After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years. You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you. Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun. Yahweh your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as Yahweh your God spoke to you.
“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left; that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them; but hold fast to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.
“For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you. Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.
“But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you; know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.
“Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you, when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14 Here we have a narrative of the solemn protestation…
Here we have a narrative of the solemn protestation which Joshua used towards the time of his death, that he might leave the pure worship of God surviving him. But although the peace and quiet which the Israelites obtained among the nations of Canaan is described as an excellent blessing from God, it is necessary to keep in mind what I formerly taught, that it was owing to their cowardice that they dwelt among their enemies, whom it would not have been difficult to rout and destroy. But thanks are justly rendered to God for his goodness in pardoning their ingratitude.
The pious solicitude of Joshua is here also set forth, for the imitation of all who are in authority. For as the father of a family will not be considered sufficiently provident if he thinks of his children only till the end of his own life, and does not extend his care farther, studying as much as in him lies to do them good even when he is dead; so good magistrates and rulers ought carefully to provide that the well arranged condition of affairs as they leave them, be confirmed and prolonged to a distant period. For this reason Peter writes, (2 Peter 1:15) that he will endeavor after he has departed out of the world to keep the Church in remembrance of his admonitions, and able to derive benefit from them.
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From its being said that he invited all Israel, and its being immediately after added that he invited their elders, and heads, and judges, and prefects, I understand the meaning to be that all were indeed permitted to come, but that the summons was addressed specially to the heads and prefects. And thus the last clause appears to me to be explanatory of the former. And, indeed, it is not at all credible that the whole people were invited; for no such meeting could possibly take place. The sense, therefore, in which the people were invited was simply this, that the elders, judges, and others were commanded to come, and might bring as many persons as were disposed to come along with them.
The speech of Joshua, as quoted, is double; but it appears to me that the historian first, as is often done, gives a brief summary of the whole speech, and then follows it out more in detail, introducing the particulars which he had omitted. In the one which is first given, Joshua briefly animates the people, and exhorts them to sure confidence in the continued and unwearying grace of God. For, seeing they had experienced that God is true in all things, they could have no doubt for the future, that they might safely hope for the same success in vanquishing and destroying the enemy. The partition also by which he had distributed the remainder of the land, he set before them as an earnest or pledge of their undoubted fruition, because it was not at random but by the order of God he had marked out the seat, and fixed the boundaries of each tribe.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Hebrew, commen into years.
Hebrew, commen into years.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Jos 23:1 And it came to pass a long…
Jos 23:1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old [and] stricken in age.
Ver. 1. Joshua waxed old.] And so more fit to give counsel than now to act great exploits, εργα νεων, βουλαι δε γερονων. Howbeit he was willing to show that although he was old and withering, yet "the root of the matter was in him"; and like the rose, he kept his sweet savour, though he had lost his lovely colour.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 A long time; about fourteen years after it.
A long time; about fourteen years after it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–16 And it came to pass a long time after,....…
And it came to pass a long time after,.... Or "after many days" (o), that is, years:
that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about; the greatest part of the land of Canaan was subdued, the whole divided by lot to the tribes of Israel, and they quietly settled in the respective portions assigned them, the Canaanites that remained giving them no disturbance, in which state of rest and peace they had now been for some years; and this may be reasonably supposed to be the last year of the life of Joshua, see Jos 23:14.
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that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age; and became feeble and decrepit, and greatly declined; for though he was ten years younger than Moses when he died, yet not so vigorous, strong, and robust as he, but was pressed and bore down with the infirmities of age.
(o) "post dies multos", Pagninus, Masius, Tigurine version; "exactis maltis diebus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Joshua reminds the people, assembled for that purpose, of…
Joshua reminds the people, assembled for that purpose, of what God had done, and what he would do for them, ver. 1-5. Exhorts them resolutely to persevere in their duty to God, ver. 6- 8. which he enforces by former benefits, and by promises, ver. 9- 11. and by threatnings, ver. 12-16.
A long time - About fourteen years after it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Joshua, being old, calls for the rulers and different…
CHAPTER XXIII
Joshua, being old, calls for the rulers and different heads of
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the Israelites, 1, 2,
to whom he relates how God had put them in possession of the
promised land, 3, 4;
from which all their remaining enemies should be expelled, 5.
Exhorts them to be faithful to God, and to avoid all connections
with the idolatrous nations, 6-8.
Encourages them with the strongest promises, that no enemy
should ever be able to prevail against them, if they continued
to love the Lord their God, 9-11.
Lays also before them the consequences of disobedience, 12, 13.
Shows them that as all God's promises had been fulfilled to
them while they were obedient, so his threatening should be
fulfilled own them if they revolted from his service; and
that if they did so, they should be utterly destroyed from
off the good land, 14-16.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII
Verse 1. A long time after that the Lord had given rest] This is supposed to have been in the last or one hundred and tenth year of the life of Joshua, about thirteen or fourteen years after the conquest of Canaan, and seven after the division of the land among the tribes.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 Jos 23:1-2. A long time after the Lord had…
Jos 23:1-2. A long time after the Lord had given rest unto Israel — That is, about fourteen years after the conquest of the country, and seven after the division of it among the tribes: see Jos 11:23; Jos 14:10. Joshua called — Either to his own city, or rather to Shiloh, the usual place of such assemblies, where his words, being uttered before the Lord, were likely to have the more effect upon them. All Israel — Not all the people in their own persons, but in their representatives, by their elders, heads, judges, and officers. Probably he took the opportunity of one of the three great feasts. You will not have me long to preach to you; therefore observe what I say, and lay it up for the time to come.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–2 This and the next chapter contain the last addresses…
This and the next chapter contain the last addresses of Joshua. These addresses were no doubt among the closing acts of Joshua’s life, but were evidently given on different occasions, and are of different character and scope. In the former Joshua briefly reminds the princes of the recent benefits of God toward them and their people, declares that God had fulfilled all His promises, and exhorts to faithfulness on their side to God that so His mercies may not be withdrawn: in the latter he takes a wider range, rehearses the gracious dealings of God with the nation from its very origin, and upon these as his grounds, he claims for God their sincere and entire service. But he grants them the option of withdrawing from the covenant if they so choose; and when they elect still to abide by it, it is solemnly renewed by the free consent of the whole people. Joshua’s reproofs and warnings are in sum and substance identical with those with which Moses closed his career (Deut. 31, etc.). Compare throughout the marginal references.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16 Long time. Josue governed only ten years after the…
Long time. Josue governed only ten years after the distribution of the land. Towards the close of his life, perceiving that the Israelites were too indolent in subduing the people of the country, and fearing lest they should by degrees begin to imitate their corrupt manners, he called a general assembly either at his own city, or at Silo, or more probably at Sichem, (as it is mentioned [in] chap. xxiv. 1, which seems to give farther particulars of this assembly) and laid before his people, in the strongest terms, the dangers to which they would be exposed, by entertaining a friendship for the enemies of God, and by abandoning him. (Calmet) --- He called together all the heads of the people. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 2. Joshua’s Parting with the People. His Death and…
2. Joshua’s Parting with the People. His Death and that of Eleazar
Joshua 23, 24
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a. The First Parting Address
Joshua 23
α. Promise that Jehovah will still fight for his people, and help them to the complete possession of the land
Jos_23:1-11
1And it came to pass, a long time [many days]1 after that the Lord [Jehovah] had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed
2old and stricken in age. And2 Joshua called for3 [omit: for] all Israel, and [omit: and] for their elders, and for their heads, and for their officers [overseers], and said unto them, I am old and [omit: and] stricken in age [far gone in years]: 3And ye have seen all that the Lord [Jehovah] your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord [Jehovah] your God is he that hath fought 4for you. Behold [See], I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance [as a possession] for your tribes; from [the] Jordan, with [and] all the nations that I have cut off, even unto [and] the great sea westward 5[toward the going down of the sun]. And the Lord [Jehovah] your God, he shall expel them from before you,4 and drive them from out of your sight;4 and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord [Jehovah] your God hath promised [spoken] unto you. 6Be ye therefore very courageous [And be ye, or, ye shall be, very strong] to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or [and] to the left; 7That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among [with] you; neither make mention of the name5 of their gods, nor cause to swear by them [it], neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them: 8But cleave unto the Lord [Jehovah] your God, as ye have 9done unto this day. For [And] the Lord [Jehovah] hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for [and] you, no man hath been able to stand [hath stood] before you unto this day. 10One man of you shall chase [chaseth] a thousand: for the Lord [Jehovah] your God, he it is that fighteth for 11you, as he hath promised [spoken] unto you. Take [And take] good heed therefore [omit: therefore] unto yourselves [your souls], that ye love the Lord [Jehovah] your God.
β. Warning against Apostasy from God
Jos_23:12-16
12Else [For] if ye do in any wise go back [return], and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even [omit: even] these that remain among [with] you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you [and come among them, and they among you]:6 13Know for a certainty that the Lord [Jehovah] your God will no more drive out any of [omit: any of] these nations from before you: but [and] they shall be snares [a snare] and traps [a trap] unto you, and scourges [a scourge] in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land [ground אֲדָמָה] which the Lord [Jehovah] your God hath given you.
14And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing [word] hath failed of all the good things [words] which the Lord [Jehovah] your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and [omit: and] not one thing [word] hath failed 15thereof. Therefore [And] it shall come to pass, that as all good things are [every good word is] come upon you, which the Lord [Jehovah] your God promised [spoke to] you; so shall the Lord [Jehovah] bring upon you all evil things [every evil word], until he have destroyed you from off this good land [ground] which the Lord 16[Jehovah] your God hath given you. When ye have transgressed [transgress] the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah] your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served [go and serve] other gods, and bowed [bow] yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord [Jehovah] be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
b. The Second Parting Address. Renewal of the Covenant. Conclusion
24
a. The Second Parting Address
Jos_24:1-15
. 1And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for [omit: for7] the elders of Israel, and for their heads and for their judges, and for their officers [overseers]; and they presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood [river] in old time, even [omit: even] Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods. 3And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood [river], and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
4And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess 5it; but [and] Jacob and his children [sons] went down into Egypt. I sent [And I sent] Moses also [omit: also] and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. 6And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. 7And when they cried unto the Lord [Jehovah], he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen [saw] what I have done [did] in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season [many days]. 8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites [Amorite], which [who] dwelt on the other side [of the] Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess [or, and ye possessed] their land; and I destroyed 9them from before you. Then [And] Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred [fought8] against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: 10But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore [and] he blessed you still:9 so [and] I delivered you out of his hand. 11And ye went over [the] Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites,10 and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I delivered [gave] them into your hand. 12And I sent the hornet before you, which [and it] drave them out from before you, even the [omit: even the] two kings of the Amorites: but [omit: but] not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 13And I have given you a land for [or, in] which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the14[omit: the] vineyards and olive-yards [trees] which ye planted not do ye eat. Now therefore [And now] fear the Lord [Jehovah], and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood15[river], and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord [Jehovah]. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord [Jehovah], choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood [river] or the gods of the Amorites [Amorite] in whose land ye dwell: but as for me [and I] and my house, we [omit: we] will serve the Lord [Jehovah].
β. The Renewal of the Covenant
Jos_24:16-28
16And the people answered and said, God forbid [Far be it from us] that we should forsake the Lord [Jehovah], to serve other gods; 17For the Lord [Jehovah] our God, he it is that brought us up, and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt, from [out of] the house of bondage [lit. of bondmen], and which [who] did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people [peoples] through whom we passed: 18And the Lord [Jehovah] drave out from before us all the people [peoples], even [and] the Amorites [Amorite] which [who] dwelt in the land: therefore [omit: therefore] will we also [we also will] serve the Lord [Jehovah]; for he is our God.
19And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord [Jehovah]: for he is an holy God: he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions, nor20[and] your sins. If [when] ye forsake the Lord [Jehovah], and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
21And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord [Jehovah].
22And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord [Jehovah], to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.23Now therefore [And now], said he, put away the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel. 24And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord [Jehovah] our God will we serve, and [to] his voice will we obey [hearken].
25So [And so] Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an [the] oak that was by [in] the sanctuary of the Lord [Jehovah]. 27And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness [for witness לְצֵדָה] unto [against Jos_24:22] us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord [Jehovah] which he spake [hath spoken] unto [with] us: it shall be therefore [, and shall be] a witness unto 28[against] you, lest ye deny your God. So [And] Joshua let the people depart, every man [one] unto his inheritance [possession].
γ. Death of Joshua and Eleazar. The Bones of Joseph
Jos_24:29-33
29And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] died, being an hundred and ten years old. 30And they buried him in the border of his inheritance [possession] in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of [of mount] Gaash. 31And Israel served the Lord [Jehovah] all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived [lit. prolonged days after] Joshua, and which [who] had known [knew] all the works of the Lord [Jehovah] that he had done for Israel.
32And the bones of Joseph, which the children [sons] of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground [portion of the field] which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver [kesita]; and it became the inheritance of [they were for a possession to] the children [sons] of Joseph.
