Texts in Conversation
Joshua 24 ends with a note on Israel’s worship after his death, yet the Greek Septuagint has extra detail about flint knives from an earlier covenant ceremony. This version is likely earlier, with the Masoretic text removing the details to avoid offense.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Joshua 24:30
Hebrew Bible
27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God.” 28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. 29 After all this Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of 110. 30 They buried him in his allotted territory in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31 Israel worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Joshua 24:31a
Septuagint
28 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his place. 29 And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived as long as Joshua, and all that knew all the works of the Lord which he did for Israel. 30 And it happened after these things that Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord died, at the age of one hundred and ten years. 31 And they buried him by the borders of his inheritance in Timnath Serah in the mount of Ephraim, northward of the mount of Gaash: 31a there they put with him into the tomb in which they buried him, the knives of stone with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Gilgal, when he brought them out of Egypt, as the Lord appointed them; and there they are to this day. 32 And the children of Israel brought up the bones of Joseph out of Egypt, and buried them in Shechem, in the portion of the land which Jacob bought of the Amorites who lived in Shechem for one hundred ewe-lambs; and he gave it to Joseph for a portion.
Date: 200–101 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The reference to the flint knives (verse 31) further reinforces the idea of apostasy and even idolatry. Rofé interprets the LXX plus as original, while the Masoretic text removes it because of the offensive nature of relic-worship. Nelson takes the opposite view. He states that these folkloric and midrashic elements are to be expected in later expansions. I would like to postulate that the reference to the flint knives aims to expand the negative view of the covenant in Joshua 24. I am convinced that this is in line with the following books, which amplify the narrative of apostasy and fall ..."
Johan Wildenboer, “Joshua 24 in the LXX: Some Literary and Theological Remarks,” JSem 25.2 (2016): 483–502.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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