1So JoShua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shiloh and summoned their elders, officers, and judges, then stood them before God. 2And JoShua spoke to all the people and said, ‘This is what Jehovah the God of Israel said: Your ancestors (such as Tara, the father of Abraham and Nahor) once stayed beyond the river and served other gods. 3But I took Abraham (your ancestor) from the other side of the river and guided him throughout this entire land. Then I made his seed grow… 4I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac [I gave] Jacob and Esau. Then I gave Mount Seir to Esau as his inheritance, as Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, where they became a great and mighty nation. ‘Then the Egyptians started oppressing them, 5so I struck down Egypt with the miracles that I sent among them. 6And afterwards, I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And as they entered the Red Sea, the Egyptians chased them into the Sea with their chariots and horses. 7Then, when they called out to Jehovah, I put a cloud and darkness between [them and] the Egyptians, and brought the Sea down upon [the Egyptians] and covered them. ‘Why, your eyes have seen all that Jehovah did in the land of Egypt, and of how you spent a long time in the desert. 8And now He has brought us into the land of the Amorites who lived across the Jordan, and Jehovah has given them into our hands… you have inherited their land and destroyed them! 9‘[Do you remember when] Balak, the king of Moab (the son of SepPhor) went to war against Israel, and how he called BalaAm to curse us? 10Yet, Jehovah your God wouldn’t destroy you; He blessed us and saved us from their hands, then He handed them over to us. 11‘Thereafter, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, where the people of Jericho fought against us – as did the Amorites, CanaAnites, Pherezites, Evites, Jebusites, Hittites, and the Gergesites – and Jehovah gave them all into our hands. 12You didn’t chase them with swords or bows; He sent hornets ahead of you and drove them away… the twelve kings of the Amorites! 13‘Now He has given you a land that you didn’t clear and cities that you didn’t build, where you’ve now settled and where you are eating from vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant. 14So, fear Jehovah and serve Him righteously and justly… get rid of all the strange gods that our ancestors served across the river and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah! 15‘However, if you don’t wish to serve Jehovah, then choose who you will serve today… whether it’s the gods of your ancestors that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you’re now living. But as for me and my household, we will serve Jehovah, because He alone is holy!’ 16And the people answered, ‘We won’t leave Jehovah and serve other gods. 17Why, our God Jehovah is God! For, it was He who brought our ancestors and us out of Egypt, and who protected us all along the way that we walked, and from all the nations that we passed. 18And it was Jehovah who threw out the Amorites and all the other nations that lived in this land. Yes, we will serve Jehovah, for He is our God!’ 19Then JoShua said to the people, ‘You won’t really be able to serve Jehovah, because He is holy. And because He’s zealous, He won’t forgive your sins and your errors. 20So when you leave Jehovah to serve other gods, He will come against you, oppress you, and consume you, because He has done good things for you.’ 21Then the people replied, ‘No! We will serve Jehovah!’ 22And JoShua said, ‘Then you are witnesses against yourselves that you’ve chosen to serve Jehovah. 23So now, get rid of all the strange gods that you have, and set your hearts right with Jehovah, the God of Israel.’ 24And the people replied, ‘We will serve Jehovah and listen to His voice!’ 25So JoShua made a Sacred Agreement with them that day, and gave them laws and rules before the Tent of the God of Israel, there in Shiloh. 26And then he wrote those words in the book of the Laws of God. And JoShua took a large block of stone and erected it under the oak tree before Jehovah. 27Then he told the people, ‘Look, this stone will serve as a witness among you, for it has heard all the words that you’ve said before Jehovah. And because He has spoken to you today, this stone will serve as a witness against you in the last days when you deal treacherously with my God Jehovah.’ 28Then JoShua dismissed the people and they each returned to their homes. 29Thereafter, JoShua (the son of NaWeh), the servant of Jehovah, died at the age of a hundred and ten, 30and they buried him in the land that he had inherited in Thamna Sarach, in the hills of EphraIm north of Mount Gilead. They put his [body] in a tomb, along with the stone knives that he had used to circumcise the children of Israel at GilGal, after Jehovah brought them out of Egypt… and they are still there today. 31Well, Israel served Jehovah for as long as JoShua and the elders of JoShua’s era (who knew all that Jehovah had done for Israel) were still alive. 32And thereafter, the children of Israel brought the bones of Joseph ([which they had carried from] Egypt) and buried them in Sicima, in the tract of land that Jacob bought from the Amorites in Sicima for a hundred ewes, and which was given to Joseph as his property. 33Shortly thereafter, EliEzer (Aaron’s son) the High Priest also died and was buried in GabaA in the hills of EphraIm (which had been given to his son Phineas). And on that day, the children of Israel took the Chest of God and carried it among the people. Then Phineas was appointed as [High] Priest in place of his father EliEzer (after his death and burial at GabaA). Thereafter, the children of Israel each left and returned to their own cities and homes, and they started worshiping Astarte, AstarOth, and the gods of the nations around them. So, Jehovah handed them over to Eglom, the king of Moab, who ruled over them for the next eighteen years.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 JOSHUA ASSEMBLING THE TRIBES. (
Josh 24:1)
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem--Another and final opportunity of dissuading the people against idolatry is here described as taken by the aged leader, whose solicitude on this account arose from his knowledge of the extreme readiness of the people to conform to the manners of the surrounding nations. This address was made to the representatives of the people convened at Shechem, and which had already been the scene of a solemn renewal of the covenant (
Josh 8:30,
Josh 8:35). The transaction now to be entered upon being in principle and object the same, it was desirable to give it all the solemn impressiveness which might be derived from the memory of the former ceremonial, as well as from other sacred associations of the place (
Gen 12:6-
Gen 12:7;
Gen 33:18-
Gen 33:20;
Gen 35:2-
Gen 35:4).
