What is the context?
Joshua dies at one hundred and ten and is buried in his own inheritance. The account calls him the Lord’s servant and recalls Israel’s service during his lifetime and that of the elders who had known the Lord’s works.
Joseph’s bones, carried out of Egypt, are buried at Shechem in the plot Jacob bought. This closes an obligation reaching back before the exodus and locates the burial within the descendants’ inheritance.
Eleazar also dies and is buried in the hill country of Ephraim. The book therefore ends with the passing of its principal leaders, while the land and the remembered acts of the Lord remain for the people who follow them.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley connects Joseph’s burial with his earlier command concerning his bones and notes the parallel ages of Joseph and Joshua at death. The narrative itself joins the burials with inheritance and remembered faithfulness. It does not identify a present archaeological tomb as certainly authentic or give an exact interval between all these deaths.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Hebrews 11:22 explicitly describes Joseph’s instruction about his bones as an act of faith concerning the coming exodus. The burial here completes that remembered instruction in the land. Hebrews places such faith within the wider hope God brings to completion for His people, rather than treating a grave or human leader as the source of salvation.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.