Notes (NET Translation)
1 Joshua assembled all the Israelite tribes at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and they appeared before God.
There are no obvious chronological links among any of Joshua’s farewell speeches; therefore, exactly when Joshua summoned the tribes of Israel to Shechem is unclear. If the events of chapter 24 occurred after those of chapter 23 (and it is not necessary that they did because the material could be presented thematically), then the gap between them could not have been great because of Joshua’s age. However, the narrative is not especially concerned with establishing a chronology internal to the book beyond the broad point that Joshua is now an old man.1
The assembly called by Joshua takes place at Shechem. . . . It was an ancient city, known also from extrabiblical documents. Upon his arrival in Canaan, Abraham built an altar here. Jacob purchased a parcel of ground from the Shechemites (Gen. 33:18–20) and built an altar at this site. Thus, the place had hallowed associations. Its capture by the Israelites is not mentioned anywhere in the book. The choice of Shechem as the site of this solemn assembly probably was motivated by the ancient traditions reaching back to patriarchal times.2
The list of leaders corresponds to the list in 23:2.
That the people presented themselves before God implies two things: (1) God was going to make a covenant with them; and (2) it was a time of transition in the leadership. Once before in the Bible does the verb presented themselves and the name of God appear as here. In Exodus 19:17, the people presented themselves before God in order to hear the covenant, to agree to it and to ratify it in a covenant ceremony. The same events will take place here. This special verb also occurs in Deuteronomy 31:14 where Moses and Joshua appear before God and Joshua is commissioned to lead the people after Moses’ imminent death. In Joshua 24, Joshua will die and his ‘successor’ will be the representatives of the people (v. 31).3
2 Joshua told all the people, “This is what the LORD God of Israel has said: ‘In the distant past your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshiped other gods, 3 but I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and brought him into the entire land of Canaan. I made his descendants numerous; I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I assigned Mount Seir, while Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
“This is what the LORD God of Israel has said” (24:2) is the traditional prophetic speech formula. The words that follow are not merely Joshua’s words. Abraham marks the dividing line between serving other gods and serving Yahweh (cf. Gen 12:1-9). “It is important . . . to note that Joshua was not suggesting any merit on Abraham’s behalf that would have justified his call. Emphasized instead is that God took the initiative and in so doing began a process that would lead to Israel inhabiting the land purely as an act of grace with those who might have otherwise seemed unsuitable.”4 God fulfilled his promises to the patriarchs to guide them and give them numerous descendants.
A contrast is drawn between Esau and Jacob in the syntax here: “But as for Jacob and his sons, they went down to Egypt.” Even though Jacob was the one through whom the promise to Abraham would be mediated, he and his descendants spent a long “exile” in Egypt before finally returning to the promised land. God’s plans for the Canaanites had not come to fruition until now (Gen 15:16).5
5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt down when I intervened in their land. Then I brought you out. 6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you arrived at the sea. The Egyptians chased your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 Your fathers cried out for help to the LORD; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark, and then he drowned them in the sea. You witnessed with your very own eyes what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time.
God, not Moses and Aaron, is the primary actor.
The alternation between the various ways of describing those who experienced [the passing through the Sea] should be noted. Sometimes Joshua refers to what happened to Israel’s forefathers, but then again he includes also the present generation in the events of the past (when you came to the sea [v. 6b]; your own eyes saw [v. 7]). There is a unity between past and present generations of believers. That which was experienced in the past was in effect experienced by all. One must allow also for those who had in actual fact gone through the Sea and who were now still standing before God at Shechem.6
The text here does not mention that this sojourn [in the wilderness] was due to the previous generation’s rebellion against the Lord (see Numbers 14). Rather, because the present generation was a new one, which was not guilty of this rebellion, the desert sojourn is simply mentioned in passing.7
8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought with you, but I handed them over to you; you conquered their land, and I destroyed them from before you. 9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, launched an attack against Israel. He summoned Balaam son of Beor to call down judgment on you. 10 I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept prophesying good things about you, and I rescued you from his power.