33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to [in Gibeah of] Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
These two closing chapters of the book are intimately related, containing the two farewell addresses of Joshua to the people, an account of the renewal of the covenant in connection with the latter of those addresses, and the report of the death of Joshua and Eleazar. They give information also concerning the last transactions of Joshua, and the closing circumstances of his life so full of activity, and so significant with reference to the establishment of the religious character of the people of Israel.
Particularly to be considered here, from the first, is the relation between the two farewell addresses in respect to differences and agreement of their subject-matter; and manifestly, the first presents to the Israelites what Jehovah mil do for them to bring them into full possession of the land, while the second in powerful words calls to mind in detail what Jehovah, since the time of the patriarchs, has already done for them. Admonitions to fidelity towards Jehovah, warnings against backsliding from him, are found in both addresses (Jos_23:6-8; Jos_23:11-13; Jos_23:15-16; Jos_24:14-15), and are repeated, at the renewal of the covenant, in a lively dialogue between Joshua and the people (Jos_24:19-20; Jos_24:27).
a. Ch. 23. The First Farewell Discourse. This, after the introduction, Jos_23:1-2, falls into two sections, Jos_23:3-16. α. In the first section Joshua announces that Jehovah will continue to fight for his people, and help them to the entire possession of their land; β. in the second he warns them vehemently against apostasy from him, lest, instead of help, the judgment of God, consisting in their expulsion from Canaan, shall come upon them.
Jos_23:1-2. Introduction, recalling Jos_13:1, as well as Jos_21:42. Where Joshua held this discourse, is not said; perhaps at his residence in Timnath-serah (Jos_19:50), perhaps, and this is more probable, at Shiloh. He first begins by reminding them that he is become old, but that they have seen all that Jehovah has done to all these nations before them, for he has fought for them. Of his own merits toward Israel the modest hero boasts not a word. He only remarks (Jos_23:4) that he has divided by lot for them the remaining nations also, from the Jordan, and all the nations which I have cut off, and the great sea toward the going down of the sun. The sense is, In the country lying between the Jordan on the east and the great sea on the west, have I distributed to you by lot as well the still remaining peoples, therefore to be driven out (comp. Jos_17:15), as those already destroyed (comp. Jos_11:12), that you may possess their land.
Jos_23:5. These nations, viz., the גּוֹיִם הַנּשְׁאֽרִיּם, will Jehovah himself expel, thrust out (יֶהדָּפם, comp. Deu_6:19; Deu_9:14, likewise used of the expulsion of the Canaanites) before them, and drive them off (יְהוֹרִישׁ), and they (the Israelites) shall possess the land (Jos_1:15) as Jehovah has spoken (Jos_13:6; Exo_23:23 ff.). That will Jehovah do, as is afterward repeated in Jos_23:10. But they must, as Joshua admonishes, Jos_23:8, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, etc., comp. Jos_1:7.
Jos_23:7-8. Especially they are warned against all intercourse with those nations, and above all, against participation in their idolatry. “On בְּשֵם הִזְכִּר, to mention any one by his name, i.e., to make him the object of a call and proclamation, comp. Isa_48:1; Psa_20:8; קָרָא בּשֵׁם, Isa_12:4; Isa_41:25” (Knobel). Keil appositely remarks further, that, “to mention the names of the gods (Exo_23:13), to swear by them, to serve them (by offerings), and to bow down to them (call upon them in prayer), are the four expressions of divine worship,” see Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20.
Jos_23:9. A fresh reminiscence of God’s help, who has driven out before them great and strong nations, cf. Jos_23:3. And you—no man hath stood before you unto this day. Meaning: and you were so powerful through his assistance that you conquered everything before you, comp. Jos_21:44.
Jos_23:10. To be understood neither with the LXX., who render יִרדָּף־אֶלֶף by ἔδιωξε χιλίονς, of the past, nor with the Vulg., which translates persequetur, of the future, but rather of the present; one man of you chaseth a thousand, for Jehovah your God, he it is who fighteth for you ashe hath spoken to you. So De Wette rightly translates, for it must be the actual present state of the people, and their actual present relation to Jehovah, in which the sure guarantee of their future complete extirpation of the Canaanites will consist. Deu_32:30; Num_26:8, should be compared.
Jos_23:11. A repeated admonition to love Jehovah their God. There follows β, in Jos_23:12-16, the warning against apostasy from God, which is closely connected by כִּי with the last words of the admonition.
Jos_23:12-13. For if ye do in any wise turn back (תּשׁוּבוּ), and cleaveוּדְבַקְתֶּםto the remnant of these nations, these that remain with you, and make marriages with them (contrary to the prohibition, Exo_34:16; יְהתְחִתַּנתֶּם, from חָתַו, prop. to cut off, then = חָתַדּ, to determine, make fast; to betroth, as in old Lat. festa for bridegroom [חָחָו] or the father of the bride [חֹתֵו], Exo_18:1 ff.; Jdg_19:4 ff. Hithpael: to intermarry, to contract affinities by marriage, and that either by taking another’s daughter, or giving him one’s own, with בְּ as here (Deu_7:3; 1Sa_18:22-23; 1Sa_18:26-27; Ezr_9:14. Gesen.), and ye come among them and they among you, know for a certainty (יָדוֹעַ תֵּדְעוּ) that Jehovah your God will no more drive out these nations from before you, and they will be for you a trap (לְפַח, in the same tragic sense as in Psa_69:23 and Isa_8:15, where also פַּח is connected with מוֹקֵשׁ, as likewise in the N. T., Luk_21:35, παγίς), and a snare and a scourge (לְש̈טֶט, commonly שׁוֹט, e.g.,Pro_26:3; 1Ki_12:11) in your sides, and thorns (צְנִינִים, Num_33:55, from צָבַי, in the signif. to be interwoven, entangled) in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good ground (הָאֲדָמָה) which Jehovah your God hath given you. The declaration of Joshua is much more severe than that of Moses, Num_33:55, which speaks only of שִׂכִּים (thorns), parallel to צְנִינִים. But here Joshua threatens that the Canaanites shall be to them a trap and snare for their feet; a scourge—in their sides; thorns—in their eyes, so that they shall be endangered by them and plagued on every side of the body, as it were. Keil: Joshua multiplies the figures to picture the inconvenience and distress which will arise from their intercourse with the Canaanites, because, knowing the fickleness of the people, and the pride of the human heart, he foresaw that the falling away from God, which Moses had in his day predicted, will only too soon take place; as indeed it did, according to Jdg_2:3 ff., in the next generation. The words עַדְ־אֲבָדְכֶם וגו, repeat the threat of Moses, Deu_11:17; comp. Joshua 28:21 ff.”
Jos_23:14. Joshua, as in Jos_23:3, calls to mind his approaching end: I am going the way of all the earth,i.e., on the way to death, which a man goes and returns not, into the land of darkness and the shadow of death (Job_10:21; 1Ki_2:2). This way all the earth, the whole world must take. The lesson which he connects with these words teaches them to perceive that, as was said Jos_21:45, God has fulfilled to them all his promises, in which Joshua thinks particularly of the conquest of Canaan.
Jos_23:15-16. Reiterated warning against backsliding (comp. Jos_23:13). As God has fulfilled the good words concerning them, so will Jehovah bring (יָבִיא) upon them also every evil word (Lev_26:14-33; Deu_28:15-68; Deu_29:14-28; Deu_30:1; Deu_30:15; comp. Jos_8:34-35), until he destroys them (עַד־הַשְׁמִידוֹ, as Deut. 7:34; 28:48, Keil). Nay, if they transgress the covenant of Jehovah, to serve other gods and worship them, then his anger will burn against them, and they will quickly (מְחרָה) perish out of the good land, which he has given them. The second part of Jos_23:16 occurs word for word in Deu_11:17, the first in part.
b. Ch. 24. The Second Farewell. Renewal of the Covenant. Conclusion. a. Jos_24:1-15. The discourse, the general character of which has been described, falls, after the exordium, into two divisions; Jos_24:2-13 a recapitulation of what God, since the time of the patriarchs, has done for his people; Jos_24:14-16, a demand to abstain entirely from idolatry, and to cleave to Jehovah, whom Joshua, at all events, and his family, will serve.
Jos_24:1. The assembly gathered not in Shiloh but in Shechem, where the solemn transaction related Jos_8:30-35, had taken place. On this account particularly, to recall that transaction, were the people summoned thither. A second reason is found by Hengstenberg (Beiträge, iii. p. 14 ff.) and Keil, in the fact that Jacob had dwelt here after his return from Mesopotamia, here purified his house of strange gods and buried their images under the oak at Shechem (Gen_33:19; Gen_35:2; Gen_35:4). An opinion intrinsically probable, but neither in the context of our chapter nor elsewhere in the book is it mentioned. The ש̈טְרִים, as Jos_1:10; Jos_3:2; Jos_8:33; Jos_23:2.
And they presented themselves before God [יִתְיַצְּבוּ לגְנֵי חַאַ׳, as in Job_1:6; Job_2:1, צל יי התיצבו]. Joshua had, Jos_8:31, raised an altar on Mount Ebal, on which at that time, before the building of the tabernacle, sacrifices were offered. Of offerings there is no mention here.
Jos_24:2. God of Israel; significant, so Jos_24:23. In this verse, as in Jos_24:3-4, Joshua, in the name of Jehovah, holds up to the people what He has done for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the first proof of his divine grace. The fathers dwelt of old (מֵעוֹלָם) beyond the stream, i.e., the Euphrates, namely, in Ur in Chaldea, and then in Haran (Gen_11:28; Gen_11:31).
Terah (תֶּרַח, LXX.: Θάῤῤα, from תָּרַח, in Chald. to delay, comp. also Num_33:27) the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and served other gods. And I took your father Abraham. … Isaac. The gods which Terah reverenced were, as appears from Gen_31:19; Gen_31:34, Teraphim, Penates (see Winer, Realw. s. v. Theraphim, [Smith’s Dict. of Bible, art. “Teraphim.”] It is worthy of notice that it is not said distinctly of Abraham that he served other gods, on which account we agree with Knobel, who says: “Whether, according to our author, Abraham also was originally an idolater, is rather to be denied than affirmed, comp. Gen_31:53.” Dangerous even for him certainly were the idolatrous surroundings, wherefore God took him (לקה) and caused him to wander through Canaan. According to a tradition preserved in the Targum Jonathan (Keil, Com. üb. Jos. 169, Anm. 1), and which recurs in the latter Rabbins, Abraham had to suffer persecution on account of his aversion to idolatry, and to forsake his native country; while an Arabic story (Hottinger, Hist. or. 50 ap. Winer, Realw. s. v. Abraham) makes him wander as far as Mecca, and there lay the first foundation of the Caaba. According to this, therefore, it must be assumed that he was a Sabæan.
Of Abraham’s life nothing further is mentioned, Jos_24:3, than that Jehovah caused him to wander through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.
Jos_24:4. To Isaac gave Jehovah Jacob, and Esau, who received Mount Seir (Gen_26:6 ff.) for a possession. Jacob alone was to have Canaan for himself and his posterity, of which, however, nothing further is here said. Rather, there is added only the remark, which leads to Jos_24:5, that Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt, as is told Gen_46:1 ff.
Jos_24:5-7. The second proof of the Divine favor: Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt, the chief incidents of which are succinctly enumerated, namely, (1) the sending of Moses and Aaron and the infliction of the plagues upon Egypt (Exo_3:4); (2) the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea (Exodus 14 ).
Jos_24:5-6. The words in Jos_24:5, according to that which I did in the midst of them (עֲשִׂיתִי בְקרְבּוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר), occasion some difficulty. The LXX., without doubt, read בַּאֲשֶׁר, for they translate the whole verse, “freely it is true:” καί ἐπάταξα τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐν σημείοις, οἷς ἐποίησα έν αν̓τοῖς, καὶ μετὰ ταν͂τα ἐξήγαγον. The Vulgate also, following them, offers no sure standing ground when it renders: “Et percussi Ægyptum multis signis atque portentis eduxique vos.” Knobel, appealing to the translation of the LXX., would read בַּאֲשֶׁר instead of כַּאֲשֶׁר; but even כַּאֲשֶׁר, gives not a bad sense, if we paraphrase the very curtly spoken sentence thus: “As you, according to all that which I did in the midst of them, sc. the Egyptians, perfectly well know.” Bunsen: “So as you know that I did among them.” We retain כַּאְשֶׁר, therefore, because it is the more difficult reading.
Red sea, see on Jos_2:10.
Jos_24:7. A poetical, noble description. The Israelites cried to Jehovah. Then he placed darkness (מַאֲפֵל, LXX.: νεφέλην καὶ γνόφον, from אָפַל, to go down [of the sun], to become dark, ἄπ. λελ. In Jer_2:21, we meet again with the compound מַאְפַלְיָה, as a designation of the wilderness, i.e., the pillar of cloud (Exo_13:1 ff; Exo_14:19 ff.) between them and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon the latter and covered them. But the eyes of the Israelites saw what Jehovah did to the Egyptians. The change between the third and the first person is to be noticed. While we find the first person in Jos_24:5-6, Jehovah is spoken of at the beginning of Jos_24:7 in the third person, and then proceeds in the first. Ye dwelt in the wilderness many days. Transition to Jos_24:8, comp. Jos_24:5 b.
