And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, a hundred and ten years old.
Joshua's story ends not with a battle but with a burial notice: he dies at 110, and the verse gives him one title — servant of the LORD. Commentators take up that title, the length of his life, and what happens to a people once a faithful leader is gone.
The verse does not call him a general or a judge. It calls him a servant, and one writer weighs that service against the people he served among.
Joshua, the son of Nun, and Eleazar the priest, glorified the God of their fathers, and served their day and generation well. They still had many misgivings about the people they had travelled with for forty years, and about their ways towards the Lord... When Joshua was old and far on in years, he called for the elders and judges and the heads of Israel. He rehearsed before them the faithfulness of the Lord. He sought to stir them up again, to strengthen their confidence in God, and to deepen their mistrust of themselves.
One writer links what Joshua took hold of to who had already taken hold of him.
Joshua was a man who lived in the holy presence of God. His soul was completely taken possession of for God. So it was a simple thing for him to take possession of what was his. Let God capture my soul and I will want to capture everything for Him.
The number lets one writer work out how long Joshua lived after the fighting stopped.
This would make the time from the Jordan to Joshua's death thirty or forty years. Say he was thirty, a young man, when Caleb was forty. Add the thirty-eight years in the wilderness and he was sixty-eight. Then 110 minus 68 leaves forty-two. So he outlived the wars perhaps thirty-five years; compare chapter 24:29 and chapter 23:1.
Two other deaths stand beside his, and one writer reads meaning into who did the burying.
The Lord buried Moses, the instrument through whom the law was given. That is no doubt a hint that one day the Lord would put away the law with its curse, as we learn in the New Testament. The people buried Joshua in his own inheritance. He died ten years younger than Moses, that is, at 110 years old. Joseph had reached the same age, having died some 200 years before.
Joshua's grave lies inside his own inheritance. One writer does not stop at the grave.
He was buried on the border of his inheritance in Mount Ephraim. There his dust rests until Jesus, of whom he is such a striking picture, will raise him from the dead.
The grave carries two different names in Scripture. One writer treats that difference as deliberate.
You have often been reminded how Joshua's burial place in the book of Joshua is Timnath-serah, and in the book of Judges it is Timnath-heres. When the point is the inheritance he had entered by faith, as the representative of the people of God, the name is Timnath-serah, "an abundant inheritance." And when the point is the people failing and departing from God, what is the portion where Joshua's grave is? Timnath-heres, "a portion of clay." The abundance turned into a little handful of earth. That tells us the difference between a living faith and formal profession.
Israel served the Lord while Joshua lived. One writer asks what was holding them, and what happened when it went.
As long as Joshua's personal influence lasted, Israel served the Lord. It lasted, too, while his spirit still influenced the elders. They had been his companions, and they had known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel. But no longer, as the book of Judges shows. And so it is in all days and times. Men serve the Lord as long as the power of God in His servants turns their hearts to Himself, whether these are Judges or Kings — Moses, Joshua, or David... The leader gone, the mass relapses into departure from the living God.
- Servant. The title Joshua dies with sums up a life that glorified God and served its own generation well.
- Source. That service grew out of a life lived in God's presence. His soul was possessed for God, so taking possession of his inheritance was simple.
- Span. At 110 he had outlived the wars by an estimated thirty-five years. He died ten years younger than Moses, and at the same age as Joseph.
- Soil. The people buried him in his own inheritance. That abundant portion is later called "a portion of clay" — living faith against mere profession.
- Successors. Israel served the Lord as long as Joshua's influence lasted. When the leader goes, borrowed faithfulness collapses.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the mountain of Gaash.
Joshua's story ends with a grave, not a battle. The man who led Israel into the land now lies in it, and the place where he lies carries its own meaning.
One writer reads this spot as a place of waiting, not an ending:
He was buried at the edge of his inheritance in the hill country of Ephraim, where his dust rests until Jesus, of whom he is such a striking picture, raises him from the dead.
Another writer sets this burial beside the burial of Moses:
Moses was the one through whom the law was given, and the Lord buried him. This is no doubt a hint that one day the Lord would set aside the law with its curse, as we learn in the New Testament. The people buried Joshua in his own inheritance. He died ten years younger than Moses, at 110 years old.
Commentators take Joshua's inheritance as a picture of what belongs to Christ:
His name is the same as Jesus in Greek, meaning "Jehovah is Savior," so Joshua pictures Christ as the Leader and Completer of faith. If others have their own possessions, how fitting that Christ should have Timnath-serah, which means "an abundant portion." It is His voice we hear in Psalm 16:6, "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays that believers may "know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints." Those who are redeemed by His blood, their hearts purified by faith, form His inheritance, which is so valuable and glorious to Him.
