No Room In the Family Plot?

When you read Genesis closely you see Joseph and Jacob were buried in two different locations. Personally I usually skim over the names without giving much thought to it at all. But, come to find out Joseph was buried in a different location than his father and grandfathers.

Jacob got to be buried in the family plot, so to speak. His first wife was there, as were his parents and grandparents. Hmm. He requested it and it was done. So, why didn't Joseph? After all, he was the one who saved the entire family and subsequently an entire nation from extinction.

Jacob was buried twenty miles south of Jerusalem and Joseph was buried thirty miles north of Jerusalem. Jacob was buried in Hebron; Joseph in Shechem. Both places oddly enough sit on the same road known as the ridge route. I didn't realize that road traveled south of Jerusalem until I read A Visual Guide to Bible Events.

Here's the background that got my attention: Jacob was buried on the land that was the first piece of property bought by Abraham. Joseph was buried not only on the second place to be purchased by the family (his father Jacob), but it was also the place where God promised to give the land to Abraham's descendants. So there was significance to where Joseph's bones were laid to rest.

Still that's a long way to go to bury four hundred year old bones. Ever wonder how they did that without the bones breaking while the people made a run for it from Pharaoh's army, or while fighting off all the kings in their way, or while traveling to get to the final resting spot?

Again another detail that I've skimmed over. Joseph was embalmed. This is most unusual for the Hebrews. The Egyptians, however, would bury bodies in a substance commonly found in Egypt called natron, which was made up of sodium carbonate and baking soda, in order to preserve bodies for the afterlife. If I had looked closer before now I wouldn't have wondered how they transported bones that were almost four hundred years old.

It's a marvel how even back then that a man's request could be fulfilled four hundred years later. God made a way even if there seemed to be no way.