Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 24:29
And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, [being] a hundred and ten years old.
29 33. Death of Joshua and Eleazar
29. And it came to pass ] With the close of Joshua’s parting address comes the close also of his own life. The historian proceeds to bring the book to a conclusion, and tells us of (i) the death of Joshua; (ii) the conduct of the people after his death; (iii) the burial of the remains of Joseph, which had been brought out of Egypt; (iv) the death of Eleazar the high-priest.
Joshua the servant of the Lord, died ] His work was now over. His work of war, and his work of peace. His age when he died was precisely that which Joseph reached (Gen 50:26), a hundred and ten years.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jos 24:29-33
Joshua . . . died.
The burials of distinguished saints
Within the compass of the five last verses of this book three deaths are recorded and three burial-places signalised by the deposited remains of the most distinguished saints. After all we have seen in Canaan, let us visit the sepulchre of Joshua. The short record given may be viewed as a simple, unvarnished memento, or monumental inscription (verses 29, 30). The place of his interment was in the lot of his inheritance, and may remind us how soon the seat of life becomes the repository of death. Short had been the date of his settlement: an hundred years before he obtained rest, and then but ten before he must lie down in his grave, not again to rise till the heavens be no more. What can be a greater or more convincing proof of still higher and nobler ends of Providence than any contained within the limits of this life, when even the most distinguished of Gods family, the most exemplary and useful of His children, are not suffered to continue by reason of death, but are early removed from the happiest scenes on earth! It bespeaks the greatness of man, and the more exalted provisions of glory the infinite goodness of God has secured in another world. The designs of His grace are too exalted, and the displays of His power too wondrous, to centre in any earthly lot, though equal in beauty and richness to Eden, when as yet the seat of innocence, perfection, and love. Timnath-serah was still the portion of his lot, even in death. Where he lived in possession, there he lay in possession, nor left any commandment, as Jacob and Joseph, for removal. It is remarkable how much this was the desire of the faithful, and of what moment, though not in itself, yet in its typical regards, they viewed a burying-place in the promised land. It was as if they thought upon the interests of their sleeping dust as well as the felicity of their undying spirits, and in still retaining their inheritance, even in a state of death, would claim for their bodies a share in the life to come; for He who had so richly provided for the one as well as for the other, in an inheritance entirely typical, would not have so essential a part of our redeemed nature for ever the prey of worms. Where the believer now rests, in what bed matters little, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life of all His people. A short inscription, which, as a plain monumental record of his character and age, claims in the solemn reflections here excited a moments pause: Servant of the Lord died, being an hundred and ten years old. What an important connection of age and dignity! What an honour to lie down at last under this character! This is the highest style of man. What he had done, and all which this book recorded of the mighty conquests achieved, was not here to be named; for in everything he had been but a servant, and only the willing instrument of Omnipotence. The title was all that need appear, or that any who know their own insignificance would desire. It is enough that they rest from their labours, and their works do follow. Joshua and all the saints, from infancy to age, through the long lapse of time, shall retain the record of truth, and in the character in which they died rise the servants of God. As now in the end of life it is said, The servant of the Lord died, being an hundred and ten years old, so then shall commence the history of eternity. The servant of the Lord arose the beginning, the first day, of immortality. From the tomb of Joshua let us go to the burying-place of Joseph: it is in the same inheritance, and not far distant. It is remarkable in the connected record of these burials that Joshua should have lived just the same number of years as this his distinguished ancestor, and that though not buried in the same spot, yet in the same inheritance, and not far distant from the same period. Never was there so singular a funeral: two hundred years dead before interment. Many, we may think, crowded to see it, and if the Church in heaven could have been witnesses, the sight must have yielded pleasure; for it was the burial of faith. And did it reach the glorified saint, the spirit long made perfect, or could he have looked down upon the purchased spot of his father, the desired resting-place of his bones, he would have known the fidelity of his brethren, and have rejoiced in the end of his faith. It became the inheritance of the children of Joseph, though he had stood a stranger in the land, when, in obedience to the dying request of his father, he buried him in the grave which himself was said to have digged (Gen 50:5). How remarkable that the place where Joseph obtained interment, and where at length he was gathered to his fathers, should turn out the inheritance of his sons; and that, though separated many years from his father in life, he should, as he, rest in Canaan, and find a grave even in his own inheritance. Oh! it was a sweet privilege to be entombed in his own inheritance, and to hold a place with both his sons and his fathers in what bespoke the common hope and claim of all the faithful. It was a choice spot, and where any saint would have wished to have been laid, and there to have rested in the hope of all that was, in the perfection of the Church and close of time, to open in the grandeur of the resurrection, when, as the heirs of promise, and the sons of immortality, they would rise to claim a fairer, brighter, and more lasting inheritance above the skies. The ground was a purchase (Gen 23:16-17). And now the purchase of Jacob became the burying-place of Joseph. The heavenly land is spoken of as a purchased possession, and that in no part ever to become a burying-place, but the seat of endless life and felicity to the whole Church of God. But, oh! what has been the purchase, what paid for it, by the eternal Son of God! One more burying-place within this inheritance is pointed out: And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, &c. As situated near Shiloh, this was, probably for its convenience, assigned as the residence of the high priest. We see the inheritances of Israel fast changing into the burying-places of the dead. It was not the land of immortality, not that state of being of which it is said, There shall be no more death, &c. In Canaan all must die, as well princes, priests, and rulers, as others; but in heaven none die: there natural evils and moral pollutions are for ever removed. (W. Seaton.)
Israel served the Lord.
Faithful adherence to engagements
The men of that generation remained faithful to their engagements. These men, who had themselves known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel, in bringing them into Canaan and in subduing the hostile nations, never forsook His worship for the worship of the idols of the laud, of whose boasted power they had witnessed so signal a discomfiture. The character and admonitions of Joshua were not forgotten. His disinterestedness, his energy, his singleness of purpose, his faith, had left a track of glory behind, as the sun, after he has sunk below the horizon, flings glorious hues and golden light over all the western sky. The men who had themselves seen the conquests of Joshua would have been doubly inexcusable if they had forsaken the worship of Jehovah. Like the disciple Thomas, because they had seen they had believed. How, indeed, could it have been otherwise? How could they, standing there in Shechem,–the site of Abrahams altar, of Jacobs well, of Josephs tomb, of Joshuas victories–refuse to believe in the Divine calling of the people Israel? (L. H. Wiseman, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. Joshua the son of Nun – died] This event probably took place shortly after this public assembly; for he was old and stricken in years when he held the assembly mentioned Jos 23:2; and as his work was now all done, and his soul ripened for a state of blessedness, God took him to himself, being one hundred and ten years of age; exactly the same age as that of the patriarch Joseph. See Ge 50:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
29, 30. Joshua . . . diedLIGHTFOOTcomputes that he lived seventeen, others twenty-seven years, afterthe entrance into Canaan. He was buried, according to the Jewishpractice, within the limits of his own inheritance. The eminentpublic services he had long rendered to Israel and the great amountof domestic comfort and national prosperity he had been instrumentalin diffusing among the several tribes, were deeply felt, wereuniversally acknowledged; and a testimonial in the form of a statueor obelisk would have been immediately raised to his honor, in allparts of the land, had such been the fashion of the times. The briefbut noble epitaph by the historian is, Joshua, “the servant ofthe Lord.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass, after these things,…. Some little time after, very probably the same year:
that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, [being] an hundred and ten years old; he wanted ten years of Moses his predecessor, De 34:7, and just the age of Joseph, Ge 50:22, from whom he sprung, being of the tribe of Ephraim, Nu 13:8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Death and Burial of Joshua and Eleazar. – With the renewal of the covenant Joshua had ended his vocation. He did not formally lay down his office, because there was no immediate successor who had been appointed by God. The ordinary rulers of the congregation were enough, when once they were settled in Canaan, viz., the elders as heads and judges of the nation, together with the high priest, who represented the nation in its relation to God, and could obtain for it the revelation of the will of God through the right of the Urim and Thummim. In order therefore to bring the history of Joshua and his times to a close, nothing further remained than to give an account of his death, with a short reference to the fruit of his labours, and to add certain other notices for which no suitable place had hitherto presented itself.
Jos 24:29-30 Soon after these events (vv. 1-28) Joshua died, at the age of 110, like his ancestor Joseph (Gen 50:26), and was buried in his hereditary possessions at Timnath-serah, upon the mountains of Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash. Timnath-serah is still in existence see at Jos 19:50). Mount Gaash, however, has not been discovered.
Jos 24:31-33 Joshua’s labours had not remained without effect. During his own lifetime, and that of the elders who outlived him, and who had seen all that the Lord did for Israel, all Israel served the Lord. “The elders” are the rulers and leaders of the nation. The account of the burial of Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought with them from Egypt to Canaan (Exo 13:19), is placed after the account of Joshua’s death, because it could not have been introduced before without interrupting the connected account of the labours of Joshua; and it would not do to pass it over without notice altogether, not only because the fact of their bringing the bones with them had been mentioned in the book of Exodus, but also because the Israelites thereby fulfilled the promise given by their fathers to Joseph when he died. The burial of Joseph in the piece of field which Jacob had purchased at Shechem (vid., Gen 33:19) had no doubt taken place immediately after the division of the land, when Joseph’s descendants received Shechem and the field there for an inheritance. This piece of field, however, they chose for a burial-place for Joseph’s bones, not only because Jacob had purchased it, but in all probability chiefly because Jacob had sanctified it for his descendants by building an altar there (Gen 33:20). The death and burial of Eleazar, who stood by Joshua’s side in the guidance of the nation, are mentioned last of all (Jos 24:33). When Eleazar died, whether shortly before or shortly after Joshua, cannot be determined. He was buried at Gibeah of Phinehas, the place which was given to him upon the mountains of Ephraim, i.e., as his inheritance. Gibeath Phinehas, i.e., hill of Phinehas, is apparently a proper name, like Gibeah of Saul (1Sa 15:34, etc.). The situation, however, is uncertain. According to Eusebius ( Onom. s. v. ), it was upon the mountains of Ephraim, in the tribe of Benjamin, and was at that time a place named Gabatha, the name also given to it by Josephus (Ant. v. 1, 29), about twelve Roman miles from Eleutheropolis. This statement is certainly founded upon an error, at least so far as the number twelve is concerned. It is a much more probable supposition, that it is the Levitical town Geba of Benjamin, on the north-east of Ramah (Jos 18:24), and the name Gibeah of Phinehas might be explained on the ground that this place had become the hereditary property of Phinehas, which would be perfectly reconcilable with its selection as one of the priests’ cities. As the priests, for example, were not the sole possessors of the towns ceded to them in the possessions of the different tribes, the Israelites might have presented Phinehas with that portion of the city which was not occupied by the priests, and also with the field, as a reward for the services he had rendered to the congregation (Num 25:7.), just as Caleb and Joshua had been specially considered; in which case Phinehas might dwell in his own hereditary possessions in a priests’ city. The situation, “upon the mountains of Ephraim,” is not at variance with this view, as these mountains extended, according to Jdg 4:5, etc., far into the territory of Benjamin (see at Jos 11:21). The majority of commentators, down to Knobel, have thought the place intended to be a Gibeah in the tribe of Ephraim, namely the present Jeeb or Jibia, by the Wady Jib, on the north of Guphna, towards Neapolis (Sichem: see Rob. Pal. iii. p. 80), though there is nothing whatever to favour this except the name.
