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.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 32. Sichem. Joseph had charged his brethren to take his bones with them. Genesis 50:24. Exodus 13:19. Masius supposes that they were solemnly interred after the altar was erected near Sichem, and the covenant ratified, when all the people were together. Others think that they deferred doing this till the country was conquered and divided. Josue would lose no time unnecessarily in performing these last rites to the revered patriarch.—Field. Jacob had given this field to his son. He had first purchased it; (Genesis 33:19,) and when the Amorrhite had taken possession again, after the unhappy affair at Sichem, he recovered it by the sword. Genesis 48:22.—Ewes. Hebrew Kesita may denote also some species of money, though not perhaps marked with any figure of a lamb, and so forth Calmet.—Prot. “pieces of silver.” Bible.—The mausoleum of Joseph at Sichem, was to be seen in S. Jerom’s time. q. Hebrew in Gen. Worthington.
Hebrew: kesitahs. A kesitah was a kind of silver coin.