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In Genesis 50, Joseph asks that his bones be carried to the land God promised. Joshua 24 ends that story by recording the burial of Joseph’s bones at Shechem, on land his father Jacob had bought.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 50:25
Hebrew Bible
24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to you and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25 Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, “God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place.” 26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. After they embalmed him, his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Joshua 24:32
Hebrew Bible
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. 32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money. So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. 33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, where his son Phinehas had been assigned land.
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Notes and References
... As framing elements, they unite groups of narratives that have their own coherence, namely, the Joseph story, the exodus, conquest and settlement in the land. They are grafted onto these narratives and bind them externally. They do not impinge on the inner construction of the respective plots. The exodus does not take place in order to bring Joseph’s bones back to Shechem. The Israelites do not wander in the wilderness only to bury Joseph in the plot of land he received as an inheritance from his father Jacob (Genesis 48:22). The three references to Joseph’s bones create an overarching plot, adding a new dimension to these different series of narratives. They become part of a new narrative composition spanning from Genesis to the end of Joshua. ...
* 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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