Jos_24:8-10. The third proof of God’s favor Victory over the Amorites (Num_21:23), and turning away of Balaam’s purposed curse from Israel (Num_22:22-24).
Jos_24:8. They fought with you, namely, under the command of their kings, Sihon, who was slain at Jahaz (Num_21:23), and Og, who was slain at Edrei (Num_21:33).
Jos_24:9. When it is said of Balak that he, the king of the Moabites, warred against Israel, we learn from the following words, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to come and curse you, how this is meant by the author. Balak contended not with arms against the Israelites, but would have them cursed by the false prophet Balaam, the קֹסֵם (Jos_13:22), in which the terrified king at least staked his gold (Num_22:7), although it did not win. He lacked the courage for warfare with arms.
Jos_24:11. The fourth proof of God’s favor: The passage of the Jordan, capture of Jericho, victory over the Canaanites. The בַּעְְלֵי יְרִיתוֹ are not, as Knobel supposes, appealing to Jos_6:2, the king and his heroes, since the author in this case would have chosen the same expression; but, according to the example of 2Sa_21:12; 1Sa_23:11; Jdg_9:6, the citizens of Jericho.
Jos_24:12-13. Summary conclusion of the first division of Joshua’s speech, in which he again emphasizes the fact, that it was God who inspired the Canaanites, particularly Sihon and Og, with terror, and who has given the Israelites a rich and well cultivated land.
Jos_24:12. And I sent the hornet (צִרְעָה) before you. (So had it been promised by God, Exo_23:28; Deu_7:20, and now also fulfilled, comp. Wis_12:8). צִרְעָה is not to be understood literally, nor of plagues generally, but with Knobel and Keil, and most of the recent authorities, in such figurative sense as to be compared with Deu_2:25; Jos_2:11, where it is stated that Jehovah began, on the day of the victory over Sihon, to spread among all peoples, fear and terror, trembling and quaking and anguish, on account of Israel. The swarm of hornets is a terror and consternation to those against whom it turns, to fall upon them; before it they cannot stand but hurry away in distress. Like this is the consternation which, after their first great battle, preceded the Hebrews, and, like a heaven-sent spiritual plague, fell upon the peoples so that they fainted before Israel. Elsewhere the bees appear as an image of terrible foes (Deu_1:44; Psa_118:12; Knobel, on Exo_23:28). It ought also to be considered that in Exo_23:27, the next preceding verse, terror is spoken of (לְפֽנֶידָאֶת־אֵימָתִי אַשַׁלַּח). The same conclusion follows if we compare Deu_7:20 with Jos_24:19, Jos_24:21 (end), Jos_24:23-24.
Not by thy sword and not by thy bow. The same thought as in Psa_44:4.
Jos_24:13. Thus Israel has, through God’s goodness, without merit on his part, received a glorious land, a land which he has not worked with the sweat of his brow (לאֹ־יָגַעְתָּ בָהּ), i.e., made productive, cities which he has not built, vineyards and olive-trees which he has not planted, but of which he shall eat. The LXX. render זֵיתִים by ἐλαιῶνας, the Vulgate, by oliveta = olive plantations, olive-yards, as Luther and De Wette translate; rightly, no doubt, for the sense. If the Hebrew language had a special word for this, as it had in כֶרֶם for vineyard, it would certainly have made use of it here. This all happened as Jehovah had promised, Deu_6:10.
Jos_24:14-16. A demand to forsake idolatry entirely, and cleave to Jehovah alone, whom Joshua at least with his house will serve.
Jos_24:14. And now fear Jehovah(cf. Psa_2:11; Psa_5:8; especially Pro_1:7; Job_28:28) and serve him (עִבדוּ אֹתוֹ, LXX.; λατρεν́σατε, comp. Rom_1:25) in sincerity and in truth (בְּתֽמִים וּבֶאָמֶת, cf. Jdg_9:16; Jdg_9:19, and on בְּתָמִים, in the N. T. εἰλικρίνεια, 1Co_5:8; 2Co_1:12; 2Co_2:17), and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt (comp. Lev_17:7; Amo_5:26; as well as Eze_20:7 ff; Eze_23:3; Eze_23:8), and serve Jehovah.
Jos_24:15. Finally, Joshua challenges the people to decide with the utmost freedom: “if it seem evil in your eyes, if it please you not (LXX.: εἰ μὴ ἀρέσκει), he calls to them, to serve Jehovah, then choose you (for yourselves, בַּהֲרוּ לָכֶם) this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.” He gives them the choice, therefore, between the old worship of the Penates practiced by their fathers and the Baal-worship of the inhabitants of the land, if they will not serve Jehovah. The latter will he for his part and his family do, in any case, for he adds: but I and my house will serve Jehovah.
β. Jos_24:16-28. The Renewal of the Covenant. Struck by the words of Joshua the whole people with one consent reply, that they will not forsake Jehovah: “We also will serve Jehovah, for he is our God” (Jos_24:16-18). Being reminded further by Joshua how hard this is, since Jehovah is a holy and a jealous God (Jos_24:19-20), the people persist in their former declaration (Jos_24:21) whereupon the choice of Jehovah is, solemnly made (Jos_24:22-24), and the covenant renewed (Jos_24:25). All these things Joshua writes in the law-book of God (Jos_24:26), raises a monument of stone as a witness of what has taken place (Jos_24:27), and then dismisses the people (Jos_24:28) each to his possession.
Jos_24:16-18. The People’s Reply to Joshua’s Speech. Jos_24:16. The idea of forsaking Jehovah and serving other gods, is rejected with expressions of the deepest aversion (חָלִילָהִ לָנוּ וגו) to idolatry, comp. Jos_22:29.
Jos_24:17. The reason: Jehovah was their God, he who had brought them up (מַצֲלֶה, for which, in Exo_20:2, we have חוֹצֵאתִידָ) out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (עַבָדִים בֵּית, as Exo_20:2), and had done these great signs, i.e., the wonders mentioned by Joshua (Jos_24:8-12) before their eyes, and had kept them in all the way wherein they went, etc.
Jos_24:18. Among the deeds of Jehovah they retail especially the expulsion of the original inhabitants of the land, and then add, in allusion to Joshua’s last word, “we also will serve Jehovah, for he is our God.”
Jos_24:19-20. Joshua still calls the people to notice how difficult it was to serve Jehovah, by showing that he was a holy God (הִֹים קְדשׁהים as 1Sa_17:26; אֱלהִֹים חַיִים, where also the adject. is in the plural; in respect to the sense, comp. Exo_19:6; Lev_21:6-8; 1Pe_2:9, as well as the numerous passages in Isaiah, where God is designated as the קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל, e.g., Isa_5:19; Isa_5:24; Isa 12:6; 30:11, 12; 41:14, 43, etc.), a jealous God (אֵל קַנּוֹא; Exo_20:5, אֵל קַנָּא; Nah_1:2, אֵל קַנּוֹא, as here), who will not forgive transgressions (פֶּשַׁע) and sins, “נָשָׂא, spoken of the forgiveness of sins, is commonly construed with acc. rei; less frequently with לְrei, besides this passage in Exo_23:21; Psa_25:18, with slight modification of meaning—to award forgiveness to sin” (Keil).
Jos_24:20. This jealousy of the holy God will show itself in this, that if they should forsake him and serve strange gods (אֱלחֵֹי נֵכָר, as Gen_35:4, while in Jos_24:16, as in Jos_23:16, we found א׳ אֲחֵרִים) he will turn (וְשָׁב) and do them harm and consume (כִּלָּה, finish, abolish) them, after that he has done them good, i.e., without any regard to the fact that he had done them good.
Jos_24:21. The people adhere to their resolution to serve Jehovah. On לאֹ, minime, comp. Jos_5:14.
Jos_24:22. Joshua calls them now to witness against themselves, that they have chosen Jehovah as their God, to serve him, i.e., they will, if they ever fall away, be obliged to admit that they once chose Jehovah, and that he now has a right also to punish them for their unfaithfulness. To this, too, they assent, replying, as with one mouth: witnesses (are we).
Jos_24:23. Still another exhortation of Joshua, resting on that assent, to put away the strange gods (as Jos_24:20, אֱלהֵֹי נֵכָר) which were in the midst of them, and incline their heart to Jehovah, the God of Israel (as Jos_24:2). Keil, following the example of R. Levi ben Gerson, Augustine, and Calvin, takes בְּקִרְ בְּכֶם, figuratively = in your hearts, because the people, with all their willing ness to renounce idolatry, yet deliver to Joshua no images to be destroyed, as was done in the similar cases, Gen_35:4; 1Sa_7:4. He thinks further, that although the people, as Amos represents to his generation (Amo_5:26, comp. (Act_7:43), carried about with them idols in the wilderness, yet with the dying out of the generation condemned at Kadesh, gross idolatry would have disappeared from Israel. We may grant that so long as Joshua lived, Israel publicly served the true God, but hold it very probable that, as he might full well know, many a one in secret worshipped the idols which he now demanded that they should put away, using the same word (הָסירוּ) which Jacob had used before, and Samuel used after him. As regards the actual removal of the images, this may have followed, although we are not so informed. Finally, בְּקִרְבְּכֶם here certainly is used precisely as much in the proper sense as in Gen_35:2, בְּתֹכְכֶם, and 1Sa_7:8, מִתֹּכְכְם.
Jos_24:24. For the third time (Jos_24:16; Jos_24:21) the people aver that they will serve Jehovah and hearken to his voice.
Jos_24:25. Upon this, Joshua made a covenant with them that day, i.e., he renewed the covenant concluded on Sinai by God with Israel (Exo_19:20), in like manner as Moses had done (Deu_28:62) in the field of Moab. When it is said further concerning Joshua, that he set them a statute and an ordinance (or judgment) in Israel, these words are in allusion to Exo_15:25, where, in connection with the change (not by this, Keil) of the bitter water into sweet, God himself established for Israel a statute and right. Here, it was precisely through the renewal of the covenant that statute and right for the people were established and determined,—“what in matters of religion should be with Israel law and right” (Knobel).
Jos_24:26-28. After this had been done, Joshua wrote these things, (prop. words, אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים), i.e., all which had happened there at Shechem, the whole transaction between him and the people, in the book of the law of God. He wrote a document—a protocol, so to speak—concerning the matter, and introduced it into the book of the law. At the same time he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak which was in the sanctuary of Jehovah (בְּמִקְדַּשׁ יי). The sanctuary is not the tabernacle (Exo_25:8; Lev_12:4; Lev_19:30; Lev_20:3; Lev_21:12; Num_3:38; Num_19:20 ap. Knobel), since this, according to Jos_18:1, stood in Shiloh, but a consecrated space, a sacred spot; and this place, indeed, within whose limits stood the oak, where the great stone was set up by Joshua (cf. Gen_28:18; Jos_4:20-22; 1Sa_7:12), had been hallowed by the altar which Abraham and Jacob had formerly built there (Gen_12:7; Gen_33:20). We may add with Knobel, that according to Jos_8:30, Joshua himself had built an altar on Mount Ebal, therefore in close proximity to Shechem, which, like Gilgal (Jos_4:20 ff; Jos_15:7), became a holy place.
Jos_24:27. Joshua finally explains the significance of the stone, which is to be a witness against the people in case they deny God, since it has heard all the words of Jehovah (Jos_24:2). In a vivid imagination the stone is regarded as a person, so to speak, which has seen and heard every thing, comp. Jos_22:34.
Jos_24:28 relates the dismissal of the people. Every one returns to his possession.
Jos_24:29-33. Death of Joshua and of Eleazar. Jos_24:29-30. It is probable that immediately thereafter Joshua died, one hundred and ten years old, at the same age precisely as that which Joseph reached, Gen_1:26. He was buried at Timnath-serah (Jos_19:50). The mountain of Gaash, mentioned here as well as in Jdg_2:9; 2Sa_23:30; 1Ch_11:32, cannot be identified. Its name, גַּעַשׁ from עַגַּשׁ to push, thrust, signifies, according to Gesenius, perhaps the same as fore-thrust, forespring.
Jos_24:31. So long as Joshua and the elders, who with him had led the people, lived, and those who had known (יָדְצוּ), i.e. experienced, all the works (כָּל־מַצֲשֵׁח יי of Jehovah, which he had done for Israel, Israel served Jehovah, as is likewise related Jdg_2:11 ff.
Jos_24:32 contains an additional statement concerning the bones of Joseph, which suited the conclusion here, especially as the discourse in vers, 1–28 had been concerning Shechem, where they were buried, in the piece of ground which Jacob had once bought for one hundred kesita (Gen_23:19) of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem We learn from Exo_13:19, that the Israelites had, in conformity with a last wish of Joseph, recorded Gen_1:25, brought these bones out of Egypt, and this circumstance is mentioned by our author in the beginning of this verse.
