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The Testimony of the
Bones of Joseph
By DR. CLARENCE
SEXTON
Pastor, Temple Baptist Church,
and President, Crown College, Powell, Tennessee
 Genesis,
the first book of the Bible, ends with the death of Joseph.
“And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s
house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
“And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third
generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought
up upon Joseph’s knees.
“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and
God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land
which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
“And Joseph took an oath of the children of
Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my
bones from hence.
“So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years
old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”—Gen.
50:22–26.
Joseph’s bones were “put in a coffin in Egypt,”
but he had said, “Ye shall carry up my bones from hence,” because he was
confident that God would visit them.
“And it came to pass after these things, that
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred
and ten years old.
“And they buried him in the border of his
inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north
side of the hill of Gaash.
“And Israel served the Lord all the days of
Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which
had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.
“And the bones of Joseph, which the children of
Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of
ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for
an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the
children of Joseph.
“And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they
buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given
him in mount Ephraim.”—Josh. 24:29–33.
There are three deaths mentioned in this passage:
Joshua, successor to Moses; Eleazar, successor to Aaron; and Joseph,
prime minister of Egypt. A certain chapter in the life of God’s people
is now concluded. Before Joshua died, he had had part in the burial of
Joseph’s bones.
After 430 years of Israel’s sojourning, God broke
the yoke of Egyptian bondage with the judgments and plagues that came
upon the Egyptians. The death angel passed through Egypt, and death
touched every house except for those of God’s people that were protected
by the blood on the doorposts of their homes.
Centuries passed between the time of Joseph’s death
and the deliverance of Israel under the leadership of Moses. And for all
that time, they had been keeping up with the bones of Joseph as they had
been embalmed in Egypt.
Then we come to Exodus 13:19:
“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.”
I want to give you several reasons why “the bones
of Joseph” are so important that they would also be mentioned in the New
Testament.
“By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of
the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning
his bones.”—Heb. 11:22.
I. Joseph’s Bones Testify to the Faithfulness of
God
“For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens;
God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it,
he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord;
and there is none else.
“I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of
the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the
Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together,
ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up
the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take
counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath
told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else
beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
“I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my
mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
“Remember the former things of old: for I am
God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like
me,“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will
do all my pleasure.”—Isa. 45:18–23; 46:9,10.
Joseph was living among the idol worshipers in
Egypt, but he believed what God said because he had the testimony of a
faithful God. Joseph’s children had the responsibility of the care and
keeping of his bones. When they died, the responsibility was passed on
to the next generation, then to the next generation, and so on.
So for centuries they were carrying Joseph’s bones
around until until they reached the land of promise, they were in the
land of Canaan and conquest had been made. God kept His word: He visited
them—and Joseph’s bones testify to the faithfulness of God.
Christians today ought to take great hope in the
fact that every promise God has made is a true promise. He has kept His
word in the past, and He will keep His future promises.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in me.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also.
“And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
“Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not
whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”—John 14:1–6.
II. Joseph’s Bones Testify to the Influence of a
Family
Joseph, as a seventeen-year-old boy, was taken from
his family. His own brothers delivered him into the hands of Midianite
merchantmen, and he was sold into slavery. But he lived to see that
God’s hand was in it and that His timing was perfect. When Egypt became
the breadbasket for a hungry world, it was Joseph that God used to make
it the place to feed the multitudes.
Joseph’s brothers came to him, and when he finally
revealed himself to them, he testified to them and said, “You sold me,
but God sent me.”
There is something special about a family where the
Lord has the preeminence in the home and where children are taught to
look beyond all secondary causes and to see the hand of God.
Joseph lived at home for seventeen years, and he
learned something that kept his heart while he was traveling with those
Midianite merchantmen. He had learned something about God and what He
was doing through His people and what God would do for him. It was the
promises of God that he had learned in his home that kept him steady
when he was auctioned and sold as a slave.
He had learned to be true to God. He had learned to
live a pure life to such an extent that when he was in Potiphar’s house
and he was tempted beyond what most men would be able to overcome, he
did not yield to that temptation but remained faithful to God.
When he said, ‘I will not sin against God!’ it cost
him his position in Potiphar’s home, and he was cast into prison because
of it. But it was all in the Lord’s hand, and the Lord allowed him to be
put there so He could deliver him.
Joseph kept his faith in the Lord, and that
happened because of the influence of his family.
The greatest thing you as a Christian can do on
this earth is to help your children live for the Lord. Nothing will ever
begin to compare to that.
Some people look at our church, our school and our
other ministries and think what a wonderful thing God has allowed me to
do; and He has, and I am grateful for all of it. But my wife and I agree
that the most wonderful thing God ever gave to us is our two sons and
the greatest responsibility that God gave us was to rear them to know
and love the Lord.
Nothing can take the place of the influence of a
Christian home—absolutely nothing!
Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim; Ephraim was the
second son of Joseph. Each generation had been told about the Lord, and
God was faithful throughout the generations. Joshua looked back upon his
family line, and he saw Joseph as an ancestor. He was grateful that
Joseph was his ancestor, but he was also grateful to know of Joseph’s
faith in the Lord.
The influence of the family is extremely important.
Don’t try to conquer everything else in the world at the cost of losing
your own home.
When I was in my early twenties, I was sitting in a
meeting of about three thousand preachers, and Dr. W. A. Criswell,
pastor of the largest church in the world at that time, got up and said,
“Gentlemen, I have some advice for you preachers. Don’t spend all your
time trying to win the world and then let your own family go to Hell.”
He then told the most tragic story from his own family.
David Livingstone said, “When my children were
small, I had no time for them. Later in life I had all the time in the
world for them, but by then I had no children.”
When they took Joseph’s bones and placed them in
the ground at Shechem, no doubt they had great joy when they recalled
all the goodness of God all the way through their family line and the
heritage that they had. Those believers through the centuries were
keeping in step with God’s direction.
May God help us to understand the influence of the
right kind of a home and family. Parents, you may not leave your
children a material fortune, but do everything under God’s direction
that you can to leave them a godly heritage.
A lot of well-known and famous people travel around
the world and get the attention of the world, but many of them go home
empty queens and kings because they don’t have the pleasure, the purpose
and the joy that they could have had in their homes and in their
families through a godly influence.
I travel to a lot of places, but there is nothing
as thrilling to me as coming home to a loving family.
“The bones of Joseph” have a voice, and they tell
us about the influence of a family.
III. Joseph’s Bones Testify to the Brevity of
Life
Joseph lived 110 years, and centuries later Joshua,
one of his descendents, lived for the same number of years; but the
Bible says that “Joseph died” (Gen. 50:26) and “Joshua the son of Nun,
the servant of the Lord, died” (Judg. 2:8).
The Book of Ecclesiastes is a sermon from Solomon,
the son of David.
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher
[Solomon], vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
“I have seen all the works that are done under
the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”—Eccles.
1:2,14.
He is saying that apart from God there is
nothing fulfilling or that brings purpose.
“One generation passeth away, and another
generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”—Vs. 4.
We come and we go; we come and we go. And as we are
leaving, there is another generation on our heels.
There is brevity to life: “Remember how short my
time is” (Ps. 89:47). We ought to remind ourselves constantly that we
have no days to waste and no time to squander. Every day is a golden
opportunity to make the most for God and for His glory. When we make
each day an investment in eternity, we make the most of our time.
Dr. Lee Roberson lived to be ninety-seven, but if
you had asked him in his last days, he would have said that his life
seemed but a moment. Not many Christians can say that, because too many
use their time unwisely. They want to fume and fuss all the time. They
are either excited about winning the fight or pouting because they lost
it. Some want to play more than they want to work. God help them to
learn that life is too short for that kind of nonsense.
All of us, if the Lord doesn’t come soon, will have
our bodies carried to a grave. Our journey will be over, and we’ll be in
eternity; and we hope that loving hands touch our lifeless bodies and do
what is necessary for burial. All that will be left of us here will be
the influence that we’ve sown for God.
Centuries passed from the time Joseph died to when
his bones were finally buried in Shechem. How could his bones still be
speaking after all that time? Because those who truly live for God, live
longer after they’re dead than they did on earth. When you die to self
and give your life to God, your influence doesn’t die when you die.
Charles Spurgeon died in 1892 at the age of
fifty-seven, but over a hundred years after his death, he is perhaps the
most read preacher in the world. His works are so voluminous that if you
put all of his written material together, it would cover more space than
the Encyclopedia Britannica. There is hardly a preacher of any stripe
anywhere in the world that doesn’t know something about him. “The
world passeth away… but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever”
(I John 2:17).
Here we are at this time in human history, and I’m
still talking about a man who died and was buried over three thousand
years ago. While Joseph lived, he made his life count for God.
I know I am in a relay race, but it wasn’t until
recently that it really got hold of me and I got hold of it. The baton,
for a little while, has been handed to me; and, with God’s help, I must
run as hard as I can and do all that I can while it is in my hand. But
the time will come when I must pass that baton to someone else.
I want to do with my life as D. L. Moody wanted to
do with his: “When I am gone, I want to leave behind as many people
trained to serve the Lord as is humanly possible.”
One of the missionaries martyred in South America
said sometime before he died, ‘A man is no fool to give away what he
cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’
There are three things we cannot change: we will
grow older; we will move closer to our appointment with death; each
generation will pass away, and another generation will come after it.
“The bones of Joseph” testified to God’s
faithfulness, to the influence of his family and to the brevity of life.
You can make no greater investment than the
investment you make in God’s work for eternity. Of what does your life
testify?
“He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
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