Now the present generation (“you”) is addressed exclusively. Verse 8 alludes to the victories against Sihon and Og (Num 21:21-35; Deut 1:4; 2:24-3:3; 4:47; 31:4).
Here is a picture of the prophetic relationship to God. God does not listen to or obey the prophet. God directs the prophetic action and word. Not even the prophet has a claim on Yahweh. God remains totally free to act as he chooses. Here the intention to curse is changed to blessing. The people of Israel understood their relationship to the prophet to be a dangerous one. They stood in his hand. But God demonstrated that he delivered Israel even from the hands of prophets who would curse her. As long as Israel remained people of Yahweh, they had no cause to fear even revered divine spokesmen. God’s victory over a prophet thus becomes part of divine saving history.8
11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The leaders of Jericho, as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, fought against you, but I handed them over to you. 12 I sent terror ahead of you to drive out before you the two Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. 13 I gave you a land in which you had not worked hard; you took up residence in cities you did not build, and you are eating the produce of vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’
The conquest of the land west of the Jordan is described. The list of nations in 24:11 is the same as in 3:10 (but in a different order) where God promises victory to Israel. The Hebrew word translated “terror” (24:12) is traditionally translated “the hornet” (including in the LXX) but the precise meaning of the word is uncertain. It is unlikely we are to think of a single hornet driving out the nations nor is anything like that found in the Bible. Perhaps “hornet” is used as a metaphor for terror or panic. It was promised as part of God’s blessings in Exod 23:27-28, where it is used in parallel with “terror.” The larger point is that God fought for Israel. The “two Amorite kings” (24:12) seem to be Sihon and Og again (alluded to in 24:8) despite most of vv. 11-13 describing events west of the Jordan. Others see a reference to Adoni-Zedek (10:1) and Jabin (11:10), the kings who had respectively led the southern and northern coalitions against Israel.
The victories were God’s, not dependent upon military power (cf. Ps 44:2–3 [Hb. 3–4]). Obviously, the Israelites did wield their weapons on occasion. For example, at Jericho we are told that they “destroyed with the sword every living thing in it” (6:21), or at Ai the enemy “had been put to the sword” (8:24), or in the battle of Gibeon many “were killed by the swords of the Israelites” (10:11). Therefore, God’s statement that it was not “with your sword or your bow” must be understood as saying that it was not by their own power, by the might or ferocity of their own weapons, that they had success. Only by God’s power did they accomplish what they did, something the book affirms over and over again.
The hyperbole here places the emphasis squarely where it belongs, on God’s initiatives and provisions for his people. Jesus used similar hyperbolic language when he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26), even though he had stressed elsewhere that people were to love their neighbors as themselves (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31, 33; Luke 10:27). His point was that, compared to their love for their neighbors or family, their love for God should cause that human love to appear like hate. So too here: in the overall scheme of things, the Israelites’ swords had nothing to do with their inheriting and taking the land. It was all God’s doing.
That this was God’s work is emphasized in the final statements of the historical review portion of Joshua’s address. Essentially everything they now possessed had been given to them by God. They had not worked the land, built the cities, or planted the vineyards and olive groves that they now were enjoying. This fulfilled the promise God had made earlier, in Deut 6:10–11, where he told the Israelites that the land they were coming into was “a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.” Once again God was faithful to his promises. The land was nothing but God’s gracious gift to his people.9
14 “Now obey the LORD and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and worship the LORD.
Whereas in vv. 2-13 Joshua functioned as a prophetic spokesman for God, in vv. 14-15 he makes his own exhortation to the Israelites to be faithful to the God who had been faithful to them.
The allusion to Deuteronomy 6:10–11 in the previous verse set this up. In Deuteronomy, Moses had warned the people not to forget God when they were settled in a good land. Israel had now reached that point, so Joshua picks up the themes of the earlier text and calls his listeners to fear God and worship (עבד; perhaps better, “serve”) him.10
The Hebrew literally says “fear the LORD” where the NET has “obey the LORD.”
