⚔️WEB · Joshua 24:32
What does Joshua 24:32 mean?
"They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph."
— Joshua 24:32 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old.
They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.
They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Explanation
This verse records the burial of Joseph's bones at Shechem, closing a story that had been left open since the book of Genesis. When Joseph died in Egypt centuries earlier, he made his family swear an oath that when God eventually brought Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land, they would carry his bones with them and bury them there rather than leaving them in Egypt (Genesis 50:24-25). This verse reports the fulfillment of that promise: after the exodus, the wilderness wandering, and the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, the Israelites finally laid Joseph's remains to rest in the very plot of land that his father Jacob had purchased near Shechem generations before.
The context is the closing chapter of the book of Joshua. Joshua has led the nation into Canaan, the land has been divided among the tribes, and Joshua himself is about to die. The final chapter records covenant renewal at Shechem and then several notices of burial and death—Joshua's own burial, Joseph's bones, and later Eleazar the priest. These closing notices function as a kind of "amen" to the whole story that began with Abraham's call and the promise that his descendants would possess this specific land. The mention that Jacob had bought this parcel of ground from the sons of Hamor (recorded back in Genesis 33:19) is a small but pointed detail: Israel's claim to at least this portion of the land was not merely conquest but rightful, legal ownership stretching back generations.
Theologically, this verse is a quiet but powerful testimony to God's faithful
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