CRITICAL NOTES.—
Joshua 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 (Exodus 13:19).
Joshua 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.— Joshua 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 captain’s 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 fall’n 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. Genesis 1:26). As with Joshua, Joseph’s 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 God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Eleazar is the faithful priest, whose very name—“the help of God,” or “one whom God helps”—is 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
Joshua 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? God’s 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.]
Joshua 24:31.—THE HOLY INFLUENCES OF A HOLY LIFE.
I. The fruits of a man’s 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 Jehovah—that was the seed; Israel, too, “served Jehovah”—that 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. God’s fields yield better than many think they do.
2. “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days,” etc. Joshua’s 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. Men’s 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. Joshua’s holy life would have done little, but for the memory of God’s 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.
Joshua 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 (Genesis 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 Joseph’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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. Joseph’s 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. Genesis 47:29-30; Genesis 48:21-22; Genesis 49:1; Genesis 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 Joseph’s descendants to lay their believing ancestor’s 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. God’s “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 God’s 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” (Acts 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 God’s. What men hastily deem God’s failures to fulfil His promise, are often the very beginnings of its fulfilment. (a) It had been so in Joseph’s life. It was at the pit of Dothan that God began to fulfil Joseph’s 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 Joseph’s 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 God’s 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 Joseph’s 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 God’s fulfilment of His faithful word, strengthens our own faith; it strengthens, no less, the faith of others.
THE TIME OF THE BURIAL OF JOSEPH’S 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.]
Joshua 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 God’s 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 Joshua—one of the persons who most significantly, of all the Old Testament characters, prefigures the coming Christ—we 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.”