Old Testament Commentary - Joshua 24

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 24 Joshua recites how the Lord has blessed and led Israel—Joshua and all the people covenant to choose the Lord and serve him only—Joshua and Eleazar die—Bones of Joseph, taken from Egypt, are buired in Shechem.
1 AND Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem^a, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 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^a, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other ^agods. 3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his ^aseed, and gave him Isaac.	1^a Shechem What was and what was not a part of the lands of the tribe of Ephraim is not well established. In Jewish tradition, the envy of Ephraim as the firstborn of Israel seems to have taken its toll in what is attributed to Ephraim. Even the LDS Bible map of the division of the land among the tribes is very limited to what is there attributed to the tribe of Ephraim. But it is not 'Biblical'. According to the Bible, Shechem was a part of the lands of Ephraim, not Manasseh. The Bible Dictionary under 'Shechem' gets it right, that Shechem was located in the mountains of Ephraim and a part of the lands of the tribe of Ephraim (See Bible Dictionary 'Shechem').
4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I ^aplagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. 6 And I ^abrought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the ^bRed sea. 7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put ^adarkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
8 And I brought you into the land of the ^aAmorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I ^bdestroyed them from before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: 10 But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.
11 And ye went over Jordan, and came unto ^aJericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. 12 And I sent the ^ahornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy ^bsword, nor with thy bow. 13 And I have ^agiven you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
14 ¶ Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in ^asincerity and in truth: and put away the ^bgods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, ^achoose you ^bthis day whom ye will ^cserve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my ^dhouse, we will ^eserve the LORD^a. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;	15^a but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD This appellation to the 'house of Joshua' extends beyond the mere present and immediate family of Joshua and it is coupled and extended to include the statement of application to the rest of Israel, that 'Ye cannot serve the LORD', found in verse 19 and discussed further there. The house of Nun and Joshua was the inheriters of the covenant of the firstborn which had come to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Ephraim; and thence to Nun and Joshua. This right and covenant of the firstborn was to be the legal and rightful ancestor to the promised 'seed', even the Messiah. Thus Joshua's proclamation does extend well beyond the then and there. And it is why Joshua pointed out that the rest of Israel could not so serve the LORD in that covenant application and service. In the Book of Jasher, chapter 81 and verse 54, it states the Nun, the father of Joshua, as well as Joshua, were Ephrathites, meaning of the tribe of Ephraim or Ephraimites. It does not mean being of the town or city of Ephrath, for Nun and Joshua were both born in Egypt not Ephrath, Nun never even lived in the promised land and Joshua did not reside in Ephrath when he entered the promised land. What this has to do with the descent of Christ is found in the short book of Ruth. There it actually sets out the Ephraimite ancestry of the Messiah. In chapter one, Elimelech (which means 'God Is King') and his sons are set forth as Ephraimites of Bethlehem, meaning Ephraimites of Bethlehem. It is Mahlon who is the rightful and legal parent to the firstborn son of Ruth his wife. That son is Obed, who according to the Law of Moses, the Law of God, was seed unto the dead, meaning that Boaz was but the 'vicarious surrogate' kinsman who performed by raising up seed unto the house of Mahlon and Elimelech. It states as much in Ruth chapter 4 and is confirmed by the record of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Even Jesse, the father of David, is stepulated to be that Ephrathite of Bethlehem. This means that the covenant was not split between righteous Joseph and unrighteous Judah, but did come down through the house of Joseph (See Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph).
17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: 18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God.
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD^a: for he is an ^aholy God; he is a ^bjealous God; he will not ^cforgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange ^agods, then he will turn and do you ^bhurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will ^aserve the LORD.
22 And Joshua said unto the people, *Ye are* witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, ^ato serve him^a*. And they said, We are* witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange ^agods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. 24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26 ¶ And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great ^astone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. 28 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.
29 ¶ And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 30 And they ^aburied him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31 And Israel ^aserved the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.
32 ¶ And the ^abones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in ^amount Ephraim.