Joseph, a man of exemplary character, lived 110 years, marked by honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and wisdom. Among all the remarkable events of his life, God highlights a singular act of faith in Hebrews 11, occurring at the very end of his life. This act, more significant to God than any other of Joseph's qualities or experiences, was his mention of the departing of the children of Israel and his commandment concerning his bones. Despite his high honor and esteem in Egypt, where he could have received a grand burial akin to royalty, Joseph chose not to be glorified in death. Instead, due to his faith, he left instructions for his remains to be removed from Egypt. Joseph's faith was rooted in the words of God relayed to him through his father, Jacob, or his grandfather, Isaac. He believed the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about the land and the future of their descendants. Joseph trusted that God would judge the strangers whom the children of Israel would serve, bring them out of that strange land, and lead them into the Promised Land. This belief prompted his final instructions, ensuring that his bones would not remain in Egypt but be carried to the ancestral lands as a testament to his faith in God's promises.

Joseph's faith reached its pinnacle when, as recorded in Hebrews 11:22, he expressed confidence in the promises passed down from Abraham that the children of Israel would return to the Promised Land. He therefore commanded that his bones be carried back to the land. This instruction rested on more than sentiment, for Jacob had declared on his deathbed that God would bring Joseph specifically back to the land of his fathers and grant him a double portion. Joseph nevertheless lived his entire life in Egypt and never received that inheritance. Hebrews 11:39 notes that he obtained a good testimony through faith yet did not receive the promise. The following verse clarifies that God had provided something better, so that the faithful of earlier generations would not be made perfect apart from those who would follow. Joseph's command regarding his bones therefore contemplated the resurrection, an event for which no precedent then existed. His reasoning likely drew from the account of Abraham, who accounted that God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill the promises. Although the precise instruction given to Abraham is not recorded, the story of that faith was evidently transmitted to Joseph and enabled him to conclude that he too would be resurrected to inherit the double portion. He therefore directed that his bones be placed in the land of his fathers so that, upon resurrection, he would already be there. Centuries later Moses took charge of Joseph's bones in fulfillment of the solemn oath recorded in Exodus 13:19, and the Israelites carried them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through forty years in the wilderness. After Moses died, Joshua ensured that the bones crossed the Jordan. Following Joshua's own death the bones were finally buried at Shechem, as stated in Joshua 24:32. Throughout this long journey Joseph's coffin served as a continuing testimony that God is faithful to His promises and that death is not the end. The same oath that bound the people to transport the bones was inseparably linked to Joseph's faith in Israel's deliverance and in the resurrection that would restore him to the land. Hebrews 4 records that the gospel was preached to the Israelites yet did not profit them; that gospel centers on the Kingdom of God and the future resurrection of the dead. Joseph's coffin, and the faith it represented, thus formed part of the proclamation they heard. Unlike the trials of his youth, Joseph's deathbed instruction was given freely, demonstrating a still higher level of faith. He declined the honors available to him in Egypt and instead entrusted his future to the promises God had made to his ancestors, confident that God could raise him to inherit them. This is the faith highlighted in Hebrews 11.