Joshua 19:50—By command of the Lord they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it.
As people get to our so called "golden years," many think about where to go to spend them. Imagine you have lived a long and productive life, and you have to choose a retirement community.
In the book of Joshua there are 24 chapters. The book begins with Joshua leading the tribes across the Jordan and entering the land. Much of the book involves Joshua and the Children of Israel's battles to conquer and take possession of the land God promised to their forefathers' Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After the battle of Jericho there are many more battles. There is also the saga of settling the Ark of the Testimony, with the Tablets received at Sinai, in Shiloh.
The last chapters involve dividing up the inheritance to the tribes of the sons of Jacob, Israel. There is also a place given to Caleb, the famous other spy who wanted the Israelites to go into the land the first time.
Joshua's Retirement Place
After all the land is assigned, Joshua recieves his place in promise land. I think the place Joshua recieves has a very interesting significance.
Joshua settles down for the final years of his life in a place called Timnath-serah (also called Timnath-heres). It is generally identified today with the archaeological site of Khirbet Tibnah, located in the western hill country of Samaria/Ephraim. Actual ruins sit on a strategic ridge almost 20 miles northwest of Jerusalem.
Timnath-serah is a biblical city in the hill country of Ephraim assigned to Joshua as his personal inheritance (Joshua 19:50). The Hebrew name translates to "portion of abundance" or "remaining portion," signifying God's generous provision. It is also known as Timnath-heres, meaning "portion of the sun."
THE MIRACLE
History and tradition remembers this as where the sun stood still during the during the Battle of Gibeon while Joshua was leading the Israelites against a coalition of five Amorite kings. To ensure enough daylight to complete the victory before nightfall, Joshua commanded the sun and moon to halt their movement.
The "miracle" in the text states the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed setting for about a full day. The Bible highlights this as an unparalleled event, stating there has never been a day like it before or since when the Lord listened to a human voice in such a cosmic way. This event was also recorded in the Book of Jashar (or Jasher), an ancient non-canonical collection of songs and heroic deeds that has since been lost.
The Book of Joshua Doesn't End There
Joshua receives his inheritance in chapter 19, but there are 24 chapters in his book.
Just after we read about Joshua's inheritance at the end of chapter 19, chapter 20 establishes the cities of refugee that God instructed Moses on.
Joshua 20:1-3—Then the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.
In chapter 21, the Levites, the priestly sons of Aaron and the Kohathites all recieve their inheritance. By the end of chapter 21 the lands are all assigned.
Joshua 21:43—Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
The next chapter, 22, Joshua has some loose ends to take care of with tribes to the East of the Jordan and then he essentially discharges all the tribes and his armies to go to the lands assigned to them.
Joshua 22:4—And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
Chapter 22 ends in such a way that it reverses or reconciles the bad report from the spies way back when the previous generation first reached the Jordan. (See Numbers 13:32)
Joshua 22:32—Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”
COMING TO THE END OF THE ROAD
Now let's move on to the last two chapters and see what the Lord has left for us to hear.
Joshua 23–24 function as Joshua’s “golden years” message: two farewell addresses and a covenant-renewal ceremony that show how a man who has finished his wars chooses to “retire” by binding the next generation to the Lord rather than to himself.
Joshua 23: A Farewell to Leaders
Joshua 23 is a private, pastoral address to Israel’s elders, heads, judges, and officers after “a long time” of rest in the land. He is old and advanced in years, and his focus is not on reminiscing about battles but on how his people will live once he is gone.
Key emphases:
God’s finished work: Joshua reminds them that God has fought for them and driven out great nations, and that their current rest is the fruit of divine promise, not human prowess.
Clinging loyalty: Joshua calls them to “be very strong,” to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, to love the Lord, and to cling to Him, echoing Deuteronomy’s language.
Separation from idolatry: He warns that mixing with the remaining nations and their gods will turn those nations into snares and traps and will bring covenant curses, not blessing.
No automatic security: The same faithful God who gave every promise will also faithfully bring every threatened judgment if Israel turns back. Joshua refuses a sentimental ending; fidelity, not nostalgia, must define Israel’s future.
In other words, as he “retires,” Joshua does not secure his own legacy but insists that their future depends on ongoing covenant loyalty.
Joshua 24: Covenant Renewal at Shechem
Chapter 24 shifts from leaders to the whole nation, gathered at Shechem, and takes the form of a formal covenant-renewal treaty between the Divine and His people.
Shechem is no ordinary location. It is where Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers and brought back a "bad report." At that point Joseph's brothers, the future tribes of israel, wanted to kill Joseph. The connection to that location is profound! What was is in Shechem that Jacob was worried about? The answer is the idols that came out of Laban's house. Do you see the connection to Abraham?
Shechem is the crossroads where Abraham first heard the land promise, where Jacob buried the idols from Laban’s world, and where Joseph’s brothers first showed their murderous, idolatrous hearts.
The structure:
- Historical prologue (24:2–13): Speaking in the Lord’s voice (“Thus says the Lord”), Joshua recounts Israel’s story from Abraham, through Egypt, the wilderness, and the conquest, stressing that every decisive victory was God’s act, not Israel’s. This framing reminds an aged nation that their identity is pure grace.
- Call for exclusive allegiance (24:14–15): On that basis, Joshua demands they fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods beyond the River and in Egypt. His famous “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” sets his own “retirement decision” in stark contrast to the surrounding culture.
- Israel’s triple affirmation (24:16–24): The people insist they will serve the Lord, but Joshua soberly warns them of God’s holiness and jealousy; they still affirm, and Joshua has them testify against themselves that they have chosen the Lord.
- Ratification and witness (24:25–27): Joshua cuts a covenant, writes these words in the book of the law, and sets up a great stone under the oak at the sanctuary of the Lord in Shechem as a witness to their promises. That is where Jacob buried the foreign gods and earrings “under the oak which was near Shechem.
This is Joshua’s final “act”: not building a monument to his campaigns, but binding the people to a covenant the Lord authored and owns.
FLASHBACK:
The last chapter, 24, concludes with a clear statement.
Joshua 24:24-28—“The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance."
Like the rocks at Gilgal, the Large Stone in Joshua 24 is a witness of who we are to serve!
The End of Joshua’s Story
The book ends with three burials: Joshua's, Joseph’s bones, and Eleazar the priest. Each burial quietly reinforces the theme of promises fulfilled and yet not fully final.
- Joshua is buried in his “remaining portion,” signaling that God’s promises to him as leader have been kept.
- Joseph’s bones, brought from Egypt, are buried at Shechem in the land he had spoken of in faith long before, showing that the exodus story has come full circle—but also hinting that Israel’s hope still reaches beyond this settling.
- Eleazar’s burial marks the passing of the priestly generation that shepherded Israel from wilderness into land, leaving the people with covenant documents, a witness stone, and graves in the inheritance to remind them that leaders die, but the covenant Lord remains.
Joshua’s “golden years,” then, are not about escaping to a quiet ridge but about finishing his vocation by handing Israel back to God’s Word and presence.
Do you see how that is a metaphor for the end of life?
Joshua's retirement address is essentially a message to us all:
- Choose whom you will serve;
- Remember what God has done;
- Let your final portion—like his Timnath-serah—be the abundant share that remains when you give God everything.