With the death of Eleazar the high priest, the contemporary of Joshua, the times of Joshua came to a close, so that the account of Eleazar’s death formed a very fitting termination to the book. In some MSS and editions of the Septuagint, there is an additional clause relating to the high priest Phinehas and the apostasy of the Israelites after Joshua’s death; but this is merely taken from Jdg 2:6, Jdg 2:11. and Jos 3:7, Jos 3:12., and arbitrarily appended to the book of Joshua.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Death of Joshua. | B. C. 1427. |
29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. 32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.
This book, which began with triumphs, here ends with funerals, by which all the glory of man is stained. We have here 1. The burial of Joseph, v. 32. He died about 200 years before in Egypt, but gave commandment concerning his bones, that they should not rest in their grave until Israel had rest in the land of promise; now therefore the children of Israel, who had brought this coffin full of bones with them out of Egypt, carried it along with them in all their marches through the wilderness (the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, it is probable, taking particular care of it), and kept it in their camp till Canaan was perfectly reduced, now at last they deposited it in that piece of ground which his father gave him near Shechem, Gen. xlviii. 22. Probably it was upon this occasion that Joshua called for all Israel to meet him at Shechem (v. 1), to attend Joseph’s coffin to the grave there, so that the sermon in this chapter served both for Joseph’s funeral sermon and his own farewell sermon; and if it was, as is supposed, in the last year of his life, the occasion might very well remind him of his own death being at hand, for he was not just at the same age that his illustrious ancestor Joseph had arrived at when he died, 110 years old; compare v. 29 with Gen. l. 26. 2. The death and burial of Joshua, Jos 24:29; Jos 24:30. We are not told how long he lived after the coming of Israel into Canaan. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it was about seventeen years; but the Jewish chronologers generally say it was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years. He is here called the servant of the Lord, the same title that was given to Moses (ch. i. 1) when mention was made of his death; for, though Joshua was in many respects inferior to Moses, yet in this he was equal to him, that, according as his work was, he approved himself a diligent and faithful servant of God. And he that traded with his two talents had the same approbation that he had who traded with his five. Well done, good and faithful servant. Joshua’s burying-place is here said to be on the north side of the hill Gaash, or the quaking hill; the Jews say it was so called because it trembled at the burial of Joshua, to upbraid the people of Israel with their stupidity in that they did not lament the death of that great and good man as they ought to have done. Thus at the death of Christ, our Joshua, the earth quaked. The learned bishop Patrick observes that there is no mention of any days of mourning being observed for Joshua, as there were for Moses and Aaron, in which, he says, St. Hierom and others of the fathers think there is a mystery, namely, that under the law, when life and immortality were not brought to so clear a light as they are now, they had reason to mourn and weep for the death of their friends; but now that Jesus, our Joshua, has opened the kingdom of heaven, we may rather rejoice. 3. The death and burial of Eleazar the chief priest, who, it is probable, died about the same time that Joshua did, as Aaron in the same year with Moses, v. 33. The Jews say that Eleazar, a little before he died, called the elders together, and gave them a charge as Joshua had done. He was buried in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which came to him, not by descent, for then it would have pertained to his father first, nor had the priests any cities in Mount Ephraim, but either it fell to him by marriage, as the Jews conjecture, or it was freely bestowed upon him, to build a country seat on, by some pious Israelite that was well-affected to the priesthood, for it is here said to have been given him; and there he buried his dear father. 4. A general idea given us of the state of Israel at this time, v. 31. While Joshua lived, religion was kept up among them under his care and influence; but soon after he and his contemporaries died it went to decay, so much oftentimes does one head hold up: how well is it for the gospel church that Christ, our Joshua, is still with it, by his Spirit, and will be always, even unto the end of the world!
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Funeral Hobs, vs. 29-33
The Book of Joshua concludes with notes on the death and burial of three of Israel’s major heroes. 1) First, there is Joshua, who lived to be 110 years of age, the same age as his great forefather, Joseph (Gen 50:26). Joshua had been given a special inheritance in the tribe of Ephraim, his tribe, when all the land was divided (Jos 19:49-51).
Timnath-serah was not far from Shechem on the one side and Lydda on the other, although it is not now possible to identify its location exactly. It was a land of brooks and valleys, which is the meaning of Gaash, the hill on which Joshua was buried.
There follows next a wonderful testimony to the life of Joshua. His example of faithfulness to the Lord before the people was such that they did not turn away from God all the days of Joshua. His life was also an encouragement to the other elders, who were able to keep the people steadfast in their worship of the Lord all their lifetime.
These elders were those who could remember the events of the Exodus, sojourn in the wilderness, and conquest of Canaan. What a marvelous testimony to a man of God (Heb 13:7)
2) Account is given here of the burial of the bones of Joseph These had been kept in a coffin in Egypt, after that patriarch’s death, until they departed in the Exodus (see Gen 50:25-26; Exo 13:19). Although the record of their burial is only given here it should not be thought they were kept until the death of Joshua before they were buried.
It is just that the account, is appended here to round out the record. Joseph’s bones were buried at Shechem, in the field which Jacob bought when he returned from Padan-aram (Gen 33:18-20), and which he allotted to Joseph’s sons when bestowing the birthright on them (Gen 48:22).
This land was in the allotment of Ephraim, Joseph’s son. The bones of Joseph had served as a reminder of the faithfulness of the Lord to His promises to give Canaan to Israel through all the centuries from Joseph’s death to his burial.
3) The death of Eleazar is also recorded. Eleazar succeeded his father, Aaron, to become the second high priest of Israel. He served throughout the conquest of Canaan and through the lifetime of Joshua. His son, Phinehas, succeeded him, having become many years before a chief among the priests (note Num 25:6; Jos 22:13 ff).
Eleazar was buried in a plot which had been given to Phinehas, also in the mount of Ephraim. This part of mount Ephraim was in the tribe of Benjamin, where cities had been assigned to the priest families.
Mount Ephraim extended from the tribe of Manasseh in the north southward across Ephraim and having its southern terminus in Benjamin.
Many great lessons are to be gleaned from this final chapter of Joshua, and several have already been stressed. Note that 1) recalling all the great things the Lord has done for His people is good in order to keep them in remembrance of His grace toward them; 2) it is impossible to serve and worship the Lord with hidden and unacknowledged sin in our lives; 3) the Lord will hold us responsible for our vows of service to Him; 4) the death of great servants of the Lord is noteworthy for the exemplary character of their lives in its emphasis to those who survive.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
29. And it came to pass after these things, etc The honor of sepulture was a mark of reverence, which of itself bore testimony to the affectionate regard of the people. But neither this reverence nor affection was deeply rooted. The title by which Joshua is distinguished after his death, when he is called the servant of the Lord, took away all excuse from those miserable and abandoned men who shortly after spurned the Lord, who had worked wonders among them. Accordingly, attention is indirectly drawn to their inconstancy, when it is said that they served the Lord while Joshua survived, and till the more aged had died out. For there is a tacit antithesis, implying lapse and alienation, when they were suddenly seized with a forgetfulness of the Divine favors. It is not strange, therefore, if, in the present day also, when God furnishes any of his servants with distinguished and excellent gifts, their authority protects and preserves the order and state of the Church; but when they are dead, sad havoc instantly commences, and hidden impiety breaks forth with unbridled license. (209)
(209) When these words were penned, the venerable writer, though it could scarcely be said of him that he was, like Joshua, “old and stricken in age,” was, however, like him, visibly “going the way of all the earth.” In such circumstances, can we doubt, that these words contain a presentiment of the fearful decline which, after his own death, was to take place in the Church of Geneva? — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 24:30. Timnath-serah] For the site of this place, see note on chap. Jos. 19:50.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 24:29-31
THE CHARACTER AND INFLUENCE OF JOSHUA
Many of the noblest lives have an obscure origin and a lowly beginning. Joshua was born a slave. He was born about the time that Moses fled out of Egypt to Jethro. His name first occurs in the history when he was upwards of forty years of age (Exo. 17:9). Eminent or obscure, every life must come to an end. No amount of greatness can confer physical immortality, and no depth of obscurity is sufficient to hide from infirmity, disease, and death. The pages of the Bible are portioned out in sections; on a few of those pages we meet with the Dame of Noah; on a few, that of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, or some other prominent man; then, when we have passed its section, the particular name, for the most part, occurs no more. Only the name of the Eternal belongs to the Bible throughout. The noblest of men appear only for a time, and then pass away, to make room for others. The Bible is a portrait of human life, and this feature of brevity is also a part of the picture. At this point of the great Scripture story, the name of Joshua begins to give place to those of the succeeding Judges.
