TEXT [Commentary]

D.   Burial of Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar (24:29-33)

29 After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. 30 They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

31 The people of Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him—those who had personally experienced all that the LORD had done for Israel.

32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of silver.[*] This land was located in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph.

33 Eleazar son of Aaron also died. He was buried in the hill country of Ephraim, in the town of Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas.

NOTES

24:29 servant of the LORD. This designation was accorded to Moses at the beginning of the book (1:1, 13, 15). Now Joshua had also “earned” it.

the age of 110. Joshua’s ancestor Joseph also had lived 110 years (Gen 50:22). This was the ideal life span in ancient Egypt (Speiser 1964:376, note 22), where Joseph served as prime minister to a pharaoh, and where Joshua had been born.

24:30 Timnath-serah. See 19:49-51 and notes.

24:32 the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor. See Gen 33:18-20.

24:33 in the hill country of Ephraim, in the town of Gibeah. Unless “the hill country of Ephraim” carries here a uniquely broad significance, the Gibeah mentioned is not Gibeah in Benjamin (e.g., Judg 19:14; 20:21).

COMMENTARY [Text]

These three burials are the final notice in the book of Joshua that Canaan was now Israel’s land, however much work, vigilance, and even fighting still lay ahead. If Israel could bury a venerated ancestor and two revered leaders in this soil, they truly had come into their inheritance. When Sarah died, Abraham had to purchase a field with its cave to bury her (Gen 23:17-20); except for Rachel, all the first-generation matriarchs and patriarchs had been buried at that cave. Now Joshua, the patriarch of his generation, could be buried “in the land he had been allocated,” his own inheritance, which he already had received and lived upon. God had kept his promise.

The book of Joshua is not intended to be the biography of Joshua, the man, nor an apology for his leadership. The author recorded his shortcomings as well as his strengths. But the final assessment is positive. Joshua’s legacy was so strong that Israel remained faithful to God throughout the lifetime “of the elders who outlived him” (24:31).

Joseph had died in Egypt as second in command to Pharaoh. He was embalmed, probably mummified after the Egyptian fashion, and placed in a coffin (Gen 50:26). Israel had carried Joseph’s corpse out of Egypt and into Canaan to honor Joseph’s last request that he be buried in the land God had promised Israel (Gen 50:25; Exod 13:19). He, like Joshua, was buried “in the territory allotted to” his descendants (24:32), near the border between Ephraim and Manasseh. This particular plot had been Israelite for centuries, by right of Jacob’s purchase (Gen 33:18-20).

Eleazar the high priest had stood beside Joshua in the process of dividing the land and allotting portions to the tribes of Israel. All three men, Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar, were buried in Mount Ephraim, in the central part of the newly conquered land. The burial of these three was a final, important signal of God’s fulfillment of his promise to give Israel the land. Where a people can bury their honored dead with dignity, there is a sense of peace and security.

Joshua’s major themes of God’s faithfulness, God’s fulfillment of his promises, God’s gift of the land, and the spiritual importance of the land are carried down to the very last verse of the book. Thus, the book of Joshua from the first verse to the last encourages God’s people in every age to trust God even when the forces against us seem larger than life. God has promised many “good things” to his people. More important by far, God has promised always to be with us. In that assurance, we can enter with confidence into the inheritance and the rest God has promised (cf. Heb 4:1-10). May God make it so for all God’s people.