After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.
Significance
Judges 2:6-9 is a near-verbatim reproduction of Joshua 24:28-31, recording Joshua's dismissal of the people, the note about his age at death (110 years), and his burial at Timnath-heres. The primary difference is the order: Joshua 24 places the people's faithfulness before Joshua's death, while Judges 2 places it after, creating a subtle shift in emphasis. This repetition functions as a deliberate literary bridge (a "resumptive repetition") that connects the two books, signaling that the Judges narrator assumes and builds upon the Joshua narrative as the canonical prelude to Israel's decline cycle. Both accounts also apply to Joshua the title עֶבֶד יְהוָה (eved YHWH, "servant of the LORD")—a designation previously reserved for Moses (Joshua 1:1)—marking Joshua as Moses' full successor at the very moment his generation passes from the scene.