I. Joshuas great life and character.
1. His life was full of trying events. Moses selected him to lead the Israelites to their first battle. He was chosen, as a strong and wise and good man, to fill one of the most important positions among his people, and from the time of that choice to this time of his death the events of the national life were severely testing the manhood of the man, the capacity of the warrior and the statesman, and the piety of the servant of the Lord. After the trial on the battle-field of Rephidim, Joshua was proved in the matter of patience. For nearly six weeks he seems to have waited in a mysterious solitude, while Moses was upon the mount with God (cf. Exo. 24:13; Exo. 32:17). During that period the patience of Aaron and Hur and the elders had failed; they turned to idolatry, and the people with them. Yet Joshua took no part in the sin of the people, and was even ignorant that the calf had been made, attributing the idolatrous shouts of the multitude to a noise of war in the camp. God had tried the bravery of the soldier; He would no less severely prove the faith and patience of the servant. After the trial in solitude, Joshua was tempted in company. Ten of the spies became so many tempters of the remaining two to murmuring and unbelief. The hosts of Israel joined in the temptation. The loud vox populi was urgent and almost unanimous against the silent vox Dei which Joshua heard by faith in his own heart. But Joshua and Caleb were firm; they rent their clothes, and remonstrated together against the rebellious multitude. After the death of Moses, the life of this great man was simply full of events calculated to tax his faith and patience to the utmost. Jordan, Jericho, Ai, Bethhoron, and Merom are but a few of the more prominent names representing, not only Joshuas conflicts with great difficulties and strong enemies, but, probably, severe conflicts with himself. Every crisis in the history of the invasion, every battle field, every day in the long and arduous work of dividing the land, must have brought to Joshua strong temptations to, in some way, forget or dishonour God. Joshuas life was a prolonged excitement in the midst of great events, and each event was a new ordeal.
2. His character was as great as his life was eventful. If every day dawned ushering in for Joshua, in his personal life, some new battle, every night seems to have brought him some fresh victory. No word of direct blame is recorded against him throughout his whole history. Only oncewhen the elders took of the victuals of the Gibeonites, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord, and Joshua made peace with these deceiversdoes there seem to be even a reflection upon his pious faithfulness to God. Among many other things in which this Joshua of the Old Testament seems to prefigure the greater JOSHUA of the New, so far as a sinful man could do so at all, his life beautifully points us to Him who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Even the beautiful life of Moses is grievously darkened by two transgressionshis murder of the Egyptian, and his unfaithfulness at Meribah; but no similar cloud throws its shadows over the character of Joshua. For absence of self-seeking, and love of his people; for bravery beautified by tenderness; for a strength of will so powerful to control the multitude, and yet a will so docile before the known will and mind of God; for unquestioning obedience in the execution of Divine commands, naturally and severely trying to his humanity and kindness; for a calm and even mind amidst great daily provocations and inducements to go astray; for purity of thought and feeling; for self-continence in the hours of great victories, and in the months and years that followed them; for quiet and continuous zeal for Gods glory and his countrys good; for real greatness in its union with deep and true humility: for all these things, and others, taken as a combination dwelling in a single character, the world has known few lives so noble as this life, perhaps none nobler, excepting the all-transcending life of Christ. So far as the history of his life is recorded, there seems nothing in which Joshua is open to the blame of men, and nothing in which he becomes subject to the reproof of God.
II. Joshuas honourable death and burial.
1. Just before his death we come to what appear to have been the intensest moments of his whole life. Nothing can be more earnest and beautiful than his appeal to the elders, recorded in chapter 23, and the wonderful mingling of dignity, intensity, and love shewn in this chapter, in his pleading with the people. The two addresses shew us conclusively, that Joshuas long time of comparative rest in his old age (chap. Jos. 23:1) had in no way served to diminish, but rather to increase, his pious concern for himself and his people before God. The two addresses shew that, right up to the end, his life was a growth, not a decay. The death of such a man must of necessity be honourable and beautiful. Our life should be a growth as long as it lasts. There are too many who grow old and cold at the same time.
2. Joshuas burial has a brief record, but one that befits his life (Jos. 24:29). There is about it nothing ostentatiousnothing pretentious. They buried him, says the historian. Who are meant by this word they? The quiet pronoun reads as though it might stand for half the nation: like Joshua himself, it says so little, and yet seems to represent so much. They buried him in the border of his inheritance. That inheritance itself was one of Joshuas noblest tributes. This dead man had become great in winning so much, and greater still in taking so little. It was meet that the great dead conqueror should be buried in the borders of his own meagre inheritance. Joshua could have no nobler memorial than to be buried in the borders of that comparatively poor estate in Timnath-Serah. Many men defeat their own greatest victories by their manner of disposing of the spoil. To thousands of Christians, every new conquest and every fresh success in life means as much more estate for themselves as is possible, and as much from their neighbours as can be conveniently added to their own.
III. Joshuas holy and abiding influence. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua. Being dead, Joshua yet spake. His unselfish and holy life became an abiding power to hold all who had known him steadfast in the faith. The Hindoos have a beautiful epigram, which runs on this wise:
Naked on parents knees, a new-born child
Thou satst and wept, while all around thee smiled:
So live, that sinking to thy last long sleep,
Thou then mayst smile, while all around thee weep.
To Joshua himself, his end was, doubtless, peace; to all Israel, it must have been a season of deep and sincere sorrow. And yet, to the mighty host who had known this great man as their leader, these days of gloom and heaviness had a brightness that was slow to fade away. In the eloquent words of the late Bishop Wilberforce, As on the dark sky, when some flashing meteor has swept across it with a path of fire, there remains still after that glory has departed, a lingering line of light; so was it with this mighty man, glorious in life, and leaving even after he was gone the record of his abundant faithfulness still to hold for a season heavenward the too wandering eyes of Israel. Thus ever does a good and holy man outlive himself.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 24:29-30.SUNSET ON MOUNT EPHRAIM.
Here is a glorious orb in the old world sinking peacefully to rest behind the pastoral hills of Ephraim. Joshua was in every sense of the word a great character, a saintly hero,the man not only of his age, but of many ages. If his name does not shine so conspicuously amid the galaxy of patriarchs and ancient worthies, it is very much because, as has been said of him, the man himself is eclipsed by the brilliancy of his deeds: like the sun in a gorgeous western sky, when the pile of amber cloudsthe golden linings and drapery with which he is surroundedpale the lustre of the great luminary.
Four elements of strength appear to stand out conspicuously in Joshuas character, and which distinguish him pre-eminently in the Old Testament as the warrior saint.
I. Zeal for Gods honour. This seemed to have been his paramount aim and motive through life. Examples: It was so at the passage of the Jordan; in the interview with the Captain of the Lords host; in the rearing of the altar at Ebal; in the addresses at Shiloh and Shechem.
II. Deference to Gods law. Like every true and loyal soldier, he acted up to the orders of his superior: the reading of the Law at Ebal; the commemorative altar of whole stones; the counsel offered in chap. Jos. 23:6, and the urgent words in chap. Jos. 24:27. Amid the duties and difficulties, the cares and perplexities of life, how many a pang and tear would it save us if we went with chastened and inquiring spirits to these sacred oracles! This antiquated volume is still the Book of books, the oracle of oracles, the beacon of beacons; the poor mans treasury; the childs companion; the sick mans health; the dying mans life; shallows for the infant to walk in, depths for giant intellect to explore and adore.
III. Dependence on Gods strength. Certainly I will be with thee, was the guarantee with which he accepted his onerous responsibilities as leader of the many thousands of Israel. In this spirit Joshua cast himself upon God at the time of his defeat at Ai, and in the battle with the five kings of the South at Beth-horonthe Marathon of ancient Canaan.
IV. Trust in Gods faithfulness. When Joshua first undertook to lead the armies of Israel, this was the warrant and encouragement on which he set out: I the Lord am with thee whithersoever thou goest. When the land had been partitioned to the various tribes, Joshua records this emphatic attestation, There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel: all came to pass (chap. Jos. 21:45). As surely as Joshuas zeal and trust and fortitude crowned his arms with victory, so surely, if we, in the noble gospel sense, quit us like men, and be strong, God will give us the rest He promisesthe rest which remains for His people.[J. R. Mac Duff.]
JOSHUAS HUMILITY AND SELF-FORGETFULNESS.
Two things are very characteristic of Joshuas great virtue of modesty:
1. His humility and unselfishness in regard to any possessions or advantages for himself or his family. He appropriated nothing forcibly as his own. No claim is put forward to any reward for his long and faithful service. No boastful allusion is made either to his courage or to his patience.
2. His remarkable forgetfulness of self in his most solemn concluding addresses to the assembled people. It is very striking to observe how his own credit is not accounted of at all. It is still, in fact, as if even now he were standing before Moses, as his minister and servant.[Dean Howson.]
THE EFFECT OF JOSHUAS VICTORIES
We who live in these later days can see that the whole history of man hung upon the issue of those battles in the plain of Jericho and on the hills of Beth-horon. What other conflicts have ever decided so much for humanity? Joshua stood on those fields of blood the very world-hero, bearing with him all its destinies. If Israel had been subdued by the Canaanites, if the separated seed had been mingled with the heathen, if it had learned their ways, if the worship of Moab and Chemosh and Moloch and Astarte had superseded the worship of Jehovah, how had all the grand designs of redemption been frustrated in their development! The cry of Joshua after the flight at Ai would have been the despairing utterance of the race of men: And what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?
More almost in Joshuas history than anywhere besides may the troubled soulperplexed and harassed by the sight, on this sin-defiled earth, of wars, battles, slaughters, pestilences, earthquakes, miseries, and treasonsrest itself, though it be with the deep sob of a present broken-heartedness, in the conviction that God has a plan for this world; that in the end it does prevail; that the Baalim of heathen power must fall before Him, and that His kingdom shall stand for ever and ever in its truth and righteousness and love.[Bp. Wilberforce.]
JOSHUA A TYPE OF CHRIST
In more various points, and with a closer similarity of outline than belongs, perhaps, to any other figure in the Old Testament, is Joshua the type of Christ. His very name begins the great intimation. Changed by Mosesdoubtless at the mouth of the Lordfrom Oshea, welfare, to Jehoshua, or Jesus, God the Saviour; it pointed him out as the figure in the earthly of the heavenly deliverer. Joshua is pre-eminently one of the people whom he delivers; he has worked with them in the brick-kilns of Egypt, he knows their hearts; in all their afflictions he has been afflicted.
When Joshua has entered on his leadership, prophetic acts, full of typical significance, begin with a wonderful minuteness to repeat themselves. He, and not the great lawgiver, is to bring the people into Canaan: Moses must depart to secure his every word of promise being fulfilled to Israel, as the law must pass away and be fulfilled before the spiritual Israel could enter on that kingdom. At the river Jordan Joshua is shewn by God to Israel as their appointed leader; there God began to magnify him. As Jesus comes up from the river Jordan, the heavens open, the Holy Ghost descends, and the voice of God declares, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. From Jordans bed Joshua took twelve stones to be for evermore a witness to the people of their great deliverance; from His baptism in Jordan Jesus began to call His twelve apostles, the foundation stones of that church which witnesses to every generation of the redemption of the sons of Abraham by Christ. Twelve stones Joshua buried under the returning waters of Jordan; and over the first twelve Jesus let the stream of death flow as over others.
