INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 24 This chapter gives us an account of another summons of the tribes of Israel by Joshua, who obeyed it, and presented themselves before the Lord at Shechem, Joshua 24:1; when Joshua in the name of the Lord rehearsed to them the many great and good things the Lord had done fo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA GATHERED ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL TO SHECHEM,.... The nine tribes and a half; not all the individuals of them, but the chief among them, their representatives, as afterwards explained, whom he gathered together a second time, being willing, as long as he was among them, to improve his tim... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE,.... Then present, or to all Israel by their representatives: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL; he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, as the prophet did, being himself a prophet, and at this time under a divine impulse, and spirit of prophecy. According to a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I TOOK YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD,.... The river Euphrates, as before: or "your father, to wit, Abraham", as Noldius x; he took him not only in a providential way, and brought him from the other side of the Euphrates, out of an idolatrous country and family, but he appr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I GAVE UNTO ISAAC JACOB AND ESAU,.... When Rebekah was barren, so that the children appeared the more to be the gift of God; though Esau perhaps is mentioned, for the sake of what follows: AND I GAVE UNTO ESAU MOUNT SEIR TO POSSESS IT; that Jacob and his posterity alone might inherit Canaan, an... [ Continue Reading ]
I SENT MOSES ALSO AND AARON,.... To demand Israel's dismission of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to be the deliverers of them: AND I PLAGUED EGYPT ACCORDING TO THAT WHICH I DID AMONGST THEM; inflicting ten plagues upon them for refusing to let Israel go: AND AFTERWARDS I BROUGHT YOU OUT; that is, out... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I BROUGHT YOUR FATHERS OUT OF EGYPT,.... Which more fully expresses the sense of the last clause of Joshua 24:5: AND YOU CAME UNTO THE SEA; which respects some senior persons then present; for, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were many at this time alive who came to and passed through the Red s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... That is, the Israelites, being in the utmost distress, the sea before them, Pharaoh's large host behind them, and the rocks on each side of them; see Exodus 14:10; HE PUT DARKNESS BETWEEN YOU AND THE EGYPTIANS; the pillar of cloud, the dark side of which was t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I BROUGHT YOU INTO THE LAND OF THE AMORITES, WHICH DWELT ON THE OTHER SIDE JORDAN,.... The kingdoms of Sihon and Og, and they fought with you; the two kings of them, and their armies: AND I GAVE THEM INTO YOUR HAND, THAT YE MIGHT POSSESS THEIR LAND; and which was now possessed by the two tribes... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN BALAK THE SON OF ZIPPOR, THE KING OF MOAB, AROSE,.... Being alarmed with what Israel had done to the two kings of the Amorites, and by their near approach to the borders of his kingdom: AND WARRED AGAINST ISRAEL; he fully designed it, and purpose is put for action, as Kimchi observes; he prepa... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WOULD NOT HEARKEN UNTO BALAAM,.... Who was very solicitous to get leave of the Lord to curse Israel, which he knew he could not do without; he had a goodwill to it but could not accomplish it: THEREFORE HE BLESSED YOU STILL; went on blessing Israel to the last, when Balak hoped every time he... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE WENT OVER JORDAN,.... In a miraculous manner, the waters parting to make way for the host of Israel: AND CAME UNTO JERICHO; the first city of any size and strength in the land, which was about seven or eight miles from Jordan; Numbers 22:1; AND THE MEN OF JERICHO FOUGHT AGAINST YOU; by end... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SENT THE HORNET BEFORE YOU,.... Of which Exodus 23:28; WHICH DRAVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU, [EVEN] THE TWO KINGS OF THE AMORITES; who were Sihon and Og, and not only them, and the Amorites under them, but the other nations, Hivites, Hittites, c. [BUT] NOT WITH THY SWORD, NOR WITH THY BOW b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HAVE GIVEN YOU A LAND FOR WHICH YOU DID NOT LABOUR,.... Or, in which z, by manuring and cultivating it, by dunging, and ploughing, and sowing: AND CITIES WHICH YE BUILT NOT, AND YE DWELL IN THEM; neither built the houses in them, nor the walls and fortifications about them; in which now they... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE FEAR THE LORD,.... Since he has done such great and good things, fear the Lord and his goodness, fear him for his goodness sake; nothing so influences fear, or a reverential affection for God, as a sense of his goodness; this engages men sensible of it to fear the Lord, that is, to wor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT SEEM EVIL TO YOU TO SERVE THE LORD,.... Irksome and troublesome, a burden, a weariness, and not a pleasure and delight: CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE; say if you have found a better master, and whose service will be more pleasant and profitable: WHETHER THE GODS YOUR FATHERS SE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE ANSWERED AND SAID,.... To Joshua, upon his proposal to them, the option he gave them to serve the Lord or idols, and which was only done to try them: GOD FORBID THAT WE SHOULD FORSAKE THE LORD, TO SERVE OTHER GODS; they speak with the utmost abhorrence of idolatry, as a thing far fro... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD OUR GOD, HE [IT IS] THAT BROUGHT US UP AND OUR FATHERS, OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... When Pharaoh, the king of it, refused to let them go, yet he wrought such wonders in it and inflicted such plagues on it, as obliged Pharaoh and his people to dismiss them: FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD DRAVE OUT FROM BEFORE US ALL THE PEOPLE,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan: EVEN THE AMORITES WHICH DWELT IN THE LAND; the strongest and most populous of the nations, Amos 2:9, or especially the Amorites, so Vatablus; or "with the Amorites", as others; those that lived on the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... To their heads and representatives now assembled together, and who had returned to him the preceding answer: YE CANNOT SERVE THE LORD; which he said not to discourage or deter them from serving the Lord, since it was his principal view, through the whole of this... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YOU FORSAKE THE LORD, AND SERVE STRANGE GODS,.... Joshua knew the proneness of this people to idolatry, and therefore expresses his jealousy of them, that they would not be able to continue in the service of God, and would be apt to be carried away after idols; and therefore, to make them the mor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE SAID UNTO JOSHUA, NAY,.... We will not serve strange gods: BUT WE WILL SERVE THE LORD; according to his revealed will, and him only.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... In reply to their answer and resolution: YE [ARE] WITNESSES AGAINST YOURSELVES, THAT YE HAVE CHOSEN YOU THE LORD GOD TO SERVE HIM; that is, should they, after this choice of him, which they had so publicly declared, desert his service, and go into idolatry, thei... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE PUT AWAY, [SAID HE],.... Which last words are rightly supplied, for they are the words of Joshua: THE STRANGE GODS WHICH [ARE] AMONG YOU; not their private notions and secret sentiments that some of them had imbibed in favour of idols, and the worship of them, as Ben Gersom thinks; bu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE SAID UNTO JOSHUA,.... A third time, that as by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is confirmed, so by three testimonies of the same persons: THE LORD OUR GOD WILL WE SERVE; as they had before declared, and to which they add: AND HIS VOICE WILL WE OBEY; or his word, as th... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JOSHUA MADE A COVENANT WITH THE PEOPLE THAT DAY,.... Proposing to them what was most eligible, and their duty to do, and they agreeing to it, this formally constituted a covenant, of which they selves were both parties and witnesses: AND SET STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE IN SHECHEM; either made this... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA WROTE THESE WORDS,.... Which had passed between him and the people: IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF GOD; written by Moses, and which he ordered to be put in the side of the ark, and that being now present, the book could be easily taken out, and these words inserted in it, Deuteronomy 31:26;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE,.... The chief of them now gathered together, and who represented the whole body: BEHOLD, THIS STONE SHALL BE A WITNESS UNTO US; of the covenant now made, and the agreement entered into, as the heap of stones were between Jacob and Laban, Genesis 31:45; FOR IT H... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JOSHUA LET THE PEOPLE DEPART, EVERY MAN UNTO HIS INHERITANCE. Dismissed them, and took his final leave and farewell of them, dying soon after; upon which they returned to the possessions and inheritances assigned by lot to the several tribes, of which they were the heads and princes.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, AFTER THESE THINGS,.... Some little time after, very probably the same year: THAT JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, DIED, [BEING] AN HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS OLD; he wanted ten years of Moses his predecessor, Deuteronomy 34:7, and just the age of Joseph, Genesis 50:2... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BURIED HIM IN THE BORDER OF HIS INHERITANCE,.... In a field belonging to his estate; for they buried not in towns and cities in those times. The Greek version adds, "and they put into the tomb, in which he was buried, the stone knives with which he circumcised the children of Israel at Gil... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SERVED THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF JOSHUA,.... Without going into idolatrous practices: AND ALL THE DAYS OF THE ELDERS THAT OVERLIVED JOSHUA; that lived a few years longer than he; some of them that came young out of Egypt, and were now elderly men; and some of them doubtles... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BONES OF JOSEPH, WHICH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BROUGHT UP OUT OF EGYPT,.... At the request, and by the order of Joseph, Genesis 50:25; which were punctually observed by the children of Israel under the direction and command of Moses, and therefore is ascribed to him, as here to them, Exodus... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ELEAZAR THE SON OF AARON DIED,.... Very probably in a short time after Joshua; and, according to the Samaritan Chronicle i, he died as Joshua did, gathered the chief men of the children of Israel a little before his death, and enjoined them strict obedience to the commands of God, and took his l... [ Continue Reading ]