Fearing the Lord sums up the religious attitude expected of the OT believer. The term occurs frequently in Deuteronomy (4:10; 6:2, 13, 24). Fear of the Lord is the attitude of awe and of filial reverence which befits the child of God over against his Maker and Redeemer. This fear is desired and approved by God (Deut. 4:10). It is not inconsistent with, but flows from, the experience of forgiveness (cf. Ps. 130:4). This fear is to be rendered sincerely and faithfully. It should be without hypocrisy, but should be expressed with simplicity and truth of heart.11
The phrase “in Egypt” in v. 14 adds something new here. In v. 2 we have learned that Israel’s ancestors had worshiped other gods early on, when they were still in Mesopotamia (see comments on v. 2). However, Joshua now stated that this also had been true in Egypt. There is no direct reference to such false worship from the narrative texts in Exodus about Israel’s time in Egypt. However, twice reference is made in the Pentateuch to the gods the Israelites had worshiped there: (1) Lev 17:7 mentions goat idols that the Israelites had sacrificed to, and (2) in Deut 32:16–17 they are charged with worshiping “demons,” which were foreign gods, idols, which had not been worshiped in Israel until recent times (i.e., in Egypt, or the wilderness).12
Also the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with Israel (Exod 12:38) would have been pagans. See also Ezek 20:7; 23:3, 8.
15 If you have no desire to worship the LORD, then choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the LORD.”
It is worth noting that polytheists do not have to make such a choice with respect to their gods. Israel is confronted with a choice its neighbors did not face.
In his famous words at the end of the verse, Joshua took his stand clearly and unambiguously on the Lord’s side. Joshua stands as a good example of a leader willing to move ahead of his people and commit himself, regardless of the people’s inclinations. His bold example undoubtedly encouraged many to follow what he pledged to do, in their affirmations of vv. 16–18.13
16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the LORD so we can worship other gods! 17 For the LORD our God took us and our fathers out of slavery in the land of Egypt and performed these awesome miracles before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 18 The LORD drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the LORD, for he is our God!”
On the surface . . . it seems as if they are responding exactly as Joshua had challenged them to. However, as will be apparent, their declaration (for all its solemnity) is not true to Joshua’s summons. As becomes clear in verse 23, the people had not yet acted to remove their foreign gods, a vital part of Joshua’s challenge (Josh 24:14). The people had not put their words into practice through the removal of these gods. Worship in sincerity and truth required this practical step.14
19 Joshua warned the people, “You will not keep worshiping the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the LORD and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.”
Joshua’s statement that Israel was not capable of serving the Lord introduces a “deep paradox” here, one that Butler calls “perhaps the most shocking statement in the OT.” Joshua had just urged Israel in vv. 14–15 to serve the Lord with all faithfulness, and he had done so in passionate terms. He also laid out what appeared to be a true choice for the people. And yet now, when the people responded that they would do so, he turned the tables on them and stated that they were not capable of doing so. Furthermore, he stated that God himself would not forgive their rebellion and sin. These were harsh words indeed.
The key to understanding these statements comes in two other statements that Joshua made, which affirmed two of God’s defining characteristics: he is a holy God and also a jealous God (v. 19). Both of these characteristics are part of God’s very nature and set him apart from all other gods and from his people. In Lev 19:2 the Israelites are urged to be holy because of God’s own holy nature: “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” God’s holiness pervades the instructions in the Pentateuch about the building of the tabernacle, the offering of the sacrifices, and the celebrating of the festivals. Wherever God was, that place was holy, whether it was a piece of ground (Exod 3:5; Josh 5:15), a physical structure such as the tabernacle (Exod 26:33–34; 28:35–36; etc.) or the altar (Exod 29:37; 30:10), or even a day dedicated to him (i.e., the Sabbath: Gen 2:3; Exod 20:8, 11; Deut 5:12).
God’s jealous nature also set him apart from other gods. They were jealous among themselves, displaying endless petty rivalries. However, God’s jealousy played itself out with the consequences being visited on his own people when they were unfaithful. This was (and is) part of God’s very nature: he would not brook any competition for his people’s loyalties. This is clear in the Second Commandment in Exod 20:4–6: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Butler well notes that “[God] loves [his people] so much that he wants their undivided love in return. He will not share them with any other god.”