Before Joshua departed, he called to him on that mountain of Timnath-Serah, which he was about to leave, all the heads of the tribes, and with the chant of a prophetic voice set before them all the grand future, which, if they clave steadfastly to God, should certainly be theirs; and so before He ascended into the heavens did the great Captain of Gods spiritual army appoint to meet upon a mountain top in Galilee the heads of all the tribes into which His church should multiply; and there, looking with them over the far outstretched dominions of the earth, utter to them, Joshua-like, the words of wonder which rang for ever in their ears, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth: go ye therefore, and evangelize all nations.
Yea, and yet again, after a higher sort than belongs to this present world, was Joshua but the type of Jesus. For it is He who, for each one who follows Him, the true High Priest, divides the cold waters of death, setting against their utmost flood, even when that Jordan overfloweth his banks, as he doth all the harvest time, the ark of the body which He took of us, and in which God dwelleth evermore; so making a way for His ransomed to pass over. It is He who hath gone before to prepare amongst the many mansions of His Fathers house the place which the golden lot marks out for us. It is He who hath trodden down all our enemies. It is He who hath built the golden city upon the twelve foundation-stones which bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. It is He at whose trumpet sound, when the seven days of the great week are accomplished, the walls of Babylon shall fall. It is He who goeth forth conquering and to conquer, until all His enemies are put under His feet; and so the last type of this life of wonders shall be fulfilled, and the true Joshua, from the exceeding high mountain of His Timnath-Serah, shall look around Him on the tribes of God, and see them all at peace; the prayer-promise which was breathed in time fulfilled in eternity: Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which I had with Thee before the world was.[Bp. Wilberforce.]
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jos. 24:32. The bones of Joseph, etc.] It does not follow from the position of this statement at the end of the book, that the bones were not buried till after the death of Joshua. [Keil.] The statement, however, is inserted to show that the oath which their fathers had given to Joseph had not been forgotten or neglected by the Israelites. Moses, in his turn, had been mindful of the trust (Exo. 13:19).
Jos. 24:33. A hill that pertained to Phinehas] Heb.=the hill of Phinehas, or Gibeah of Phinehas, in the same manner as we afterwards hear of Gibeah of Saul. The word Gibeah is in the construct state. If a proper name, which seems unlikely, it should be read Gibeath-Phinehas.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Jos. 24:29-33
THE SOLDIER, THE SERVANT, AND THE PRIEST
I. The faithful warrior. Joshua comes before us as the leader of the militant host of God. The first we see of him is on the battle-field at Rephidim. Throughout almost his whole life he is seen in connection with war. During the closing years of his life, though no longer fighting, we think of him as the conqueror at peace. As has been suggested, the lines from the Ode to the Duke of Wellington may be taken as not inaptly describing some of the strongly marked features of this great ancient captains life:
The man of long-enduring blood,
The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute,
Whole in himself, a common good.
The man of amplest influence,
Yet clearest of ambitious crime;
The greatest, yet with least pretence:
Great in council and great in war,
Foremost captain of his time,
Rich in saving common sense,
And, as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity subtime.
O good gray head which all men knew,
O voice from which their omens all men drew,
O iron nerve to true occasion true,
O falln at length that tower of strength
Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew!Tennyson.
Whatever else he may have been, in Joshua we have the man who, above all others in history, may be emphatically called the soldier of God. And the great warrior was faithful: Scripture has against him no complaint whatever.
II. The faithful son and servant. And the bones of Joseph, etc. What Joshua was in the field, that was Joseph in the family. Singularly enough, they both died at exactly the same age (cf. Gen. 1:26). As with Joshua, Josephs life, two hundred years before, was full of temptation. The dying words of Jacob fitly tell us, The archers sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. But Joseph, no less than Joshua, was faithful: His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Scripture makes no complaint, either, against Joseph.
III. The faithful priest. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. With a similar faithfulness Eleazar also appears to have served both his generation and his God. We do not know the exact time of either his birth or death.
These three blameless lives, resting here together at their close, in the records of Old Testament history, seem half to shadow forth the threefold work of the coming Saviour. Joseph is the faithful prophet, whose dreams foretell his life, and whose life begins both to foretell and to inaugurate the coming fulfilment of Gods covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Eleazar is the faithful priest, whose very namethe help of God, or one whom God helpsis strangely akin to that of Joshua; while Joshua himself, as the ruler of the host of Israel, serves to conclude the number of the sacred trio which, whether intentionally or not, points with much suggestiveness to Jesus the Saviour, who is, in His own person, at once Prophet, Priest, and King.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos. 24:30.THE GRAVES OF MOSES AND JOSHUA.
1. The grave of the one great man was perfectly well known, and accurately marked, while that of the other was altogether unknown. The monument has little to do with the man.
2. One man was buried by his fellows, the other by his God. Who shall say which was the more loved by God? Gods various treatment of His servants does not arise from His varying love, but from their differing wants. Probably the Israelites of the days of Moses could not have borne to know where Moses lay.
THE TOMB OF JOSHUA
Lieut. Conder says of the tomb of Joshua: This is certainly the most striking monument in the country, and strongly recommends itself to the mind as an authentic site. That it is the sepulchre of a man of distinction is manifest from the great number of lamp niches which cover the walls of the porch: they are over two hundred, arranged in vertical rows, and all smoke-blacked. One can well imagine the wild and picturesque appearance presented at any time when the votive lamps were all in place, and the blaze of light shone out of the wild hill-side, casting long shadows from the central columns. The present appearance of the porch is also very picturesque, with the dark shadows and bright light, and the trailing boughs which droop from above. The tomb is a square chamber, with five excavations on three of its sides, the central one forming a passage leading into a second chamber beyond. Here is a single cavity, with a niche for a lamp; and here, there is good reason to believe, is the resting-place of the warrior chief of Israel. It is curious that when so large a number of travellers come annually to Palestine, so few visit a spot of such transcendent interest.[S. S. Teacher.]
Jos. 24:31.THE HOLY INFLUENCES OF A HOLY LIFE.
I. The fruits of a mans life are of the same kind as the seed. Israel served the Lord. They did not serve the devil. They did not serve idols. They did not even serve themselves. Joshua served Jehovahthat was the seed; Israel, too, served Jehovahthat was the fruit. As the seed, so the harvest. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
II. The fruits of a life that is really holy are both abundant and abiding
1. Israel served the Lord. Not here and there an Israelite, but Israel generally. Gods fields yield better than many think they do.
2. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days, etc. Joshuas influence was greatest on those who knew him best. The elders were so filled with his spirit, that, even when he was taken from them, they continued to lead the people Godward. Those who had seen most of Joshua became new centres of power to convey his pious spirit to others. The influence of many, for good, diminishes as others come near to them. That life must be blessed indeed that so holds all who are round about it in the service of God, that when the life itself is removed, they who have seen it continually perpetuate it in others.
III. The good fruits of a holy life are through a natural growth, but by the grace of God.
1. There is growth through processes that are natural. The effect of example. Mens love of realness. The influence of a strong will, made strong by the sense of right, on men of less faith and fervour.
2. The great cause of growth is in the grace of God. The men were influenced, not merely by what Joshua was, but by all the works of the Lord which Joshua had done. Joshuas holy life would have done little, but for the memory of Gods presence, as at Jordan, and Jericho, and Ai, and Beth-horon.
See how much human reasoning and human creeds are at the mercy of a good and God-honoured life. There must have been in Israel many men quite as able as those who in the following generation professed to doubt God, and turned to idols. The lives of men like Whitfield, the Wesleys, Henry Martyn, Bishop Patteson, or even the lives of pious soldiers like Col. Gardiner, Hedley Vicars, and Henry Havelock, are sufficient to upset the reasonings of hosts of men who, but for such lives, would presently say that Scripture evidences were not good enough to satisfy what they would then call their intelligence. There is no argument against goodness and unselfishness and love, such as were seen in Joshua.
Jos. 24:32.THE HONOUR WHICH GOD PUTS UPON FAITH.
In order to gather the true force of its teaching, this verse must be read in its connection with the dying utterances of Joseph (Gen. 1:24-25). Taken in this connection, it suggests the following considerations:
I. The faith of a man who had very little help from sight. When Joseph said, God will surely bring you out of this land, there was very little in the appearances of things to encourage his trust.
1. Faith that has once taken hold on the living God can bear very much thwarting in things which are visible. (a) Joseph had believed in God when a mere lad. His two dreams. These were told in such simple trust, that even his fond father was offended. His brethren saw that he believed, and they called him this dreamer. (b) But Josephs early faith had a severe shock. How about his trust in God when his brethren gathered to kill him? How did he feel about the truth of his dreams when he was in the pit? How did his faith hold out when he found himself sold now to the Ishmeelites, and now to the Egyptian captain, as a slave? How about his faith in the benefits of integrity, when for being true to himself, true to his master, and true to his God, he was cast into prison? What had become of his dreams, when for the space of two years, or, as some think, seven or eight, he lay in custody, burdened with his bondage, and troubled still more with conflicting thoughts? Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. How could he believe this other promise, and give commandment concerning his bones, when there seemed so little prospect of its fulfilment? Just because, all his life long, God had been training His servant to trust, not in the things which are seen, but in the things which are not seen. Joseph had lived to see his dreams come true. His father and his brethren had bowed down to him, though it had often seemed that he could never look upon them again. God had trained His servant to trust, not because of appearances, but in spite of them.
2. True faith contemplates life and death with equal calmness. Joseph said, I die; and the knowledge of approaching death brought no trouble, and wrought no disturbance to his faith.
3. Faith reckons the promise of God to be of infinitely more value than earthly possessions. Joseph had said, Ye shall carry up my bones from hence. He shews us in that single commandment what he really thought of all his glory in Egypt. He had won his honours in Egypt. His grave would be revered there. His children, apparently, might look for good positions in the land for which their father had wrought so much. All this, compared with Gods promise of Canaan, was nothing to Joseph. He persisted in feeling only a stranger and a sojourner in the land, Nothing therein he called is own. His great heritage was in Gods covenant. Carry up my bones, said the dying man; Carry them up to the place where God will dwell with His people.
4. Firm faith in death is the outcome of a true heart in life. Joseph had been faithful, and held fast his integrity. Joseph had shewn a spirit of gracious forgiveness towards his brethren. This was the man who could trust God in death.
