Hebrews 11:22

So greatly, he says, did he believe that the Israelites would be freed from Egypt, that he even commanded them with an oath to carry his bones with them (Gen. 50:25). And he did this not because he was concerned about a grave — being …

Joseph was eminent for his faith, though he had not enjoyed the helps for it which the rest of his brethren had. He was tried by temptations, by sin, by persecution, for retaining his integrity. He was tried by preferment and power in the court of Pharaoh, and yet his faith held out and carried him through to the last.

By faith Joseph, when he died,....

The advantages that we have in the gospel for the exercise of this grace above what those had who lived in the times of the Old Testament,

Joseph, when he died - Τελευτων, When he was dying, gave commandment concerning his bones. On this subject I refer the reader to the notes on Gen 50:25 (note). And I have this to add to the account I have given of the sarcophagus now in the British Museum, vulgarly called Alexander’s coffin, that it is more probably the coffin of Joseph himself; and, should the time ever arrive in which the hieroglyphics on it shall he interpreted, this conjecture may appear to have had its foundation in truth.

Joseph's eminent position in Egypt did not make him regard it as his home: in faith he looked to God's promise of Canaan being fulfilled and desired that his bones should rest there: testifying thus: (1) that he had no doubt of his posterity obtaining the promised land: and (2) that he believed in the resurrection of the body, and the enjoyment in it of the heavenly Canaan.

WE cannot readily tell which action in a gracious life God may set the most store by. The Holy Spirit in this chapter selects out of good men's lives the most brilliant instances of their faith. I should hardly have expected that He would have mentioned the dying scene of Joseph's life as the most illustrious proof of his faith in God. That eventful life, perhaps the most interesting in all sacred Scripture, with the exception of One, abounds with incidents of which the Holy Spirit might have said by His servant Paul, "By faith Joseph did this and that," but none is mentioned save the closing scene. The triumph especially of his chastity under well-known and exceedingly severe temptation, might have been very properly traced to the power of his faith, but it is passed over, and the fact that he gave commandment concerning his bones is singled out as being the most illustrious proof of his faith. Does not this tell us, dear Brothers and Sisters, that we are very poor judges of what God will most delight in? Very likely, when we least please ourselves, God is best pleased with us. That prayer over which we groaned, and thought it was not prayer, may have had more true supplication in it than another intercession of which we thought far more highly. That sermon which made us lament in the bitterness of our soul because we thought we had delivered it so feebly, may have been, in God's sight, more precious than many a fluent discourse concerning which we congratulated ourselves. That trial which we thought we passed through with so much impatience, may have been before God an exhibition of true patience as He looked deep down into our souls. The tests by which we try ourselves are very inaccurate.

WE cannot readily tell which action in a gracious life God may set the most store by. The Holy Spirit in this chapter selects out of good men's lives the most brilliant instances of their faith. I should hardly have expected that He would have mentioned the dying scene of Joseph's life as the most illustrious proof of his faith in God.

By faith Joseph, when he died - When about to die; see Gen 50:24-25. Made mention of the departing of the children of Israel - Margin, “remembered.” The meaning is, that he called this to their mind; he spake of it. “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.” This prediction of Joseph could have rested only on faith in the promise of God. There were no events then occurring which would be likely to lead to this, and nothing which could be a basis of calculation that it would be so, except what God had spoken. The faith of Joseph, then, was simple confidence in God; and its strength was seen in his firm conviction that what had been promised would be fulfilled, even when there were no appearances that to human view justified it. And gave commandment concerning his bones - Gen 50:25. “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.” He had such a firm belief that they would possess the land of promise, that he exacted an oath of them that they would remove his remains with them, that he might be buried in the land of his fathers. He could not have exacted this oaths, nor could they have taken it, unless both he and they had a sure confidence that what God had spoken would be performed.