What Is the Significance of Joseph’s Bones Being Carried Out of Egypt?
Return to Eden
When thinking of exile and return in the Bible, it’s critical to understand that the land of Israel promised to Abraham and subsequently occupied by Joshua and Israel throughout their history is a typological re-manifestation of the Garden of Eden. It is described in similar ways, as is the Garden of Eden.
This is especially true in Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua, but you can also see it in the book of Genesis. The land is not just a generic, geographically marked off space but serves this theological purpose of remembering Eden and hoping that someday the whole earth will return to that edenic state after a resurrection.
Return from Exile and the Renewal of God's People
Nicholas G. Piotrowski
Focusing primarily on the journeys of Abraham, Joseph, and Jesus, Nicholas G. Piotrowski examines exile stories throughout Scripture, showing how they illustrate humanity’s ultimate need for a Savior.
And that’s where Joseph’s story comes in. He knows he’s about to die, but he also has hope for a resurrection. And so he asks the children of Israel to remember to carry him up into the land—that new typological Garden of Eden—when they go.
And this does two things. Not only does it express hope for resurrection—why else would someone care so much about their bones?—but specifically where that resurrection will happen. He could be raised just as well in Egypt or anywhere else, but he wants to be raised in that space that represents the Garden of Eden, because someday the whole earth will revert back to those edenic conditions.
To put it in another way, Joseph believes that when he is raised to life, he will be raised in the Garden of Eden, in the very presence of God. This is significant for us because what it teaches us is the Christian hope of resurrection is not just, Oh, I get to live forever, but specifically, I will live forever in the presence of God, where there is true fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
Nicholas G. Piotrowski is the author of Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People.
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