5. Such faith gathers something of its strength from the faithful who have gone before. The trust of dying Joseph was very like the trust of dying Jacob. Josephs father had preceded him in this very matter in which the son afterwards followed. The faith of the son reads almost like a reflection of the bright faith of the father (cf. Gen. 47:29-30; Gen. 48:21-22; Gen. 49:1; Gen. 49:24-25). We who believe now, owe much to the faith of those who believed before us. As is the faith of the fathers, so, at least sometimes, is the faith of the children.
II. The faith of a man who honoured God honoured by God. And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem. In the very place where Jacob had bought ground of the children of Hamor, and where he had built an altar, calling it, God, the God of Israel, there did God enable Josephs descendants to lay their believing ancestors bones.
1. Our faith should rest, not in appearances, but in the living God. He endures well who endures as seeing Him who is invisible. And such faith God ever honours. The honour may be long in coming. It was two hundred years after Joseph had so believed, that God thus magnified his trust. But the recognition came at last. Gods visions, given to a believing soul, are all for an appointed time.
2. We should be more ready to look on the fulfilments of the Divine word than on what seem its failures. We know when Gods word does come to pass; we only think when we conclude it has failed. The promise of Canaan was given first to Abraham. But Stephen tells us, God gave him none inheritance in it, no, no not so much as to set his foot on (Act. 7:5). To Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, also, the promise may at times have seemed to have failed. Yet, here it is, all fulfilled. We know little about failures. We only see a little way. All time is Gods. What men hastily deem Gods failures to fulfil His promise, are often the very beginnings of its fulfilment. (a) It had been so in Josephs life. It was at the pit of Dothan that God began to fulfil Josephs dream that his father and brethren should render him obeisance. Precisely at the point where Joseph might have been tempted to say, My dream has all come to nought, there God began to fulfil the dream. It was by the prison that so tried Joseph, that God put His servant close to the throne of Pharaoh. Just where Joseph would be most cast down, God was lifting him up. Every step of his life which might tempt him to think of failure, was one more advance of God towards fulfilment. (b) It was no less so in Josephs death. The Pharaoh who knew not Joseph could not arise till Joseph was gone. Then the oppression made way for the liberation. The bitter bondage was Gods pathway to full liberty. When we say, with Tennyson,
What am I?
An infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry,
we too often forget that the very night out of which we cry is necessary to the morning. God ever makes His darkness precede His light. Not the morning and evening, but the evening and the morning were the first day; and such has it been with all days since.
III. The honour which God puts upon the faith of the dead, an encouragement gladly noted by the faithful living. Believing chroniclers saw that their forefathers had believed not in vain, and so they wrote down here this record of the burial of Josephs bones. The believing love not only to say, He that believeth shall not be confounded, but presently to bear their testimony that such have not been confounded. To mark Gods fulfilment of His faithful word, strengthens our own faith; it strengthens, no less, the faith of others.
THE TIME OF THE BURIAL OF JOSEPHS BONES.
This burying of the bones of Joseph probably took place when the conquest of the land was completed, and each tribe had received its inheritance; for it is not likely that this was deferred till after the death of Joshua.[Dr. A. Clarke.]
Jos. 24:32.THREE GENERATIONS OF HIGH PRIESTS.
After the fathers shall come up the children; so, after the fathers do the children go down also to the grave. The men who had seen Gods mighty works in the wilderness gave place to men who would have to walk more by faith, and less by sight.
At the very close of these records of Joshuaone of the persons who most significantly, of all the Old Testament characters, prefigures the coming Christwe have this statement, in a single and final verse, about three generations of high priests. Two of these generations had already passed away; the remaining one waited for a season to usher in yet other successors. These also, though by contrast tell us of Him who is a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec; who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the Son high priest, who is consecrated for evermore.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(29) An hundred and ten years old.The mention in Jos. 24:31 of elders that prolonged their days after Joshua seems to suggest that Joshuas death was comparatively an early death.[15] Had he thought and laboured more for himself and less for Israel, he also might have prolonged his days. But, like his Antitype, he pleased not himself, and, like a good and faithful servant, he entered all the sooner into the joy of his Lord.
[15] Yet Brugsch states that the Egyptians addressed to the host of the holy gods the prayer to preserve and lengthen life, if possible, to the most perfect old age of 110 years. This may be a reminiscence of the life of Joseph, which reached this length (Gen. 50:26).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘ And so it happened that after these things Joshua, the son of Nun, the Servant of YHWH, died, being a hundred and ten years old.’
Having accomplished his purpose, given by YHWH, of taking over from Moses and leading the people into the promised land, and then making it possible for each man to receive an inheritance in the land, Joshua died. He was given the title only specifically used by men of two people, Moses and Joshua. He was called ‘the Servant of YHWH’.
“After these things.” After what had been described in the book.
The age is approximate. Most ancient patriarchs who died were aged in round numbers. But one hundred and ten was the age of Joseph when he died (Gen 50:22), and that in Egypt was considered to be the perfect length of life. In other words Joshua lived a full and complete life.
Moses died at one hundred and twenty. His life was split into approximately three periods of forty years. See Exo 2:11; Exo 7:7; Deu 29:5. As forty years represented a generation that really said that he had lived three full generations.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
EXPOSITION
JOSHUA‘S DEATH AND BURIAL.
Jos 24:29
The servant of the Lord. The theory of some commentators, that this expression is evidence of a later interpolation because “the title only dates, from the period when Moses, Joshua, and others were raised to the rank of national saints,” need only be noticed to be rejected. It is a fair specimen of the inventive criticism which has found favour among modern critics, in which a large amount of imagination is made to supply the want of the smallest modicum of fact. What is wanting here is the slightest evidence of such a “period” having ever existed, except at the time when these saints of the old covenant closed their labours by death. All the facts before us go to prove that Moses, as well as Joshua, was held in as high, if not higher, veneration at the moment of his death as at any other period of Jewish history. Died. His was an end which any man might envy. Honoured and beloved, and full of days, he closed his life amid the regrets of a whole people, and with the full consciousness that he had discharged the duties God had imposed upon trim. The best proof of the estimation in which he was held is contained in verse 32.
Jos 24:30
In the border of his inheritance in Timnath-Serah. Rather, perhaps, within the border. For Timnath-Serah, see note on Jos 19:50. The burial-place of Joshua has been supposed to be identified by the Palestine Exploration Committee. Lieutenant Conder describes what he saw at Tibneh. Amid a number of tombs he found one evidently, from more than 200 lamp niches on the walls of the porch, the sepulchre of a man of distinction. The simple character of the ornamentation, he thinks, and the entire absence of it in the interior of the tomb itself, not only suggest an early date, but are in harmony with the character of the simple yet noble-minded warrior, whose tomb it is supposed to be. In later papers, however, Lieutenant Conder abandons Tibneh for Kerr Haris, on the ground that Jewish tradition, usually found to be correct, is in its favour. And more mature reflection has induced him to modify his former opinion as to the early date of the tombs. Until these researches commenced, the situation of the hill Gaash was unknown, though it is mentioned in 2Sa 23:30 (“the brooks” or “valleys of Gaash”), and 1Ch 11:32. Nothing in these places serves to identify it. This passage is copied, with a few minute verbal discrepancies, into the Book of Judges (Jos 2:6-9), a strong ground, according to all ordinary haws of literary criticism, for concluding that the latter book was written after the former. This is the chain of evidence by which the authenticity of the historical books of the Scriptures is established, not, of course, beyond the reach of cavil or dispute, but to the satisfaction of practical men. The LXX. as well as the Arabic translators have added here the following words: “There they placed with him in the sepulchre, in which they buried him there, the stone knives with which he circumcised the children of Israel in Gilgal, when he led them out from Egypt, as the Lord commanded, and they are there unto this day.” This passage is not found in the Hebrew. And as the Arabic and the LXX. do not altogether agree, the probability seems to be that some apocryphal legend was inserted here at a very early date.
Jos 24:31
And Israel served the Lord (cf. Jdg 2:10). We see here the value of personal influence. Nor is such influence altogether unnecessary among us now. The periods of great religious movements in the Christian Church are in many ways very like to the time of the Israelitish conquest of Palestine by Joshua. They are times when God visibly fights for His Church, when miracles of grace are achieved, when the enemies of God are amazed and confounded at the great things God has done. The successes, so clearly due to the interposition of a Higher Power, have a sobering rather than an intoxicating effect, and the influence of the grave, wise, earnest men at the head of the movement is great with their enthusiastic followers. But with the removal of these leaders in Israel a reaction sets in. The fervour of the movement declines, the era of slackness and compromise succeeds, and a generation arises which “knows not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.” In our times such reactions, living as we do in the full blaze of gospel light, are far more transient and less fatal than in the days of Israel. But in our measure we continue to experience the working of that law by which intense energy is apt to be followed by coldness, and every earnest movement for good needs a continual rekindling at the altar of God of the fire which first set it at work. That overlived Joshua. Literally, that lengthened out their days after Joshua.
Jos 24:32
And the bones of Joseph (see Gen 50:24, Gen 50:25; Exo 13:19). Nothing could more fully show the reverence in which the name of Joseph was held in Israel than this scrupulous fulfilment of his commands, and the careful record of it in the authentic records of the country. This passage is another link in the chain of evidence which serves to establish the authenticity and early date of the present hook. For though Joseph’s name was always a striking one in Israelitish history, it is unquestionable that as time went on his fame was overshadowed by that of his ancestors. It is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on whom the national mind was fixed. It is their names that the prophets recall, the covenant with them which is constantly brought to mind. But during the Israelites’ sojourn in Egypt, and while the departure from Egypt was yet recent, the conspicuous position which Joseph occupied in Egyptian history could not fail to be remembered, and the command he gave concerning his bones, as well as his conviction that the prophecy concerning their departure would be fulfilled, was not likely to be forgotten. The emphatic way in which the fulfilment of Joseph’s charge is here recorded affords a presumption for the early date of the book, as well as against the theory that it was a late compilation from early records. We are not necessarily to suppose that the interment of Joseph’s remains took place at this period. The Hebrew, as we have seen, has no pluperfect tense (see for this Jdg 2:10), and therefore it may have taken place, and most probably did take place, as soon as Shechem was in the hands of Israel. In a parcel of ground. Rather, in the portion of the field (see Gen 33:19). Our word parcel is derived from particula, and was originally identical with the word particle, a little part. So Chaucer speaks of parcel-mele, i.e; by parts. Shakespere has a “parcel-gilt goblet,” that is, a goblet partly gilt. It has now come to have a widely different meaning. Pieces of silver. There can be little doubt that this is the true translation. The cognate word in Arabic, signifying “justice,” is apparently derived from the idea of even scales. A kindred Hebrew word signifies “truth,” probably from the same original idea. Another kindred Arabic word signifies a balance. It therefore, no doubt, means a coin of a certain weight, just as the word shekel has the original signification of weight. The Rabbinical notion, that the word signified “Iambs,” rests upon no solid foundation, though supported by all the ancient versions. Some commentators, however, think that a coin is meant upon which the figure of a lamb was impressed. So Vatablus and Drusius. The LXX. has , the Vulgate “centum novellis ovibus.”