Jos_24:33. After Joshua, died Eleazar also, the son of Aaron. How long afterward we cannot determine. They buried him at Gibeah-phinehas, the city of his son, which had been given to the latter on Mount Ephraim. Since it is expressly said that this Gibeah-phinehas lay on mount Ephraim, we agree with Robinson, von Raumer (p. 155), and Knobel, who regarded it as being the present Geeb in Maundrell, p. 87, or Jibia in Rob. iii. 80, 81, or Chirbet Jibia in Ritter, Erdk. 16. p. 559 f., the κώμη, villa Geba of Euseb. and Jerome. It stood five miles, i.e., two hours, north of Guphna, toward Neapolis or Shechem. Keil, however, thinks of the Levitical city Geba (Jos_18:24), to which view the position “on Mount Ephraim” need not, in his opinion, be an objection, because this mountain, according to Jdg_4:5 and other passages, reached far into the territory of Benjamin (?).
The Hebrew original of our book closes with this notice of the death of Eleazar. The LXX. have added a supplement, combining Jdg_2:6; Jdg_2:11; Jdg_3:7; Jdg_3:12 ff., which, however, is nowhere found in the MSS. and editions of Joshua. We give it according to the Polyglott Bible of Stier and Theile:̓Εν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ λάβοντες οἱ υἱοὶ ̔Ἰσραὴλ τὴν κιβωτὸν τοῦ θεοῦ περιεφέροσαν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ Φινεὲς ἱεράτευσεν ἀντὶ Ελεάζαρ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἕως ἀπέθανε, καὶ κατωρύγη ἐν Γαβαὰθ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ. Οἱ δὲ ὑιοὶ Ἱσραὴλ ἀπήλθοσαν ἕκαστος εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτῶν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν πόλιν. Καὶ ἐσέβοντο οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ τὴν Αστάρτην καὶ Ἀσταρὼθ καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν κύκλῳ αὐτῶν. Καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς κὺριος εἰς χείρας Εγλὼν βασιλέως Μωαβιτῶν, καὶ κατεκυρίευσεν αὐτῶν ἔτη δέκα ὀκτῶ.
THEOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL
1. Joshua’s noble character, his deep insight into God’s leadings of his people, his accurate knowledge of the inconstancy of the human heart, his beautiful treatment of religious occasions, all appear in his last two addresses at parting with the people. As far as possible he keeps his own personal merit in the background. It is God who has fought for Israel (Jos_23:3) and will still further fight for him (Jos_23:10), the God of Israel (Jos_24:2; Jos_24:23), who from ancient times (Jos_24:2) to the present day has wonderfully manifested himself to his people, shown them much favor, and finally given them a beautiful dwelling-place (Jos_24:13). Of himself he says repeatedly that he is old and must go the way of all the earth (Jos_23:2; Jos_23:14), therefore a mortal man subject to the lot of all earthly existence, a man who, having fulfilled his task and distributed the land to the people (Jos_23:4), must now retire from the theatre of his activity, but who, as long as he lives, will with his family serve Jehovah (Jos_24:15). How nobly, on the other hand, he sketches in large features, particularly in the second discourse, the works of God; Abraham’s call (Jos_24:2 ff.), the mission of Moses and Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt (Jos_24:5 ff.), the conquest of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, the turning away of the curse of Balaam, the capture of Jericho, the conquest of the land (Jos_24:8 ff.). Since he knew, however, the human heart in its fickleness, and in particular understood accurately the want of stedfastness on the part of Israel, he repeatedly admonishes them to fidelity towards God (Jos_23:6-7; Jos_23:11; Jos_24:14-15), warns them likewise, and in part with words of sharp severity, against all apostasy (Jos_23:12-16; Jos_24:14; Jos_24:20), and puts them a third time to the test whether they will really serve Jehovah (Jos_24:15; Jos_24:19-20; Jos_24:22). In this, however, appears at the same time Joshua’s excellent understanding of the treatment of religious concerns, for he will employ no constraint, but leaves entirely to their own choice the decision whether Israel will serve Jehovah or the strange gods of whom they had knowledge (Jos_24:15; Jos_24:19-20). But then, after the people have decided for Jehovah, although Joshua has very emphatically pointed out that He is a holy and a jealous God (Jos_24:19), who will not forgive transgressions and sins, he demands of them also so much the more pointedly that they shall put away all strange gods.
2. In respect to this putting away of strange gods, we take the liberty of adding Gerlach’s remark on Jos_24:23, which still more definitely supports our explanation of the passage. “It is remarkable,” he says, “that, after Achan’s trespass in the matter of things devoted, and after the Israelites had not long before been ready to avenge so signally the supposed crime of their transjordanic brethren in erecting a rival altar, idolatry could still have been secretly practiced among them. In this, however, we must fairly consider how hard it was for the thought of the one, almighty, omnipresent God to find lodgment in the mind of the heathen-spirited people, how, with this faith they stood alone among the nations of the whole contemporary world, how they, therefore, were continually overcome anew and taken captive by the spirit of the world and of the age, and incessantly turned away to other helpers from the divinely appointed means of grace which seemed not to satisfy their carnal desires; how, in particular, they still afterwards worshipped partly the true God under images, partly the divining house-gods (teraphim) in secret; and how the judgment of God might indeed seize upon and hold up one example (Achan, ch. vii.), without, therefore, at a later period, in like manner, extirpating the sin. That in the wilderness the people in secret worshipped idols Amos declares (Amos 5:25; comp. Act_7:43), that there were household gods even in David’s house, is shown by 1Sa_19:13; 1Sa_19:16. No apostasy from the true God followed from that, but a partial and ever renewed corruption of his service through superstition.” Analogous examples are found in Grimm’s Mythology, from the history of our German people.
3. Similar representations of the benefits of God to his people may be read in many passages of the Psalms, partly abridged, partly in more full accounts. Thus Psa_44:1-4; Psa_68:8 ff; Psalms 78; Psa_80:9 ff; Psa_81:11; Psa_99:6-7; Psalms 90; Psalms 106; Psa_135:8 ff; Psa_136:10-11; Psa_136:19. Touching the deliverance from Egypt the tenderly winning representation of Hosea (Jos_11:1 ff. [and of Jeremiah, Jos_2:1 ff.]) may be compared.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Joshua’s first farewell discourse considered in the two sections above given, for comfort and admonition (Jos_23:1-15).—As the Lord once brought Israel into rest, so will He also bring us to rest, for “there remaineth a rest for the people of God” (Jos_23:1).—Joshua, in his humility and modesty, set before us as a pattern, that we should in all things give God alone the honor, while we know and feel ourselves to be weak and dying men.—The Lord has fought also for you. (1) The Lord has fought; (2) the Lord has fought for you (Jos_23:3; sermon for victory).—Depart neither to the right hand nor to the left from the commands of God; a text suitable for confirmation addresses.—God gives victory only when the combatants most diligently keep their souls and love him.—Bad men will be, as the heathen were for the Israelites, a trap and a snare and a scourge in the sides, and thorns in the eyes for those who live in intercourse with them.
Jos_23:14, a very beautiful text for a farewell sermon for a preacher who is obliged to lay down his office from advanced age, also for a funeral discourse when a father, for instance, to whose family God has shown much kindness, is deceased.
Jos_23:15-16. Suitable for a sermon on a day of fasting and prayer. (1) Think to-day of all the good which you have received, according to what God has spoken to you; but (2) be warned against the transgression of his covenant, lest his judgment come upon you.
Joshua’s last congress at Shechem. (1) His discourse (Jos_24:1-15); (2) the answer of the people (Jos_24:16-18); (3) the final decision and renewal of the covenant (Jos_24:19-25).—Joshua’s second farewell discourse treated by itself, and that as a review of the history of Israel from the days of the patriarchs to his own, in its most important incidents as above stated (Jos_24:1-15).—Of the terror of God upon nations doomed to destruction (Jos_24:12).—Not by thy sword nor by thy bow!—God’s surpassing benefits proved by what He bestowed upon Israel.—Earnest exhortation to give up all the idolatry still remaining among them.—In matters of religious conviction the decision must be altogether free; all constraint is to be condemned. That Joshua teaches once for all.—I and my house will serve the Lord!—A text of inexhaustible richness for weddings; yet rightly employed only when the individual dispositions correspond,—a thing which in occasional services should never be wanting. That Frederick William IV., king of Prussia, at the opening of the United Diet in 1847, declared this word of Joshua to be his own maxim, is well known.—Such deep horror of all idolatry becomes us also, as it once became Israel. Only our aversion must be more permanent than it was with that people.—We also will serve Jehovah, for He is our God.—God a holy, and a jealous God.—How the thought that God is holy, pure from all evil, and jealous, zealously intent on his proper glory, should restrain us from all evil, and especially from all idolatry.—When does God not spare (forgive)? (1) When transgression and sin is wilfully committed, and when (2) forgiveness would, as He foresees, lead to no amendment.—When we forsake the Lord He forsakes us also, and turns away from us although He may have done us ever so much good.
Jos_24:22 also may be employed as a text for discourses at confirmation [and at all receptions into the church], in which it is to be impressed upon the candidates that their “yes” will testify against them if they prove unfaithful to the Lord.—In what must the true and sincere conversion (repentance) of an entire people consist? (1) In their putting away their strange, often very secretly worshipped gods; (2) in the inclination of their hearts to the Lord God of Israel.—The God of Israel (Jos_24:2; Jos_24:23).—The repeated profession of the people that they will serve the Lord, regarded (1) in reference to its import, (2) to the responsibility which the people thus took upon them.—It is easily said: I will serve the Lord and obey his voice; but actually to keep the promise when the world allures to its altars, is quite another thing.—Israel’s resolution to serve the Lord was wholly voluntary. So should it be also with us. There should be no compulsion.—Men may well hearken to God’s voice, for (1) it always warns against the evil, (2) always admonishes to the good.—O! how peaceful is it in the heart when we really serve the Lord our God in sincerity, and hear nothing in preference to his friendly voice, that we may joyfully obey it.—The renewal of the covenant at Shechem; to be treated in such a way that (1) Joshua, (2) the people, (3) the matter of the covenant (law and rights of God), (4) the place where it was accomplished—keeping in view the historical recollections so richly associated with Shechem, (5) the memorial of the covenant, shall all receive due attention.—Joshua’s death, the end of a faithful servant of the Lord who had proved himself such (1) already in Moses’ time (Numbers 13; Num_27:15-23); (2) in the conquest and partition of the land, in which (a) his trust in God, (b) his bravery, (c) his unselfishness (Jos_17:14-18; Jos_19:49-50) are to be signalized; (3) even to the end (comp. Jos_23:1-11; Jos_24:1-15).
Jos_24:29-30. How beneficially the good example of a pious and true leader may influence a whole people, illustrated by the case of Joshua, Eleazar, Phinehas, and the other elders of Israel.—The burial of Joseph’s bones, an act of grateful respect, and the conscientious fulfillment of a dying wish.—Eleazar’s death the end of a priest after God’s heart (Exo_6:23; Exo_6:25; Exo_28:1; Lev_8:24; Num_3:32; Num_20:26; Num_27:18 ff; Num_34:17; Jos_14:1).
Starke: Peace and rest is also a favor from God, therefore we may well pray: Graciously grant us peace, etc., and, From war and bloodshed preserve us, merciful Lord God, etc. —Although God alone, in all things which happen, deserves the honor, and He it is also who is and remains the one who effects all good, yet we must not leave anything wanting in our own fidelity.—A Christian must not walk in his own way, but order all his conduct by God’s word.—Soul lost, all lost! Therefore watch, make haste and save thy soul!—God demands not merely an outward but an inward obedience to his law.—By our might nothing is done, by God’s might everything.—To serve the true God is the highest propriety and our duty; O that all might recognize it as such and serve God from the heart!—The service which one renders to God must be unconstrained.
Cramer: Faith is an assured confidence and excludes doubt (Heb_11:1; Jam_1:6) even where one cannot see (Joh_20:29).—The promises of the law are conditioned on obedience (Deu_28:1).—There is, however, none other who could fight for us, etc., Psa_53:6; Psa_79:10 (Jos_23:10).—With the froward God is froward.—Death knows no difference in person, age, sex, condition, or country.—By repeating and meditating on the great deeds of God we should strengthen ourselves in faith, and press on towards obedience to his commands (Psa_44:2; Psa_85:2; Psa_105:5; Psa_106:6).
Osiander: Whoever desires to live in accordance with the prescribed word of God, so as to add nothing thereto and take nothing therefrom, he is on the right road and walks most safely.—It is not enough to have made a good beginning, but he who perseveres to the end shall be saved, Mat_24:13.—To God must we ascribe the victory, and not to our own might and strength.—The church of God is never without hypocrites and apostates.—God can put up with no mixed religion; with him it is “all mine or let it alone altogether,” Mat_4:10.
Bibl. Tub.: The precious covenant which we have made with God we should have constantly before our eyes.
