Joshua 23:2

_AND JOSHUA CALLED FOR ALL ISRAEL, AND FOR THEIR ELDERS, AND FOR THEIR HEADS, AND FOR THEIR JUDGES, AND FOR THEIR OFFICERS, AND SAID UNTO THEM, I AM OLD AND STRICKEN IN AGE:_ 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. 'Judges are here specified in the description of the national council. But they are frequently omitted, because, being chosen from the body of the eldership, they were included in that enumeration.' 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....

1-10 Joshua was old and dying, let them observe what he said now. He put them in mind of the great things God had done for them in his days. He exhorted them to be very courageous. Keep with care, do with diligence, and regard with sincerity what is written. Also, very cautiously to endeavour that the heathen idolatry may be forgotten, so that it may never be revived. It is sad that among Christians the names of the heathen gods are so commonly used, and made so familiar as they are. Joshua exhorts them to be very constant. There might be many things amiss among them, but they had not forsaken the Lord their God; the way to make people better, is to make the best of them....

Verse Joshua 23:2. _JOSHUA CALLED FOR ALL ISRAEL_] There are four degrees of civil distinction mentioned here: 1. זקנים zekenim, the _elders_ or _senate_, the PRINCES of the _tribes_. 2. ראשים rashim or _rashey aboth_, the CHIEFS or HEADS of _families_. 3. שפטים shophetim, the JUDGES who interpreted and decided according to the law. 4. שטרים shoterim, the OFFICERS, _serjeants_, c., who executed the decisions of the judges. Whether this assembly was held at _Timnath-serah_, where Joshua lived, or at _Shiloh_, where the ark was, or at _Shechem_, as in Joshua 24:1, we cannot tell. Some think that the meaning here, and that mentioned in Joshua 24:1,

ALL ISRAEL, AND FOR THEIR ELDERS - Omit “and,” which is not in the Hebrew. The meaning is that Joshua summoned to him all Israel as represented by its elders, etc. Deuteronomy 1:15. This gathering probably took place at the tabernacle at Shiloh....

EXPOSITION JOSHUA'S SOLEMN CHARGE.— JOSHUA 23:1 WAXED OLD AND STRICKEN IN AGE. Literally, _was old, advanced in days _(see Joshua 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 t

AND JOSHUA CALLED FOR ALL ISRAEL,.... Summoned them together, whether at Timnathserah, his own city, he being old and infirm, and not able to go elsewhere; or whether at Shechem, where it is plain they were afterwards convened, Joshua 24:1, or whether rather at Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, is not certain; and by "all Israel" cannot be meant the whole body of the people, unless it can be thought to be at one of the feasts, when all the males in Israel appeared before the Lord; though this seems to be not a stated convocation, but occasionally made, and to be understood of the representatives of the people called together, as explained in the following clause: [AND] FOR THEIR ELDERS, AND FOR THEIR HEADS, AND FOR THEIR JUDGES, AND FOR THEIR OFFICERS; the first and is supplied, and another word or words may be supplied, as "even", or "that is", or the like, and so explanativ

2. JOSHUA'S TWO ADDRESSES The First Address CHAPTER 23 _ 1. The people gathered (Joshua 23:1)_ 2. God's faithfulness remembered (Joshua 23:3) 3. Exhortations to obedience (Joshua 23:6) 4. Warning (Joshua 23:12) 5. Conclusion of first address (Joshua 23:14) 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

CALLED. Probably at Shiloh. AND. Note the Figure of speech _Palysyndeton._ App-6....

_called for all Israel_ Where we are not told. But perhaps at Timnath-serah (Joshua 19:50), or possibly at Shiloh. On the occasion of his second farewell discourse the tribes were convened at Shechem (Joshua 24:1). _and for their elders_ The word "_and_" is not found in the Hebrew. If any word is to be supplied, it should be "even" or "namely". The terms _elders, heads, judges and officers_are explanatory. _I am old_ He begins by reminding them of his own advance in years....

_VER._ 2. _JOSHUA CALLED FOR ALL ISRAEL,_ &C.— That is, he convoked them by their chief men, whose different quality is here specified: the _elders,_ they who composed the great council of the nation, afterwards called the _Sanhedrin;_ the _heads_ of tribes and families; the _judges,_ or city magistrates; and the _officers,_ who executed the sentences pronounced by those magistrates. And, without doubt, all such Israelites as were desirous of assisting at this respectable assembly of the representatives of the nation, had liberty so to do. _AND SAID UNTO THEM, I AM OLD,_ &C.— "Being now grown old amongst you, at the head of your armies, and the helm of the state; nothing remains for me, before my death, but to set before your view, all that the Lord hath done for you, and what you ought to do for him. Receive then this advice of an old man, which his age and experience, far more than his...