Joshua’s response to the people that they were unable to serve the Lord properly communicates the absolute and awesome nature of God’s holiness and his jealousy. He would not forgive them if they persisted in sin. However, Exod 20:6 shows that even this jealous God would show his love in a most bountiful way if his people loved him and kept his commandments. Joshua himself assumed that the Israelites would make a choice (Josh 24:14–15). His dramatic words here emphasize the solemnity of the requirements, to purge from the Israelites any false notions of “cheap grace.” Theirs was not to be a nominal, superficial faith. As J. H. Michaelis noted, Israel could not serve the Lord “by your own resolution only, and without the assistance of divine grace, without solid and serious conversion from all idols, and without true repentance and faith.”
Verse 20 makes it clear that what Joshua stated in v. 19 about God’s not forgiving his people was not an absolute, timeless statement, but that his forgiveness depended on whether or not his people forsook him in favor of “foreign gods.” As Calvin stated, “when it is said that he will not spare their wickedness, no general rule is laid down, but the discourse is directed, as often elsewhere, against their disobedient temper. It does not refer to faults in general, or to special faults, but is confined to gross denial of God, as the next verse demonstrates.” After all the good that he had done for them, God would reward any rejection of him by his people with harsh judgment. This is not, however, the action of a capricious God. He had graciously taken the initiative again and again with his people and provided for them over and over again, as vv. 2–13 affirm. Yet if his people persisted in rebellion in spite of such loving and sustained overtures, he would not tolerate this forever.15
21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will worship the LORD.”
22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the LORD?” They replied, “We are witnesses!”
23 Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the LORD God of Israel.”
Joshua’s statement in verse 23 is stronger than in verse 14, when he referred to these gods only in terms of historical practice. This time, he makes clear that such gods (perhaps in the form of household idols) were present at Shechem, which was why their removal was so urgent. Removing them was to be balanced by a realignment of the people’s hearts toward Yahweh, “the God of Israel,” a title that strongly contrasts to “foreign gods.” Israel existed as a people only because of what God had done, and thus the people could worship only him. Although an actual removal of the gods is not narrated, the larger context indicates that the people’s declaration to worship and obey “Yahweh our God” makes clear that these gods have been removed. After all, they could not otherwise obey.16
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the LORD our God and obey him.”
25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement for the people, and he established rules and regulations for them in Shechem.
A covenant (NET “agreement”) is made. The precise nature of the “rules” and “regulations” is not elaborated upon. The surrounding context stresses whole-hearted commitment to God, but such a commitment would entail the keeping of the entire Law of Moses.
26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the LORD’s sanctuary.
In the ANE, a covenant document usually accompanied the making of a treaty and the document was deposited in a safe place. A sacred oak tree at Shechem goes back to at least Abraham’s time (Gen 12:6-7; cf. Gen 35:2-4; Deut 11:30; Judg 9:6, 37). The Lord’s sanctuary, or holy place, need not be a formal structure; it could be a sacred area where the tree could be found. If the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant were present, that could also make the place holy.
27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard everything the LORD said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God.”
The stone of witness continues the tradition of using stones for memorials, already seen in the crossing of the Jordan (4:1–9). However, as a witness of a vow, the stone resembles the one set up by Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 28:16–22) and that set up in negotiation with Laban (Gen. 31:43–54). In both cases, Jacob made a vow and the stone was connected with that vow. Witnesses of treaties were usually the deities of the nations involved. Since Joshua and the people recognized no gods but the LORD, they could not invoke other deities as witnesses. The stone served as a lasting memorial that would remind future generations of the covenant made at Shechem and its importance. Jacob’s connection with a stone and with Shechem is especially significant for this passage.17
28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land.
With a short, laconic statement, the main story line of the book of Joshua is concluded. There were no more lands to be taken, no more territorial distributions to be made, no more speeches to be given, no more covenants to be entered into. Everyone was able to return to his inheritance, which was the goal from the beginning of the book.18
29 After all this Joshua son of Nun, the LORD’s servant, died at the age of 110.
Joshua’s death at the end of the book parallels the report of Moses’s death at the beginning of the book (1:1-2). “The exact point of Joshua’s death relative to the rest of the chapter cannot be determined, but since both 13:1 and 23:1–2 stress Joshua’s advanced age we are probably not to imagine a significant period of time has passed.”19 In life Joshua was Moses’s assistant (1:1), in death he is given the title previously reserved for Moses, the Lord’s servant.