Three parties had a hand in Joshua's portion, and the timing matters:
Self-seeking was not found in Joshua any more than in Moses. Each had his share in what was given to their leader — the word of the LORD, Joshua's request, and Israel's gift: but not until they had finished dividing the land.
Three graves close the book. Together they say something the conquest itself could not:
Joshua dies, his influence lasting only to the end of his generation — a telling limit. Joseph, his forefather, has his bones buried at Shechem. Last of all, Eleazar dies: and these three graves are a sign that the Great Deliverer has not yet come. These pictures are only the shadow, not the substance — yet faith follows where they point. Thank God, for us the Deliverer has come, though not yet the full deliverance.
Yet these graves are sown in expectation, not defeat:
The book of Joshua closes with the burial places where they laid the heirs of promise, each in his own inheritance. In this way the seed of a coming and glorious resurrection went into the ground. It was sown in hope of that day when they will all come out to sit down together with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. These men won a good report through faith, yet did not receive the promises. They saw them from far off, were sure of them, welcomed them, and owned that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Judges tells the story again and calls the place Timnath-heres. One writer hears a warning in the change of name:
When the point is the inheritance he entered by faith, representing the people of God, the name is Timnath-serah, "an abundant inheritance." But when the point is the people failing and turning away from God, what is his grave called? Timnath-heres, "a portion of clay." The abundance turned into a little handful of earth. That tells us the difference between a living faith and formal profession.
Israel's faithfulness outlived Joshua, but not by much. One writer sees the same pattern in every age:
As long as Joshua's personal influence held, Israel served the Lord. It lasted while his spirit still shaped the elders who had been his companions and had seen all the works the Lord did for Israel. But no longer, as the book of Judges shows. And so it is in every age. People serve the Lord as long as the power of God in His servants turns their hearts to Him. The leader gone, the mass slides back into departure from the living God.
- Portion. Joshua's grave lies in Timnath-serah, "an abundant portion." God named the land, Joshua asked for it, and Israel gave it — last of all.
- Picture. Joshua's name is the same as Jesus. His rich portion pictures what Christ receives — and Christ's inheritance is His redeemed people.
- Grave. The people buried him in his own ground. God buried Moses in a hidden place.
- Shadow. Three graves close the book — a sign the true Deliverer had not yet come, and seed sown in hope of resurrection.
- Clay. Judges renames the same grave Timnath-heres, "a portion of clay." Abundance shrinks to a handful of earth where living faith fades into empty profession.
And Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders whose days were prolonged after Joshua, and who had known all the works of Jehovah, which he had done for Israel.
This verse reads like praise and like a warning. Israel stayed faithful while Joshua and the elders who had seen God act were alive — so what held the nation steady, and why did it not last after them?
The verse dates Israel's faithfulness instead of just stating it. It lasted as long as the men who had seen God act.
As long as Joshua's personal influence lasted, Israel served the Lord. It lasted too while his spirit still influenced the elders, his companions, who had known all the works of the Lord that He had done for Israel. But no longer, as the book of Judges shows. The leader gone, the mass slips back into departure from the living God.
The verse does not credit the elders with office or talent. It credits them with experience.
They did not know God as their fathers did. They had not seen the mighty works of the Lord as their fathers had. Forty years in the wilderness left its mark on the souls of those who had experienced God's power, compassion, and patience. And so soul-history proved to be the barrier against soul decline.
The next generation still had the same truths. What they lacked was the way those truths had reached them.
The second generation of any movement is a time of failure. Israel under Joshua and the elders was faithful, outwardly at least, and living in the fear of God. But a second generation came in. They had not seen the works of the Lord. They had received the truths from the elders second-hand. Those truths had not come straight down to them from God. They learned them in an indirect way — in their heads, I might add, rather than in their hearts.
The verse reads like a compliment to Joshua. Mackintosh takes it as a warning about what Israel was leaning on.
As long as Joshua and the elders lived, their presence and their influence kept Israel from openly abandoning God. But once those moral barriers were gone, the dark tide of idolatry rolled in and swept away the very foundations of the national faith. Human influence is a poor prop, a feeble barrier. The power of God must hold us up, or sooner or later we will give way. A faith that rests only on the wisdom of men, and not on the power of God, will prove poor, flimsy and worthless.
If the next generation grew up not knowing God's works, someone had skipped a duty. Moses had already named whose duty it was.
In Deuteronomy, Moses told the fathers and mothers of Israel this: when your child asks what these things mean, you are to explain them and tell your children the history behind each event in Israel's story. So if a generation arose that did not know the Lord or His works, it means the teaching of the fathers and mothers had lapsed. They were in the position, but had no living interest in it, and it is easy to give up something we are not concerned about.