[Matt. Henry; on Jos_23:1-2 : When we see death hastening toward us, that should quicken us to do the work of life with all our might.—On Jos_24:1 : We must never think our work for God done, till our life is done; and if He lengthen out our days beyond what we thought, we must conclude it is because He has some further service for us to do.—Ibid. Jos_23:15 : When we cannot bring as many as we would to the service of God, we must bring as many as we can, and extend our endeavors to the utmost sphere of our activity; if we cannot reform the land, let us put away iniquity far from our own tabernacle.—Those that lead and rule in other things, should be first in the service of God, and go before in the best things.—Those that resolve to serve God, must not mind being singular in it, nor be drawn by the crowd to forsake his service.—Those that are bound for heaven, must be willing to swim against the stream, and must not do as the most do, but as the best do.—Ibid. Joshua 23:29–33: This book which began with triumphs here ends with funerals, by which all the glory of man is stained.—How well is it for the Gospel church that Christ our Joshua is still with it, by his Spirit, and will be always, even unto the end of the world!]
Footnotes:
[1][Jos_23:1. מִיָּמִים ר׳, prop. after, or following, many days. This is taken by our version rather as modifying the following clause, “at the end of many days after,” etc., than as parallel to it (De Wette, Fay), and meaning the same thing: “after many days, after Jehovah had given,” etc. The latter is preferable.—Tr.]
[2][Jos_23:2. ויִּקְרָא should introduce the apodosis to Jos_1:1, and the translation be (Jos_1:1), “and it came to pass … after that Jehovah. … and Joshua was old, far gone in years (Jos_1:2), that Joshua called all Israel,” etc.—Tr.]
[3][Jos_23:2. Lit. “called to,” but the “to” is superfluous in consistency with the usage generally; so that “for” should be omitted throughout this verse.—Tr.]
[4][Jos_23:5. Our version rightly, although perhaps too strongly marks the variety in מִפְּנֵיכֶם and מִלִּפְנֵיכֶם, which De Wette and Fay neglect.—Tr.]
[5][Jos_23:7. בְּשׁם. To indicate exactly the construction of the prep. בְּ with both verbs, is scarcely possible in English. We have to adopt some such substitute as, “and not make mention of, and not cause to swear by the name of their gods.”—Tr.]
[6][Jos_23:12. The idea is that of general intercourse. The verb “come” is used for brevity’s sake, instead of saying fully: “and you go among them and they come among you.”—Tr.]
[7][Jos_24:1. Omit “for” throughout this Terse as Jos_23:2.—Tr.]
[8][Jos_24:9. נִלְחָם although capable of meaning “to war,” “wage war,” is, with one exception, translated throughout our book, “to fight.”—Tr.]
[9][Jos_24:10. The emphatic force of the infin. abs. here might be variously expressed: “he kept blessing you;” “he must fain bless you;” “he did nothing but bless you.” Equivalent is the intent of “he blessed you still.”
[10][Jos_24:11. These names are all singular in the Hebrew throughout the verse, and are best so read in English.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 11, 12 Joshua called for all Israel--The clause which follows seems…
Joshua called for all Israel--The clause which follows seems to restrict this general expression as applicable only to the officers and representatives of the people. The place of assembly was most probably Shiloh. The occasion of convening it was the extreme age and approaching death of the venerable leader; and the purport of this solemn address was to animate the chosen people and their posterity to a faithful and unswerving continuance in the faith and worship of the God of Israel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 JOSHUA’S ADDRESS TO ISRAEL, Jos_23:1-16.
JOSHUA’S ADDRESS TO ISRAEL, Jos_23:1-16.
[“The closing records of the history of Joshua show us a solemn pause and crisis in the career of Israel. They had now attained that first success which is always a trial of human power and endurance, and which, in their case, was the test of their faithfulness to Jehovah. In Joshua they had a leader equal to the crisis. He lived long after God had given them rest from their enemies, and he was now going the way of all the earth. His last care was to set clearly before the people their true position, and to bind them to Jehovah by another solemn covenant.” — Smith’s O.T. Hist.]
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1. A long time — About fourteen years after the conquest and seven years after the allotment of Canaan, in the one hundred and tenth year of his life, Joshua uttered this speech.
Stricken in age — Literally, as in the margin, come into days; that is, far gone in years.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Ch. Jos_23:1-16. Joshua’s first Farewell Address
Ch. Jos_23:1-16. Joshua’s first Farewell Address
1. had given rest] Comp. Jos_21:43-44; Jos_22:3-4.
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waxed old] Comp. Jos_13:1, “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years.”
stricken in age] Heb. come into days; “of ful eld age,” Wyclif.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16 (a) To the rulers (Joshua 23).
XXIII.
JOSHUA’S LAST CHARGE.
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(a) To the rulers (Joshua 23).
(b) To the people (Joshua 24 to Jos_24:25).
(a) To THE RULERS.
(1) Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.—The same expression employed in Jos_13:1. It is possible that we ought to translate thus: “It came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest . . . and (after) Joshua had grown old, advanced in days, that Joshua called . . .” Or it may be that we have here, as it were, “the two evenings” of Joshua’s life: the early evening, when his sun began to decline—the afternoon; and the late evening, just before its glorious setting in the service of Jehovah on earth, to “serve Him day and night in His temple.”
(Our Lord fed the five thousand between the two evenings—Mat_14:15; Mat_14:23. So Joshua gave Israel their inheritance between the two evenings of his life.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Waxed old and stricken in age. Literally, was old,…
JOSHUA"S SOLEMN CHARGE.
Waxed old and stricken in age. Literally, was old, advanced in days. (see Jos_13:1) But this refers to a more advanced age still, when the patriarch felt his powers failing him, and desired, as far as his influence went, to preserve the Israelites in the path in which they had walked since their entrance into Canaan. Calvin has some good remarks on the "pious solicitude" shown by the aged warrior for those whom he had led in time of war and guided in time of peace. He seems to have sent for the chief men in Israel to his home at Timnath-Serah, where apparently he had led a retired and peaceful life, only coming forward to direct the affairs of the nation when necessity required. His address is simple and practical. He reminds them that they will soon lose the benefit of his experience and authority, and of the work that he had done, under God"s direction, in settling them in the land. Then he proceeds to urge strict obedience to the law of God, reminding them that victory is assured to them, if they will but be true to themselves and their calling as the servants of God, but that as certainly as they neglect to do so, wrath and misery will be their portion. He emphasizes his words by reminding them how amply God had fulfilled his promise, and concludes with a picture of the evil which will befall them if they rebel against God.
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Vers. 1-16. The last words of the aged servant of God.
The influence gained by a long and successful life is immense. It was so in Joshua"s case, for it outlasted his life, and continued as long as any of his former colleagues and companions in arms were alive. It was only when a fresh generation arose who knew him not, save by the report of the younger men, such as Othniel, that Israel declined from the true path. Joshua"s last charge, therefore, is full of interest and profit.
I HOW A LONG LIFE OF USEFULNESS MAY BEST BE CLOSED. When Joshua felt his life drawing to an end, he assembled those who had been partakers of his toils, reminded them of the great things God had done during his leadership, and warned them of the danger of departing from the course which had been marked by such signal and uninterrupted success. So may those who, by God"s grace, have been the means of improvement or usefulness to others, parents to their children, pastors to their flocks, men who hare won for themselves a moral influence in the religious or even the social, philosophical, or political world, when they feel their powers failing, assemble those who have worked with them, review the past, and draw a moral from it for the future. The last words of any one we deeply respect have a weight with us which no others have, and live within us when those who uttered them have long since passed away. This is even the case with the last words our Lord and Master spoke before His crucifixion, though in His case they were not His last, for not only did He rise from the dead, but He hath since spoken to us by His Spirit. Yet His dying command concerning the bread and wine has touched the heart more than any other; and His last speech in Joh 17 has always had a peculiar interest for Christians. Perhaps His followers have too much shrunk, from Christian modesty, from the most powerful means of influence they have. Forms of belief vary. The religious earnestness of our age is replaced by a different form of religious earnestness in another. The new wine has to be put into new bottles. Thus exhortations to maintain a particular form of doctrine or organisation may fail of their effect, or when (as is very often the case) they do not fail, they may be undesirable. But exhortations to love, joy, peace, zeal, energy, self restraint, indifference to the world, may derive a vast additional force when they are the farewell words of one whose life has been a life-long struggle to practise them.
II WE MUST OBEY THE WHOLE LAW. We are not to pick and choose either in doctrines or precepts. There is an eclecticism now, as there was in the apostle"s day, which rejects particular doctrines or precepts of Christianity as "unsuitable to the times." We are of course to distinguish between doctrines and development of doctrines, the last being, perhaps, the product of a particular age, and unsuitable or impossible for philosophic or scientific reasons in another. So again, the form of a precept (e.g., those touching almsgiving) must be altered from time to time, as Christian principles are transforming society by permeating it. But the spirit of a precept is for ever binding. And, we may observe, excess is as bad as defect. It was said of the law, that men should "add nought to it," as well as "diminish ought from it;" and we know what Christ thought of those who "taught for doctrines the commandments of men." Yet there has been in all ages a spiritual Pharisaism which has turned aside to the right, as there has been a Sadduceeism which has turned to the left. Every age has had its teachers who added to the essentials of religion as well as those who would explain them away. And the tendency has been to magnify these positive precepts of particular religious parties, until it has Been held more criminal to disobey them than to offend against the first principles of the Christian religion. For their sake the fundamental law of love has been laid aside, and transgression against a law Christ never imposed has been visited with a bitterness and a fury which He has expressly forbidden. Whether excess or defect have been more fatal to the cause of Christianity is a point which must be left undecided. But that grievous evils to the cause of religion in general and the souls of individuals have arisen from the practice among Christians of insisting upon what Christ has never enjoined cannot be denied. Let it be our case, then, to observe the whole law of Christ, neither to turn to the right nor to the left, but to keep all, and no more than all, that He has commanded. For "His commandments are not grievous." His "yoke is easy and His burden is light." There is the more reason, therefore, why we should keep it to the very letter.
III WE ARE EXPRESSLY EXHORTED TO AVOID COMPLIANCE WITH THE WORLD. This is a more difficult precept now than ever. Once there was a broad line of demarcation between the religious and the worldly man. Now Christianity has so far externally leavened society that the conflict has been forced inward. Decency and propriety of behaviour is everywhere enforced where education has penetrated. Cursing and swearing are banished at least from general society, and open profaneness is seldom met with. Yet the conflict must be continued, and continued within. St. Paul"s advice in 1Co_5:10 must be kept. A Christian must go into society and mix with the people he finds there, though he must not choose them for his intimates. But he must be more on the watch than ever to detect the tone of his associates when it jars with the gospel precepts. Still, as ever, there are false standards of right and wrong set up, false doctrines of honour and morality inculcated, principles laid down which Christ would have abhorred, conduct tolerated which He would have emphatically condemned. The worship of rank and fashion and wealth; the polite depreciation of all enthusiasm; the utter failure to recognise the glory of self sacrifice, except it be for tangible rewards, such as glory among men; the absence of all reverence; the veiled (or it may be unveiled) selfishness of a life of indolence and ease, the cynical indifference to the welfare of even the existence of others, except so far as it contributes to the pleasures of our own these are habits of mind utterly repugnant to the spirit of Christ. They must not be tolerated, they must be steadily and openly resisted by the Christian. And yet, so insidious are they, that they frequently creep into the souls of those who imagine themselves to be uncorrupted soldiers of the Cross. They have made mention of the names "of these gods of the nations around them," have "served" them and "bowed down" to them without knowing it, though they could have known it, had they been on the watch. And then they become "snares and traps," "scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes the causes, that is, of manifold cares and troubles and annoyances which to the Christen are unknown. And if unrepented of, they poison the Christian life at its source, till the once believer "perishes from off the good land which the Lord his God has given him.
