Verse 13
They shall be snares - לפח lephach, a net or gin, set by the artful fowler to catch heedless birds.
And traps - מוקש mokesh, any snare, toil, or trap, placed on the ground to catch the unwary traveler or wild beast by the foot.
Scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes - Nothing can be conceived more vexatious and distressing than a continual goad in the side, or thorn in the eye. They will drive you into obedience to their false gods, and put out the eyes of your understandings by their idolatries. And God will preserve them merely to distress and punish you.
Verse 14
The way of all the earth - I am about to die; I am going into the grave.
Not one thing hath failed, etc. - God had so remarkably and literally fulfilled his promises, that not one of his enemies could state that even the smallest of them had not had its most literal accomplishment: this all Israel could testify.
Verse 15
So shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things - His faithfulness in fulfilling his promises is a proof that he will as faithfully accomplish his threatenings, for the veracity of God is equally pledged for both.
Verse 16
Ye shall perish quickly from off the good land - The following note from Mr. John Trapp is very judicious: "This judgment Joshua inculcates [Jos 23:13], [Jos 23:15], and here, because he knew it would be a very grievous thing to them to forego so goodly a land, so lately gotten, and so short a while enjoyed. In the beginning of a speech τα ηθη, the milder affections, suit best; but towards the end τα παθη, passionate and piercing passages; according to the orator. This rule Joshua observes, being Ex utroque Caesar; no less an orator than a warrior."
In all this exhortation we see how closely Joshua copies the example of his great master Moses. See [Lev 26:7], [Lev 26:8], [Lev 26:14], etc.; [Deu 28:7]; [Deu 32:30]. He was tenderly concerned for the welfare of the people, and with a deeply affected heart he spoke to their hearts. No people ever were more fairly and fully warned, and no people profited less by it. The threatenings pronounced here were accomplished in the Babylonish captivity, but more fully in their general dispersion since the crucifixion of our Lord. And should not every Christian fear when he reads, If God spared not the natural branches, take heed that he spare not thee? Surely a worldly, carnal, and godless Christian has no more reason to expect indulgence from the justice of God than a profligate Jew. We have a goodly land, but the justice of God can decree a captivity from it, or a state of bondage in it. The privileges that are abused are thereby forfeited. And this is as applicable to the individual as to the whole system.
Introduction
Joshua gathers all the tribes together at Shechem, [Jos 24:1]; and gives them a history of God's gracious dealings with Abraham, [Jos 24:2], [Jos 24:3]; Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, [Jos 24:4]; Moses and Aaron, and their fathers in Egypt, [Jos 24:5], [Jos 24:6]. His judgments on the Egyptians, [Jos 24:7]. On the Amorites, [Jos 24:8]. Their deliverance from Balak and Balaam, [Jos 24:9], [Jos 24:10]. Their conquests in the promised land, and their establishment in the possession of it, [Jos 24:11-13]. Exhorts them to abolish idolatry, and informs them of his and his family's resolution to serve Jehovah, [Jos 24:14], [Jos 24:15]. The people solemnly promise to serve the Lord alone, and mention his merciful dealings towards them, [Jos 24:16-18]. Joshua shows them the holiness of God, and the danger of apostasy, [Jos 24:19], [Jos 24:20]. The people again promise obedience, [Jos 24:21]. Joshua calls them to witness against themselves, that they had promised to worship God alone, and exhorts them to put away the strange gods, [Jos 24:22], [Jos 24:23]. They promise obedience, [Jos 24:24]. Joshua makes a covenant with the people, writes it in a book, sets up a stone as a memorial of it, and dismisses the people, [Jos 24:25-28]. Joshua's death, [Jos 24:29], and burial, [Jos 24:30]. The people continue faithful during that generation, [Jos 24:31]. They bury the bones of Joseph in Shechem, [Jos 24:32]. Eleazar the high priest dies also, [Jos 24:33].
Verse 1
Joshua gathered all the tribes - This must have been a different assembly from that mentioned in the preceding chapter, though probably held not long after the former.
