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.
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, until they arrived at the promised land. The sarcophagus in which his mummied body had been put was brought hither 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. Kesitah, 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 Wely; but there is no reason to doubt that the precious deposit of Joseph's remains may be concealed there at the present time.