Josephs Vision: Never Losing Sight

by Jeffrey Dweck
The parasha tells of Jacobs request for burial in Canaan, Jacobs blessing of Josephs sons
Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacobs blessing of his sons, Jacobs death and burial, and Josephs
death.
And Israel said unto Joseph: Behold, I die; but G-d will be with you, and bring you
back unto the land of your fathers. And the time drew near that Israel must die; and
he called his son Joseph, and said unto him: If now I have found favor in your sight,
put, I pray, your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not,
I pray, in Egypt. But when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt,
and bury me in their burying-place. (48: 21, 29-30)
And Joseph said unto his brethren: I die; but G-d will surely remember you, and bring
you up out of this land unto the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying: G-d will surely
remember you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died, being a
hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in
Egypt. (50: 24-26)
One can easily understand Jacob's request to be buried alongside his father and grandfather.
But why Joseph? Joseph, who lived most of his life in Egypt, immersed in its royal ranks and
who never heard from G-d himself (like his predecessors) that he was part of a promise and a
lineage. It would seem that Joseph does hear the message of his father, that G-d will be with
you, and bring you back unto the land of your fathers and Joseph ultimately repeats that this
his brothers: G-d will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land
which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, but why the removal of his remains
from Egypt, his adopted home?
The Importance of Burial Place
It would seem that burial place mattered to the patriarchs first and foremost because of G-ds
promise of the land. The fact that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and Joseph) would all be buried
there emphasized their belief that G-d would give this land to their family. (Jacob may also
have wanted to be buried (a) with his family. Kings deaths, for example, are recorded as
rested with his ancestors, which must be some kind of honor (See 2 Kings 14:16 and 2
Chronicles 21:1) and/or (b) on a plot that he and his family owned, where he had been born
and where he was raised.)
An Intriguing Interpretation
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael (a pre-Talmud halakhic midrash to the Book of Exodus) taught
that the Israelites would later recall Josephs question in Genesis 50:19, am I in the place of

G-d? The Mekhilta taught that in their wanderings in the Wilderness, the Israelites carried
Josephs coffin alongside the Ark of the Covenant. The nations asked the Israelites what were
the two chests, and the Israelites answered that one was the Ark of the Eternal, and the other
was a coffin with a body in it. The nations then asked what was the significance of the coffin
that the Israelites should carry it alongside the Ark. The Israelites answered that the one lying
in the coffin had fulfilled that which was written on what lay in the Ark. On the tablets inside
the Ark was written (in the words of Exodus 20:2), I am the Lord your G-d, and of Joseph it
is written (in the words of Genesis 50:19), For, am I in the place of G-d?
The image of the ark, or "Aron," alongside the "Aron" is striking. One pictures them moving
in step, in unison, carrying equal weight. This, of course, could never be empirically true for one thing, the Tablets of the Covenant lay a foundation for a future; the Joseph mummy a
relic and show of respect for the past. For another, one is G-d-given and the other barely
human.
They key here, however, is not the imagery; it is the statement attributed to Joseph that has so
much significance: For, am I in the place of G-d? The statement and the removal of his
remains are connected in this Midrash. And they are connected in a way that gives Joseph
remarkable merit.
Joseph's Consistent Attitude
After Jacob dies and Josephs brothers fear final retribution, Joseph tells his brothers, kindly:
Fear not; for am I in the place of G-d? And as for you, you meant evil against me;
but G-d meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Now therefore fear not; I will sustain you, and your little ones. And he comforted
them, and spoke kindly unto them.
(50:19-21). Earlier, when he revealed himself, he said (unsolicited): And now be not grieved,
nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for G-d did send me before you to preserve
life. (45:5)
Joseph never saw himself as an Egyptian, much as the text portrays him so. He saw himself as
part of a larger scheme and he saw his entire adult life as advancing something he was only a
part of something he would never see to its end, but nonetheless something in which he
would be one of its most important components.
Recall that his dying message was G-d will surely remember you, and ye shall carry up my
bones from hence. In Hebrew:
.    ,


PaKaD is the term we use when designating an appointment or a persons job or mission, or
when counting people or an army. Maybe we can read Josephs message as: Like me, G-d
will surely appoint for you, too, a mission and a calling
Living under the burdens of modern-day demands and expenses, and the worries associated
with raising families, the notion of ones contribution to something greater than himself or his
family, or even his generation, is often lost on us. Its even more difficult to teach our
children that they are part of something larger than themselves. Josephs message reminds us
that if he can see generations ahead, and if he can find a message and a calling, so can we.