Jos 24:33
A hill that pertained to Phinehas his son. The LXX; Syriac, and Vulgate translate this as a proper name, Gibeath or Gabaath Phineas. But it may also mean Phinehas’ hill. A city may or may not have been built there. Keil and Delitzsch believe it to be the Levitical town, Geba of Benjamin; but of this we cannot be sure. The tomb of Eleazar is still shown near Shechem, “overshadowed by venerable terebinths,” as Dean Stanley tells us. And so the history ends with the death and burial of the conqueror of Palestine, the lieutenant of Moses, the faithful and humble servant of God, and of the successor of Aaron, who had been solemnly invested with the garments of his father before that father’s death. A fitting termination to so strange and marvellous a history. With the death of two such men a new era had begun for the chosen people; a darker page had now to be opened. The LXX. adds to this passage, “In that day the children of Israel took the ark and carried it about among them, and Phinehas acted as priest, instead of Eleazar his father, until he died, and was buried in his own property at Gabaath. And the children of Israel went each one to his place and to his own city. And the children of Israel worshipped Astarte and Ashtaroth, the gods of the nations around them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Eglon king of the Moabites, and he had dominion over them eighteen years.” The passage is an obvious compilation from the Book of Judges. It has no counterpart in the Hebrew, and the mention of Astarte and Ashtaroth as different deities is sufficient to discredit it.
HOMILETICS
Jos 24:29-33
The end of the work.
We now reach the conclusion of the narrative. Like every other biography, it ends with death. Well were it for us all if death came at the conclusion of a well spent life like Joshua’s.
I. A GOOD MAN‘S END. We read in the Book of the Revelation, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord their works do follow them.” Few have been privileged to be “followed” by their works like Joshua. He led the Israelites into the promised land, and left them there. For many hundred yearsthe seventy years’ captivity exceptedthey dwelt there. For their rejection of Him of whom Joshua was the type they were cast out. But even now they remain a distinct people, and entertain hopes of a return to the land which, humanly speaking, Joshua gave them. If we ask the cause of this great success, whose results have lasted even to our own day, it is to be found in the unique character of the conqueror. Simple, straightforward adhesion to duty, intense moral earnestness, earnest piety, prompt and unquestioning obedience to God, the highest public spirit, the utter absence of all self seeking and ambition, mark a character altogether without parallel in the history of conquest. Conquest generally is associated with fraud and wrong. It has its origin in the greed and ambition of the conqueror; it is carried out amid injustice and oppression; it leaves its evil results behind it, and is avenged by the hatred of the oppressed, and by the sure and often swift collapse of a power founded in wrong. Cruel, according to our modern ideas, Joshua was, no doubt. But he was centuries in advance of his age; his cruelty was the result of a moral purpose. And we must remember that for our modern notions of cruelty we are indebted to Jesus Christ. It is a fact that God did permit (whether He ought to have done so is a question we cannot discuss here) men to live for thousands of years in ignorance of the true law of mercy. It is not strange, then, if Joshua was not in this respect conformed to an ideal which was not permitted to exist until Christ revealed it. In all other respects, he was the model of what a commander should be, and hence the durability of his work. We cannot hope to become so famous. Yet if we imitate Joshua’s obedience, earnestness, piety, unselfishness, we, too, may achieve results as durable, though it may never be known to whom they are owing. For a good deed never dies. It associates itself with the other good influences at work in the world, each of these producing good results on others, and thus steadily working on to the great consummation of all things. What Joshua was it is shame to us if we are not, according to our opportunities. For the Spirit of God is now freely shed forth in all the world, and given to them that ask it.
II. THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED. Joseph’s bones were interred in Shechem. Thus we learn
(a) that patriarch’s affectionate love for his brethren, in that he desired in death to be among them, and would have his memory cherished as an encouragement to serve God faithfully. And
(b) we learn the duty of commemorating God’s saints. The extravagant veneration paid to saints and martyrs by those of another communion has caused us to be somewhat too neglectful of their memory. The martyrs of the Reformation are not commemorated among us. We publish biographies of our good men, and straightway forget all about them. Yet surely we might be greatly cheered and encouraged on our way by the recollection of the triumphs of God’s Spirit in our fellow sinners. Surely the pulses of the spiritual life may lawfully be quickened by a sympathy with the great and good who have gone before. Surely all noble examples, all holy lives, are a part of the heritage of the saints designed to advance God’s cause. The victories of God’s Spirit over the devil, the world, and the flesh, in various ages, among various nations, under various circumstances, will surely best encourage that catholic spirit of sympathy with all that is .great and good, without which no Christian perfection can exist. “Let us then praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.” Let the Josephs and Joshuas of the new covenant be held in the deepest honour among us. And thus we shall rise from the contemplation of their struggles to the vision of the Great Captain of their salvation, by whom alone they had victory in the fight.
III. THE INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MAN LIVES AFTER HIM. As long as the memory of Joshua’s personal influence was felt, so long did the children of Israel keep to the right way. Or rather, perhaps, we may better put it thus: the example and influence of Joshua gradually gathered round him a number of men like minded, who were placed in positions of authority, and who were capable, like him, of guiding and directing others. When they died, their places were filled by men whose recollection of Joshua’s conduct was less distinct, and who possessed in a less degree His power of ruling. Thus Israel fell into disobedience, and it is worthy of remark that when oppression brought them to their senses, it was Othniel, one of those on whom the example of Joshua may be supposed to have had most effect, that they looked for deliverance. We see these facts
(a) repeated constantly in the history of God’s Church.
(1) The great leader of a religious movement trains a number of men like minded, who guide and direct the movement in his spirit after he has passed away in the spirit, and for the ends that he intended. But
(2) a time comes when the first fervour of the movement dies away, when its principles become popular, and thereby vulgarised. They are corrupted by the admixture of the worldly element, the peculiar features of the system are unduly pressed, and deprived of that balance which they possessed in its founder’s mind by being kept in check by a wider sympathy and a larger grasp. From a revival of forgotten truths the movement degenerates into a sect or party; the salt has lost its savour, and there needs some other regenerator to arise, who shall give a new direction to the flagging spiritual energies of men. There is no need to give instances of this. They will occur in numbers to every student of history. Also
(b) the same truth meets us in the life of individuals. Whether in a public and private position, either as a minister of Christ, or as a member of a congregation, God is pleased to raise up some one whose life of piety is at once an encouragement and an incentive to others to lead the same kind of life. He dies, and for a long time his name is a household word to those who knew him. From his grave he is a preacher of righteousness to those who live near and where he is known. His example is brought forward, his words are quoted, to those who have never seen him. And so the tradition of his excellence lives on among those who come after him. Yet it grows fainter as the years roll on, until it becomes a tradition of the past. Others come in his place who knew him not. Other influences are at work in the pulpit where he preached, the parish where he laboured, the place where he dwelt. His influence has not really died outgood influence, as we have said, never diesfor the good seed he sowed sprung up in the most unexpected quarters, and in the most unexpected ways. But his own place knows him no more. His name is now but a shadow in the distant past. It is no longer an influence full of power. Very often there is a declension in the neighbourhood when the good man is taken away. Very often the aged who remembered him have too good cause to lament a change which is not for the better. But the good work goes on. The torch of love flames more brightly, now here, and now there. But God does not fail to raise up deliverers for His people. His Spirit does not cease to work powerfully in human hearts. His faithful servants still continue to battle against sin, and shall do so until He come again.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 24:29
The death of Joshua.
It has been well remarked that “this Book of Joshua, which begins with triumphs, ends with funerals.” All human glory ends in the grave. The longest life is soon passed. The most useful men are taken from their work on earth, leaving the unfinished task to other hands. Joshua being dead yet speaketh.
I. JOSHUA IS AS EXAMPLE FOR US.
(1) His character is an example of
(a) courage,
(b) energy,
(c) independence,
(d) trust,
(e) unselfishness.
He is the type of the soldier of God, the pattern of active and masculine excellence.
(2) His mission is an example. Christians are called to possess an inheritance, to conquer the earth for Christ, to fight against and overcome the evils and temptations of the world.
(3) His career is an example. We see how Joshua was true to his character and fulfilled his mission. He served through a long life. There are some whose devotion is like morning dew. There are others who are roused for great deeds at critical moments, but are negligent in the longer intervals which are left for quiet service. It is a great thing to be long and continuously faithful. It is selfish to desire an early death. Rather, if it is God’s will, should we welcome the opportunity of long service.
(4) His end is an example. Joshua was faithful to death, and faithful in death. His last act was to bind the people to the service of God with a solemn covenant, and pledge his own devotion and that of his house. The Christian’s death bed should be a blessing to others.
II. JOSHUA IS A TYPE OF CHRIST. Jesus is our Joshua, with marks of resemblance and of contrast to the Hebrew leader.
(1) Jesus Christ exemplifies in perfection all those good characteristics for which Joshua is famous. Though mild and gentle, our Lord was not weak and effeminate. Fidelity, firmness, courage, energy, are seen in Him to perfection. As the perfect man, he combined and harmonised the excellences of all good types of character.
(2) Jesus Christ, like Joshua, lived a life of warfare. Joshua was a warrior. Christ is a captain of salvation. He met constant opposition from men; He was opposed by the powers of Satan, and he conquered. Yet
(a) Joshua fought enemies of flesh and blood, Christ fought spiritual foes; and
(b) Joshua used the sword, Christ conquered by submission and suffering and sacrifice.
(3) Jesus Christ, like Joshua, is a Saviour.
(a) He delivers from real present enemies. He saves not only from the future consequences of evil, but from our present sins and troubles.
(b) He saves those who trust Him, follow Him, and fight with Him, as Joshua not only fought himself, but led the people to battle.
