Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 2:9

"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." — Judges 2:9 (ASV)

They buried him. —This circumstance is usually added in the case of kings, heroes, etc. (Genesis 23:19; Jeremiah 22:18, etc.), and this care about burial seems to point to at least a dim hope of that immortality which had not yet been fully “brought to light.”

In the border of his inheritance. —(). It was in Mount Ephraim, and in a rugged and barren district—a circumstance which raised the astonishment of Paula at the self-denial of Joshua (Jerome, Ep. 108): “She was much astonished that the distributor of possessions had chosen rough mountain districts for himself.”

Timnath-heres. —“The portion of the sun.” This seems to be a mere “slip of the pen” (Ewald)—an accidental transposition of letters for Timnath-serah (“the portion that remains”), which is the reading of Joshua 19:50, and of the best versions, and of some manuscripts here. The mistake is, however, ancient, for it originated the Rabbinic story that it is a reference to “the sun standing still upon Gibeah,” and that the image of the sun (temunath ha-cheres) was sculptured on his tomb.

The Septuagint, after Joshua 24:30, adds the interesting Hagadah (traditional legend), that the people buried in Joshua’s tomb the flint knives with which they had performed the neglected rite of circumcision, after the passage of the Jordan (Joshua 5:2).

The name Timnath has been, perhaps, preserved in the modern Tibneh, about six miles from Shiloh. Its ruins still contain some richly decorated tombs. There was another Timnath in Dan.

The hill Gaash. —The name means “mount earthquake.” Its torrent beds are mentioned in 2 Samuel 23:30. It has not been identified.