_JOSHUA ASSEMBLES THE TRIBES; RECOUNTS GODS BLESSINGS TO THEM; RENEWS THE COVENANT WITH THEM, AND AFTERWARDS DEPARTS THIS LIFE. THE BONES OF JOSEPH ARE BURIED IN SHECHEM. ELEAZAR DIES._ _Before Christ 1434._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _AND JOSHUA GATHERED ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL_— Calmet thinks, that the discourse in the former chapter is to be considered only as the exordium or introduction to the present: which is nearly the opinion of Calvin. But the two discourses seem very distinct in the text, and we see no reaso... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL_— This exordium indicates a prophetical discourse; so that Joshua was no less the prophet than the political head of the nation. It is not, therefore, so much he that speaks, as God by his mouth; and hence it is, that he expresses himself as the mere orga... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14. _NOW, THEREFORE, FEAR THE LORD,_ &C.— Here it is no longer Jehovah that speaks; Joshua himself addresses the Israelites, and, after all that he had just represented to them in the name of God, concludes with exhorting them to _fear Jehovah; i.e._ to open their whole heart to his religion,... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _AND IF IT SEEM EVIL UNTO YOU TO SERVE THE LORD,_ &C.— Satisfied that the Israelites, as a nation, are very far from falling into atheism, or being averse from serving God; Joshua cannot think them so blind and ungrateful as to desire to serve any other God than Jehovah. This, and nothing... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16-18. _AND THE PEOPLE ANSWERED_— The whole assembly, which represented the nation, cried out, _God forbid that we should forsake the Lord,_ &c.,—"Far be from us so abominable a thought! No; we acknowledge no other God than Jehovah, our Deliverer, our Benefactor, our Protector: our utmost des... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19. _AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE, YE CANNOT SERVE THE LORD,_ &C.— These words may he understood two ways. 1. They may signify, "you will not serve the Lord; I foresee that ye will not keep your word:" in the same sense as it is said of Jesus Christ, that he could work no miracle at Nazare... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 21, 22. _AND THE PEOPLE SAID—NAY, BUT WE WILL SERVE THE LORD,_ &C.— To these fresh protestations of fidelity on the part of the whole assembly, Joshua replies, that he receives them as a holy and solemn declaration, which, thus publicly and deliberately made, will for ever witness against the... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 23. _NOW, THEREFORE, PUT AWAY—THE STRANGE GODS_— See ver. 14. All this evidently shews, that Joshua was a prophet, that he could penetrate the secret intentions of the Israelites, and was certain of their propensity to idolatry. Publicly they worshipped only the true God, but in secret they h... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 25. _SO JOSHUA MADE A COVENANT WITH THE PEOPLE,_ &C.— The Israelites having a third time repeated that they were resolved only to serve the Lord, and being thereby bound more strictly than ever to obey him, Joshua, in order to bind, in the most indissoluble manner, those ties whereon their ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 26. _AND JOSHUA WROTE THESE WORDS IN THE BOOK,_ &C.— To perpetuate the memory of this renewal of the covenant; to convince the Israelites of the reverence due to that obligation which they had assembled to enforce; and to leave such an immortal testimony as might witness against them for the... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 27. _FOR IT HATH HEARD ALL THE WORDS,_ &C.— "If ever you so far forget yourselves, as to act as if you had not this day chosen the Lord for your God, this stone shall convince you of falsehood, and shall witness as strongly against you, as if it had heard all that I have been saying to you, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 29. _AND—AFTER THESE THINGS—JOSHUA—DIED_— Most probably within a short time after the holding of the assembly at Shechem. It is difficult to say positively how many years this great man governed the people of God in the land of Canaan. Some Jewish doctors say, that he lived _twenty-eight year... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 30. _AND THEY BURIED HIM—IN TIMNATH-SERAH_— This city, which he had built himself, and which had been assigned him by the nation, is elsewhere called _Timnath-heres,_ or, _the rest of the sun,_ Judges 2:9. This name, if we are to believe the Jews, was given it on account of an image of the su... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 31. _AND ISRAEL SERVED THE LORD ALL THE DAYS OF JOSHUA_— So long as this pious general was at the head of the people of Israel, idolatry durst not show itself, and the Israelites in public adored only the true God. Moses did not enjoy the like happiness. Every one knows what a disturbance tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 32. _AND THE BONES OF JOSEPH—BURIED THEY IN SHECHEM_— See Genesis 50:25. Some are of opinion, that Joshua performed this duty soon after the passage over Jordan, immediately after he had built the altar on mount Ebal, near Shechem. Others think that it was not done till the peace which follow... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 33. _AND ELEAZAR—DIED_— This event, probably, happened soon after the death of Joshua. The _Samaritan Chronicle_ says, that Eleazar called together the elders and heads of the people before his death; and that after having exhorted them to piety, he stripped himself of his vestments, and put... [ Continue Reading ]