SERIES: Joshua: Victory through Faith
An Epitaph Worth Living For
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: I have always been fascinated by epitaphs. For years I have kept a file of my favorite ones, and whenever I get a chance, I like to browse through old graveyards looking for more. Over the years I have found some fascinating epitaphs in such out-of-the-way places as the old ghost town of Hamilton, NE, a tiny cemetery above Cripple Creek, CO, the graveyard at the old church in Williamsburg, VA, and many places in between.
I thought I might share some of the favorites in my collection. I have not personally seen all of these on tombstones; some I have picked up in literature.
In a Harvard, Mass. cemetery is this gravestone:
In memory of
Capt. Thomas Stetson
Who was killed by the fall of
a tree Nov. 28, 1820.
Nearly 30 years he was master
of a vessel and left that
employment at the age of
48 for the less hazardous
one of cultivating his farm.
From a cemetery in Williamsport, PA.
Born June 27th, 1821 of Henry Harris
and Jane his Wife.
Died on the 4th of May1837,
by the kick of a colt in his stomach.
This poem was attached:
Peaceable and quiet, a friend to
his father and mother, and respected
by all who knew him, and went to
the world where horses don’t kick,
where sorrow and weeping is no more.
(That epitaph was especially meaningful to me).
The full epitaph on a tombstone I saw in Cripple Creek:
He called
Bill Smith
A Liar
Here’s one many of us could relate to, having just gone through another St. Louis August. It came from North Andover, Mass:
Erected in Memory of
Mr. James Bridges
who departed this life July 17th 1747
in the 51st year of his age.
Being melted to death by extreme heat.
Here’s one given to a preacher who weighed over 300 pounds:
He dug his grave
With his own teeth.
(It could have been anyone—it didn’t have to be a preacher).
The grave of Ellen Shannon, 26, of Girard, PA reads:
Who was fatally burned
March 21, 1870
by the explosion of a lamp
filled with “R.E. Danforth’s
Non-Explosive
Burning Fluid”
Here’s a sad epitaph on the grave of an infant:
It is so soon that I am done for,
I wonder what I was begun for.
And a final one, which was reported in an old San Diego newspaper in 1860:
Here lies the body of Jeemes Humbrick
who was accidentally shot on the
bank of the Pacus River by a young man.
He was accidentally shot with one
of the large Colt’s revolvers with
no stopper for the cock to rest on,
it was one of the old-fashioned kind,
brass mounted. And of such is the
Kingdom of heaven.
Well, enough said. Perhaps you see why I have developed this little hobby. It’s a lot of fun. You know, the Bible also reports a number of epitaphs. In fact, I have a book in my library written by Clarence E. Macartney, entitled Bible Epitaphs. Included are the following, with a chapter about each of the individuals:
Jabez: he was more honorable than his brethren.
Abner: he died as a fool dies.
Jereboam: he made Israel to sin.
John: the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Demas: he loved this present world.
The Rich Young Ruler: he went away sorrowful.
The theme of our text today—the last five verses of the book of Joshua—is death. It is not, on the surface, a passage from which one would want to have a month’s worth of devotionals. In the space of five verses, three people die and are buried. What are we supposed to get out of that? Well, I think the author put it there to force us to think about life, death, and the inheritance God’s children can expect to receive. It will also help us to think about epitaphs.
As you glance at your Sermon Outline you will notice that under the references to each of these three men, there is mention of his long life, his inheritance, and his epitaph.
The death of Joshua (29-31)
Listen to Joshua 24:29-31:
“After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.”
Of the facts given us here about Joshua, the first I would like to mention is that …
He lived a long life as a faithful servant of the Lord. Joshua was 110 years old when he died. That was a very long life, even for his day. I believe the author mentions his age to stress the long and faithful career Joshua had as a servant of the Lord. One looks in vain throughout the record of his life for any sign of rebellion, apathy, or even half-heartedness in his service for God. He gave it 110 per cent for 110 years. I trust your heart has been encouraged over these four months as we have studied this great man.