IV THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE. "Neither shall ye make marriages with them," says the sacred writer; and the precept has been continually repeated. It is surprising how little the New Testament says on this important point of the selection of a partner for life. It would seem as though Christ and His apostles thought it so obvious that it were superfluous to speak of it. "Only in the Lord" (1Co_7:39) is the only precept given on this important point, unless 2Co_6:14 be held indirectly to include it. But the Old Testament, which is, equally with the New, a guide of life, is full of such cautions, from Isaac, Esau, and Jacob downwards. Moses perpetually warns the children of Israel against contracting such alliances with the idolatrous Canaanites. Ahab is a standing warning of their danger, and the taint invaded the kingdom of Judah through the weakness of the otherwise pious Jehoshaphat, and ended in the ferocious treachery of Athaliah. What Nehemiah thought of it in the reviving fortunes of Israel after the captivity may be read in his own words. (Jos 13) There is no difficulty, therefore, in gathering from Scripture a condemnation of marriage between those who are not of one mind on the most essential point of all, that of religion. The Roman Catholic Church has forbidden mixed marriages, and wisely. It were well if Churches of the Reformed faith were as outspoken in their condemnation of them. Yet unwise as are unions between those who differ in religious views, they are far worse when contracted between Christians and unbelievers, between those who are "conformed to this world" and those who hope to be "transformed by the renewing of their mind" into the image of Jesus Christ. There can be but one result to such unions. They must ever be "snares and traps," "scourges in the side and thorns in the eyes" of those who contract them, even though the end be not the destruction from out of the" good land which God has given." Those whom "God hath joined together" ought not to be "put asunder" by a discordance of opinions on all the main duties and objects of life. No temptations of beauty, of wealth or prospects, or even of personal preference, can outweigh the misery and danger of a condition like this, especially when it is considered that the results are not confined to those who are parties to such marriages, but that those whom God has sent into the world to be heirs of eternity will be considered by one, perhaps eventually by both their parents, as the creatures of a world that is passing away. The words "only in the Lord," though spoken but once, and then incidentally, ought nevertheless to be well pondered. They constitute the only ground upon which a Christian can enter into the most sacred and enduring of human ties; the only one that can ensure a blessing; the only one possible to those who are pledged to order all their actions by the inspiration of God"s Holy Spirit.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSEThe Command and its Sanction
Joshua before his death twice calls together the people of Israel to urge on them one exhortation of supreme importance. On the first occasion he reminds Israel of its great mission, which is to be a holy nation, the priesthood of the Lord for all mankind, separated by this its high calling from all association with the pagan nations around, and bound to abstain from all contact with idolatry. Let us notice the command and its sanction.
(1) "The Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong; no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day." "Take good heed, therefore, unto yourselves that ye love the Lord your God; lest ye in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these nations that remain among you and make marriages with them (vers. 9-12). Israel is thoroughly to understand that it has not been put in possession of the land of Canaan, to lead the same unholy life as those whom it had expelled. There is a priesthood to be exercised. This priesthood implies separation from the ungodly and from idolaters. This separation, however, is to be for a time only, for all the nations of the earth are finally to be blessed in the seed of Abraham. (Gen_12:3) Israel is separated from the rest of mankind for the good of the whole. This separation is not merely external, it is moral, for it is only realised by a life of holiness. Such is still the high calling of the people of God. They are to be priests of the most High, separated from the world by the elevation of their life and experience, even more than by privilege of position. The elect are a priesthood. Their election does not terminate in their own advantage, but seeks through them the good of the whole race, for which they are to prepare the way of salvation. Under the new dispensation, the people of God are no longer divided by material boundaries from the world. There is, therefore, all the greater necessity that the line of spiritual separation be bright, strong, and distinct.
(2) The commandment is enforced by a solemn sanction. "If ye go in unto these nations and they to you, know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you" (vers. 12, 13). The punishment threatened has this notable characteristic that it is to come by means of those very nations with whom Israel shall have entered into unholy alliance. These shall be made, in the hand of God, the scourge and the goad to His rebellious people, just as Israel had been, in the flint instance, the sword of Divine justice to visit the iniquity of the Canaanites. So is fulfilled the great moral law that sin brings its own punishment. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Every time that Israel entered into compact with the heathen nations it fell under the hand of the heathen. So whenever the Church allies itself with the world, the world entangles, corrupts, and destroys its life, though, it may be, stealthily and without violence. "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not". (Hos_7:9) The worldliness of the Church silently saps its spiritual power. E. DE P.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14 I am old and stricken in age: and ye…
Jos_23:1-16
I am old and stricken in age: and ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done.
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Old age
As in the snowy realms of the Alps lovely flowers open their cheerful petals to the sky, so, notwithstanding the weight of years and cares, many a sweet flower of hope, and trust, and love, and disinterested friendship, and faith may continue to blossom in the aged heart, and to send out an attractive fragrance for the happiness of others.
Jehovah the champion of Israel
The last two chapters of Joshua are very like each other. Each professes to be a report of the aged leaders farewell meeting with the heads of the people. In our judgment, both reports bear on the same occasion; and if so, all that needs to be said as to their origin is, that the author of the book, having obtained two reports from trustworthy sources, did not adopt the plan of weaving them into one, but gave them separately, just as he had received them. The circumstance is a proof of the trustworthiness of the narrative; had the writer put on record merely what Joshua might be supposed to have said, he would not have adopted this twofold form of narrative. What was the burden of Joshuas address? You have it in the words--The Lord your God is He that fighteth for you; therefore cleave unto the Lord your God. You owe everything to the Lord; therefore render to Him all His due. God is expressly set forth as the champion of Israel, fighting for him against the Canaanites, and driving them out. He is here the God of battles; and the terrible desolation that followed the track of Israel is here ascribed to the championship of the Most High. There are some expositors who explain these sayings in a general sense. There are great laws of conquest, they say, roughly sanctioned by Providence, whereby one race advances upon another. Nations enervated through luxury and idleness are usually supplanted by more vigorous races. We cannot vindicate all the rule of the British in India; greed, insolence, and lust have left behind them many a stain. Still, the result on the whole has been for good. The English have a higher conception of human life than the Hindus. They have a higher sense of order, of justice, of family life, of national well-being. There is a vigour about them that will not tolerate the policy of drifting; that cannot stand still or lie still and see everything going wrong; that strives to remedy injustice, to reform abuse, to correct what is vicious and disorderly, and foster organisation and progress. In these respects British rule has been a benefit to India. There may have been deeds of oppression and wrong that curdle the blood, or habits of self-indulgence may have been practised at the expense of the natives that shock our sense of humanity, as if the inferior race could have no rights against the superior; but these are but the eddies or by-play of a great beneficent current, and in the summing up of the long account they hold but an insignificant place. When you survey the grand result; when you see a great continent like India peaceable and orderly that used to be distracted on every side by domestic warfare; when you see justice carefully administered, life and property protected, education and civilisation advanced, to say nothing of the spirit of Christianity introduced, you are unable to resist the conclusion that the influence of its new masters has been a gain to India, and therefore that the British rule has had the sanction of Heaven. Now, in this case, as in the conquest of India by Britain, a process went on which was a great benefit on a large scale. It was not designed to be of benefit to the original inhabitants, as was the British occupation of India, for they were a doomed race, as we shall immediately see. But the settlement of the people of Israel in Canaan was designed and was fitted to be a great benefit to the world. Explain it as we may, Israel had higher ideas of life than the other nations, richer gifts of head and heart, more capacity of governing, and a far purer religious sentiment. On the principle that a race like this must necessarily prevail over such tribes as had occupied Palestine before, the conquest of Joshua might well be said to have Divine approval. God might truly be said to go forth with the armies of Israel, and to scatter their enemies as smoke is scattered by the wind. But this was not all. There was already a judicial sentence against the seven nations of which Israel was appointed to be the executioner. Loathsome vice consecrated by the seal of religion; unnatural lust, turning human beings into worse than beasts; natural affection converted into an instrument of the most horrid cruelty--could any practices show more powerfully the hopeless degradation of these nations in a moral and religious sense, or their ripeness for judgment? Israel was the appointed executioner of Gods justice against them, and in order that Israel might fulfil that function, God went before him in his battles and delivered his enemies into his hands. And what Israel did in this way was done under a solemn sense that he was inflicting Divine retribution. We cannot suppose that the people uniformly acted with the moderation and self-restraint becoming Gods executioners. No doubt there were many instances of unwarrantable and inhuman violence. To charge these on God is not fair. They were the spots and stains that ever indicate the hand of man, even when doing the work of God. If it be said that the language of the historian seems sometimes to ascribe to God what really arose from the passions of the people, it is to be observed that we are not told in what form the Lord communicated His commands. No doubt the Hebrews were disposed to claim Divine authority for what they did to the very fullest extent. There may have been times when they imagined that they were fulfilling the requirements of God, when they were only giving effect to feelings of their own. And generally they may have been prone to suppose that modes of slaughter that seemed to them quite proper were well pleasing in the sight of God. For God often accomplishes His holy purposes by leaving His instruments to act in their own way. But we have wandered from Joshua, and the assembly of Israel. What we have been trying is to show the soundness of Joshuas fundamental position-that God fought for Israel. The same thing might be shown by a negative process. If God had not been actively and supernaturally with Israel, Israel could never have become what he was. Moses and his bevy of slaves, Joshua and his army of shepherds--what could have made such soldiers of these men if the Lord had not fought on their side? The getting possession of Canaan, as Joshua reminded the people, was a threefold process: God fighting for them had subdued their enemies; Joshua had divided the land; and now God was prepared to expel the remaining people, but only through their instrumentality. Emphasis is laid on expelling and driving out (verse 5), from which we gather that further massacre was not to take place, but that the remainder of the Canaanites must seek settlements elsewhere. A sufficient retribution had fallen on them for their sins, in the virtual destruction of their people and the loss of their country; the miserable remnant might have a chance of escape, in some ill-filled country where they would never rise to influence and where terror would restrain them from their former wickedness. Joshua was very emphatic in forbidding intermarriage and friendly social intercourse with Canaanites. He knew that between the realm of holiness and the realm of sin there is a kind of neutral territory, which belongs strictly to neither, but which slopes towards the realm of sin, and in point of fact most commonly furnishes recruits not a few to the army of evil. Alas, how true is this still! Marriages between believers and unbelievers; friendly social fellowship, on equal terms, between the Church and the world; partnership in business between the godly and the ungodly--who does not know the usual result? In a few solitary cases, it may be, the child of the world is brought into the kingdom; but in how many instances do we find the buds of Christian promise nipped, and lukewarmness and backsliding, if not apostasy, coming in their room! (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 11 Jos_23:1. A long time after that the Lord had…
JOSHUA’S FIRST FAREWELL ADDRESS
CRITICAL NOTES.—
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Jos_23:1. A long time after that the Lord had given rest] Probably the beginning of this period is to be reckoned from the time indicated in chap. Jos_21:44, to the similar phrase of which the historian looks back. The “long time,” after the second division of the land, appears to have been about sixteen years (cf. on chap. Jos_13:1).
Jos_23:2. Called for all Israel and for, etc.] Omit “and.” The gathering was a representative one, and the four clauses which follow are meant to stand in explanation of the words “all Israel.” Joshua called all Israel, i.e., their elders, their heads, etc.
Jos_23:3. Because of you] Heb., mipp’nçychem =from before you. It is not said that God slew the Canaanites because of the Israelites, but before their “faces,” i.e., before the Israelites in battle. The figurative meaning, on account of, though frequently admissible, would here obviously alter the sense of the passage. Calvin translates by in conspectu vestro, but Tremellius and Junius have propter vos. The same form in Jos_23:5 is rendered, from before you, with which in both places, agree the LXX.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_23:1-5
THE DOMINATING INTEREST OF A GODLY MAN IN HIS LAST DAYS
Almost everything about a man gets “old and stricken in age,” saving the desires of the godly towards God and godly things. The body decays, let it have been ever so vigorous. Appetites fail, one by one, till the choicest dainties and even necessary food no longer tempt. Beauty wanes and vanishes. The problems which have kept a mind active for half a century presently fail to command more than a passing thought. The love of pleasure and wickedness is no exception to the general rule. The things which once so seductively won and delighted the life that chose to revel in them, sooner or later, not only fail to please, but are found absolutely nauseous. Many other preachers than Solomon, whether publicly or only to themselves, eventually cry, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” It says something, at least, for the spiritual mind, that as long as other minds can watch it, it shews no sign of decay. When everything else gets stricken with many days, the love of the heart towards God and goodness is strong as ever. Nay, this is the time when it renews its youth. (Cf. Psa_73:26.) Infidelity finds its strongest foe in the life most stricken with weakness. The roughest camping ground for unbelief is on the margin of the grave. It is there, more than anywhere else, that faith is unencumbered by doubt. It does us good to see this venerable servant of God so stricken without, and yet so strong within. The ruling desire of the failing veteran was to see idolatry banished, Israel holy and happy, and Jehovah glorified.
I. Here is an aged man diligently setting himself to complete the work of his life. Hoping that Israel would feel the appeal that came from one whose life had been given to them in so simple and thorough a manner, Joshua tried to say words that might make his past service an abiding help to his people.
1. Many useful lives are left to drift down to posterity as best they can. Our aged men are too prone to retire. Then, what they have done well through many years is apt to retire from the public mind also. A few broken words from an aged man with a great life behind him, are words which no one else can speak. Such a man should try and say them. They are very beautiful from such lips. Power goeth forth from them. Many lives are like nails well driven home, but unclenched. There are aged men just gone from us, and some among us now, whose broken words of weakness compel our faith and fervour as did none of the more eloquent utterances of their younger days.
2. A life which has been for others all through, can only end nobly as it continues for others to the last. Joshua did not call the elders to get them to aid him in perpetuating his own fame. Not a word falls from the dear old man which takes the slightest tinge of self-admiration or self-concern. The pain of the bodily effort was all for the people. Love for them and love for God was moving the aged man to this effort. It was not self-love. Joshua does not even impress us with the feeling that he was trying to prepare to die well. All that had been settled long ago. He was working with his last strength to try and get others to live well. A godly life has no room for selfishness even on the borders of the grave.
