49 When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. (Joshua 19:49)
Joshua is a consummate servant leader.
As the two faithful spies from the previous generation, Joshua and Caleb had earned the right to ask for whatever land they wanted. As we saw a couple of days ago, Caleb chose one of the hardest places in the land—the hill country where giants still lived.
Joshua, however, waited.
Though he could have chosen first, he received last. He graciously waited until the tribes had received their inheritance, until the land had been distributed, until the work was done, before he settled into his own portion.
And that detail is more than leadership etiquette. It is one more whisper in Joshua that points us forward to Jesus.
The name Joshua comes from the same Hebrew root as Yeshua—“Yahweh saves.” And in this Old Testament Joshua, we catch a glimpse of the servant heart that would be perfectly fulfilled in the greater Joshua to come.
Jesus did not cling to His rights.
Though He was eternally one with the Father, enjoying all the glory of heaven, He did not grasp at His privilege. Instead, as Paul says in Philippians 2, He “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7–8).
Like Joshua, Jesus fought for the inheritance of His people before resting in His own.
Only Jesus fought a greater battle.
Joshua helped Israel defeat Canaanite kings. Jesus defeated sin, death, and hell itself. Joshua led God’s people into an earthly inheritance. Jesus secured for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).
And after He had done that saving work, then He sat down.
“After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).
That’s the kind of leader I will follow.
A leader who does not demand to be served first, but serves first.
A leader who does not secure His own comfort before caring for His people, but lays Himself down to bring His people home.
Joshua points us to Yeshua.
And Yeshua is better.
Hallelujah—what a Savior.
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