He rested in his inheritance. The text says, “And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-Serah.” Joshua wasn’t buried in a foreign country; he was buried in his own country. He wasn’t buried in a national cemetery. He was buried in his own cemetery. I believe the author is making a point here—namely that because of his faith and his faithful service, not only the nation, but also Joshua himself received an inheritance from the Lord, a place he could call his own, a personal Promised Land.
He earned a great epitaph, “The Servant of the Lord.” I use the term “earned” advisedly. Epitaphs are generally earned, especially spiritual epitaphs. No one ever received a title like “servant of the Lord,” by sitting on his duff and watching the world go by. No one ever got it by just attending church and singing hymns. No, a servant must serve.
Verse 31 seems to explain, at least in part, why Joshua received this title. For not only did Joshua personally serve the Lord—but he also had such an amazing influence that Israel also served God all his days and all the days of the elders who survived him. Joshua was truly a remarkable man, a true servant of the Lord, and a great leader.
The second scene in the conclusion to this book is
The burial of Joseph (32)
“And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.”
Now before we do anything else, let’s get something of a handle on our chronology. We’re about to enter the 21st century, A.D. Abraham lived in the 21st century B.C.; his son, Isaac, about 2,000; his son, Jacob, about 1900; and his eleventh son, Joseph, about 1800 B.C. During Joseph’s lifetime, while he was Prime Minister of Egypt, the 400-year captivity of Israel began. It ended in 1446 B.C. when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Following 40 years of wilderness wandering, seven years of conquest, plus a number of years for the settlement of the land, we come in Joshua 24 to about the year 1380, nearly 450 years since Joseph died. Why, then, are we reading about Joseph’s burial in Joshua 24? Hang on to that question for a moment as we first see that …
Joseph, like Joshua, lived a long life, experiencing the rewards for faithful service. Gen. 50:22 tells us that Joseph lived 110 years, the same age as Joshua. He was a wealthy and powerful man when he died, having served many years as Prime Minister of Egypt, a reward for faithful service to his God under extremely difficult circumstances. Remember the incident with Potiphar’s wife when Joseph was a young, single man? Joseph was a faithful servant to that wealthy family, but he was thrown into prison on trumped-up charges of trying to seduce the woman of the house. Then he was left to rot in prison by an ungrateful cupbearer to whom he had been a faithful friend.
But Joseph never wearied of high standards and faithful service, and eventually God rewarded him. Let’s put the emphasis on “eventually.” How many times do we get discouraged when one situation goes sour? How many times have we given up when we have waited a month or a year to receive a reward for our faithfulness? How many professing Christians have simply kicked over the traces when confronted by a series of disappointments and concluded that either God isn’t real or He doesn’t care? Joseph served God faithfully for years before God rewarded him. But when God does it, He does it right.
His memory was honored with burial in his inheritance about 450 years after he died. Joseph appears in God’s great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Verse 22 reads, “By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.” Now remember, when Joseph died, the Hebrews were all living in Goshen in northern Egypt. But Joseph knew that God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants forever. Joseph believed God would keep that promise and so he spoke prophetically of the Exodus, which wouldn’t occur for four more centuries. Let’s read his actual words as found in the last three verses of the book of Genesis:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”
Joseph was so sure that God would keep His promise that he refused to be buried in Egypt. “Embalm me if you will. Put my mummy in a coffin if you must. But bury me, no! When you finally exit from this place, you take my bod with you and bury me in the Promised Land.” Did they? In Exodus 13 we read this: “When Pharaoh let the people go…. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath.” The Israelites carried Joseph’s mummy through the wilderness for 40 years.
Now in Joshua 24:32 we find the conclusion of this fascinating story: “And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem.” His memory was honored with burial in his inheritance about 450 years after he died!
