Nun , in the
Hebrew Bible, was a man from the
Tribe of Ephraim, grandson of
Ammihud, son of Elishama, and father of
Joshua. He grew up in and may have lived his entire life in the
Israelites'
Egyptian captivity, where the
Egyptians "made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field." In
Aramaic, "
nun" means "fish". Thus the
Midrash tells: "[T]he son of him whose name was as the name of a fish would lead them [the Israelites] into the land." (
Genesis Rabba 97:3.) Tradition places Nun's tomb near that of his son Joshua who, according to , is buried in
Timnat Serah whereas in Judges 2:9 it is mentioned as
Timnath-heres.. The similarly named
Palestinian village of Kifl Hares/Timnat Hares, located northwest of
Ariel in the
Samarian region of the
West Bank, now encircles both tombs.