To Shechem - As it is immediately added that they presented themselves before God, this must mean the tabernacle; but at this time the tabernacle was not at Shechem but at Shiloh. The Septuagint appear to have been struck with this difficulty, and therefore read Σηλω. Shiloh, both here and in [Jos 24:25], though the Aldine and Complutensian editions have Συχεμ, Shechem, in both places. Many suppose that this is the original reading, and that Shechem has crept into the text instead of Shiloh. Perhaps there is more of imaginary than real difficulty in the text. As Joshua was now old and incapable of travelling, he certainly had a right to assemble the representatives of the tribes wherever he found most convenient, and to bring the ark of the covenant to the place of assembling: and this was probably done on this occasion. Shechem is a place famous in the patriarchal history. Here Abraham settled on his first coming into the land of Canaan, [Gen 12:6], [Gen 12:7]; and here the patriarchs were buried, [Act 7:16]. And as Shechem lay between Ebal and Gerizim, where Joshua had before made a covenant with the people, [Jos 8:30], etc., the very circumstance of the place would be undoubtedly friendly to the solemnity of the present occasion. Shuckford supposes that the covenant was made at Shechem, and that the people went to Shiloh to confirm it before the Lord. Mr. Mede thinks the Ephraimites had a proseucha, or temporary oratory or house of prayer, at Shechem, whither the people resorted for Divine worship when they could not get to the tabernacle; and that this is what is called before the Lord; but this conjecture seems not at all likely, God having forbidden this kind of worship.
Verse 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 [Gen 11:31] (note); [Gen 12:1] (note).
Verse 9
Then Balak - arose and warred against Israel - This circumstance is not related in Numbers 22:1-41, nor does it appear in that history that the Moabites attacked the Israelites; and probably the warring here mentioned means no more than his attempts to destroy them by the curses of Balaam, and the wiles of the Midianitish women.
Verse 11
The men of Jericho fought against you - See the notes on Joshua 3:1-16 (note) and [Jos 6:1] (note), etc. The people of Jericho are said to have fought against the Israelites, because they opposed them by shutting their gates, etc., though they did not attempt to meet them in the field.
Verse 12
I sent the hornet before you - See the note on [Exo 23:28].
Verse 14
Fear the Lord - Reverence him as the sole object of your religious worship.
Serve him - Perform his will by obeying his commands.
In sincerity - Having your whole heart engaged in his worship.
And in truth - According to the directions he has given you in his infallible word.
Put away the gods, etc. - From this exhortation of Joshua we learn of what sort the gods were, to the worship of whom these Israelites were still attached.
1. Those which their fathers worshipped on the other side of the flood: i.e., the gods of the Chaldeans, fire, light, the sun.
2. Those of the Egyptians, Apis, Anubis, the ape, serpents, vegetables, etc.
3. Those of the Canaanites, Moabites, etc., Baal-peor or Priapus, Astarte or Venus, etc., etc.
All these he refers to in this and the following verse. See at the conclusion of [Jos 24:33] (note). How astonishing is this, that, after all God had done for them, and all the miracles they had seen, there should still be found among them both idols and idolaters! That it was so we have the fullest evidence, both here and in [Jos 24:23]; [Amo 5:26]; and in [Act 7:41]. But what excuse can be made for such stupid, not to say brutish, blindness? Probably they thought they could the better represent the Divine nature by using symbols and images, and perhaps they professed to worship God through the medium of these. At least this is what has been alleged in behalf of a gross class of Christians who are notorious for image worship. But on such conduct God will never look with any allowance, where he has given his word and testimony.
Verse 15
Choose you this day whom ye will serve - Joshua well knew that all service that was not free and voluntary could be only deceit and hypocrisy, and that God loveth a cheerful giver. He therefore calls upon the people to make their choice, for God himself would not force them - they must serve him with all their heart if they served him at all. As for himself and family, he shows them that their choice was already fixed, for they had taken Jehovah for their portion.
Verse 16
God forbid that we should forsake the Lord - That they were now sincere cannot be reasonably doubted, for they served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and the elders that outlived him, [Jos 24:31]; but afterwards they turned aside, and did serve other gods. "It is ordinary," says Mr. Trapp, "for the many-headed multitude to turn with the stream - to be of the same religion with their superiors: thus at Rome, in Diocletian's time, they were pagans; in Constantine's Christians; in Constantius's, Arians; in Julian's apostates, and in Jovinian's, Christians again! And all this within less than the age of a man. It is, therefore, a good thing that the heart be established with grace."
Verse 19
Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is a holy God - If we are to take this literally, we cannot blame the Israelites for their defection from the worship of the true God; for if it was impossible for them to serve God, they could not but come short of his kingdom: but surely this was not the case. Instead of לא תוכלו lo thuchelu, ye Cannot serve, etc., some eminent critics read לא תכלו lo thechallu, ye shall not Cease to serve, etc. This is a very ingenious emendation, but there is not one MS. in all the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi to support it. However, it appears very possible that the first ו vau in תוכלו did not make a part of the word originally. If the common reading be preferred, the meaning of the place must be, "Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is holy and jealous, unless ye put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the flood. For he is a jealous God, and will not give to nor divide his glory with any other. He is a holy God, and will not have his people defiled with the impure worship of the Gentiles."
Verse 21
And the people said - Nay; but we will serve, etc. - So they understood the words of Joshua to imply no moral impossibility on their side: and had they earnestly sought the gracious assistance of God, they would have continued steady in his covenant.