Joseph’s dying words in Genesis 50:24 used the Hebrew verb paqad—God will surely visit you, will surely remember you, because He has covenanted to do so.

These words were spoken by the dying man who had spent his life trusting in the hesed of the Great King covenants. Joseph had seen the fulness of the Great King’s covenant of grant operate through the varied circumstances of his life.

But then, four hundred years pass.

A new king arises over Egypt who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8). The covenant people multiply until they are a threat; they are enslaved and their infant sons are killed.

The situation from every human vantage point is covenant catastrophe.

And then Exodus 2:24 arrives: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”

The Hebrew word is zakhar, which means remembering. It is the covenant consciousness that means active, purposeful fidelity. The Great King remembers, he acts on his covenant promises. Joseph’s trust in the Great King’s commitment to remember his people and the exodus generation’s groaning have reached the same moment.

The burning bush is the Great King’s answer to four hundred years of waiting.