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Jubilees says the bones of Joseph’s brothers reached Hebron before his own, a tradition not found in the Hebrew Bible. Josephus echoes the same tradition in his retelling but does not mention the war that Jubilees uses to explain it.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jubilees 46:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 Joseph died in the forty-sixth jubilee, in the sixth week, during its second year [2242]. He was buried in the land of Egypt, and all his brothers died after him. 9 Then the king of Egypt went out to fight with the king of Canaan in the forty-seventh jubilee, in the second week, during its second year [2263]. The Israelites brought out all the bones of Jacob’s sons except Joseph’s bones. They buried them in the field, in the double cave in the mountain. 10 Many returned to Egypt but a few of them remained on the mountain of Hebron. Your father Amram remained with them.
Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2.8.2
Classical
2 Joseph passed away at 110 years of age. He was a man of admirable virtue, tempering his power with wisdom and moderation, which brought him great fortune among the Egyptians, despite being a foreigner brought there in dire circumstances. Eventually, his brothers died as well, having lived in peace in Egypt. Their descendants carried their remains back to Hebron, but Joseph’s bones were taken later, at the Exodus, as he had made them swear to do. What befell each tribe and how they took possession of Canaan will be shown later, after we explain why they departed Egypt.
Date: 93-94 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... The tradition that the bones of Joseph's brothers were brought from Egypt to Canaan before the bones of Joseph is also found in Flavius Josephus, although no war is mentioned: His brothers also died in Egypt, after a rich and prosperous life. Their bodies were taken later by their descendants and buried in Hebron. The bones of Joseph were carried away to Canaan much later, when the Hebrews moved away from Egypt (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 2.199-200). ...
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