Joseph too earned an honorable epitaph. His epitaph is not given to us here in Joshua 24, but it’s not difficult to find one elsewhere. Try Gen. 39:12, which tells of Joseph’s response to the advances of Potiphar’s wife: “He left his cloak in her hand and ran.” That’s not a bad epitaph. There’s many a handsome young man whose epitaph reads, “He left his garment in her hand and stayed.” There may be an even better epitaph in verse 23 of the same chapter: “The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”
Now the third scene in our text today concerns …
The death of Eleazar (33)
The last verse of the book of Joshua reads, “And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.” Maybe some of you are unfamiliar with this man Eleazar, but the fact is he is mentioned more than 70 times in the OT, more often than Samson or Job or Gideon, more often even than Matthew or Mark in the NT. As in the case of Joshua and Joseph…,
He lived a long life, carrying out faithful service in the House of the Lord. Nowhere are we given Eleazar’s age, but we do know he was Aaron’s third son, and Aaron was three years older than Moses. That would make him a close contemporary of Joshua, and it means he also probably died very close to the age of 110.
Eleazar’s long life was consumed with carrying out faithful service in the House of the Lord. According to Num. 3 & 4 his duties included serving as high priest, supervising the Kohathites who carried the ark and the holy furniture on the march, and complete oversight of the Tabernacle itself, including the oil, the incense, and the grain offerings. He was the chief ecclesiastical figure in the nation, given this responsibility when his two older brothers, Nadab and Abihu, were killed by the Lord because they offered strange fire in the tabernacle, as recorded back in Numbers 3. They offered a sacrifice that was not authorized by God, and God considered that a violation of His holiness.
Later Eleazar helped stop Korah’s rebellion against Moses. He administered the oath of office to Joshua when he assumed leadership of the nation at the death of Moses. He also served on the Apportionment Committee with Caleb, parceling out to each tribe and to each family a fair portion of the Promised Land. Time and again his name is mentioned along with Joshua’s, with his consistently listed first, signifying his prominence in the nation. He lived a long life carrying out faithful service to the Lord. Then, like Joshua and Joseph…,
Eleazar also rested in his inheritance. Verse 33 is the third time in these five verses that an inheritance has been mentioned. The actual word is used in verse 30, again in verse 32, and then the concept is used in verse 33, as it speaks of an allotment of land to Eleazar’s son. Priests themselves were not allowed to own land; they lived off the tithes and offerings of God’s people. But Eleazar was buried in land that was allotted to his children.
With this three-fold emphasis on an inheritance, I believe the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us again that faithful service to God is always rewarded. Perhaps it’s difficult for many of us to appreciate why an inheritance of land should be so important after we’re dead. After all, to most of us it doesn’t matter that much whether we’re buried here in St. Louis or in our hometown or somewhere in between. But that’s because our lives aren’t tied to the land.
We’ve never been slaves in a foreign country. We haven’t had to dream all our lives of a place we could call our own. Tell an Israeli citizen today that his body will be returned to New York or Poland or wherever he grew up, and see what sort of reaction you get. Tell a Texan you might ship his body to Arkansas when he dies, and you may die first.
My grandfather, Edwin Roth, died in 1971, shortly after the birth of our son Eddie, who was named for his great grandfather. He was just short of his 92nd birthday and was buried in a little country cemetery outside of Nerstrand, MN. As you stand at his gravesite you can look out over the cornfields and see about a mile away the very house in which he was born in 1879, a house still occupied by the family. Grandpa Roth lived his whole life in that area, drilling wells for 65 years in the little towns of Northfield, Farmington, Faribault, Owatonna, Kenyon, and Cannon Falls, using a drilling rig he made himself with a ‘36 Chevy engine. I had the privilege of working with him several summers during my teen years. Had anyone tried to bury Grandpa Roth somewhere else, I do believe he would have come right out of his coffin, whether it was Resurrection day or not. His life was tied to the land.
Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar each received his inheritance in the land—one before his death, one at death, and one 450 years after his death. But each received it. There is, of course, an even more important inheritance than the land, for the book of Hebrews indicates that rest in the land of Canaan is a symbol of the rest we will one day experience with God in Heaven. That is the primary inheritance to those who believe the Gospel look forward.
Now, to make the symmetry of this sermon complete, I tried to find an epitaph for Eleazar, too.
He also was given an epitaph. About the closest I could come is Num. 3:32: “The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.” I’ll leave it at that and move on to our final point.
The death of ______________________.
You will notice on the back side of your outline that I have included one more obituary I would like for each of us to work on—our own. You can start by writing in your own name. I think if you actually fill in the blanks, you will gain more profit than just looking at the page. While the three men in our text all lived approximately 110 years, it is impossible, of course, for any of us to fill in the small blank in the first line. But all of us could put our current age with a + sign in that blank. You’ve lived at least your current age. Or have you? That’s why I offer a choice.
He/she (lived, existed) _____ years and served the Lord (faithfully, half-heartedly, not at all). Have you really lived or just existed? Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Have you experienced the abundant life?
If you have, then you can probably make the second multiple choice without too much difficulty, for the only ones who really experience abundant living are those who serve the Lord. Up to this point have you served Him faithfully, or half-heartedly, or not at all? If you were to die today, what would your survivors say about your service for the Lord?
The second item concerns your inheritance.
He/she (received, did not receive) the inheritance of rest in the presence of God. You say, how can I know that? I’m not dead yet. I believe it is possible for us to know how and where we will spend eternity even while we are still living in time and space. Peter speaks of our inheritance as one “that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” For whom? It goes on to say, “for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Is that inheritance one which you today are confident you will receive? You can be, for Jesus said, “In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:13) Then he followed that up with these profound words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) This inheritance is yours if you have acknowledged your sin before God and received His gift of salvation, granted on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The third point in our personal obituary is based upon the comment made in Joshua 24:31 about Joshua’s influence, namely that Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived him. What will be said of our influence?
He/she influenced the next generation (for good, for evil, not at all). What is the primary legacy you will pass on to your kids?
Is it a great education, fine culture, business acumen, athletic ability, wealth? Is it a love for family?
Is it a willingness to work hard?
Is it a love for the environment and the wilderness?
Is it a passion for the poor?
All of these things are good and valuable. But a far more important question is this: Will it also be said that your family served the Lord all your days and all the days of your children who survive you? Joshua’s influence was such that they did.
You know something? There’s a real sense in which a person’s success is seen much more clearly after he’s gone than when he’s still around. Will I be able to say that First Free served the Lord all the days of my ministry and all the days of the staff and elders I leave behind? How will you have influenced your generation twenty years after you’re gone? And finally, …
What will your epitaph be? Will it read like the following one I found (I don’t remember where):
James T. McNamara
Born a human being. Died a grocery clerk.
It might just as well have read, “Died an engineer, died a doctor, or even died a preacher.” However you finish it off, it’s got a rather sad note to it. Must the potential that God placed in us by virtue of our creation in His image be simply summed up by a brief reference to our profession? At the very least, mine can read, “Michael P. Andrus. Born a human being; died a child of God.” How much better if it could be summed up the way Joshua’s was, “Servant of the Lord.” Friends, that’s an epitaph worth living for.
Communion meditation: From time to time I go to the little Methodist Cemetery outside Nerstrand, Minnesota where my grandfather is buried. There’s something about being there that helps me recall the wonderful person he was and all the great times we had together. That’s why we visit the graves of loved ones and that’s why we take pilgrimages to the tombs of Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson.
But the greatest man who ever lived left no tomb to visit. Oh, you can go to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem or the rival Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but his body isn’t in either place. No, in place of a pilgrimage Jesus gave us a simple meal to remind us of His death. The bread and wine speak of his body and blood, which were sacrificed that we might have eternal, abundant life. Let’s pray.
DATE: September 1, 1996
Tags:
Epitaph
Death
Inheritance