3. However nobly a life may continue and end, only one life is complete—the life of Jesus Christ. Joshua was but the supplement of Moses. The purposes of Moses, like those of Job, were “broken off.” He died looking into the land which he failed to reach. And even Joshua had left many Canaanites still unconquered. There remained, still, very much land to be possessed. The best lives are only a segment. We are all only arcs, some longer and some shorter, in the circle of God’s plan. Only the life of Jesus represents a completed idea. Probably His were the only lips which ever tried to frame for their dying utterance the august words, “It is finished.” Paul said, “I have finished my course,” but he had no such fulness of meaning in his mind as He who declared, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” The Lord, who was so separate from sinners in His life, is no less alone in His death.
II. An aged man hiding the work of a great life behind the greater work of God. “Ye have seen all that the Lord hath done … for the Lord your God is He that hath fought for you.” To the people, Joshua had seemed to have done much. They probably both honoured and loved him. It would have been easy for Joshua to have magnified his own work. Instead of this, and with a beautiful freedom from affectation in his humility, the veteran soldier treats himself as a mere subordinate, and extols God as the real leader of the army. John the Baptist was willing that his own light should wane before the greater brightness of the Rising Sun of Righteousness. Thus, also, Joshua conceals his own fame by bidding the people gaze on the incomparable glory of Jehovah.
1. To extol God is due to truth. (a) God had wonderfully and visibly interposed in times of Israel’s greatest difficulties. The dividing of the Jordan. The fall of the walls of Jericho. The hailstorm at Beth-horon, and the phenomenal staying of the sun and moon. (b) God had guided Joshua. The plans of battle had been from the Captain of the Lord’s host (chap. Jos_5:13-15, Jos_6:1-5). (c) God had encouraged Joshua in almost every battle where his own heart might have failed him. The gracious “fear not” of Jehovah was continually anticipating Joshua’s trembling and depression (chap. Jos_3:7-8; Jos_6:2; Jos_8:1; Jos_8:18; Jos_10:8; Jos_11:6). (d) When God had once withdrawn from His servant, then Joshua had been utterly defeated (chap. Jos_7:1-12). (e) God had maintained, every day, Joshua’s health and strength. It would have been false to truth if Joshua had exalted himself. Every triumph of ours might be as truly traced to the help of the Lord.
2. To extol God is due to God. If His own “right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory,” shall a man rob God of the glory due unto His name? Let us rather imitate Joshua here, and sing with the pious Israelite of a later generation about these same triumphs: “In God we boast all the day long” (cf. Psa_44:1-8).
3. To extol God is due to men. Those about us should not be drawn from God by our own personal vanity, but rather be led to God by our adoring praise. When the king passes by, he is but a mean citizen who tries to attract attention to himself.
4. To extol God is due to ourselves. The man who seeks to appropriate the glory due to Jehovah does but rob himself. He gains nothing, and loses all the joy of fealty and childhood.
III. An aged man reviewing God’s goodness in the past, and finding therein an assurance of God’s help in difficulties yet to come. “The Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you,” etc. Many years of experience had taught Joshua that he might unquestionably trust in Jehovah. Looking into the future of the Israelites, no doubt troubled his clear faith on that side of things which related to God. Of the people, Joshua had many doubts; of God, none whatever. He was far from assuming that Divine help had been given on his own account. He saw that hitherto Divine help had been given because of Divine love to the nation, and that if the people continued faithful, God would continue to bless them. The aged warrior felt that he was fast going the way of all the earth; he did not therefore think that victory must fail the people. He could no longer lead them to the battle; God would be as able and as willing to cause them to triumph notwithstanding. With such a life of prowess behind him, it is very beautiful that Joshua in no way considered himself essential to victory. The thought of his own absence did not so much as begin to obscure his faith in the sufficiency of God’s presence. The triumphs of the Church in our day have all been of the Lord. No individual servant of God is a necessity. True faith dwells altogether above men, resting only in God.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_23:1 -THE LORD’S GIFT OF REST.
I. The Lord’s gift of rest in spite of great difficulties. The bondage in Egypt; the pursuing Egyptians, and the confronting sea; the swellings of Jordan; the enemies within the land itself: under Divine leading, and before Divine power, all these hindrances were as nothing. So far from preventing the gift of rest, they only exalted it. They became, as it were, the emphasis of the rest. Witness the after songs of peace which these conflicts only served to provoke. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
II. The Lord’s gift of rest, notwithstanding many sins. Sin in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan. Sin in the leaders of Israel, as by Moses and Aaron. Sin among the people: prominent sins, as at the return of the spies, as by Korah, Zimri, and Achan; secret and unrecorded sins. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
III. The Lord’s gift of rest unto Israel.
1. Rest given to the children of many promises. See the covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2. Rest given to a people whom God sought to make a praise in the earth. The Lord was preparing them to sing, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.”
3. Rest given to the people of God as a witness against idolatry. The penalties of sin are to forfeit everything worth keeping, and to inherit only desolation and pain. The reward of serving God is to be made heirs of God.
4. Rest given to the people of God, but given only in instalments. All the enemies were not yet subdued; if Israel only kept the faith, they would be. If the people served Jehovah truly on earth, Canaan would be merely the portico to heaven. He who serves the Lord faithfully may always say, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” The children of the King of kings ever have some estate in possession, and much in reversion.
IV. The Lord’s gift of rest to Israel the prediction and beginning of a higher rest to be offered to all the world. God began to teach the world in one place. Israel was only a concentrated view of mercy which God was ready to offer to all men. Canaan was never intended to be other than God’s preface to a Christian world. Local blessing stands here as a preamble to the epistle of God’s universal love. Canaan was God’s preparation for Calvary, and Israel did but make way for the fulness of the Gentiles. The rest of God was never meant to rest.
Jos_23:2.—THE PROVIDENCE OF A FATHERLY SPIRIT.
“The pious solicitude of Joshua is here set forth, for the imitation of all who are in authority. For as the father of a family will not be considered sufficiently provident if he thinks of his children only till the end of his own life, and does not extend his care farther, studying as much as in him lies to do them good even when he is dead; so good magistrates and rulers ought carefully to provide that the well-arranged condition of affairs, as they leave them, be confirmed and prolonged to a distant period. For this reason Peter writes (1Pe_1:25), that he will endeavour after he has departed out of the world to keep the Church in remembrance of his admonitions, and able to derive benefit from them.”—[Calvin.]
Jos_23:3.—THE SWORD OF THE LORD AND OF MEN.
I. Men may seem to hold the sword, but it is ever God who fights against the enemies of truth. The Israelites were simply instruments in the Divine chastisement of idolaters. This is continuously insisted on throughout the book. It is the same in many other instances. The overthrow of Tyre, Nineveh, Jerusalem, and other places, let the instruments vary as they may, is spoken of as God’s punishment of transgression. Thus also a godly man of the last generation said of his trials, “My sins are reappearing to me in the form of men.”
II. Men may seem to win prowess, but in all true victories the battle is the Lord’s.
1. The Lord is He who really fights. “The Lord your God is He that hath fought.”
2. The Lord’s fighting is for His people. “He hath fought for you.”
3. The Lord’s fighting is for the truth, that through it many may become His people indeed.
III. Men may seek praise for themselves, or give glory to the Lord, but only he who honours God is really exalted. Joshua has come to far more exaltation through his humility than could ever have been possible through a foolish vanity. It is ever thus. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” If that is God’s word, it is also man’s resolute dogma. Many men are weak enough to be vain; no man will tolerate foolish conceit outside of his own heart. This history shews us that:
1. Temptations to self-glorying are numerous.
2. Inducements to praise God are more numerous.
3. To give glory sincerely to the Lord is to receive lasting honour from men.
Jos_23:3-5.—THE LORD’S WORK AND MAN’S WORK.
I. The Lord’s work affording a glorious retrospect. What has been done, He has done. “Ye have seen all,” etc. (Jos_23:3).
II. The Lord’s work the foundation of all that seems done by men. “I have not fought, but He.” “I have divided unto you, but I have done even that by the guidance of the Lord’s lot,” God had been both power and light.
III. The Lord’s work the only hope for the future.
1. In the casting out of enemies. “He shall expel them.”
2. In the possession of an undisturbed inheritance. “As the Lord your God hath promised you.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 At the death of Moses a sudden gleam of…
Jos 23:1
At the death of Moses a sudden gleam of heaven, as it were, came over the elder Church. The law seemed for a while suspended as regards its threats and punishments; all was privilege on the one side, all was obedience on the other. Joshua led the people forward, conquering and to conquer; he led them into rest and prosperity. His history is made up of two parts: triumph and peace. Such a blessed season never returned to the Church of Israel till that Church was made glorious by the coming of the Sun of righteousness, and was brought forth out of the shadows and dreariness of the law into the fulness of grace and truth.
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I. First, as is very obvious, Joshua is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ as regards his name, for Joshua is in Hebrew what Jesus is in Greek.
II. Joshua is a type of Christ in an act of grace which he exercised, and that to his enemy Rahab. Why have we at once a sinful woman spared and admitted into covenant on her faith, nay privileged in the event to become the ancestress of our Lord, except that in Joshua the reign of the Saviour is typified, and that the pardon of a sinner is its most appropriate attendant?
III. As Joshua answers to our Lord in his name and in his clemency, so, too, does he in his mode of appointment. Moses chose Joshua, who had no claim or title to be chosen; he consecrated him, not in a legal, but in a Gospel, way; he prefigured in him the ministers of Christ and soldiers of His Church. Joshua was chosen, not by the will of men, but by the will of God.
IV. In a special way God’s choice ended in Joshua. He did not receive it by inheritance, nor are heirs mentioned to whom he left it. He who divided the land by lot, who gave to each his portion to enjoy, is allotted in the sacred history neither wife, nor children, nor choice possession. In this he was the type of the Lord Himself, who, "though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich."
V. We read of no lamentation of friends, no special honours being paid to Joshua, at his death. He was buried neither by his sons nor by the assembled people, as if to teach us to raise up our hearts to Him for whom no mourning was to be made, for He was the living among the dead; and though for a while He laid Himself down in the grave, He did it that, there lying, He might quicken the dead by His touch, that so first He and then they all might rise again and live for ever.
VI. Joshua did not accomplish all the work that was to be done, but left a remnant to those who came after him. And so in like manner Christ has done the whole work of redemption for us, and yet it is no contradiction to say that something remains for us to do: we have to take the redemption offered to us, and that taking involves a work. He has suffered and conquered, and those who become partakers in Him undergo in their own persons the shadow and likeness of that great victory. We advance by yielding; we rise by falling; we conquer by suffering; we persuade by silence; we become rich by bountifulness; we gain comfort through mourning; we earn glory by penitence and prayer.
J. H. Newman, Sermons on Subjects of the Day, p. 150.
Jos 23:1-3.
Joshua and St. John stand out as if in direct hostility to each other. We know that the Book of Joshua must have been read by the Apostle in his childhood, his manhood, his old age. Let us inquire how at different times of his life he must have regarded it.
I. We find him first as a Galilean fisherman. At that time the book of the wars of the Lord may have had some attraction for him. He would receive it as coming from Divine authority, but there was nothing which bound it to his actual human sympathies. What was there in what he saw and heard that could make any Jew feel that he belonged to a chosen, vigorous, triumphant people?
II. It is a common notion, suggested by his own words, that the Apostle was a hearer and disciple of John the Baptist. The immediate appeal of John’s preaching was undoubtedly to the individual conscience. Each man was awakened to a sense of his own evil. He wished, first of all, for a baptism for the remission of sins. Such a thought absorbs for a while a man’s being. The disciples of John would not in general have found leisure to think of the Book of Joshua.
III. Another period came. John was called to be Christ’s disciple. Christ said that He was come to establish a kingdom, and His followers were sure that He did not deceive them; and now all that they had heard in the old Scriptures of a kingdom that was to put down the tyrants and giants of the earth came to life in their minds. They would dwell on the battles of Joshua and David with an earnest delight, with a confidence that they were battles fought on their behalf, in the like of which they might one day be permitted to engage, with a prospect of a more complete and permanent victory.
IV. But there came a fourth stage in St. John’s life. After he had leant upon his Lord’s breast at the Last Supper and had stood beside His Cross, his strong belief in Christ as a Conqueror through suffering may for a time have made him unable to understand the triumph with which the old Israelite leader records the discomfiture and extinction of the Canaanitish hosts. But this feeling would be accompanied by two others: (1) with a distinct acknowledgment that Joshua’s battles were tending to the establishment of a righteous kingdom upon earth; (2) that the Christian man is in as literal a sense a warrior as the Jew ever was.
V. In his old age, as he sat alone in the island of Patmos, may not St. John have found in the old leader of his country’s hosts a teacher and a friend? He could learn from him that there is a Divine and gracious purpose in that which looks darkest and saddest: he was told that nations are not swept out of the earth for nothing, that the earth is God’s, and that He will reclaim it from those who lay it waste and make it a den of robbers.
