certainly did not seem to be possible; but he saw the divine purpose, and therefore he gave commandment, and he chose in his activity of faith, identification with the people of God. A statesman, I called him. Never was the greatness of his statesmanship more adequately revealed than here, when all statesmanship on the earthly level was ceasing, when he was at the end. This great statesman took in the sweep of the ages, and the divine purpose, and said: When you march, carry my bones up.

            Now finally, for a moment, I want you to see that this final activity on the part of Joseph was in agreement with with the attitude of his life. There is nothing more arresting. Take the Bible, and go through for your­selves to see how, in all sorts of circumstances this man reckoned with God, believed in God, based his confi­dence upon that reckoning and upon that belief; and because he had done so, when he had got to the end, that same confidence expressed itself as he gave com­mandment concerning his bones.

            Go over the ground with me in the quickest way pos­sible. Do you see him in the house of Potiphar, a young man in all the flush and strength and beauty of his young manhood, faced with a terrible temptation? How did he overcome? I am quoting his words: "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Delivered from temptation and in the prison because he believed in God.

            Follow him to the prison. He is there for a long time, gaining the respect of the prisoners and the jailers, until there comes an hour when certain of those in authority come to him. They have learned enough of him to know he can help them. They asked him to explain the strange dreams, the baker and the butler. He had to wait a long time. When they asked him the meaning of their dreams do you remember what he said? "Do not interpretations belong to God?"

            There is the recognition again. He is going to inter­pret. Yes, but he says it belongs to God. He had to wait two whole years after the interpretations. The baker was executed, and the butler was delivered. You remember the telling little sentence, "the butler forgot Joseph." Of course that is another account. I shall never forget once hearing Thomas Champness read that chap­ter, and the only comment he made was when he read that verse. He said, "And his name is not always Butler!"

            But then things happened. Now next we see him before Pharaoh. The butler has told his account. Joseph has been sent for, and he is standing before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh in words characterized by honor, and even flattery, Sought an interpretation of these strange dreams he had had. Well, what did Joseph say? "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.. . . The thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass."

            There he stood now in the presence of the great ruler, out of the prison and in the court, and he is asked for an interpretation; and he says the same thing he said to the prisoners, "It is not in me, it is in God."

            Then we come to that matchless scene in which he is before his brethren, those men who had treated him so ill, and those men who had nearly broken their father's heart by lying about the boy. The father thought the boy was dead, and undoubtedly the brothers did, or hoped he was. They thought it was all over. Nothing is all over when it happens. All things will get up and look at you one day, and if not on this side of the grave, then on the other. It is very valuable and im­portant to remember that. I see him then before his brothers, and they are strangely perturbed. Naturally they were. What did he say to them? He attributed his success to God. "God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

            And then, "God did send me before you to preserve life."

            Even more emphatic, "It was not you who sent me hither, but God."

            They had sent him. They had been responsible. No, he said, there is someone higher than you over all your plotting. God saw the famine, He knew it was coming; He sent me before you to make provision for you.

            And in that hour he was the highest ruler. All power had been given to him, and wielded by him. What did he say about that? I have become the highest Lord in the land of Egypt.     Nothing of the kind. What did he say? "God hath made me lord of all Egypt."

            We see all the way, wherever we follow him; and when his father was dying, and his brethren were frightened, what did he say to them? Oh, yes, I know, I know what was in your mind. I know that you wanted to kill me, or get rid of me. "Ye meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."

            What a triumph, a man who could see through the immediate to the ultimate, a man who could see be­yond all the intrigues of men the purpose and the power of Almighty God. That is Joseph, and that is the man who at the end said, "I die." Yes, he knew. He knew the end was close at hand.

            "But God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land, unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." I die. God has made me ruler over all Egypt for the time being, and He has sent me to get ready for you. You meant evil. But there is something higher, and that is God; and God meant it for good, overruling even your foolishness and your sin in the interest of humanity. God meant it for good.

            And then what lies behind all this? God will bring you up out of this land. You are not going to stay here.

            This is not the appointed place for you. Canaan is the place. How do you know, Joseph? God sware it to Abraham, unto Isaac and to Jacob; and because God has arranged it, no circumstances can change it. God will visit you. You will leave Egypt. You will go up to that land. I will be dead; carry my bones out. At any rate associate me so far in the covenant and purpose of God. It was great faith, the faith of a life triumphing, when life was ending, and when all the larger movements from which he would be excluded on the earth level in the government of God would come to fulfillment; at any rate, take my bones up with you.

            It is a glorious picture, not a forlorn and battered soul trusting in God; but blessed be His holy name, the picture of a great and successful man, seeing that the greatest things were yet to come; and desiring to ex­press his confidence in those things, and his desire in some measure to be identified with the movement. Yes, a great and successful man, seeing that the greatest things were yet to come, and sure of them because he was sure of God.

            I prefer to leave the article at that point, believing that we shall see faith now acting perhaps as we have not seen it at all in this article before; acting in the case of a man such as Joseph was, who had risen to such a position of power; and had provided for his family in a wonderful and generous way through Pharaoh's agreement; and seeing the interval, but see­ing beyond all intervals to the purpose of God, and say­ing, I die; you will go; carry my bones up; and let that be the sacramental symbol of my relationship with the divine movement.