Timnath-Serah

Timnath-serah is the city Joshua receives as his personal inheritance and where he is later buried. The same site appears in Judges under a variant name — Timnath-heres — and the joint witness of three texts gives the place its full profile.

Joshua's Inheritance

After the land has been divided among the tribes, Joshua makes a personal request and is granted a city in his own tribal territory: "according to the [Speech] of Yahweh they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and dwelt in it" (Josh 19:50). The grant comes by the [Speech] of Yahweh, the city is in Ephraim's hills, and Joshua has to build it up before he can live in it.

Joshua's Burial

The closing chapter of Joshua's book returns to the same place to bury him: "And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash" (Josh 24:30). The site is fixed by both region and landmark — Ephraim's hill-country, north of mount Gaash.

Timnath-heres in Judges

The Judges narrator records the same burial but with a variant form of the name: "And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash" (Judg 2:9). The location markers are identical with Joshua 24:30, confirming that the two names belong to one site. Across the three texts the city moves from request to construction to burial, with its name preserved in two related forms.