We are in chapter thirteen of Exodus with our word for today. פָּקַד visit, attend to, inspect, look at, see, appoint. It is used 299 times in the Old Testament, twice in our chapter. We find our word used in the sense of showing up to accomplish something. 1 Samuel 2:21 And the Lord פָקַ֤ד was gracious to Hannah [literally he visited]; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. Psalm 65:8-9 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. פָּקַ֥דְתָּYou care for [literally visit] the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. We see God showing up to fulfill one of his promises he had made previously. Genesis 21:1 Now the Lord פָּקַ֥ד was gracious to Sarah [literally he visited] as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. This is how our word is used in our chapter today.
Exodus 13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will פָּקֹ֨ד יִפְקֹ֤ד surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” We have our word used twice right next to each other in the infinitive and verb forms. So it is literally to visit you he will visit you. This also acts as an emphatic to stress emphasis of Joseph’s strong belief that this was definitely going to happen. God visits in the sense of showing up to fulfill what he had previously promised. That is he delivered his people out of slavery. Joseph again is a great example for us as we have seen many times with the words wee have looked at. He was convinced that God would do what he said and deliver his people out of Egypt so he made the people who were there at his death not to leave his bones in Egypt but to instead take his remains with them. Why would he do this? I don’t know but I think it was more for the people who would remember this promise during the 430 years of slavery. And what an example of God’s faithfulness to keep his promises when the people who didn’t know Joseph personally because everyone who did would now be long dead. What an encouragement that would be for the people to take his bones with them as a reminder of God doing what he said he would do. I’ll close with these great words from Hebrews of what faith in God looks like lived out. Hebrews 11:22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones. This is a great example of the very definition of faith seen earlier in Hebrews chapter eleven. Hebrews 11:1, 6 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
