They gave him the town he asked for—Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he built up the town and settled there. – Joshua 19:50

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 15, 2019): Joshua 19

The fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafez wrote that “even after all this time the Sun never says to the Earth, ‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky.” The relationship between the Earth and the Sun is a special one, especially if we bestow upon the two celestial bodies some human characteristics. After all, the earth adds very little, really nothing, to the existence of the sun. But life on earth could not exist without the presence of the sun. The sun is forever giving, and we are forever receiving, offering nothing back to the one who gives us life. And yes, in this I am still speaking of the Earth and the Sun.

Joshua receives his inheritance last. He has requested land around the town of Timnath Serah, in a mountainous region within the allotment of land given to the tribe of Ephraim; the tribe of which Joshua is a part. Timnath Serah means “Portion of Abundance.” The name of the town probably impacted Joshua as to what God had done for all of Israel. He had given them Canaan. Israel had received their “Portion of Abundance” directly from their God who had been with them every step of the way.

But the people of Israel seem to have quickly begun to refer to the town by another name. They seem to essentially invert “Serah” calling the town “Timnath Heres.” This inversion is revealed in Judges 2:9 where Timnath Serah is called Timnath Heres. “Heres” is often translated as “sun” making the name of the town “Portion of the Sun.” According to Jewish tradition, this is recognition of the day that Joshua, with the help of God, made the sun stand still. In fact, this moment in Israel’s history became the symbol that summed up the role of Joshua in his relationship with Israel. Joshua was Israel’s sun. For all of Joshua’s shortcomings, he was the general that had led the successful attack on Canaan and the administrator who had fulfilled the task of dividing the land among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua took care of all of this, often giving everything that he had to offer before he finally rested and took his own inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

Joshua, strengthened by his relationship with the God of Israel, had been the sun shining over Israel, revealing the path that they needed to follow and keeping the nation on that path when they seemed to want to change directions. And now he was ready to settle into his own inheritance in Canaan. Joshua was ready to end his nomadic life on land that had been given to him by his Sun, the God of Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 20

Note: The Hafez poem is better and more traditionally phrased this way:

“Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.”