A short Insight into Joshua, Chapter 24 By Rabbi Nisson Dov Miller

As we find over and over in Tanach, subtleties and nuances bear many important lessons and insights. The end of Sefer Yehoshua is no different. We are hinted at by the spelling of the word “atzmos” (verse 32). The possuk states, “The atzmos (bones) of Yosef, which B'nei Yisroel had brought up from Mitzrayim, they buried in Sh'chem.” The Mei Zahav points out a difference in the spelling of atzmos here in Sefer Yehoshua to how we see it spelled when Yosef forced B'nei Yisroel to swear to him that they would bring him for burial in Eretz Yisroel. At the end of parshas Va'y'chi (50,25) atzmosai is spelled chaser, without a vav following the mem. However, when Moshe took the remains of Yosef from their burial place in Mitzrayim (Sh'mos 13,19) and in our possuk dealing with Yosef's final resting place, the word atzmos is spelled malei, with a vav following the mem.