The BONES of Joseph?

[whirlwind]

Bones! There are many Biblical mentions of....bones. One verse that has always puzzled me is....

• Genesis 50:25-26 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.

Joseph was embalmed, his body was embalmed, so why did he request..."carry up my bones" and not "carry up my body?" From the description of "bones" in the Strong's Concordance the two can be used interchangeably but I believe the use of bones versus body is a critical distinction.

They also embalmed Jacob/Israel....father of Joseph, father of the tribes, [Genesis 50:2-3] "and the physicians embalmed Israel." Israelites never embalmed but here we see that it is Egypt embalming or...preserving the body not only of Joseph but....of Israel! Much is said in that. :yes Just as Joseph made the request to be taken from Egypt so did his father Jacob/Israel...

• Genesis 49:29-31 And he charged them, and said unto them, "I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried A-braham and S-arah his wife; there they buried I-saac and R-ebekah his wife; and there I buried L-eah [list:1ybz1vwd]
  
  The five mentioned form an acrostic of the sixth. I,S,R,A,L (there is no vowel in Hebrew). So there we see.....ISRAEL.

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Though the body of Joseph was "put in a coffin in Egypt" it is not to remain there, dead in Egypt/the world. Upon the resurrection of Jesus the saints (their spiritual bodies) rose and went to the holy city. [Matthew 27:53] Where else do we see the mention of the bones of Joseph?

 

[whirlwind]

• Exodus 13:18-19 But God led the People about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Isarel, saying, "God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you."

The children of Israel left Egypt, symbolic of the world and it's lusts, "harnessed" which is as..."able bodied, armed soldiers." God will lead us, His children, out of Egypt/the world and in doing so we will be His "able bodied, armed soldiers." Christian soldiers armed with the gospel armour...His Word.

• Joshua 24:32 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.

What became the inheritance? The "parcel of ground" or is the IT the "bones of Joseph," the strength of Joseph? The "children of Joseph" are Manasseh and Ephraim. Ephraim, as it is the largest tribe, is often used of all of "the ten northern tribes," and they are the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." All of Israel was preserved (saved) in/from Egypt but it is the bones of Joseph that shall be taken from Egypt, the bones are the strength of the body. All of Israel is the body but Joseph is the bones, the strength of the body. The "children of Joseph" inherited the bones.

The "parcel of ground" is the same place Joseph's father Jacob/Israel was buried mentioned in the above post. This is saying, the bones are with the body, the strength is with Israel and their strength is found in the sons of Joseph...Ephraim and Manasseh who inherited the strength of Israel, or...who they represent. They are today's Christians!

"God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you." Yes, God will surely visit us and...we are the bones of Joseph, the strength of the body that shall be carried up. The bones are the priests written of in Ezekiel concerning the millennium....

• Ezekiel 44:15 But the priests the Levities, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: (23) And they shall teach My People the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. (28) And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.

 

[whirlwind]

It is the "sons of Joseph" that receive a "double portion of the inheritance." Why? Because the birthright became that of Joseph. Normally the birthright is for the firstborn...

• 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's
  
  Ezekiel 47:13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; "This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.

The house of Israel are today's Christians. We are the bones, we are those "in the midst of the valley," the "valley of the shadow of death today!" [Psalms 23] We are to "walk through" this valley as He leads us so we will not be in the future "great valley."

• Ezekiel 37:1-2 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them, round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
  
  Zechariah 14:4 And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee (Him).
  
  [list:3py4anfy]The valley, that time in that valley is, I believe,....the millennium! Half of the mountain (nations) are on one side of the gulf and half on the other. All will be taught and all will be tested. Then, the books will be opened!

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God told the son of man, Ezekiel, to prophesy, teach, the bones to "hear the word of the LORD." We too are the "son of man" and we too are to teach the "word of the LORD," once our bones are shaken and we receive His breath of life.

• Ezekiel 37:5-7 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.' ' " So I prohesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise (voice), and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

The sinew, flesh and skin "came upon them" but...not the breath - Spirit! "There was no breath in them." So "said He unto me, "Prophesy unto the wind" to "breathe upon these slain, that they may live.' ' " Without His breath, His Spirit...there is no life. Without His Spirit we are the walking, talking, breathing....spiritually dead bones.

• 37:10-13 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then He said unto me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.' Therefore prophesy and say unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord GOD; 'Behold, O My People, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My People, and brought you up out of your graves.

When did that happen? When did He cause, or allow us...His People, to "come up out of your graves?" His crucifixion is the event which allowed His People to come out of their graves. An example to us in these days...when our bones are filled with His Spirit.

• Matthew 27:52-53 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

The holy city was not on earth...it is in heaven. This speaks of the spiritual bodies of the saints rising. Dead bodies did not climb out of their sepulchres and walk the earth.

The bones of Joseph, Christians, are to be shaken as the Holy Spirit is breathed into us. We are the strength of the body. :amen