J24-44: Israel’s Golden Era Of Conquest Ends With The Death Of Joshua And The High Priest

“The bones of Yosef, which the people of Isra’el had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Sh’khem, in the parcel of ground which Ya‘akov had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Sh’khem for a hundred pieces of silver; and they became a possession of the descendants of Yosef.”-Joshua 24:32

In the closing verses of Joshua 24, we’re given this interesting footnote that the buried remains of Joseph the children of Israel had carried with them from Egypt were buried in Shechem.

The reason I say “footnote” is because it’s obvious this piece of information was later added to the text way after the fact.

A cursory reading of these verses gives the impression that the bones of Joseph were buried at the exact time Joshua passed away.

That just ain’t so.

In fact, the burial of Joseph’s bones would have been one of the very first things the Israelites did as soon as they entered the Promised Land.

The reason it was added here is because the editor of the book of Joshua figured it most suitable to include the mention of Joseph’s burial here since this important event wasn’t mentioned previously.

Next we’re told after Joshua breathed his last, the current High Priest, Eleazar died.

The next High Priest would be Pincheas.

And so we now close the book on one of the most golden periods of Israel’s history.

An era when, for the most part, the children of Israel triumphed over their enemies and were obedient to the commandments of Hashem.

It is fitting the close of this book ends with the burial of both the military and religious leaders of Israel 

Unfortunately, the next historical period of Israel is not so positive.

That’s probably why the next book up in our Bibles is called “Judges” or SHOFETIM in Hebrew.

During this period, there was no God-fearing leader like Joshua to lead the people.

The priesthood and the tribal leaders were to serve that function but as we’ll see, how things turned out were far from ideal.

Each person selfishly did what was best in his own eyes not paying heed to Adonai or His commands.

The consequences would be dire indeed.

NEXT TIME WE BEGIN THE BOOK OF JUDGES