Yosef Returns to Israel
Parasha: va yechi – and he lived
Torah: Bereishit 47:28 – 50:26
“21 And Israel said to Yosef, Behold, I die: but Avinu shall be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” (Ge 48:21-22 )
** This is the only reference of this battle. The land that he gives to Yosef seems to have been purchased from Hamor before Shimon and Levi attacked Shechem and killed Hamor along with every other male in Shechem because of the rape of their sister, Dina. Approximately sixty years later, Yosef feels the pull of death and speaks to his brothers.
“24 And Yosef said to his brethren, I die: and Avinu will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25 And Yosef took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, Avinu will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from here. 26 So Yosef died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” (Ge 50:24-26 )
Several hundred years later, three generations after Yosef’s death, Avinu forces the nation of Israel to leave Egypt. The faithful Moshe honors Yosef’s request and takes his bones with him.
“And Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him: for he had solemnly sworn the children of Israel, saying, Avinu will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones from here with you.” (Ex 13:19
Approximately fifty years after Moshe takes Yosef’s bones out of Egypt, Yehoshua, Moshe’s successer, locates the parcel of land that Ya’akov purchased from Hamor and buries Yosef’s bones.
“And the bones of Yosef, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Yosef.” (Jos 24:32 )
** This is the only reference of this land purchase
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