The point being made is that the title “servant of Yahweh” belongs supremely to Moses. The title is thereafter transferred only at death to the faithful follower of Moses. No man can claim the title for himself and use it to rule others. Others must confer it in respectful memory. The title emphasized that taking the land and distributing the land were Yahweh’s work. Joshua had simply served Yahweh.20
30 They buried him in his allotted territory in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
For Joshua’s inheritance, see 19:50. The exact location of Mount Gaash is unknown.
The Old Greek traditions have a lengthy addition at the end of v. 30. It reads: “There they placed with him in the tomb, into which they buried him, the stone knives with which he circumcised the sons of Israel in Gilgal, when he brought them out of Egypt, just as the Lord had commanded them, and they are there to this day.” This picks up on the previous addition in the Old Greek versions that we noted at the end of 21:42. As we noted, that addition closely parallels 19:49–50, and then it adds the information that Joshua took the flint knives and deposited them in Timnath-Serah. The addition here, then, completes the story of the flint knives. The addition has the ring of authenticity to it, although it is impossible to know for certain if it was on the original.21
31 Israel worshiped the LORD throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. These men had experienced firsthand everything the LORD had done for Israel.
Joshua left behind something more than simply a burial place. He left behind an epitaph carved in the lives of men. Unlike leaders before or after himself, he led men to serve Yahweh. Thus he became the prime example of Israelite leadership.
His was the golden age when Israel won her battles, occupied her land, and made her covenant with Yahweh. This could be explained only in one way. Joshua had fulfilled the command of God to have conviction and courage (cf. chap. 1), to obey all the Torah of Moses (1:7–8), and to expect the divine presence to guide him. For the faithful Joshua, God proved faithful.22
Judges 2:6-10 takes up vv. 28-31 as an introduction to the failure of the generations after Joshua’s generation.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money. So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph.
This verse reminds the reader that the story of Joshua is part of the redemption narrative begun in Genesis. Hundreds of years earlier, the sons of Israel swore to take Joseph’s bones from Egypt and bury them in the promised land (Gen 50:22-26). The burial ground is connected to the place where Jacob established an altar (Gen 33:18-20). Both Joshua and Joseph lived to the age of 110. Joseph took Israel into Egypt; Joshua took Israel into Canaan.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, where his son Phinehas had been assigned land.
Eleazar’s death brings to mind Aaron’s death (Num 20:22-29). Eleazar has been connected with the allotment of land (14:1; 17:4; 19:51; 21:1). The way is prepared for the story of the judges.
Bibliography
Butler, Trent C. Joshua 13-24. Second Edition. Word Biblical Commentary 7B. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014.
Firth, David G. Joshua. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021.
Hess, Richard S. Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 6. Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996.
Howard, Jr., David M. Joshua. The New American Commentary 5. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998.
Woudstra, Marten H. The Book of Joshua. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981.
- Firth 2021, 386–387 ↩
- Woudstra 1981, 341 ↩
- Hess 1996, 330 ↩
- Firth 2021, 388–389 ↩
- Howard 1998, 430 ↩
- Woudstra 1981, 346–347 ↩
- Howard 1998, 431 ↩
- Butler 2014, 320 ↩
- Howard 1998, 433–434 ↩
- Firth 2021, 393 ↩
- Woudstra 1981, 351 ↩
- Howard 1998, 435 ↩
- Howard 1998, 436 ↩
- Firth 2021, 395 ↩
- Howard 1998, 437–438 ↩
- Firth 2021, 396–397 ↩
- Hess 1996, 339 ↩
- Howard 1998, 442 ↩
- Firth 2021, 399 ↩
- Butler 2014, 342 ↩
- Howard 1998, 443 ↩
- Butler 2014, 343 ↩
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