The Death of Joshua
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance. And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.-Joshua 24:19-33***Joseph was the 1st son born to Jacob (Israel) and his 2nd wife Rachel. Years after Jacob was sent from his parents' home in Canaan to stay in Padan Aram, Haran, in northern Mesopotamia, Joseph was born was born. At least 6 years thereafter, Jacob began journeying to Canaan his 1st wife Leah, and maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah, and Rachel, Joseph, and sons Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah. In Canaan, the land that the Lord God promised to give to Jacob, and to Jacob's father Isaac, and to Isaac's father Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), and to their descendants, Jacob purchased land in Shechem. When Jacob and his family were living with his family in the region of Hebron in Canaan, Jacob sent 17-year-old Joseph to Shechem to check on Joseph's brothers. Joseph located his brothers in Dothan, near Shechem, and Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him. However, Reuben convinced the other brothers not to kill Joseph, and Judah convinced the other brothers to sell Joseph to merchants traveling to Egypt. At home, Joseph's brothers led Jacob to believe that Joseph was killed by an animal. The merchants sold Joseph to Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Joseph lived in Egypt for the rest of his life and went from being the top enslaved servant in Potiphar's home, to being falsely accused, and imprisoned, and appointed second-in-command in Egypt, according to the will of the Lord God. When there was a famine in Canaan, Joseph's brothers went to Egypt and purchased corn. After their 2nd trip to Egypt, and Joseph's words to his brothers, 130-year-old Jacob and his family moved from Canaan to Egypt, according to Joseph's request and the permission and invitation of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. For the last 17 years of Jacob's life, Jacob was near Joseph. Moreover, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons, and Jacob was able to hear Joseph vow to bury him in the cave in Canaan wherein were buried the bodies of Jacob's grandparents Abraham and Sarah (Sarai), and Jacob's parents Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah. Before 110-year-old Joseph died in Egypt, Joseph was able to hear the Israelites vow to take his bones with them when the Lord God brought them out of Egypt. During the reign of a different Pharaoh, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were from the tribe of Levi. When Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83, they led the Israelites away from Egypt, according to the command of the Lord God, and Moses carried Joseph's bones with him. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron died and was buried. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses died and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the Promised Land. Sometime after the land was divided accorded to the commands of the Lord God, Joseph's bones were buried in Shechem, in a portion of the Promised Land allotted to Joseph's descendants. Over 1,300 years after Joseph's bones were buried, and 110-year-old Joshua died and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. Approximately 30 years after Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by Mary's relative John the Baptist, from the tribe of Levi. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelite, the treasured and chosen people of the Lord God. Near Shechem, Jesus spoke to a woman in Samaria, and the woman spoke of Jacob and Jacob's connection to the land.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers 20:1-29, 27:12-23, Deuteronomy 31:1-30, 32:44-52, 34:1-12, Joshua, Judges 1:1-2:23, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles 1:1-34, 2:1-17, 3:1-24, 6:1-81, 7:20-29, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26