they presented themselves before God--It is generally assumed that the ark of the covenant had been transferred on this occasion to Shechem; as on extraordinary emergencies it was for a time removed (Jdg. 20:1-18;
1Sam 4:3;
2Sam 15:24). But the statement, not necessarily implying this, may be viewed as expressing only the religious character of the ceremony [HENGSTENBERG].
2 RELATES GOD'S BENEFITS. (
Josh 24:2-
Josh 24:13)
Joshua said unto all the people--His address briefly recapitulated the principal proofs of the divine goodness to Israel from the call of Abraham to their happy establishment in the land of promise; it showed them that they were indebted for their national existence as well as their peculiar privileges, not to any merits of their own, but to the free grace of God.
Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood--The Euphrates, namely, at Ur.
Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor--(see
Gen 11:27). Though Terah had three sons, Nahor only is mentioned with Abraham, as the Israelites were descended from him on the mother's side through Rebekah and her nieces, Leah and Rachel.
served other gods--conjoining, like Laban, the traditional knowledge of the true God with the domestic use of material images (
Gen 31:19,
Gen 31:34).
3 I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan--It was an irresistible impulse of divine grace which led the patriarch to leave his country and relatives, to migrate to Canaan, and live a "stranger and pilgrim" in that land.
4 I gave unto Esau mount Seir--(See on
Gen 36:8). In order that he might be no obstacle to Jacob and his posterity being the exclusive heirs of Canaan.
12 I sent the hornet before you--a particular species of wasp which swarms in warm countries and sometimes assumes the scourging character of a plague; or, as many think, it is a figurative expression for uncontrollable terror (see on
Exod 23:28).
14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth--After having enumerated so many grounds for national gratitude, Joshua calls on them to declare, in a public and solemn manner, whether they will be faithful and obedient to the God of Israel. He avowed this to be his own unalterable resolution, and urged them, if they were sincere in making a similar avowal, "to put away the strange gods that were among them"--a requirement which seems to imply that some were suspected of a strong hankering for, or concealed practice of, the idolatry, whether in the form of Zabaism, the fire-worship of their Chaldean ancestors, or the grosser superstitions of the Canaanites.
26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God--registered the engagements of that solemn covenant in the book of sacred history.
took a great stone--according to the usage of ancient times to erect stone pillars as monuments of public transactions.
set it up there under an oak--or terebinth, in all likelihood, the same as that at the root of which Jacob buried the idols and charms found in his family.
that was by the sanctuary of the Lord--either the spot where the ark had stood, or else the place around, so called from that religious meeting, as Jacob named Beth-el the house of God.
29 HIS AGE AND DEATH. (
Josh 24:29-
Josh 24:30)
Joshua . . . died--LIGHTFOOT computes that he lived seventeen, others twenty-seven years, after the entrance into Canaan. He was buried, according to the Jewish practice, within the limits of his own inheritance. The eminent public services he had long rendered to Israel and the great amount of domestic comfort and national prosperity he had been instrumental in diffusing among the several tribes, were deeply felt, were universally acknowledged; and a testimonial in the form of a statue or obelisk would have been immediately raised to his honor, in all parts of the land, had such been the fashion of the times. The brief but noble epitaph by the historian is, Joshua, "the servant of the Lord."
31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua--The high and commanding character of this eminent leader had given so decided a tone to the sentiments and manners of his contemporaries and the memory of his fervent piety and many virtues continued so vividly impressed on the memories of the people, that the sacred historian has recorded it to his immortal honor. "Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua."
32 the bones of Joseph--They had carried these venerable relics with them in all their migrations through the desert, and deferred the burial, according to the dying charge of Joseph himself, till they arrived in the promised land. The sarcophagus, in which his mummied body had been put, was brought thither by the Israelites, and probably buried when the tribe of Ephraim had obtained their settlement, or at the solemn convocation described in this chapter.
in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought . . . for an hundred pieces of silver--Kestitah translated, "piece of silver," is supposed to mean "a lamb," the weights being in the form of lambs or kids, which were, in all probability, the earliest standard of value among pastoral people. The tomb that now covers the spot is a Mohammedan Welce, but there is no reason to doubt that the precious deposit of Joseph's remains may be concealed there at the present time.
33 Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him in . . . mount Ephraim--The sepulchre is at the modern village Awertah, which, according to Jewish travellers, contains the graves also of Ithamar, the brother of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar [VAN DE VELDE].