Darby applies the same pattern beyond Israel.
All the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, Israel walked before the Lord. It is the history of the church. While the apostles were there, that walk was kept. But Paul and Peter both warned believers that unfaithfulness and rebellion would sadly follow once they were gone. These evil principles were already there.
So who can help a generation that has no Joshua?
Believers cannot keep to the heavenly path on the momentum of the faith of men who are now at rest with Christ. The true helpers of God's people are those who know all the works of the Lord in their own souls, in practice. They live out what they believe. They have the principles and doctrines of Scripture in their minds, and they also have the power of the Spirit of God filling their hearts.
- Known — the elders served because they had known God's works first-hand. Experience of God, not information about Him, held them.
- Knowing holds — that first-hand knowledge was the barrier against decline. A faith that rests on human wisdom, not God's power, gives way.
- Knowing must be taught — Moses told parents to explain God's acts to their children. Where that stopped, a generation grew up in the position with no living interest in it.
- Second-hand knowing fails — truth picked up from others sits in the head, not the heart. That is why the second generation of any movement is a time of failure.
- Knowing again — no one coasts on the faith of people now at rest with Christ. The true helpers of God's people are those who know His works in their own souls today.
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem in the portion of the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitahs; and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
The book of Joshua closes not with a battle but with three graves. One holds Joseph, who died in Egypt centuries earlier, and his burial here keeps a very old promise.
Joseph's bones travelled with Israel for generations before anyone dug a grave. Notice how long they waited, and where they stopped.
To understand the burial of his bones recorded here, read Genesis 50:25, Exodus 13:19 and Hebrews 11:22. They had carried those bones all through the wilderness. They never tried to bury them until they had settled in the land.
Joseph had every honour Egypt could give. His choice of a burial place says what he thought that honour was worth against the promise of God.
He solemnly charged his sons not to bury him with his fathers, as Jacob asked to be and was. They were to embalm him instead. That was the pledge that they would leave Egypt in God's time for the land of promise. No splendour in Egypt dimmed the light of promise to his faith. He stood nearer the throne of the world than anyone, yet he is a stranger. He looks for resurrection. He waits for Israel's return to the land, as God swore to their fathers.
For generations that coffin sat unburied. It was a sermon Israel could see, and it kept preaching through the wilderness years.
What a witness the coffin of Joseph must have been to the Israelites through the long centuries! It reminded them again and again that not even death itself can stop the living God from doing all He pleases and carrying out His purpose for His people. So when at last they leave the land of Egypt, they keep the oath made to Joseph: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him" (Ex. 13:19). Those bones were still a witness to faith in God through the forty years of wilderness journeys.
The burial site was not random ground. Jacob came by it in two ways, not one, and it did not stay in his hands.
A portion in the land was won by conflict as well as by buying, and it went to Joseph. So he became lord of that little portion of the land as well as lord of all Egypt. It was a foretaste and pledge that in the end Israel would hold the whole land.
The price Jacob paid carries a detail worth knowing. The word the ESV renders "pieces of money" is not the ordinary shekel.
The words "piece of money" (Gen. 33:19; Job 42:11) and "piece of silver" (Joshua 24:32) translate the Hebrew qesitah. Comparing Gen. 33:19 with Gen. 23:16, Gesenius supposes the weight to equal 4 shekels.
The verse ends by naming whose land the plot became. Where a man's dust rests can say more than where his glory was.
His tomb fell within the "inheritance of the descendants of Joseph." His dust does not rest in the Egypt that saw his glory. It rests in God's promised land, though weakness and failure are written across its holy fields. Man's short history on earth runs to the grave. But in a little while Christ will reward the faith of all who trust in Him. He is coming. He will cause the dead to awake and to arise. Joshua, Eleazar and Joseph, together with the weakest and the least believer among His saints, will receive their everlasting portion in resurrection glory.
Joshua, Joseph and Eleazar are all buried in these closing verses. Three graves in a row say something about the moment Israel had reached.
Joshua dies. His influence lasts only till the end of his generation, and that is a real limitation. The bones of Joseph their father are buried at Shechem. Then Eleazar dies. These three graves are a sign that the Great Deliverer has not yet come. The types are only the shadow, not the substance — yet for faith they point towards it. Thank God, for us the Deliverer has come, though the full deliverance is not here yet.
Kelly draws the same line forward, tying the two leaders to the man whose bones they carried.
Joshua brought the people into the land, as Moses led them out of Egypt, in keeping with the faith of Joseph. But a greater than all will give a deeper meaning in His day.
- Oath. Joseph made Israel swear to carry his bones out of Egypt, and here they keep that oath.
- Witness. The unburied coffin travelled with Israel for centuries. It reminded them that death cannot stop God from keeping His word.
