There are various themes that come to the fore in these burials. To start with, burial in the land indicated ownership of the land.¹ These leaders and their descendants thus received an inheritance because they had persevered in trusting the Lord.² Thus the motif of land inheritance is the common thread that runs through all three burial notices.³ Additionally the burials also provide connections between the Exodus and the invasion of Canaan. Joseph was born in Canaan but died in Egypt (Genesis 30:23–24; Genesis 50:26) whereas Joshua and Eleazar were born in Egypt but died in Canaan (Exodus 6:23; Numbers 11:28). By including the burial of Joseph, the book thematically links the Exodus and settlement events, interpreting them as the bookends of a single grand plan.⁴