29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.
32 As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.1 It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Section Overview
Genesis ends with the death of Joseph (Gen. 50:22–26) following closely the death of Jacob (Genesis 49). Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses (Deut. 34:1–8). In like manner the notice of Joshua’s death concludes this book, along with the observation of the fate of the nation as he and the elders of the generation he led into Canaan pass from the scene (Josh. 24:29–31). This is joined by two further burials, one of which is of Joseph himself, whose remains now at last arrive at a final resting place (v. 32). The final notice is devoted to Eleazar (v. 33), who has been less prominent than Joshua in this book but has played the role of his “Aaron” after succeeding Aaron in the leadership of Israel with Moses at Aaron’s death (and in fact serving alongside Moses for some time before that; Num. 3:32; 33:38–39). Given the beginnings of the rise to prominence of Judah, it is remarkable that all three of these great leaders represent the north; Joseph (father of the northern tribes Ephraim and Manasseh) is buried at Shechem, while both Joshua and Eleazar are buried in Ephraimite territory. So leadership at the end is northern, even as the momentum passes to the tribe of Judah, both within chapters 13–19 as well as in the opening chapters of Judges. Perhaps, then, there is some symbolic value to these notices, as leadership dies in the north.
Section Outline
Response
To the end, then, the book contains signs of confidence and signals of warning. As has been pointed out on a number of occasions in this commentary, while the dominant tone and trajectory of the books of Joshua and Judges seem on the surface to be so different, a deeper connection and continuity can be seen between them. And that connection is forged more deeply than is sometimes realized. As the book of Judges begins, the death of Joshua is narrated once again, bringing the reader back to the book of Joshua.138 And the double ending of Joshua sets up the reader for the double introduction to Judges.
One of the gifts of Scripture is that we have both books. Together they do more than serve the ongoing narrative of God’s story and Israel’s place in it. Reading each book with an awareness of the other affects the perception of both books: (1) The defeats of Judges qualify the victories of Joshua, as seeds of human failure and disobedience take root and grow. (2) At the same time, the victories of Joshua temper the defeats of Judges—God’s purpose will ultimately not be thwarted by human weakness.