- Ground. The burial plot was Jacob's by purchase and by conflict — a small foretaste and pledge of the whole land.
- Inheritance. Joseph's tomb lies inside his own children's portion. He rests in the promised land, not in the Egypt that honoured him.
- Awakening. Three graves close the book, a sign the Deliverer had not yet come. He has come now, and Joseph will rise to his everlasting portion.
And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in mount Ephraim.
The book of Joshua ends not with a battle or a song, but with a burial. Eleazar, the priest who served beside Joshua through the conquest, dies. They bury him on ground that belonged to his son Phinehas, in the hill country of Ephraim. Why does a book of victory close over a grave? And what does that burial place say about the promise?
The book's last verses record three burials in a row — Joshua, then Joseph's bones, then Eleazar:
Joshua dies, his influence lasting till the end of his generation — a significant limitation. Joseph his father's bones are buried at Shechem. Lastly, Eleazar dies: and these three graves are a sign that the Great Deliverer has not yet come. These pictures are only the shadow, not the substance — yet for faith they point forward to it. Thank God, for us the Deliverer has come, though the full deliverance has not yet come.
Eleazar and Joseph both lie in ground God had promised. Their dust stays there — but not forever:
As the book of Joshua closes, the Spirit of God mentions the death and burial of Eleazar, the high priest, in the borders of Ephraim. He also mentions the fulfilment of Joseph's faith in the burial of his bones in Shechem. His tomb fell within the "inheritance of the children of Joseph." His dust does not rest in the Egypt that saw his glory. It rests in God's promised land, though weakness and failure are written across its holy fields. Man's short history on earth runs down to the grave; but in a little while Christ will reward the faith of all who put their trust in Him. He is coming. He will cause the dead to awake and to arise. Then Joshua, Eleazar and Joseph — with the weakest and least believer among His saints — will receive their everlasting portion in resurrection glory.
The verse calls the burial place Gibeah. A Bible dictionary shows that the name is also a description:
GIBEAH OF PHINEHAS, as Joshua 24:33 may be translated, 'a hill [that belonged to] Phinehas.'
The three burials are grouped together for a reason — each man lies in ground tied to his own portion:
Joseph's bones too were buried in Shechem, in the ground Jacob bought from the son of Hamor, the father of Shechem — naturally mentioned along with the death of Joshua in mount Ephraim, and that of Eleazar, Aaron's son, buried on a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given him in the same mountain. Joshua brought the people into the land, as Moses led them out of Egypt, in keeping with the faith of Joseph. But a greater than all will give a deeper meaning in His day.
Eleazar became high priest only after his two older brothers died. One writer finds Christ pictured in both the man and his name:
Eleazar was Aaron's third son. In him the priesthood revives after the death of Nadab and Abihu. He is the clear picture of Christ as a risen Priest, whose place of intercession is the fruit of His finished work. His resurrection means the acceptance of His atoning death; and so He is Eleazar, the true "help of God" for His dependent people.
The verse names the son as well as the father, and the office does not die with Eleazar:
But there is comfort as well as warning in Aaron's family. How beautiful to see Eleazar his son step into his father's place at his death! And as we follow Eleazar's path through the book of Joshua, we see his son Phinehas growing up to walk in the steps of his father and grandfather. That cheers and comforts the heart. Now another Great High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron, has arisen; and in Him there is no failure.
Phinehas is named in this verse only as the owner of the hill. He appears again in Judges, and that link dates those events:
In Judges 20:28, "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was standing before it [the ark] in those days." From this we must conclude that those days followed right after what Joshua 24:33 records.
Joshua and Eleazar are now both buried. One writer weighs what their generation did and what it left undone:
Joshua the son of Nun, and Eleazar the priest, honoured the God of their fathers. They served their own day and generation well. Yet they had many a misgiving about the people they had travelled with for forty years, and about their ways towards the Lord. Once in the land of promise, with rest from war and peace at home, they settled down. They were content with the measure of blessing they enjoyed and which satisfied them, but they failed to drive out the Canaanites.
- Grave. The book of conquest ends with three burials — Joshua, Joseph, Eleazar. Each grave says the Great Deliverer has not yet come.
- Ground. Yet the dust lies in the promised land, not in Egypt; the place of burial is itself a claim on the promise.
- Guarantee. Eleazar, the "help of God," pictures Christ as the risen Priest, whose intercession rests on His finished work.
- Generations. The office passed from Aaron to Eleazar to Phinehas. The hill named after the son shows the line going on where the father's story stops.
- Glory. Joshua and Eleazar served their generation well, yet left Canaanites in the land. The full portion comes when Christ raises His own in resurrection glory.