Joshua 24:2

_AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, YOUR FATHERS DWELT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD IN OLD TIME, EVEN TERAH, THE FATHER OF ABRAHAM, AND THE FATHER OF NACHOR: AND THEY SERVED OTHER GODS._ 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, and showed them that they were indebted for their national existence, as well as their special privileges, not to any merits of their own, but to the free grace of God. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD - the Euphrates, namely, at Ur. TERAH, THE FATHER OF ABRAHAM ... AND NAHOR - (see the note at Genesis 11:27.) Though Terah had three sons, Nahor only is mentioned with Abraham, as the Israelites were descended from him on the mothe

2._Your fathers dwelt on the other side, _etc He begins his address by referring to their gratuitous adoption by which God had anticipated any application on their part, so that they could not boast of any peculiar excellence or merit. For God had bound them to himself by a closer tie, having, while they were no better than others, gathered them together to be his peculiar people, from no respect to anything but his mere good pleasure. Moreover, to make it clearly appear that there was nothing in which they could glory, he leads them back to their origin, and reminds them how their fathers had dwelt in Chaldea, worshipping idols in common with others, and differing in nothing from the great body of their countrymen. Hence it is inferred that Abraham, when he was plunged in idolatry, was raised up, as it were, from the lowest deep. The Jews, indeed, to give a false dignity to their race,...

1-14 We must never think our work for God done, till our life is done. If he lengthen out our days beyond what we expected, like those of Joshua, it is because he has some further service for us to do. He who aims at the same mind which was in Christ Jesus, will glory in bearing the last testimony to his Saviour's goodness, and in telling to all around, the obligations with which the unmerited goodness of God has bound him. The assembly came together in a solemn religious manner. Joshua spake to them in God's name, and as from him. His sermon consists of doctrine and application. The doctrinal part is a history of the great things God had done for his people, and for their fathers before them. The application of this history of God's mercies to them, is an exhortation to fear and serve God, in gratitude for his favour, and that it might be continued....

Verse Joshua 24:2. _ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD_] The river _Euphrates_. _THEY SERVED OTHER GODS._] Probably Abraham as well as Terah his father was an idolater, till he received the call of God to leave that land. See on Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:1. And for the rest of the history referred to here, see the notes on the parallel passages in the margin....

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD - Better “On the other side of the river,” i. e. the Euphrates. See the marginal reference. THEY SERVED OTHER GODS - Possibly the “images,” or teraphim, which we find their ancestor Laban calling “his gods” (see the marginal reference); and of which it would seem that there were, as Joshua spoke, some secret devotees among the people Joshua 24:14, Joshua 24:25. It is not stated that Abraham himself was an idolater, though his fathers were. Jewish tradition asserts that Abraham while in Ur of the Chaldees was persecuted for his abhorrence of idolatry, and hence, was called away by God from his native land. The reference in the text to the original state of those who were the forefathers of the nation, is made

EXPOSITION THE LAST RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT.— JOSHUA 24:1 TO SHECHEM. The LXX. and the Arabic version read _Shiloh _here, and as the words "they presented themselves (literally, _took up their station_)_ _before God" follow, this would seem the natural reading. But there is not the slightest MSS. authority for the reading, and it is contrary to all sound principles of criticism to resort to arbitrary emendations of the text. Besides, the LXX. itself reads Συχέμ_,_ in Joshua 24:26, and adds, "before the tabernacle of the God of Israel," words implied, but not expressed in t

AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE,.... Then present, or to all Israel by their representatives: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL; he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, as the prophet did, being himself a prophet, and at this time under a divine impulse, and spirit of prophecy. According to an Arabic writer w: the Angel of God appeared in the form of a man, and with a loud voice delivered the following, though they are expressed by him in a different manner; perhaps he mean, the Captain of the Lord's host, Joshua 15:13; and which is not unlikely: YOUR FATHERS DWELT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD IN OLD TIME; on the offer side the, river Euphrates; so the Targum, "beyond Perat;'' i.e. Euphrates; in Mesopotamia and Chaldea; meaning not the remotest of their ancestors, Noah and Shem, but the more near, and who a

THE SECOND ADDRESS CHAPTER 24:1-28 _ 1. The gathering at Shechem (Joshua 24:1)_ 2. Historic retrospect and exhortations (Joshua 24:2) 3. The answer given by Israel (Joshua 24:16) 4. Joshua's answer (Joshua 24:19) 5. The promise made (Joshua 24:21) 6. Joshua's appeal and the repeated promise (Joshua 24:22) 7. The covenant made and Joshua's final word ...

THUS SMITH THE LORD. A supplementary revelation by the Spirit of God, who knows all (Hebrew. _Jehovah._ SAITH. hath said. THE LORD GOD. Hebrew. _Jehovah Elohim_. App-4. FLOOD. the river Euphrates....

_Thus saith the Lord God of Israel_ The title is significant. It recurs in Joshua 24:23. Joshua recalls to the minds of the people the mercies of God as displayed in five great events: (i) The Call of Abraham; (ii) The Deliverance from Egypt; (iii) The Defeat of the Amorites on the east of the Jordan, and the frustration of the machinations of Balaam; (iv) The Passage of the Jordan and Capture of Jericho; (v) The Victories over all the nations of Canaan. _on the other side of the flood_ Or better, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, i.e. the Euphra tes, in Ur of the Chaldees, and then in Haran (Genesis 11:28; Genesis 11:31). "Biзond the flood," Wyclif. _Terah_ The