As Joseph saw death approaching, he expressed to his brothers firm belief in the fulfillment of the divine promise (see chs. 46:4, 5; 15:16). He placed them under oath, that when God should lead them to the Promised Land they would bury his bones there. This desire was carried out. When he died he was embalmed, like his father (see on vs. 2, 3), and placed in a coffin. His body probably was accorded a temporary burial in a previously prepared tomb, according to Egyptian custom, and remained in Egypt until the time of the Exodus. At that time the Israelites, fulfilling his desire, carried his remains to Canaan and buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that had been bought by Jacob and given to his son Joseph (Gen. 33:19; 48:22; Joshua 24:32).

In an act of faith on the part of the dying Joseph the history of the patriarchal period ends. His coffin, or tomb, became to the sojourners in Egypt a constant reminder of the promises of God, that their permanent abode was to be the land of Canaan and not Egypt. It remained a standing exhortation to them to turn their eyes from Egypt to Canaan, and to wait in patience and faith for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to their fathers.