CHAPTER 24 THE GREAT COVENANT CEREMONY. The book closes with an account of a great covenant ceremony at Shechem. The chapter begins with an account of the gathering of the tribes by Joshua. There Joshua again addresses the people, rehearses to them the many great and good things YHWH has done for t... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 24 THE GREAT COVENANT CEREMONY. The book closes with an account of a great covenant ceremony at Shechem. The chapter begins with an account of the gathering of the tribes by Joshua. There Joshua again addresses the people, rehearses to them the many great and good things YHWH has done for t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, ‘Your fathers dwelt in olden days beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.' ” ' Joshua now began the preamble to the covenant, the declaring of the acts of YHWH... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 24:3 A “And I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac, and I gave to Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and I gave to Esau Mount Seir to possess it.” The next statement was what God gave to Abraham and hi... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers, with chariots and horsemen, to the Sea of Reeds, and when they cried to YHWH he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them. And your eyes s... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt Beyond Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you.” Now they were reminded of more recent events which all of them could remember, how God had enabl... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Then Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, arose, and fought against Israel, and he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand.” Then the King of Moab came against Israel to ‘fight'... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And you went over Jordan, and came to Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, and I delivered them into your hand.” Here he reminded them of the miraculous, never to be... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And I sent the hornet before you, who drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, not with your sword, nor with your bow.' The ‘two kings of the Amorites' may be specific, or the word ‘two' may be used as meaning ‘a few' as it often does. Compare the ‘two sticks' of the wid... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And I gave you a land for which you did not labour, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them. From vineyards and oliveyards, which you did not plant, you eat.” This was a reminder of the specific promises that it would be so (Deuteronomy 6:10). Land already prepared for sowing, c... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Now therefore, fear YHWH, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and you serve YHWH.” The requirements were simple and yet demanding. They were firstly that they should ‘fear YHWH', recognise His greatness, His sover... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And if it seem evil to you to serve YHWH, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served who were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve YHWH.” Now that it was the future that was being challe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the people answered and said, “God forbid that we should forsake YHWH to serve other gods. For YHWH our God, he it is who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we w... [ Continue Reading ]
“ And YHWH has driven out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve YHWH, for He is our God.” They protested that they were too aware of the help that they had received in establishing their present position in the land to turn away from Y... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve YHWH, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake YHWH and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after having done you good.” ' But Joshua wanted... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve YHWH.” ' Faced clearly with the consequences of their choice the people replied that whatever Joshua said, they would serve YHWH. He was their God and they would serve and honour Him and Him alone.... [ Continue Reading ]
Joshua 24:22 a ‘And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves Yahweh serve him.” This was now a solemnising of the solemn covenant. It was like asking response to the marriage vows, the important words that seal the covenant. Once repeated... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts to YHWH, the God of Israel.” The reply in Joshua 24:22 b had been an interjection. Now Joshua continued with his exhortation. In the course of their lives, and in the course of receiving spoils from captured Canaa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the people said to Joshua, “YHWH our God we will serve and his voice we will obey.” ' This was their third response, making the response complete. All would recognise that three specifically signifies completeness. (This threeness was not accidental, it was deliberate). They thereby acknowledg... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.' It must be recognised as almost certain that burnt offerings and peace offerings were slain on the altar built in the place where YHWH had recorded His name (Joshua 8:31 compare Exodus 20:24),... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of YHWH.' The book of the Law of God is probably the same as the book of the Law and the book of the law of Moses (Joshua 8:31; Joshua 8:34 compare Exod... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of YHWH which he spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” ' A stone for Jacob (Genesis 31:45) and a heap of stones for his brothers-in-law (Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.' The covenant having been confirmed and sealed Joshua sent the people home. The last phrase is significant. Each man had an inheritance to go back to. All could look to YHWH with gratitude for the land that they owned. Their entry into... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And so it happened that after these things Joshua, the son of Nun, the Servant of YHWH, died, being a hundred and ten years old.' Having accomplished his purpose, given by YHWH, of taking over from Moses and leading the people into the promised land, and then making it possible for each man to re... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.' Joshua was buried in a burial place outside the city which was his inheritance, Timnath-serah (Joshua 19:50). It is possibly Khirbet Tibneh, twe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the children of Israel served YHWH all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work of YHWH, that he had wrought for Israel.' This summary verse confirms that during the life of Joshua and his near contemporaries who had seen the great work... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver, and they became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.' The parcel of g... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died, and they buried him in the hill of (or Gibeah of) Phinehas his son which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.' Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, also died. Thus the old generation was dying out. This man too had been looked to as one of the gr... [ Continue Reading ]