Joshua 24:33

_AND ELEAZAR THE SON OF AARON DIED; AND THEY BURIED HIM IN A HILL THAT_ Eleazar ... died, and they buried him in ... mount Ephraim. The grave is at the modern village Awertah, which, according to Jewish travelers, contains the graves also of Ithamar, the brother of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar (Van de Velde)....

29-33 Joseph died in Egypt, but gave commandment concerning his bones, that they should not rest in their grave till Israel had rest in the land of promise. Notice also the death and burial of Joshua, and of Eleazar the chief priest. The most useful men, having served their generation, according to the will of God, one after another, fall asleep and see corruption. But Jesus, having spent and ended his life on earth more effectually than either Joshua or Joseph, rose from the dead, and saw no corruption. And the redeemed of the Lord shall inherit the kingdom he prepared for them from the foundation of the world. They will say in admiration of the grace of Jesus, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen....

Verse Joshua 24:33. _AND ELEAZAR - DIED_] Probably about the same time as Joshua, or soon after; though some think he outlived him six years. Thus, nearly all the persons who had witnessed the miracles of God in the wilderness were gathered to their fathers; and their descendants left in possession of the great inheritance, with the Law of God in their hands, and the bright example of their illustrious ancestors before their eyes. It must be added that they possessed every advantage necessary to make them a great, a wise, and a holy people. How they used, or rather how they abused, these advantages, their subsequent history, given in the sacred books, amply testifies. _A HILL_ THAT PERTAINED TO _PHINEHAS HIS SON_] This grant was probably made to Phinehas as a token of the respect of the whole nation, for his zeal, courage, and usefulness:

(Eleazar’s burial-place is placed by Conder not at Tibneh but in the village of ‘Awertah.)...

EXPOSITION JOSHUA'S DEATH AND BURIAL.— JOSHUA 24:29 THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. The theory of some commentators, that this expression is evidence of a later interpolation because "the title only dates, from the period when Moses, Joshua, and others were raised to the rank of national saints," need only be noticed to be rejected. It is a fair specimen of the inventive criticism which has found favour among modern critics, in which a large amount of imagination is made to supply the want of the smallest modicum of fact. What is wanting here is the slightest evidence of such a "period" having ever existed, except at the time when these saints of the old covenant closed their labours by death. All the facts before us go to prove that Moses, as well as Joshua, was held in

AND ELEAZAR THE SON OF AARON DIED,.... Very probably in a short time after Joshua; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle i, he died as Joshua did, gathered the chief men of the children of Israel a little before his death, and enjoined them strict obedience to the commands of God, and took his leave of them, and then stripped himself of his holy garments, and clothed Phinehas his son with them; what his age was is not said: AND THEY BURIED HIM IN A HILL [THAT PERTAINETH TO] PHINEHAS HIS SON; or in the hill of Phinehas; which was so called from him, and might have the name given it by his father, who might possess it before him, and what adjoined to it. The Jews in the above treatise say k, that at Avarta was a school of Phinehas in a temple of the Gentiles; that Eleazar was buried upon the hill, and Joshua below the village among the olives, and on this hill is said l to be a school...

3. THE EPILOGUE CHAPTER 24:29-33 _ 1. Joshua's death and burial (24:29-31)_ 2. The bones of Joseph buried (24:32) 3. Eleazar's death (24:33) Moses, the instrument through whom the law was given, was buried by the Lord, no doubt a hint that some day the Lord would put away the law, with its curse, as we learn in the New Testament. Joshua was buried by the people in his own inheritance; he died ten years younger than Moses, that is 110 years old. Joseph had reached the same age, having died some 200 years before. Genesis 50:25, Exodus 13:19 and Hebrews 11:22 must be consulted to understand the burial of his bones recorded here. They had carried those bones all through the wilderness and

ELEAZAR. He dies and is succeeded by his son Phinehas. Compare Judges 20:28. Phinehas had been acting as deputy High Priest as far back as 1444; ten or twelve years before his father died. Compare Joshua 22:13. EPHRAIM. The Septuagint adds here: "In that day the sons of Israel took the ark of God, and carried it about among them; and Phineee exercised the priest's office in the room of Eleazar his father, till he died, and he was buried in his own place Gabaar. But the sons of Israel departed every one to their place, and to their own city. And the sons of Israel worshipped Astarte (i.e. the Asherah; see App-42) and Astaroth, and the gods of the nations round about them; and the Lotto delivered them into the hands of Eglom king of Moab, and he ruled over them eighteen years"....

Death of Joshua and Eleazar 29. _And it came to pass_ With the close of Joshua's parting address comes the close also of his own life. The historian proceeds to bring the book to a conclusion, and tells us of (i) the death of Joshua; (ii) the conduct of the people after his death; (iii) the burial of the remains of Joseph, which had been brought out of Egypt; (iv) the death of Eleazar the high-priest. _Joshua … the servant of the Lord, died_ His work was now over. His work of war, and his work of peace. His age when he died was precisely that which Joseph reached (Genesis 50:26), a hundred and ten years....

_VER._ 33. _AND ELEAZAR—DIED_— This event, probably, happened soon after the death of Joshua. The _Samaritan Chronicle_ says, that Eleazar called together the elders and heads of the people before his death; and that after having exhorted them to piety, he stripped himself of his vestments, and put them upon Phinehas, his son and successor. We have no proof of this circumstance, but it is very probable. _AND THEY BURIED HIM IN A HILL THAT PERTAINED TO PHINEHAS HIS SON_— A little hillock, or, according to some, a _town:_ it may be rendered, agreeable to the Vulgate, LXX, and Jonathan, _they buried him in Gibeath of Phinehas;_ this _town,_ or hillock, went by the name of Phinehas, according to the custom in those times of giving the name of the eldest in a family to the possessions which belonged to it. _WHICH WAS GIVEN HIM IN MOUNT EPHRAIM._— The Hebrew is doubtful. It does not immediate...