F. D. Maurice, Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 305.
Jos 23:8
I. It could be only in a limited sense that this praise could be given to the children of Israel; their great crime through all periods of their history was that they did not cleave unto the Lord their God. But probably during that score of years which intervened between the entrance into Canaan and the death of Joshua the Hebrews were more true in their allegiance to their heavenly King than at any other period. As yet they had everything to preserve them in their steadfastness, and there was no strength of temptation to allure them to rebellion. While Joshua lived they did cleave as fully as they ever cleaved to the Lord their God.
II. Our only safeguard in facing the snares and temptations, the malice and opposition, the craft and cunning, of the devil, the world, and the flesh is to cleave unto the Lord our God. "Keep innocency and take heed unto the thing that is right," and you will find the boldness of evil abashed and the designs of evil powerless before you. Cleave unto God quietly, but resolutely and consistently. "Take good heed to yourselves that ye love the Lord your God." Fear will never induce you to cleave to Him. Love will. And if you cleave unto the Lord, none shall be able to stand before you, or to gain the mastery over you.
F. E. Paget, Sermons for Special Occasions, p. 115.
Jos 23:11-15
I. In this speech Joshua once more presses upon the people their true character as the chosen people of the Lord God. He is able now to appeal to facts in evidence of the truth which had once been matters of faith; he is able now to point to what God has done, to call the people themselves to witness that all the promises of God have come to pass, and that not one good thing hath failed of all those which the Lord their God had promised them.
II. Joshua found in his old age nothing to retract of what he had said in former times concerning God and the people, and the relation of the one to the other. He next implores the people to guard against backsliding. He says: Go on as you have begun, and God will bless you; your shame, and misery, and damnation will be if you turn back from following the Lord.
III. Once more, looking forward to the future, Joshua declares that, in case of the Israelites going back from their high position as God’s people, God would punish them as severely as hitherto He had blessed them bounteously. The possession of the land had been the reward of obedience; the loss of the same would be the punishment of disobedience.
All the points in Joshua’s speech might be applied by a Christian minister to a Christian congregation. Consider: (1) whether you are sufficiently alive to your high calling, and profession, and privileges; (2) whether you are guarding against backsliding in your religious course; (3) whether you think sufficiently of the danger of offending God and of the awfulness of that judgment-seat before which the living and the dead must alike one day stand.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 5th series, p. 108.
References: Jos 23:14.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 10th series, p. 256; A. Raleigh, Thoughts for the Weary, p. 81. Jos 24:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1718. Jos 24:9, Jos 24:10.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. v., p. 407; H. Thompson, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 1st series, p. 26. Jos 24:13.—J. Vickery, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 133. Jos 24:14.—G. Woolnough, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 307. Jos 24:14, Jos 24:15.—J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 116.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 2. (Jos 23:1-16; Jos 24:1-33.)
Section 2. (Jos 23:1-16; Jos 24:1-33.)
The closing chapters are so plain that they require, in general, but little interpretation. Joshua’s appeal, the renewal of the covenant, the limiting statement as to Israel’s obedience in the (lays of Joshua and of those contemporary with him, all show the decline that is imminent, and which faces us at once in the following book. Joshua’s words, "Ye cannot serve Jehovah," show that, with all his heroism of individual obedience, he is not deceived as to the issue under that covenant which so often needs renewing on the people’s side. How could he be, with Moses’ song ringing in his ears? Only those willing to be deceived could be. And so with ourselves exactly: predictions of the Church’s course have so little ambiguity that it is marvelous that the smooth preaching of peace, and the comforting assurance of progressive blessing, could ever gain credence with those who boast in an "open Bible." But the Bible can be but little "open," as long as man’s pride and self-seeking hang their imaginative veil before it; and the Church, believing herself heir to Israel’s promises, has largely refused to accept the lessons of Israel’s career, which she has so closely followed. Thank God, we are near the end of the strange history of near two millennia and for us the end is the coming of the Lord.
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(1) These charges are a double warning, at the pathetic moment when Joshua, their leader in victory so often, is passing away. Old, and stricken with the weight of the years he carries, he stands before assembled Israel, to remind them of the Lord’s fulfillment to them of His promises, and to assure them that His threatenings would be no less perfectly fulfilled. The word given to himself at the beginning of the conquest of the land, he now exhorts them with in turn: "Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left." In truth it needs courage to stand for God and for His word in the face of all that this involves! Yet how strange to speak of any call for this as if it could be lacking! Courage, in standing for God! But such is man, even the best of men, that he needs to be urged to this, though only faith is lacking in this cause for one man to chase a thousand, yea, for two to put ten thousand to flight.
(2) Joshua’s second address is at Shechem, a place memorable in so many ways from Abraham’s time and there the covenant with Jehovah is renewed. Joshua reminds them again of the mercies of God towards them, beginning with the call of Abraham himself, of whom we are now for the first told that he had been involved in the common idolatry of the times, along with his father Terah and his brother Nahor. With grace thus the tale begins, a grace their need of which their own history had so clearly testified. Divine power had been shown in the gift of Isaac, given when nature was dead in Abraham. Even Jacob and Esau were the seed of a barren woman. To Esau God had given Seir, while Israel endured the needed discipline in Egypt. Then came the marvel of their deliverance, the days of sojourn in the wilderness, the dispossession of the Amorite kings, and the spiritual conflict when Balaam, after all the history of failure, sought how to curse and ended but in blessing them finally, the possession of the land they now enjoyed. After all this, Joshua bids them, if there could be doubt, to make up their minds whom they would serve, the idols their fathers had served beyond the river, the gods of the Canaanites in whose land they dwelt, or else Jehovah: his own choice for himself and his house was already made.
In result the people renew the covenant, and a great stone is set up under an oak in memorial of it. It is still the legal covenant, and all is suspended upon an obedience at the best how fitful! The stone in its lifelessness would abide, more certainly far than the living tree under which it was set up, Israel’s picture at that moment. For the present it is well, and they depart, every one in peace to his inheritance.
Joshua dies, his influence lasting till the end of his generation -a significant limitation. Joseph his father’s bones are buried at Shechem. Lastly, Eleazar dies: and these three graves are a sign that the Great Deliverer has not yet come. The types are but the shadow, not the substance: which yet for faith they point on towards. Thank God, for us the Deliverer is come, although not even yet the full deliverance.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The First Farewell Address of Joshua
The First Farewell Address of Joshua
This discourse was probably delivered at Shiloh or Timnath-Serah. Unlike the Second Discourse, which is mainly a historical retrospect, it dwells chiefly upon the political future of Israel, laying special emphasis on their separateness, and the danger of social and religious intercourse with the remnant of the Canaanites. Joshua 23 is from the same source as Joshua 1 and Deuteronomy 27.
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4. These nations that remain] Like chapter Jos_13:2-7, to the substance of which it probably refers, this passage serves to modify the unqualified character of such summaries of conquest as Jos_10:40-43; Jos_11:23; Jos_21:43-45.
10. One man of you shall chase a thousand] RV 'hath chased,' cp. Deu_32:30.
15. All evil things] RV 'all the evil things,' with definite reference to Deu_28:15-68. Cp. also Lev_26:14-39.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 i.e. a witness; so Jos 24:27.
Ed
i.e. a witness; so Jos 24:27.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 2. Joshua’s Two Addresses
2. Joshua’s Two Addresses
The First Address
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CHAPTER 23
1. The people gathered (Jos 23:1-2)
2. God’s faithfulness remembered (Jos 23:3-5)
3. Exhortations to obedience (Jos 23:6-11)
4. Warning (Jos 23:12-13)
5. Conclusion of first address (Jos 23:14-16)
It was about eight years after the Lord had given rest unto Israel, that the aged Joshua called for all Israel and their elders to assemble in his presence. He was very old and the time of his departure at hand. The purpose of his first address is to remind the people and their elders of the Lord’s faithfulness in keeping all His promises, and to exhort them to be faithful to Him and to warn them of the results of apostasy. He exhorts them with the same message, which the Lord had given to him in the beginning of the book. Compare verse 6 with chapter 1:7. He had been obedient to this command and the Lord had done all for him He had promised. Joshua was a man of faith and courage, an excellent character.
“He is characterized by conscientious fidelity to the Law, and unclouded theocratical sentiments. He is deliberate and prudent when he acts himself, for he conducts the wars of the Lord; but he becomes prompt, bold and decided, when the Lord sends him. His courage is humility, his strength is faith, his wisdom is obedience and the fear of the Lord. He has a gentle spirit, but does not betray weakness; the evidence of the latter is furnished by his strict judgment in the case of Achan, and the scrupulous exactness with which he executes the Lord’s sentence respecting the Canaanites. Such a union of gentleness and rigor, of simplicity and prudence, of humility and grandeur of sentiment, presents evangelical features. This peculiarity of his character, combined with the peculiarity of that age of the kingdom of God in which he lived, and also of the position which he occupied, adapts both himself and the work which he performed to be highly significant types of the future. He conducts the people into the land of promise and of rest; but there remains a better rest into which his archetype, who bears the same name, conducts the people of God (Heb 4:8-9); he carries on the wars, and executes the judgments of the Lord, in which are shadowed the victories and judgments of Christ.
“The sentiments which govern Joshua, pervade the people in general in his day. The whole history of the chosen people presents no other period in which they were generally animated by such zeal in the cause of the theocracy, by such conscientious fidelity to the Law, by such vigorous faith and sincere fear of God as that generation manifested. It was the period of first love, and, in this aspect, may be compared with the first centuries of the Christian Church.” (J.H. Kurtz, Sacred History)
And we need, as His people, the courage of faith to stand for the Lord and for His Word in the days of departure from God. And Joshua’s warning was sadly fulfilled in the subsequent history of Israel.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 14 The Urgent Exhortation to be Faithful to the Lord
The Urgent Exhortation to be Faithful to the Lord
v. 1. And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, when the heathen nations had been brought to a state of fear which kept them from undertaking any attack against Israel, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age, advanced in days, with the infirmities of old age in evidence.
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v. 2. And Joshua called for all Israel, in its representatives, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, the first designation being the general one, and the heads being divided into judges and officers, both the judicial and the executive branches of the government thus being represented, and said unto them, the meeting taking place either at his home, at Timnath-serah, or, more probably, at Shiloh, I am old and stricken in age;
v. 3. and ye have seen all that the Lord, your God, hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord, your God, is He that hath fought for you, for it had been evident throughout that the Lord was battling for Israel.
v. 4. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, those that had not yet been exterminated, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the Great Sea westward, toward the going down of the sun; for tribes of the heathen nations were still living in the Valley of Jordan and in parts of the plain along the coast of the Mediterranean. But these sections had been included in the allotment of land, and so the duty of driving them out was before the people.
v. 5. And the Lord, your God, He shall expel them. from before you, thrust them out altogether, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land as the Lord, your God, hath promised unto you, Exo 23:23; Num 33:53.
v. 6. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, for that was the condition of the covenant upon which the Lord insisted, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
v. 7. that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, to enter into any fellowship with them; neither make mention of the name of their gods, namely, for the purpose of calling upon them or of proclaiming them, to swear by them, to serve them by offerings, and to bow down to them in prayer, Exo 23:13; Deu 6:13; Deu 10:20, as Joshua adds; nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them;
v. 8. but cleave unto the Lord, your God, as ye have done unto this day, for the congregation as such had adhered firmly to the worship of Jehovah while Joshua was leader.
v. 9. For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong, Deu 4:38; but (or "and") as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day, the assistance of Jehovah making them invincible and giving them the power to conquer everything before them, Deu 7:24.
v. 10. One man of you shall chase a thousand, as Moses had promised, Lev 26:8; Deu 32:30; for the Lord, your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you, Exo 14:14; Exo 23:27; Deu 3:22.
v. 11. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, they were to watch very carefully over their own souls, in keeping them in the Law of the Lord, that ye love the Lord, your God; for this love is the fulfillment of the Law.
v. 12. Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, be joined to them in friendship and affection, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, thus entering into the most intimate relationship with them and setting aside the loyalty toward Jehovah, and go in unto them and they to you, in a social fellowship and intercourse which the Lord had forbidden them, Exo 34:12-16; Deu 7:3,
v. 13. know for a certainty that the Lord, your God, will no more drive out any of these nations from before you, an achievement which was possible only with His assistance, but they shall be snares and traps unto you, Num 33:55; Isa 8:14-15, and scourges in your sides, to punish them, and thorns in your eyes, infinitely more painful than motes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord, your God, hath given you. Joshua heaps the figures picturing the affliction and the misery which would follow their act of disloyalty in entering into friendships and other intimate relationships with the heathen nations; for the Lord knew that no warning could be made too impressive in this connection. The blessings of God’s goodness should be the strongest inducement to all Christians to cling to Him alone with all their heart and to shun all intimacy with the children of this world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16 very old
very old
lived for many years
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translationWords
Yahweh
Israel
Joshua
elder
judge, judges
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 23:1-11 Joshua urged Israel’s leaders to be faithful.
23:1-11 Joshua urged Israel’s leaders to be faithful.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.