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Exodus says Moses carried Joseph’s bones out of Egypt because Joseph had bound Israel by oath to do it. Jubilees gives a reason for the long wait, explaining that a war had closed the border so his body could not reach Canaan when he died.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 13:19
Hebrew Bible
18 So God brought the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear, “God will surely attend to you, and you will carry my bones up from this place with you.” 20 They journeyed from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the desert.
Jubilees 46:5
Pseudepigrapha
5 Before he died, he ordered the Israelites to take his bones along at the time when they would leave the land of Egypt. 6 He made them swear about his bones because he knew that the Egyptians would not again bring him out and bury him on the day in the land of Canaan, since Makamaron, the king of Canaan — while he was living in the land of Asur — fought in the valley with the king of Egypt and killed him there. He pursued the Egyptians as far as the gates of Ermon. 7 He was unable to enter because another new king ruled Egypt. He was stronger than he, so he returned to the land of Canaan, and the gates of Egypt were closed with no one leaving or entering Egypt.
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Notes and References
... The author of Jubilees integrates Genesis 50:24-25 in his rewriting to solve a problem. The biblical text does not make clear why Joseph did not ask for his bones to be taken to Canaan right away, as was the case with the bones of Jacob (Genesis 49:29-33; 50:1-14). The author of Jubilees suggests an answer to this question. A war had caused the border between Egypt and Canaan to be closed. That is why his bones could not be transported immediately to Canaan. Therefore, Joseph asked his brothers to make sure that he would be buried in Canaan. Genesis 50:24-25 refers forward to the exodus out of Egypt. In the biblical text, Joseph's request is executed by Moses during the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 13:19; compare Joshua 24:32). ...
van Ruiten, Jacques T.A.G.M.
"Between Jacob's Death and Moses' Birth: The Intertextual Relationship between Genesis 50:15-Exodus 1:14 and Jubilees 46:1-16" in Hilhorst, Anthony; Puech, Emile; Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C. (ed.) Flores Florentino: Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino Garcia Martinez
(p. 479) Brill, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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