(4) Jesus Christ, like Joshua, leads His people to an inheritance, but in this there are no Canaanites remaining; it is “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us” (1Pe 1:4).
(5) Jesus Christ, unlike Joshua, “ever liveth.” Joshua lived to old age and died in honour, and was buried, and ceased to. serve his nation. Jesus Christ was cut off in early life and crucified in shame, but rose from the dead, and is now with tits people, and will remain till all have entered into their inheritance (Mat 28:20).W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE
Jos 24:29
The Death of Joshua
“After these things Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old.” Having thus reached the close of the life of Joshua, it is fitting that we should form a general estimate of Iris character and work. He occupies an honourable place among the great leaders of the people of God. He well deserves to be called a servant of the Lord, for this was the one aim and object of his life. His brow is not crowned with the halo of glory which lighted up that of Moses when he came down from the mount, where he had talked with God as a man talketh with his friend. He is a less sublime type of man, but not, therefore, the less admirable; for in the kingdom of God there is no room for rivalry among those who have fulfilled each his appointed task. First, Joshua was a man of implicit obedience to the Divine behests. He did nothing but that which was commanded him, neither more nor less. Second, he was a very humble man. He never took to himself, in any degree, the glory which belongs to God alone. After the most glorious battles in which he acted as commander, he forgot self in the fervent recognition of the invisible power of which he was but the organ, and his song of gratitude and praise went up to God alone. Third, he was a man of unfaltering faith and courage. His heart never failed him for an instant. He never doubted God; and it was from this confidence that he derived the boldness which he communicated to the children of Israel, to march undaunted against an enemy superior in numbers. Fourth, he united true love for his nation, manifested on repeated occasions, with holy severity when there was just ground for rebuke. Fifth, he was absolutely disinterested in all his service. He never dreamed of handing down his power to his children; his one thought was to do the will of God and to finish His work. When his task was done, he spoke words of solemn warning to his people, and then was gathered to his fathers, or rather to his God. A saintly and noble life truly, and one which teaches us the secret of success in the righteous war with evil. To obey, to be wholly consecrated to God, to believe in the fulfilment of the Divine promises, to fight fearlessly with eye fixed upon the Captain of our salvation, whose strength is perfected in weaknessthis is the unfailing secret of success for the Church. Joshua well deserves, not only by his name, but by his faithfulness and devotion to the cause of God, to be the type of our great Leader, “the Author and Finisher of our faith;” the true Joshua, who has conquered for us “a better country, that is an heavenly.”E. DE P.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER
Jos 24:16-31
A great decision.
One of the beautiful things about Scripture is the fine endings of all courses in which God has been leader. This book is no exception. The last view we have of Israel shows them entering into a solemn covenant with God, and one which, speaking roundly, all who made it kept. They respond grandly to Joshua’s challenge. “God forbid that we should serve other gods.” And even when reminded of the difficulty of serving Him, their purpose remains unshaken. In this great decision there are many things worth noting.
I. HE WHO LEADS MEN RIGHTLY WILL NEVER LACK FOLLOWERS, Some say, Go, and men go not. But when they say, “Come with us,” they find men responsive. Advice that costs nothing is futile, but example that costs much constrains. Joshua leads grandly, because he moves before the people. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” It is strange the contagiousness of faith and goodness; the force of unconscious influence. The courage of another wakes courage; the honour of another wakes honour. The faith of others is itself “evidence of the things unseen.” A man like Joshua is a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, that “marshals men the way that they were going.” However arduous the calling to which you summon men, if you can say, “As for me, I will serve,” you will always be answered by some, “We will serve the Lord.” Despair not of holy and saving influences. Every one marching on the Divine way of duty, mercy, faith will have more followers than he dared to hope for. It is the grandest illustration of the influence of man on man that we can guide men even to heaven itself by the constraint of a good example. Note this, the good leader has always good followers. [See a beautiful treatment of this subject in Horace Bushnell’s sermon on ‘Unconscious Influence.’] Secondly observe
II. A GREAT DECISION SHOULD BE SOLEMNLY AND FORMALLY MADE. He leads them to make a formal covenant with God. He constrains them at once to give up their idols, and in the spot where Jacob had buried the idols which his family had brought with them from Padanaram he buries them; and he sets up a pillar as a memorial. These several things all tend to fortify and consolidate the resolution to which they had come. Sometimes we make a great decision, but fail to keep it through some neglect to fortify it with special solemnities. One great object of the sacraments ordained by the Saviour, unquestionably, was to give to religious decisions this solemn and formal character. They were meant to bring vague feelings to a point; to detach utterly from the world; to attach strongly to the Saviour. If we mean to serve Christ, the idols should be brought out and buried, and the covenant rites of God entered into. There should be openness, for without confession we remain constantly amid entanglements. There should be thoroughness, for a great change is often more easily made than a gradual one. There should be the sacramental covenant and vows that we may have at once the strength and the constraint which come with the feeling that we belong to God. As here the determination was avowedcarried out thoroughlysolemnised in a covenantso ours should be. Men do not know what they lose by a secret and uncovenanted sanctity. When we are secret disciples there is a perpetual danger of the secresy destroying the discipleship. We lose the protection of a definite position, the power that lies in fellowship, and much of the usefulness which our goodness might carry if it were not counteracted by our reserve. If you are deciding to serve God, let your decision be thorough, open, sacramental. Observe lastly
III. THE GRAND RESULTS OF THIS GREAT DECISION. Sometimes good resolves are badly kept. They are like “grass on the house tops, which withereth afore it groweth up.” Whether they are well kept or not depends largely on whether they are well made. Generally it will be found where they are broken that there was some defective part: sin not wholly left; the surrender to God not absolutely made. Here the great decision is worthily and thoroughly made, and the grandest results flow from it.
(1) They keep the covenant they enter into with God. From the 31st verse we might conclude what from Jdg 2:7, Jdg 2:10 we learnt explicitly, that all that generation which made the covenant kept it. We are called to resolve on what seem impossibilities: to deny self; to walk with God; to follow the Saviour’s leading. But when the great resolve is well made, the very making of it ensures the keeping of it. “Well begun is half done.” Each step well taken developes strength to take the next. Each good deed done imparts the power to do one still better. God supplies the grace on which men depend. His smile heartens; His providence helps them. Be not afraid to enter into covenant with God. Perhaps none ever finally fall away from a great decision, thoroughly and religiously made.
(2) They have a period of freedom from assault in which to complete their occupation of the land. This period has been computed to be thirty-two years (Smith’s ‘Dict. Bible,’ art. Chronology). Godliness is not detrimental, but profitable for all things. A nation devout is a nation sober, united, strong; one left unattacked, or easily resisting an attack. It was of great moment that they should settle down, become accustomed to possession, multiply in strength, secure whatever of the inheritance was still in the enemy’s hands. And, following God,. they enjoy the favour of God, and find just the period of rest which they require. Is there not something here to which the experiences of individual men finish many a parallel? Your earthly welfare will not be wrecked by your Christian action. Your honesty will promote, it will not prevent success. No lie and no dishonour is necessary for getting on in life, only the weak and foolish think so. It is not the grasping that inherit the earth, but the meek. It is wisdom, not greed, that has “in her right hand length of days and in her left hand riches and honour.” It is one of God’s “open secrets” that the shortest way to the enjoyment of anything we desire is simply deserving it. Enter into covenant with God, and keep His covenant, and “thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”G.
Jos 24:30, Jos 24:32, Jos 24:33
Three graves.
Such is the story of life. The end of it is always in some sepulchre. “They buried Joshua.” “They buried the bones of Joseph.” “They buried Eleazer.” So the land is taken in possession. Every grave becoming a stronger link, binding the people to each other and to the land God gave them. Look at these graves. And observe
I. EVERY LIFE AT LAST FINDS A GRAVE. However strong the frame and long the conflict, at last the priest must lay down the censer, the statesman resign command, the warrior retire from fields of strife. Immortality is not for earthly surroundings, nor for the imperfect spirit and body we have here. If we are to live forever it must be somewhere where character is perfect, and a frame suited for a perfect spirit is enjoyed. It is well that an existence so faulty is so brief. Out of Eden it is better that we should be out of reach of any tree of life that can give earthly immortality. The average life is long enough for the average power of enjoying it. And it is well that it should be “rounded off by sleep.” This destiny is too much overlooked. It may be so contemplated as only to injure us. When we anticipate it with dread, without the light of God’s smile upon it or of His home beyond it, when it only shrivels up the warmth and energy of life, then its influence is harmful. But it need not have any such influence. If we remember that God is love and death a Divine institution, we shall feel that there must be some service rendered by even death; and this feeling destroying the dread of it, we shall then be in a condition to profit by its helpful influence. Amongst many wholesome influences these may be noted:
(1) It should correct the folly that wastes life. Some make two mistakes. They treat time as if it were eternity, and eternity as if it were time. And this mistake produces a purposeless existence that turns life to no account. The thought of death should wake those wasteful of life. It reminds us that the day of life has its task, that there is a serious account to be rendered of how we spent it. It says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.” It bids us live while we live, and work while it is called day.
(2) It comforts the heavy laden. Life has many burdens. Duty is often a heavy load. Regrets, cares, sorrows make between them a burden of huge dimensions. God’s saints, though they take more peacefully what is sent them, are not insensible to its troubles. On the contrary, “many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Death comes when the burden is too heavy, and whispers, “It is not for long.” “The light affliction is but for a moment.” The glory is eternal.
“Brief life is here our portion,
Brief sorrow, shortlived care,
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life is there.”
How many would have fainted utterly but for the thought, that trials were only mortal. If to some death had seemed a great foe, to many others it has seemed the
“Kind umpire of men’s miseries,
Which, with sweet enlargement, does dismiss us hence.”
