Joshua 19:40-51: a reflection

40The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families. 41The border of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Irshemesh, 42Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon, 46Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border opposite Joppa. 47The border of the children of Dan went out beyond them; for the children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and lived therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their forefather. 48This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages. 49So they finished distributing the land for inheritance by its borders. The children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them. 50According to the LORD’s commandment, they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and lived there. 51These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

As the land is finally divided among the tribes, the account records a small but telling detail at the end. After all the tribes have received their inheritance, the people give Joshua his portion, the town he asked for, and he builds it and settles there. Joshua, the leader who had overseen the entire distribution, ensuring every tribe received its allotment, takes his own inheritance last, after everyone else has been provided for.

Notice the order. Joshua was the one in charge; he could have claimed the choicest portion first, taken his pick before the rest. Instead he served the whole nation, saw to it that every tribe was settled in its inheritance, and only then received his own, a single town, taken last of all. His leadership was marked by putting the people's needs before his own, taking his portion after he had provided for everyone else.

That is a quiet picture of servant leadership, and a model worth taking to heart wherever we lead or hold responsibility. The instinct of leadership is often to take first, to claim the advantages of position, to see to our own portion before others'. Joshua's example runs the other way: serve others first, provide for those in your care, and take your own share last. Whether you lead a family, a team, a community, consider Joshua, who saw everyone else settled before he took his own inheritance. Put others' needs before your own, and take your portion last.

Lord, Joshua, who oversaw the whole distribution of the land, took his own inheritance last, after every tribe had been provided for. Give me that servant heart wherever I lead or hold responsibility. Keep me from the instinct to take first, to claim the advantages of position before others are cared for. Help me instead to serve others first, to see to the needs of those in my care, and to take my own portion last. Make me a servant-leader, as Joshua was, and as Christ supremely was.