i
Jacob, now living in Egypt, makes his son Joseph swear to him that he will bury him in the Land of Israel, when the time comes.
And Joseph does.
*
Joseph, facing death himself, places an oath upon the Children of Israel to carry his bones up out of Egypt, into the Land of Israel, when God finally does send the people Israel free.
*
And earlier, when Abraham seeks a wife for his son, Isaac, Abraham makes his servant swear to him that he will take a wife for Isaac from Abraham's own homeland--and that he will bring her back to Isaac, back to the Land of Israel.
ii
The story of the people Israel returning to the Land of Israel, and coming to the Land of Israel, is the story of oaths given and accepted and taken and fulfilled.
It is the story of how our duties to each other must become the responsibilities we actually shoulder, the promises we make to one another: the promises we keep.
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