If it is a great consoler of the suffering, observe further
(3) it gives zest to every activity of life. How vapid would life become if death were not the lot of men! How dull the activity which had eternity for its work! How poor the low delight would become if anything fixed forever the conditions which for the moment are sufficient to produce it. But a brief life, ever changing, with no time to waste, gives keenness and zest and joy to all our existence. And lastly, it makes us look for immortality. It raises the eye above. The other world is lighted by those who, dying, enter it. The thought of our own impending death makes us desire some “everlasting habitation” when the stewardship here is ended. So mortality protects immortality, keeps it from being forgotten, undervalued, or endangered. And, like some schoolmaster whose harshness yet helps the learning of some lesson, so death is the great instructor and preparer for the life beyond. Lament not Joshua, or Joseph, or Eleazer. Death is mercy to all such. It is not a calamity, it is the sleep God gives His beloved. If it is well to remember that all life comes to a grave, it is still more important to remember
II. THAT NEITHER LIFE NOR USEFULNESS END THERE.
(1) Life does not end there. Who could imagine that that grave at Timnath-serah was the end of Joshua? When ripest and fittest for high employment, to what purpose would have been “the waste of such ointment”? “God gathers up fragments that nothing may be lost;” would He waste such a splendid aggregate of saintly forces? Men could not believe it. Jacob spoke of his approaching death as a being “gathered to his people,” as if his great ancestors were all above waiting to welcome him. What nature has whispered to the hearts of all men the Saviour has revealed more clearly. He has “abolished death.” And now we rejoice to believe life does not end, but only takes a new departure from the grave. Death in the ease of all God’s saints is only the fulfilment of the Saviours promise, “I will come again and receive you unto Myself.” If life does not end with the grave, observe
(2) usefulness does not end with it. There is something touching in these earliest graves of IsraelMachpelah, Shechem, Timnath, Mount Ephraim. Such graves were thrones, on each of which a great spirit sat and ruled, teaching spirituality, truth, courage, communion with God. The very graves consecrated the land. As of the great cathedral of Florence the poet sang:
“In Santa Croce’s holy precincts lie
Ashes which make it holier. Dust which is
Even in itself an immortality;”
So we feel these graves were a leavening consecration which made Palestine indeed a holy land. England is rich in graves. Its soil is rich with the dust of the great and good.
“Half the soil has trod the rest
In poets, heroes, martyrs, sages.”
What impulses of courage, of philanthropy, and consecration have come from the graves of Bruce, of Howard, of the Wesleys: of a multitude that none can number? If we have the Divine life within us, death cannot end our usefulness. On the contrary, its touch canonises. Death makes the neglected counsel the revered oracle; and the neglected example the pattern on the mount; and the despised creed the life giving truth. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abides alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Death robs us of rulership over a few things only to give us rulership over many things. Let us live so that, like these, our graves may brighten and bless the land of our burial.G.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Jos 24:32
Joseph’s bones.
I. THE BURIAL OF JOSEPH‘S BONES WAS A JUSTIFICATION OF HIS FAITH. Joseph had been so sure that God would give the promised land to Israel that he had made his brethren swear to bring up his bones with them (Gen 50:25).
(1) True faith will lead to decisive action. It is vain to profess to believe in our heavenly inheritance unless we behave consistently with our belief.
(2) Faith is concerned with the unseen and the future. If we could see all there would be no room for faith.
(3) Faith is justified on earth by providence. It waits its full justification in heaven. As Joseph’s faith was justified in the entrance into Canaan, so the old Messianic faith was justified in the advent of Christ, and the Christian faith will be justified at the “consummation of all things.”
II. THE BURIAL OF JOSEPH‘S BONES WAS AN EXAMPLE OF DEFERENCE TO THE WISHES OF THE DEAD. It is well that children should respect the wishes of departed parents. Much good may be learnt by considering the thoughts and purposes of our ancestors. The people which has no respect for its past is wanting in reverence and in depth of national life. Yet there must be a limit to the influence of antiquity. The ancients lived in the childhood of our race; wisdom should grow with enlarged historical experience. At best they were fallible men, and cannot claim to extinguish the reason and responsibility of their descendants. New circumstances often render the rules and precedents of antiquity entirely obsolete.
III. THE BURIAL OF JOSEPH‘S BONES WAS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE ONENESS OF MANKIND. Ages had passed since the death of Joseph. Yet his bones were preserved and buried in the very “parcel of ground which Jacob had bought.” There is a family unity, a national unity, a church unity, a human solidarity. The past lives on in the present. Men are insensibly linked and welded together. We are members one of another. Therefore we should consider the good of each other, and of the whole community, and should take note of past experience and future requirements.
IV. THE BURIAL OF JOSEPH‘S BONES REMINDS US OF THE DELAY WHICH PRECEDES THE ENJOYMENT OF THE HIGHEST BLESSINGS. There were centuries of delay between the promise and the possession of Canaan. Many ages passed after the first prophecy of redemption and before the coming of Christ. The second advent of Christ has often been anticipated by the Church and longed for by His people, but it is not yet accomplished. The Christian must wait on earth during years of service before receiving his heavenly inheritance. This is occasioned
(1) by our unbeliefas the unbelief of Israel deferred possession of Canaan;
(2) by the need of fitnessthe people needed to be trained in the wilderness; the world needed preparing for Christ, who came in the “fulness of time;” Christians must be made “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light;” the world, must be prepared for the full and perfect reign of Christ.” Yet, note, the promise is not violated because the fulfilment is delayed. Finally, the Christian inheritance will not be the unconscious possession of a grave in the promised land, but the enjoyment of heaven with the faculties of an eternal life.W.F.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Ver. 29. Andafter these thingsJoshuadied Most probably within a short time after the holding of the assembly at Shechem. It is difficult to say positively how many years this great man governed the people of God in the land of Canaan. Some Jewish doctors say, that he lived twenty-eight years after the passage over Jordan; others confine his administration to seven or eight; some preserve a medium, and grant him seventeen. This, among others, is the opinion of Bonfrere, to whom we refer the reader.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return, is the one common lot. And hence the most faithful of God’s servants die as well as others, though not as do others. The Reader should remark, that the same title is given to Joshua, as was given to Moses. He is called the servant of Jehovah. Sweet title! It doth not appear at what particular period it was when Joshua died. Some have thought by calculation, it must have been more than twenty years after the children of Israel entered on the possession of Canaan. But this is not certain.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jos 24:29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, [being] an hundred and ten years old.
Ver. 29. Joshua the servant of the Lord, died.] This was the crown of all his commendation, and a greater title to be engraven on his tomb, than his was, who arrogantly and foolishly styled himself K , Monarch of the World. This was Sesostris, king of Egypt, who reigned there in the days of Samson.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 24:29-30
29It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred and ten years old. 30And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.
Jos 24:29 the servant of the LORD This was used often of Moses, but only here of Joshua. See note at Jos 1:1.
one hundred and ten This is also the age of Joseph when he died (cf. Gen 50:26). This age may have been a symbol of a blessed life.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
died. In 1434, after living seventeen years in the Land. App-50.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3. The Epilogue
CHAPTER 24:29-33
1. Joshuas death and burial (24:29-31)
2. The bones of Joseph buried (24:32)
3. Eleazars death (24:33)
Moses, the instrument through whom the law was given, was buried by the Lord, no doubt a hint that some day the Lord would put away the law, with its curse, as we learn in the New Testament. Joshua was buried by the people in his own inheritance; he died ten years younger than Moses, that is 110 years old. Joseph had reached the same age, having died some 200 years before. Gen 50:25, Exo 13:19 and Heb 11:22 must be consulted to understand the burial of his bones recorded here. They had carried those bones all through the wilderness and never attempted to bury them till they were settled in the land. The book closes with the account of Eleazars death.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
after these: Deu 34:5, Jdg 2:8, Psa 115:17, 2Ti 4:7, 2Ti 4:8, Rev 14:13
an hundred: Gen 50:22, Gen 50:26
Reciprocal: Gen 47:9 – have not Jos 13:1 – Joshua Jdg 1:1 – Now Jdg 8:32 – died in Job 42:16 – an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
D. The death and burial of Joshua and Eleazar 24:29-33
These final verses record the end of Joshua’s life and ministry that terminated an important and successful era in Israel’s history. Israel’s success continued as long as the elders who had served Israel contemporaneously with Joshua lived (Jos 24:31).
Joshua died shortly after the renewal of the covenant just described (Jos 24:1-28). He was 110 years old (Jos 24:29), the same age as Joseph when he died (Gen 50:26). Joshua evidently died about 1366 B.C. [Note: Merrill, Kingdom of . . ., p. 147.] God greatly used Joshua as He had used Joseph in delivering His people. God recorded no moral blemish on the lives of either of these two remarkable men in Scripture.
"Perhaps the outstanding characteristic of the man Joshua was his unqualified courage. . . . The real success of Joshua, however, probably lies in the fact that he was a Spirit-filled man (Num 27:18; cf. Deu 34:9)." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, p. 25.]
"Joshua’s epitaph was not written on a marble gravestone. It was written in the lives of the leaders he influenced and the people he led. They served Yahweh. Here is the theological climax to the theme introduced in Jos 22:5 and repeated like a chorus in Jos 23:7; Jos 23:16; Jos 24:14-16; Jos 24:18-22; Jos 24:24. Ironically, the minister of Moses brought the people to obey Yahweh, while Moses saw only the perpetual murmuring and rebellion of the people (cf. Deu 31:27). Even Moses had to die outside the Land of Promise." [Note: Butler, p. 283.]
Evidently the writer included the record of the burial of Joseph’s bones here (Jos 24:32) because the Book of Joshua is a remarkable testimony to the faithfulness of God. Joseph had counted on God’s faithfulness in bringing the Israelites into the land and had asked that when that took place his descendants would lay his bones to rest there. The event may have taken place earlier when Joseph’s descendants received Shechem as their inheritance. This burial fulfilled the promise Joseph’s heirs had made to him before he died, that they would bury him in Canaan (Gen 50:25). God now rewarded his faith.
Eleazar’s death and burial were also significant because, as Israel’s high priest and co-leader with Joshua during this period of history, Eleazar was a very important person. As Israel’s high priest he was more important than the brief references to his ministry might suggest.
"Three burials-it seems a strange way to end the Book of Joshua! But these three peaceful graves testify to the faithfulness of God, for Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar once lived in a foreign nation where they were the recipients of God’s promise to take His people back to Canaan. Now all three were at rest within the borders of the Promised Land. God kept His word to Joshua, Joseph, Eleazar-and to all Israel. And by this we are encouraged to count on the unfailing faithfulness of God." [Note: Campbell, No Time . . ., p. 142.]
Thus the times of Joshua came to a close. This period of Israel’s history was its greatest so far. The people had followed the Lord more faithfully than their fathers, though not completely faithfully. Consequently they experienced God’s blessing more greatly than the previous generation and many generations that followed theirs did.
"After Joshua, the history of Israel goes downhill [until David]. Joshua 24 thus marks the high point of Israel’s history, the full realization of her identity as people of God." [Note: Butler, p. 269.]