32. the bones of Joseph--They had carried these venerable relics with
them in all their migrations through the desert, and deferred the
burial, according to the dying charge of Joseph himself, till they
arrived in the promised land. The sarcophagus, in which his mummied
body had been put, was brought thither by the Israelites, and probably
buried when the tribe of Ephraim had obtained their settlement, or at
the solemn convocation described in this chapter.
in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought . . . for an hundred pieces of
silver--Kestitah translated, "piece of silver," is supposed to mean
"a lamb," the weights being in the form of lambs or kids, which were, in
all probability, the earliest standard of value among pastoral people.
The tomb that now covers the spot is a Mohammedan Welce, but there
is no reason to doubt that the precious deposit of Joseph's remains may
be concealed there at the present time.
JFB.
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