This book, which began with triumphs, here ends with funerals, by which
all the glory of man is stained. We have here 1. The burial of Joseph,
v. 32. He died about 200 years before in Egypt, but gave commandment
concerning his bones, that they should not rest in their grave until
Israel had rest in the land of promise; now therefore the children of
Israel, who had brought this coffin full of bones with them out of
Egypt, carried it along with them in all their marches through the
wilderness (the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, it is probable,
taking particular care of it), and kept it in their camp till Canaan
was perfectly reduced, now at last they deposited it in that piece of
ground which his father gave him near Shechem, Gen. xlviii. 22.
Probably it was upon this occasion that Joshua called for all Israel to
meet him at Shechem (v. 1), to attend Joseph's coffin to the grave
there, so that the sermon in this chapter served both for Joseph's
funeral sermon and his own farewell sermon; and if it was, as is
supposed, in the last year of his life, the occasion might very well
remind him of his own death being at hand, for he was not just at the
same age that his illustrious ancestor Joseph had arrived at when he
died, 110 years old; compare v. 29 with Gen. l. 26. 2. The death and
burial of Joshua, v. 29, 30. We are not told how long he lived after
the coming of Israel into Canaan. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it was about
seventeen years; but the Jewish chronologers generally say it was about
twenty-seven or twenty-eight years. He is here called the servant of
the Lord, the same title that was given to Moses (ch. i. 1) when
mention was made of his death; for, though Joshua was in many respects
inferior to Moses, yet in this he was equal to him, that, according as
his work was, he approved himself a diligent and faithful servant of
God. And he that traded with his two talents had the same approbation
that he had who traded with his five. Well done, good and faithful
servant. Joshua's burying-place is here said to be on the north side of
the hill Gaash, or the quaking hill; the Jews say it was so called
because it trembled at the burial of Joshua, to upbraid the people of
Israel with their stupidity in that they did not lament the death of
that great and good man as they ought to have done. Thus at the death
of Christ, our Joshua, the earth quaked. The learned bishop Patrick
observes that there is no mention of any days of mourning being
observed for Joshua, as there were for Moses and Aaron, in which, he
says, St. Hierom and others of the fathers think there is a mystery,
namely, that under the law, when life and immortality were not brought
to so clear a light as they are now, they had reason to mourn and weep
for the death of their friends; but now that Jesus, our Joshua, has
opened the kingdom of heaven, we may rather rejoice. 3. The death and
burial of Eleazar the chief priest, who, it is probable, died about the
same time that Joshua did, as Aaron in the same year with Moses, v. 33.
The Jews say that Eleazar, a little before he died, called the elders
together, and gave them a charge as Joshua had done. He was buried in a
hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which came to him, not by
descent, for then it would have pertained to his father first, nor had
the priests any cities in Mount Ephraim, but either it fell to him by
marriage, as the Jews conjecture, or it was freely bestowed upon him,
to build a country seat on, by some pious Israelite that was
well-affected to the priesthood, for it is here said to have been given
him; and there he buried his dear father. 4. A general idea given us of
the state of Israel at this time, v. 31. While Joshua lived, religion
was kept up among them under his care and influence; but soon after he
and his contemporaries died it went to decay, so much oftentimes does
one head hold up: how well is it for the gospel church that Christ, our
Joshua, is still with it, by his Spirit, and will be always, even unto
the end of the world!
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