_A.M. 2577. B.C. 1427._ Joshua, assembling the people, recounts what great things God had done for them, Joshua 24:1. Exhorts them to serve God, which they engage to do, Joshua 24:14. His age, death, and burial, Joshua 24:29. The burying of Joseph's bones, Joshua 24:32. The death and burial of Elea... [ Continue Reading ]
_Joshua gathered_ It is likely that Joshua, living longer than he expected when he delivered the foregoing discourse to the Israelites, called the people together once more, that he might give them still further advice before he died; as Moses addressed them in several pathetic speeches before his d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Joshua said unto all the people_ To the elders, by whom it was to be imparted to all the rest, and to as many of the people as came thither. He spake to them in God's name, and as from him, in the language of a prophet. _Thus saith the Lord_ Jehovah, the great God, and the God of Israel, whom you a... [ Continue Reading ]
_I took_ I snatched him out of that idolatrous place, and took him into acquaintance and covenant with myself, which was the highest honour and happiness he was capable of. _And led_ That is, I brought him after his father's death into Canaan, (Genesis 12:1,) and I conducted and preserved him in all... [ Continue Reading ]
_I gave unto Esau mount Seir_ That he might leave Canaan entire to his brother Jacob and his posterity, Genesis 36:7. _But Jacob went down into Egypt_ Compelled by a grievous famine, and because the time was not come when God intended to plant him and his posterity in Canaan. In Egypt they suffered... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your eyes hare seen what I have done in Egypt_ He speaks this to the elders, (Joshua 24:1,) who were such not only in power and dignity, but many of them by age; and as there were not sixty years past since the plagues were inflicted on Egypt, it is probable that a considerable number of those pres... [ Continue Reading ]
_Balak warred against Israel_ Not indeed by open force, but by crafty counsels, warlike stratagems, and wicked devices. _I would not hearken unto Balaam_ It appears by this that Balaam had a great inclination to do what Balak desired, and that he asked leave of God to curse Israel; and therefore it... [ Continue Reading ]
_I delivered them into your hand_ Namely, successively; for in these few words he seems to comprise all their wars, which, being fresh in their memories, he thought it needless particularly to mention. _I sent the hornet before you_ This may signify, either that before the Israelites came into those... [ Continue Reading ]
_Put away the gods_ By this it appears, that although Joshua had doubtless prevented and purged out all public idolatry, yet there were some of them who practised it in their private houses and retirements. _Your fathers_ Terah, and Nahor, and Abraham, as Joshua 24:2, and others of your ancestors. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seem evil_ Unjust, unreasonable, or inconvenient. _Choose ye _ Not that he leaves them to their liberty, whether they would serve God or idols; for Joshua had no such power himself, nor could give it to any other; and both he and they were obliged by the law of Moses to give their worship to God on... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye cannot_ He speaks not of an absolute impossibility, (for then both his resolution to serve God himself, and his exhortation to them, had been vain,) but of a moral impossibility, or a very great difficulty, which he alleges not to discourage them from God's service, but to make them more conside... [ Continue Reading ]
_He will turn and do you hurt_ That is, he will alter his course, and the manner of his dealing with you, and will be as severe as ever he was kind and gracious. He will repent of his former kindnesses, and his goodness abused will be turned into fury.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nay, but we will serve the Lord_ Namely, him only, and not strange gods. _Ye are witnesses against yourselves_ This solemn profession will be a swift witness against you, if hereafter ye apostatize from God. _They said, We are witnesses_ Here they renew their choice of Jehovah for their God and kin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Put away the strange gods which are among you_ Meaning those idols which they had either brought out of Egypt, or had taken in Canaan, and which some of them kept, contrary to God's command, whether for the preciousness of the matter, or rather from some secret inclination to superstition and idola... [ Continue Reading ]
_So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day_ Engaged them to make good this solemn profession, by renewing the covenant they had formerly entered into, both in the days of Moses and in his time, wherein they promised to worship God alone, and be obedient to him. Some think this covenant was... [ Continue Reading ]
_Joshua wrote these words_ Namely, this covenant, or agreement of the people with the Lord. _In the book of the law of God_ That is, in the volume which was kept in the ark, (Deuteronomy 31:9; Deuteronomy 31:26,) whence it was taken and put into this book of Joshua; this he did for the perpetual rem... [ Continue Reading ]
_It hath heard_ It shall be as sure a witness against you as if it had heard. This is a common figure, whereby the sense of hearing is often ascribed to the heavens and the earth, and other senseless creatures.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The bones of Joseph_ Joseph died two hundred years before in Egypt, but _gave commandment concerning his bones_, that they should not rest in a grave till Israel rested in the land of promise. Now, therefore, they were deposited in that piece of ground which his father gave him near Shechem. One re... [ Continue Reading ]
_They buried him in a hill which was given him_ By special favour, and for his better conveniency in attending upon the ark, which then was, and for a long time was to be, in Shiloh, near this place: whereas the cities which were given to the priests were in Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, which were r... [ Continue Reading ]